Election Determines History Not Eternal Destiny

By Hazel Holland

In the past I have recoiled with abhorrence every time the following passage of Scripture has been quoted to prove that God elects some individuals to be eternally condemned, while choosing others to be eternally saved. Somehow this explanation of how God predetermines who will be saved and who will be lost, without ever giving the individual any choice or responsibility in the matter, never seemed to line up with God’s righteous character, or His already revealed will in many other places in Scripture.

“What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles” Romans 9:21-23 (NASB).

Today, instead of running from this Scripture in horror, I chose to ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in my study so that I might be able to gain a better understanding of what God is saying to us through these verses. In order to better understand the context, I decided to read the whole chapter of Romans 9, hoping that it would perhaps shed further light on what was being discussed.

As I studied the chapter I began to understand that these complex verses, along with other previously difficult verses in this same chapter were not proof texts for predestination. Instead, the issue at stake was not about the eternal destination of individuals being predetermined, but rather the election of peoples and nations so that God’s purposes in salvation history would be fulfilled. Moreover, I learned that even though certain groups and people are elected to fulfill God’s sovereign purposes, it is still the individual’s choice as to how they will respond to God’s call.

Paul begins Romans 9 by sharing his sorrow and grief over the fact that not all who profess to be Abraham’s descendants truly are.

“But it is not as though the word of God has failed for they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel” verse 6 (NASB).

He goes on to further explain that it is not the children of the “flesh” (Ishmael) who are the children of God, but rather the children of the “promise” (Isaac) who are children of God, and true descendants of Abraham (Romans 9:7-9).

In these verses God is not issuing eternal damnation for Ishmael and eternal salvation for Isaac. Instead, He is describing the history of Israel by using the analogy of these step-brothers. He is illustrating how he uses both nations to accomplish His eternal purposes in history, NOT their eternal destiny.

Next Paul goes on to describe the history of Israel by reminding us of the analogy of the two twin brothers, Jacob and Esau.

“And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God's purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, it was said to her, "THE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER." Just as it is written, "JACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED" Romans 9:10-13 (NASB).

Here Paul goes a step further to explain that we cannot define “Israel” on the basis of genealogy. Jacob and Esau were full-bloodied, twin brothers, and God sovereignly chose the lineage of Jacob to continue the line of salvation history before the twins were even born. Thus, God’s choice of Jacob had nothing to do with his good works, but rather God’s purpose by means of sovereign election.

Now let’s take a further look at the problem phrase, “Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated” and find out where it originally was spoken, and what it means. I discovered that this phrase is not a quote from the book of Genesis, but rather a quote from the prophet Malachi.

“I have loved you,” says the LORD, but you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob's brother?” declares the LORD “Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and appointed his inheritance for the jackals of the wilderness.” Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will return and build up the ruins”; thus says the LORD of hosts, “They may build, but I will tear down; and men will call them the wicked territory, and the people toward whom the LORD is indignant forever.” Your eyes will see this and you will say, “The LORD be magnified beyond the border of Israel!” Malachi 1:2-5 (NASB).

As we look at these verses in context it is clear that God is not talking about the eternal destiny of either Jacob or Esau, but rather the deeds of the descendants of Jacob and Esau, namely the Israelites and the Edomites. God is saying here that he hates the behavior of the people of Edom. Again, going back to the context of Paul’s discourse in Romans 9, God is saying that no one can make a claim to election based on their ancestry.

Now let’s go to Genesis 25 and see how God identifies Jacob and Esau as two nations even before they were born.

“Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If it is so, why then am I this way?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger." When her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb” Genesis 25: 21-23 (NASB).

It must be noted here that even though God sovereignly chose Jacob to carry on the line of promise before he and his brother were even born, God did not reject Esau, or refuse to be gracious to him. In fact the following verses from Deuteronomy reveal that the Israelites were forbidden at one point to make war against the descendants of Esau, the Edomites.

“And the LORD spoke to me, saying, 'You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, and command the people, saying, "You will pass through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a footstep because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. You shall buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink” Deuteronomy 2:1-6 (NASB).

Clearly we see from this passage that although God didn’t elect Esau to carry on the line of promise, He provided land for his descendants. Furthermore, He told the descendants of Jacob that they must respect the sons of Esau and not try to make war with them.

Now before we come back to the difficult verses in Romans 9 that began this study, I think it will be helpful if we take a look at Romans 1 and see how Paul outlines the progression of events in a person’s life as they are headed down the path of destruction.

“Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them” Romans 1:24 (NASB).

“For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural” Romans 1:26 (NASB).

“And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper” Romans 1:28 (NASB).

From the following verses we learn that God allows men and women to choose to reject Him because we are all free moral agents. God did not cause these people to do these evil things. They chose darkness rather than light. Therefore, God allowed them to choose their own destiny, and gave them over to their lusts, degrading passions and depraved minds.

Now let’s return to the original verses in Romans 9 where the issue of “vessels of wrath” and “vessels of mercy” is being discussed.

“What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles” Romans 9:21-23 (NASB).

In order to clarify the meaning of this passage let’s go back to the original Greek. “Vessels of wrath” are described as being “prepared for destruction” or “fitted for destruction” in some translations. In Greek, as in English, there is the passive and active verb. So it is important for us to realize the difference between the passive and the active verb that is being used when reading this passage of Scripture.

In the active verb it means the subject of the sentence does the acting, and in the passive verb the subject receives the action. These two serious distinctions make all the difference in how we interpret this passage of Scripture!

In verse 22, the verb “prepared” is passive, and the subject is the “vessels of wrath” that receive the action of “destruction.” God is not the subject here at all! However, in verse 23, the verb “prepared” is active, and the subject is “God” who does the acting. He prepared “vessels of mercy beforehand for glory”.

In other words, God is saying, “I prepare vessels for glory”, but “vessels are prepared for destruction”. The meaning of this passage now lines up with the rest of God’s revealed Word. Everywhere in Scripture the responsibility for such preparation for destruction always lies right in the very heart of the man or woman who will eventually go to their eternal destruction in hell. Although we as human beings were never designed to occupy hell, because it was only created for the devil and his angels, we are preparing ourselves for destruction if we continually refuse to respond by faith to the Spirit of God, and choose eternal life in Christ.

If the Holy Spirit is revealing to you right now that the progression of events in your life are leading you down the path of destruction, stop and listen to His voice! God never chose you to become a “vessel of wrath”. Never! In spite of what you may have been told by well-meaning Christians, the Bible never teaches us that God elects some people to be saved and others to be lost. As we have seen in our study today, the Scriptures clearly teach us that God sovereignly elects people groups and individuals to fulfill His sovereign purposes in fulfilling salvation history, not to determine their eternal destiny. Election determines history, not eternal destiny!

The Scriptures teach us that Jesus Christ took God’s wrath against sin upon Himself, so that you and I do not have to experience His wrath. God’s alternative to wrath is mercy. Instead, God’s wants you to become a “vessel of mercy” that He prepared beforehand for glory. He wants you to experience the mercy of God that has been poured out upon you through Jesus Christ’s finished work for you. He has already taken your sins upon Himself and given you His perfect righteousness. Your eternal destiny is Jesus Christ! Choose to believe this gift that God has already given you in His Son, and you will become His “vessel of mercy” forever.

 Link:  The Sun that Melts Wax also Hardens Clay 

The Sun that Melts Wax also Hardens Clay

By Hazel Holland

In spite of the fact that God sovereignly displayed His supreme power through the supernatural signs and wonders of the ten plagues that fell upon Egypt, Pharaoh hardened his heart. This display of God’s sovereign love for His people in Egyptian bondage hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Initially, Pharaoh was responsible for hardening his own heart as the plagues began to fall. Then as he refused to submit to God’s plan of freeing the Israelites from slavery, Pharaoh’s already proud and unbelieving heart was hardened by God.

Pharaoh’s heart was hardened because he resisted divine revelation. He resisted the illuminating grace of God that was revealed in how God had compassion on a bunch of stiff-necked Israelites. He hated this truth about God’s sovereign grace being displayed on behalf of a nation of unrighteous slaves. So he suppressed the truth about God’s mercy in further unrighteousness by refusing to listen and fear God. Since Pharaoh considered himself to be a god, He bucked against the sovereignty of the true God that showed Himself to be greater than Pharaoh.

By arrogantly resisting God’s will to deliver the Israelites after 400 years of slavery, Pharaoh’s hardened heart was used by God in order to spread the good news of Israel’s deliverance from Egypt to the surrounding nations. Even though Pharaoh didn’t fear and have respect for the God of Israel because of the plagues that He brought upon Egypt, we later learn how the Philistines did (1 Samuel 4:8). In fact, perhaps that is why some of the Egyptians chose to leave Egypt when Israel did, because they feared and had respect for Israel’s God (Exodus 12:38).

It must be emphasized here that God was not determining the eternal destiny of Pharaoh when He chose to harden Pharaoh’s heart. Rather, God was using Pharaoh’s own desires to further God’s own purposes for delivering the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, thus furthering salvation history. In the same way that the sun that melts wax also hardens clay, so the same sovereign mercy of God displayed on behalf of a nation of Israelite slaves was received by some hearts, but resisted by others.

As believers, we also were once a “nation of unrighteous slaves” before God chose to display His sovereign grace on behalf of a lost world by sending His Son to become our Deliverer. In the same way that the sun that melts wax also hardens clay, so the same sovereign mercy of God displayed on behalf of all people on planet earth will be received by hearts that have been softened by the Spirit of God, but resisted by hearts that have become hardened to the Sovereign work of God though His Spirit.

Just as the sun melts wax, may our hearts continually melt with gratitude to God for His sovereign grace and mercy displayed towards each one of us in Jesus Christ. Let us continually remember that while we were dead in our sins Christ died for us in order to redeem us from sin’s slavery. If we do not resist the illuminating grace of God that has been poured out upon us by His Spirit, our hearts will remain soft and “melt within us” as we behold God’s sovereign love towards us revealed in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Link:  Election Determines History not Eternal Destiny

Accepting God's Goodness

By Hazel Holland

The Bible tells us that we as believers are the righteousness of God in Christ (Romans 3:21-26). Therefore, as believers we can boldly say to the enemy when he tempts us to doubt God's love for us, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ!"

I don't have a righteousness of my own, but I'm wholly dependent on the righteousness of the blood of Jesus Christ. So when I'm reminded of my shortcomings, and I battle the accusations of the enemy, I can still say, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ, and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin, and sets me free from the lies of the enemy!"

When I'm having a difficult time forgiving someone who has hurt me, I can still say, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ! Since the blood of Jesus Christ has already forgiven them, I choose to forgive them, too."

When I'm faced with sickness or I'm grieving over the loss of a loved one, I can still say, "I am the righteousness of God in Christ! The blood of Jesus Christ heals me and comforts me in my loss."

What if I were to live my life each day recognizing that what God says about me is true? No matter what circumstance I find myself in, I am the righteousness of God in Christ!

Would the truth of what God has said about me make a difference in the way I live my life? Would I relate differently with the people around me? Would I begin to long to share with others the power of His resurrection?

I can't earn the righteousness of God that He freely gives me in Christ. I can only accept God's goodness. I can't work at it or make myself more worthy to receive it. No. It is God's free gift to me. It is a blessing of the gospel.

As believers in the finished work of Jesus Christ, you and I are the righteousness of God in Christ. I want to live the rest of my life with this truth firmly fixed in my mind and spirit. How about you?

Deliverance from "Correct Theology"

By Hazel Holland

Having grown up in the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) church, I was taught that everything I believed could fit tidily into an assortment of various little SDA “boxes” of truth. This belief system claimed it had an answer for every teaching in Adventism and a Scripture, or a quote from Ellen White to prove it.

Although it’s been a number of years now since I left the SDA church, I recognize that growing up on the “proof text” method of understanding the Bible has left many of us unable to read the Bible as it is, and be comfortable with paradoxes that we don’t understand. Our comfort level is upset, and we feel compelled to try and harmonize paradoxes that threaten our belief system. To a certain extent I would venture to say that this is true of most belief systems.

However, the Bible is full of paradoxes. Some can be explained by rational thought, but others cannot. Sometimes my view of God is far too small, and sometimes my view of man is far too big. I believe the Scriptures reveal truths regarding God and man that, as hard as I try, I cannot logically reconcile.

For instance, I believe that God predestines, and that everything is fore-ordained, but at the same time I believe that man is responsible for all his actions and choices. These two biblical truths seem to logically contradict each other. In our human endeavor to try and figure out the mind of God revealed in Scripture, do we sometimes forget that we lack wisdom and understanding, and that God’s thoughts are higher than our thoughts?

Could it be that these two biblical truths, along with other apparently contradictory biblical truths, are like two parallel lines? For centuries man has been diligently trying to discover where they converge. My answer right now is that they converge somewhere in eternity in the heart of God. Someday in eternity we will understand. Until then we must live with the paradox, trust that God knows all things, and has chosen to reveal to us what is necessary for our salvation, and not try to twist and distort the Scriptures in order to make sense of what we don’t understand.

The Scriptures tell us that “God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” and “Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:3-6). So I need to believe what the Bible says before I believe what a certain orthodoxy (for example: Calvinism or Arminianism) says about that Scripture. When the Holy Spirit tells us “all men” He means all men, not “some men.” However, although He desires that all men be saved, we know that some men will be lost, because they do not choose God back. They choose to reject His offer of grace.

We human beings have been struggling for years to somehow posses a self-consistent creed that will logically explain every truth in the Bible. However, in doing this, we are in great danger of throwing out much of divine revelation because we can’t reconcile it. We minimize one teaching in God’s Word, because we can’t understand how it fits together with another teaching. So we choose one teaching over another instead of choosing to believe both.

Another danger we need to face is that in our desire for logical consistency in interpreting God’s Word, we end up ignoring, rejecting or twisting Scripture that doesn’t fit our chosen theology or belief system. This happens, not only in Adventism, but in every belief system. Unfortunately, in doing this we become our own ultimate authority, our own god.

I believe that theology is a good thing as long as it’s a reflection of what the Scriptures teach, and helps us understand it better. However, when theology replaces Scripture’s authority, and causes us to reinterpret Scripture rather than accept it by faith, then it gets in the way of shedding light on God’s Word. Wherever Scripture seems to teach apparently contradictory ideas, shouldn’t our theology embrace those ideas, rather than reject part of God's revealed Word? I believe so.

My prayer is that as we read Scripture, we will ask the Holy Spirit to help us embrace the full breadth of God's revealed truth even when it disturbs out comfort zones. After all is said and done, our faith must not rest in our correct theology. Correct theology will not save us or give us the rest that our souls desire. Our faith must rest in the finished work of Jesus Christ, the One to whom all Scripture points.

I believe that God is calling us as His beloved children, no matter what theological camp we are in, to lay down our burden of “correct theology” at the foot of the cross. He wants to deliver us from our burden of “striving to be right”. All our correct theology and striving to be right will not save us, or bring us the rest that our souls desire.

In exchange for our “correct theology” and “striving to be right”, the Holy Spirit wants to reveal to us the Good News of what God has already done for us in Jesus Christ. After we release our “good” works at the foot of the cross we will be free to enter into the joy of His “good” work. We will be free to enter into His rest, and compelled to share Jesus Christ’s work of victory for us with the rest of God’s children.

Grace Under Fire

By Hazel Holland

The sovereignty of God’s grace was brought home afresh to me recently while reading an article entitled, “The Pelagian Captivity of the Church” http://www.bible-researcher.com/sproul1.html.

After studying and pondering the seriousness of the subject, I began to better understand why I was hit so heavily by the Spirit when I read the title. Multitudes in Evangelical Christianity do not understand the truth of how a man is justified before God because Pelagianism has taken the gospel captive by its erroneous teachings.

Although Christianity initially turned the ancient world upside down with the Good News of God's way of reaching man, this central truth of how a man is justified before God was so contrary to classical thought that the world desperately opposed it, it was never fully accepted by the Church, and finally it was fiercely attacked by the papal system which grew out of the early church.

Pelagianism

So in order to further understand what Pelagianism is, let’s take a brief look at the teachings of the man who advocated these ideas. Pelagius, a monk who lived in the fifth century, believed that there was no such thing as original sin. Contrary to the Scriptures that tell us we are sinful from the moment of conception, he believed that Adam’s sin only affected Adam, and that there was no transference of guilt or corruption to Adam’s offspring. Pelagius believed that human beings are born without a natural inclination toward sin. However, the Scriptures tell us just the opposite.1

Additionally, Pelagius believed that it was possible for a person to live a life of moral perfection without any help from Jesus or the grace of God. He said that divine grace made it easier for you to be perfect, but you could actually be perfect without it.2

Augustine, a contemporary of Pelagius, vehemently disagreed with these aberrant teachings. He insisted that ever since the Fall our human nature has been infected by sin to the very core of our being. Consequently, we don’t have the moral power within ourselves to cooperate with the grace of God, because our human will is in bondage to its evil desires and inclinations.

Eventually, Pelagius was condemned as a heretic. Although Pelagianism ceased to exist as a movement after the 6th century, its erroneous ideas continued to live on and cause disputes within the Church.

Semi-Pelagianism

However, some within the Church continued to believe what is now called semi-Pelagianism. They believed that while we can’t be saved without grace, we are not so fallen that we don’t have the ability to cooperate with God’s grace on our own. Although our will is weakened, it’s not enslaved by sin. However the Scriptures do not describe humanity as being only partially tainted by sin.

Semi-Pelagianism taught that there remains in the core of our being a “little island of righteousness” that is untouched by the Fall. So when God reaches out to us, we must exercise that “little island of righteousness” that is at the core of our being, and take the important step that will determine whether we go to heaven or hell.

That “little island of righteousness” was mythical as far as Augustine was concerned, and the Church initially agreed. It condemned semi-Pelagianism as fervently as it had condemned Pelagianism.

Yet, by the time of the sixteenth century Reformation, the Church had done an about-face on the concept. It renounced what Augustine taught, and re-embraced semi-Pelagianism. The papal Church decided there still remains this “little island of righteousness” intact in the human will. They taught that if we cooperate by using whatever powers we have left, we will be saved.3

The Reformation Struggle

So how did the Reformers understand the human will to operate in relation to salvation? At the time of the Reformation, all the reformers agreed that we as fallen human beings are morally unable to incline ourselves to the things of God, because we do not have free will. They believed, as did Paul, Augustine and many others, that there was no such thing as a “little island of righteousness” at the core of our being. They understood that the sinner’s entire salvation is by free and sovereign grace only. They believed that apart from God’s sovereign grace, we are enslaved to Satan and sin, and unable to save ourselves. Hence the slogan, “sola gratia.”

In order to be saved, the Reformers believed that all people everywhere are totally dependent, one hundred percent of the time, upon the Divine work of regeneration in order to come to faith in Jesus Christ. Furthermore, they stressed that faith itself is a gift of God.4 Faith comes by way of grace from the Spirit that moves as the wind, blowing wherever it pleases so that we “were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” John 1:13 (NASB). Again, Paul emphasizes, “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” Romans 9:16 (NASB).

The truth is not that when we hear the offer of salvation we will be born again if we choose to believe. No. That’s backwards. But my guess is that this is the way most of us have been taught and believed. The truth is, we can’t even believe until God in His grace and mercy first changes the disposition of our souls through His sovereign work of regeneration.

In other words, what the reformers all agreed upon was that unless a man is born again, he can’t even see the kingdom of God, let alone choose to enter it. And being born again is the fruit, NOT the cause of the regeneration that is wrought in us by the Spirit of God. So the necessary condition for anybody’s faith and anybody’s salvation is always regeneration.5

Regeneration must come first, because we are not just sick in our sin, we are dead. When we were born into this world we were born spiritually “dead on arrival”. We are spiritually stillborn. I’ve heard some people liken our condition to the swimmer who gets leg cramps in the ocean and calls out to the lifeguard to be rescued. However, the truth is, we’ve been lying for days at the bottom of the ocean, unable to breathe or cry out for help, because we’re already dead!

This is why the gospel is indeed good news! We sinful human beings, dead in our sins, spiritually stillborn, can do absolutely no good thing to save ourselves, or to cause God to accept us. God sovereignly chooses to bring us back from being spiritually dead by regenerating us by the work of His Spirit. We are justified, NOT by our own works, but by the saving work of God through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This essential truth of the New Testament that teaches that man is justified by the work of Another, Jesus Christ, became the central article of our Christian faith and gave birth to the rallying cry of the Protestant Reformation.

Sola Scripture

Let’s take a brief look at the Scriptures and see how they line up with the Reformation teaching on the human will in relation to salvation. The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus Christ came into the world to save us from our sins.

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins" Matthew 1:21 (NASB).

“…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners…” 1 Timothy 1:15 (NASB).

“For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all” 1 Timothy 2:5-6 (NASB).

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him” John 3:17 NASB).

The Bible tells us that we are sinners by nature, because sin entered the world through Adam.

“Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” Ephesians 2:3 (NASB).

“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” Psalm 51:5 (NASB).

“Therefore, just as through one man (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned…” Romans 5:12 (NASB).

The Bible also teaches us that we cannot come to Jesus Christ to be saved unless the Father first draws us. Our salvation depends on the Father drawing us by His Spirit before we can ever respond to the gospel invitation to come to Jesus Christ and be saved.

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out” John 6:37 (NASB).

“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him… Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me” John 6:44-45 (NASB).

And why must the Father first draw us before we can come to Jesus Christ? Because our human wills are enslaved to sin. Here are some Scriptures that shed light on our enslaved wills before the Father draws us.

“…if perhaps God may grant them repentance… and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will” 2 Timothy 2:24-26 (NASB).

“Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness” Romans 6:16 (NASB).

“For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin” Romans 7:14 (NASB).

“They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved” 2 Peter 2:19 (NIV).

The Bible teaches us that we are morally unable as fallen human beings to incline ourselves toward the things of God. We are so totally powerless to do good that we cannot of ourselves choose God. We are unable to do God's will because were affected by the fall of Adam, contrary to what Pelagius taught. Therefore, our salvation is entirely a work of God from start to finish. We make absolutely no contribution to it at all.

“They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one” Psalm 14:3; Psalm 53:3 (NASB).

“All have turned aside, together they have become useless, there is no one who does good, there is not even one” Romans 3:12 (NASB).

“And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone’” Mark 10:18 (NASB).

This all means that we are TOTALLY dependent on the Holy Spirit’s work of regeneration in order to come to faith and salvation in Jesus Christ. It is not that we will be born again if we choose to believe. We can’t even believe until God first changes our souls through his sovereign work of grace. In other words, unless a man is born again, he can’t even see the kingdom of God. He has to see it first before he can ever enter it.

So if we manifest genuine faith in Jesus Christ, it is because God has sovereignly chosen us first. He has called us to Himself, and put within us the ability to believe and respond to the Gospel message. God has breathed life into our dead wills and quickened our power of choice by His Spirit so that we no longer remain dead and unresponsive to God.6 Sovereignly God regenerates us by His Spirit BEFORE we can ever choose to come to Him.

“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit…” John 15:6 (NASB).

“And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air…” Ephesians 2:1-2 (NASB).

Let’s summarize what we have learned so far. Our salvation does NOT depend upon our will, because our will is enslaved by sin. Rather, our salvation depends on the Father first drawing us by His Spirit BEFORE we can ever exercise our will to choose to accept Jesus Christ.

After God chose us and called us to Himself, He gave us the gift of faith so that we can choose to believe the gospel. Furthermore, the faith that receives Christ for justification is itself the free gift of a sovereign God. It is the God-given means whereby God-given justification is received. Faith is NOT a condition of justification which is left for us to fulfill.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB).

Upheaval of Faith

As we look back and study church history we see so much debate and strife over the different ways people have interpreted the Scriptures regarding this whole subject of how we are saved. I do not plan to even go into any of that right now, except to briefly mention one of America’s most revered evangelists of the nineteenth century, Charles Finney. Since Finney’s teachings have had such a profound influence on the Evangelical church, particularly here in America, I want to briefly address how he understood the human will in relation to salvation.

What is disturbing to me is that in no uncertain terms Charles Finney viciously attacked the doctrine of justification by faith alone and the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ. He adamantly believed that we didn’t need the imputation of the Christ’s righteousness. He also believed that there was no such thing as original sin. Here are several quotes taken from Finney’s Works.

“Gospel Justification is not the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Under the gospel, sinners are not justified by having the obedience of Jesus Christ set down to their account, as if He had obeyed the law for them, or in their stead. I can only say that this idea is absurd and impossible, for this reason, that Jesus Christ was bound to obey the law for Himself, and could no more perform works of supererogation, or obey on our account, than anybody else.”

“When we say that men are justified by faith and holiness… we mean that they are treated as if they were righteous, on account of their faith and works of faith.”7

“Do you wonder what influence Adam's sin has had in producing the sin of his posterity? It has subjected them to aggravated temptation but has by no means rendered their nature in itself sinful.”8 “Sinners make their own wicked hearts”.9

Finney adamantly wanted nothing to do with original sin, a substitutionary atonement, or the supernatural character of the new birth, and he proceeded to attack “the article by which the church stands or falls”— justification by grace alone through faith alone.”10 Finney insisted that justification ultimately hinges on the believer's own performance, not Christ's.11

Finney not only rejected the biblical essentials of justification by faith alone through grace alone, but he also abandoned the authority and sufficiency of Scripture, as revealed by his constant appeal to rationalism in support of his new theology. In essence, the movement that Finney led represents the wholesale abandonment of historic Protestant principles.12

If the Reformers are correct in their assessment that the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and the substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ are essential and biblical truths of Christianity, then Charles Finney was a full-blown Pelagianist. Despite the fact that he is a patron saint of twentieth-century Evangelicalism, and in the Hall of Fame of Evangelical Christianity in America, was he really a Christian?13

Are Finney’s denials of historic Protestant principles allowed to sit unnoticed in our evangelical Hall of Fame because in our tolerant age of discomfort with biblical doctrine we want to avoid almost all disagreement? Although Finney is a hero to many evangelicals, I believe no man is more responsible for distorting Christian truth, particularly the doctrine of salvation.14

What is additionally troubling to me is that our modern "evangelistic efforts" have been modeled after Finney’s evangelism style, including his embracing the heresy of Pelagianism. Adventism (my former belief system) also grew out of the same stream of theology from which Methodism arose, and Charles Finney's aberrant teachings.

As I ponder the implications of what all this means, I’m forced to ask some very difficult questions. Have multitudes of people been "accepting" Jesus Christ by human will power, rather than by a Spirit-created act based on humanity's total spiritual bankruptcy? Having started off wrong, have multitudes of people, continued to try to live the Christian life by continuing to rely on willpower they don't really have?15 Although many may say "Lord, Lord," do they know Jesus Christ? More importantly, does He know them?

Although most people within the Evangelical church today believe that nobody’s perfect, according to a recent George Barna poll, many people within the church believe that man is basically good. But that’s NOT what the Scriptures teach us. God says that no one is good, not even one.

“Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil” Jeremiah 13:23 (NIV).

To say that we’re basically good is the Pelagian view, not the biblical view. We do not have the capacity within ourselves to turn from sin and do what is right and good. God must first choose us, and draw us to Himself. Then as He sovereignly regenerates our human hearts and frees our wills, we can choose Him back.

Yes, we are surrounded by Pelagianism and semi-Pelagianism in the church and in our culture. This false teaching that denies the truth about our fallen condition, and God’s sovereign grace in saving us is so pervasive in Evangelicalism today that it is hard to find a church that is really biblical. In fact, I’m going out on the limb to say that modern day evangelicalism has more in common with Rome and Pelagius than historical and biblical Christianity.

So here’s the Big Question. Is our salvation wholly of God, or does it partially depend on something we do for ourselves? Let’s remember, relying on our faith response to Jesus Christ is just as bad as relying on our works. It is still a false view of salvation and is not Biblical. Relying on our faith response means that we turn faith into a meritorious work (sound Catholic?), and deny the sovereignty of God in saving us. It means that we turn our backs on the central article of faith that was the very lifeblood of the Reformation. It means that we are more Catholic than Protestant.

In essence, to rely on ourselves for faith is no different in principle than to rely on ourselves for works. For saving faith, in and of itself is a gift from God. It’s not something we have in and of ourselves. Faith doesn’t rise up from within us. No. It’s God grace that gives faith to us in the first place. Jesus words still ring true. “No man can come to me unless it is given to him of the Father.”

Spirit-led Protest

Ponder with me for a moment what has happened to Protestantism since the time of the Reformation. Is the gospel of grace—the central pillar upon which the Reformation stood, still standing today? Or is the center pillar falling as the Evangelical church fails to understand man's nature and weakness, and so pursues a different gospel and a different Jesus?

Initially, the truth of how a man is justified before God blazed its way through the Western world like a wild fire as it changed the course of human history. Now man’s experience and man’s good works seem to be taking the center stage in almost every church instead of what God has done. But the gospel does not talk about man’s experience or man’s good works.

Instead, the gospel talks about what God has done through Christ’s experience, and Christ’s good work. The gospel does not tell us how man can get to God. Instead the gospel tells us God's way of reaching man. The gospel is the record of what God has done, not the record of what God has done in man.

Protestantism was born out of protest as believers refused to allow the blinding light of the gospel to be extinguished. Although many perished at the stake for their protest against the heresy of the Church, the truth of the recovered gospel continues to shine forth.

Will there be another Reformation? I don’t know. Will believers in the body of Christ be led by the Spirit to protest against a thinly-veiled version of Pelagianism that is destroying the central article of Christian faith today? I don’t know. But I do know that the center pillar of our faith is no longer standing. It’s falling! God’s grace is under fire! How will we respond? My prayer is that we will be among those who protest so that the blinding light of what God has sovereignly done for man will continue to shine forth into hungry hearts.

Footnotes:

1.See Psalm 51:5; Romans 3:10-18; Romans 5:12.

2.http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Pelagianism.

3.http://www.bible-researcher.com/sproul1.html

4.Our salvation is brought about by God's grace alone and for His glory alone. http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/Murphy01.html

5.http://www.bible-researcher.com/sproul1.html.

6.Thoughts shared by a friend.

7.http://www.gospeltruth.net/1837LTPC/lptc05_just_by_faith.htm.

8.http://www.gospeltruth.net/finney-101/101serm/101-royalpardon.htm.

9.http://www.gospeltruth.net/1836SOIS/01sois_sinners_bound.htm.

10.http://www.mtio.com/articles/aissar81.htm.

11.http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/articles/finney.htm.

12. http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/articles/finney.htm.

13.Thoughts shared by a friend.

14.http://www.mtio.com/articles/aissar81.htm.

15.Thoughts shared by a friend.

See: http://www.bible-researcher.com/sproul1.html.