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The God-Man

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This is a chapter from my book, God, I Don't Understand.

Kenneth Boa

Website: http://www.kenboa.org
Commentary: http://www.kenboa.org/blog
Follow: http://twitter.com/kennethboa
Connect on Facebook: Kenneth Boa

 

I. Introduction

Jesus Christ Himself, the central figure of Christianity, is really a biblical mystery. Many portions of Scripture completely affirm His deity, showing that at no time did He lose His divine nature. Yet the Bible teaches, equally strongly, that Christ became fully human.

II. His Deity

Christ receives divine titles in the Word of God. The familiar prologue to the Gospel of John reads, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God” (John 1:1 NET Bible). John makes it clear that this Word is Jesus Christ: “Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.” (John 1:14). Jesus Christ is therefore called God in John 1:1.

The same is true of this passage: but of the Son he says, 'Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and a righteous scepter is the scepter of your kingdom' (Heb. 1:8).

Paul addresses Christ as God when he says, “… as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13; see 2 Peter 1:1).

The Gospel of John records Thomas’ response to the resurrected Christ: “Thomas replied to him, 'My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:28).

Jesus Christ is called the Son of God in numerous passages (Luke 3:22; Matt. 16:15-17; John 10:36). He is also called Lord in many passages (1 Cor. 12:3; Phil. 2:11).

Jesus Christ not only accepted worship due only to God but also demanded it (Matt. 4:10; John 5:23). Christ claimed to be the supreme object of faith, demanding of men the same kind of faith that they placed in God (John 17:1-3). He said, “The Father and I are one” (John 10:30).

The scriptural case for the fact that Jesus Christ is God is further supported by Christ’s divine attributes and words. He is eternal (John 17:5; Heb. 1:11-12), omnipresent (Matt. 28:20), and omnipotent (Heb. 1:3). The Scriptures show Him to be the Creator of all things (John 1:3; Col 1:16; Heb. 1:2), the One who holds all things in the universe together (Col. 1:17; Heb. 1:3). He alone as God offers forgiveness of sins (Luke 5:20-24), and all men will face Him in judgment (John 5:24-28). Thus, the fact of Christ’s full deity has clear biblical support.

III. His Humanity

The Bible builds an equally clear case in support of Christ’s full humanity subsequent to the Incarnation. Several passages indicate that Christ had a human birth (Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 2:4-21; John 1:14; 1 Tim. 3:15; 1 John 4:1-3). He also had a human development (Luke 2:52). He had all the human elements: a body (John 2:21), a soul (John 12:27), and a spirit (Luke 23:46).

In addition, just as Christ had divine names, He also had human names such as “man” (1 Tim. 2:5), “Son of man” (Luke 19:10), and “Son of David” (Mark 10:47). Christ possessed all of the human limitations except sin. He got tired, hungry, thirsty, sorrowful, and He died.

The Bible, therefore, gives clear testimony to the humanity as well as the complete deity of Jesus Christ. Paul summarizes this: “For in him all the fullness of deity lives in bodily form” (Col. 2:9).

The mystery here lies in the fact that humanity is not the same as deity. If Jesus were 50 percent God and 50 percent man (as some have taught), there would be no problem, since one-half plus one-half equals one. But the Bible does not allow this because it testifies that Jesus is a total man and fully God. Even though it is easy to make a statement like this, there is no way in which it can be truly comprehended because one plus one does not equal one. It is like trying to put one quart of water and one quart of oil into a one-quart container.

Human reasoning denies that one can be fully human and fully divine, but the Bible tells us that is the case with Jesus Christ.

IV. Three Alternatives

When someone realizes that the Scriptures reveal Christ to be the complete God-man, he has three basic alternatives.

· First, he may decide to reject this revelation because it does not make sense to him. Such a rejection would diminish or completely erase the authority of the Word of God in his mind.

· Second, he can try to reason it out, reword it, or illustrate it, as though it could be resolves like a paradox. In this case the issue is skirted by minimizing certain Scriptures or avoiding a direct collision with the implications of the biblical data on this point.

· The third alternative is to acknowledge that no analogies or illustrations will really solve the puzzle, and that the complete authority of the Word of God must be recognized, no matter how difficult some of its implications may be. All the biblical data is accepted by faith, and reason is made subject to revelation. Only when the Bible is approached in this way can intellectual satisfaction be attained.

There is a parallel to this in the area of salvation. A person without Christ will not rid himself of his doubts about Christianity until he decides to accept Christ’s gift by faith. Satisfaction and peace then follow as a natural by-product.

It is unfortunate that, historically, most people confronted by this mystery have chosen one or the other of the first two alternatives. They have either rejected the biblical testimony concerning the God-man or they have juggled or ignored certain passages in an attempt to make this compatible with human comprehension. This has led to two inevitable extremes.

One extreme is to reject the deity of Jesus Christ, thus reducing Him to the level of being a man only. Often people will try to reduce the thrust of this approach by throwing in a few kind words. They say that Jesus was indeed a “great teacher” or a “true prophet.” Statements like these shouldn’t fool anyone, since almost all false systems want to give lip-service to Jesus and put Him on their bandwagon in spite of their rejection of His deity.

The implications of this extreme undermine all of Christianity. It would mean among other things that the Bible is not true and salvation is still not available, since the death of a mere man (no matter how noble he may have been) cannot provide the infinite purchase price required to redeem other men from their sins. This would leave all of us in deep trouble, since no one can hope to please a holy God with his own efforts.

This first extreme viewpoint concerning the God-man would imply that it is an utter waste of time to study the Scriptures and get into Christianity at all. If Christ is not God, the Bible is wrong, there is no salvation, and each person must become his own authority for “truth”.

The opposite extreme is equally devastating. In this case, the deity of Christ is affirmed, but His humanity is minimized or rejected. Interestingly, the results of this extreme are essentially the same as those of the first extreme. The Bible would not be the Word of God, and salvation would not be available for men.

Since the Bible makes it clear that Jesus Christ was completely human, a rejection of His humanity is tantamount to a rejection of the Bible. And salvation would not be available because the substitutionary atonement requires that Jesus Christ must die as a man to bear judgment for the sins of all men. As Scripture says, “ … there is one God and one intermediary between God and humanity, Christ Jesus, himself human, who gave himself as a ransom for all, revealing God’s purpose at his appointed time” (1 Tim. 2:5-6). The Messiah could not have become the mediator between God and man apart from becoming the God-man by taking on human flesh. Many other important biblical doctrines would be destroyed with the notion that Christ never became a man, but the two that have been discussed here (God’s revelation to man and His provision of a Savior) are the most critical.

V. Errors through the Centuries

Church history affords a number of illustrations of how people have tried either to reject or rationalize this God-man mystery. The two erroneous extremes just discussed have appeared in many forms throughout the centuries and will continue to arise as long as people refuse to bow to the authority of God’s revelation of Himself in the Scriptures.

The Gnostics were among the first who perverted the Biblical doctrine of the God-man. Because of their dualistic conviction that matter is evil, they refused to believe in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Theirs was a form of Docetism, a doctrine that taught Christ only seemed to have a real body. They believed that Christ tricked the evil god of the Old Testament at the Crucifixion because His body was not real.

The Apostle John fought against the developing Gnosticism of his day and urged his readers to “test the spirits,” for “every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:1-3; see 2 John 7). John was vehemently opposed to this denial of the full humanity of Jesus, calling it “the spirit of the antichrist.”

Another controversy related to the issue of the God-man was generated in part by Arius of Alexandria in the early fourth century. Arius said that Christ was different from God and was of another substance. The conflict that arose from this led to the important Council of Nicea in A.D. 325.

Opposition to the deity of Christ was soon followed by a return to the other extreme. Apollinaris held a docetic view of Christ, saying that Christ was not truly human. Apollinaris placed his reason above Scripture and refused to accept that both the human and the divine nature were in Christ.

Nestorius was another church leader who stumbled over this mystery. He ended up with two persons, saying that Jesus as a man was energized by the logos of God. This was effectively a denial of the complete deity of Jesus Christ.

Eutyches, in the fifth century, arrived at the unusual viewpoint that Christ was neither truly human nor divine, but was a “tertium quid” (a “third other”).

Following this, there arose the Monophysite group, who stressed the divine nature in Christ and minimized His human nature to such an extent that His humanity was divested of all but a few human characteristics. That represented another swing back of the docetic (not completely human) view of Christ.

Though representatives of both extremes regarding the God-man continued to persist, the major christological controversies beginning with the seventh century centered more on the work than on the person of Jesus Christ. The next major group to deny the deity of Christ in favor of His humanity were the Socinians in the sixteenth century. Since that time the most common trend in avoiding the God-man mystery has been a simple rejection of the biblical testimony concerning the deity of Christ. This has been supported in large measure by eighteenth- and nineteenth-century philosophy, the evolutionary hypothesis, and higher criticism. The docetic extreme of minimizing the true humanity of Christ was more common in the days of the early church and is not often found today.

VI. Other False Views of Christ

Outside of the main lines of church history, many more examples of the two extremes (a denial of Christ’s deity or of His humanity) can be found by looking into the beliefs of cults and Eastern religion concerning the person of Jesus Christ. Several of these religions regard Christ as simply another prophet sent by God to help enlighten the people of His day. Along with this goes the claim that other prophets with an even greater message have succeeded Jesus, and people of today should first listen to them (for instance, Muhammad, Baha’u’lah, and more recently, Sun Myung Moon). Other groups think of Jesus as “divine” in the same pantheistic sense in which all men are divine, thus rejecting Christ’s exclusive claims.

Another popular approach, which has been supported by various esoteric and occult teachings, is the separation of Jesus from Christ. This is an old idea that goes back to second- and third-century Monarchianism. Some, like Paul of Samosata, taught that “the Christ” (the divine power) descended upon the man Jesus at His baptism and left Him just prior to His crucifixion. This has been extended by some today into the idea that all of us can have this divine power or “Christ consciousness” within us.

All these erroneous teachings concerning the God-man place faith in human reason above God’s revelation. Thus it is imperative for each true believer in Christ to accept by faith all the scriptural data. He must not rationalize or disregard those elements that tax his comprehension, or he will be guilty of subjectively choosing those parts of the Bible he likes and eliminating the rest.

VII. Some Related Issues

At his point, it may be helpful to deal specifically with some of the practical problems and questions related to the God-man antinomy. Remember, since these problems are related directly to a true mystery, by definition there can be no really satisfying solutions to them on a human level. They only illustrate the nature and implications of the mystery of the God-man.

One related issue is the preexistence and eternality of Christ prior to His incarnation. Many Old and New Testament passages make it clear that Christ existed before He was born of Mary and that there never was a time when Christ was not (Micah 5:2; John 1:1-2, 8:58).

Christ has always existed without a body apart from time and space as equal with the Father and with the Holy Spirit. He was always the Son of God by eternal generation from the Father (footnote 1).

Yet, while He is the same One who has forever existed, in another way He is different. Before He became man He always possessed a divine nature, but since that time He now possesses a divine-human nature (the word nature referring to essential qualities or intrinsic properties). He still subsists as the same Person but He is now a divine-human Person.

This concept, that there is now a God-man in heaven and that Christ now has a divine-human nature, affects the Trinitarian relationship because Christ is part of the Godhead. There is a close relationship between the two mysteries of the God-man and the Trinity. But even though Christ will forever have a body He never possessed in eternity past, God’s immutability remains: He has not changed in His essence or in His subsistence (mode of being).

It was the will or decree of God from the councils of eternity past that Jesus Christ would take on human flesh and human nature in the context of God’s space-time creation. This timeless plan provided that Christ would have a divine-human nature while remaining a single personality (see John 1:1-14; 1 John 1:1-3; Phil. 2:6-1). Part of the problem here is the question of what controlled the interaction of these two 100 percent entities.

It would not be accurate to say that “Jesus did this out of His humanity,” or “He did that out of His deity.” This would divide the personality of Jesus and imply that the association between Christ’s humanity and His deity is mutually exclusive. The real affiliation between the human and the divine in the person of Jesus Christ is an unsolvable mystery, since no one has the intellectual capacities to relate to such a combination.

The concept of God’s revelation in Christ, the God-man, was so overwhelming to the philosopher Soren Kierkegaard that he called it “the absolute paradox” (footnote 2). This was part of the basis for his “leap of faith” into the unknown, into the fact that cannot be a fact. For Kierkegaard, the absolute paradox is a scandal to reason because it simultaneously unites the nonhistorical with the historical in the person of the God-man. Because of this, Kierkegaard believed that faith and reason cannot be harmonized. Most Christian scholars part company with him on this point.

VIII. The Problem of the Kenosis

The great passage that describes the kenosis (self-emptying) of Jesus Christ is Philippians 2:5-11. The kenosis is related directly to Christ’s nature as God and man, and verses 6-8 portray what was involved: “who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross!

Some have tried to argue from this passage that Christ surrendered His deity in becoming a man. These verses do not support this view but instead teach that the union of Christ to unglorified humanity was the supreme picture of His extreme humility and condescension based on His love for men.

Also involved in Christ’s self-emptying is His voluntary nonuse of some of His attributes, particularly omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence. This does not mean that He surrendered these attributes. He could not do so without losing His deity since these attributes are part of God’s nature.

Voluntary nonuse means that He personally willed not to exercise them on most occasions while He was on earth. Christ veiled His resplendent glory from His birth to His ascension, but He was not divested of this intrinsic glory any more than placing a filter over a floodlight diminishes the brightness of the lamp itself. On at least two occasions this veil was taken away for a short time (at the Transfiguration and in the Garden of Gethsemane). In summary, the Creator of the heavens and the earth humbled Himself to become a perfect man.

The doctrine of the kenosis of Christ raises other questions. One is, How could He have learned anything when He was a child, if He was at the same time the omniscient God? How could it be said that Jesus as God “learned obedience through the things he suffered” (Heb. 5:8)? The impenetrable answer to this must lie in the nature of how Christ could voluntarily not use His omniattributes for periods of time. Somehow the omniscient Lord Jesus was able to veil His omniscience from Himself without diminishing His deity or perfection. As a man He required a preparation period before He could begin His public ministry, and it could be said that “… Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and with people” (Luke 2:52).

Another question pertinent to Christ’s childhood concerns His ability to control His miraculous resources. Jesus needed to mature or “grow” in four basic areas: intellectually (”wisdom”), physically (”stature”), spiritually and socially (”in favor with God and men”). With respect to His human nature, Christ needed to mature, but from the standpoint of His divine nature Jesus as God cannot mature, but is always perfect.

It is difficult to comprehend how the interaction of Christ’s dual nature worked in such a way that He always had perfect physical and mental control over His supernatural abilities.

The idea of a human with superhuman endowment has always intrigued the popular mind. Variations on this theme have been developed in the areas of science fiction (with cyborgs and men of superhuman intelligence), children’s comic books and television shows and films (especially “super heroes” like Superman), and the alluring promises of supernatural abilities offered by witchcraft, the occult, and the black arts.

In reality, because of the problem of sin, a person’s powers are directly proportional to is potential for wickedness and destruction. For example, if a person like Superman really existed, the world or at least a large proportion of mankind would probably have been destroyed long before he reached maturity due to some fit of anger when he was a child. Even if the world did survive his maturation, people everywhere would be gripped by his controlling hand, waiting in dread for his next odious impulse or appetite to become law.

We can thank God that Jesus Christ’s limitless abilities were wonderfully controlled and exercised because of His undiminished deity and perfect humanity. Christ was always motivated by love and compassion for men and was incapable of sinning because He could not go against His own nature as God.

Another question that relates to Christ’s early childhood and His voluntary nonuse of His omniscience during most of His time on earth concerns His knowledge of His own person and ministry. How much of His destiny did He know, and when did He realize He was the Messiah? Luke indicates that at least by the age of twelve Jesus was clearly aware of His identity as the Son of God (2:49). As for His complete awareness of His mission as the substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of the world, the Gospels show that Jesus had a clear knowledge of this at least by the time He was baptized by John.

Since the Scripture are mostly silent about Jesus’ life before He began his public ministry, a more definite answer to these questions cannot be given. It lies within the mystery of how He could know all things as God and voluntarily choose to limit His knowledge at the same time.

Incidentally, these eighteen to twenty “silent years” in Christ’ life from age twelve (Luke 3:1-22) have been seized by representatives from various religions, cultic and occult, in an attempt to diminish Christ’s deity and reduce Him to the level of a precursor of these false systems.

Some, for instance, have taught that He derived most of his teachings from the Essene community during this period of time. Others say He spent some of these years in India, where He was initiated into the labyrinths of Hinduism. When evidence for this curious viewpoint is requested, they proudly reply that John the Baptist was Jesus’ guru!

Several apocryphal books have attempted to spice up these unknown years by ascribing bizarre miracles to Jesus’ ministry. This kind of preoccupation with things not revealed in Scripture is misguided, since God has purposely chosen to veil them. The apostle John said specifically, “There are many other things that Jesus did. If every one of them were written down, I suppose the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (21:25).

Other enigmatic questions concerning the God-man can be connected with the nature of the Virgin Birth. One such question might be, At what point before His birth did Jesus become the God-man?

Another passage that has an interesting bearing on the God-man mystery is the description of Christ's work in Colossians: “for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him … and all things are held together in him (1:16-17). Not only did the Lord Jesus cause all things to exist in the universe; He also continues to sustain His entire creation at all times and in all places. If Christ failed to hold creation together for a moment, all things in the heavens and on the earth would undergo atomic dissolution! This is precisely what will happen in the future when God destroys this universe and creates a new and eternal heaven and earth (2 Peter 3:10-13).

There is no way of knowing how the universe is being held together by Christ, but it may be related to the inexplicable force that holds the nuclei of all atoms together. The positively charged particles that are packed to closely together in atomic nuclei might be expected to repel each other because they have the same charge, and yet they remain compact. If this binding force in all atoms were removed, all matter in the universe would come apart, and all things could be reduced to pure energy.

The connection of this passage (Col 1:16-17) with the God-man mystery lies in the fact that, since Christ had a human body, He physically was composed of atoms and molecules. Christ, therefore, must literally have been holding Himself together while on earth. The word translated hold together (synistemi) can mean “continue, endure, exist, consist, or be composed” in this context (and in 2 Peter 3:5), where it is also connected with the existence or enduring of the heavens.

After His resurrection, Christ took on a new body of glorified flesh, a body suitable for a heavenly existence (see 1 Cor. 15:42-51). This is the same body that Jesus now possesses in heaven, and though it relates to the mystery of the resurrection body (see chap. 6), it can still be said that Christ as the self-existent God will forever continue to hold Himself together and maintain His consistence.

One final consideration concerning this mystery: How could Christ be temptable and impeccable (incapable of sinning) at the same time? These two facts are suggested in Hebrews. “For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin” (4:15).

Since being temptable and at the same time being impeccable is beyond our grasp, the only thing we can say is that His temptability is connected with His complete deity. Christ could not have sinned on any occasion for He is God. Yet, Christ was “tempted in every way just as we are.” The temptation was very real, for He was fully human.

IX. How Can We Model the God-man?

Christians are supposed to model their lives after Christ. “For to this you were called, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving an example for you to follow in his steps. He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:21-22; see also 1 Peter 1:14-16).

The question is, How can Christ be our example and model when He was also God? How can we follow in the steps of the One who committed no sin?

To some it seems almost unfair. But Paul says it can be done: “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). Here he is claiming that his life is so Christlike that others can and should imitate it.

How can our lives attain this quality? As it is often said, “The Christian life is not difficult - it’s impossible!” The solution is seen in Paul’s statement, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). Paul’s life of modeling Christ was possible only insofar as he appropriated the power of the indwelling God.

The Christian life, then, is a divine-human process. It is a supernatural, not a natural life. God has not told us “Here are the rules. Good luck!” Instead, all who have received Christ are indwelt by the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (John 14:17-23). Christians are empowered by the eternal Godhead, but we need to allow this power to control and transform our lives by faith.

The God-man’s life is, therefore, a valid model for all believers because the living indwelling God offers divine enablement to all Christians who want it. This divine-human process involved in the Christian life is mentioned by Paul: “… continue working out your salvation with awe and reverence, for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God” (Phil. 2:12-13). Verse 12 describes the human and verse 13 the divine role in the outworking of the Christian life.

The true humanity of Christ is graphically depicted by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. “During his earthly life Christ offered both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered. And by being perfected in this way, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Heb. 5:7-9). Christ offered up prayers and “learned obedience,” and He was empowered by the Holy Spirit and sustained by His heavenly Father. All Christians will do well to follow His example.

A person who is in Christ has the potential to choose not to sin in any given situation. Since he is indwelt by the living God, he can choose to “put on the new man who has been created in God’s image – in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth” (Eph. 4:24).

However, because the flesh (what Paul calls “a different law in my members waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my members” in Rom. 7:23) is still with us, the fact that we can choose not to sin on specific occasions does not mean that we can become sinlessly perfect in this life. The Apostle John makes it clear that until the flesh is removed from believers, we will continue to sin: “If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8; see 1:10-2:2). But since we have access to the supernatural power of God by grace through faith, the life of Christ is still a valid example for all of God’s children to follow. “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). Jesus walked in the power of the Holy Spirit, and Scripture calls us to do the same.

  • “I am the light of the world. The one who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).

     

  • “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty (John 6:35).

     

  • … Whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14).

     

  • Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well (Phil. 2:1-4).

     

Related Topics: Christology

Divine Sovereignty vs. Human Responsibility

Related Media

This is a chapter from my book, God, I Don't Understand.

Kenneth Boa

Website: http://www.kenboa.org
Commentary: http://www.kenboa.org/blog
Follow: http://twitter.com/kennethboa
Connect on Facebook: Kenneth Boa

 

I. Introduction

Mysteries are forced upon us by the facts of God’s Word; we are not inventing them ourselves. Since His written revelation teaches concepts that appear to be mutually exclusive, we must realize that with God both truths are friends, not enemies. In God’s higher rationality, things that we think must be either-or can in reality be both-and.

Thus, when the biblical facts warrant them, we can embrace incomprehensibles in the Bible and relate them to the omniscience and omnipotence of God. There is no need to abandon rationality for nonsense as the White Queen does in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass:

“I can’t believe that!” said Alice.

“Can’t you?” the Queen said in a pitying tone. “Try again: draw a long breath, and shut your eyes.”

Alice laughed. “There’s no use trying,” she said, “one can’t believe impossible things.”

“I dare say you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”1

Neither do we need to adopt Tertullian’s position: “I believe it because it is absurd.” Christians should say instead: “I believe it because God says it in the Bible.”

II. The General Problem

God has revealed to us in the Bible that He not only created all things but He also preplanned everything that would happen in His creation. He both knows everything that has happened and everything that is yet future. He actively decreed every detail of this reality, and He is sovereign over all. But here is where the mystery comes in: even though God is sovereign, man still has real responsibility and freedom in the choices he makes. These choices are his; he cannot blame God for them. And they will genuinely affect and modify the rest of his life.

Because this mystery more intimately affects us than most of the others, it is one of the most difficult to accept. When people face it, they tend to overemphasize one truth (God’s sovereignty) or the other (human responsibility). This produces a lack of balance.

This mystery manifests itself in different ways. For instance, it relates to the issue of election and faith in the doctrine of salvation, as we will see later in this chapter. It also relates to the problem of evil, that is, how evil could enter the creation without God being responsible for it. We will examine this age-old problem in chapter 5.

But first we need to demonstrate from the Word of God the truth of the two basic propositions in this mystery. Do the Scriptures really say that man is completely responsible for what he does even though God planned everything that would come to pass?

III. Divine Sovereignty

God is able to do anything He desires. “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2 NET Bible). “He does whatever he pleases in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the ocean depths” (Ps. 135:6). The Lord carries out everything exactly as planned.

“Certainly you must have heard! Long ago I worked it out, in ancient times I planned it; and now I am bringing it to pass” (2 Kings 19:25). “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a human being, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not establish it?” (Num. 23:19). All that God has preplanned is as good as done. Nothing can change it, for there is no authority above God. As He says through Isaiah, “To whom can you compare me? Whom do I resemble?" (40:25).

Because of His complete uniqueness and sovereignty, God is able to declare, “Truly I am God, I have no peer; I am God, and there is none like me, who announces the end from the beginning and reveals beforehand what has not yet occurred, who says, 'My plan will be realized; I will accomplish what I desire ….'’’ (Isa. 46:9-10; see also Isa. 14:24; 43:13).

God directs the history of the universe along the course of His foreordained plan. This involves His ability to choose individuals and groups for special purposes in the outworking of this plan. For instance, Jeremiah and Paul were chosen by God to have special missions even before they were formed in their mother’s wombs (Jer. 1:5; Gal. 1:15).

God also elects individuals for salvation. Christ speaks of those elected for salvation (Matt. 24:22, 24, 31; Luke 18:7), and Paul clearly endorses this concept (Rom. 8:29-33; Col. 3:12; 2 Tim. 2:10; Titus 1:1; see also 1 Peter 1:1-2; John 1).

Ephesians 1:4-5, 11 is particularly striking. God’s election of those who would be saved is pretemporal, “before the foundation of the world,” according to verse 4. This choice involved love and it was based on God’s kindness. He predestined us "to adoption as his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of his will” (v. 5).

God’s sovereignty is self-determined, and this fact is emphasized three times (v. 5, 9, 11). In God’s loving purpose, all things have been designed to lead “to the praise of the glory of his grace” (v. 6, 12, 14). It is best that God works in all things, for only in this way will all things ultimately glorify God. This glorification is consistent with God’s love and kindness because He alone is worthy of ultimate glorification. (Nevertheless, God will also glorify all believers at the resurrection when He finally conforms us to the image of His Son. But even God’s act of glorifying others will bring greater glory to Himself).

God’s sovereign purpose extends to all things in His creation and is not limited by space or time. This plan is so complete that Scripture declares, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD” (Prov. 16:33). Consider the implications of a statement like this! Ultimately there is no chance in this universe because even the workings of probability and statistics are controlled by God. There are no real accidents and God is surprised by nothing.

We have seen that God’s eternal plan is all-inclusive, extending even to His election of those who will be saved.2

But what about those not elected for salvation? Most theologians would naturally prefer to limit the bounds of God’s sovereign plan at this point. The word preterition is often used here, meaning that God “passes by” the nonelect.

However, several passages in Scripture seem to support a more active role on God’s part. If this is so, reprobation may be a more appropriate word than preterition.

Romans 9:10-24 is one passage that should be carefully studied. God has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires--both verbs are active (v. 18). God’s choice is not based on human merit, but on His mercy and inscrutable purposes. But if God hardens some, how can human responsibility be real? How can He blame the non-elect for not doing His will (v. 19)? God answers that the question is out of order (v. 20). We know that there is no injustice with God (v. 14), and therefore, as vessels we must trust the Potter. For man this issue is a mystery.

Another passage along this line is 1 Peter 2:8. Speaking of those who reject Jesus Christ, Peter says that “They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.” Scripture also says, “The Lord works everything for its own ends--even the wicked for the day of disaster” (Prov. 16:4; also compare Ps. 92:6-7). Other verses also reveal how God hardens hearts (Is. 6:10; 44:18; John 12:40; Rom. 11:7-8, 25).

IV. Human Responsibility

Just as biblical a doctrine as divine sovereignty is human responsibility. For instance, Romans 9 (God’s sovereignty) is not complete without Romans 10 (human responsibility): “For the scripture says, 'Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.' For there is no distinction between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, who richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Rom. 10:11-13).

King Saul furnishes a good example of the reality of human responsibility. His disobedience cost him a kingdom that would have been everlasting: “the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever” (1 Sam. 13:13). God later said of Saul, “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from me and has not done what I said” (1 Sam. 15:11).

The Bible makes it clear that we are not pawns in the hands of a deterministic and fatalistic universe. Every command in the Old and New Testaments is proof of the reality of human responsibility from God’s perspective.

A number of passages neatly juxtapose the truths of God’s complete sovereignty and man’s responsibility. Consider, for instance, the Crucifixion of the Son of God. Men were responsible for putting Jesus to death even though He was “handed over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). Those who were gathered together against Jesus simply did what God’s hand and God’s purpose predestined to occur, according to Acts 4:27-28. This mystery also relates directly to Judas Iscariot and his betrayal of Christ: “For the Son of Man is to go just as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed” (Luke 22:22)!

God is the divine Potter who has “right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use” according to His own purpose (Rom. 9:21). Yet this “clay” has a will and is responsible for the choices it freely makes. (Read Jer. 18:1-12 to see how the prophet subtly intertwines both of these concepts.)

God is omniscient. Even when He “changes His mind” (as in Jer. 18:8, 10), it is because He had planned to do so from eternity. In His omniscience He also knew the Jews would not turn back from their sins (indeed, He had even hardened their hearts; Isa. 63:17). Yet His appeal to Judah was no sham (Jer. 18:11); it was a valid offer. Another Old Testament passage that combines the two themes of God’s control and man’s responsibility is Isaiah 63:15-64:12 with 65:1-2.

Philippians 2:12-13 is a very practical passage in which we may observe a perfect balance of these two truths. Paul is talking about the outworking of the Christian life. He emphasizes the aspect of human responsibility in this process (v. 12), and he also emphasizes God’s sovereign control (v. 13). God is controlling and man is responsible. Neither of these two verses should be quoted without the other because the Bible keeps both truths in perfect balance.

V. Synthesis of Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

God is the supreme Ruler over this universe He created. His plan affects every detail of this creation. This plan is eternal, and there never was another plan. Thus, terms like purpose, foreknowledge, predestination, and election are logically related, and they are equally timeless.

God’s complete control over His creation is based on His omniscience and omnipotence. Since God has knowledge of all things actual and possible, His eternal plan is not based upon blind choice. Instead, God has wisely chosen a plan in which all details will finally work together to bring about the greatest good (the glorification of God). Since God is the absolute of truth, goodness, and love, His plan is a reflection of His own being and nature.

Not only has God chosen the best possible plan; He also has the power and authority to bring it about (omnipotence). When God promises to do something, there is no question that it will be done. This is why every biblical prophecy will be perfectly fulfilled.

Nevertheless, God carries out his all-inclusive plan by a variety of means. God may directly intervene or He may achieve His purpose by an indirect agency (e.g., the laws of nature). He may even fulfill His plan by taking His hands off in a given situation (the phrase “God gave them over” appears three times in Rom. 1:24-28). But God is in control regardless of what means He chooses to use.

The Bible makes it clear that God’s work in predestination and election is loving (Eph. 1:4-5; 1 John 4:7), wise (Rom. 11:33; 16:27), and just (Gen. 18:25; Rom. 3:4-6). “The Lord is just in all his actions, and exhibits love in all he does” (Ps. 145:17).

In some inexplicable way God has seen fit to incorporate human freedom and responsibility into His all-inclusive plan. Even though the Lord is in sovereign control of the details in His creation, He never forces any man to do anything against his will. The fact that He judges sin means that He is not responsible for the commission of the sins He judges. When a person sins it is because he has freely chosen to do so. Similarly, when someone is confronted with the terms of the gospel, he can freely choose to accept or reject Christ’s offer of forgiveness of sins. Because it is free choice, he will be held responsible for the decision he makes (see John 12:48).

In my view, personal and moral responsibility require free will. While I disagree with those who say that our wills are in total bondage, I am not implying in my use of the terms “freedom” and “free will” that humans are autonomous. We do not control the fundamental realities of our lives (e.g., our time on earth and our abilities), and yet our choices are ours.

In biblical terms this whole mystery can be summed up by saying that God is both King and Judge. “Scripture teaches that, as King, He orders and controls all things, human action among them, in accordance with his own eternal purpose. Scripture also teaches that, as Judge, He holds every man responsible for the choices he makes and the courses of action he pursues.”3

Finally, God’s plan is not always the same as His desires. Although His plan controls what men will be, the product often is not what He desires. This is partly because God has chosen to allow human will to operate. For instance, God “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4; see also 2 Peter 3:9). Yet He has not elected all men: "… The elect obtained it. The rest were hardened” Rom. 11:7).

Thus, God’s plan and desires are two different aspects of His will. He has revealed His desire (what men ought to do), but His plan for what specific men will do has for the most part been hidden. This is almost a mystery within a mystery, because there is no way we can conceive of how these two aspects of God’s will relate together in His mind.

VI. Illustrations

J. I. Packer captures the essence of this mystery when he writes, “Man is a responsible moral agent, though he is also divinely controlled; man is divinely controlled, though he is also a responsible moral agent.”4 Many have attempted to illustrate the interrelation of these two truths, but because this is a mystery, their attempts have proved inadequate.

All too often, people try to apply illustrations of foreknowledge to predestination and election. For instance, they may compare God with a man standing on top of a mountain, looking down at a road that curves around the base of the mountain. The man can see into the future because he knows which cars will pass by one another before they become visible to each other. But God’s plan involves more than foreknowledge. Foreknowledge is passive, but divine control is active.

Another illustration involves a person engineering a situation in such a way that it creates a desire in another person to make a certain decision. Courtship is an example. When a man wants a woman to become his wife, he designs his courtship in such a way that she will respond with a willing "yes" when he proposes. He plans the situation and perhaps knows she will accept his proposal; yet she has a free choice to accept or reject. But even this illustration breaks down. It implies that when we sin, God seduced us in this direction. But that simply is not so (see chap. 5).

VII. The Alternatives and the Extremes

As with other biblical mysteries, three alternatives are possible. One can accept the mystery, reject it as untrue, or rationalize it. To rationalize it, one must overemphasize one truth and minimize the other, and this leads to the two extremes.

The correct approach is to learn to live with the mystery by accepting both truths involved and holding them in tension because of the authority of God’s Word. This means that the principles should be regarded as apparent contradictions and not ultimate contradictions. God’s revelation in the Bible is always self-consistent. The only problem is that human understanding is sometimes deficient. If we could raise our thoughts to the level of God’s thoughts, there would be no mysteries.

But because so many people refuse to let God be wiser than men, they insist on rationalizing the principles of the divine sovereignty/human responsibility mystery. Some are exclusively concerned with the former, others with the latter. Either error can lead to very practical problems. Those hung up on human responsibility may overemphasize methods and develop guilt feelings about not witnessing to everyone they meet. Their counterparts may minimize missions and evangelism, saying, “Why bother? The elect are going to get saved anyway.”

Prayer also depends on balancing both principles. If God is not sovereign, there is no point in praying because He is unable to answer most prayers. And if men have no responsibility, there is no point in praying because nothing we ask or do will affect God’s plan in the least.

From a practical standpoint, it seems more objectionable for a Christian to overemphasize the divine sovereignty and minimize human responsibility than vice versa. Since human responsibility relates to our role, we need to attend to it. God will take care of His own sovereignty! Yet, either error is harmful, and neither error needs to be embraced.

Some confuse divine sovereignty with fatalism. Christianity is not fatalistic, however, because it teaches that human responsibility is just as real as divine sovereignty. Furthermore, what is behind fatalism (fate) is not what is behind divine sovereignty (a living, wise, sinless God).

Another objection that keeps people from accepting this mystery is the problem of evil. Many feel that it is an insult to our intelligence to assert that all things occur for the best as the result of a human providence. If God is sovereign, is He not the author of the evil all about us? This objection is important, and we will deal with it in the next chapter.

It comes as no surprise that this mystery has precipitated heated controversies and extreme viewpoints throughout the course of church history. One notable example was Augustine’s controversy with the Pelagians. Pelagianism emphasized human freedom to the exclusion of divine sovereignty, and this led to a concept of self-salvation without the need of divine grace.

In recent centuries, the two extreme viewpoints have been ultra-Calvinism (divine sovereignty carried to pure determinism) and certain extreme forms of Arminianism (human responsibility overemphasized).

As mentioned, people often have more problems with this mystery than with others because it is close to where we live. But we should remember that it is really no more mysterious than the God-man or the Trinity mysteries, which Christians are more likely to accept.

VIII. Emphases of Historic Arminianism and Calvinism

Arminianism

Man’s Responsibility in Salvation

Calvinism

God’s Sovereignty in Salvation

1. Man is a sinner, but able to do good and to respond to God.

1. Total Depravity – Man is unable of himself to respond to God.

2. God elects on the basis of foreseen faith.

2. Unconditional Election – God elects according to His own good pleasure.

3. Christ died for all men.

3. Limited Atonement – Christ died for the elect only.

4. Man can, because of stubborness and rebellion, resist God’s call to salvation.

4. Irresistible Grace – The elect are irresistibly drawn to Christ.

5. The believer may, through persistent sin, fall from grace and be lost.

5. Perseverance of the Saints – The elect can never perish; they will surely persevere.

IX. The Specific Problem of Salvation

The general divine sovereignty/human responsibility mystery can be applied in a specific way to the nature of salvation. From the standpoint of God’s sovereignty, a person is saved because he is elected by God (chosen for salvation). But from the standpoint of our responsible freedom, a person is elected because he receives Christ.

The first truth finds support in a number of biblical passages. For instance, the apostle Paul writes of the power of God “… who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not based on our works but on his own purpose and grace, granted to us in Christ Jesus before time began …” (2 Tim. 1:9).

Paul also wrote, “… because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.” (Rom 8:29-30).5

It is clear that in His sovereign grace, God took the initiative.

We are not to think of Jesus Christ as a Third Party wrestling salvation for us from a God unwilling to save. No. The initiative was with God Himself. “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself.” Precisely how He can have been in Christ while He made Christ to be sin for us, I cannot explain, but the same apostle states both truths in the same paragraph. And we must accept this paradox along with the equally baffling paradox that Jesus of Nazareth was both God and Man, and yet One Person. If there was a paradox in His person, it is not surprising that we find one in His work as well.6

Because God is sovereign in salvation, none of us can say that we saved ourselves; this is God’s work (see Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5).

Nevertheless, the second truth still holds; we are elected because we receive Christ (remember that we are speaking of election as an eternal or timeless event). No one can be saved without willingly trusting in Christ for the forgiveness of sins.

‘“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' They replied, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved …'” (Acts 16:30-31).

“The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him” (John 3:36).

The words believe and faith are active, not passive terms in the Bible. Believing in Christ is equivalent to receiving Him: “But to all who have received him – those who believe in his name – he has given the right to become God’s children …” (John 1:12).7

The two truths of this mystery (one believes because he is elect and he is elect because he believes) are sometimes side by side in the same passage. John 6 is an example. Divine sovereignty is emphasized in verses 37, 44, and 65: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him …” (v. 44). Human responsibility is emphasized in verses 29, 35, 40, and 47: “For this is the will of my Father – for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life …” (v. 40).


Thus the biblical doctrine of salvation perfectly combines divine sovereignty and human responsibility. God must call and men must respond willingly. This is a unique picture, for only in Christianity is God declared to be the initiator and author of salvation. The only thing we can do is respond by receiving Christ’s free offer.

A person standing outside the “gate of heaven” sees the inscription “Whosoever will may come!” Passing through and looking back he sees written on the other side, “Chosen before the foundation of the world!”

Because of the sovereignty of God in salvation, everyone who has trusted Christ for the forgiveness of sins can have assurance of salvation. This certainty comes from the fact that salvation is neither obtained nor maintained by human effort. Since no one deserves it or earns it, eternal life must come by grace through faith. Nevertheless, God will never force anyone to believe in His Son. Free will is still a reality, and all of us are responsible for accepting or rejecting the revelation we have received. As wonderful as the gift of salvation is, if God forced it upon everyone, He would eliminate human freedom.

X. The Special Case of History

History itself is completely bound up in the divine sovereignty/human responsibility mystery. Because of it the Christian view of history is unique, since it allows for both determinism and free will. “Both apply, but always in such a way that the evil of history is man’s work and the good of history, God’s.”8 History itself is both a divine and a human product.

From the divine perspective, “History is not just what happens, but what the living God does”9 God’s relation to history is more than a sequence of interventions; He is always active in usual and unusual ways. God is active in the affairs of all nations and men to bring about His sovereign purpose (see Ps. 33:10-11; Isa. 10:5-15; Dan. 2:21; 4:17; Hab. 1:6).

History, therefore, has a clear goal, and it is moving toward a definite consummation in the Second Coming and glorious reign of Jesus Christ. Yet at the same time, God has seen fit to give us genuine freedom of choice.

The biblical picture of history offers two crucial elements: the goal of the historical process and the reality of free will. No historian who works from an unbiblical base can logically arrive at either of these elements. Without a revelation from the God who created history, no one could uncover the goal of history. We are all minute parts of the process, and it would be presumptuous for any part to think he could step out of the process and objectively comprehend the whole.

Neither can the secular historian avoid the problem of determinism. Apart from a personal God, man is left with a deterministic universe driven by forces and laws beyond his control. Only the Bible offers a genuine purpose for history without sacrificing human freedom.

XI. Some Practical Implications of This Mystery

The divine sovereignty/human responsibility mystery has implications for almost every aspect of the Christian life.

A. Evangelism

The fact that God sovereignly elects those who will be saved in no way eliminates the Christian’s responsibility to share the gospel with those who do not know Christ. God has told us to pray for and witness to non-Christians. It is not our business to guess who are elected, and they are not walking around with special signs.

A realization that God is on the throne can give us a confidence in evangelism and should make us bold, patient, and prayerful. Our job is simply to build friendships with unbelievers, share the gospel with them, and pray for them. The results must be entrusted into God’s sovereign hands.

B. Prayer

If God controls all things, why pray? The answer, of course, is that God commands us to pray, and we are responsible to be obedient to this command. We are also responsible to meet the conditions for answered prayer (some of these conditions are found in John 15:7; 16:23-24; 1 Peter 3:7, 12; 1 John 5:14). Otherwise, our prayers will be hindered.

Though God is sovereign, the prayers of His children contribute significantly to the outworking of His program. This does not mean that we are pushing buttons or forcing God to answer, for He does not grant all requests. Prayer should instead remind a believer of his complete dependence upon God for all things. When great things happen, God is the One who should be glorified, not the person who prayed. So at the same time that God is in control of all things, our prayers can and do profoundly shape reality.

C. The Will of God

God has a plan for every life, but the details of this plan are carried out by the free choices of each person involved. As we said before, however, God’s plan is not always the same as His desires. The degree to which God’s desires are carried out in His plan for our lives is our responsibility. God, for instance, desires that we come to love Him for who He is and what He has done for us. But we are not robots programmed to say, “Praise you! Praise you!” No one can truly love God (or anyone else) without the power to choose.

The diagram pictured next shows a portion of an individual’s life. As time moves in the direction indicated, he makes many choices (represented by the dots) that affect other choices. At any given decision point (point C), there is a varying number of options or contingencies. The range of options is always limited as indicated by the two lines of x’s in the figure. For example, a person who does not wish to be seen has no option to become suddenly invisible or walk through a wall. These possibilities would only be open to someone in a resurrection body (chap. 6).

Our person has just come to point C. He can freely choose among five genuine options. Here is where the wonder comes in: the five contingencies are real, and yet whatever is done is God’s plan. This is true for all of us. Because the contingencies are real, we remain responsible for the choices we make.

God sees the whole line at once because He is not limited as we are to the temporal sequence of events (chap. 7). Since we cannot see our lines of life as God sees them, no one can live his life as though there were a blueprint in front of him. A Christian should instead place his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for the decisions of each day. One can be quite sure about what lies in that past (in the diagram, whether a day or twenty years), but there is a reasonable doubt about what lies ahead.

In general, a non-Christian has fewer options at each decision point because without the indwelling Holy Spirit he is not free to choose those things that would be consistent with God’s desires for his life (see Rom. 8:8). Until he allows Christ to liberate him, he is a slave to sin (Rom. 6:17-22; 2 Peter 2:19).

D. The Christian Life

The Christian’s walk with God is a divine-human process. God is always at work in the believer to produce the fruit of righteousness and Christlikeness, but the believer is also responsible for acting. It is not a matter of “let go and let God” on the one hand, or of living in the power of the flesh on the other hand.

Paul communicates this balance clearly, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20; also compare Phil. 2:12-13). God is at work in us, but we are also to act in obedience.

E. Security and Comfort

God is on the throne. He is in complete control of all creation. Even though all things are in constant flux, nothing escapes God’s constant notice. “Even all the hairs on your head are numbered” (Matt.10:30). Every time a hair falls out, every time you comb your hair, the Lord takes it into account! Here is Christ’s application of this truth: “So do not be afraid …” (Matt. 10:31). The fact that God knows you through and through should be a source of great security and comfort. Here is where human responsibility comes in - we respond with trust.

When inexplicable things happen - the untimely death of a loved one, a serious accident - a Christian can find great peace and comfort in the knowledge that a loving God is sovereign in all things.

Next time you are in an airplane try an experiment. Look down at a city and watch all the tiny cars and houses below. Then meditate on the fact that God intimately knows and cares for all of those people. He is concerned and active in the complex web of their decisions, hopes, and trials.

Each of us is significant because the living God places us in high esteem. “By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him” (1 John 4:9).

E. "Fate" and "Luck"

"The dice are thrown into the lap, but their every decision is from the Lord” (Prov. 16:33). In view of the overwhelming scriptural evidence for divine sovereignty, terms like fate and luck lose their significance. In an ultimate sense, nothing happens by pure chance.

Nevertheless, the biblical doctrine of human responsibility is just as clear, and the lives of all people bear this out. No one can live as though he were a machine programmed by the forces of fate. He must make choices.

F. The Avoidance of Responsibility

We have an ability to contemplate the future and a desire to affect it. The problem is that we want to exercise free will, but we do not want the responsibility that goes with it. People try to avoid responsibility in a number of ways.

One effort has been to set up a random universe in which the casual agents are time and chance. Atheistic evolutionism is an attempt to kick out the Owner of the universe. If we don’t have to answer to a personal Creator, there is no need to worry about responsibility for our sinful actions and thoughts.

Another effort in some psychiatric schools of thought is the idea that determinism plays an important role. For instance, “Freudian psychoanalysis turns out to be an archeological expedition back into the past in which a search is made for others on whom to pin the blame for the patients’ behavior. The fundamental idea is to find out how others have wronged him.”10 A person’s behavior is determined by factors beyond his control (God, religion, parents). But the Bible makes it clear that regardless of the past, no one can blame another for his own bad behavior.

The fatalism of astrology is another deterministic escape hatch. Enthusiasts of astrology desire the power to control their destiny in spite of the fatalism of the system. In a practical sense the fatalism is useful to the extent that it offers an escape from moral responsibility.

XII. Conclusion

In this last section we have considered only a few of the implications of the divine sovereignty/human responsibility mystery. The biblical truths involved in God’s sovereign purpose and control of His universe should lead us to a greater appreciation of God Himself. The more we meditate on these things, the more we can picture His loving concern, wisdom, holiness, and greatness.

    Make me understand your ways, O Lord!

    Teach me your paths!

Guide me into your truth and teach me.

    For you are the God who delivers me;

    on you I rely all day long.

Remember your compassionate and faithful deeds, O Lord,

    for you have always acted in this manner.

(Ps. 25:4-6).

"My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand. The Father and I are one" (John 10:27-30).

"For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom. 8:38-39).

Endnotes

1Lewis Carroll, The Annotated Alice (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1960), p. 251.

2Here are some other passages that support divine election and sovereignty: Exodus 14:17; Deuteronomy 29:4; 32:39; 1 Samuel 2:25; 9:15-10:9; 2 Samuel 12:11; 1 Kings 22:23; 1 Chronicles 10:14; Job 14:5; 38:1-42:3; Psalms 33:10-11; 47:7-8; 75:6-8; 102:18; 104:1-35; 139:16; Isaiah 14:24; 40:12-26; 53:10; 55:11; Jeremiah 10:23; 15:2; Daniel 2:21; 4:17; Amos 4:7; Matthew 10:29-30; Luke 10:21; Acts 13:48; Romans 8:29-30; Ephesians 3:11; 2 Timothy 1:9; Revelation 17:17.

3J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Chicago: Inter-Varsity Press, 1967), p. 22. Compare James 4:12.

4Ibid., p. 23 (italics his).

5Also compare Matthew 24:31; 25:34; John 6:44, 65; Acts 13:48 (“and all who were appointed for eternal life believed”); 16:14; Ephesians 1:4-5, 11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:1-2; Revelation 17:8.

6John R. W. Scott, Basic Christianity (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1958), p. 94

7Some other passages that emphasize the human responsibility to respond to the offer of salvation include Acts 13:38-39; Romans 1:16; 3:22, 26, 28; 4:5; 10:9-10; Galatians 3:22; Revelation 3:20.

8John Warwick Montgomery, Where is History Going? (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1969), p. 160.

9Kenneth G. Howskins, The Challenge of Religious Studies (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1972), p. 24.

10Jay E. Adams, Competent to Counsel (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1970), p. 6.

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Kenneth Boa

Website: http://www.kenboa.org
Commentary: http://www.kenboa.org/blog
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Related Topics: History

Biblical Perspectives on Human Suffering

Following are teaching notes by Ken Boa as many people are asking hard questions about God's sense of justice with events such as the Tsunami in Asia.

Kenneth Boa

Website: http://www.kenboa.org
Commentary: http://www.kenboa.org/blog
Follow: http://twitter.com/kennethboa
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  1. Our profound ignorance and limited cognitive capacity
  2. A worldview issue; need an absolute basis for judgments of good and evil
  3. The whole creation is under a curse and waits for the day of its redemption (Romans 8:19-23)
  4. The nature of a physical world
  5. A matrix of human choices that lead to greater vulnerability to natural disasters
  6. We should not be surprised at evil and suffering; the history of the world
  7. We are all terminal; about 30,000 people die every day--in the larger scheme, how does a greater number of deaths on one day change the rules?
  8. The reason we lose our trust in God is spatial and temporal proximity to suffering; we are not really troubled by the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 or by modest disasters in other parts of the world today
  9. In addition to a fallen physical world and the consequences of human decisions, there is the reality of a cosmic spiritual warfare
  10. The Galileans and the tower in Siloam (Luke 13:1-5)
  11. The human heart does not change; the problem is internal, not external (Mark 7:20-23)
  12. Proximate and ultimate causality
  13. God's omnipotence and mercy, judgment and grace, transcendence and immanence, wrath and love--are all equally ultimate
  14. Scripture affirms both divine sovereignty and human responsibility--we must live in this tension (cf. physical mysteries like the wave and particle characteristics of light or the mystery of how biochemical sequences produce instincts and physical attributes)
  15. The Book of Job and the nature of God's sovereignty as opposed to glib explanations; Job never got an explanation from God, and he did not know what happened in chapters 1-2
  16. God's greatest display of His wrath and mercy, and of His judgment and love was in the suffering of His Son
  17. Christ underwrote the consequences (death, disease, pain, sorrow) of human sin
  18. An eschatological solution; we cannot judge the play until it is over (e.g., movies that seem weak in the first half but come together in the second half; a Divine Comedy)
  19. Called to go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, but no assurance of what will happen during the journey
  20. A matter of perspective; in 1976, heavyweight champion John Tate from Knoxville fought Mike Weaver. Weaver lost every round, but with 20 seconds left in the 15th, he knocked out Tate. The Scriptures reveal the 15th round (Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
  21. Transformation versus substitution; in His sovereignty, God transmutes temporary evil into permanent good

Related Topics: Suffering, Trials, Persecution

Can People Really Be Sure of Their Salvation?

This is the concluding chapter of my book, I'm Glad You Asked.

Kenneth Boa

Website: http://www.kenboa.org
Commentary: http://www.kenboa.org/blog
Follow: http://twitter.com/kennethboa
Connect on Facebook: Kenneth Boa

 

Biblical Passages on Assurance



(1) John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, the He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

(2) John 5:24: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

3) John 6:37, 44: “All that the Father give Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. . . . No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

(4) John 10:28-29: “and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

(5) Romans 8:1, 16: “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. . . . The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.”

(6) Romans 8:29-35, 38-39: “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

(7) Ephesians 1:4: “just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him.”

(8) Ephesians 1:13-14: “In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.”

(9) Colossians 1:12-14: “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

(10) 1 Peter 1:3-4: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you.”

(11) 1 John 2:1-2: “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” (12) 1 John 5:13: “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Four Passages Used to Dispute Assurance



(1) John 15:6: “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”

(2) Galatians 5:4: “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”

(3) Hebrews 6:4-6: “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.”

(4) James 2:18-26

Related Topics: Soteriology (Salvation), Assurance

This Week's Focus on Facebook: Character Study

There are many characters in the Bible, some who followed God, and some who disobeyed the call. This week's Focus on Facebook highlights some of the unique persons in the pages of Scripture.

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无以伦比的神恩：上帝的爱将自由施放

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从我们自身的罪到上帝爱的表述并融入他的神恩中是一个很简单的过程，起码在逻辑上是这样。如果上帝是一直爱着我们，同时他的确是这样做的，那么就会有爱在他的慈悲中生根。上帝同时也会要求：在我们达成所有愿望之前，都会通过他慈悲的心中梦想的一切美好事物都展示在我们面前。虽然“没有义人，连一个也没有”（罗马书3：10）。但是上帝的爱却在他的神恩中绚烂的向所有罪人显明。

接着，作家和布道者路易斯帕劳写到：

感谢上帝由于他的神恩并不显得“公平”。许多年前我的一个外甥（叫做肯尼斯）临近死亡的边缘。他得了艾滋病。在加利福尼亚北部山丘上的一次家庭聚会中，我和肯尼斯一起走了一段。他当时已经是干瘪的身躯，呼吸也很辛苦。

“肯尼斯，知道吗，你将会死去了，”我说。“你将拥有得到永生吗？你父母非常的痛苦。我知道。”

“路易斯，我知道上帝已经给予了原谅，我将要去天堂。”

许多年前，当他还很年轻，肯尼斯变成了同性恋者。不仅如此，他还反抗上帝和自己的父母，同时还以他的生活形式为炫耀。

“肯尼斯，你怎么能这么说？”我回应着。“你反叛了上帝，愚弄了圣经，同时也严重的伤害了你的家庭。但你说将要得到永生，是这样吗？”

“路易斯，当医生告诉说我得了艾滋病的时候，我真正的意识到自己的行为是多么的愚蠢。”

“我们都知道，”我故意但很直率的说，因为他完全知道同性恋在圣经中是一种罪。“但是你真的有后悔吗？”

“我已经后悔了，我也知道上帝已经给我了怜悯，但我的父亲却不相信我。”

“你在生活中总是当着父亲的面反叛他，”我说。“你伤透他的心了。”

肯尼斯径直的看着我的眼睛。“我知道主已经原谅我了。”

“你向耶稣敞开了心扉了吗？”

“是的，刘易斯！确实！”

就像我们互相搭着肩膀一起祈祷一起分享一样，我相信耶稣已经原谅了所有肯尼斯的背叛，以及所有他的罪恶。很短的几个月以后，他死了，年仅25岁。帕劳说，“我的外甥，就像在十字架上的忏悔的贼一样，不值得神的恩典。我也不值得，谁又值得呢？这就是神恩为什么是神恩，无条件的恩惠。”

神恩就是新约中的主题，同时也是理解一切信息的核心。新约中作者提到救赎也总是和神的恩典联系在一起。我们从罪和恶中的救赎是上帝的仁慈，而且从万古之前就赐予我们。（提摩太后书1：9）并按照上帝仁慈的计划和感召而在历史中显现（罗马书8：30）。我们凭借神恩得救，而并不是出于行为，（以弗所书2：8-9），神恩也同时教训我们要在上帝面前虔诚度日。（提多书2：11-12）。使得神的恩典得称赞就是救赎的最终意义（以弗所书1：6）。总言之，神恩是从古至今天长地久的。

但同时我们也要了解到神恩的范围和广度。他给了我们很多的例子，比如，使徒保罗。这不就是神转变了最保守的形式主义者，然后是他变成了神恩体现的最好范例吗？保罗说上帝拣选了他，所以所有的人必须学习他的做法—一个谋害者和迫害教堂的人—最真实的和最全面的对于神恩的诠释：

1：15这种说法是完全确实的而且是值得相信：“基督耶稣来到我们这个世界就是为了拯救罪人，”我却是其中罪恶深重之人。1：16但是我所以蒙受了怜悯，是为使基督耶稣在我这个罪人身上，显示他的坚忍，为了将来信靠他而获永生的人一个榜样。

当我们与上帝为敌时—就像当时的敌人保罗在罗马书5：10中所说—上帝以特有的方式给予了我们恩惠。多么不可思议的爱啊。

在二战期间有一个人死去了，他的两个朋友非常希望给他一个体面的葬礼。他们在附近的村子里找到了一个公墓。但是却是天主教的公墓，然而死者却是新教徒。当两个朋友找到神父并想确定葬礼的位置时，并想得到许可，但是却遭到了神父的拒绝，因为死者不是天主教徒。当神父看到那两位朋友沮丧表情的时候，还是同意了他们把死者埋在靠近公墓篱笆的位置。然后举行了葬礼。

几天后，他们重返墓地却找不到朋友的墓穴。然后他们回到神父那里询问了有关墓穴的事情。神父告诉他们当晚自己很难入睡。于是他连夜把篱笆往外面扩了一点，使得那个死去战士的墓穴包括在公墓中。

当然这是上帝的力量使然。当神父在上帝的神恩感召之下做出了值得和合适的事情以后，他才能安然入睡。就此而论，他不仅是移动了篱笆，而是摧毁了圣灵呈现的阻碍。所以他在我主基督耶稣的神恩和十字架的感召之下做出了如此举动。这些都是通过钉在十字架上的基督，仅此一人，我们才能如此自由的接近上帝（约翰福音14：6）。问题依然是，“你做到了吗？你从罪中反省并用全身心去接纳基督了吗？”现在就是时候了！”基督耶稣会展现无以伦比的神恩给到他那里忏悔的人们，并把广大的爱给予那些寻找主作为救世主的人们。上帝会非常愉快的给予你神恩，也就是说，会直接的让你感受到无比宏大的爱。感受他，现在就接受吧！

“你们一切干渴的都当近就水，没有银钱的也可以来。你们都来买了吃，不用银钱，不用价值，也来买酒喝奶。为什么要花钱买些没有营养的东西？把劳碌得来的买不能使人饱足的东西呢？你们要留意听我的话，就能吃那些美食，得享肥甘，心中喜乐！”—以赛亚书55：1-2

Related Topics: Soteriology (Salvation), Grace

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