An Unexpected Journey - Part 3

I know many Christians resist the truth that God is sovereign over the salvation of men.  In our limited understanding, we want to hold on to the idea that everyone has a free will to choose to follow Christ, because that is what seems "fair." When we were homeschooling, we had a Bible doctrines textbook that actually said, "Isn't it wonderful that God sets aside his sovereignty, so that man can exercise his free will in salvation?" God never sets aside his sovereignty!  He is the unchanging, almighty Lord over all things! 

Years ago, our pastor taught on the election of the saints, and I was keenly interested in understanding this doctrine of the Bible.  I approached our pastor after the service to ask a few questions, because the light bulbs started going on.  I remember asking him something like, "Since God through the Holy Spirit calls certain people to salvation, wouldn't they have to respond in faith?"  I was beginning to understand the doctrine of God's effective call to salvation, that God effects exactly what he intends each time he quickens spiritually dead souls to spiritual life.  That's why God's Word says we are "made alive" in Christ. A spiritually dead person has no ability to make himself come to spiritual life; rather, God replaces our stony heart with a heart of flesh.  In so doing, He alone gets the glory for each regeneration that leads to faith in Christ.  

Some of you might be saying now, "Wait a minute! What about John 3:16? And what about the verse that says, 'God is not willing that any should parish, but all should come to repentance'?"  I had to work through those (and other) verses that are used to support the idea that man has a free will in his salvation.  Through the years, expository teaching, systematic theology, and gifted Bible teachers and scholars have been key in helping me work through these "troublesome" passages.  God's Word is not contradictory, so I had to reconcile all the references to God's electing, calling, and choosing some to salvation with the verses that seemingly indicate man has a free will in salvation.  First of all, I had to gain an understanding man's free will.  Yes, I do have one, but I can only choose according to my nature. If I am spiritually dead because of my sins, I have no ability to choose the things of God.  I'll cover this more in depth when I discuss man's radical corruption.


So what about the "world" and "whoever" in John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life?  The meaning of the verse is that Christ's saving work on the cross is not limited to a specific time and place, but applies to God's elect from all over the world throughout history.  


II Peter 3:9 was indeed a troubling verse:  does God really desire that all should come to repentance?  This verse must be explained in the context of the whole letter.  To whom was Peter writing?  "To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ" (v. 1).  He was writing to Christians!  R. C. Sproul explains that "the scope of 'all' is qualified by the word 'us.'  The repentance in view, for the sake of which God delays judgment, is that of God's people rather than the world at large.  God is not willing that any of His elect should perish (John 6:39)."

One other key passage in my journey was Romans 9, in which Paul explains that election is not based on God looking down the tunnel of time and seeing who will choose Him; rather, it is based on God's sovereign predestinating grace.  He owes mercy to no one, so there is no injustice when mercy is not shown or not offered equally to all.  

The next stop on my journey of the doctrines of grace was God's purposeful atonement - to be covered in an upcoming post.