reformed blogging.

The acceptance or rejection of a degree of reprobation, therefore, should not be explained in terms of a person’s capacity for love and compassion. The difference between Augustine and Pelagius, Calvin or Castellio, Gomarus and Arminius is not that the latter were that much more gentle, loving, and tenderhearted than the former. On the contrary, it arises from the fact that the former accepted Scripture in its entirety, also including this doctrine; that they were and always wanted to be theistic and recognize the will and hand of the Lord also in these disturbing facts of life; that they were not afraid to look reality in the eye even when it was appalling. Pelagianism scatters flowers over graves, turns death into an angel, regards sin as mere weakness, lectures on the uses of adversity, and considers this the best possible world. Calvinism has no use for such drivel. It refuses to be hoodwinked. It tolerates no such delusion, takes full account of the seriousness of life, champions the rights of the Lord of lords, and humbly bows in adoration before the inexplicable sovereign will of God Almighty. As a result it proves to be fundamentally more merciful than Pelagianism. How deeply Calvin felt the gravity of what he said is evident from his use of the expression “dreadful decree.” Totally without warrant, this expression has been held against him. in fact, it is to his credit, not to his discredit. The decree, as Calvin’s teaching, is not dreadful, but dreadful indeed is the reality that is the revelation of that decree of God, a reality that comes through both in Scripture and in history. To all thinking humans, whether they are followers of Pelagius or Augustine, that reality remains completely the same. It is not something that can in any way be undone by illusory notions of it
- Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation, 394-5.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” - Ephesians 2:10

How Ephesians 2:10 reveals God’s sovereignty in salvation:

1. We are His workmanship - in this is implicit that man is not playing any active role, but that God is the one who is doing the working. To be God’s workmanship literally means to be made by Him. Now, in this context the reference is not to physical creation alone, but (as is evidenced by the passage) spiritual rebirth. This is evident in the next fragment of the sentence, namely, “created in Christ Jesus.” The synergistic view, that man participates with God, or cooperates with God in order to be saved is debunked here. The idea of the regenerate man as God’s workmanship means that he is God’s creation. Just as Adam and Eve were created without their prior consent (for that is in itself an impossibility) and just as newborn babies are not born because of their own agreement to be born, so the regenerate Christian is changed in heart because he is God’s workmanship. Salvation by God’s monergistic work alone presupposes total depravity, that man, on his own, will never seek God, being dead in sins and separate from the life of God. And if our spiritual rebirth is not according to our own righteousness but according to God, then His election must be unconditional, not based on any merit in us, but based solely on His good pleasure.

2. We are created in Christ Jesus - This specifies how God has made us. In what sense are we God’s workmanship? In that we are created in Christ Jesus. A thing created is completely subjected to its Creator. Thus if God desires to create us, we will be created. “So then, it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy” (Rom 9:16). The necessity of God’s monergistic work, that is, His work in us without our prior consent is evidenced here. The necessity of Christ Jesus as our mediator is also seen. If it were not for the atoning work of Christ, reconciling sinful man to God we could have no hope of being reborn. For God, in his holiness, is both just and justifier of those who have faith in Christ. We cannot be God’s workmanship unless we are created in Christ Jesus. Thus, we see here that it is absolutely necessary for Christ’s atonement to be for the elect and completely saving, not simply making salvation available.

3. We are created in Christ Jesus for good works - The fact that we are created for good works displays God’s sovereignty not only in regeneration (the changing of our hearts to love Him) and justification (our right standing before God through Christ) but also in our sanctification. God is sovereign over the end, that is salvation to Himself, and also the path that we take to get there. This is one reason why historic Protestant Christianity holds the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. For those who were called and chosen by God were called and chosen to good works, to perseverance and will not fall away. Therefore, God’s absolute sovereignty in delivering sinful man from condemnation as well as from the bondage of sin is herein seen. And it is also evidenced that God could not have chosen us based on works since He created us for good works. Thus, good works are the result, not the cause of God’s election. The Arminian notion of foreseen faith is then also debunked.

4. Good works are a result of grace, not our own efforts -Now God prepared the good works that we would perform in Christ beforehand. That is, we are God’s workmanship as are our good works. Thus, it is the case that no one can boast. And He prepared these so that we “would” walk in them. Not that we “could,” but there is an inevitable obedience that is shown in the life of the elect of God. Had God not prepared such good works, it would be utterly impossible for us to walk in them. For we, in ourselves, are absolutely helpless. Paul describes us as “dead” in transgressions, but now in Christ we have life.

“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

“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.” - Hebrews 6:4-6

The above passage is disturbing. To many, it suggests that Christians can lose their salvation. Yet Christ says those who have received eternal life “will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of [His] hand” (John 10 28).  Similarly, Paul speaks of being “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” (Romans 8:38-39). The whole letter of 1 John was written so that the believers would know their sins have been forgiven. Thus, it is a grave error to think that the Bible gives no ground for assurance of an eternal salvation. The very fact that it is called “eternal life” suggests that those who have it will have it forever.

In light of this, then, how do we view the above passage? After all, it is not the only one like it, in Matthew 24:10 Christ speaks of a great apostasy, that “many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.” Later on in Hebrews, the writer says that there is no longer a sacrifice for sins for those who “go on sinning willfully.” Now, Arminians as well as Roman Catholics have taken these verses to indicate that men must work for their salvation, and that those who are saved now, may lose their salvation at a later time. As mentioned earlier, this is unbiblical and, I believe, an improper way to interpret Scripture. How then do we interpret such passages? Well, we do not deny the doctrine of assurance of salvation, nor do we deny the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. The one who places his faith in Christ alone as righteousness, relinquishing hope in any other means to salvation, not trusting in his own work or merit, but believing that Christ’s work has finished and accomplished redemption, ought to trust that he is already righteous in God’s sight. So what does the passage mean? It’s meaning ought to be obvious to any reader, namely, that the person described does not necessarily constitute a Christian. One can be “enlightened,” can “taste the heavenly gift,” be made “partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,” but these things do not mean that the person is a Christian. Anyone who thinks that they are saved based on the fact that they had a particular experience, or because they understand the gospel are not Christians. Anyone who thinks that because they enjoy reading the Bible and that they have desired to go to paradise, that they are Christians, these people are severely deceived. These things by no means constitute a Christian. Though, it is true that a Christian will not be lacking in any of these things, it is possible to never know Christ but to experience all this. God rebuked Balaam through an ass, and Saul, for a time, prophesied. Judas, was one of the twelve sent out to perform miracles, cast out demons. 1 Corinthians says that one can even be burned by fire and still not know Christ. According to the same passage one can have faith to move mountains and still be just a noisy gong.

None should be surprised at this. Christ tells us that “the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:14), but the gate that leads to destruction is wide and the way is broad, and many will enter through it. “Many,” says Christ, “will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21-23). Clearly, Christ intends to convey that many will deceive themselves thinking that they are Christians, that because they have done such and such a thing, or felt a certain way, or had certain experiences, that they are saved, yet these will be denied on that day of judgment. And these are not a few people, but many. Thus does Paul rightly exhort the Corinthians to examine themselves, to test themselves whether they are of the faith.

Who then can be assured? We have seen that the Bible does encourage the true Christian to have confidence of his standing before God, but on what grounds do we find such assurance? Negatively, we do not find it in any of the things mentioned in Hebrews 6. Rather, we find it in Christ alone. We trust that “whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.” True assurance of salvation does not look to experience, no matter how supernatural or amazing, the devil often comes as an angel of light, does not look to discipline, no matter how strict and consistent, nor emotions, for our emotions are so fickle and often betray us. Yes, these things ought to be present in the believer’s life, but they are no sure signs that grace has been wrought in that persons life. True assurance of salvation consists of trust in Christ alone. Those who do not trust in Christ’s work completely, who have not forsaken their own righteousness, have no reason to be assured. However, those who have given up on their own righteousness, who cling only to the cross, these have every right to look upon Christ as their surety, as their substitute and ransom.

“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you–unless indeed you fail the test?” - 2 Corinthians 13:5

We must not content ourselves with a false assurance, but must endeavor to relinquish all trust in anything but Christ. If we fail to do so, we deceive ourselves.

“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” - Philippians 3:7-11

It is an oversimplification but true to define man’s depravity according to Pelagianism, Semi-Pelagianism and Arminianism/Calvinism as such: the first man is healthy, the second man ill, and the third man dead.

Arminianism differs from Semi-Pelagianism mainly in its view of man’s complete or total depravity. This does not mean that men are as bad as they can be, but that every part of man: his will, affections, mind are all affected by original sin. Thus, according to Romans 3:23 all have sinned and fall short, and that no one seeks after God, no one understands. Rightfully, then, are Arminians sometimes referred to as 1-point Calvinists in their affirmation of man’s total depravity and inability to save himself. Yet, they differ from Calvinists in that they do not believe in God’s overcoming grace. They believe that men must respond to God’s grace freely (without any influence upon their volition from God) and that it can ultimately be rejected. God works, then, only up to a point, but respects man’s free-will and will not coerce or force anyone to believe or accept Himself, since such a notion would not be true love, but, as some would say, “divine rape”.

However, a closer look into the Arminian notion of total depravity apart from God’s overcoming or irresistable grace is absolutely incongruous. There is no salvation for a depraved man apart from God’s irresistable grace. To admit the doctrine of total depravity is to admit that a man will never choose God by his own free will, since he is always inclined to sin. An Arminian who acknowledges the need of God’s grace for salvation does so in word only and still holds to the Semi-Pelagian notion of depravity. Namely, that a man is not dead in sin, but unhealthy. A compromise must take place, either men are not totally depraved, or God draws all elect sinners to Himself independent of anything in them, even “foreseen faith”.

If man is totally depraved then any measure of positive response to the gospel would be a direct result of God’s grace since any inclination towards God in man, apart from God, is impossible, his nature being inherently sinful. The difference, then, between one who accepts and one who rejects God’s gospel must be God’s overcoming grace acting in the person. In one God works by grace to cause the person to believe, in the other there is grace in the presentation of the gospel but none to cause the man to believe. The latter, unaffected by the gospel is only that way because he is totally depraved. Can God change his will? Yes! That is exactly what has happened in the first man, his inclinations have been turned from sin and death, to God and life. Such a transformation of the heart can only be due to God’s grace and nothing, absolutely nothing in man. Logically, then, God must go against the will of the depraved man in order to save him, for, on his own, he would never turn to God. Thus a man is saved by grace through faith. God’s grace being the cause of salvation, faith the means to that end which He will provide to those whom He has chosen. Will God fail to provide the means to that salvation which He has called His elect unto?

The only other option for the Arminian, then, is to say that man is not, in fact, totally depraved which brings us back to Semi-Pelagianism. A totally depraved man, needs God’s irresistable grace to change his will, to save him. All those whom God chooses to save, He will.

One thing that cannot be reconciled with the Arminian notion of “free-will” is physical birth. If Arminians will not accept God’s sovereignty in spiritual rebirth, one wonders how they deal with natural birth. After all, not every person has equal exposure to the gospel. In fact, there are some countries where there is no gospel at all! How, then, can Arminians reconcile this to God’s call? For many are called but few are chosen. None will deny that physical birth is due solely to God’s sovereignty, for what choice does a man have in where he will be physically born? That a man is born in the Middle East in a prominently Muslim country is not because God “foresaw” that they would not believe and placed them there, is it? Those who have not heard the gospel and are thus condemned to hell, was there no foreseen faith? Will God condemn these? It is no surprise that so many Arminian churches have turned to Liberalism and Universalism, since there is no way to reconcile man’s “free-will” to respond to God’s grace and the fact that not all have heard/will hear the gospel.

Arminians, to be fair, do not deny that God’s grace is absolutely required for salvation, but so is man’s free-will. That man must choose God as a response to His grace, and this choice must not be coerced or forced by God in any way lest it be a breach of man’s so-called free-will. They hold that predestination and election speak mainly to those with foreseen faith, that God saw down the “tunnel of time” those who would believe and “chose” them. How does this account for those who will die having never heard the gospel? Were they “foreseen” to not have faith? If that be the case, it is still difficult to understand how God will hold them accountable to something they have not heard. Though they hypothetically rejected Christ they never did it in reality never having had the proper opportunity. Thus their rejection, having never occurred in reality cannot be said to be a foreseen lack of faith, unless God foresaw a different world.  An Arminian might object that they are still sinners and thus condemned to judgment, but the next question would be, then, how has Christ properly died for these? Are they not in the world? If Christ did, in fact, die for the whole world without exception, how is His the benefit of His death displayed in these unsaved people? Since they have never heard the gospel the opportunity won by Christ through the atonement (according to Universal Atonement) is not present. In which case an Arminian will either resort to absolute absurdity saying that such people hear the gospel after they die (inclucivism) or universalism. The Arminian is forced to compromise God’s justice, saying that these will not be condemned or to compromise Christ’s atonement saying that Christ’s death for the world was not really for all the world without exception. One cannot have a “universal” view of the atonement and believe in free-will.

The correct view is this, that God unconditionally elected sinners to be saved before the foundation of the world. So that God’s grace is absolutely necessary and is absolutely sufficient to save whoever He desires. God is no respecter of man, there is no “dignity” too great for God to overcome. And though some may resist God’s grace, none can resist it when God wills to save a sinner. For who can thwart God’s plan? Thus the wills of such sinners will (without their own consent) be changed by God to long and desire Him. Therefore, those elect by God are atoned completely through the redemptive work of Christ so that all those for whom Christ died will be saved, and Christ’s death will not have been in vain for anyone. He will not have died for those in hell, but will have saved completely to eternal life (eternal meaning that the elect can never die or be condemned) those who are the elect. As for those who never heard the gospel they are condemned by their own sinfulness, since, apart from God’s grace, and by their own “free-will” they would never choose God.