Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility (part 1)

This question of divine sovereignty and human responsibility so often comes up in the life of a Christian. It seems Christians are always trying to figure out where human responsibility begins and where does sovereignty end. Let's remember sovereignty never ends. But if you had to pick one which one takes priority?

The common objection to God's sovereignty is the argument of man's free will. The argument usually transpires into: Man has to have a free will otherwise he would just be a robot.

I believe this issue is really important because if we do not take the time to think through this issue we will just throw things out that may or may not be biblical. This issue is very complex you have to examine the whole counsel of God's word. It takes more than a word, it takes more than one single verse , it takes more than pop culture Christianity evangelicalism nomenclature. It just takes more. This is why systematic theology is good. In other words, what does the Bible teach from Genesis to Revelation in a systematized way of how both the sovereignty of God and human responsibility coexist within God's Word. Mankind is responsible yet God reigns or rules over all. Psalm 103.

Whosoever believes....

Romans 10

9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Whosoever is not in the original text. Literally it is "those believing" but it is true that whoever it might be, whether you're a Jew or Gentile, whether your slave or free, whether you're male or female, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, if you do believe, you will be saved. This is true.

In the early 1700s if you did not believe in the five points of Calvinism you were on the outside. Unlike today where pretty much everybody is three and a half or four point Calvinist and that would be the mainstream. There is however, a resurgence today of Reformed doctrine thanks to theologians like James Boyce, RC Sproul, John MacArthur, John Piper.

So today, within the evangelical church in America, the views of five point Calvinism has flipped. The majority of the Evangelical church does not believe in the five points of Calvinism.

So this blog is not to say that if you are a three and three-and-a-half point or four point Calvinist that you're not regenerate. In fact you can believe all five points or none of the 5 points and be unregenerate but that is another point. This is why we train our kids so they can grow up believing all the right stuff, but God still has to sovereignly regenerate them.

I think after you dwell on this subject and you look at the body of Scripture on this subject, at the end of the day, you will have to tip your hat to the sovereignty of God. So let us wrestle with the issue of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Are they both true? What does the Bible say about this?

First of all no one disagrees on either side of the issue that there is tension within God's Word. This is not the only area of issue that has tension. Take for instance the God-Man. There is tension there. We are finite creatures and we're trying to comprehend the infinite. The only way we can think about the infinite, in particular, is when God reveals himself, his thinking, his work and his person within the pages of scripture. Even though there is tension this tension is reconcilable in the mind of God even if in our minds they are not reconcilable.

I really believe as a person matures in the Christian faith, I think they come to the point where they will allow for two truths that seem irreconcilable to our finite minds. A believer who understands both of these biblical truths lie side by side within scripture, and does not not have to have complete mental closure on the issue. In the words of the Beatles you, “let it be”.

So this blog will attempt to help you understand that both of these truths are to be embraced and both of these truths within scripture are undeniable. We will also see, as we go through this blog, that God does not attempt to explain these truths fully. There is no formal explanation.

You'll see as we dissect this issue, the responsibility of man is to believe, to repent, to follow, to trust, to forsake. The unbelieving man must do those things. But we're also going to see within the same context that no one can come to the Father unless He draws them John 6:44.

There is no embarrassment about the tension that lies within Scripture. There is no reason to hide the truths that lie side by side. Instead we should embrace these truths even with the tension.

We will also try to show how these truths do not contradict each other. There are no contradictions in the Bible. If in our finite minds we can't figure something out, there seems to be a contradictions, but these truths complement one another. Again, if you're tired of me saying it, too bad!! God's sovereignty and human responsibility are both truths. Hopefully after going through this blog you will not be bothered by the tension any longer.

Charles Spurgeon said: “I don't reconcile friends”. Speaking of this issue of God's sovereignty and human responsibility.

Arthur Pink said: “many have foolishly said it is quite impossible to show where divine sovereignty ends and creature accountability begins. Here is where creature accountability begins: in the sovereign ordination of the creator. As to his sovereignty there is not and never will be an end to it.”

I do not deny responsibility and I certainly do not deny sovereignty. The Bible will show us and give weight to the sovereignty of God and elevates God the Creator infinitely. We will also see that the creature, the sinful creature, the sinful finite creature, is going to be responsible. This subject is humbling intellectually and morally because it drives us away from ourselves. It is prideful to elevate man's responsibility to the same sphere of God's sovereignty. It is prideful to demand an answer. It is prideful to insist on mental reconciliation. It is prideful to insist anything like it. This should drive us to worship. This should make us think; how can God be so great? Who is like him? Can you accept both truths? Can you accept the priority of God over man?

Human Responsibility

What is human responsibility? I will do something... I won't do something. As humans we have wills. I would never say we don't have a wills. We do have a will. But the fall has made that will fallen. The Bible uses words that describe “the bondage of the will”. Adam and Eve were created with a capacity or an ability to say yes or to say no. They could say, “I will” or they could say “I won't”. Then sin enters the picture. It effects their nature and therefore it effects the will. The will however is not abolished in the fall. The will still wills, but the will wills sinfully.

An Attempt to Define Human Responsibility, Synonyms for Responsibility:

Accountability

Everyone, every creature, is accountable to God... Is answerable to God. We will all give an account to God one day.

Obligation

We have a duty. God gives us commands and as His creatures we are under those commands and are accountable to divine law. If we obey there is a reward. If we disobey there is punishment. Conclusion to this is to fear God and keep His commandments.

Oughtness

We ought to obey God. We ought to love God. We ought to love our neighbor.

The standard for this responsibility as outlined in the three part definition of Responsibility.... Accountability.... Obligation and Oughtness is God's revealed will which is found in the Bible alone.

There are two wills of God:

His Sovereign Will: Whatever is revealed in the universe is God's Sovereign Will.

And His Revealed Will is found in Scripture.

An unregenerate person can say Yes or No to decision/questions but when we start talking about man's will, the real question begins... is man's will free?

Most discussions take this issue a one or two ways. Either man is free fully or man is a robot. These are the only two options most of the church gives for man's will. It is either one or the other. You have a totally free will or you're an automaton robot.

The real question should be... How free is man's will?

The world limits man free will... Habits limit man's free will... Your education limits man's free will... Your customs limit mans free will... Ambitions limit man's free will…You get approval or disapproval if you do something right or wrong, so this is a limiting factor in man's free will as well.

Jerome Zanchius (1516-1590), Italian Protestant Reformation clergyman and educator said: "The comprehensive decree of God has man possessing the character surrounded by a certain environment subject to certain external influences, Internally moved by certain affections and his desires, habits, and in view of all these he shall make a choice. That the choice will be one thing and not another is certain and the God who knows and controls the exact cause each influence knows what that choice will be and in a real sense determines."

Is there such a thing as moral neutrality? Is fallen man is predisposed to choose righteousness… choose goodness... choose Christ?

“Both good and evil men, though by their actions they fulfill the decrees and appointments of God, yet are not forcibly constrained to do anything, but act willingly.” Martin Luther

We will start dissecting this issue in Part Two of this series...Stay tuned

The Systematic Maniac

A Response from the Church to our Government on Same Sex Marriage

In a day when Christians believe that our only response to the government and our culture on the issue of Same Sex Marriage is religious liberty or apologetical arguments (which both have a valid place mind you), the response that seems to be missing from the dialog is one that is uniquely Christian. This is accomplished by pushing aside our efforts to argue our point from our own wisdom and proclaim the word of God as prophets did in dealing with Godless Governments in the past. This is by swinging the dual edged sword of Gods word; calling a Government and it's people to Biblical repentance.

Below is what I believe is the right response from the Christian Church to the Government. This is courtesy of Oceanside United Reformed Church in North County CA.

______________________________________________________________________

“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”[1]—the one true God whom alone is “King of kings and Lord of lords” over all nations; from whom all executive, legislative, and judicial power comes; whose kingdom already came, is coming, and will come to consummate all things in heaven and on earth.[2]

In the long history of God’s people there have been occasions when they have been called upon to speak to their civil rulers. The church, as the primary manifestation of the kingdom of God, is the place from which Almighty God speaks to not only his peculiar people, but to all peoples everywhere—including civil governments. It is not the calling of the institutional church, whether local or catholic (“universal”), to legislate as civil representatives, interpret legislation as civil judges, or apply legislation as civil executives. But it is our calling to be the prophetic voice of God in the world, following the examples of prophets and apostles of old.[3] We are “the pillar and foundation of the truth”[4] concerning God and his relationship to the world. In response to the Supreme Court of the United States’ 5–4 decision to declare same-sex “marriage” as a right in all fifty states (Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015), the leadership of the Oceanside United Reformed Church is compelled to speak the truth of the Word of God in love.

A Plea

We call upon you, leaders of our government—Mr. President, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, Speaker of the House Boehner, and Chief Justice John Roberts—to repent of approving same-sex “marriage” and do all in your power to repeal it.

We appeal to you to take up the Word of God, which describes your duties and responsibilities. In your ideal capacity, you are foster fathers and nursing mothers to the church.[5] As such fathers and mothers, we have a deep honor for your persons and positions of office.[6] Into such high offices God himself has instituted you over this nation as his servants for good and as punishers of wrongdoers.[7] Because your task is so weighty, God commands us to offer for you constant “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings.”[8] Our prayers for you are in the same vein as Tertullian (155–240) once wrote of Christian prayer for the Roman Emperor, whom persecuted Christians:

Looking up to Him, we Christians—with hands extended, because they are harmless, with head bare because we are not ashamed, without a prayer leader because we pray from the heart—constantly beseech Him on behalf of all emperors. We ask for them long life, undisturbed power, security at home, brave armies, a faithful Senate, an upright people, a peaceful world, and everything for which a man or Caesar prays.[9]

We pray the words of Jesus for you: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”[10] And our prayer for our entire nation is Jesus’ as well, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”[11]

What God Commands

Why are we calling on you to repent and to repeal same-sex “marriage?”

The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us in his Word “from the beginning” of creation God is the author of marriage, having created humanity and having “made them male and female.”[12] Our Lord affirms, therefore, that from beginning to end, the Bible has a clear and consistent teaching about marriage: marriage is a faithful lifelong union of one man and one woman.

We read in the beginning: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”[13] Having created the human race as male and female, God commanded this male and this female to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.”[14] Because it was “not good that the man should be alone,” God said, “I will make him a helper fit for him.”[15] And in giving this one woman to this one man, he brought them together into a faithful and lifelong union: “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”[16]

Jesus re-affirmed this creational structure of marriage, saying, “‘from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”[17]

Paul also spoke of such marriage between man and woman, husband and wife, appealing to the original creation as well as saying it was significant of Jesus Christ’s relationship to his people: “Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”[18]

The Holy Scriptures nowhere recognize with Divine approval any other form of marriage other than that between one man and one woman. In fact, Jesus not only re-affirms the Old Testament’s teaching on marriage but also it’s teaching on sexual immorality, including homosexuality. In his own words,

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.[19]

Homosexual activity, like all sexual immorality, is a violation of the moral will of God.[20] Even more, though, homosexuality is an overturning of God’s created order by humans who have rejected God and put themselves in his place. Therefore it is a sign of God’s wrath being poured out upon a society:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.[21]

Therefore we plead with you to take heed, to acknowledge Obergefell v. Hodges as grievous sin, and to do everything in your power to repeal it. Because marriage is an institution of God and because you are God’s servants over our nation, you have an interest in marriage and a delegated authority from God to protect its sanctity.

What God Promises

But God not only thunders his Law to us all in his Word, he also sweetly whispers the Gospel or good news of Jesus Christ to us sinners. Homosexuality is not only a sin that must be repented of, but like all sin, one from which, by God’s grace, sinners can be rescued.[22]

As Romans 1 above makes clear, homosexuality is merely the symptom of a much larger problem: our sins have separated us from our Creator.[23] In particular, our sin is idolatry, which is “worship[ing] and serv[ing] the creature rather than the Creator.”[24]And what creature-idol do we as Americans worship? Self. In our self-worship we are lost and in desperate need of Jesus Christ.

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is a God “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty [i.e., unrepentant], visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”[25]

This “God so loved the world” of sinners, which you and we are, “that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”[26]

Therefore it does matter who you are, from where you have come, what position you have, how much or how little you have, what your political views are, or to whom you are attracted, God invites all to hear his Word, to repent of sin, to be forgiven, and to live alongside other sinners saved by grace who are being transformed more and more to be like Jesus Christ. God “is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance;” God “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”[27] This is the greatest act of love we can show you and our fellow human beings: proclaiming that Jesus saves sinners. We say this as fellow-sinners, who like the “Prodigal Son,” were once “dead,” but are now “alive;” who once were “lost,” but have been “found.”[28] We say as those who have found freedom from the sin of self and true and lasting freedom in the gospel of Jesus Christ, whose service is perfect freedom.

A Protest

We also respectfully write in protest. The Oceanside United Reformed Church, in common with the United Reformed Churches in North America, as well as Christian churches in all times and in all places, affirms that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God to humanity. They contain all things necessary for the salvation of sinners; they are our final authority and unchangeable standard for Christian doctrine and living. Concerning marriage, they unambiguously proclaim that marriage is a faithful lifelong union of one man and one woman.

Therefore, we deny and protest that human beings, whether individuals, entire populations, or civil magistrates, have the ability or the authorization to re-define marriage in any way at odds with the revealed will of God. Marriage is pre-political. Marriage is not a social construct. Marriage is a creation ordinance—it is a part of the fabric of the world God has made, and because of this, it is part of that natural law on the heart of all humanity that evidences itself in the overwhelming transcultural consensus on the nature of marriage throughout human history. Regardless of new social and political sensibilities, there is simply no such thing as same-sex “marriage.” To say so is hubris—an arrogance that considers oneself wiser than God in reinventing an institution the one true God created and revealed to humanity and arrogance toward all of previous human history. No matter how much authority you may have, you do not have the right to declare an ordinance of God. As Christians we abhor the casual disregard for the revealed will of the Creator of all things whom gave marriage between one man and one woman. Our highest Court may have had its say for now, but there is a still higher court and a greater Judge before whom we all must stand one day. And in that court the Judge and his Law does not rely on any ideological fads or emerging cultural consensus for its legitimacy.

Therefore, when any government of any nation, including the one we love, oversteps its rightful authority, “we must obey God rather than men.”[29] We have counted the cost of following Jesus Christ and are prepared for whatever is coming our way. Those who have lobbied for this day to come have largely won the national debate by successfully equating in the public mind opposition to same sex-marriage with the terrible poison of racism, so that to stand for God’s truth is to be labeled a “bigot” and “extremist.” We know that we may be accused of “hate speech.” We do not hate anyone. Our Lord commands “love your neighbor as yourself” and “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”[30]

In the long history of God’s people, both Israel in the Old Testament and now his international church, we have known what it is to be marginalized and to be in the minority. Moses “considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt.”[31] Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to worship the image of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, were thrown into a furnace to die, but lived.[32] Daniel prayed publicly three times a day, knowing that the Medan King Darius proclaimed that prayer must be made to him.[33] John the Baptist was beheaded for speaking the truth to King Herod.[34] Paul suffered for his testimony about Jesus Christ being Savior and Lord of the world: five times he received thirty-nine lashes, three times he was beaten with rods, once he was stoned, and he had to be let down in a basket in a window of the city wall of Damascus.[35] After the apostles died we were called atheists, cannibals, and incestuous by the cultural elites of the Roman Empire. We were the “extremists” who brought upon the Empire the wrath of the gods because we would not simply offer a mere pinch of incense to the statue of Roma, the personification of the all-powerful State.

Like our Lord, who “suffered outside the gate,” we are willing to “go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured” because of our commitment to his truth.[36] In the face of penalties, financial or otherwise, many will sadly be quick to offer the meager pinch of incense, twisting the Scriptures “to their own destruction;”[37] but we will not. In the face of persecution, we will say in the spirit of Polycarp (80–155): “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?” who under the threat of lions, said, “Call them then, for we are not accustomed to repent of what is good in order to adopt that which is evil,” and who under threat of burning at the stake said, “You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour, and after a little is extinguished, but are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly.”[38] In the words of the Protestant pastor, Guido Brès (1522–1567), to King Philip II of Spain (1527–1598):

But having the fear of God before our eyes, and being in dread of the warning of Jesus Christ, who tells us that He shall forsake us before God and His Father if we deny Him before men, we suffer our backs to be beaten, our tongues to be cut, our mouths to be gagged and our whole body to be burnt, for we know that he who would follow Christ must take up his cross and deny himself.

Whatever the threat, whatever the reviling, whatever the label, we will turn the other cheek, we will count it a blessing to be “persecuted for righteousness’ sake” knowing that ours “is the kingdom of God” and knowing that “so they persecuted the prophets” before us, and “we will count it all joy…when [we] meet trials of various kinds” knowing “that the testing of [our] faith produces steadfastness.”[39] In the words of Martin Luther (1483–1546):


And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,

We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us:

The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;

His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,

One little word shall fell him.



That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;

The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth:

Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;

The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,

His kingdom is forever.

Our consciences are captive to the Word of God. And on this revelation of God we stand. We can do no other. To our Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—be the glory, forever! Amen.

_______________________________

References:

[1] Matthew 28:19

[2] Revelation 19:16; Romans 13:1–7; Matthew 3:2; Matthew 6:10; Matthew 26:29; 1 Corinthians 15:20–28

[3] E.g., 2 Samuel 12; Isa. 13–27; Mark 6; Acts 4–7

[4] 1 Timothy 3:15

[5] Isaiah 49:23; cf. the Belgic Confession (1561), article 36; Westminster Confession of Faith (1646), ch. 23.3; Westminster Larger Catechism (1647), Q&A 191

[6] Exodus 20:12

[7] Romans 13:1–4

[8] 1 Timothy 2:1

[9] Apology, ch. 30

[10] Luke 23:34

[11] Matthew 6:10

[12] Matthew 19:4–7

[13] Genesis 1:27

[14] Genesis 1:28

[15] Genesis 2:18

[16] Genesis 2:24

[17] Mark 10:6–9

[18] Ephesians 5:24–25

[19] Matt. 5:17–19

[20] Genesis 19; Leviticus 18:22; 20:13; Romans 1:26–32; 1 Corinthians 6:9–10; 1 Timothy 1:10

[21] Romans 1:18–32

[22] 1 Corinthians 6:9–10

[23] Isaiah 59:2

[24] Romans 1:25

[25] Exodus 34:6–7

[26] John 3:16

[27] 2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4

[28] Luke 15:32

[29] Acts 5:29

[30] Leviticus 19:18; Matthew 19:19; 22:39; Matthew 5:44

[31] Hebrews 11:26

[32] Daniel 3

[33] Daniel 6

[34] Mark 6

[35] 1 Corinthians 11:24–33

[36] Hebrews 13:12–13

[37] 2 Peter 3:16

[38] Martyrdom of Polycarp, chapter 9, 11

[39] Matthew 5:39; Matthew 5:10; Matthew 5:12; James 1:2–3