Romans
Romans is the heartland of Sovereignty teaching. Here are the Bible's most troubling verses on the subject, at least for those who are still in the other camp. Many have heard these verses. Most have come up with an interpretation that allows them to move on un-touched. But I suggest that in the light of all that we have examined so far, we take a closer look at Paul's statements.
It all starts in 1:1. In this verse Paul declares that he was not only called, but separated. In verse 6 he extends that appointment to his fellow-believers in Rome, the "called" of Christ Jesus. He will make a clear statement later in the letter as to what he means by "called" and what their destiny is.
In 1:19-29, the apostle makes his case about a condemned world. He claims rightly that no one has an excuse before God. All are corrupt fools who have given themselves to their flesh and to other gods besides their Creator.
He further justifies his God in giving them up to their lusts. No one on that day will say they are judged unjustly. The world, without Christ, is totally lost, depraved, undeserving of any gifts from God.
If the book were to end here, no one could cry out "unfair." No one could demand that God owes them something. The rules were made, the rules were broken. They were written in man's heart, in nature, in stone, and always disobeyed. End of story.
Of course, the book does not end here. Amazing grace enters. But grace is not amazing if someone believes it is deserved. In fact, deserved grace is not grace at all. This will be Paul's point in Romans.
In fact, 4:4 makes that point early on. Paul says that if I do something good, and God pays me for that thing, He does it out of debt, not grace. We have all believed that none of our good works could earn us Heaven. Have any of us also concluded that even our faith could be viewed as a work? Believing itself is an act of the mind. Does God owe me salvation because I first believed in Him? Ephesians will answer that one.
5:8 reminds us which came first, our love or His. His love of course. He died for us. While we were still sinners, He died for us. This refers to the fact that we were in His mind from the beginning, and on the cross. One more clue about our predestined status.
The "we" and "us" of the passage is not the whole world and every member thereof. It is "us" , the saved, the church, the sheep. He died for us, though He knew we would live a life of sin for x number of years. He saw the sin, but He had already chosen us to salvation, and died for us anyway.
Again 3:16 comes to mind. And I John 4:19, "We love Him because He first loved us."
Romans 8-11 form the basis for Paul's sovereign grace teachings. These are some of the most hard of the "hard sayings" of Paul, perhaps the very words of which Peter spoke when he suggested that Paul says some difficult things sometimes...
It begins in 8:18 and following with a discussion of suffering now vs. glory then, which cannot be compared. He then speaks of how the present creation is waiting for the sons of God to be revealed and set things right. No need for the fanciful interpretations of our day on this passage. The fact is, Jesus and Jesus' people will rule the earth one day, and this earth will hum with order and beauty unparalleled in its history.
All of this leads him to talk of what is going on now in terms of our prayer life and how all that works, in the Spirit. Then he comes down hard with this fact (27):
It is the Spirit of God within the church that is directing everything. When we pray in the Spirit, the Spirit answers those prayers according to the will of God. That is, God is in charge, and He has taken direct charge of His Church by means of His Spirit. Therefore everything the Christian prays for in the Spirit, according to the will of God, will be done, and all things that come about through this prayer work together for the good of God's people. It can be no other way but good when they listen to what God is saying, and say what God is wanting.
Here is where he brings in the fact that there is a group of people in the world who have been called out according to His purpose.
It is a group He foreknew.
That same group He decided ahead of time to be conformed to Jesus in every particular.
That same group He called, by the Gospel.
That same group He justified, saved, redeemed, forgave.
That same group He took on to Himself. Those still here will one day join them.
Knowing these facts is what gives the believer his eternal security, as explained in 31-39. God, says Paul, has decided to save us. Whose decision can counter God's? What individual would want to? No created thing can separate us from the love of Christ. You are a created thing. Can you separate yourself?
We spoke of the Jacob and Esau situation above. It is recorded here in 9:11-13, as Paul makes the case that our salvation has nothing to do with our works. The twins were still in the womb when a decision about each of them was made.
He goes on to cite Pharaoh as another witness to the fact that God can harden whom He pleases when He pleases. This also we have already discussed.
As sinful man continues to cry out "unfair", Paul lashes back in the name of the Lord and questions little man for questioning a big God. How dare we think we understand His heart and mind? How dare we think our sense of justice is more refined than His? How dare we speak out against a holy God!
A potter can make pieces of pottery simply to be discarded if he wants. And he can make other pottery to be used indefinitely. Our God has such rights if anyone does!
Hosea and Isaiah are next quoted. People who were not considered to be His people suddenly are, by grace. The number of these people is fixed, and given a name in Isaiah: the remnant. We use the term "elect" today.
There is no opening of the mouth once Paul is finished with this argument. God calls, chooses, has mercy, hardens. Not whimsically. Not unfairly. But according to His own purposes.
Chapter 11 carries on this theme speaking in verse 7 of an elect Israel that is differentiated from non-elect Israel, that is hardened.
Those who have trouble with this line of thinking see some light in verses 19-23. Paul uses the analogy of a tree. The tree is Israel. The natural branches of this tree are all the Israelites individually. Alas, most were broken off because of unbelief. In their place, God grafts in Gentile branches which actually become a part of Israel.
Those grafted in begin to boast that they replaced a natural branch! Paul says, Don't do that. God could cut you off too, and graft the true Jews back in if they repent.
He says that the condition for staying in is that you "continue in His goodness."
In the light of every other passage on this subject, we respond, "and we will." Will what? Will "continue in His goodness." Paul's hypothetical will not come to pass. The saved of today will be the saved of tomorrow. The number and names will not change.
Yet God uses "means" to accomplish this task. One of the "means" is warnings like this. The truly saved will tremble at even the hypothetical possibility of falling away and will remain true to Christ.
This point is summarized in verse 29: "The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." That is, God does not change His mind.
Let's move on to Corinth.
1 Corinthians
Paul shows us in 1:8,9, that our security is based on God, not ourselves. He will continue to strengthen us to the end. He is faithful.
The familiar discussion of the natural man not being able to discern the things of the Spirit (2:14) has added meaning now that we see that God speaks to us by His Spirit, specifically to save and keep us. The others are like the Jews who could not understand the parables of Jesus, and Jesus did not want them to understand it.
Those of us who have received from God need to keep being reminded that there is absolutely nothing about our natural man that merits the joys of Heaven (4:7). It's all pure grace.
The very ordering of the members of the Body, with their several gifts, is also a thing of the Spirit, not of man, though man tries to duplicate and manipulate (12:18,28).
Vocabulary is important. It's easy for us, as Paul, to slip into "I did this, and I did that," but referring to labors for God, Paul corrects that talk and says instead, "the grace of God which was within me," (15:10) did the work. Even Jesus talked this way, "The words that I speak to you are not Mine but the Father Who dwells within Me, He does the works."
2 Corinthians
Paul once more claims that everything coming from Him is really God's work, not his own (3:5).
"Hardening" of Israel's heart is again mentioned in 3:14-16, in the passive voice, meaning Israel did not do it.
More to the point regarding the "veil" of "hardening", Paul comes out and says that there is a group of people who are perishing. They are already known in heaven, and they simply cannot see the things whereof we speak (4:3).
13:5 is another of those verses that causes trembling among the elect. Self-test is admonished by the apostle. Do whatever you have to do to be sure you are one of His. Look at your life. Is it producing holiness? Look at your ministry. Are people coming to know the Lord, are believers being edified, is the world and church around you any better over the days and weeks and years? Is your light shining? Take stock. If you cannot see Jesus in anything you do, it is time to repent and be saved.
Galatians
3:8. Notice here that God is said to "justify the nations." It is in this vein that we see John 3:16. God so loved the world. God will justify the nations. In neither case is the Scripture talking about every individual in every nation on the entire globe that ever lived, that is living now, and that will live. But from every nation, kindred, and tribe, a people is being called out who will one day rule this world that God loved so much.
Ephesians
We are caught off guard in the little letter to Ephesus. Some hard-hitting theology greets us from chapter 1, as in verse 4, where we are told that we who are in Him were chosen before the foundation of the world! This selected group is to live holy before God.
More motivation is given in the very next verse: "...having predestinated us to adoption..." So that's the plan. Our destiny is to be an adopted Son of God.
But on what basis? 5.b says "...according to the good pleasure of His will."
So there it all is again, in that crystal clarity to which we have become accustomed.
And there it is again in verse 11. We have obtained -already- an inheritance, "being predestinated according to the purpose of Him Who works all things according to the counsel of His will."
His purpose. His will. Seems like we have run across those words before!
The coming of the Spirit into our life is the guarantor of all this, the down-payment, the seal, the assurance that we are one of the beloved.
2:1 tells us the obvious. Since you were dead, you could not bring yourself to life. He did that for you.
And the famous Ephesians 2:8, "By grace you have been saved through faith, and [even] that [faith] not of yourselves; it is the gift of God! "
So it is God who gives the faith, too! We say that "we" believed, but it was really the "faith of God" in us believing!
If it is God Who gives faith, He cannot elect a person on account of his faith, which He foresaw. God does not choose someone because he knows He will choose them! He chooses them, sees them, and brings them to glory, because... because... because He will.
Philippians
Here is a comforting verse. 1:6, "He Who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." He started it. He'll finish it. Not without you, of course, but every aspect of what happens from birth to earth is from His hand and power. He will receive all the glory!
Further, 2:13, it is God who is even working inside of you to want to do the right thing. We are not saved by works, yet His workings continue to be manifest through us.
Colossians
Here is another place we are called "the elect of God." It is a phrase that should now be rich with meaning (3:12).
1 Thessalonians
Paul is confident that his Thessalonian readers are among the elected (1:4-5).
No, people who know they are elect are not slothful. They are ever mindful of the call and must walk a walk that is worthy of such a calling. Note it is not the working, but the calling, that comes first. We work because we are elected, we do not work in hopes that He will elect us (2:12).
We have an appointment. We will all keep it. Our appointment is to obtain eternal salvation with Christ. 5:9
2 Thessalonians
The subject is the great apostasy and the coming of Christ (2:11-14). Once more we are confronted with a God who will deliberately blind people if they do not have pleasure in the truth. And no unsaved person delights in the ultimate truth of God. So God will put a spirit of deception on them when the last days emerge and antichrist rises. All the world will be fooled in this way. But of course, not the elect. We learned that back in Matthew.
1 Timothy
We spoke of an objection and dealt with it earlier, in 2:4-6. Also see 5:21, where mention is made of "elect angels." Yes, there is choosing in the angelic realm also. This electing concept is one with which we must come to terms.
2 Timothy
Here (1:9) again Paul spells out that which by now is to us a familiar doctrine.
God saved us. He called us. Not according to our works. According to His purpose and grace. All of this was given to us before time began.
And in 1:12: Paul knows God and this grace of God so well that he is confident that whatever he has committed to God, God will keep. That is not to say that Paul did not buffet his body daily, die with Jesus daily, and all the rest. He accepted the "means" put before him. But his salvation was sure!
More security in 2:19. "The Lord knows them who are His." This is the foundation on which the promise is given. God knew me and chose me. I will make it on that basis.
Do we know the elect's identity? Not at all. Paul says there will be those who will oppose us. We will at times need to correct them. They may show up even in the church. Be humble with them, be gentle. For all you know (25) they may be the next one to whom God is going to grant repentance and knowledge of the truth.
Titus
The elect are mentioned in 1:1, and the grace of God that brings salvation in 2:11.
Philemon
In this one-chapter book I was able to find no specific mention of sovereign grace. The author has declared himself quite well in other books, though.
Hebrews
The book of Hebrews introduces some "if's" to the discussion of eternal security. Look at 3:6, "...whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end."
Also 3:14, "For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end."
The response to this, again, is, "And we will." Christ is in us completing what He began, according to Paul. Nothing that the writer of Hebrews can say changes that.
We dealt in the intro with passages like 6:6-9 and 10:26-29 that suggest awful punishments to those who might fall away. But we won't. That is confidence, not in our own strength, but in the strength of the one Who holds us in the palm of His hands.
In each of the severe warnings, the writer returns to the reality that the persons to whom he is writing will indeed not go that evil route. He even says in 10:39, "But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul."
And God will use these scary letters to be sure that His sensitive saints do not stray. No, it will not happen!
After all, 12:23, we are actually registered in Heaven! Do you believe that God goes through the register and crosses out names from time to time? Is our salvation not more secure than that?
Thank you, Brother Paul, for all this clarity on sovereign grace.
James
We revisit the born again experience in 1:18. How did we get here? Remember John? James agrees. Not by our own will! Not by the will of some other human! But "Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures."
1 Peter
Did Peter also believe in eternal security? Hear him at the very beginning of his letter:
(1:3-5) "...God... has begotten us again... to an inheritance incorruptible, and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith..."
Sounds secure to me. God started it by giving me new birth. He attached an inheritance to it. The inheritance is reserved for me. And to that end I am being kept by God's power. Sounds like language we have heard before, and sounds very secure...
After all, that seed which is in us cannot decay or change (23). It is the very Word of the living God. Once it is spoken in the human spirit, it will do its work.
And unbelievers? They too have a promise that cannot be broken, an appointment (2:8). Their appointment is to stumble. Those who have rejected Christ will trip and fall, and all of this was fore-appointed by God. Read it carefully: 2:6-8.
But not you, believer. Chosen, royal, holy. And as in Hosea and Paul, once not even a people at all before men, but because of your calling aeons ago, now a people, and a people who have obtained the undeserved favor and mercy of God (9-10) .
2 Peter
It behooves us, since there really is an "election", a calling from eternity, a series of Divine appointments that will usher the chosen into the Presence of God forever, it behooves us, I say, and Peter says, to be absolutely sure of our calling (1:8-10). Paul had said it and we commented on it, above. Test yourself. Be thorough. Do you remember a call? A sealing? A change? New life? Fruit? Be sure. Be very sure!
In 2nd Peter is a reminder of how God chooses and spares but also unapologetically wipes out entire civilizations, yea worlds, of disobedient.
So it shall be in the last day. The chosen "Noah's", made righteous by the blood of Christ, will all be spared, but the great masses of humanity will be cast out of His Presence forever. And they will weep, and they will gnash their teeth, and I imagine many will still be calling out "unfair" as they descend into Hell.
But it is we, the redeemed who alone have a right to say such a word. Unfair! Why should I be saved? Why should the Son of God come to Earth for me and the relatively few earthlings who will escape the wrath of God? Why?
Shall we ever know His mind? Shall we ever stop thanking Him that he chose us? You see the glory of the doctrines of grace when you see what is coming to the planet.
In 3:9 we are reminded that God awaits the coming in of all the elect before this judgment comes. He is not willing that any of us perish.
1 John
I John is a book of "us" and "them." Though 2:2 talks about a propitiation (atonement, expiation) that Jesus was for the whole world, 4:10 clarifies by adding that the Son was sent to be the propitiation for our sins.
They and we are alluded to in 2:19 : "They went out from us..." "They" being a series of false teaching antichrists. Verses 20 and 27 go on to explain why the "we" are who we are: the anointing, or Presence of God through the Holy Spirit. We are nothing without this Presence. The doctrines of grace and the doctrines regarding the Spirit perfectly dovetail, as in Romans 8. God is doing according to His will, and His will is manifested through actions of the Spirit in His Church. All human personality is buried. No man does His own will and survives in the ongoing workings of the Spirit of God. The eternal plan will be worked out in us, but through Him alone (See also 4:13).
More to this in 5:10. True believers in Jesus have the Spirit inside witnessing to that fact. Unbelievers wittingly or not continue to call God a liar. 5:20 ends the book by declaring that it is to "us" that an understanding has been given regarding the true God. That "us" is the same "us" elsewhere known as the elect, the chosen, the called, the pre-ordained, the predestined.
2 John
1:1 and 13 have John speaking of an elect lady and her sister. Whether this be an individual family or two church families, the fact remains that "election" is a vocabulary word that Christians need to use and understand.
3 John
Once more I come across a book, one chapter long, in which I find no clear references to the doctrine of grace. And once more, the author has declared himself on this doctrine quite well.
Jude
A most difficult book/chapter, looking much like the words of Peter in his 2nd epistle. But Jude bears witness to the truth of predestination and the election.
Verse 4 speaks of evil men who had long before been "marked out" for condemnation. We are always careful to stop short of accusing God of any evil. For Him it is impossible. For us to accuse is very dangerous. Nevertheless, in allowing men to be given over to their lusts and other sinful ways, eventually the enemy will use these evils for his purposes, which, in a wisdom we cannot comprehend, plays into the eternal plan of God also.
For these evil men a reservation has also been made, and it will be kept (13): "...the blackness of darkness forever..." will be their abode.
Thankfully the book ends on a happier note, affirming once more our security in Christ: 24 tells us that our God is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. Now there's a promise!
Revelation
We now rejoin the great apostle John for a fitting end to the discussion of electing and securing grace.
It is God, says Jesus to the church in Philadelphia (3:7-13), who opens and shuts doors. Man only thinks he does. God has the Key.
Still have trouble believing in numbers? That God would choose this many and no more? Check out chapter 7, where 144,000 Jews are "sealed." This sealing in Paul seems to refer to the coming on an individual of the Holy Spirit.
The point here is that God chooses, and counts, and excludes. We really do not want to hear this. But here it is.
That God could be behind something negative is also painful to our ears. But see 9:5 and 15 where "locusts" are released and given authority to hurt men for 5 months. It could be that the world will look for human or natural origins of this monstrosity of plagues when they come, but the Scripture is clear. Though a fallen angel may be in charge of guarding the pit, the key is given to him by Another.
Peoples, punishments, times, places, all measured by Eternal God who likewise measured the boundaries of the oceans and rivers and mountains. 11:1 sees Jerusalem so measured. What shall happen to it, who shall make it happen, how long it shall happen, has already been decreed.
Antichrist himself will be subject to limitations from Heaven. It's all been planned. He will overcome saints. he will rule the world. It's coming. The decree is made. Only foolish virgins will not prepare for the world that is to come.
As in the days of Ahab we see evil spirits being sent out to gather men to battle, and to lose. (16:14) As we read in 17:17, it is God Himself that puts into the hearts of evil men the design of His own will. "To be used of God" is not only the delight of the believer, but the fate of all men.
What of the Lamb's Book of Life? Only those written in that Book gain entrance into the new city of Jerusalem (21:27).
First, the presence of such a Book should set our hearts and minds searching to know one thing: Is my name written there? And if it is there now, can it ever be blotted out?
Moses believed in a Book of Life and like Paul was willing to be taken out of it for his kinsmen (Exodus 32:32-33). God's response to Moses was that anyone who sins will be taken out of it!
That means that all have been so removed. For all have sinned.
We need a new book. The new book comes with the new covenant. It's called the "Lamb's Book" because the Lamb made it possible to publish such a book, a book of life, but this time life in Christ, a secure book that will not be changed, since it is not based on our works, but His.
Jesus in Luke 10:20 tells his disciples to be more concerned about their names being in that Book than the thrill of casting out a demon.
Paul knows (Philippians 4:3) that his name and the names of his fellow-workers are all in that Book. He understands the eternal nature of an entry into the Book and is not worried that later one of them might not make it.
Revelation is the final word about the Book. 3:5 says that overcomers will not be erased from it. We have seen thus far that all those called and chosen of God will overcome, so this is a promise, not a threat.
More to the point, 13:8 and 17:8 tell us that the contents of the Book were filled in before the foundation of the world - there's that phrase again! Those not in the Book will be in the fire. Only those in the Book will be in the City.
Finally the warning of the last chapter, almost the last verse of God's revealings to man. But it is a warning addressed to hearers, not believers...(22:19)
"For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book...if anyone [liberal scholar, unbeliever, blasphemer] takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life..."
You cannot be saved if you do not believe God's Word.
In the light of all God has said about His plan and program, what do you make of Revelation 22:17? It is an invitation from the Spirit of God and the Church of God. It is the preaching of the Gospel. It is the salvation message, offered to all ears. Anyone who hears and is thirsty for God can come, will come. Whosoever is still the standard, still the audience we reach. Nothing about defining grace changes the message.
But troubling as it is to many, only those whom the Lord our God shall call will respond, will hear, will be thirsty. That's how the disciples came. That's how you came. That's how all your genuine converts will come.
Whosoever will! Yet, saved from the foundation of the world. A tension there, but a reality of God's Word, I'm sure you now agree.
6. AFTERWORD
No one has known God's mind. Calvin didn't know it. Neither did Luther. We don't follow men. But he perfects us little by little using imperfect men who have seen bits and pieces of the Truth. No movements, confessions, creeds suffice to say all that God has said in His Word. But that Word, plus the Spirit, its only true Interpreter, will bring us all to the perfect light of His day, a day He planned for us before the worlds began.
Am I a convinced Calvinist now? Not totally. Surely the pendulum has swung and I can see a vast array of truth that had formerly been hidden. But the problems I mention in the text, as well as those I did not mention, will keep me seeking. I do not present this work as final, but at least as a provoking of God's people to keep looking, and not to be content with present levels of understanding.
There's always more.
