Much of the debate between monergists and synergists (Reformed
and non-Reformed) revolves around the subject of belief. Who believes, how they
believe, and why? I dealt with this in part in my last post so hopefully I
won't repeat myself here. I by no means think I have plumbed the depths of this
topic and there are certainly many theologians who have done great work on the
subject. I write these posts not only to help others, but mostly to help myself
try to articulate what I think the Scriptures are teaching. Here I want to
focus on certain misconceptions with regard to the nature of belief, free will,
and saving faith.
John 3:16
John 3:16 is a beautiful passage of Scripture. It tells us
that God loves the world and sent Jesus into the world to save sinners. But
what I find interesting is how synergists think this is a proof text that
somehow destroys Reformed theology, as if no Reformed theologians were aware of
it, or as if this text has never been treated by them. We are not ignorant of
the text, for it comports well with Reformed theology and offers no difficulty
whatsoever. I think part of the misunderstanding people have is that, 1) it is
assumed the word "world" must
mean everyone, and 2) that everyone has the innate ability to believe.
John 3:16 tells us that whoever believes in Jesus receives
eternal life. Of course, what could be more plain than that? What it doesn't
tell us; however, is why or how someone believes. This passage says nothing
about whether or not someone has the ability to believe. So the question concerning
who can believe and how they do so, must be found elsewhere.
Many are under the impression that just because the Bible commands us to do
something, that implicit in the command is the ability to do it. This is simply
not true and I will show why.
There are many things in Scripture that we are commanded to
do, yet that doesn't necessarily mean we have the ability to do them. We are
commanded to keep the law, but which one of us is able to keep it? We are
commanded to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Do
we do that perfectly? What about sin in general? Scripture clearly commands us
not to sin, but does that mean we have the ability to stop sinning? In Matthew
5:48, Jesus says we must be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. Yet we
all know that perfection is something we will never attain, so this idea that
implicit in the command or exhortation is the ability to carry it out, is
false.
Commands, exhortations, warnings, etc., in the Bible are
simply telling us what we ought to do, not necessarily what we are able to do.
If we, in our own power, have the ability to obey God perfectly, why is grace
necessary? And if some retort, why does God bother commanding us to do things
we can't do? The answer is easy; because it shows us our dependence upon His
grace.
God loves the world. He providentially oversees and takes care
of the world. He makes His rain to fall on the just and the unjust. He sent His
Son to seek and save those who are lost. But sometimes the word
"world" should be taken in a limited sense. Now many people immediately
object to this, but even they themselves take the word world in a limited sense
whether they realize it or not. Let me give some examples of this. In John
12:19, the Pharisees, talking about Jesus, said to one another, "You
see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him." This obviously doesn't mean the
entire world followed Jesus, in fact, many did not believe in Him including the
Pharisees themselves. Luke 2:1 says, "In those days a decree went out
from Caesar Augustus that all the world
should be registered." Does this mean every single inhabitant of the
earth came to be registered? What about Romans 1:8, which says, "First, I
thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is
proclaimed in all the world." Is Paul here referring to Australia, or
Alaska, obviously not? So those who say world means world, are simply mistaken.
John 3:17 says, "For God did not send His Son into
the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved
through Him." So is this passage teaching that everyone will ultimately be
saved? Are we Universalists? Verse 18 goes on to say, "…whoever does not
believe is condemned already…" So salvation is limited only to those who
believe.
Now the next relevant question is: what was God's intention in
sending Jesus into the world? Many deduce from John 3:16 that it is God's
intention to save every single person. And if you read this passage apart from
the rest of the Bible it does seem to convey that. However, we must take the
whole counsel of God into consideration and not isolate individual passages. We
have already seen that God sent Jesus into the world to save it, yet not
everyone is saved. Only those who believe receive eternal life. So if God's
intention was to save everyone, are we to conclude that He has failed because not
everyone is saved? In fact many are lost. Something else to consider is the
fact that to say God loves the world, or Jesus is the Lamb who takes away the
sin of the world, (John 1:29) was a foreign concept to Jewish ears. To a Jew in
John's day, this was an extraordinary statement. They were under the impression
that salvation belonged only to the Jews. They were after all, God's chosen
people, but as we see in Romans 9:6-8, not all who are descended from Israel are
Israel, but only the children of the promise. So the message that the rest of
the world could receive salvation was a revolutionary concept to them.
Therefore, we must understand the world to mean all people without distinction,
not all people without exception (Rev. 5:9). If not, then you end up with the
horrible notion that is God trying to
save everyone but is constantly being frustrated. If God's eternal plan of
salvation can be thwarted by man's free will, then man is sovereign, not God.
Free Will
I do not intend that this should be an extensive discussion on
the subject of free will. If you want that read Jonathan Edwards.
Suffice it to say, I believe “free will” is a philosophical presupposition
imposed on Scripture, not derived from
Scripture. However, this term means different things to different people, so
when discussing free will it’s helpful to explain what we mean. Of course we
have the ability to make choices. We do this every day. We can choose Coke or
Pepsi, Ford or Chevy, Windows or Mac. But with regard to spiritual things and
salvation, unregenerate sinners do not freely choose the things of God apart
from grace. Why? Because they have no desire to. You cannot choose something
you have no desire for. Prior to conversion we are dead in our trespasses and
sins, Eph. 2:1-3. Spiritually dead people do not choose Christ. They’re dead.
This doesn’t mean that they don’t have the freedom to make choices; it just
means that they only choose evil (Gen. 6:5). Jesus said he who commits sin is the
slave of sin (John 8:34). So if we don’t have the ability to stop sinning, how
can it be said that we are truly free? If you are bound by sin, then you are
not free.
Further, God's
infallible foreknowledge makes all future events necessary. In other words,
they cannot not be. Whatever choices or events take place; they must take place
as God has decreed they will otherwise His knowledge is falsified, in which
case He is not omniscient. In fact, He would no longer be God. If you believe
the biblical teaching concerning the nature of God, you simply cannot avoid
this.
Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:3, “unless one is born again
he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Yet
the synergist would have us believe that the natural person is not only able to
see the kingdom, but choose it prior to regeneration. I have yet to hear a
cogent, biblical argument that explains how an unbeliever can produce saving
faith. No, Jesus said you can’t even see the kingdom; much less enter
it, unless you are born again. Something must take place before a sinner can
choose Christ. They have to be regenerated, quickened, made alive by the power
of the Spirit. Paul in Romans 8:7-8 says:
“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for
it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh
cannot please God.”
Notice the word "cannot" in this passage. That's
right; those who are in the flesh cannot
submit to God's law or please Him. Is repentance and faith pleasing to God? You
better believe it. But Paul says those who are in the flesh can’t do it. This
is why grace is necessary. Without the grace of God, which is effectual grace,
our will is hostile toward God. We see the same thing taught in 1 Corinthians 2:14:
"The natural
person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly
to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually
discerned."
Notice the words,
"not able to." The natural person as opposed to the spiritual (born
again) person is unable to even understand the things of God. This is why the
Reformed maxim states: regeneration precedes faith. Faith must be the result of
the new birth, not the other way around.
Saving Faith
Belief is not enough.
Even the demons believe and tremble, (Matt. 8:29, James 2:19) yet they are not
saved. If you ask a secular historian whether or not they believe in Jesus,
they will most likely affirm that Jesus was a real historical figure,
but not the Son of God who rose from the dead. When Paul told the Philippian jailer to be believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and you will be saved, he was talking about a different kind of belief. We
call this saving faith. So what is saving faith? Saving faith is not only
mental ascent to the truth of the gospel, but also repentance from sin, and
trust in Jesus alone for salvation. So where does this faith come from? We
would argue that saving faith is not something conjured up by unbelievers, but the
gift of God. Let's look at a few passages of Scripture.
"For by
grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own
doing; it is the gift of God," Eph. 2:8
This is a very
familiar passage. It is both clear and glorious, so I'm not going to debate the
gender of the Greek words here as many do. I think the clarity of the passage
is unmistakable. Salvation is the gift of God. We didn't do it. We contributed
nothing. Grace, faith, the whole package if you will, is a gift.
"But to all who
did receive him, who believed in His name, he gave the right to
become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of
the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God," John 1:12-13.
This passage destroys
the idea of free will. How are we born again? It's not by blood (natural
descent). It's not by the will of the flesh, and it's not by the will of man,
but of God. I don't see how it gets any clearer than that. This should be the
end of the discussion right here!
"For it has
been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him
but also suffer for His sake," Phil. 1:29.
Here we see that
belief is something that is granted. And not only belief, but suffering. This
passage is rich and would require too much time to delve into. However, if
belief is something we do by the power of our own free will, why does this
passage say belief is granted for the sake of Christ?
"When they heard these things they fell silent. And
they glorified God, saying, 'Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance
that leads to life,'” Acts 11:18.
Here again, God grants repentance. Many other texts
could be cited, such as Jeremiah 24:7, Ezekiel 36:26, John 6:65,
John10:26-29, and Acts 13:48.
Now some will still object to this and ask, "But doesn't
God want us to come willingly?" Of course! But we never will until He first
opens our eyes; until He changes our heart. That's the whole point. When the
regenerating power of the Holy Spirit breaks through the darkness of Satan's prison
house where we were helplessly chained to our own sin; shining the light of
Christ's forgiveness, and delivering us from our bondage, oh yes, we come to
Christ most willingly!
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