Four Questions (3, 4)
3. How can God decree that men should commit certain sins, hold them responsible for committing them, then judge them guilty for doing so?
Here we can think of the extreme case of Judas. It is clear from Scripture that God decreed from all eternity that Judas would betray Jesus. The prophecy about the 30 pieces of silver in Zechariah 11:12, for example, shows that. So the next question is, was Judas a responsible agent in fulfilling this decree of God? He was. Responsibility is to do mainly with the motive and intention of the one doing something. This is generally recognised. The law distinguishes between a blow inflicted by accident (without evil intent) and one delivered with malice aforethought. Think of Judas then. What did he design in his heart when he bargained with the priests? He was not conscious of fulfilling God's will. He did not know it. Yet that is what he did. His actual intention was only evil, and so, though God had decreed and directed his act, yet because of his own evil intention he is surely guilty. He himself says afterwards I have betrayed innocent blood.
Something similar can be said about the crucifixion. Again the Bible is clear that Jesus was handed over to his killers by God's set purpose and foreknowledge. The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers gather(ed) together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. ... Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in Jerusalem to conspire against God's holy servant Jesus, whom he anointed. But as the early church confessed to God They only did what God's power and will had decided beforehand should happen (Acts 4:26-28). Yet at the same time the guilt of those who crucified the Saviour is not in doubt. You, says Peter to the citizens of Jerusalem, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
It is wrong to say then that because these things were pre-ordained by God that the perpetrators are not guilty. That is a false logic. God is never the author or approver of sin in the absolute sense. As Augustine long ago well put it “That men sin proceeds from themselves; that in sinning they perform this or that action, is from the power of God who divides the darkness according to his pleasure.” Proverbs 16:9 is similar In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
4. How can the sinner be held responsible to receive Christ, and be damned for rejecting him, when God foreordained him to be condemned?
3. How can God decree that men should commit certain sins, hold them responsible for committing them, then judge them guilty for doing so?
Here we can think of the extreme case of Judas. It is clear from Scripture that God decreed from all eternity that Judas would betray Jesus. The prophecy about the 30 pieces of silver in Zechariah 11:12, for example, shows that. So the next question is, was Judas a responsible agent in fulfilling this decree of God? He was. Responsibility is to do mainly with the motive and intention of the one doing something. This is generally recognised. The law distinguishes between a blow inflicted by accident (without evil intent) and one delivered with malice aforethought. Think of Judas then. What did he design in his heart when he bargained with the priests? He was not conscious of fulfilling God's will. He did not know it. Yet that is what he did. His actual intention was only evil, and so, though God had decreed and directed his act, yet because of his own evil intention he is surely guilty. He himself says afterwards I have betrayed innocent blood.
Something similar can be said about the crucifixion. Again the Bible is clear that Jesus was handed over to his killers by God's set purpose and foreknowledge. The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers gather(ed) together against the Lord and against his Anointed One. ... Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in Jerusalem to conspire against God's holy servant Jesus, whom he anointed. But as the early church confessed to God They only did what God's power and will had decided beforehand should happen (Acts 4:26-28). Yet at the same time the guilt of those who crucified the Saviour is not in doubt. You, says Peter to the citizens of Jerusalem, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
It is wrong to say then that because these things were pre-ordained by God that the perpetrators are not guilty. That is a false logic. God is never the author or approver of sin in the absolute sense. As Augustine long ago well put it “That men sin proceeds from themselves; that in sinning they perform this or that action, is from the power of God who divides the darkness according to his pleasure.” Proverbs 16:9 is similar In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
4. How can the sinner be held responsible to receive Christ, and be damned for rejecting him, when God foreordained him to be condemned?
This question has really been answered but we can identify certain things that we need to keep in mind.
1. No-one in this life can know for certain that he is damned. Such things are hidden in God's secret will. Only his revealed will is known and that is that all men everywhere should repent and turn to Christ. All who do that will be saved.
2. It is the duty of every sinner to search the Scriptures which are able to make him wise to salvation (2 Timothy. 3:15). God blesses the use of means and those who will study God's Word and do what it says have good reason to hope that they will be saved.
3. But people come back and they say but isn't it still true that the non-elect are unable to repent and believe? The answer is yes, of course, but then no sinner has the power to come to Jesus of himself. We're all the same on that score. We not only cannot save ourselves but we do not want to be saved. Nevertheless God commands us to obey him.
1. No-one in this life can know for certain that he is damned. Such things are hidden in God's secret will. Only his revealed will is known and that is that all men everywhere should repent and turn to Christ. All who do that will be saved.
2. It is the duty of every sinner to search the Scriptures which are able to make him wise to salvation (2 Timothy. 3:15). God blesses the use of means and those who will study God's Word and do what it says have good reason to hope that they will be saved.
3. But people come back and they say but isn't it still true that the non-elect are unable to repent and believe? The answer is yes, of course, but then no sinner has the power to come to Jesus of himself. We're all the same on that score. We not only cannot save ourselves but we do not want to be saved. Nevertheless God commands us to obey him.
This brings us to the question of why God demands from us what we can't do. With Pink, we answer, firstly, that God is not going to lower his standards just because of sin. God is perfect and so he sets perfect standards before us. Further, we are responsible to acknowledge before God our inability and to cry to him for help to find grace.
Pink uses the illustration of a slip on the ice. A man slips and breaks his hip. He is unable to rise but if he remains there he will freeze to death. What, then, should he do? If he's determined to be rescued he will cry out for help. In a similar way, the sinner, unable to get up himself and take the first step to Christ, is responsible to cry out to God for help - and if he does (from the heart), God will hear him. God is not far from any one of us (Acts 17:27). But if we refuse to cry to the Lord, then our blood will be on our own heads.
Pink uses the illustration of a slip on the ice. A man slips and breaks his hip. He is unable to rise but if he remains there he will freeze to death. What, then, should he do? If he's determined to be rescued he will cry out for help. In a similar way, the sinner, unable to get up himself and take the first step to Christ, is responsible to cry out to God for help - and if he does (from the heart), God will hear him. God is not far from any one of us (Acts 17:27). But if we refuse to cry to the Lord, then our blood will be on our own heads.
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