07. Doctrines of Grace

What the Bible Says About the Doctrines of Grace

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Unconditional Election

God is Sovereign

Exo 15:18; 1 Chr 29:11-12; 2 Chr 20:6; Psa 22:28

  1. He exercises that sovereignty in actively ordaining everything

    2. Deu 32:39; 1 Sam 2:6-8; Job 9:12; Job 12:6-10; Psa 33:11; Psa 115:3; Psa 135:6; Isa 14:24; Isa 45:7; Act 15:18; Eph 1:11

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Three Common Objections to Election Addressed

Although it is certainly inexcusable, it is nevertheless to be expected that the world, lying in the power of Satan, should take offense at the doctrines of God’s free and sovereign grace in the gospel. But it is even less excusable, and certainly less understandable, that among professing evangelicals, the same sort of reaction is likely to occur. True, evangelical Christians dress up their objections in different ways, viewing them as a vindication of God’s character, or even as an adherence to biblical truths; but the plain fact of the matter is that anyone whose eyes have been opened by the Spirit to understand the scriptures, if he is honest in his pursuit of biblical teaching, must admit that such foundational gospel principles as election are shouted in the clearest of terms throughout the entire gamut of scripture. Hence, those Christians who are opposed to the doctrines (due to natural human ways of thinking), tend for the most part to skirt over exegetical and textual arguments, and immediately bring to bear certain logical arguments against the doctrines of Calvinism. This is not true of every non-Calvinistic Christian: but I think it is a fair observation for the bulk of Arminian Christianity in America. From this group in particular, I have innumerable times heard the following three arguments against the precious and biblical doctrine of election: (1) God’s choosing us makes him an arbitrary and unjust dictator; (2) God’s choosing us destroys personal responsibility; and (3) God’s choosing us eliminates the motivation to evangelize the lost. In this brief article, I hope to demonstrate that these objections are not logical – and they are certainly not scriptural. My desire is that these simple thoughts may be used by God to convince some of our dear Arminian brothers that their view of God is not biblical, and hence to give them a more accurate glimpse of the Lord in his sovereign majesty. Because to see him for who he is is to love him more deeply and passionately. Continue Reading

A Defense of the Reformed Understanding of the Human Will

Introduction

The complacency with which many evangelical Christians today regard the question of free will in humanity is an unmistakeable indication of the radical shift in mainstream Protestantism from its Reformed moorings. To Luther and Calvin alike, the idea of a human will that is in all respects bound by its corrupted nature was not only a fact demanding strict adherence; but more than that, it was a principle foundationally requisite for a pure gospel. In The Bondage of the Will, some of Luther’s strongest rebukes to Erasmus address the absolute necessity of arriving at a clear understanding of free will. Replying to Erasmus’s “unheard-of assertion” that the doctrine of free will “is something non-essential”, Luther states,

I think it is vital. If it is ‘irreligious’, ‘idle’, ‘superfluous’- your words-to know whether or not God knows anything contingently; whether our will is in any way active in matters relating to eternal salvation, or whether it is merely the passive subject of the work of grace; whether we do our good and evil deeds of mere necessity-whether, that is, we are not rather passive while they are wrought in us-then may I ask what does constitute godly, serious, useful knowledge? (1) Continue Reading