“So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, ‘Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will? But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ’ Why have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable us?” Romans 9:18-21
If you were being tried in court for some offense or another the prosecution can’t say “Your Honor, the accused is guilty. If not in this particular case, then in some other way.” Or imagine that he said, “Someone told me that the accused admitted to the crime.”
In the first instance, the judge would scold the lawyer because he has to bring specific proof of that crime for which you’re on trial. In the second case, hearsay isn’t admissible as evidence. Who said this? Where are they? How can we be certain that they know? Like with the first case, a prosecutor can’t bring forth a vague argument as proof because you, the accused, can’t refute something that’s not solid.
With this said, let’s look at Paul’s presentation of the sovereignty of God in man’s salvation, shall we? The first thing to say about predestination is that it’s the Bible that brings it up – and it brings it up time and again as a plain fact. And not just a plain fact but a glorious one. The truth is, we don’t like it. I don’t like it either (speaking in the flesh). Why? For one, it insults me (again…speaking in the flesh). And two, it confuses me with matters of ultimacy.
Let’s look at them.
The doctrines of grace, as we should call them, rest upon the logic of Scripture. Man’s fall cast him into sin. It fractured our relationship with God and killed us. Death is in the world because of sin. No fact is more readily attestable than this one. All men die. What proof do we need of the Biblical doctrine of sin other than death. “The soul that sins will die.” Since all men die, we have ample evidence that what the Bible says about sin is true. Oh, and incidentally, no other worldview, philosophy, religion, or humanistic speculation makes sense of the reality of death. The Bible alone explains why it’s there and happens to everyone. A necessary corollary of our suppression of the truth (Romans 1:18-20) is that we don’t think about the ramifications of the Bible’s doctrine of death (Romans 6:23).
This brings us to total depravity. Total depravity doesn’t mean that we’re as bad as we could be – that is, totally sinful. Total depravity doesn’t mean utter depravity. It means that sin has impacted every aspect of our lives, personalities and minds. It means, in the issue before us, that we consistently mix error with truth in all that we do. Truth is God’s common grace to us; error is evidence of our rebellion. The mark of Scripture (God’s revelation about the great facts of life’s origins, meaning and ethics) is consistency. The mark of man’s alternative humanistic philosophy is contradiction and suppression. In all of man’s philosophies he butchers logic and fails to draw a straight line from origin to purpose to action.
The fact of death is a great example of this. It proves that what the Bible says about the origin, meaning and purpose of life is true. In a way of seeing it, when we say that the Bible is the word of God we’re saying that it’s a comprehensive explanation of life. To disagree with Scripture requires that the critic provide a logical system of thought explaining life’s major questions. Since the Scripture gives man God’s revelation, to reject revelation is to say that another explanation exists. To charge God with a contradiction, as all atheists do, requires an accounting for why truth exists in the first place. Not only that, it requires an explanation for why contradictions are bad and why anyone should care. In all, to start an assault on the King’s philosophical fortress, man must explain where everything came from (doctrine of creation) and why there’s death (doctrine of sin). These are small questions to God and answered in the opening chapters of His great Book. But they’re insurmountable obstacles to humanistic man.
The pure logic of God is that He created the world and everything in it – including me and you. In a way of saying it, He has comprehensive ownership of the world. And since He’s the source of life, denial of Him and His word/law is the embrace of death. The rejection of the Creator’s will produces, not truth, but error. The easiest way to “check” this is at the grave. Since all men die and God’s word tells us that all men die because of sin, and sin is the rejection of His authority, we have discovered quite a bit on this point. The fact of universal death is a powerful witness to Scripture’s truth claim. Not only that, the explanation Scripture provides for death details that the questioning of His word/law is death’s cause.
Therefore, since sin is in the world and all men die because all men are sinners, salvation must be by grace alone. Works are excluded. This means that salvation is from the Lord alone and no man may boast. The whole point of Romans is to say this. Without grace there is only death. Without faith it’s impossible to please God (Romans 8:7). And unless we “please” God, that is, be acceptable to Him, we can’t live. This is the logic of predestination. Irresistible grace and limited atonement aren’t the doctrines that vex us – it’s total depravity. And total depravity vexes us because we haven’t yet put down our sword of moral rebellion. We still demand, even in seemingly small ways as this, that He conform to our will. We put Him in the dock. Yes, even now.
The fact of total depravity insults me in that my default setting – in the flesh, my humanistic pride and sinful reasoning – abhors the fact that I have to react to God. In the flesh, I’m willing for God to exist. I’m even willing for Him to have control over most things…just not over me…at least not all of me. In the flesh, I want to keep at least one fort that doesn’t fall. I want the flag of self to be raised somewhere in my mind/heart. God’s radical and total sovereignty are threats to my fortress of self. Outgunned, I retreat to the hill of Arminianism. Unable to cope with the absolute authority of God and the fact of death, I say that He must not have so much authority as He does. I must carve out this one place. I must have this piece of land in the midst of His dominion. No matter how ramshackle my pretend kingdom – like a sand castle in front of the tsunami of God’s sovereignty – I want it. It’s mine!
This is the “problem” of predestination. The fact of the controversy further proves the point of our depravity – yours and mine – by our continuing questioning of Him. God’s radical and comprehensive authority, holiness, and foreknowledge logically leads to our dependence upon Him…even to think rationally about Him.
The thing is, this is the last fort to fall in the mop-up that’s salvation. Salvation is the overthrow of man’s rebellious kingdom by God’s grace. For some, there are still renegade troops running about, hiding in the hills, always moving, moving…living in the poverty that is the guerrilla life.
For mankind to bring charges of unfairness against God is like the aforementioned prosecutor – only millions of times worse. The very fact that we’re questioning Him at all is evidence of our serious sin problem. When we hear, “But who are you, o man, to answer back to God?” we aren’t hearing it right. It isn’t the scolding of someone trying to hide behind their authority. It’s the most pertinent and obvious fact of reality! Who are you? What are you? How do you know anything at all? To question God about matters of ultimacy is like asking a fish to develop a nuclear bomb. We really don’t know what we’re talking about. That’s the whole point behind the book of Job. Everyone likes to think it’s about the patience of Job but it’s really about God’s stunning and comprehensive sovereignty.
When He says, “Who is this that darkens counsel with words without knowledge?” we should be warned! That’s us anytime we dare tread where no human mind can go. Ah, the hubris of mere men philosophizing about things of which they have no idea. In Job, God never answers questions. He won’t get in the dock. Instead, He issues three chapters worth of His own.
“Where were you when I created…? And how do you know…?”
The logic Scripture – that is, God’s creative power, our fall into sin due to pride, and the consequence of death – leads to salvation by faith alone. If there is a controversy over predestination it’s only because man – even saved men – refuse to abandon that last hill. But they should know, yes, we should all know – God’s grace and His foreknowledge aren’t at odds with each other. Predestination is not inimical to love in the majestic logic of redemption. That we don’t understand it is okay. God is God and we’re not. Herein lies a mystery about what God knows and how He knows it and faith rejoices in the fact that He is always doing the right thing (Genesis 18:25). In all, there’s no sin in us simply expressing the truth that we don’t understand Him. Romans 11:36 tells us plainly that this is, in fact, a glorious truth. The sin is when we dare bind Him and try and put Him in the dock.
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