If the ultimate determining factor in whether a person comes to Christ is the sovereign will of God, then a whole host of objections and questions need to be answered. In this message, Pastor Brian seeks to answer some of the most common objections to the sovereignty of God in salvation.
[powerpress]
Objections to the Sovereignty of God in Salvation
Last week I showed you what Jesus taught about how people come to Christ and are saved from John 6:35-45. Let me recap them for you:
- No one is able to come to Him on their own.
- The Father has given Him a portion of mankind.
- Those, and only those people will come to Him.
- They will come because the Father will draw them.
- This drawing is irresistible, because it always results in the person receiving eternal life.
- Once the Father has drawn a person to Christ, he is eternally secure. All those who come to Christ will be raised up by Christ on the last day.
The debate within the Christian church concerns why some will come to Christ and others won’t. One position is that some will come because of their own choice. Others, including myself, affirm that they will come because of God’s choice.
However, I understand that when someone teaches that it is ultimately God’s choice that is determinative, not man’s, all kinds of objections are sure to follow. This morning I want to deal with the main objections to the sovereignty of God in salvation.
1. What About John 12:32?
In John 12:32, Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” How can this statement possibly be reconciled with what Jesus taught in John 6:44? There Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” I sought to show you from this text that the drawing of the Father is irresistible and effectual. In other words, it always brings the person who is being drawn into a state of salvation. Why would we think that? Because Jesus said that He would raise the person the Father draws up on the last day. That means that he will be raised up to spend eternity with Christ in glory on the last day.
Well, if every person that the Father draws is saved, how can Jesus possibly say that if He were lifted up from the earth, He would draw all men to Himself? Did Jesus believe that every person on the planet would be saved? Of course not! He taught that some would go away to eternal punishment, and others into eternal life (Mt. 25:46). Then what did He mean in John 12:32?
I believe the answer lies in how we understand “all men”. Sometimes that phrase can mean “all men without exception.” Other times it can mean “all men without distinction.” All men can mean “every single person” or it can mean “every kind of person.” I believe that Jesus meant “every kind of person” in John 12:32. Why do I believe that? Well, let’s examine the context.
In 12:20 we discover that there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus. Jesus responded that the hour had come for the Son of Man to be glorified. He said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”
In other words, when these non-Jews (Greeks) wanted to see Jesus, it caused Jesus to think of the great harvest of souls that would result from His death. Jesus knew that a great multitude of Gentiles would come into the church as a result of His death and resurrection. So, when He said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself” He was thinking about this vast harvest of Gentiles who would be saved by His death. Jesus knew that His death would save not just Jews, but Gentiles from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. In other words His death would save all kinds of men. It would save Japanese, African, American, Mexican, Italian, German, and Filipino men. It would save men from the various tribes in Papau New Guinea. The Lord will have trophies of grace from every people group on the planet.
Understood in that sense, John 12:32 makes perfect sense and is easily reconciled with His other teaching in John 6.
2. What About 1 Timothy 2:4?
This passages says that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Well, if it is true that God has chosen only a portion of humanity and given them to Jesus, why does 1 Timothy 2:4 say that God desires all men to be saved?
There are two different possibilities that help alleviate the tension here. One possibility is that the “all men” that God desires to be saved are not all men without exception, but all men without distinction. In other words – all sorts of men. Various men from every tribe, tongue, people and nation. There are many Bible commentators and teachers who have taken that position. And, that may be what Paul intended to communicate in 1 Timothy 2.
Another possibility is that Paul did mean that God desires each and every person to be saved. You’re probably thinking, “Brian, how could God desire each and every person to be saved if He hasn’t chosen each and every person to be saved?” We need to remember that the Bible says that God desires all men to be saved. It doesn’t say He has chosen all men to be saved, or has determined that all men would be saved, or purposed that all men would be saved. It is speaking of a desire. There is a difference between a desire and a choice. God has chosen certain people to be saved, but He desires all people to be saved.
You’re probably thinking, “Brian how can that be? That sounds like God is schizophrenic!” Well, not really. All of us desire things that we don’t choose. If you are on a diet you may desire a giant Baskin Robbins sundae, but you don’t choose to eat one. If you were a general in the Civil War, you might desire to have mercy on a deserter, but because of principle choose to have him executed. Could it be that God has desires that He does not choose to fulfill? I think so. I think God also makes choices that include things He does not desire.
Take the cross of Jesus Christ for example. God decided that Jesus would die on a cross to atone for sin. Acts 2:23 says that Jesus was delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. The death of Christ was predetermined. Acts 4:28 says Christ’s sufferings were predestined to occur. Yet, Christ’s sufferings involved Judas’ betrayal, the Roman soldiers’ mockery, the crowd’s cry ‘Crucify Him!’, and Pilate’s spineless expediency. All of these things were sin that God hates. Yet God decided that these things would occur, in spite of the fact that they would include things He hates.
So, God sometimes chooses things which He does not desire, and He desires some things which He does not choose.
Remember the difference between the sovereign will of God and the moral will of God. The sovereign will of God is what God has determined will take place. The moral will of God is what is morally pleasing to Him. It is morally pleasing to God for all people to be saved, but it is His sovereign will He has determined that only the elect will be saved. For a person to be saved, there must be repentance and faith. Those acts are pleasing to God. God desires sinners to repent and believe in His Son. God delights to show mercy to sinners. Yet, God has not chosen to save every person.
3. What About 2 Peter 3:9?
2 Peter 3:9 states, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” I believe the key to understanding this text is found in those two words “toward you.” Who is the “you” God is patient toward? 2 Peter 1:1 tells us that Peter was writing to “those who have obtained a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” In other words, Peter is saying that God is patient toward His elect, not wishing for any (of them) to perish, but for all (of them) to come to repentance.
We should not understand this passage to teach that Christ’s second coming has been delayed because God does not want any people to perish. The truth is, the longer Christ waits to return, the more people will perish. If God didn’t want anyone to perish, the best thing He could have done is sent Christ back in the first century. That way, billions of people would not have lived and died, the vast majority of whom perished because of unbelief. Rather, the reason that Christ has not returned yet is that He is not willing for any of His elect to perish, but is waiting for all of them to come to repentance. When the final elect soul has been brought into Christ’s kingdom, then He will return.
4. What About the Biblical Teaching on Free Will?
My response is, “what Biblical teaching on free will?” Let’s first be clear about our definition of free will. Some people define free will as “ability” and others define it as “liberty”. What’s the difference? If you think that unregenerate sinners have the ability to repent and believe without God’s regenerating grace, then you define free will as “ability.” If you believe that God allows sinners to make their own choices consistent with their nature, then you define free will as “liberty.”
We’ve already seen from John 6:44, that unregenerate sinners do not have the ability to come to Christ, believe and be saved, apart from God’s grace. However, God does allow the sinner to make the choices he wants to make. The problem is that he doesn’t want to make the choice to repent, forsake his sin, come to Christ, and worship and serve Him.
What does the bible have to say about “free will”? The only reference to “free will” in the Old Testament is to a “freewill offering”. The only reference to “free will” in the New Testament is in Philemon vs. 14 where Paul gives Philemon the choice to allow Onesimus to stay and minister to him of his own free will. That’s it! Those are the only references in the entire Bible to “free will.” There are no verses that say that man has a free will to believe and be saved.
Let’s take a look at some verses that teach the opposite:
2 Timothy 2:24-26, “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.” Let me ask you a question – if a person is in the snare of the devil is he free? If he is being held captive by the devil, is he free?
Romans 6:17, “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”
Titus 3:3, “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures.”
These verses tell us that we were far from free! We were slaves. Is a slave free? No!
Is it true that God allows people to make their own choices? Absolutely! That’s why the world is in such a mess! Is it true that people have the ability to make the choice to repent and believe in Christ in themselves? Absolutely not!
You see, an individual will always choose according to his greatest preference. If we gave a pig and a cat a choice between living in a clean house or a mud hole, the pig would choose the mud hole and the cat the clean house every time. Even though the pig is free to choose whatever it wants, it will always want to dwell in a dirty environment over a clean one. This preference is built into the nature of the pig. In order for the pig to prefer to live in a clean house more than a muddy pigpen, it would need to have its “pig nature” replaced with a “cat nature.” Likewise, the sinner is free to choose sin or Christ, but as long as he possesses the nature of a sinner, he will always choose sin over Christ. In regeneration, God graciously removes the sinner’s heart of stone and gives him a new heart – a heart of flesh. He becomes a new creature. When God saves a man, He changes his nature so completely that he loves what he once hated, and hates what he once loved. Until God works this change in a man’s heart, he cannot choose Christ, becaue he will not choose Christ. Spurgeon once quipped, “Free-will has carried many souls to hell, but never a soul to heaven yet.”
Did you know that everyone, even God, chooses according to their nature. That’s why God can’t lie, sin, or die. Those things are consistent with His nature. God would have to cease being God in order for him to lie or sin or die. And the sinner would have to cease being a sinner in order for him to repent, believe, and be saved. That’s what God does in regeneration. He changes the sinner’s nature so that He is able to believe in Christ.
5. If God is Sovereign in Salvation Doesn’t that Make Him Unfair?
Now, that question may mean two very different things. It might asking whether this makes God unjust. Justice takes place when God gives a man exactly what he deserves. However, God is never unjust. He always gives man exactly what he deserves. All unregenerate men deserve hell because of their sins. All believers deserve eternal life, not because they are deserving in themselves, but because they are “in Christ” and He is deserving. Christ’s merit is put to their account. God’s sovereignty is never exercised in condemning men who deserve to be saved, but in saving men who deserve to be condemned.” God does not injustice to those who perish. They receive what they justly deserve.
However, by asking that question some are really asking whether God is unfair in the sense that He does not give all men exactly the same privileges. The answer is an emphatic “Yes!” God has not chosen to give all people exactly the same privileges. God is the One who decided in what century we would be born, what country we would be born in, what parents we would have, what natural gifts we would possess, and what socio-economic status I would have. Why was I born in a time and place where I would hear the gospel hundreds of times during my lifetime, where others were born into nations before Christ came into the world in which they never heard the way of salvation? If God were strictly fair He would give every person in the world exactly the same privileges. But He doesn’t. God never tells us in His Word that He is fair. Yes, He is just, but He is not fair. He reserves the right to do as He pleases with His own (Mt. 20:15). We need to remember that God is the Potter, and has the right to do what He pleases with His clay.
When a wealthy woman decides to adopt two orphans out of an orphanage of 100 children says she is unfair because she didn’t adopt the other 98. Rather, they commend her for her generosity and kindness.
When a governor grants a pardon to one man out of 10 on death row, it is unthinkable to accuse him of acting wickedly toward the other 9. Those who go on to receive the death penalty, are only getting what they deserve, while the one that is pardoned receives mercy. Likewise, it is te height of human arrogance to shake our fist at God and claim that He is cruel and unfair in not choosing to save every member of the human race. The wonder is not that God does not choose to save everyone. The real wonder is that He would choose to save anyone!
6. How Can God Hold Sinners Responsible to do what They are Unable to Do?
On the surface this seems like an unanswerable question. However, we must remember that man’s inability to come to Christ is his own fault. In the beginning Adam had the ability to either obey or disobey. His choice to eat of the forbidden fruit plunged him and all his descendants into a condition of slavery to sin, and thus, a state of inability to savingly respond to God’s mercy.
Imagine a man who asks for welfare support for his family, because he is not able to take care of their needs. When questioned further, he admits that the reason he is not able to provide for his family is because he has deliberately had his arms amputated, and therefore cannot work. When his situation is looked into even more carefully, it becomes apparent that the reason he has had his arms amputated is because he is lazy and does not want to work. Can this individual justly appeal to the United States government to support him and his family because he is unable to provide for his family? It is his own fault that he cannot provide for his family, because he made the willful and deliberate choice to cut off his arms. Likewise, we are at fault for our inability, for all of us sinned in Adam (Romans 5:12-21). Adam justly represented the entire human race, and God holds all of us responsible for that sin (Romans 5:18).
Not only is man’s inability to come to Christ his own fault, but it results from the fact that he lacks the necessary will to come to Christ. In other words he cannot come to Christ because he will not come to Christ. God does not hold men responsible to do what He has not equipped them to do. For example, God does not hold men responsible to fly, because He has not given them the necessary equipment to fly. However, God does hold men responsible to repent and believe on Christ, because He has given them everything necessary to do that. God has given them a brain that can think, and a will that can choose. However, the sinner will never use his brain and will to repent and believe until God changes his nature, simply because He does not want to. He loves his sin more than Christ.
The sinner’s inability is not natural, but rather moral and spiritual. It is the kind of inability that Joseph’s brothers evidenced. “And his brothers saw that their father loved him [Joseph] more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms” (Genesis 37:4). The inability of Joseph’s brothers to speak on friendly terms did not arise because they did not have mouths, lips, and tongues. Rather, they could not speak to Joseph on friendly terms because they had no heart to do so. They hated him. Likewise, the sinner is unable to believe in Christ, love Christ, and repent of sin, not because God hasn’t given him a mind, heart, and will that can do these things, but because his mind, heart, and will are in rebellion to God.
Iain Murray convincingly explains the futility of this argument in his wonderful book, The Forgotten Spurgeon:
Man’s spiritual inability is due solely to his sin and therefore it in no way lessens his responsibility. That man must be able to believe and repent in order to be responsible for unbelief and impenitency is a philosophical conception nowhere found in Scripture; in fact it is directly contrary to Scripture because, if responsibility were to be measured by ability, then it would mean that the more sinful a man becomes the less he is responsible!1
Who ever heard of a judge who would not hold a man responsible for his crime of murder merely because he hated his neighbor so much he was unable to keep from pulling the trigger? No, the Bible teaches that the more sinful (and thus, spiritually impotent) a man is, the more responsible he is before God (Romans 2:5-6).
Conclusion
I hope that our study this morning has helped you to see that there may be a legitimate way of reconciling texts that seem to be at variance with other texts. Of course, when we look for ways to reconcile texts, we must not separate the text from its context or its clear meaning.
May God help us to be Bereans so that we search the Scriptures daily to see whether these things are so.
______________________________
© The Bridge
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by The Bridge.
Follow Us!