Monday, March 21, 2005
God's Providence
I am reading God’s Greater Glory by Bruce A. Ware. On page 22, I was reading “How shall we understand God’s election of those whom he will save? Is election unconditional, so that God unilaterally chooses those whom he will save? Is the coming of just some and not others to Christ the outworking of God’s prior unconditional electing purpose? Or is God’s election conditioned upon the foreseen faith of those who, when hearing the gospel, choose to come? Does God choose those whom he knows, in advance, will choose him? And what about sanctification? What is the relation between God’s sovereign dealings with his people and their growth in holiness? Can his people renounce him? Can they resist his working? Can God guarantee that those whom he has chosen to save will be saved in the end?” When I first heard about predestination on Beach Project, I was blown away. I had never heard of it before. It took me a while to start thinking about such things as a “baby” Christian. I still grapple with these questions. I would later come to believe along the lines of one of the questions above: that God knows who will choose Him and works all things for His glory according to this choice. As I read this book, talk to fellow Christians, and ultimately turn to God for wisdom, hopefully these things will make more sense to me. Please feel fee to post comments that are helpful on this topic or about how you understand God’s providence in Scripture (first) and life (second).
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3 comments:
I remember thinking at one point in time: "There is no way, no how that I could worship a God who elects individuals to salvation." I knew that the Bible talked about predestination and election, though, so I became convined that text like Ephesians 1 was talking about God's "electing" to save people by the means of Jesus Christ. At the time I was also in an environment that saw Calvinism as a harsh, unloving theology that had little to do with the God of the Bible. Being in that camp, I set out to prove to myself that at least 3 of the 5 points were wrong and sought to make definitions all my own.
As I studied, I became confronted with passages such as John 6:35-48. Which includes: "All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out... This is the will of Him who sent me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up o the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day... No one can come to Me unless th Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day... Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life."
Obviously, our belief is important, but none come to Christ unless God draws them, and all that God draws are saved. The logic that flows from this is: since not everyone is saved, God does not draw everyone, but only those whom He chooses.
Also, John 10, where in the parable of the Good Shepherd, Jesus does not bring those into His flock who will become His sheep, but who are His sheep.
My studies also focused on II Timothy. Verse 1:9: "[God] who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according ot our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity." 2:10: "For this reason, I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the savlation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory." 2:19: "Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, 'The Lord knows those who are His,'..."
Along with other passages (such as Ephesians 1, I Peter, Acts 13), I became convinced that God did not decide to elect those who believe, but those whom He elects will become those who believe.
As such, I became confident that all God-honoring ministries will be truly effective. Not based upon numbers, but based upon the fact that God has decided who to elect, and if we are faithful in our ministries, He will use us through His providence to bring those elect into the fold. And whether through our work if we only see one person come to Christ or one-thousand people, if we are faithful, our ministry is effective.
I totally thought the same thing. I remember saying "If God chooses only some people for salvation, I refuse to worship Him." That's pretty blasphemous. I was basically saying that if God wasn't who I thought He should be, I wouldn't have anything to do with Him. What a scary thought! But, the Lord has opened my heart to trust Him fully and to throw off my ideas of who He should be. Election is a beautiful picture of God's mercy.
Oh wow- I should probably start reading that book for class, too. I have heard good things about it
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