The Sovereignty of God
Unwanted Results of an Inordinate Emphasis on
the Exercise of Sovereignty
Election is terror
not comfort
Ephesians 1:3–6
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To
the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved.
Ephesians 1:11
11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the
counsel of his own will:
Romans 8:29–33
29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among
many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called:
and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them
he also glorified. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be
for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but
delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all
things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is
God that justifieth.
Another victim of the over-emphasis on sovereignty is the
loving act of God electing to save mankind through Christ. Election, the unquestioned sovereign act of God
providing salvation for man, should be an example of God’s loving sovereignty
and hope to the world that God loves. Sadly,
it has been made by some interpretations of Scripture to be the most terrifying
doctrine ever articulated from the Bible for the majority of the lost
world.
What makes the difference?
The difference is the sovereignty extremist’s demand that only
the most severe interpretations of election can combat their perceived,
unsubstantiated crisis of scriptural truth regarding God’s sovereignty and man’s
free will in this one matter alone.
One such severe interpretation of election is found in the spiritual
deadness of men. Although there is no
question that men are depraved, sinful, and dead toward God, there is great
question as to the interpretation of this by the sovereign extremists.
Ephesians 2:1
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses
and sins;
Ephesians 2:4–5
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love
wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
Their interpretation of Ephesians would include the analogy
of comparing the physical birth process to the spiritual rebirth as articulated
by R.C. Sproul one of the foremost proponents and authorities of Reformation
Theology.
In addition, when He exercises this grace in the soul, He
brings about the effect that He intends to bring about. When God created you,
He brought you into existence. You didn’t help Him. It was His sovereign work
that brought you to life biologically. Likewise, it is His work, and His alone,
that brings you into the state of rebirth and of renewed creation. Hence, we
call this irresistible grace.
The implications are clear from Reformed Theology; man, who
is dead, must experience the new birth. So,
where is the severity? All of us who
believe the Bible would be happy with this until it is understood that Reformed
Theology teaches that the rebirth occurs before faith can be expressed toward
God. This is quite disturbing since there
is absolutely no support for this in the context of Ephesians. The severity is in the order of the events in
which a person is saved.
If their order of events is sound, then how and when is man
brought to spiritual life so he can express faith in Christ. The answer is a severe interpretation of the Father
drawing the lost to his Son which must include bringing spiritually dead men
alive, regeneration, before any expression of faith.
John 6:44 (KJV 1900)
44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath
sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Although reticent to explain in full and using euphemistic
rhetoric, Dr. Sproul teaches that God, and God alone, must overpower each
individual, intended for salvation by the choice of His good pleasure,
spiritually and volitionally forcing that individual to live again spiritually
prior to any expression of faith. There is
no salvation by grace through faith.
Dr. Sproul states that regeneration occurs before faith can
be expressed by the unbeliever which is the historical teaching of Reformed
Theology. Regeneration, the act of the
Holy Spirit working on the resistant heart of man during the calling event, must
occur prior to any faith being possible (irresistible grace). Thus, man is brought back from spiritual
deadness so he can express faith.
“In historic Reformation thought, the notion is this: regeneration
precedes faith. We also believe that regeneration is monergistic.” (TULIP and Reformed Theology: Irresistible
Grace from R.C. Sproul Nov 28, 2012, Article from Ligonier Ministries of R.C.
Sproul)
J.I. Packer wrote the following.
Regeneration is the spiritual change wrought in the heart
of man by the Holy Spirit in which his/her inherently sinful nature is changed
so that he/she can respond to God in Faith, and live in accordance with His
Will (Matt. 19:28; John 3:3,5,7; Titus 3:5). It extends to the whole nature of
man, altering his governing disposition, illuminating his mind, freeing his
will, and renewing his nature. (http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/packer_regen.html)
The question must be asked. Does God regenerate lost man spiritually prior
to the salvation experience by faith? There is one answer, no. As supported by the text in Ephesians and
Titus, there can be only one spiritual awakening, and that is the spiritual
awakening Christ brings to sinful men for eternal salvation through faith.
Titus 3:5–7
5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but
according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and
renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Saviour; 7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made
heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
If this historic teaching of reformed theology is true, then
the calling or drawing is rebirth of the sinner, regeneration. This is Irresistible grace. Euphemistically, Sproul calls it “effectual”
grace because it is always effective because no will can be expressed against
it. Irresistible grace is the act of God
exerting sovereign control over a particular sinner, reconditioning his will (forcing)
through regeneration. This is clearly
the teaching that man is saved prior to faith. The reconditioning and the
rebirth of man spiritually must be the same act of God, else there are two acts
of spiritual rebirth or some facsimile thereof.
This makes whosoever will a
pawn of irresistible grace.
Intentionally, election must include irresistible grace. This direct act of God with absolutely no expression
of man’s will or faith becomes man’s only hope to be saved.
One must be warned; there is a terror to this system of
belief because it demands also the ugly doctrine of reprobation. By fact of such a severe interpretation,
there can be no doubt that the opposite is true. Those not personally impacted by God’s
irresistible grace must go to hell. They
have no choice.
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