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December 06, 2004
Mystery of Mercy/Free Will
A Proposed Explanation by Way of Illustration
Concerning the Current Dilemma Regarding the Nature of Man’s Choice for God
by Robert Hulson
This was originally written in an online forum for the purpose of highlighting the differences between the views of two schools of thought on the role of grace in salvation and where the Scriptures leave us at the point of mystery.
Position #1: Sovereign Grace (SG)
God’s grace is irresistible when He wills it to be.
Position #2: Resistible Grace (RG)
God’s grace is always resistible.
There is something both those who embrace the doctrines of grace and those who do not: unless God initiates with grace, man will not choose God. I have chosen to illustrate it this way.
1. Man will not choose God if God does not initiate,
and he is justly guilty.
To this, we would all agree. Man would justly perish, but what would this accomplish for God? None of us believe He created the world in order to destroy it.
So it has been proposed by those who hold to a Sovereign Grace view that God must choose guilty man or he will perish.
2. Man chooses God because God chooses him.
To this, the those who deny Sovereign Grace have claimed that they believe this, too. Because they believe in point #1, they must believe in point #2. Man must be chosen by God if he is to choose God. The way they explain it is the following, based on texts such as Jeremiah 18 and John 3:16:
3. God chooses all men, but man must *choose to choose Him.
Why man chooses God is because ?
So we who believe in Sovereign Grace ask: why is it that if God chooses all men, not all men are saved? God’s choosing then becomes insufficient grounds to be claimed that it’s the reason that man chooses God.
If you say “Man chooses God because God chose man,” the fact remains that some men don’t choose God even though He chose them. Thus, there is another more primary cause of man’s choosing God than God’s choosing him. This cause, in the illustration, resides in man. It can no longer be truly claimed that man chooses God because God chooses man. His choice is but a lesser reason, perhaps among others. What is the main reason?
There is something in man which is the reason he chooses God. What this is, the holders of Resistible Grace have offered two responses: 1) the mystery of free will, and 2) man chose to choose. In reality, these are really two sides of the same coin. Man chose because he chose. Or, man chose because he could choose. SGs asks, what made man choose to choose the choice he chose? We are trying to find out what is the ultimate cause of the will’s decision for God, while the RGs claim that the will itself is a cause ex nihilo (“out of nothing”). It can do things without any cause. The very definition of “choice” or “will” to the RG is: causeless decision.
The SG’s reject this in favor of the following illustration, based on texts such as Romans 11:1-7.
4. God freely chooses some while passing over others.
Man chooses God because God chose man, and
Man is guilty.
The SG’s hold that the only way to appropriately and truthfully say that man chooses God because God chose man is to understand His freely-bestowed mercy. Any plea to repent to the hardened unbeliever will only fall on dry ground, and it will further leave him guilty. But those who receive it are the chosen, and they heed His pleadings.
“God must be the cause,” the SG’s say, “Because from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever.” And they believe that God’s election is the ultimate cause of man’s choice for Him so that in heaven forever the redeemed will recognize it was His doing from start to finish, that He is both the author and perfecter of their faith, and that He gave the gift of faith to them for no goodness in them. He will not give His glory to another.
The RG’s interpret the above differently, claiming that because God desires all men to be saved, He in no way wills the withholding of His election from anyone. Instead, they argue, He elects all and hopes they make the best decision, but will make do with whatever they decide is best for them. Thus, no matter what He does, He cannot ensure the salvation of anyone.
Posted by rob at December 6, 2004 07:41 AM
Comments
SG/RG???
stands for...
Posted by: matt at December 6, 2004 02:54 PM
Read the top of the entry. SG stands for Sovereign Grace, and RG stands for Resistible Grace. I need to modify this to be a bit clearer, but I don't yet have the time.
Posted by: Rob Hulson at December 7, 2004 11:02 PM
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