P. O. Box 1004
Hawkins, Texas 75765-1004
E-mail: ccmorris@the-remnant.com
Unconditional Election, by Elder Bruce Atkisson
The Family of God,
by Elder Lynwood Jacobs
The
Immutable Will of God,
by Elder Wade Johnson
The Sovereign Dominion of God Over All Things, by
Elder Stanley Phillips
Editorial: Shibboleths, by C. C. Morris
*
IN light of my previous remarks on the total depravity of all mankind, I now begin an exploration of the unconditional election of a portion of humanity to glory. The word unconditional is not used in conjunction with the scriptural word election in the Bible. Many of those opposed to absolute predestination say that the word absolute does not accompany predestination in the Bible, and therefore is an unscriptural term. Nevertheless, they have no problem with the term unconditional election; this along with many other things is an example of their inconsistencies.
Man is a finite, limited creature. From necessity he must use the tools at his disposal to define the world around. Words are one of tools that human beings make use of, to help them better understand the world in which they live. The Bible itself was written in the language of man, not that of God, except as He expresses Himself in man’s language. When man makes use of the expressions of language, it is the only means at his disposal by which he can understand a thing or help others to understand the same.
The term unconditional election should be defined in the context of Scripture. The term unconditional, in regard to God’s sovereign election of a portion of man to salvation, means that God did not base his decree on anything in man. We acknowledge that the Lord is sovereign (independent), unchangeable (immutable), all-knowing (omniscient), and all-powerful (omnipotent). In consideration of this it follows that he may do as he absolutely pleases. “But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased (Psalm 115.3).”
The decree to elect a certain number of people in Christ from all eternity was based on the sovereign will of Jehovah alone, “Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began (1 Timothy 1.9).” Scripture declares that the elect were chosen by God by the good pleasure of his will and not for any goodness or merit of their own. “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: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will (Ephesians 1.4-5).”
The term sovereign election is just as appropriate as is unconditional; the intent of the words is the same. This is why the terms sovereign and free grace mean so much to the children of God, enlightened by his Spirit. “For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth (Romans 9.11)”; “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy (Romans 9.16).”
The word elect or election means choose, chosen, or choice. The elect of God are the chosen of God. Sovereign, unconditional election means the absolutely free and independent choice of God. From all eternity, before creation, God decreed to demonstrate the magnificence of his goodness and mercy by choosing a certain number of mankind to live with him in glory. In contrast to this, God chose to display his infinite justice by rejecting or reprobating a portion of mankind to eternal punishment.
“What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew [demonstrate] his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted [prepared, made] to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory…(Romans 9.14-23)?”
It should be understood that the children of grace were not chosen out of the polluted mass of Adam’s fallen race; they were not chosen in Adam. The Scriptures declare emphatically that the children were chosen in Christ. Christ has eternally been the Husband, High Priest, Mediator, and Surety of all of the children of God, given to him in the eternal Covenant of Grace. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 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 (Ephesians 1.3-4).”
If the Eternal One had based his choice upon what he foresaw or foreknew would take place in time, in regard to the fall of man, then election would not be unconditional. This would basically be saying that the plan of redemption was based on events taking place in time. This would be a conditional plan. The theory of God acting after he foresaw the fall of man is known as Sublapsarianism. Sub meaning under or below, and lap meaning fall. This is the position that most Calvinists and other assorted Conditionalists take.
That is not the position that I take or the Old School Predestinarian Baptists take. The view that God rules supreme over all things is based upon Scripture. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist (Colossians 1.16-17).”
God is before all things; therefore if he is over all things then the position we must take is Supralapsarian; Supra meaning over or above, and lap meaning the fall. God was above or over the fall. The plan of redemption, including election, was decreed before the fall of man without any conditions. All things originate in the mind and will of Jehovah God. He is the great First Cause of all causes.
“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ...(1 Peter 1.2).” The plan of redemption is the Covenant of Grace. The Triune or Three-In-One God entered into this covenant to deliver the elect unto eternal glory. “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. 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 (Romans 8.30).” Man has no part to play or any function to perform in this plan. It is all of God.
The religionists of the world place all power in the hands of man. They make salvation dependent, either partially or completely, on the works of man. The Holy Scriptures of eternal truth speak far differently concerning the redemption of fallen man. “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; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to hope of eternal life (Titus 3.5-7).”
Works consist not only of so called good deeds, but also of belief. Because of the finished work of Christ, the elect receive faith as a gift from God. This is one of the promises of the New Covenant, which is ordered in all things and sure. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2.8-9).” Faith is a product of the Spirit of God. It is produced in the elect by the presence and work of the Holy Spirit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith...(Galatians 5.22).” Man cannot contribute faith, works, or anything whatsoever to his salvation.
On the contrary, faith is a consequence of salvation. “For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed (Acts 13.47-48).” Only those ordained, predestinated, and elected to eternal can and do believe. In the quoted text, the Apostles were sent by the Lord to declare the gospel message. Those elected to eternal life are the only ones who can receive this message.
The result of this message is,”...rejoice, because your names are written in heaven...(Luke 10.20).” It is evident from Scripture that those who believe in Christ are known in heaven. “...and with other my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life (Philippians 4.3).” This refers to the entire number of the elect of God. “To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven...(Hebrews 12.23).” “...but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 21.27).”
There is an error set forth by some religionists that God elected nations and not persons. This is not taught in Scripture and is false. “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations (Jeremiah 1.5).” Election, as taught in the Scriptures, is personal. “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood (Galatians 1.15-16).” The elect of God is a company made up of individuals.
The elect of God, when blessed by his Spirit, are enabled to take great comfort and consolation from the knowledge of this decree. It contains all their salvation, and all their desire. Being embraced in the Covenant of Grace, they receive all the benefits and assurances of being chosen in Christ. “Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire...(2 Samuel 22.5). “The assurances of salvation are not grounded upon the feelings of the children of God, but upon the sure foundation of the decrees of the Lord as revealed in his word. “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 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? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth (Romans 8.31-33).” Again, “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee (Isaiah 54.10).”
Only the children of grace experience the doubts and fears in regard to their position before God. The reprobates may be deceived and have a constant assurance of their salvation and of good standing before God; they encounter no doubts of their salvation because it is based on their false notion of free-will. “But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you (John 10.26).”
The true Christian struggles from time to time, when the Lord for a season denies him the assurance of faith. The revealed word of God brings great comfort to the believer when blessed by the Holy One. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand (John 10.26-27).” “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let ever one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity (2 Timothy 2.19).”
Election is unconditional and unchangeable because it is based upon the immutable purpose of Jehovah. “wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie; we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil...(Hebrews 6.17-19).”
Election is taught in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. A pattern is clearly revealed in the Scriptures. The first-born or elder brother is rejected by the Lord in favor of the younger. This is seen in the case of Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Issac, Esau and Jacob, and even in the case of David. Most importantly is the case of the First Adam and the Last Adam. “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second is the Lord from heaven (1 Corinthians 15.45-47).” Surely all things consist by the design of the Thrice-Holy-God.
Among the nations of the earth Israel was chosen, though few in number. The Gentile nations were rejected of Jehovah. If the reader will reflect upon the record of history, it can be seen that nation after nation is subject to the sovereign pleasure of God in election.
In the present day, if given eyes with which to see, we observe the people all over the world as never before: magnificent wealth to the point of decadence in contrast to the lowest depths of poverty. Some are born in countries with seemingly every opportunity, while others dwell in lands of indescribable despair. While others may attribute this to blind fate or chance, the faithful in Christ can come to only one conclusion. It is the will of God.
To the elect throughout the world the message of their salvation is sent. “And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation...(Revelation 5.9).” Wherever the Lord has a people, he will send the good news of the finished work of Christ. He has ordained, that out of the midst of their afflictions, his children shall have a reason to hope. Man will not send the message, but the Lord sent it in the way that pleased Him. “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen (Matthew 28.18-20).”
The true gospel comes only by the Spirit of God. The Lord does not rely upon the schemes of man to deliver this most important of news to His precious children, whom he has chosen and foreknown. God has always providentially opened the door and given utterance to his servants. This is the manner in which the Lord has spread his message of hope to the elect. Old School Baptist Churches have been, and are still established in this way.
Spiritual life or quickening is a direct act of God in the sinner. This work is begun in the elect by the Holy Spirit without means or measures. Salvation is of the Lord.
Conversion, being also ordained of the Lord, comes to the elect in due time. The knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ delivers the child of grace into this world. Having faith produced in them by the Holy Spirit, they embrace the hope of the true gospel message. “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8.31-32).” This is the new birth. This experience frees the elect child of God from many errors, sorrows, and much confusion. From first to last all is ordained of the Lord for his chosen people.
None of the children of grace can know their election except by their calling. This calling is effectual to accomplish the purpose of God in them. It is irresistible and cannot fail to bring the elect into an experimental knowledge of their salvation. “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent (John 6.29).” As the Lord wills I shall take up this important doctrine another time. May God bless what has been written to the building up of his people.
—Elder
Bruce Atkisson
606
Rebecca Lane
Munford,
AL 36268-7321
E-mail: Rbatkisson@cs.com
(Click here to return to Contents)
*
“The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if
children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that
we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together (Romans
8.16f).” The children of God are heirs
of an inheritance that is “incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not
away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter
1.4f).” God’s children are predestined
unto this inheritance according to the purpose of Him who works all things
after the council of His own will (Ephesians 1.11). The heirs of promise are members of the family of God. Members of the general assembly and church
of the Firstborn and the children of God are one and the same.
The
apostle Paul said, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord
Jesus, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named (Ephesians
3.14f.)” This is the only place in the
New Testament where the word family is mentioned. Yet, these two verses of scripture have
brought me great joy when meditating about the family of God.
A
natural family is made up of a father, a mother, and their offspring and is a
type and shadow of the true family, the family of God. In this great and timeless family, God is
the Father, Jerusalem, which is above, is the mother, and Christ and the heirs
of promise are the children.
We
become a member of an earthly family in one of three ways; by birth, by
adoption, or by marriage. We become a member
of the family of God in all three ways.
A manifested child of God is born of God, adopted by God, and married to
Christ.
“Beloved,
let us love one another; for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born
of God, and knoweth God (1 John 4.7).” “And
will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the
Lord Almighty (2 Corinthians 6.18).” A child that is born of God is a
manifested member of the family of God and has eternal life and will not come
into condemnation but has passed from death unto life. We must be born again, not of a corruptible
seed, but born of God. “Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and every one that loveth
Him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of Him (1 John 5.1).” God’s
children love one another.
“Having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will (Ephesians 1.5).” God’s children wait for the adoption, to
wit, the redemption of their bodies. They were bought with a price; therefore, they glorify God in
their body and Spirit which are God’s. “For ye are bought with a price:
therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's (1
Corinthians 6.20).”
“Wherefore
my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye
should be married to another, even Him, who is raised from the dead that we
should bring forth fruit unto God (Romans 7.4).” Those who are married to Christ, and members in particular of His
body, do not commit adultery by clinging to the law. Nay, they stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made
them free, and are no longer in bondage to the law of sin and death, but are in
bondage to the law of LOVE.
Jesus
said unto Mary, “Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go
to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father,
and to my God, and your God (John 20.17).”
What glorious words! The risen
Son of God, the one with all power in heaven and earth, sent a message by Mary
that rejoices the hearts of His brethren even to this day: I am not only your Saviour; I am your
Brother. God is my Father and your
Father. God gave to His Son power over
all flesh to give eternal life to as many as the Father gave to His Son. “These
words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour
is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh,
that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him (John 17.1,
2).”
How
wonderful it is when brethren dwell together as children of God. Their meetings are full of praise to God and
rejoicing in Christ Jesus. These
children are saints of God and not of men.
They look only to Christ as the author and finisher of their faith and
the Shepherd and Bishop of their souls.
They seek not the praise of men, but hope to manifest love according to
the ordination of God’s Holy will. The
only order in the family of God is love and the fruits thereof.
The
children of God daily take part in true communion, which is communion of the
Holy Spirit. Though they are a thousand
miles apart, they wash their brethren’s feet when they see themselves as less
than the least of all the Saints, if one at all. They partake of unleavened bread when they remember the nail
prints in His hands, and the riven side of that broken body that perfected
forever them that are sanctified. They
drink of the fruit of the vine when they remember that His shed blood fulfilled
a new and everlasting covenant. God’s
will through the Holy Spirit controls true communion, not man. Our regular communion services are a type
and shadow of true communion and are a beautiful memorial service of Christ’s
sacrifice for the sins of His brothers and sisters, and nothing more.
God’s
ways are not man’s ways. When we are
born of our natural mother, we come forth from her, and the navel cord is
broken. When we are born of our
spiritual mother we enter into her and the navel cord is never broken. “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which
is the Mother of us all (Galatians 4.26).”
By
revelation, the apostle John saw his spiritual mother, New Jerusalem, coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband: “And I John saw the holy city, new
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband (Revelation 21.2).” The
apostle Paul described his spiritual mother as “the general assembly and church
of the first born, which are written in heaven (Hebrews 12.23).” Mother Jerusalem and the church of the
Firstborn are one with the family of God.
God’s
children call one another brother or sister because they believe and trust that
they have the same parents. His
children love one another. Their
greatest joy on earth is to be in the presence of those they hope to spend
eternity with at HOME. They greatly
rejoice in the family reunions they are blessed to attend here on earth, and
they look forward with joy unspeakable to that everlasting reunion of the
family of God around that great white throne in the presence of their Father
God, and their beloved elder brother, Jesus Christ.
Love
binds God’s children together on earth as it will in that heavenly home. The doctrine of God and of Christ feed those
that are bound together by the Holy Spirit of God’s love. The apostle Paul makes plain that without
love nothing else matters. “Though I
speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become
as sounding brass or a tinkling symbol.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge; and though I have all faith that I could remove mountains, and
have not charity, I am nothing. And
though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be
burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing (1 Corinthians 13.1-3).”
Eloquence
of speech, knowledge of scripture, faith, offerings, and works are nothing
unless each is a result of God’s love ruling our thoughts and actions. If any natural urge is the source, our
actions are vanity in motion, and profit nothing. Worship God and love Him, His Son, and one another, are the great
commandments to His children.
The
Lord Almighty has promised to be a Father unto His children. What an exceeding great and precious
promise! His children that He has loved
with an everlasting love will be called home with their brother David to dwell
in the house of the Lord forever. They
will no more see through a glass darkly, but will see their Father and His Son
and bask in their glorious presence throughout all eternity. “Thy dead men shall live, together with my
dead body, shall they arise. Awake and
sing, ye that dwell in dust, for thy dew is the dew of herbs, and the earth
shall cast out the dead (Isaiah 26.19).”
God’s children will arise triumphant and cry out, “O death, where is thy
sting? O grave, where is thy victory? Our Father has given us the victory through
Jesus Christ our Lord, our friend, and our brother.” They will then inherit
that Kingdom prepared for His children from the foundation of the world.
Is
the family of God ruled over by any man or group of men? No. God’s will rules the thoughts and
actions of His children. No man or
group of men has ever had any control over the family of God. Even the apostles were subject to God who
works all things after the council of His own will both in heaven and in earth.
Is
the family of God divided? No. They are
one in Christ Jesus. Hatred, judgment,
and condemnation may divide people into warring factions. Self-righteous hypocrisy may exalt one above
another. Jealousy and love of money may
rear their ugly heads. All these things
are works of the flesh and do cause aggravation and heartache to those who
truly love one another. They can never
stop the children of God from loving one another through every trial and
temptation, for their love is of God.
Is
the child of God subject to man-made laws and rules of worship? No. God writes and puts His laws in the mind
and heart of each one of His children.
These are the laws that rule the actions of a manifested child of
God. A brother or sister that you love
cannot offend you; therefore, no offense can take place between God’s children.
Does
the child of God know who is or who is not a brother or sister? No. Only God knows them that are His. We can
only hope that we ourselves and everyone whose life touches ours is a child of
God.
—Elder
Lynwood Jacobs
Jasper,
TX 75951-9658
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*
There are certain, reoccurring, false doctrines that trouble
the church in each succeeding generation. They are characterized in that they
always cause considerable trouble within the church, often resulting in
splits. They are rediscovered when some
brother finds some “new” understanding or light, and begins to expound it. If left unchecked, he will begin to convince
others of the validity of his discovery, until he has a significant
following.
This
will continue until faithful brethren rise up and beat it back with careful
exegesis of Scripture and God-blessed preaching. It is usually too late to retain all of those that have followed
after this new preaching and dissimulation occurs. We ought to ever be mindful that there is nothing new under the
sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11). This
includes, scriptural knowledge and understanding. Is it any wonder that we are admonished to heed the ancient
landmarks (Proverbs 22:28)? When any
person comes with some new understanding or interpretation we ought
to examine him by “Thus saith
the Lord (Acts 17:11)!” If his new
doctrine will not stand the light of Scripture and experience then let him be
shunned.
As evidenced by Elder Morris’ recent
excellent article, the specious doctrine that “God is the author of sin” seems to be rearing its ugly head once
again. I came into the church in the
middle of this controversy in the 1970s. During a meeting in Texas back then,
an Elder said: “God is the author of sin! There, I’ve said it and I’m
glad.” I had never heard the phrase
before and had no idea what he meant by it; but not only did I know that it
was wrong, I also believed it was
intended to be divisive. Before the summer was out, that incident precipitated
a schism within the association where the statement was made, and between it
and its sister associations. Although this false doctrine has been somewhat
concealed in the intervening quarter century, it has not gone away. It is too
good a tool in Satan’s bag for him to
discard it. For this reason, I feel constrained to try once again to refute
this blasphemous, heretical, specious, spurious, pseudo-doctrine.
As a beginning
place, let’s define “Doctrine.” Webster
states that a doctrine is something taught as the principles of religion. The Greek New Testament uses didaskalia
as the substance of that taught and didache as the act of teaching. Both are used for true teaching and for
false teaching. The context must define
the usage and meaning. The primary word for doctrine in the Old Testament is leqach
meaning properly receiving (therefore learning) instruction.
So God says in
Deuteronomy 32:2 “my doctrine (properly received instruction) shall drop as the
rain.” Therefore, I understand that a doctrine
is a body of knowledge from biblical writings that in its totality sets forth a
principle or truth. The development of
a doctrine requires direct, literal biblical evidence and careful
exegesis of related scripture. This is
done by good men over time and confirmed by believers in the pew.
This truth, in
order to be understood and assimilated, depends on expressions of language that
like minded persons can receive, understand, and act on. A fundamental teaching
must not be strictly bound to only Bible words and no other. If we are limited only to Bible words to
express our belief, then what business do we have expounding on the Bible in
scriptural preaching? We would only
have oral Bible reading without any exposition thereof. Certainly, public Bible reading is
profitable to the body, but God has manifestly used sound, expository preaching
to edify, exhort, and instruct the church through the ages.
As evidence
that this specious, troubling doctrine is not new, let’s briefly review the
historical records. A perusal of the
documents will convince an honest seeker that many of the church patriarchs
strongly denounced such a concept as heresy and blasphemy.
A few
quotations should suffice. In chapter
one of his history, Hassell said; “…the third chapter of Genesis implies that
evil or sin originated from the ungodly exercise of creaturely free-will. Sin
is not an attribute of matter, but of spirit.
The most holy God is not in any sense its cause or author…such a thought
were (sic) the most awful blasphemy.
Man’s body, as created was very good…and not sinful. Christ’s body was
never the seat of sin …and the glorified bodies of the saints shall be free
from sin….” (references omitted for brevity; Hassell; page 32). In a footnote on the discussion of the
seventh century (page 415) he quotes Neander who attributes this perversion of
the truth to
“...Mohammedanism, and not Christianity; it is the
most wretched perversion of Scripture
and the most awful imaginable blasphemy, to identify God with Satan, the
source of holiness with the source of sin...to maintain that the Holy Spirit,
who is God, inspires sinful thoughts or purposes in any of His creatures. He foreknows, and permits, and controls all
things, not instigating, but bending the wickedness of men and devils into that
channel that shall enhance His own glory and His people’s good. The Divine Spirit is the author of all
holiness, and not the author of any unholiness. No Baptist, no Christian believes that God is the cause or author
of sin.” (Hassell, page 415, note)
In his
discussion of the sixteenth century (The Reformation), Hassell quotes Jonathan
Edwards at length on the subject (pages 484ff). In part he says:
“...God, by the withdrawal of His sustaining influence, is no more the
proper cause of sin than the sun, by its departure, is the proper cause of
darkness and cold....” (the entire discourse is noteworthy.) On page 495, Hassell points out that Calvin
may have traced sin to the direct agency of God in his Institutes, but
pulled back in a later writing when he averred that “every decree of the
Almighty springs from reasons which, though hidden from us, are good and
sufficient....” Hassell further
declares in this discussion on page
497, that “all Calvinistic confessions, without exception, trace the fall to a
permissive decree, make men responsible and justly punishable for sin, and
reject, as blasphemous slander, the charge that God is the author of sin.”
Isaac Backus,
in an article titled “The Doctrine of Particular Election and Final
Perseverance,” wrote in 1789 that “God never injured Cain in giving saving
faith to Abel, nor the Midianites, who were of the seed of Abraham, in electing
Israel for his church…And he never injured any man in uniting the priestly and
kingly offices in Jesus Christ and in souls who are born again, who are only
the kings and priests in the Gospel-church…Wages can be recovered by law, but a
gift is bestowed on whom, and in what manner the giver pleaseth.”
The motivation,
at least in part, for Parker publishing his dissertations on the Two-Seed
Doctrine, was an apology against this false [God/author of sin]
theology. In one place he said; “Dare
we poor mortals, who have to appear at the awful bar of God, contend for a
doctrine which gives God the lie, and charges him with being the author and
that by, and for the blessed Saviour, of such base, wicked, corrupt things; and
even of being the source and cause of wickedness in high places. Oh blush at such a thought, and pray to God
of grace that the wickedness of your heart may be forgiven you.”
One only has to
read Elder Beebe’s last editorial on the subject of Predestination published in
the Signs of the Times, October, 1880, to know that he considered the
subject doctrine to be grievous error.
In one instance in this editorial he said, “We regard it a very serious
matter to charge that God cannot govern the world, by His own determinate
counsel, wisdom and power, according to the eternal and immutable design or
purpose purposed in Himself before the world began, without subjecting Himself
to the charge of being the author of sin.”
How anyone can,
in the face of so great a cloud of witnesses, expound and advocate this
proposition is beyond my reason. But
they can and they do. As recently as 1994, the Editor of a “Limited
Predestination” periodical, in writing on the subject of “Scriptural Limits on
Predestination” declares that predestination is limited to God’s people and is
only in reference to whom and unto what they are predestinated. He refuses to allow for a doctrine of
predestination apart from the limited use of the word predestinate and its
derivatives in the Bible, disavowing the obvious principle of all the other
great Bible words expanding and expounding the principle.
Evidently he
does not allow for exegesis of scripture if it interferes with his pat
system. However, he does allow that God
purposed to suffer—but not predestinate—the entrance of sin into the world, and
he does emphatically (but for the wrong reasons) aver that “It is the height of
wickedness to charge God with being the Author of sin.” Even Job’s miserable comforters declared
truth while woefully misunderstanding and interpreting it.
An examination
of historical records and literature will discover the vestiges of the
arguments of the source of sin and evil in created order in the writings of the
Persian philosopher Zoroaster, who,
more than 500 years before the Christ event, wrote about a “cosmic”
strife between the god of light and the principle of evil. Zoroasterianism finally gave way to Islam,
which is a strange amalgamation of Zoroasterian philosophy and Hebrew and
Christian theology.
This “self-existing
evil” principle keeps creeping into Christian thought, and I think that the
“Author of Sin” heresy is an attempt to explain the presence of evil in created
order without falling into this philosophy.
One side seems to argue that to acknowledge absolute predestination
requires the incantation of such a creed as “God is the author of Sin,” and
since this offends their sensibilities, they attempt to restrict the great
Doctrine of Predestination. At the same
time the other side boldly proves their absoluteness by proudly acknowledging
such a creed. Both are heretical misinterpretations of the revealed word of
God, seeking to explain logically that which cannot be explained by logic,
reason or philosophy.
The answer to
the dispute is, in part, well stated by Hassell (P 655):
Why God decreed to permit sin to arise and
continue in the universe, when He is infinitely wise, righteous, merciful, and
powerful, is a mystery equally insoluble by both Predestinarian and
Arminian. But whether we understand the
mystery or not, we know that the righteous Judge of the universe doeth all things right.…” [Italics are Elder
Hassell’s.—Ed.]
An examination
of Scripture will validate the Conditionalist’s assertion that the word
predestinate (or a direct derivative) occurs only four times in the King James
Version [KJV] Bible—twice each in Romans and Ephesians. But we must reject his notion that the Great
Doctrine does not contain the other great words of predestination such as
election, foreknowledge, foreordination, calling, omnipotence, eternal I AM, etc.
How in the world
of men can you expect to adequately expound the unlimited power of Almighty God
not only to purpose, but to bring to pass in time as well as eternity His
immutable design, without including all of the Holy Scripture? For this Conditionalist editor to say that
God purposed to suffer (allow) the entrance of
sin into the world, otherwise it could not have entered. But to say He
foreordained that Adam…would sin is to free Adam…from any responsibility in the
matter and lay the blame for sin squarely at God’s door as its irrefutable
Author.
is very presumptive on the part
of that editor’s wisdom and intellect.
I know of no
humble sinner that blames God for anything that he himself has done. It is an utterly demeaning experience for a
man to come to the knowledge that he, himself, has actually sinned. That he, himself, is guilty without any
recourse. True religion is not a
philosophy, theology, or system. It is
a soul-felt knowledge that God is God, and having declared the end from the
beginning, He perfects His purposes in time, without the “letting” of any man
or group of men. To have any hope of
understanding this great doctrine of absolute predestination of all things in
time and eternity by the unchangeable God, we must rely on the Holy Spirit
leading us into an exploring of all of the Bible, believing in its reliability
and veracity. There is no other word
anywhere, of any time or by any writer, that will efficiently emend its truth.
The Word of
Truth, nowhere within its pages in English or ancient languages, describes God
as the author of sin. (I find no place
where it defines any being as the author of sin.) The KJV translators use author to
translate a word that means “cause or occasion” in Hebrews 5.9, when it says,
“…he became the author (cause) of eternal salvation.” They use author to translate a compound word (literally
meaning ‘the prime I am’) meaning the beginner of, or chief leader in Hebrews
12.2, where it says that “…Jesus is the author and finisher of our
faith.…” They translate the same word
as “prince” in Acts 5.31 and 3.15, and as “captain” in Hebrews 2:10. It is
interesting to note in 1 Corinthians
14.33 that the translators supplied the word “author” for better readability in
the English. There in no such word in
the Greek versions. It is so indicated by italics in the originally published
KJV. The use of the word author in
these references suggests that Jesus is the one who begins all things and the
life He brings is not from another, but wholly from Himself. After all, He is the life which is
unstained by sin.
I utterly
reject the unscriptural label with which Conditionalists attempt to smear
us. I utterly refuse to subscribe to
any such false creed in order to prove that I believe in absolute
predestination. It is enough to
acknowledge that understanding why or how an infinitely wise, powerful, holy,
and benevolent God should have permitted the existence of sin and misery in the
world is beyond the mind of men to comprehend (Psalm 131). We neither know nor understand precisely
how, when, where, or why Satan is in created order. But we must acknowledge
that he is. Perhaps Editor Hassell said
it best in his Appendix in an article titled “Predestination.” It reads, in part; “I believe, and I think
that every Bible Baptist believes, that God is the All-Mighty, All-Wise, and
All-Holy Sovereign of the Universe; that He could have prevented the entrance
of sin into the world; that He perfectly foreknew the fall and all the
wickedness of men; that He had a purpose worthy of Himself, however inscrutable
to us, in regard to the entrance of sin, as well as in regard to all things
else; that by His supreme power and decree He restricts all the rage and malice
of wicked men and devils to do no more nor less than what He will overrule for
the good of His people and for His glory; that men act voluntarily when they
commit sin, and are neither tempted nor compelled by God to sin; that God hates
sin with a perfect hatred, forbids and resents and punishes it, unless properly
atoned for and repented of, with an everlasting curse.”
Our beliefs,
doctrines, and the tenets of our faith must, without exception, be based
completely on Bible knowledge and understanding, and not in any way founded on
reason, logic or philosophy. There is
nothing wrong, when faced with an unfathomable mystery, to simply admit that
‘we don’t know.’ (Lloyd’s hymn 305 is a delightful commentary on this point.)
We must test
every declaration of men as the Berean
Baptists did, by searching the Scriptures daily to see if these things
be so. Before a man can come to God he
must believe that God is (Hebrews 11.6).
In this faith, all other needful knowledge will be added to him. The natural model is to believe a lot of
things and then attempt to add God’s imprimatur to it by specious
interpretations. God forbid that the
Body of Christ would be so presumptuous (Psalm 19.13).
The answer of a
good conscience toward God recognizes the intrusion of sin and discord into the
world without striving or arguing about its origin. It will confirm the fact of sin and the guilt of sinners without
having to prove anything.
Nothing can be
‘proved’ or ‘disproved’ by arguing or debating the Bible, because it is a book
of God-endued faith, and not a book of empirical facts with which one proves
anything. Those who believe do so by
grace, while those who disbelieve are already condemned. It is God who so judged before the
beginning. Amen.
Athens, TX 75751-0872
E-mail: wdbrj@goquest.com
(Click here to return to Contents)
*
OF GOD
OVER ALL THINGS
By: Elder
Stanley C. Phillips
(June, 1983)
The Baptist Confession Of Faith of 1689, Presbyterian
Westminster Confession of 1647, and the Congregational Savoy Confession of 1658
all have the same Chapter III, which begins with the statement “We believe
that God hath decreed all things whatsoever comes to pass,” and they all
state clearly that “God is not the author of sin, nor does He have
fellowship with any therein.” This is undeniably the historical position of
Protestants and Baptists in the United States. The Great Awakening was a Holy
Spirit revival on the colonial frontiers within these three major groups, and
it produced Predestinarian or Calvinistic churches in large numbers. In the
1820s, Satan spurred a counterfeit revival, which divided all religious orders
in America, and spawned Arminian groups innumerable that denied the historical
and biblical faith of our forefathers. Most of these New Light groups kept the
Articles of Faith, but insisted that they held to “no creedalism.” Thus, they
went from bad to worse, from Arminianism, to Pelagianism, to Decisionism, to
Religious Entertainmentism. All four of these “isms” falsely accuse the
Calvinistic and Old Baptist groups of preaching that “God Is The Author Of
Sin;” and this, they say, is the reason for their rejection of the Five
Principles of Grace; i.e., they say predestination leads to lasciviousness.
(John Gill wrote an excellent rebuttal to this charge when John Wesley laid it
at the feet of Christians. It is well worth studying again.)
As our
forefathers taught, so we yet hold today, to wit, that God is absolutely
sovereign over all things, yet He is not the author or approver of sin. Gordon
Clark often used this argument in rebuttal to the charge that predestination
made God the author of sin, saying gently, “I am the author of this book, but
every word in it was predestinated by God. He did not author the book. I did!”
The Lord willing, we shall discuss this Third Chapter in two parts. First, that
God is not the author of sin, and the second, that God does not approve of sin.
For a living experimental Christian, there should be no dispute with these two
positions.
In modern
religious concepts, there are found two very strange contradictions: (1)
multitudes of ministers spend much of their time preaching on futuristic and
sensational prophesies while outright opposing the sovereignty of God and
predestination! A more inconsistent foolishness one cannot imagine; for if
there is no “predestination” of future events, by what means, then, can any
certainty of their occurrence be predicted? (2) the largest group of moderate
Calvinists in this country preach that God is sovereign over His heavenly
estate in the “eternal” salvation of His children; but exercises no authority
or control over His earthly and spiritual kingdom in this “time world.” Rather,
they say, He leaves each of His redeemed children to work out their own
salvation unassisted according to “their own free will,” and misquote the text,
“choose ye this day whom ye shall serve” whether it is the gods of their
Gentile fathers on the other side of the flood waters, or the false goods of
the Amorites; or be, as they say, “disobedient little children of God,” who
miss their blessings, or earn them by their own merits. This, too, is a glaring
inconsistency.
That one can
preach that Christ is King over His spiritual kingdom and church, and
yet not be sovereign over His created subjects seems to be an
irreconcilable contradiction; for, to be an absolute monarch (sovereign)
necessitates an absolute reign. One cannot be an “absolute monarch”
(sovereign) with a “constitutional” democracy. The two terms are mutually
exclusive.
How would it
fare for one to be the “HEAD of His body, the church,” yet have one eye
looking toward heaven and heavenly things, and the other eye looking toward the
earth and earthly things; one foot attempting to walk in the “broad way;” and the
other attempting to walk in the narrow; or, one hand reaching by faith to the
promises of God, and the other clasping the treasures of Egypt? Such a body
(each member thereof with an independent will of its own) not be a schismatic
and deformed body? Would this not deny the Head of His control, wisdom,
understanding, and will? Certainly it would!
If God is not King
in Zion, then where is He a “king” at all? If Christ is not the Head of
His church, then who is? We firmly believe that God is sovereign over all His
creation and His kingdom, and is “Head over all things to
His church (Ephesians 1:22).”
Brethren of the
Old School—and I can address you thus because you only believe the scriptures
of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God and the only rule
of faith and practice—our Confession does not say that God
“predestinated all things, both good and evil” as we are so wantonly charged by
our free will adversaries. It says, in much stronger language “God hath decreed
all things whatsoever come to pass....”
We have no objection to one saying he believes that God “predestinated”
(rather than “decreed”) “all things” if it is clear that he is
acknowledging God’s absolute control and direction of all events; nor do we
object to one’s not prefixing the word “absolute” to “predestination” of all
things if it is clear he is not attempting to limit God’s sovereignty over all
His dominion. If predestination is
rightly understood, the prefix is unnecessary. Paul didn’t use it.
But we cannot
fellowship those holding the Arminian or Pelagian concept of a “limited”
sovereignty; such denies the concept of God’s Lordship over His own created
dominion. As “King of king, and Lord of lords,” whose “powers to be are
ordained of God,” He is sovereign in all three powers of government: He is the
Chief Executive of all His dominion; He is the only Legislature, and His
commandments, laws and statutes are only of Him; and He is the final and
awesome Judge in His judicial powers. In short, God is SOVEREIGN.
The eternal
decree of God respecting His angelic and Adamic creations falls into Scriptural
branches that we shall attempt briefly to present in this part.
First, the
decree of God respecting His felicity towards men include the predestination
and election of those He loved with an everlasting love to salvation in
time and eternal glory, to the praise of the glory of His grace (Ephesians
1:1-11). Arthur W. Pink rightly notes that salvation’s chief end is NOT the
salvation of any man. The chief end of election and predestination is His own
eternal glory, or, “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” That is
one reason we say that modern evangelism is misdirected. It has “getting folks
saved” as its chief end, and hence has become quite Machiavellian, i.e., “the
end justifies the means.” Since to them the end is the salvation of all
mankind, any means may be employed that they assume will reach that end. To us,
however, the end is “to the praise of the glory of His grace,” and this “end”
required restraint on inventing unscriptural “means and measures,” for such
defeats the scriptural end. It only glorifies man.
Second, the
decree of God relative to those whose standing was not in Christ by divine
election before the world began includes the perdition and reprobation of the
wicked fallen sons of Adam, and this too, is to the end that it renders praise
to His justice and absolute immaculate holiness (Jude 4). For the first class
of Adam’s offspring, eternal life was given them IN Christ in divine election
before the world began. They will, in time, receive it in divine quickening to
life. For the second class, no such life is given them other than what they had
in their father, Adam, and they will never have another “eternal life” imparted
to them in this time world.
I. The
Decree Of Predestination and Unconditional Election.
The Apostle to
the Gentiles wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings….” If we were able to list
all of them, the list would at least include election, all events to bring the
elect to birth, life, regeneration and salvation, justification, imputed
righteousness, redemption, ransom, sanctification, the atonement,
reconciliation, propitiation, adoption, glorification, to but name a few. These,
and others, were given to us in Him “in heavenly places” before our
natural existence. He continued: “According as He [God the Father] hath
chosen us in Him [not “in Adam”] before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His
grace, wherein He hath MADE US ACCEPTED in the Beloved (Ephesians
1:3-6).”
We understand
that all spiritual blessings are of the free gift of God to His people as
viewed IN Christ and was actually and really given to them before
the world began. These blessings are enumerated in the verses following, to
wit: their “election” to holiness and sanctification; the “adoption” as
children, which according to Romans will be secured at their bodily
resurrection (Romans 8:23); their “acceptance” in the Beloved; “redemption”
through His blood; the “forgiveness” of sins; the “knowledge of the mystery of
His will,” that in the dispensation of the “fullness of times” that He will
“gather together in one all things in Christ”; the obtaining of an
“inheritance” to which they are “predestinated,” the “sealing of the Holy
Spirit of promise,” which is their “earnest of the inheritance” until the
redemption of the purchased possession (their bodies); and all this is “to
the praise of the glory,” rather than to the praise of their most diligent
works, or high-powered preachers. It is all by free grace!
Within these
verses is found the difference in our faith and that of the legalists. We
believe the chosen were “in Christ Jesus” while others view the elect
[if they believe in election] as being chosen in Adam. That within
itself is a profound difference within Christianity. Those who view the
election in Christ, recognize that the family of God has always had a union via
their “eternal life” given them in Christ’s seed substance, and in time this
eternal life given them will be communicated to them in divine quickening. Thus
they believe the second birth to be altogether different from the first, being
spiritual and of the “incorruptible seed, the Word of God that LIVETH and
ABIDETH forever (Christ).” Those who see this election in Adam view the
second birth as a “being born all over again” in the natural man, or Adamic
man. The first find a violent conflict between that which is spiritual and that
which is fleshly; while the second speak of “progressive sanctification,” or
the flesh getting better and better.
The election in
Christ is to an end, for the elect, that they be “holy and without blame.” But
notice, it is not merely “holy and without blame,” but “before Him.” They will
always be blameworthy in themselves; but “before Him,” He has removed the
enmity and wrath of God against sinners Himself, and made them “holy,” and by
the imputation of His righteousness, has made them “without blame.” If He merely elected and predestinated them
to eternal salvation, as some suppose, then none of these enumerated blessings
are needful or useful. To heaven they would go whether Christ died for them or
no; whether the Spirit called them or no; or whether they were sealed until the
redemption of their bodies or no!
The church was
chosen in Christ and blessed with all spiritual blessings, before the
foundation of the world, and she had her standing in Him (representatively and
in seed-substance) before Adam fell. They were not, as mentioned above, chosen
in Adam - that is, that God foresaw their fall in Adam, and rushed in with a
make-shift emergency rescue plan of salvation to save and bless some of them
upon certain, or rather, uncertain conditions.
This is made
clear by the apostle when he said, “For the children [referring to the
twins, Jacob and Esau] being not yet born, neither having done any
good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand,
not of works, but of Him that calleth;)” (Romans 9:11). What is this purpose of God that is
according to election? Not election itself, but “according to” it—“...they
which are the children of the flesh, these not the children of
God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed” (verse 8),
and the whole chapter is devoted to the proof thereof.
Our differences
with some others would not be so great relative to the predestination of God in
the election of Children by Jesus Christ but for their denial of God’s
sovereignty and dominion in it. When Paul wrote that “we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called
according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28), he places election squarely in the
setting of God’s eternal counsel. This he says, “In whom also we have
obtained (past tense) an inheritance, being predestinated according to
the purpose of Him who worketh ALL THINGS after the counsel of HIS OWN WILL:
that we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ”
(Ephesians 1:11). By what great means did we obtain that predestinated
inheritance? Certainly so long as the “testator liveth” the testament is
not in force (Hebrews 9:16-17). So when did the elect people obtain it? Is it
not recorded, “For of a truth against Thy holy child Jesus, whom Thou hast
anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of
Israel, were gathered together, for to do whatsoever Thy hand and counsel
determined before to be done” (Acts 4:27-28).
Now, is this
one of those “all things” which work together for the good to those that love
God? Then it was predestinated. Shall any child of God say “No!” ? And was this
an event in time? Was it conditional with “ifs” and “admonitions to make
choices” by sinners? Was it a righteous act? Let the reader judge. Again, is it
not recorded: “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel”—to fix,
ordain, determine, predestine—and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and
by wicked hands have crucified and slain” (Acts 2:23)? Was it, or was it
not, predestinated? And, can we not clearly see that they did it as freely and
without compulsion as if no higher counsel was involved; but which in fact was,
and had been revealed by many prophets from Adam to John in the most minute
detail?
Most of our
opponents agree with us that the elect are “predestinated to be conformed to
the image of Christ,” at least in phraseology. However, we differ as to the
meaning of this conformity. We believe it commences in divine quickening and
continues through sanctification of the Spirit through the regeneration and restoration
of our changed and glorified bodies in the resurrection. Many of them believe
that one can be born over again, yet never believe, repent, or maintain
good works and yet after death reap eternal salvation. Many of our readers will
find this surprising since it is without any biblical warrant and contrary to
experimental grace. But it is advocated by large numbers of Baptists in this
country. It is a denial of Holy Spirit sanctification as the experience of
God’s children. It disputes the promise of Christ that the Holy Spirit will “convince
the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.”
The elect are “predestinated
to be conformed to the image of Christ.” It is illogical and unscriptural
to assume that they can be conformed to His heavenly image and bypass the
sufferings of Christ in His people, when it is an established
fact that He took “on Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness
of man: and being found in the fashion of man, He humbled Himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:7-8). His image,
or that which His eternal mind conceived for man’s appearance when fashioned,
is that of both God manifested in the flesh and man in whose form He was
partaker. That image, being both spiritual and corporal, His children are
therefore predestinated to bear that spiritual and corporal likeness. Any and
all admonitions that are given are for His children in this dual nature. (The
very fact that God gives admonitions establishes His sovereign dominion over
His creatures.)
The elect are
chosen “to salvation.” That is to say, they are not chosen to go to
heaven, but to be saved. They are saved from condemnation together with the
ungodly world through eternal election by virtue of their standing in
Him as their Head from before the foundation of the world. Their
election was by the Triune Godhead. They are saved prior to their holy calling
in divine quickening by their position in Christ in His redemptive work. As it
is written, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any (of
us) should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter
3:9)”; and as Jude, “the servant of Jesus
Christ, and brother of James” wrote: “sanctified by God the
Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called (Jude 1).” It is certain that it is God’s will that all
the elect be brought to repentance, and this can only be in this time world by
experience. “This is the will of God, even your sanctification.”
The elect are
partakers of all things that work together, or jointly, for their good. “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. Moreover whom He
did predestinate, them HE ALSO CALLED....” (Romans 8:29). Does God call
them all, or just some of them? In other words, did He predestinate to eternal
salvation that includes heaven, but fail to call them in time? Do any of the
elect “miss the blessings of their time salvation”? Indeed not! For it is salvation
in time to which they are called by the Holy Spirit. It is in this time
world that they are “called to be saints” (1 Cor. 1:7), were “called to
fellowship” (1 Cor. 1:9), and He has “called you out of darkness” (1 Peter
2:9), etc. There are many more proofs of God’s sovereign dominion in both
heaven and earth, and in time and eternity.
The elect are
saved in divine quickening from spiritual death and alienation from their God.
They are saved in sanctification from the dominion of sin and delivered from
the kingdom of darkness. In other words, salvation is the whole and complete
deliverance of God’s people, and this salvation is never completed in this
time-world in all of its parts. The victory is, however, certain: “Being
confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work IN YOU will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6)”; and “Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant
mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that
fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter
1:3-5).” This is what is wrong, in principle, with boasting that “I know that I
am saved.” Salvation is not completed in all its parts (glorification) yet, nor
can one “know it” until it is “revealed in the last time.” None of this salvation is conditioned on the
will or work of the creature. It is only conditioned upon the sacrifice and
imputed righteousness of Christ, and the calling of the Holy Spirit.
—Elder
Stanley C. Phillips
1159
County Road 420
Quitman,
MS 39355-9572
E-mail: Stanleyp@mississippi.net
*
Editor’s
Note: The above article was first
printed in The Predestinarian, a paper edited and published by Elder
Phillips for several years in the 1980s.
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SHIBBOLETHS
Then
Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim: and
the men of Gilead smote Ephraim...And the Gileadites took the passages of
Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so that when those Ephraimites which
were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art
thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;
Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for
he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at
the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty
and two thousand. (Judges 12.4-6).
Jephthah, a judge in Israel, found his homeland of Gilead in
civil war with the tribe of Ephraim.
Gilead’s army strategically took control of the Jordan River where the
Ephraimites would cross it as they headed for home in retreat. To escape capture and death at the fords,
the Ephraimite soldiers tried to pass themselves off as civilian travelers of
some tribe other than Ephraim’s.
When
a stranger approached, Jephthah’s army put him to a simple test: They asked him to say “Shibboleth,” the word
for a stream. Ephraimites,
having a distinctive dialect, would say “Sibboleth.” Failing that one-word test—actually the sound of one letter, the
difference between the sh and s sounds—was the occasion of 42,000
Ephraimites being slain.
The
term shibboleth has been brought directly from the Hebrew into the
English language and has found a place in our dictionaries. A shibboleth
is any slogan used as a test of fellowship (religious, political, academic, etc.). It is a use of language regarded as
distinctively associated with a particular group. It is used as a standard test to find out if someone fits in as a
member of that group or not. It is, “If
you can’t say what we say, and say it the way we say it, then you don’t belong
with us.”
A
shibboleth is a handy tool, whether it is used in religion,
politics, or any number of fields, wherever men maintain exclusive groups.
Shibboleths may be thought of as whatever “politically correct” beliefs and
opinions we must affirm or deny in order to survive in our respective groups.
“Taking the world for Christ,” “Don’t mix
religion and politics,” “the five points of Calvinism,” “absolute
predestination of all things,” “whosoever will may come,” “social reform,”
“conditional time salvation,” “one nation under God,” “God is [or is not] the
author of sin,” “this is a Christian nation,” “put Christ back into Christmas,”
“everyone is equal,” “a woman’s right to choose,” “equal pay for equal work,”
“academic freedom,” “put prayer back into the schools,” are but a few current
shibboleths. Some people get nervous,
testy, defensive, or even angry when some of these phrases are only casually
mentioned, let alone when the shibboleth is aggressively advanced or attacked,
as the case might be. Even though I’ve
only listed the above phrases without comment, pro or con, a reader might yet
bristle at one or more of these phrases and say, “What is that doing in The
Remnant?”
A
shibboleth that seems “good” to one group seems evil to another. Each phrase has a special meaning to the
group’s members. Each shibboleth is a
touchstone to test the orthodoxy of the group’s members or of an unsuspecting
stranger who, like the unwary traveling Ephraimite, comes among them. One’s expressed attitude toward any of these
and other phrases determines whether he fits in as a friend of—or he is excluded
as a foe of—whatever group is applying their test.
All
one must do to be banished from a group is to seriously challenge one of their
pet shibboleths. For instance, go among
those advocating “Let’s put Christ back into Christmas” and tell them, “Christ
was never in Christmas, so how can you talk of ‘putting Him back in’
somewhere He never was?” You will be immediately classified as an
anti-Christian oddball, as far as the pro-Christmas people are concerned.
Shibboleths
are good to have, because they are a fast, shorthand method of finding out
who stands with us and who stands against us, who is for us, and who ain’t.
Whether we like it our not, confessions of faith can be thought of as
shibboleths. If a church or an
association has—say—ten points of doctrine in their confession of faith, and a
visitor begins telling the brethren, “Well, I don’t believe this one, and I
don’t believe that one, and I don’t believe that, and I don’t believe
this…,” how close will he get to
joining those brethren?
Consider.
Ask someone, “Do you believe in (1) the virgin birth of Christ, (2) His
deity, (3) His literal bodily resurrection, (4) that He really wrought
miracles, (5) the absolute predestination of all things, and (6) that Jesus
Christ is coming again to rule on earth with a rod of iron?”
Regardless
of who you are and what your beliefs are about these particular points, you
will react considerably differently to the person who gives you six yes
answers, the person who gives you six no answers, and the person who answers
some of these points yes and some no.
Suppose
one is of a mind that he wants five of
these points answered “yes” but wants one answered with a resounding
“NO!!!!” Shall he, as Gilead, put a
brother to the sword who doesn’t answer all the questions exactly
to his liking? Such happens.
Ask twenty such yes-and-no questions, and you
can pigeonhole any person, by his answers, in one of over a million
compartments (actually, in one of 1,048,576 compartments, to be exact).
Shibboleths
are bad to have when they divide brethren on “nonessentials.” But the question always arises, “What is a nonessential”? Everyone talks of “nonessentials,” but we
are not prone to think of any of our own beliefs as nonessential. Each has his own lists of what he considers
to be essential beliefs and nonessential beliefs. Who is to say? Who can
divide up the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, His apostles, His prophets, and
the Bible from cover to cover, and say anything therein is “nonessential”?
There
is, or seems to be, an unwritten rule that we don’t “split” over the practice
of foot-washing, for instance; it has always been a nonessential “local
option.” However, there are always a
few, who, believing foot-washing is an essential point of practice, are
seemingly on the verge of withdrawing from those who do not.
Instances
could be multiplied of borderline issues such as this. Where does one draw the line? I do not know. I do not pretend to have the answers. The ones who would make anyone an offender for a word (Isaiah 29.21)
should be able to give us the answers, and to say why their opinion is
essential and why yours or mine is not.
The fact that some individuals and groups define what is essential for
themselves and then insist all others must conform to their essentials or else
be consigned to the pit of the everlasting burnings, is—from the human,
earthly, experimental standpoint—why there are so many factions among the
Primitive Baptists.
From
God’s standpoint, however, “There must be also heresies among
you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you (1 Corinthians
11.19).” The fact that there must be
heresies indicates it is predestinated that heresies will be introduced into
the church, because the Lord has a purpose for them. The Lord does not so fix anything without a reason or a purpose,
and Paul says exactly what that purpose is:
“…that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” Does this verse not mean that heretics will
adhere to the heresies while they who are “approved” of God will adhere to the
truth as it is in Christ Jesus? So God
has a purpose for heresies, divisions, splits, and factions.
As
individuals, we are unique: No two people on earth see all things exactly
alike. Each is really in his or her own
special category, one of the 1,048,576 compartments.
God
made us so. “For who maketh thee to
differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if
thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it (1
Corinthians 4.7)?” God never made two
leaves, two pebbles, two stars, two snowflakes, or two people exactly
alike. Did He do this so oak leaves
should withdraw fellowship from each other or snowflakes should not affiliate
with one another? If two brethren agree
on forty-nine of fifty doctrinal points, and they have beautiful fellowship for
decades, must they end up withdrawing fellowship from each other because they
disagree over the fiftieth point? Such
happens.
Having
said all this, I find I have trodden on a shibboleth or two of a few of our
readers.
First,
I’m guardedly thankful that, if I am not deceived, the brother who sent the
query letter that prompted my editorial (in the July-August issue) received my
remarks in a good spirit. He wrote a
letter to me that was not for publication.
In it he brought up several Scripture passages and questions worthy of
consideration, but this is neither the time nor place to consider them, for
several reasons: (1) a lack of space to properly address them, (2) to honor his
request not to publish his letter, and (3) so that he and I might address the
issues by personal correspondence (which I hope we can do).
On
a more positive note, there was considerable support and encouragement
regarding the July-August issue. I have
received many letters, phone calls, and e-mails supporting the editorial
position set forth in the last issue.
This support does not mean that I am right, although I would hope the
many encouraging remarks are an indication of it. What it does mean to me is, simply, that most of The Remnant’s
readers do not believe “God is the author of sin.”
Such
was not a unanimous response, of course.
There were two or two who disagreed, and a couple readers who raised
side issues. None who disagreed want
their views printed herein over their names.
I can understand why, and I will honor their requests.
No
Conditionalist responded to my invitation to send documented cases where
Absolute Predestinarian Elders in good standing in their home churches and
associations have publicly advocated the “God-author-of-sin” error. We suppose
they did not because they could not. As
they are forever saying the doctrine of absolute predestination “makes God the
author of sin,” we would think they would have sent long lists of names, dates,
and locations where Absoluters have preached such. And, on the other hand, since we have consistently denied their
accusations through the years, it seems strange that no one who claims to
believe God is the author of sin has ever openly risen up to defend his
position, either against the Conditionalists or against us.
I
might be wrong, but it seems that this incident has served a good purpose, as
do all things (Romans 8.28). If
this does not once and for all prove that there IS a third and scriptural
position that advocates neither “God is the author of sin” nor the free-willism
of the Arminians and Conditionalists, what would it take to prove it?
The
Remnant, as an Absolute Predestinarian paper, has for several years
published fifteen principles on page 20 upon which Primitive, Old School
Baptists can agree. What over 99% of
our readers have in common is an appreciation for and belief in these
principles. We are a little flock, a remnant,
and there are few readers who would
have us further divide over man-made, hair-splitting shibboleths.
In
this issue of The Remnant, four or five “factions” are represented by
the articles and their authors; but they are all absolute predestinarian
factions. There are differences
among us, to be sure—in doctrine, practice, views on the understanding of
specific Scriptures, local issues, and even the way we express ourselves. All this, we cannot deny; but—amazing
grace!—these differences do not prevent our fellowship in the doctrine of
Christ, including a clear-cut, unequivocal, united stand on God’s absolute predestination
of all things, the purpose upon which this paper was originally founded. This unites us and brings us together while
some differences remain that are “essential” enough to keep brethren in Christ
out of each other’s stands.
Even
though we will always find it necessary to withdraw from disorderly members and
groups from time to time, there are some brethren who labor to discover whether
or not all the divisions are truly and
scripturally necessary; and, if possible, to remove (or have removed) some of
the unscriptural, man-made bars that separate “Absoluters.” While so doing, have no doubt about it: There will always be the need for some
bars because of errors in doctrine and practice. If the Lord is truly in the matter, then discerning the
difference between (a) valid scriptural reasons to “split”(as in 1 John
2.19) and (b) splitting because someone
stepped on a brother’s pet shibboleth (as in Isaiah 29.21) will be of major
concern. At least on the surface of
things, each and every group honestly believes it has valid reasons for the
divisions it maintains. We would pray
that, while brethren work toward reuniting factions here and there, we might
all be given to listen with patience and discernment, and to respect one
another’s principles and honest understanding of the Scriptures.
By
God’s grace and mercy, we can yet have “fellowship” when we cannot have
“affiliation.” If the Lord God leaves
us to our sinful selves, we will certainly draw the sword on one another
whenever one can’t say “Shibboleth” to suit the other. “But if ye bite and devour one another, take
heed that ye be not consumed one of another (Galatians 5.15).”
Then shall ye return, and discern
between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that
serveth him not (Malachi 3.18). Discernment is a gift of God’s Spirit (1
Corinthians 12.10f). May He bless us
helpless sinners to discern between the essential and nonessential differences.
—C. C. Morris
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