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What does Jesus want you to do more than anything else?

Share this post on Facebook of course. Or Tweet about it.

Better yet, do both!

I’m kidding!!!

I like when people share my stuff on Facebook and Twitter, but that’s not why I write.

I write:

To learn what I think (I learn by organizing my thoughts through writing)
To learn from you (through the comments)
To pass on to other learners what I have learned from other teachers (2 Timothy 2:2)

For me, these three things are are how I measure “success.”

Thanks for reading this blog and for all you have taught me over the years!

Calvinist Quotes on Reprobation

By Jeremy Myers

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There is wide disagreement among Calvinists about reprobation, which is sometimes referred to as double predestination.

Some Calvinists (though not all) hold to reprobation—which is the belief that God not only decided whom He would choose for eternal life, but also chose whom He would send to eternal damnation—while others flatly deny it.

Though Calvinists admit that this doctrine is “unpleasant” and “harsh,” they teach it because they believe a balanced view of predestination requires it (Boettner, Predestination, 112).

Below are a few quotes from Calvinists who believe and teach the doctrine of reprobation, beginning with John Calvin himself:

Whence does it happen that Adam’s fall irremediably involved so many peoples, together with their infant offspring, in eternal death unless because it so pleased God? … The decree is dreadful, I confess. Yet no one can deny that God foreknew what end man was to have before he created him, and consequently foreknew because he so ordained by his decree (Calvin, Institutes, III.xxiii.7).

[Reprobation is] God’s eternal decree that the destiny of certain men shall be everlasting death, whether one views it as God’s passing those men by with the grace of election or as the determination to damn (Engelsma, Hyper-Calvinism, 44).

From all eternity some were decreed by their sins to come into judgment or condemnation (Manton, Commentary on Jude, 128).

We believe that from all eternity God has intended to leave some of Adam’s posterity in their sins, and that the decisive factor in the life of each is to be found only in God’s will (Boettner, Predestination, 104).

By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His own glory, some men and angels are predestined unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death (Westminster Confession of Faith, III:3).

Predestination includes two parts, namely, election and reprobation, the predetermination of both the good and the wicked to their final end, and to certain proximate ends, which are instrumental in the realization of their final destiny (Berkhof, Systematic Theology, 113).

The Reformed view makes a crucial distinction between God’s positive and negative decrees. God positively decrees the election of some, and he negatively decrees the reprobation of others (Sproul, Grace Unknown, 158).

Predestination is, by Calvinist theologians, regarded as a generic decree including under it Election and Reprobation as specific decrees: the former predestinating some human beings, without regard to their merit, to salvation, in order to the glorification of God’s sovereign grace; the later foreordaining some human beings, for their sin, to destruction, in order to the glorification of God’s retributive justice (Girardeau, Calvinism and Evangelical Arminianism, 9-10).

Most Calvinists reject double predestination or reprobation, and instead say that God did not actively choose who to send to heaven and who to send to hell, but simply chose out of everyone who was already headed to hell to save a few for heaven. In this way, He does not actively choose who will go to hell, but simply “passes over” them in His choice of who will spend eternity with Him.

From all eternity God decided to save some members of the human race and to let the rest of the human race perish. God made a choice—he chose some individuals to be saved unto everlasting blessedness in heaven, and he chose others to pass over, allowing them to suffer the consequences of their sins, eternal punishment in hell (Sproul, Grace Unknown, 141).

Though many Calvinists argue that double predestination is the only logical conclusion to the Calvinist position on God’s election of some (but not all) to receive eternal life, I am not going to belabor the point or try to refute the idea since most Calvinists claim that they do not teach or believe it… (for more on reprobation and double predestination I recommend this book: Vance: The Other Side of Calvinism, pp, 250-333).

Have you ever done much reading about double predestination or reprobation? If so, what are your thoughts on this teaching of some Calvinists? Let me know below!

If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.

Unconditional Election Quotes from Calvinists

By Jeremy Myers

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The basic explanation of Unconditional Election is that God, in eternity past, had an eternal decree by which He predetermined all things that would happen. This decree is related to His foreknowledge, which does not mean that God looked forward in time to see what would happen and then decreed that it would be so, but rather, that God, being omniscient, knew what would happen because He had decided and decreed that it would be so.

Uncondiational Election and Foreordination

To clarify what Calvinists mean, they often use the words “foreordination” or “predetermination” instead of foreknowledge, as these words better describes the view that God did not just know what was going to happen before it happened, but actually ordained, decided, or determined what would happen.

Part of this foreknowledge or foreordination is predestination. While foreknowledge refers to God’s knowledge and determination of everything that happens, predestination refers specifically to the destiny of human beings. In eternity past, as part of God’s divine decree, He determined or decided the eternal destiny of every individual person, whether they will spend eternity in heaven or in hell.

Unconditional Election and Reprobation

As such, this predestination is composed of two parts: election and reprobation. Election refers to God’s choice of whom He will redeem, regenerate, and grant eternal life, while reprobation refers to God’s choice of whom He will leave to remain in sin, condemnation, and everlasting destruction.

Often the term election is used as a synonym for predestination. Technically this is incorrect. The term election refers specifically to one aspect of divine predestination: God’s choosing of certain individuals to be saved. The term election has a positive connotation, referring to a benevolent predestination that results in the salvation of those who are elect. Election also has a negative side, called “reprobation,” which involves the predestination of those who are not elect (Sproul, Grace Unknown, 141).

I will provide more quotes about reprobation tomorrow…

Unconditional Election Quotes

Just as with every other system of theology, not every Calvinist would agree completely with the way the terms have been described above.

So let us turn to various Calvinistic authors and teachers to allow them to define Unconditional Election and its related terms in their own words. Here are some unconditional election quotes from Calvinistic authors and pastors:

Foreordination means God’s sovereign plan, whereby He decides all that is to happen in the entire universe. Nothing in this world happens by chance. God is in back of everything. He decides and causes all things to happen that do happen. … Predestination is part of foreordination. While foreordination refers to God’s plan for everything that ever happens, predestination is that part of foreordination that refers to man’s eternal destiny: heaven or hell. Predestination is composed of two parts: election and reprobation. Election concerns those who go to heaven, and reprobation concerns those who go to hell. … Divine election means that God chooses some to go to heaven. Others are passed by and they will go to hell (Palmer, Five Points of Calvinism, 24-25).

The doctrine of election declares that God, before the foundation of the world, chose certain individuals from among the fallen members of Adam’s race to be the objects of His undeserved favor. These, and these only, He purposed to save. God could have chosen to save all men (for He had the power and authority to do so) or He could have chosen to save none (for He was under no obligation to show mercy to any)—but He did neither. Instead, He chose to save some and to exclude others. His eternal choice of particular sinners for salvation was not based upon any forseen act or response on the part of those selected, but was based solely on His own good pleasure and sovereign will. Thus, election was not determined by, or conditioned upon, anything that men would do, but resulted entirely from God’s self-determined purpose (Steele & Thomas, Five Points of Calvinism, 27).

Election is, therefore, that decree of God which He eternally makes, by which, with sovereign freedom, He chooses to Himself a people, upon whom He determines to set His love, whom He rescues from sin and death through Jesus Christ, unto Himself in everlasting glory (Hanko, et. al, The Five Points of Calvinism, 33).

Election refers to God’s choosing whom to save. It is unconditional in that there is no condition man must meet before God chooses to save him. Man is dead in trespasses and sins. So there is no condition he can meet before God chooses to save him from his deadness (Piper, 5 Points, 53).

We mean, therefore, by this doctrine, that God, in eternity, chose or picked out of mankind whom He would save (by means of Christ’s death and the work of the Holy Spirit), for no other reason than His own wise, just, and gracious purpose (Beck, The Five Points of Calvinism, 12).

Divine election may be defined as that loving and merciful decision by God the Father to bestow eternal life upon some, but not all, hell-deserving sinners. This decision was made before the foundation of the world and was based not upon any act of will or works of men and women, but solely upon God’s sovereign good pleasure. One does not enter the ranks of the elect by meeting a condition, be it faith or repentance. One enters the ranks of the elect by virtue of God’s free and altogether gracious choice, as a result of which he enables us to repent and believe. Thus, election is both sovereign and unconditional (Storms, Chosen for Life, 45).

Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation of the world, he hath out of mere grace, according to the sovereign good pleasure of his own will, chosen, from the whole human race, which had fallen through their own fault, from their primitive state of rectitude, into sin and destruction, a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ, whom he from eternity appointed the Mediator and Head of the elect, and the foundation of Salvation (Canons of Dort, I:7).

What are your thoughts on these quotes about election? Agree? Disagree? Have a quote you want to share? Weigh in below!

If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.

The U in TULIP – Unconditional Election

By Jeremy Myers

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The Calvinistic doctrine of Unconditional Election is sometimes said to be the heart of Reformed theology (Boettner, Predestination, 96). It follows logically from the doctrine of Total Depravity (Seaton, Calvinism, 11).

Lorraine Boettner links the two doctrines with this explanation:

If the doctrine of Total Inability or Original Sin be admitted, the doctrine of Unconditional Election follows by the most inescapable logic. If, as the Scriptures and experience tell us, all men are by nature in a state of guilt and depravity from which they are wholly unable to deliver themselves and have no claim whatever on God for deliverance, it follows that if any are saved God must choose out those who shall be the objects of His grace (Boettner, Predestination, 95).

Edwin Palmer concurs:

If men are totally depraved and if some are still saved, then it is obvious that the reason some are saved and some are lost rests entirely with God. All of mankind would remain lost if left to itself and not chosen by God to be saved. … Therefore, if total depravity is Biblically true, then faith and consequent salvation come only when the Holy Spirit goes to work through regeneration. And the decision as to which persons He will work in must rest entirely, one hundred percent, with God, since man, being spiritually dead, cannot ask for help (Palmer, Five Points of Calvinism, 27).

So if people are totally depraved (see the link list below) so that they cannot even believe in Jesus for eternal life or respond positively to God in any way, then God must unilaterally give eternal life to certain people.

Who receives such a blessing?

According to Calvinism, God gives eternal life to those whom He chooses to give it. This is the doctrine of election, which we will consider over the next several blog posts.

Tomorrow’s post will provide numerous quotes from Calvinists on how they understand and explain Unconditional Election.

After this, we will look carefully at numerous texts from Scripture which are often used by Calvinists to defend the doctrine of Unconditional Election, and will suggest alternative explanations for these texts which fit better with their grammatical, cultural, theological, and historical contexts.

Finally, this series of posts on election will close with an explanation of what I believe the Bible teaches about election and predestination.

Until then, what questions and issues do you have about the biblical doctrines of election and predestination? Let me know below!

If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.

You Can Believe!

By Jeremy Myers

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One of the main reasons Calvinists object to the idea that people can believe in Jesus for eternal life is that if we make faith a human responsibility, then this seems to make eternal life somewhat dependent upon a human effort.

But as we have seen over and over in numerous posts over the past two months (see the link list below), faith is not a work. So when God calls us to believe in Jesus for eternal life, this is something that everyone and anyone can do.

Besides, if faith is not something we can do, then eternal life is no longer by grace alone through faith alone, but is simply and only be grace alone.

While it is appealing to say that eternal life is by grace alone and nothing else, the cry of the Reformation and the center of the Gospel message in the Bible is that eternal life is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.

So yes, you can believe!

You should believe.

God wants you to believe.

God calls you to believe.

This is just as true for you as it for anyone else on earth.

And by asking people to believe in Jesus, God is not asking people to regenerate themselves, save themselves, or contribute to their own eternal life.

No, God has done everything that needs doing when it comes to the free offer of eternal life. He paid the full price so that it might be a free gift to us.

When we freely proclaim the gospel as Jesus offered it to His hearers, the compelling nature of the free gift of God to all who simply and only believe in Jesus for it is recognizable to all as something that no religion on earth has offered, and hence, is no religion at all but is a message that can have its origin only in God.

Internationally recognized author and evangelist Ravi Zacharias put it this way:

I have found that if you build a proper foundation for what the Christian faith is all about, as you lead up to the cross, the listeners sit in stunned silence. They immediately recognize that Christianity stands in stark contrast to everything that other worldviews affirm and assert. They know that true power is being expressed in the cross (Just Thinking, Spring/Summer 2002, 2).

As Jesus went about preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and inviting people to believe in Him, thousands responded.

In Acts, we read about Cornelius, a God-fearing Gentile, who heard the message of eternal life and believed in Jesus for it (Acts 10:22, 44-48). After Paul and Silas saved the Philippian jailor from committing suicide, they told him and his family about God’s free offer of eternal life, and they all believed (Acts 16:25-34).

These sorts of examples are found all over the place in the Bible, and the consistent message and expectation of biblical authors is that anyone and everyone can hear and understand the Gospel, and having heard, believe in Jesus for eternal life.

While sin is a universal problem, people are not so depraved that they cannot respond to the call of the Gospel and believe in Jesus for eternal life.

If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.

Regeneration Follows Faith

By Jeremy Myers

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The final theological ramification of Total Depravity is the idea that regeneration precedes faith.

As stated in earlier posts, the idea that regeneration precedes faith is the necessary result of the logic of Total Depravity. If people are totally depraved, dead in sin, and have no free will to believe in Jesus for eternal life, then God must give them the faith so that they can believe.

But this gift of faith could not be received by someone unless they were first regenerated by God. So the Calvinist argues that regeneration precedes faith.

And while we cannot disagree that this is the logical result of consistent Calvinism, it is exactly this logical result which shows one and for all that Total Depravity is not taught in Scripture.

Total Depravity leads to the belief that people are regenerated by God before they believe in Jesus; but the Bible repeatedly says that faith results in regeneration (John 1:11-13; 20:31; Gal 3:26; 1 Pet 1:23-25).

When forced to choose between the logical result of a theological position or the clear teaching of Scripture, we must choose Scripture every time.

And of course, if faith precedes regeneration, as Scripture states, then this also calls into question the theological premises which led up to this idea, namely, that people are unable to believe and so God must give them the gift of faith.

The Bible teaches that people are able to believe. Faith therefore, is not a work, is not a gift, and results in regeneration, just as Scripture says.

One caveat, of course, is that although regeneration follows faith, faith is preceded by revelation.

Without revelation, there would be no faith. Faith is a response to the multi-faceted revelation of God.

While revelation precedes faith; regeneration follows.

This was discussed in numerous previous posts (see the link list below), and so nothing more needs to be said here.

Some point to Acts 16:14 as evidence that God regenerates people before they can believe. In this text, Paul and Silas met a woman named Lydia on the banks of a river outside of town, and as they explain the gospel message to her, the text says that “the Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.”

We will talk about this text more in the future posts on Irresistible Grace, but for now, it is enough to note that the phrase “opened her heart” is an idiomatic way of saying “helped her understand.” Acts 16:14 is not talking about God regenerating an unbeliever so that she can believe, nor is there any mention anywhere about God giving her the gift of faith. Instead, Acts 16:14 is a verse which shows the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of other people.

John 3 is one of the many texts which clearly reveals that regeneration follows faith.

In speaking to Nicodemus, Jesus talks about being born again, and being born of water and spirit (John 3:3, 5). When Nicodemus asks how he can enter again into his mother’s womb to be born a second time (John 3:4, 9), Jesus states that anyone who believes in Him will have everlasting life (John 3:15-16).

According to Jesus, believing in Him has the result of receiving regeneration unto eternal life.

If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.

The Spirit-Led Book Launch Team

By Jeremy Myers

Faith is NOT a Gift from God

By Jeremy Myers

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Related to the idea that faith is not a work is the twin teaching that faith is not a gift from God (And no… I am not referring to the spiritual gift of faith… that is different).

3 Reasons that Some Believe Faith is a Gift from God

Some teach that faith is unilaterally given by God to certain people as a gift. There are several reasons this idea is taught, none of which hold merit.

First, some believe that since unregenerate people are “dead in sin,” they cannot even exercise faith.

However, we have already seen in numerous ways that although unbelievers truly are “dead in sin,” this does not mean they cannot believe. When we study the Bible, we not only see God everywhere calling people to believe Him, and faith is everywhere ascribed to man, not to God (Matt 9:2, 22, 28-29; Mark 10:52; Luke 7:50; 8:50; 17:19; 18:42; etc.) (cf. Olson, Beyond Calvinism and Arminianism, 225).

The second reason some people teach that faith is a gift is because they think that faith is a meritorious work.

If faith is a good work, and people are the ones who believe, then it logically follows that people contribute some sort of good work to the reception of eternal life. But again, as we have seen in numerous ways in previous posts, this problem is easily solved by recognizing that faith is not a work, but is instead the opposite of works.

And since faith is not a work, faith is also not meritorious. Therefore, those who are dead in sin can believe, and since faith is not work, all of the arguments for the idea that faith is a gift become logically unnecessary.

Nevertheless, in a vain attempt to defend a doctrine which is required by faulty theology, various Scriptures are referenced as evidence that faith is a work (Acts 5:31; 11:18; 13:48; 16:14; 18:23; Eph 2:8-9; Php 1:29; 2 Tim 2:25; Rom 12:3; 1 Cor 12:8-9; 2 Pet 1:1). However, a careful analysis of these texts reveals that each one has been pulled out of context and does not teach that faith is the gift of God (Lopez, “Is Faith a Gift From God?” 266-274).

But aside from not being logical or Scriptural, the idea that faith is a gift of God creates numerous practical problems for the thinking theologian.

For example, how could demonic activity restrict the faith of some (Luke 8:12; 2 Cor 4:4)? Why is it harder for some people to believe than others (cf. Titus 1:12-13)? What would be the point of the drawing work of the Holy Spirit (John 6:44; 12:32), or of evangelism and missions? Why was Jesus sometimes amazed at people’s lack of faith (Matt 8:26; 14:31; 16:8)? Why are there so many Christian in Europe and America, and so few in North Africa and the Middle East? On this last question, missiologist C. Gordon Olson writes that if the Calvinists are right about faith being a gift of God, then “one if forced to the conclusion that God is partial and loves Americans more than others” (cf. Olson, Beyond Calvinism and Arminianism, 227).

4 Reasons Faith is Not a Gift from God

In his excellent article, “Is Faith a Gift from God or a Human Exercise?” René Lopez lists several other theological problems with the idea that faith is a gift from God (See Lopez, “Is Faith a Gift From God?” 274-276).

First, Lopez writes that the idea of faith being a gift from God resembles the sacramentalism of the Roman Catholic Church, in that faith is transmitted from God to men.

Lopez correctly points out that this confuses the gift of eternal life from God with the instrumentality of faith, whereby that gift is received.

Second, Lopez says that “if God divinely imparts faith, then human responsibility is nullified” (Lopez, “Is Faith a Gift From God?” 275).

There would be no reason to hold people responsible for believing or failing to believe in Jesus if the unregenerate person cannot actually believe. If God is the one who imparts faith to the unbeliever, then the responsibility to believe lies not with man but with God, and therefore, God can have no basis on which to judge people for failing to believe.

Third, although the Bible calls people to believe in Jesus for eternal life, Lopez points out that if faith is a gift that comes as a result of regeneration, then people should not be called to believe in Jesus (for they cannot), but should instead be called to hope and pray to God that He might regenerate them.

Yet although there are numerous calls throughout Scripture for people to believe in Jesus for eternal life (John 3:16, 36; 5:24; 6:47; etc.), there is not one place in Scripture where people are invited to hope and pray to God for regeneration.

The final reason faith is not a gift from God is related to sanctification.

If faith is the automatic gift of God to those whom He sovereignly regenerates, then it only makes sense that God also automatically and sovereignly would make sure that they are sanctified in holiness and obedience. And in fact, this is what Calvinists teach in their doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints. But as we will see in the discussion of this point, such a belief cannot be defended from Scripture, reason, or experience.

If faith is a gift, then many commands in Scripture that exhort, command, prompt, and warn believers to live obediently become superfluous because the ultimate end of infused faith guarantees the sanctification of believers without their involvement (Lopez, “Is Faith a Gift From God?” 275).

So for biblical, theological, and practical reasons, we conclude that faith is not automatic, nor is faith a gift from God.

Faith comes through hearing the Word of God, through the convicting and drawing work of the Holy Spirit, and through responding to the revelation that one has already received from God.

If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.

Faith is NOT a Work

By Jeremy Myers

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Though discussed briefly in a previous post about free will, it is important to once again emphasize the truth that faith is not a work.

To begin with, it helps to remember the definition of faith we learned earlier: Faith is being convinced or persuaded that something is true. As such, we cannot choose to believe. Faith is not a work and is not meritorious because faith happens to us. We are convinced, we are persuaded, as God reveals Himself to us through His various forms of revelation.

With this definition of faith in mind, it is absolutely true what most Calvinists say, that God must take the first step.

God has taken the first step

In fact, God has taken more than just the first step; He has taken the first billion steps. He provides revelation through creation, conscience, Scripture, dreams, visions, and angelic messengers. He sends prophets, missionaries, pastors, teachers, and evangelists to share the Gospel. He sent Jesus to fully reveal His character and nature to humanity. He sends the Holy Spirit to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and uses the Holy Spirit to draw all people to Himself (John 6:44; 12: 32; 16:7-11; Acts 16:14, 29-30; 24:25).

He sends forth His grace and mercy upon all people (John 1:9; Titus 2:11). He forgives all sin, and is patient, loving, and kind to all. These steps, and countless more specific steps in the life of each and every person, are the sorts of things God has done on our behalf to call each of us to believe in Jesus for eternal life. Human faith, then, is not the first step, or even the millionth step, in the process of coming to God or believing in Jesus for eternal life.

People are able to believe in Jesus for eternal life because God has first done absolutely everything that is within His power, made everything available to us by His grace, and flung open the door to eternal life by His will. It is only because of this multitude of “first steps” by God toward us that anyone and everyone who wants to receive God’s offer of eternal life may do so by simply and only believing in Jesus Christ for it.

Ongoing faith is also important

Once we have believed in Jesus for eternal life, this does not mean that faith has no more place in the life of the believer. Just as we have received Jesus Christ Jesus, so also we must continue to walk with Him (Col 2:6). And how is it that we received Jesus? By faith. Future faith builds upon our former faith. Believing simple and elementary things allows us to later believe more difficult and hard things. This is what the Bible means when it talks about going from “faith to faith” (cf. Rom 1:17). But even this ongoing, sanctifying faith is not a work.

In order to move from believing one truth to believing another truth, it is true that we must act upon the faith we already have, and pursue the truth that follows. But even this sort of ongoing, sanctifying faith is not meritorious (Rom 4:16). It is simply faith at work; faith that energizes our life.

We will talk more about James 2 in the chapter on Perseverance of the Saints, but as a bit of a preview, James has been widely misunderstood to be saying that an inactive faith is a non-existent faith, when in reality he is saying that an inactive faith still exists; it is simply unproductive. James does not want unproductive faith. He wants us to act upon our beliefs. James is not saying that faith is a work, nor is he saying the true faith always reveals itself through works. James and Paul are in full agreement: faith is the opposite of works (Rom 4:5), but faith energizes our works (Jas 2:14-26) and leads us on toward greater faith.

So no matter what stage of faith we are talking about, faith is not a work. There are different things people can believe which lead to different results. But no matter what is believed, the faith involved in that belief is not a good work. It is simply being persuaded and convinced about what we have been told. When we believing in Jesus for eternal life, we have become persuaded that Jesus, as the author and finisher of our faith, loves us, forgives us, and freely grants eternal life to us, not because of anything we have done but simply and only because of God’s grace toward us.

Doesn’t John 6:28-29 Teach that Faith is a Work?

Some people object that John 6:28-29 teaches that faith is a work. John MacArthur, for example, uses John 6:29 in The Gospel According to Jesus to teach that faith is a work, and therefore, not something human beings can accomplish. He says that since faith is a work, it cannot be “merely a human work, but a gracious work of God in us” (John MacArthur, Gospel According to Jesus, 33). Several things can be said against this, beginning with what Jesus was actually saying in John 6:29.

In this text, Jesus says “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” From a cursory reading of this text, it certainly seems that Jesus is equating faith with a work. But when the verse is read in context, it shows the opposite. In the immediately preceded context, Jesus has told some of His followers that they should “not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life” (John 6:27). In response, some of the Jewish people who were listening to Him ask, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” (John 6:27). Jesus answers by telling them that the work of God is to believe in Him, that is, in Jesus (John 6:28).

Jesus says this, not because He is trying to say that faith is a work, but because He is pointing out to the Jewish people that God was not looking for works, but was looking for faith. Many Jewish people of that day (like many Christians today) were overly focused on pleasing God through the works of the law.

By saying that the work God wants is for people to believe in Jesus, Jesus was saying that the work that God desires is not work at all, but the opposite of works, which is faith. God does not want us to “do” anything for Him, for He has already done everything for us. He simply wants people to believe in Jesus for eternal life, thereby recognizing that everything which needs to be done has been done in Jesus.

The Bible Contrasts Faith and Works

Beyond even this, however, the idea that faith is a work, and therefore a work of God in the heart of the unbeliever is “a theological fiction which cannot be supported from Scripture” (Kevin Butcher, “A Critique of The Gospel According to Jesus,” JOTGES 2 [Spring 1989], 38). The Bible everywhere contrasts faith and works so that if one attempts to accomplish something by faith, it cannot be said to have been done by works, and vice versa.

Faith involves the abandonment of any attempt to justify oneself and an openness to God which is willing to accept what he has done in Christ. The same applies here in regard to salvation. Faith is a human activity but a specific kind of activity, a response which allows salvation to become operative, which receives what has already been accomplished by God in Christ (Lincoln, Ephesians, 111).

So faith is not a special sort of human work, nor is it a divine work in the heart of the unbeliever. Rather, faith is not a work at all. Faith is the opposite of works. Just as we do not receive eternal life by faith and works, so also, we do not receive eternal life by faith that is a work. Just as faith cannot be part of the definition of works, so also, works cannot be part of the definition of faith. The two are not related in any way, but are polar opposites. Both faith and works, by definition, are mutually exclusive. Grant Hawley, in his book The Guts of Grace, says this:

Phrases like, “For by grace you have been saved through faith … not of works …” (Eph 2:8-9), and, “to him who does not work but believes” (Rom 4:5), are complete nonsense, if works are part of the definition of the words faith and believe. If a woman at a wedding reception said, “The one who does not move, but dances, enjoys the reception,” you would wonder if she had had too much to drink because moving is part of the definition of the word dances (Hawley, Guts of Grace, 124).

Faith is being persuaded or convinced that what God says is true. One of the things God says is that He gives eternal life to anyone who believe in Jesus for it. Because of all that God has done in history, through various forms of revelation, and by His Holy Spirit, people are able to believe in Jesus for eternal life.

Faith is not a work, but is the opposite of works, and as such, faith is in no way meritorious.

If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.

What it means to be Dead in Sin

By Jeremy Myers

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The Bible does teach that people are dead in sin, but this does not mean that unregenerate people can do nothing.

Understanding what it means to be “dead in sin” requires looking at what the Bible teaches about how God put human beings together and how sin has affected these various parts. The most common view among people from all theological perspectives is that each person consists of three parts: a body (or flesh), soul (or mind), and spirit. The area of disagreement centers on what happened to Adam and Eve (and all humans after them) when they sinned. There is also a big debate about whether or not sin is imputed to subsequent generations of humans, but we are not going to delve into that debate here.

Most Calvinists believe that when Adam and Eve sinned, their entire beings became completely corrupted and depraved. This is what they mean by “Total Depravity.” Whether Calvinists believe in three parts (body, soul, and spirit) or two (body and soul/spirit), they believe that every part in its entirety was affected by sin and became incapable of responding in any meaningful way to God. We will see in just a bit, however, that although this is what Calvinist’s teach, such an idea is impossible to apply biblically or evangelistically. Along with God, even Calvinists call upon unregenerate people to respond to God.

Is the Soul Dead?

One alternative view to Calvinism (which has been presented in previous posts) is that when Adam sinned, death came upon both the flesh and the spirit. The soul, which is the life of the person, is immortal and does not die. One cannot speak of “soulish death” any more than one can speak of “life death.” The two words are, by definition, logically incompatible and mutually exclusive.

So while we can say that since the soul operates through the body and the spirit and depends upon the proper functioning of the brain, the soul too was affected by sin, it is not theologically accurate to say that the soul is “dead” or “dying.” The soul is not “dead in sin” in the same way as the human body and human spirit.

Nevertheless, due to the deadness of the human body and human spirit, the soul is severely handicapped and limited in what it can do.

The Soul is Handicapped

The soul is where the will resides and as such, the soul (or mind) makes the decisions about what a person believes and how a person acts. It can choose to act through two realms or spheres: the fleshly sphere or the spiritual sphere. Due to spiritual deadness, or separation, the soul is unable to act through the human spirit.

The soul can, however, function through the body, but since death and corruption has also entered the body as a result of sin, everything the soul does through the body is tainted and depraved. As a result, the soul can do nothing but sin through the body. This does not mean that every action or behavior is as evil as it possibly can be, but rather, that everything a person does is polluted, stained, and corrupted by sin. Such actions, as good as they might be, have no merit or righteousness before God. On this, Calvinists are absolutely correct.

But to say that all works are tainted and blemished by sin is not the same thing as saying that people are unable to believe what God says about sin, righteousness, judgment, and the free offer of eternal life. Faith is not an act of the either the flesh or the spirit, but is something that happens within the mind (or soul). Faith, therefore, is not disabled by sin. The human soul can believe. Since faith is not a work, but is the opposite of works (Rom 4:5), the soul can respond to the revelation which it has received from God. And since God offers eternal life to any person who believes in Jesus for it, the soul of a person is able to believe in Jesus for eternal life.

The Soul Can Believe in Jesus

So while being “dead in sin” does mean that people are unable to obey God, reform their lives, or do anything meritorious regarding salvation, it does not mean that they cannot believe in Jesus for eternal life, for faith, being an aspect of the will which resides in the human soul, is the opposite of works and is the means by which humans received the free gift of eternal life from God.

Spiritual death in the Bible means fallen people are totally separated from God, not completely obliterated by Him. They lack spiritual life, but they’re still humans with all their God-given faculties. Isaiah put it this way: ‘Your iniquities have separated you from your God’ (59:2). In brief, it does not mean a total destruction of all ability to hear and respond to God but a complete separation of the whole person from God (Geisler, Chosen But Free, 63).

This is exactly what was seen earlier when it was suggested that the word “dead” is best understood in Scripture as referring to “separation.” Those who are dead in sin are not unable to act; they are simply separated from God, from each other, and from being whole human beings.

Furthermore, the Bible speaks frequently of what those who are dead in sin are able to do. Along with some of the sinful tendencies—such as walking in trespasses and sins, following the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air, living in the passions of the flesh, and carrying out the desires of the body and mind (Eph 2:2-3)—unbelievers can also do some positive things—such as act in accordance with their conscience, hear and respond to God (Gen 3:5-13), know the truth about God and understand his invisible attributes (Rom 1:18-20), repent of sins (Luke 15:18-19), seek God (John 3), fear God (Acts 10:2), and even pray to God (Acts 10:2).

None of these positive behaviors are meritorious, of course, but they are good actions which can be committed by unregenerate people, and some of these actions may even be used by God to bring the person to the place where they can believe in Jesus for eternal life.

What Must I Do to Receive Eternal Life?

Calvinists, of course, still want to say that if faith is something we “do” or is the human “response” to God’s free offer of eternal life, then humans are still contributing to their eternal life. They argue further that to be dead in sin means that humans cannot do anything to move themselves closer to God (which I agree with), including believe in God or God’s offer of eternal life.

I understand the concern, but if we remove “faith” as the proper response of humans to God’s offer of eternal life, what then are we left with when people ask, “What must I do to receive eternal life? In other words, since, according to Calvinists an unregenerate person cannot respond to God in any meaningful way, and cannot even believe in Jesus for eternal life, how then do Calvinists go about presenting the offer of eternal life to those who want to receive it?

Surprisingly, the Calvinist will often give people a whole host of good works to participate in, none of which involve belief! Calvinists typically do not call upon unbelievers to believe in Jesus for eternal life, for according to the Calvinistic teachings on total inability, the unregenerate person is unable to believe.

So instead, the Calvinists invites the unbeliever to wait upon God for the gift of faith, and as they wait, the unregenerate person is invited to participate in a wide variety of religious activities. William Shedd, for example, writes that since sinners cannot believe the gospel, they should engage in other religious activities while they wait for God to grant them the gift of faith. These spiritual activities include reading the Bible, giving serious application to the truth, and praying for the conviction and regeneration of the Holy Spirit (W. G. T. Shedd, Dogmatic Theology, Vol. II, pp. 472, 512, 513).

Calvinistic author J. I. Packer writes in the same vein:

And to the further question still “How am I to go about believing on Christ and repenting, if I have no natural ability to do these things?” it answers: look to Christ, speak to Christ, cry to Christ, just as you are; confess your sin, your impenitence, your unbelief, and cast yourself on His mercy; ask Him to give you a new heart, working in you true repentance and firm faith; ask Him to take away your evil heart of unbelief and to write His law within you, that you may never henceforth stray from Him. Turn to Him and trust Him as best you can, and pray for grace to turn and trust more thoroughly; use the means of grace expectantly, looking to Christ to draw near to you as you seek to draw near to Him; watch, pray, read, and hear God’s Word, worship and commune with God’s people, and so continue till you know in yourself beyond doubt that you are indeed a changed being, a penitent believer, and the new heart which you desired has been put within you (J. I. Packer, The Quest for Godliness, 144. A nearly identical statement is found in J. I. Packer, Introductory Essay to John Owen’s Death of Death in the Death of Christ).

So while the Calvinist criticizes the non-Calvinist for calling people to “contribute to their own salvation” by believing in Jesus for eternal life, they then turn around and tell people that if they want eternal life, they need to look to Christ, speak to Christ, cry out to Christ, confess their sin, cast themselves upon the mercy of Christ, ask Him to grant a new heart, true repentance, firm faith, pray for grace, read the Scripture, worship with God’s people, and continue in such actions and behaviors until God grants “the gift of faith”?

In such a scenario, who really has “contributed” to their salvation?

Is it the person who simply and only believes that Jesus has given them eternal life as an absolutely free and gracious gift? Or is it the person who engages in a whole host of spiritual and religious activities in the hopes of gaining the so-called “gift of faith”?

To put it another way, the Calvinist criticizes the non-Calvinist by saying, “If you can believe in Jesus, you are working for eternal life,” but meanwhile, in answer the question, “How can I receive eternal life?” the Calvinist answers, “I prayed, I pled, I read, I turned, I trusted, I repented, I confessed, I worshiped, and I continued in all these actions until God granted me the faith to believe.” Who truly is undermining the free gift of eternal life by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone?

I agree with Roy Aldrich who wrote:

A doctrine of total depravity that excludes the possibility of faith must also exclude the possibilities of ‘hearing the word,’ ‘giving serious application to divine truth,’ and ‘praying for the Holy Spirit for conviction and regeneration.’ The extreme Calvinist deals with a rather lively spiritual corpse after all (Roy L. Aldrich, July, 1965 issue of Bibliotheca Sacra “The Gift of God” 248–253).

How did Jesus invite people to receive eternal life?

Maybe the better question is to ask how Jesus invited people to receive the free gift of eternal life? The Gospel of John was written with the purpose of informing people how they might receive eternal life (John 20:31), and over and over in this Gospel, Jesus says that whosoever believes in Him has everlasting life (cf. John 3:16; 5:24; 6:47, etc.).

The same message is also found in the preaching and teaching of the Apostles in the Book of Acts, and throughout the Pauline Epistles and General Letters. Nowhere is any person ever told that in order to receive eternal life, they must pray, trust, wait, cry out, confess, worship, commune, and hope. Instead, the clear and consistent invitation is that whoever wants eternal life may receive it by believing in Jesus Christ for it.

Though people truly are “dead in sin,” this condition does not stop them or hinder them from believing in Jesus.

Quite to the contrary, believing in Jesus is the only proper response to hearing the gospel, and is the only response which an unregenerate person is able to have, and thankfully, is the only response which God looks for and desires. Those who are dead in sin cannot do anything to merit or earn eternal life, but they can believe in Jesus, which is the exact opposite of meritorious works, and which enables God to raise the person up so that they are no longer dead in sin, but alive in Jesus Christ.

If you want to read more about Calvinism, check out other posts in this blog series: Words of Calvinism and the Word of God.

One thing that will make Jesus love you more

Calvinist Quotes on Reprobation

Unconditional Election Quotes from Calvinists

Uncondiational Election and Foreordination

Unconditional Election and Reprobation

Unconditional Election Quotes

The U in TULIP – Unconditional Election

You Can Believe!

Regeneration Follows Faith

The Spirit-Led Book Launch Team

Faith is NOT a Gift from God

3 Reasons that Some Believe Faith is a Gift from God

4 Reasons Faith is Not a Gift from God

Faith is NOT a Work

God has taken the first step

Ongoing faith is also important

Doesn’t John 6:28-29 Teach that Faith is a Work?

The Bible Contrasts Faith and Works

What it means to be Dead in Sin

Is the Soul Dead?

The Soul is Handicapped

The Soul Can Believe in Jesus

What Must I Do to Receive Eternal Life?

How did Jesus invite people to receive eternal life?

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