Choosing a Theology - Human Responsibility

Choosing a Theology

Human Responsibility

Christ's words, "No man can come to me except the Father draw him," are not the same as the interpretive "No man is able to come to me." Christ is not denying either the necessity or capability on man's part of active acquiescence and faith. The Father alone can draw, but men must come to Christ as this grace is given to them of the Father. And hundreds of passages tell us that this giving (didomi) is a gift of God's love, and like the giving of the Son to die for our sins, is for the whole world. Such an understanding is consistent with Scripture's repeated invitation to come-invitations that would be meaningless without the definite responsibility on man's part and ability to "come" when he is "drawn." Man has a choice to make: to come or not to come, to eat and drink of Christ or of the things of this world and Satan.

Yes, the Bible says that "there is none that seeketh after God" (Rom. 3.11). But that is expressing no man is an exception to the fallen nature, and the Bible makes it clear that this statement does not mean, as Calvinism insists, that no man is able to seek. It is not that man lacks the ability to seek God or that God holds back the essential grace for coming. The problem is that man, in and of himself, lacks the desire to seek God. Blinded by sin and obsessed with self, man seeks everything except God (including false gods he finds more appealing) until, by the Holy Spirit, convicted of sin and convinced of his need of a Savior, he is drawn to Christ.

In the infinite love and boundless grace, God continually encourages man to seek Him. Though many, perhaps the vast majority (broad is the road to destruction), reject the wooing of the Holy Spirit and Christ's call to come to Him, many do respond to this call in repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Christ Jesus, the message that Paul preached in Acts 20.21: "Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." That is why Paul expended himself-preaching the gospel in the attempt to persuade men to come to Christ-and we should also, "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences" (2 Cor. 5.11).

Men are responsible to conscience, to the gospel, and to the striving of the Holy Spirit in their lives. "And the LORD said, My spirit shall not alway strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years" (Gen. 6.3). Nor can we as believers avoid our responsibility to obey Christ's command to preach the gospel and to do so in the power of the Holy Spirit and with sincere conviction and persuasion. Paul and Barnabas "so spake, that the great multitude both of the Jews and also the Greeks believed" (Acts 14.11). So must we, "as the oracles of God" (1 Pet. 4.11).

Seek and Be Regenerated

David said, "When though saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek" (Ps. 27.8). The sons of Korah sang, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God" (Ps. 42.1). Not just the elect, but all men in all times and places (and that includes the wicked and unrighteous, which we all are by nature) are exhorted to seek Him. "Seek ye the LORD while ye may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Is. 55-6-7). "God that made the world...hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth...that they should seek the LORD, if haply they might...find him, though he be not far from every one of us" (Acts 17.24-27). Everyone should seek the Lord even every person in every nation. Surely this is God's will then how can a Calvinist say it is not God's will? "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" (Jer. 29.13). "He that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Heb. 11.6). Are you truly seeking the Lord if you merely just assume you are irrersistibly drawn to be regenerated or selected and made to repent? This then is not genuine repentance or salvation, for where is the diligent seeking in assuming either your coercion or others having no opportunity?

Free Will

In discussing man and his will we particularly should bear in mind that he exercises a free will. This means that man is sovereign, that he has a sovereign will. What he disapproves of should not be forced on him, what he opposes should not be coerced. Free will signifies that man can choose what he wants. He is not a mechanical toy to be run by others. He is responsible for all his actions; the will within controls all matters both inside and outside him. He is not governed automatically by an external force; rather, he houses a principle within him which determines his acts.

This was the state of man when created by God. The man the Creator fashioned was not something mechanical; for it will be recalled that God said to him: "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die" (Gen. 2.16-17). After the fall man was still encouraged: "whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev. 22.17). How did God command him? God persuaded, prohibited, yet never coerced. If Adam were disposed to listen and not eat the forbidden fruit, it would be Adam who so willed. But if he would not listen and would eat, even God would not restrain him. That is free will. God put this responsibility of eating or not eating upon man for him to choose according to his untrammeled will. God did not create an Adam who was incapable of sinning, rebelling or stealing, since to have done so would have been to make man into a piece of machinery. God could advise, prohibit and command; however, the responsibility of hearing or not lay with man. Out of love, God gave the command beforehand; out of righteousness, he would not force man to do what the latter did not wish to do. For man to obey God, it requires a willingness on his part, because God never compels him. He could verily employ sundry means to make man willing; nevertheless, until he gives his consent God will not make His way into the man.

This is an exceedingly vital principle. The Creator never works against this principle, whereas the evil spirits consistently do. By this can we distinguish what is of God and what is not.

Sincerely ask yourself the question, "Are we totally depraved, unable to choose Christ, or are we truly free to make choices?" (See Gen. 2.19, 4.7; Ezek. 18.2-32.) "This is the declaration of the Lord GOD. 'Repent and turn from all your transgressions.... Throw off all the transgressions you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.... So repent and live!'" (Ezek. 18.30,31,32) God hardened the Pharaoah's heart because the Pharaoh hardened his own heart first (Ex. 8.15,32; 9.34). God did not irresistibly make Moses circumcise his son Gershom. Of his own volition, Moses rebelled and did not circumcise his son, so when God "sought to put Moses to death" (Ex. 4.24) for not keeping the sign of their covenant relationship (Gen. 17.10-14)-not setting the proper example before the Israelites-, God provided sufficient grace through Moses' wife Zipporah when she performed the circumcision (Ex. 4.25-26). Through God's infinite foreknowledge and mercy, Moses' life would be spared.

The Fall and Salvation

Unfortunately, mankind has fallen. By this plunge man’s unfettered volition suffered prodigious damage. Enormous damage does not equal total depravity. We may say that there are two massive contradictory wills throughout the universe. On the one side stands the holy and perfect will of God; on the other is arrayed the defiled, defiling and opposing will of Satan. In between subsists the sovereign, independent, free will of man. When man listens to the devil and rebels against God he seems to render an eternal "no" to God’s will and an abiding "yes" to Satan’s. Since man employs his volition to choose the will of the devil, his volition falls captive to the devil. Therefore all his acts are governed by Satan’s will. Until he overturns his early subjection, man's will remains unquestionably oppressed by the enemy power.

"Make your choice..." (Ex. 8.9). "This is what the LORD says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself to Me?" (Ex. 10.3) Those who "received him [and] believe on His name...become sons of God [being]...born...of God" (John 1.12-13). "Take ye from among you an offering unto the LORD: whosoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it, an offering of the LORD; gold, and silver, and brass" (Ex. 35.5). Did God cause Cain to kill Abel and was Abel irresistibly made to give a proper offering not of works? It was their choice. God grants all things: our very existence and our choice for repentance that precedes life (regeneration): "God has granted repentance resulting in life...." (Acts 11.18). "Unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13.3), and He implores you by repeating Himself in verse 5. Wouldn't that be strange to give this warning heed if you had no choice in the matter to repent? You'll need to bring "a freewill offering" (Ex. 35.29) to God even yourself by coming to the cross as a helpless sinner and receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Warning to Calvinists: Let your extreme view of depravity die with other idols that keep you separated from God's mercy and grace.

"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" (Rom. 8.30). We can be confident how God predestinates so that some are called. We know with absolute certainty, people are not irresistbly saved nor are they denied opportunity for salvation. God provides more than sufficient grace to all mankind whether under common or special grace. The materials of His grace are for all: "The materials were sufficient for them.... There was more than enough" (Ex. 36.7).

Dear John Calvin, by grace are you saved through faith (Eph. 2.8) not by assuming regeneration.