Notable Quotes 3

There are phrases and title used in regard to Himself which argue that He was conscious of a quite uniquw relation to the world, or, more strictly, to a flock or people whom He acknowledges as His. Of these expressions we shall adduce a few. The terms commonly used in the doctrinal discussions of the atonement, and are drawn from Bible phraseology, such as SURETY, MEDIATOR, HIGH PRIEST, ADVOCATE - all representing Him as our substitute, who appears in the presence of God for us, and conducts our cause, - are not indeed found in the Lord's own words descriptive of Himself. But, beyond question, the thing is there; and He acts as fully conscious that, except through Himself, as Mediator, God could have no intercourse with man, nor man with God. He understands and consults the bests interests of His people in every respect: He took flesh, and knows the infirmities of human nature by personal experience, that He may sympathize with their condition, and compassionately conduct their concerns: He was lawfully called and appointed to that function. And not only so: the sacrificial languagee, which we find Him so frequently usinf, impies a Priest, though He does not expressly appropriate the term.

These title, both numerous and various, imply that He had a relation to manking which is unique; that He stood between God and man; that He was not an individual unit of the race, as all negative theology represents Him; but acting in a representative capacity for it. He assumes a position that no one but Himself could dare to occupy. Thus when He calls Himself THE WAY, in saying, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life" (John xiv.6), He is the exclusive Way; not only paving the way for others, but constituting, in His own person and the work the only way by which any could have access to God. That this is the meaning is evident from the subjoined words, "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me." Could Christ affirm this of Himself, if He were nothing more than a teacher, an example, or a merely human founder of a new religion? Certainly not.

George Smeaton, Christ's Doctrine of the Atonement, pg 51& 52

God's Sovereignty Over Men's Wills

Does the Bible teach that God is sovereign over men’s wills? You tell me.

“you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” (Gen. 50:20)

“But I will harden his (Pharaoh’s) heart, so that he will not let the people go.” (Ex. 4:21)

“And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.” (Ex. 12:36)

“And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen.” (Ex. 14:17)

“But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand” (Deut. 2:30)

“For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might utterly destroy them” (Josh. 11:20)

“God sent a spirit of ill will between Abimelech and the men of Shechem; and the men of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech” (Jud. 9:23)

“the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, ‘Go, number Israel and Judah.’” (2 Sam. 24:1)

“The Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets” (1 Kings 22:23)

“that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom” (Ezra 1:1-3)

“the Lord made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God” (Ezra 6:22)

“He turned their heart to hate His people, to deal craftily with His servants.” (Ps. 105:25)

“A man’s heart (will) plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” (Pr. 16:9)

“The king’s heart (will) is in the hand of the LORD…He turns it wherever He wishes. (Pr. 21:1)

“Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger…I will send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of My wrath I will give him charge…Yet he does not mean so, nor does his heart think so” (Is. 10:5-7)

“For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?” (Is. 14:27)

“Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure’” (Is. 44:28)

“I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever” (Jer. 32:39)

“I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.” (Jer. 32:40)

“I will give you a new heart (will) and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart (will) of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” (Ezek. 36:26-27)

“For His dominion is and everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, “What have you done?” (Dan. 4:34-35)

“For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.” (Acts 4:27-28)

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28)

“Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” (Rom. 9:19)

“But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” (1 Cor. 12:11)

“for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Phil. 2:13)

“Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’” (Jas. 4:15)

“For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.” (Rev. 17:17)

Notable Quotes 2

The deepest cleft which separates men calling themselves Christians in the conception of the plan of salvation, is that which divides what we may call the Naturalistic and the Supernaturalistic views. The line of division here is whether, in the matter of the salvation of man, God has planned simply to leave men, with more or less completeness, to save themselves, or whether he has planned Himslef to interven to save them. The issue between the naturalist and supernaturalist is thus the eminently simple one: Does man save himself or does God save him?

The consistently naturalistic scheme is known in the history of doctrine as Pelagianism. Pelagianism in its purity, affirms that all the powers exerted in saving man is native to man himself. But Pelagianism is not merely matter of history, nor does it always exist in its purity. As the poor in earthly goods are always with us, so the poor in spiritual things are also always with us. It may indeed be thought that there never was a period in the history of the Church in which naturalistic conceptions of the process of salvation were more wide-spread or more radical than at present. A Pelagianism which out-pelagianizes Pelagius himself in the completeness of its naturalism is in sact at the moment intensely fashionable among the slef-constituted leaders of Christian thought. And everywhere, in all communions alike, conceptions are current which assign to man, in the use of his native powers, at least the decisive activity in the saving of the soul, that is to say, which suppose that God has planned that those shall be saved, who, at the decisive point, in one way or another save themselves.

Notable Quote, B.B. Warfield, The Plan of Salvation, pg 15-16

Why Isn't Grace Universal?

The more I think about it, the more convinced I am that Arminianism is a Procrustean bed. It is frequently asserted that Calvinism relies more on the force of logic than on Scripture, but it seems plain as day that this is simply not true. Arminianism starts with questionable assumptions, and then charges forward regardless of the teaching of Scripture, claiming that it just makes sense that this or that should be true. 

Take the Arminian notion of universal grace, for instance. All Arminians insist that God's grace is universal in its scope. On what is this idea based? It is based on the assumption that God owes it to all His creatures to give them all the same advantages and opportunities. If He does not do then, then logically, He would not be just. But this is simply false. There is not a single shred of Biblical evidence that God owes anyone anything, let alone corrupt, fallen, degenerate, depraved man. When Scripture declares that God "loved Jacob and hated Esau," the real mystery is not why did He hate Esau, but rather, why did He love Jacob.

Even a cursory analysis of the idea of a universal grace reveals some rather obvious inherent absurdities. Such as:

1. To say that God has a universal will to save everyone implies that God wills contrary to His will. If God wants something, being all-powerful as He is, He will do whatever He deems necessary to accomplish His desire. This simply means that God is able to save all men, but it is not actually His will do so, otherwise all would be saved. We know from manifold passages of Scripture that some men will actually perish into eternal hell. We also know that many have already died in a state of unregeneracy and have perished into eternal hell. If this has happened, then we must acknowledge that it was not actually God's will to save those who have perished and will yet perish.

2 This supposed universal will to save all men is either an absolute decree of God or a conditional one. If it is absolute, then God has already failed to accomplish it, since many have already died in perdition. If it is a conditional decree, God must execute the condition Himself or merely demand that the condition be met. If He were to execute it, then all men would be saved, which, again, we know to not be true. If He merely demands that the condition be met, then He does not really will the salvation of all men, since some will not meet the condition, since they are blind and dead in sin. In this case, we have a God who desires something while He simultaneously know that it is impossible.

3. If God universally wills the salvation of all men, He has failed in His purpose and therefore has not accomplished Hie will, since He wills something that hasn't happened and will not ever happen. Many have already perished and many more still will.

It is one thing to say that God commands something and that obedience to it is pleasing to Him. But it is quite another thing to decree or purpose something. It is God's decree that is thwarted if He wills something which does not come to pass. If He had willed the salvation of all men, He would be thwarted in His purpose. Since this is obviously ridiculous, it is equally ridiculous to maintain that grace is universal because God has a will to save all men.

So, as was said above, Arminianism is a Procrustean bed: whatever is too short gets stretched to fit, and whatever is too long gets lopped off.

Notable Quotes 1

It is a matter of the greatest moment, that we learn distinctly to consider the covenant of grace, either as it is in its substance or essence, as they call it, or as it is in divers ways proposed by God, with respect to circumstantials, under different economies. If we view the substance of the covenant, it is but only one, nor is it possible that it should be otherwise. There is no other way worthy of God, in which salvation can be bestowed upon sinners, but that discovered in the Gospel. Whence the apostle, Gal. 1:7, has beautifully said, which is not another. And that testament, which was consecrated by the blood of Christ, he calls everlasting, Heb.13:20, because it was settled from eternity, published immediately upon the fall of the first man, constantly handed down by the ancients, more fully explained by Christ himself and his apostles, and is to continue throughout all agesm and, in virtue of which, believers shall inherit eternal happiness. But if we attend to the circumstances of the covenant, it was dispensed at sundry times and in divers manners, under various economies, for the manifestation of the manifold wisdom of God...

We therefore maintain, agreeable to the sacred writings, that to all the Elect, living in any period of time, 1st. One and the same eternal life was promised. 2ndly. That Jesus Christ was held forth as one and the same author and bestower of salvation. 3rdly. That they could not become partakers of it in any other way, but by a tru and lively faith in him. If we demonstrate these three things, none can any longer doubt, but that the covenant of grace must be, as to its substance, only one from the beginning. For, if the salvation be the same, and the author of it the same, the manner of communion with him the same, it is certain the covenant itself cannot be more than one.  Herman Witsius, Economy of the Covenants III.II.I & II