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About the Book
Table of Contents
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
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Part IV: The omnipotence of God in
the Affairs of Men
Chapter 4
The Omnipotence of God in Personal History
ANY CONSIDERATION
of the omnipotence of God in the lives of individuals soon becomes
a consideration of predestination. To many people the idea that
God would coerce anyone is repugnant, an invasion of our right
of self-determination. Fortunately for us, God does ignore
this right at certain critical points, especially in the matter
of our salvation -- for otherwise none of us would be saved.
Some people seek to escape the force of this by saying that God's
plans are not based upon His predetermination of our actions,
but upon His foresight of what those actions will be in any given
circumstance. Yet such a view would surely rob God of the right
to make any plan according to His own will, leaving Him only
with the right to accommodate His plans according to our wills
-- wills which are fundamentally sinful.
I believe Scripture makes it clear
that God has intentions of His own which we are predestined to
fulfill exactly. His foreknowledge enables Him to use us to serve
these purposes in the best possible way and for our own best
good, but this foreknowledge is not the basis of our election.
The basis of His choice of one individual for salvation rather
than another rests solely in His own good pleasure. To suppose
otherwise is to invite the dangerous and wholly unscriptural
idea that there is some moral or spiritual superiority in the
elect which singles them out and makes them more particularly
worthy of God's favour (1 Corinthians 4:7). But Romans 9:21 assures
us that this is not the case. It is of the same lump of raw material
that sinner and saint alike are molded; the choice must rest
entirely with God, and the basis of it is hidden from us. 1 Peter
4:10, in the original Greek, tells us that a gift, some gift
(not the gift as in the King James Version) is given to
every individual. Such gifts are used of God to fulfill His intentions
whether as redeemed or unredeemed people. Some vessels are appointed
for more and some for less honourable use, and
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together we all combine
our labours, saved and unsaved alike, to the working out
of His Master Plan. Certain parts of this plan seem to require
that a man be unsaved, some that he be saved. The Lord's children
are challenged to make sure that both their calling and
their election to salvation are sure (2 Peter 1:10). Election
to salvation should not be confused with a calling to a life
work.
Four Stages in Salvation
There
are four stages in the salvation of a man's soul which are clearly
recognized in Scripture, yet which in experience are not always
so readily discernible. The first is repentance, (1) the second faith, the third
salvation, and the fourth eternal life. Each of these is stated
specifically to be a gift of God.
Paul assures us that it is not
the goodness of man, but the goodness of God that leads to repentance,
for the material out of which God makes saints is exactly the
same material as that out of which He makes vessels of dishonour.
(2) That's why
he warns against any boasting as though the saints were basically
any different from other people initially.
(3)
This gift of repentance first granted
to Israel is in some way related to the exaltation of Christ
(4) but the same
gift was later on likewise granted to the Gentiles. (5) The graciousness of God
in granting this gift to men otherwise utterly opposed to Himself
is the basis of Paul's plea that we also should be gentle with
those who set themselves in opposition against us, peradventure
God will also grant them repentance as He granted it to us. (6)
I think it was Spurgeon who once
said that he would not preach another sermon but for his conviction
that a man's response resulted entirely from the grace of God
and according to His will. It was only because the Lord had touched
her heart -- and for no other reason -- that Lydia became the
first European convert. (7) Whether a person be Jew or Gentile, the turning to
God is always because of God, and not because of man. As John
put it so emphatically, "It is not by the will of the flesh,
nor by the will of man," but of God that a soul is
1. Romans 2:4
2. Romans 9:21
3. I Corinthians 4:7
4. Acts 5:31
5. Acts 11:18
6. II Timothy 2:24,25
7. Acts 16:14
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saved. (8) John also said that it is not of blood either --
that is to say blood relationship as an Israelite was not enough
to predispose a man toward God. It was because God gave them
a heart to know Him that Israelites became true Israelites with
a new spirit within. (9)
Such people were blessed, not because of any inherent goodness,
but because God chose them to draw them near to Himself. (10)
Repentance, according to the meaning
of the original Greek word, means a change of mind. Esau sought
with tears to change his father's mind, but he could not change
the mind of God. (11)
Judas changed his mind, but it was not "God's changing,"
only his own -- and therefore it could not bring any blessing.
Indeed, it brought only anguish of soul and suicide. (12)
Until one realizes that repentance
means only a change of mind and has nothing necessarily to do
with sorrow for sin, it must always be rather confusing to read
in the Old Testament of the many occasions upon which God repented
(see, for example, Exodus 32:14 and 2 Samuel 24:16). What is
intended is that God changed His mind, not that He had found
He had made a mistake. Why would He change His mind? And does
such a change of mind imply an indecision? The fact, though it
may appear strange at first, is that when God "repents,"
He is bearing testimony to His own un-changeableness. God's attitude
toward wickedness is unchangeable, and so is His attitude toward
holiness. In the face of each He responds with absolute consistency.
When, therefore, a wicked man changes his ways and becomes a
holy man, God's attitude to the same individual, being absolutely
consistent with His own nature, also changes in response.
Humanly speaking, this action
can only be described as a change of mind -- which, of course,
it is: and yet God is unchangeable. Thus, when Israel was wicked
and the people deserved punishment, God's attitude was one of
condemnation. Whenever Israel was revived through the ministry
of some man of God, then the Lord's attitude was one of commendation.
Such a change of attitude, usually expressed in some such words
as "and God repented Him of the evil He had thought to bring
upon Israel," is actually a testimony to the unchangeableness
of God. Sometimes in our zeal we may persuade a man to repent,
to change his mind
8. John 1:13
9. Jeremiah 24:7; Ezekiel 11:19
10. Psalm 65:4
11. Hebrews 12:17
12. Matthew 27:3,5
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toward God, but as Jeremiah
says, only if God turns us unto Himself are we really turned.
(13)
It is not enough to change one's
mind and to take a more humble attitude toward God, for repentance
alone does not bring salvation but only suspension of judgment.
Nineveh repented and "was spared." (14) But it was not saved, for it came later under a devastating
judgment that wiped it out as a city once for all. Similarly
Peter speaks of the long-suffering of the Lord in delaying the
final judgment for the same reason. (15) Salvation is based upon an act of faith, not merely
repentance. But like godly repentance, saving faith also originates
entirely with God. Those who were helped by the ministry of Apollos
were not merely people who wanted a new religion in a world that
was tired of the old, but people who had already believed "through
the grace of God." (16) Later on, Paul tried to make sure that the Corinthians
would not attach too much importance to his own ministry or to
that of Apollos, who seemed to be such an outstanding expositor
of the Way of Life. Even though many had been blessed by them
both, it was really God who had given every one of them the faith
they had. It was God who gave the increase, even though it was
Paul and Apollos who had been the instruments. (17)
That salvation is a gift of God
hardly needs to be emphasized to anyone of evangelical faith.
It is not in the consummation of this total transaction with
the Lord that we are likely to make any mistake about man's independence.
It is chiefly in the initial stages that the issue is debated,
in the first signs of a change of attitude and then the expression
of faith. Thus, while some people are disposed to argue that
it is up to man to repent and believe, almost anyone will agree
that once repentance and faith are expressed, then the rest is
up to the Lord.
It may be objected that God "commands"
men to repent and believe, and that such a command would be meaningless
unless it were possible for a person of his own free will to
fulfill it. But the same may be said of the Ten Commandments,
which are in fact encompassed by a single command, namely, that
we are to love the Lord altogether with all our strength, all
our mind, all our soul, all our heart -- totally. We cannot do
this, of course, apart from the
13. Lamentations 5:21
14. Jonah 4:11
15. II Peter 3:9
16. Acts 18:27; Philippians 1:29; I Peter 1:19-21
17. I Corinthians 3:5,6
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empowering of the Holy
Spirit and even then only for a limited time until the old nature
re-asserts itself. We are commanded to do it, nonetheless. It
is not what God anticipates we shall do, but it is what
God requires of us and it is proper that we should know what
the requirement is.
There is more need, therefore,
to stress the omnipotence of God in the first stages than in
the last. However, Scripture is quite explicit as to the fact
that salvation is a gift of God, as will be seen from the following
references: John 1:11-13; Ephesians 2:8; 2 Thessalonians 2:13.
The same applies, naturally, to
the gift of eternal life, as shown in these passages: John 10:28;
Romans 6:23; Titus 1:2.
Because He has chosen us, and not
we Him (John 15:16), He is in every sense the Author and Finisher
of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
Any graciousness that we may have
is a gift from Him: as for example, Romans 15:15; I Corinthians
1:4; Ephesians 3:7; 4:7.
Any talents that we may happen
to have are given to us entirely "according to His own will"
(Hebrews 2:4), a fact elaborated upon in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11,
where it is stated that they are "divided to every man individually
as He wills" by the Holy Spirit.
Likewise, our position as a child
of God in the body of Christ is exactly what God is pleased to
make it. 1 Corinthians 12:18 excludes absolutely no one in this
category: "But now hath God set the members every one
of them in the body, as it hath pleased Him."
Our duties and responsibilities
are similarly by God's specific appointment. See, for example,
Mark 13:34 (to every man his work) and John 15:16. Even more
specific is the statement made in Ephesians 2:10: "For we
are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."
This was equally true in the Old Testament, as acknowledged by
Isaiah (26:12): "For Thou also has wrought all our works
in us."
Even what seem to be our most crippling
handicaps may be by God's appointment. Note the case of Moses
who was lost for words (Exodus 4:11), and Jeremiah who lacked
maturity (Jeremiah 1:6,7), and Paul whose presence was almost
contemptible (2 Corinthians 10:10).
These passages are so familiar
that the force of them is often lost upon us. But I venture to
say that if anyone will take each passage and examine it carefully,
word by word, he will be amazed to find how little of our achievements
can be credited to ourselves. Does this mean we are really
little more than puppets? I think the answer to this
question lies in an understanding of what the word fruit
means in the
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New Testament. This is
properly the subject of the next chapter, but it may help to
point out here that though the responsibility of appointing
the good works that we should walk in is God's alone, He holds
us responsible for bringing forth the fruits of those good works
(Colossians 1:10; Jeremiah 17:10), namely, the response of the
soul in the doing of them.
In other words, for the fulfillment
of His Master Plan God appoints each of us duties (which are
appropriate to our station in life), and these we shall do. But
in the doing of them we may become better men or not better men
-- depending upon our own response to circumstance. Fruits are
not souls saved (notice the wording of 1 Corinthians 9:1), but
spiritual qualities reflected in personality, as clearly set
forth in Galatians 5:22,23, and resulting from these appointed
tasks. In the long run, the worker is more important than the
work; what our deeds do to us is of more importance with respect
to ourselves than merely having done the deeds. God is primarily
seeking to make saints, not executives or even leaders.
From beginning to end, we are His
workmanship. Our salvation, our station in life, our talents
and handicaps, our duties and responsibilities, our good works
-- in short, the total circumstances in which we find ourselves
-- are all designed or permitted in order to contribute to God's
great purpose of making saints to His own glory.
God's Rule Over the Unsaved
But what of
the unsaved? To what extent does God rule in their circumstances?
Surprisingly enough, Scripture has quite a bit to say about them.
It is natural that in the Master
Plan of God there must be some tasks to be performed which, if
they are to be done with thoroughness, paradoxically could only
be done by people who also delight in opposing the will of God.
This seems a strange statement to make, but it can be illustrated
very clearly from Scripture. The perfecting of the saints is
inevitably associated with the trying of the saints. Peter speaks
of the trial of our faith. The Old and New Testaments both show
how such testing is effected, namely, by unbelievers who take
delight in their own skepticism and seek to undermine the faith
of others. They suppose they are acting as entirely free agents,
whereas in fact they are probably indirectly inspired by Satan.
Satan may suppose that he is accomplishing
some measure of victory against the Lord. Scripture takes it
one step further and shows that Satan is working only by permission
and that such permission is granted for no other reason than
the ultimate glorification
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of God in the perfecting
of saints. Thus, in the Old Testament, false prophets
were sometimes appointed to tempt Israel to serve other gods,
and the strength of their appeal was reinforced by miracles which
God Himself permitted. But such permission was not given without
first a warning to the children of Israel that their devotion
to the one true God would now and then be tested by this very
means. This happened also in the New Testament, where even heresies
were introduced that they which were approved of God might be
made manifest by contrast. (18)
Of course, such heresies did not
develop apart from the individuals who introduced them, and undoubtedly
those early saints would never have received such men had they
been aware of their character. But Jude says that these men crept
in unawares -- yet not without God's permission, for "they
were before of old, ordained to this condemnation." (19) Such men became "a
stone of stumbling and a rock of offense" to those associated
with the children of God who had not really humbled themselves.
It was to make such people manifest that these men were appointed.
(20)
To many men the way of salvation
was offensive. These men were worldly wise, wise in their own
conceits. From such men God has deliberately hidden the truth
for so it seemed good in His sight. (21)
Israel as a nation -- for reasons
we can only dimly discern -- was somehow blinded and hardened
in heart against any recognition of their own Messiah. (22) This blindness continues
in our own day. Its continuance appears to be the result of a
deliberate action on the part of God, (23) that through it He might in the end have mercy on
a greater number of people, the Gentiles in the present, Israel
in the future.
There is never really any word
spoken against the Truth; nor is there any wisdom or understanding
or counsel against the Lord, no matter how serious the situation
may appear at any given moment. (24) When the Lord states what He is going to do, there
is none that can deliver out of His hand and none who can prevent
it; when such plans involve the actions of wicked men, not all
the prayers of all the saints can deflect such men from completing
their evil work. (25)
18. Deuteronomy 13:1-3; I Corinthians 11:19
19. Jude 4
20. I Peter 2:8
21. Matthew 11:25
22. John 12:39,40
23. Romans 11:32
24. Proverbs 2 1:30
25. Ecclesiastes 7:13
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Nothing, nothing in
the universe, could have prevented the wickedest deed in human
history, the Crucifixion, because it was an essential part of
God's Master Plan.
We are not concerned to attempt
here any rationalization which would, as it were, tone down the
implications of such passages as these. They are by no means
the only such passages (see, for example, the wording of Matthew
18:7 and 2 Peter 2:12). All we can do is to hold fast to the
few statements of Scripture associated with passages like these
which seem to indicate, in a general way, how God will one day
completely justify His own actions. As Paul says (Romans 9:22),
"What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and to make His
power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of
wrath fitted to destruction: only that He might make known the
riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had aforehand
prepared unto glory?" In the meantime we must also remember
that the "vessels of wrath" and the "vessels of
mercy" are both made from the same lump.
Many people have sought to evade
the force of these statements in Scripture, which seem to make
the Lord responsible for so much of the wickedness of man, for
false prophets, for accusers of the brethren, for unbelievers,
and for other classes of men who have resisted the Word of God
and the work of the Church throughout history. As a rule this
involves employing softer language or transposing words or phrases
in the text in such a way as to change the meaning of the sentence
radically. Possibly this is justified in some of these verses,
but it is not justified in all of them and the force of some,
at least, is unquestionable. The general impression one gets
is that the actions of men are so predetermined, at times, that
they cannot possibly be held morally responsible for them. Yet
in a few of these verses they are held responsible, because
they are said to be "wicked." We must therefore turn
now in the final chapter to an examination of this most critical
of all issues, the grounds upon which God bases His judgment
of men who, for all their wickedness, may simply be fulfilling
His will.
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Copyright © 1988 Evelyn White. All rights
reserved
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