(J.C. Ryle, “Holiness, Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots” 1879)

“The doctrine which is according to godliness”

Sound doctrine is useless–if it is not accompanied by a holy life!

It is my firm impression that we need a thorough revival of Scriptural holiness.

I have had a deep conviction for many years, that practical holiness and consecration to God are not sufficiently attended to by modern Christians. Worldliness has eaten out the heart of vital piety in too many of us! The subject of personal godliness has fallen sadly into the background. The standard of Christian living has become painfully low in many quarters. The immense importance of “adorning the doctrine of God our Savior” (), and making it lovely and beautiful by our daily habits and tempers–has been far too much overlooked!

The details and particular ingredients of which holiness is composed in daily life–ought to be fully set forth and pressed on believers. True holiness does not consist merely of believing–but of doing and a practical exhibition of the active and passive graces.

Our tongues,
our tempers,
our natural passions and inclinations,
our conduct at home and abroad,
our dress,
our employment of time,
our behavior in business,
our demeanor in sickness and health, in riches and poverty
–all, all these are matters which are fully treated by inspired writers. They go into particulars. They specify minutely, what a holy man ought to do an be in his own family, by his own fireside, and at the work-place.

True holiness is something of “the image of Christ” which can be seen and observed by others in our private life, and habits, and character, and doings!
 

Nicodemus

The New Genesis -
R.C. Sproul

Without the presence of the Spirit there is no conviction, no regeneration, no sanctification, no cleansing, no acceptable works . . . Life is in the quickening Spirit. — W A. CRISWELL

BIRTH and rebirth. Both are the result of the operation of the Holy Spirit. Just as nothing can live biologically apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, so no man can come alive to God apart from the Spirit’s work

In His discourse with Nicodemus, Jesus said this about the Holy Spirit:

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3)

To be “born again” is to experience a second genesis. It is a new beginning, a fresh start in life. When something is started, we say that it is generated. If it is started again, it is regenerated. The Greek verb geniauo that is translated as “generate” means “to be,” “to become,” or “to happen.” Regeneration by the Holy Spirit is a change. It is a radical change into a new kind of being.

To be regenerated does not mean that we are changed from a human being into a divine being. It does mean that we are changed from spiritually dead human beings into spiritually alive human beings.

Spiritually dead persons are incapable of seeing the kingdom of God. It is invisible to them, not because the kingdom itself is invisible, but because the spiritually dead are also spiritually blind.

REGENERATION AS NECESSARY

When Jesus uses the word unless in speaking to Nicodemus, He is stating what we call a necessary condition. A necessary condition is an absolute prerequisite for a desired result to take place. We cannot have fire without the presence of oxygen because oxygen is a necessary condition for fire.

In the jargon of Christianity people speak of “born again” Christians. Technically speaking, this phrase is redundant. If a person is not born again, if he is not regenerate, then he is not a Christian. He may be a member of a Christian church. He may profess to be a Christian. But unless a person is regenerate, he is not in Christ, and Christ is not in him.

The word unless makes regeneration a sine qua non of salvation. No regeneration, no eternal life. Without regeneration a person can neither see the kingdom nor enter the kingdom.

When Nicodemus was puzzled by Jesus’ teaching he replied:

How can a man be born when be is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born? (John 3:4)

Nicodemus’s response almost seems like an attempt to ridicule Jesus’ teaching. In crass terms he suggests that Jesus must mean that a fully grown person must attempt the impossible task of returning to his mother’s womb.

Nicodemus failed to distinguish biological birth from spiritual birth. He didn’t differentiate between flesh and spirit. Jesus answered his response by saying,

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, “You must be born again.” (John 3:5-7)

Again Jesus prefaces His words by saying, “Most assuredly, I say to you . . .” The “most assuredly”— the Hebrew amen, carried over into the New Testament — indicates strong emphasis. That is, when Jesus spoke of regeneration as a necessary condition for seeing and entering the kingdom of God, he stated this necessary condition emphatically. To argue against the need of rebirth to be a Christian, as many of our contemporaries frequently do, is to stand in clear opposition to the emphatic teaching of Christ.

The word cannot is also crucial to Jesus’ teaching. It is a negative word that deals with ability or possibility. Without regeneration no one (universal negative) is able to enter the kingdom of God. There are no exceptions. It is impossible to enter God’s kingdom without a rebirth.

No one is born a Christian. No one is born biologically into the kingdom of God. The first birth is one that is of the flesh. Flesh begets flesh. It cannot produce spirit.

Later in John’s Gospel, Jesus adds this comment:

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. (John 6:2 3)

When Martin Luther was debating whether fallen man is utterly dependent upon the Holy Spirit for regeneration, he cited this text and added: “The flesh profits nothing. And that ‘nothing’ is not a ‘little something.’”

The flesh is not merely weak with respect to the power of rebirth. It is utterly impotent. It has no power whatever to effect rebirth. It cannot aid or enhance the Spirit’s work. All that the flesh yields is more flesh. It cannot yield an ounce of Spirit. The nothing is not a little something.

Finally Jesus says, “You must be born again.” If there is the slightest ambiguity with the use of the conditional word unless, the ambiguity completely evaporates with the word must.

REGENERATION IN EPHESIANS

In his Letter to the Ephesians the apostle Paul speaks of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit:

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). (Ephesians 2:1-5)

Paul provides a graphic description of our spiritual impotence prior to regeneration. He is addressing the Ephesian believers and describing a prior condition in which they all once shared. He adds the phrase “just as the others” (2:3), presumably referring to the whole of mankind.

He declares that this prior condition was a state of death: “You were dead in trespasses and sins.” Again, this death is obviously not a biological death, as he enumerates activities that these dead, persons were involved in.

The characteristic behavioral mode of people dead in trespasses and sins is described in terms of walking a particular course. He calls it the “course of this world” (2:1-2). Here the course of this world obviously refers to a course or pattern that is opposed to the course of heaven. The words this world refer not so much to a location as to a style or a point of reference. It involves a this-worldly orientation.

Christians and non-Christians alike share the same sphere of operations. We all live out our lives in this world. The regenerate person’s course, however, is guided from above. He has his eye on heaven and his ear attuned to the King of heaven. The unregenerate person is earthbound. His ear is deaf to any word from heaven; his eye is blinded to the glory from on high. He lives as a walking cadaver in a spiritual graveyard.

The course of this world is “out of the way” of God (Romans 3:12). Rather, it follows a path that is “according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2).

The spiritually dead have a master. Their master sets a course for them that they willingly — even eagerly — follow. This master is called the “prince of the power of the air.” This sobriquet of royalty can only refer to Satan, the chief architect of all things diabolical. Paul calls him “the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.” Satan is an evil spirit, a corrupt and fallen angel who exercises influence and authority over his captive hordes.

Paul sets forth a principle of life. We either walk according to the Holy Spirit or we walk according to the evil spirit. Augustine once compared man to a horse who is either ridden by Satan or by the Spirit of God.

Paul continues his vivid description of the regenerate person’s prior unregenerate lifestyle:

Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. (2:3)

The attention now shifts away from the external course and the external influence of Satan to the internal state of the unregenerate person. Again we see this as a universal condition: “Among whom also we all once conducted ourselves . . .” The key descriptive word of this previous internal condition is the word flesh. Here Paul echoes the language Jesus used with Nicodemus.

The word flesh here must not be understood as a synonym for “physical body.” Our bodies per se are not evil, since God made us as physical beings and became a human being Himself. The flesh refers to the sin nature, the entire fallen character of man.

Prior to regeneration we live exclusively in the flesh and by the flesh. Our conduct follows after the lusts of the flesh. That refers not exclusively to physical or sexual appetites but to a pattern of all sinful desires.

Paul caps this universal indictment of our fallen style by adding: “And were by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (2:3). When Paul speaks of “by nature,” he refers to our state in which we enter this world. Biological birth is natural birth. Regeneration is a supernatural birth. Men were not originally created as children of wrath. Original nature was not fallen. Ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, however, the word natural refers to our state of innate sinfulness.

Every child who enters this world enters it in a corrupt state. David declared, “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). We are all spiritually stillborn. We are born dead in trespasses and sin. In theology we call this inherent sinful condition original sin. Original sin does not refer to the first sin of Adam and Eve; it refers to the consequences of that first sin, with the transmission of a corrupt nature to the entire human race.

We are by nature “children of wrath.” How different this sounds from the socially acceptable notion that we are all naturally the children of God! This misguided idea is both longstanding and widespread. It is a falsehood that gains credibility by its frequent repetition. If you repeat a lie often enough, people will begin to believe it.

The lie of saying that we are by nature children of God was a lie that distressed Jesus. He was forced to combat it and refute it in His debates with the Pharisees. The Pharisees raged under Jesus’ criticism and said,

“We were not born of fornication; we have one Father — God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. . . . He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore, you do not hear, because you are not of God. (John 8:41-47)

Although the Bible acknowledges that God is the Father of all men in the sense of His being the Creator of all men, there is a special sense in which the Fatherhood of God is defined not in terms of biology but in terms of ethics. Obedience is the operative word. In the biblical view, our father is the one we obey. The relationship is established not by biological ties, but by willing obedience.

Since the Pharisees obeyed Satan rather than God, Jesus said of them, “You are of your father the devil” (John 8:44).

In Ephesians 2 Paul speaks both of “children of wrath” (v. 3) and “sons of disobedience” (v. 2). These phrases describe all of us in our natural unregenerate state.

When Paul completes his description of our unregenerate state, he moves abruptly and gloriously into a doxology that praises God for His mercy. The transitional word is the single word upon which our eternal destinies depend. It is perhaps the most glorious word in Scripture, the single word that crystallizes the essence of the Gospel. It is the word but. This tiny conjunction shifts the mood of the entire passage. It is the link between the natural and the supernatural, between degeneration and regeneration:

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10)

THE DIVINE INITIATIVE

Regeneration is the sovereign work of God the Holy Spirit. The initiative is with Him, not with ourselves. We notice that the accent with Paul falls on the work of God, not on the effort of man:

But God, who is rich in mercy…

We observe that the Apostle does not write:

But man, out of his goodness, inclines himself to God and raises himself to a new spiritual level.

One of the most dramatic moments in my life for the shaping of my theology took place in a seminary classroom.

One of my professors went to the blackboard and wrote these words in bold letters: REGENERATION PRECEDES FAITH

These words were a shock to my system. I had entered seminary believing that the key work of man to effect rebirth was faith. I thought that we first had to believe in Christ in order to be born again. I use the words in order here for a reason. I was thinking in terms of steps that must be taken in a certain sequence to arrive at a destination. I had put faith at the beginning of the sequence. The order looked something like this:

Faith — Rebirth — Justification

In this scheme of things the initiative falls with us. To be sure, God had sent Jesus to die on the cross before I ever heard the gospel. But once God had done these things external to me, I thought the initiative for appropriating salvation was my job.

I hadn’t thought the matter through very carefully. Nor had I listened carefully to Jesus’ words to Nicodemus. I assumed that even though I was a sinner, a person born of the flesh and living in the flesh, I still had a little island of righteousness, a tiny deposit of spiritual power left within my soul to enable me to respond to the gospel on my own.

Perhaps I had been confused by the traditional teaching of the Roman Catholic church. Rome, and many other branches of Christendom, had taught that regeneration is gracious; it cannot happen apart from the help of God. No man has the power to raise himself from spiritual death. Divine assistance is needed and needed absolutely. This grace, according to Rome, comes in the form of what is called prevenient grace. “Prevenient” means that which comes before something else.

Rome adds to this prevenient grace the requirement that we must “cooperate with it and assent to it” before it can take hold in our hearts.

This concept of cooperation is at best a half-truth. It is true insofar that the faith that we exercise is our faith. God does not do the believing in Christ for us. When I respond to Christ, it is my response, my faith, my trust that is being exercised.

The issue, however, goes much deeper. The question still remains: Do I cooperate with God’s grace before I am born again, or does the cooperation occur after I am born again?

Another way of asking this question is to ask if regeneration is monergistic or synergistic. Is it operative or cooperative? Is it effectual or dependent? Some of these words are theological terms that require further explanation.

MONERGISM AND SYNERGISM

A monergistic work is a work produced singly, by one person. The prefix mono- means one. The word erg refers to a unit of work. Words like energy are built upon this root. A synergistic work is one that involves cooperation between two or more persons or things. The prefix syn- means “together with.”

I labor this distinction for a reason. It is fair to say that the whole debate between Rome and Martin Luther hung on this single point. At issue was this: Is regeneration a monergistic work of God, or is it a synergistic work that requires cooperation between man and God?

When my professor wrote, “Regeneration precedes faith” on the blackboard, he was clearly siding with the monergistic answer. To be sure, after a person is regenerated, that person cooperates by exercising faith and trust. But the first step, the step of regeneration by which a person is quickened to spiritual life, is the work of God and of God alone. The initiative is with God, not with us.

The reason we do not cooperate with regenerating grace before it acts upon us and in us is because we cannot. We cannot because we are spiritually, dead. We can no more assist the Holy Spirit in the quickening of our souls to spiritual life than Lazarus could help Jesus raise him from the dead.

It is probably true that the majority of professing Christians in the world today believe that the order of our salvation is this: Faith precedes regeneration. We are exhorted to choose to be born again. But telling a man to choose rebirth is like exhorting a corpse to choose resurrection. The exhortation falls upon deaf ears.

When I began to wrestle with the professor’s argument, I was surprised to learn that his strange-sounding teaching was not a novel innovation to theology. I found the same teaching in Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and George Whitefield. I was astonished to find it even in the teaching of the great medieval Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas.

That these giants of Christian history reached the same conclusion on this point made a tremendous impact on me. I was aware that they were neither individually nor collectively infallible. Each and all of them could be mistaken. But I was impressed. I was especially impressed by Thomas Aquinas.

Thomas Aquinas is regarded as the Doctor Angelicus of the Roman Catholic church. For centuries his theological teaching was accepted as official dogma by most Catholics. So he was the last person I expected to hold such a view of regeneration. Yet Aquinas insisted that regenerating grace is operative grace, not cooperative grace. Aquinas spoke of prevenient grace, but he spoke of a grace that comes before faith, which is the grace of regeneration.

The key phrase in Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians on this matter is this:

even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved). (Ephesians 2:5)

Here Paul locates the time when regeneration occurs. It takes place when we were dead. With one thunderbolt of apostolic revelation all attempts to give the initiative in regeneration to man is smashed utterly and completely. Again, dead men. do not cooperate with grace. The spiritually dead take no initiative. Unless regeneration takes place first, there is no possibility of faith.

This says nothing different from what Jesus said to Nicodemus. Unless a man is born again first, he cannot possibly see or enter the kingdom of God. If we believe that faith precedes regeneration, then we set our thinking and therefore ourselves in direct opposition not only to Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Edwards, and others, but we stand opposed to the teaching of Paul and of our Lord Himself.

REGENERATION IS GRACIOUS

In Paul’s exposition of regeneration there is a strong accent on grace. It is necessary that Christians of all theological persuasions acknowledge willingly and joyfully that our salvation rests upon the foundation of grace.

During the Reformation the Protestants used two Latin phrases as battle cries: sola scriptura (Scripture alone) and so/a fide (faith alone). They insisted that the supreme authority in the church under Christ is the Bible alone. They insisted that justification was by faith alone. Now Rome did not deny that the Bible has authority; it was the sola they choked on. Rome did not deny that justification involves faith; it was the sola that provoked them to condemn Luther.

There was a third battle cry during the Reformation. It was originally penned by Augustine more than a thousand years before Luther. It was the phrase sola gratia. This phrase asserts that our salvation rests on the grace of God alone. There is no mixture of human merit with it. Salvation is not a human achievement; it is a gracious gift of God. This formula is compromised by a synergistic view of regeneration.

It is not by accident that Paul adds to his teaching on regeneration that it is a gracious work of God. Let us look at it again:

But God who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) . . . that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10)

Have you ever second-guessed the Bible? I certainly have, to my great shame. I have often wondered, in the midst of theological disagreements, why the Bible does not speak more clearly on certain issues. Why, for example, doesn’t the New Testament come right out and say we should or we shouldn’t baptize infants?

On many such questions we are left to decide on the basis of inferences drawn from the Bible. When I am bewildered by such disagreements, I usually come back to this point: The trouble lies not with the Bible’s lack of clarity; it lies with my lack of clear thinking about what the Bible teaches.

When it comes to regeneration and faith I wonder how Paul could have made it any more clear. I suppose he could have added the words to Ephesians 2, “Regeneration precedes faith.” However, I honestly think that even that phrase wouldn’t end the debate. There’s nothing in that phrase that isn’t already clearly spelled out by Paul in this text or by Jesus in John 3.

Why then, all the fuss? My guess is that it is because if we conclude that regeneration is by divine initiative, that regeneration is monergistic, that salvation is by grace alone, we cannot escape the glaring implication that leads us quickly and irresistibly to sovereign election.

As soon as the doctrine of election comes to the fore, there is a mad scramble to find a way to get faith in there before regeneration. In spite of all these attending difficulties, we meet the Apostle’s teaching headon:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Here the Apostle teaches that the faith through which we are saved is a faith that comes to us by grace. Our faith is something we exercise by ourselves and in ourselves, but it is not of ourselves. It is a gift. It is not an achievement.

With the graciousness of the gift of faith as a fruit of regeneration, all boasting is excluded forever, save in the boasting of the exceeding riches of God’s mercy. All man-centered views of salvation are excluded if we retain the sola in so/a gratia. Therefore we ought never to grieve the Holy Spirit by taking credit to ourselves that belongs exclusively to Him.

REGENERATION IS EFFECTUAL

Within traditional forms of Arminian theology there are those who agree that regeneration precedes faith but insist that it doesn’t always or necessarily produce faith. This view agrees that the initiative is with God; it is by grace, and regeneration is monergistic. The view is usually tied to some type of view of universal regeneration.

This idea is linked to the cross. It is argued by some that one of the universal benefits of the atonement of Christ is that all people are regenerated to the point that faith is now possible. The cross rescues all men from spiritual death in that now we have the power to cooperate or not cooperate with the offer of saving grace. Those who cooperate by exercising faith are justified. Those who do not exercise faith are born again but not converted. They are spiritually quickened and spiritually alive but remain in unbelief. Now they are able to see the kingdom and have the moral power to enter the kingdom, but they choose not to.

I call this view one of ineffectual or dependent grace. It is close to what Thomas Aquinas rejected as cooperative grace.

When I maintain that regeneration is effectual, I mean that it accomplishes its desired goal. It is effective. It gets the job done. We are made alive into faith. The gift is of faith which is truly given and takes root in our hearts.

Sometimes the phrase effectual calling is used as a synonym for regeneration. The word calling refers to something that happens inside of us, as distinguished from something that occurs outside of us.

When the gospel is preached audibly, sounds are emitted from the preacher’s mouth. There is an outward call to faith and repentance. Anyone who is not deaf is capable of hearing the words with his ears. These words strike the auditory nerves of the regenerate and the unregenerate alike.

The unregenerate experience the outward call of the gospel. This outward call will not effect salvation unless the call is heard and embraced in faith. Effectual calling refers to the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration. Here the call is within. The regenerate are called inwardly. Everyone who receives the inward call of regeneration responds in faith. Paul says this:

Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. (Romans 8:30)

This passage in Romans is elliptical. That is, it requires that we supply a word to it that is assumed by the text but not explicitly stated. The big question is, Which word do we supply — some or all? Let us try some:

Moreover, some whom He predestined, these He also called; some whom He called, these He also justified; and some whom He justified, these He also glorified.

To add the word some here is to torture the text. It would mean that some of the predestined never hear the call of the gospel. Some who are called never come to faith and justification. Some of the justified fail to be glorified. In this schema not only would calling not be effectual, but neither would predestination nor justification be effectual.

The implication of this text is that all who are predestined are likewise called. All who are called are justified, and all who are justified are glorified.

If that is the case, then we must distinguish between the outward call of the gospel, which may or may not be heeded, and the inward call of the Spirit, which is necessarily effectual. Why? If all the called are also justified, then all the called must exercise faith. Obviously not everyone who hears the external call of the gospel comes to faith and justification. But all who are effectually called do come to faith and justification. Here the call refers to the inward work of the Holy Spirit that is tied to regeneration.

Those whom the Holy Spirit makes alive most assuredly come to life. They see the kingdom; they embrace the kingdom; they enter the kingdom.

It is to the Holy Spirit of God that we are debtors for the grace of regeneration and faith. He is the Gift-giver, who while we were dead made us alive with Christ, to Christ, and in Christ. It is because of the Holy Spirit’s merciful act of quickening that we sing sola gratia and soli deo gloria — to the glory of God alone.

Author

Dr. R.C. Sproul, theologian, minister, teacher, is the chairman of the board of Ligonier Ministeries. A graduate of Westminster College, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and the Free University of Amsterdam. Dr. Sproul is currently professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and the director emeritus of Prison Fellowship, Inc. His many books include, Pleasing God, The Holiness of God, Chosen by God, The Mystery of the Holy Spirit, The Soul’s Quest for God, Essential Truths of the Christian Faith, The Glory of Christ, and If There’s a God, Why are there Atheists?

This article is taken from Dr. Sproul’s book, The Mystery of the Holy Spirit (Tyndale House: Wheaton, 1979).

One of the most prevalent problems with most modern day evangelism is the overlooked doctrine of regeneration. Eph 2 and many others must be considered. The scriptures must be held up instead of human reasonings

Two Views of Regeneration
by John Hendryx

Monergism: In theol., The doctrine that the Holy Spirit is the only efficient agent in regeneration – that the human will possesses no inclination to holiness until regenerated, and therefore cannot cooperate in regeneration. The Holy Spirit, who joins us to Christ, quickens us through the outward call cast forth by the preaching of His Word, disarms our innate hostility, removes our blindness, illumines our mind, creates understanding, turns our heart of stone to a heart of flesh. Only then do we apprehend the beauty and excellency of Christ. This gracious Spirit wrought work in the heart gives rise to a delight in His Word — all that we might, with our renewed affections, willingly & gladly embrace Christ. Monergism is when God conveys that power into the fallen soul whereby the person who is to be saved is enabled to receive the offer of redemption. It refers to the first step (regeneration) which has causal priority over, and gives rise to, the moral and spiritual desire/ability to comply with all the other aspects of the process of being united to Christ, (i.e., the ability to apprehend the Redeemer by a living faith, to repent of sin and to love God and the Mediator supremely) It does not refer to the whole process that it gives rise to (justification, sanctification), but only the granting of the spiritual capacity to comply with the terms of the covenant of grace. As Michael Haykin says, “The Reformation was not merely about justification through faith alone but, more importantly, it considered “…whether sinners are wholly helpless in their sin, and whether God is to be thought of as saving them by free, unconditional, invincible grace, not only justifying them for Christs’ sake when they come to faith, but also raising them from the death of sin by His quickening Spirit in order to bring them to faith.”

Synergism: “…the doctrine that there are two efficient agents in regeneration, namely the human will and the divine Spirit, which, in the strict sense of the term, cooperate. This theory accordingly holds that the soul has not lost in the fall all inclination toward holiness, nor all power to seek for it under the influence of ordinary motives.” The synergistic doctrine of prevenient grace does not resolve this issue, but only pushes it back, for if all have grace and only some believe the gospel, then what makes them to differ? Jesus Christ or something else in them? According to the synergist, something other than grace makes men to differ. This unscriptural view is the greatest threat to a true understanding of salvation in the Church today.

The following chart highlights some of the major points of difference in these systems:

Note: God acts unilaterally, taking the sole initiative in a free act of sovereign grace toward the sinner—grace that is altogether prior to, and effectually produces, justifying faith. The response of faith from the sinner is penultimate as it stands next to the ultimate sovereign grace of God in monergism. As the first act of a newborn baby is to breathe, so the act of faith is the first act of the regenerated sinner, in his/her new birth in Christ.

For more on this topic
A Simple Explanation of Monergism by John Hendryx
The New Birth: Not the Consequence of Human Faith by John Hendryx (exegesis)

“If the natural man has a free will to believe the gospel, then why does he need grace? If his will is naturally free then it would do away with the need for grace altogether.”

“To teach that the natural man has a free will overthrows the gospel … it is precisely because man is in bondage that he needs Christ to set him free.” (John 8:34, 36)

“Free-will or Free-grace?; The Bible says that men are born again, not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:13); that it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy (Rom 9;16); the work of faith is the operation of God according to the exceeding greatness of his power, who works in man both to will and to do of his own good pleasure.” (Phil 2:13)

“Free will I have often heard of, but I have never seen it. I have always met with will, and plenty of it, but it has either been led captive by sin or held in the blessed bonds of grace.”
- C. H. Spurgeon

“All the passages in the Holy Scriptures that mention assistance are they that do away with “free-will”, and these are countless … For grace is needed, and the help of grace is given, because “free-will” can do nothing.”
- Martin Luther, Bondage of the Will, pg. 270

If any man doth ascribe of salvation, even the very least, to the free will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright.
- Martin Luther

“…human will does not by liberty obtain grace, but by grace obtains liberty.”
- John Calvin

“We are all sinners by nature ,therefore we are held under the yoke of sin . But if the whole man is subject to the dominion of sin , surely the will , which is it’s principal seat , must be bound with the closest of chains. And indeed if divine grace were preceded by any will of ours, Paul could not have said that ,” it is God that worketh in us to will and to do ‘ (Phil. 2:13)
- John Calvin

“…we allow that man has choice and that it is self-determined, so that if he does anything evil, it should be imputed to him and to his own voluntary choosing. We do away with coercion and force, because this contradicts the nature of the will and cannot coexist with it. We deny that choice is free, because through man’s innate wickedness it is of necessity driven to what is evil and cannot seek anything but evil. And from this it is possible to deduce what a great difference there is between necessity and coercion. For we do not say that man is dragged unwillingly into sinning, but that because his will is corrupt he is held captive under the yoke of sin and therefore of necessity will in an evil way. For where there is bondage, there is necessity. But it makes a great difference whether the bondage is voluntary or coerced. We locate the necessity to sin precisely in corruption of the will, from which follows that it is self-determined.
John Calvin from Bondage and Liberation of the Will, pg. 69-70

This is from monergism.com

By Lorraine Boettner

Edited by Steve Pribble

The Gospel is the good news about the great salvation purchased by Jesus Christ, by which He reconciled sinful men to a holy God. The purpose of this booklet is to set forth, in plain language and in terms easily understood, the basic differences between the Calvinistic (Reformed) and Arminian understanding of the Gospel, and to show what the Bible teaches concerning these subjects. An accurate understanding is crucial; the harmony that exists between the various doctrines of the Christian faith is such that error in regard to any one of them produces more or less distortion in all the others.

There are in reality only two types of religious thought: the religion of faith, and the religion of works. The author is convinced that what has been known in church history as Calvinism is the purest and most consistent embodiment of the religion of faith, while that which has been known as Arminianism has been diluted to a dangerous degree by the religion of works and is therefore an inconsistent and unstable form of Christianity. In other words, Christianity comes to its fullest and purest expression in the Reformed faith.

In the early part of the fifth century these two types of religious thought came into direct conflict in a remarkably clear contrast in the teaching of two theologians, Augustine and Pelagius. Augustine pointed men to God as the source of all true spiritual wisdom and strength, while Pelagius threw men back on themselves and said that they were able in their own strength to do all that God commanded (otherwise God would not command it). Arminianism is a compromise between these two systems; while in its more evangelical form (as in early Wesleyanism) it approaches the religion of faith, it nevertheless does contain serious elements of error.

At present, practically all the historic churches are being attacked from within by unbelief. Many of them have already succumbed, and almost invariably the line of descent has been from Calvinism to Arminianism, from Arminianism to liberalism, and then to Unitarianism. The history of liberalism and Unitarianism shows that they deteriorate into a social gospel that is too weak to sustain itself. The author is convinced that the future of Christianity is bound up with that system of theology historically called Calvinism. Where the God-centered principles of Calvinism have been abandoned, there has been a strong tendency downward into the depths of man-centered naturalism or secularism. Some have argued convincingly that there is no consistent stopping place between Calvinism and atheism.

1. The Sovereignty of God

The basic principle of Calvinism is the sovereignty of God. This represents the purpose of the triune God as absolute and unconditional, independent of the whole finite creation, and originating solely in the eternal counsel of His will. He appoints the course of nature and directs the course of history down to the minutest details. His decrees, therefore, are eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise and sovereign. They are represented in the Bible as being the basis of the divine foreknowledge of all future events, and not conditioned by that foreknowledge or by anything originating in the events themselves.

Every thinking person readily sees that some sovereignty rules his life. He was not asked whether or not he would have existence, when or what or where he would be born, whether in the twentieth century or before the flood, whether male or female, white or black, whether in the United States, or China, or Africa. All those things were sovereignly decided for him before he had any existence. It has been recognized by Christians in all ages that God is the Creator and Ruler of the world, and that as such He is the ultimate source of all power. Hence, nothing can come to pass apart from His sovereign will; otherwise, He would not be truly God. When the thoughtful person dwells on this truth, he finds that it involves considerations which establish the Calvinistic and disprove the Arminian position.

By virtue of the fact that God has created everything that exists, He is the absolute Owner and final Disposer of all that He has made. He exerts not merely a general influence but actually rules in the affairs of men (Ac. 4:24-28). Even the nations are as the small dust of the balance when compared with His greatness (Isa. 40:12-17). Amid all the apparent defeats and inconsistencies found in human society, God is actually controlling all things in undisturbed majesty. Even the sinful actions of men can occur only by His permission and with the strength that He gives the creature. Since His permission is not unwilling but willing, all that comes to pass (including even the sinful actions and ultimate destiny of men) must be, in some sense, in accordance with what He has eternally purposed and decreed. To the proportion that this is denied, God is excluded from the government of the world, and man is left with only a finite God. Naturally some problems arise, which in man’s present state of knowledge are not able fully to be explained. But that is not a sufficient reason for rejecting what the Scriptures and the plain dictates of reason affirm to be true.

Is God not able to convert a sinner when He pleases? Cannot the Almighty, the omnipotent Ruler of heaven and earth, change the character of the creatures He has made? He changed the water into wine at Cana and converted Saul on the road to Damascus. The leper said, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean” (Mt. 8:2)—and at a word his leprosy was cleansed! Do not believe that God cannot control the human will or regenerate a soul when He pleases. He is as able to cleanse the soul as the body. If He chose, He could raise up such a flood of Christian ministers, missionaries and workers of various kinds, and could so work through His Holy Spirit, that the entire world would be converted in a very short time. If He had purposed to save all men, He could have sent hosts of angels to instruct them and to do supernatural works on the earth. He could have worked marvelously in the heart of every person, so that no one would have been lost.

Since evil exists only by His permission, He could, if He chose, blot it out of existence. His power in this respect was shown, for instance, in the work of the destroying angel who in one night slew all the firstborn of the Egyptians (Ex. 12:29) and in another night slew 185,000 of the Assyrian army (2 Kgs. 19:35). It was shown when the earth opened and swallowed up Korah and his rebellious allies (Num. 16:31-35), and when King Herod was smitten and died a horrible death (Ac. 12:23). The Most High God’s dominion is “an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Dan. 4:34-35).

All of this brings out the basic principle of the Reformed faith: the sovereignty of God. God created this world in which man dwells. He owns it and is running it according to His own sovereign good pleasure. God has lost none of His power, and it is highly dishonoring to Him to suppose that He is struggling along with the human race, doing the best He can to persuade men to do right, but unable to accomplish His eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise, and sovereign purpose.

Any system which teaches that the serious intentions of God can in some cases be defeated, and that man (who is not only a creature but a sinful creature) can exercise veto power over the plans of Almighty God, is in striking contrast to the biblical idea of His immeasurable exaltation by which He is removed from all the weaknesses of humanity. That the plans of men are not always executed is due to a lack of power, or lack of wisdom, or both. But since God is unlimited in these and in all other resources, no unforeseen emergencies can arise. To Him, the causes for change have no existence. To assume that His plan fails and that He strives to no effect is to reduce Him to the level of His creatures and make Him no God at all.

2. Man’s Totally Helpless Condition

The first and perhaps most serious error of the Arminian writers is that they do not give sufficient importance to the sinful rebellion and spiritual separation of the human race from God, that occurred in the fall of Adam. Some neglect it altogether, while for others it seems to be a faraway event that has little influence in the lives of people today. But unless the Bible-believing Christian insists on the reality of that spiritual separation from God, and the totally disastrous effect that it had on the entire human race, he shall never be able properly to appreciate his real condition or desperate need of a redeemer.

Perhaps it will help to realize more clearly what fallen man’s condition really is, if it is compared with that of the fallen angels. Angels were created before man, and each angel was placed on test as an individual, personal, moral being. This apparently was a pure test of obedience, as was that of Adam. Some of the angels stood their test (for reasons fully known only to God) and as a result were then confirmed in a state of perfect angelic holiness; these are now the elect angels in heaven (1 Tim. 5:21). But others fell and are now the demons mentioned in the Scriptures (the devil apparently being the one of highest rank among those who fell). Jude wrote that the “angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, [God] hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day” (v. 6). Furthermore, “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Pet. 2:4). The devil and the demons are totally alienated from God, totally given over to sin, without any hope of redemption. Their fate is described by Christ as that of being cast into “everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Mt. 25:41).

There is no redemption for fallen angels. The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews says, “For verily not to angels doth he give help, but he giveth help to the seed of Abraham” (2:16). Their fate is fixed and certain. For men and for angels, endless punishment is the penalty for endless sinning against God. Some would try to make God appear unjust, as though He inflicts endless punishment for sins committed only in this life. But lost men and lost angels (or demons) are endlessly in rebellion against God, and they endlessly receive punishment for that rebellion.

When God created man a moral creature, He proceeded on a different plan than He did with the angelic order. Instead of creating all men at one time and placing them on test individually, He created one man with a physical body, from whom the entire human race would descend, and who (because of his union with all those who would come after him) could be appointed as the legal or federal head and representative of the entire human race. If he stood the test, he and all his descendants would be confirmed in holiness and established in a state of perpetual creaturely bliss (as were the holy angels). But if he fell (as did the fallen angels), he and all his posterity would be subject to eternal punishment. It was as if God said, “This time, if sin is to enter, let it enter by one man, so that redemption also can be provided by one Man.”

Therefore, Adam, in his representative capacity, was placed on a test of pure human obedience. The penalty of disobedience was clearly set before him: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17).

Hence, the clearly-declared penalty for sin was death: exactly the same penalty that had been inflicted on the angels who fell. As with angels, it was purely a test of whether or not man would be an obedient and appreciative subject in the kingdom of heaven. It was a perfectly fair, simple test, clearly set forth, very much in Adam’s favor, for which he would have no excuse if he disobeyed.

But — tragedy of tragedies — Adam fell, and the entire human race fell representatively in him. The consequences of his sin are all comprehended under the term “death” in its widest sense. It was primarily spiritual death (or separation from God) that had been threatened (Adam did not die physically until 930 years after he fell). But he was spiritually estranged from God and died spiritually the very instant he sinned; from that instant his life became an unceasing march to the grave. Man in this life has not gone as far in the ways of sin as have the devil and the demons, for he still receives many blessings through common grace — health, wealth, family and friends, the beauties of nature — and he still is surrounded with many restraining influences. But he is on his way. If not checked, man would eventually become as totally evil as the demons. In his fallen state he fears God, tries to flee from Him, and literally hates Him (as do the demons). If left to himself he would remain forever in that condition because, “There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God” (Rom. 3:10-11). Nothing, absolutely nothing but a mighty supernatural act on the part of God, can rescue him from that condition. Hence, if man is to be rescued, God must take the initiative; He must pay the penalty for him, must cleanse him from his guilt, and so reinstate him in holiness and righteousness.

That is precisely what God does! He sovereignly picks up a man out of the kingdom of Satan and places him in the kingdom of heaven. These are the elect that are referred to some 25 times in Scripture: “But for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Mt. 24:22); “Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God” (1 Thess. 1:4); “The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded” (Rom. 11:7); “Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?” (Rom. 8:33). There are many more such references.

The Bible teaches that God has rescued a multitude of the human race from the penalty of their sins. In order to perform that work, Christ, the second Person of the trinity, took upon Himself human nature (through the miracle of the virgin birth) and was born into the human race as any normal child is born. God thus became incarnate, became one of us. Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life among men as the representative of His people, placed Himself under His own law, and suffered in His own Person the penalty that God had prescribed for sin. In His sinless life He perfectly kept the law of God that Adam had broken and so earned perfect righteousness for His people and the right for them to enter heaven. What He suffered as a Person of infinite value and dignity was a just equivalent of what His people would have suffered in an eternity in hell. In this manner He freed His people from the law of sin and death. As the fruits of that redemptive work are applied to those who have been given to the Son by the Father, they are said to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit, that is, made alive spiritually, or born again.

Paul expresses this broad truth in the epistle to the Romans when he says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned…. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many…. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Rom. 5:12-19).

Unless one sees that contrast between the first and the second Adam, he will never understand the Christian system. Writing to the saints that were at Ephesus, Paul said, “And you hath he quickened [made alive], who were dead in trespasses and sins.” The Ephesian Christians “…were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:1-10).

In Christian theology there are three separate and distinct acts of imputation. In the first place, Adam’s sin is imputed to all his descendants (that is, judicially set to their account, so that they are held responsible for it and suffer the consequences of it). This is commonly known as the doctrine of original sin. In the second place (and in precisely the same manner) the believer’s sin is imputed to Christ, so that the innocent Savior suffers the consequences of it. And in the third place, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to the believer and secures for him entrance into heaven. Adam’s descendants, of course, are no more personally guilty of Adam’s sin than Christ is personally guilty of His people’s sin, or that His people are personally meritorious because of His righteousness. In each case it is a judicial transaction. The sinner receives salvation from Christ in precisely the same way that he receives condemnation and ruin from Adam. In each case the result follows because of the close official union which exists between the persons involved. To reject any one of these three steps is to reject an essential part of the Christian system.

Thus there is a strict parallel between Adam and Christ in the matter of salvation. In the above passages Paul piles one phrase upon another, stressing the fact that mankind is not merely sick or spiritually disinclined but spiritually dead. Christ emphatically taught, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3). Again He said, “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word” (Jn. 8:43). The unregenerate man cannot see the kingdom of God nor hear in any spiritually discerning way the words spoken concerning it; much less can he get into it. Had the righteous been left to themselves, they, like the fallen angels, would never have turned to God.

A spiritually dead person can no more give himself spiritual life than a physically dead person can give himself physical life; that requires a supernatural act on the part of God. The sinner gets into the family of God in precisely the same way that he gets into his human family: by being born into it. By that supernatural act, God Himself (through His Holy Spirit) sovereignly takes him out of the kingdom of Satan and places him in His spiritual kingdom by a spiritual rebirth.

Having once been born into the kingdom of God, the redeemed sinner can never become unborn. Since it took a supernatural act to bring him into a state of spiritual life, it would take another such act to take him out of that state. Hence the absolute certainty that those who have been regenerated (and therefore have become truly Christian) will never lose their salvation but will be providentially kept by the power of God through all the trials and difficulties of this life and brought into the heavenly kingdom. “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (Jn. 5:24). “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (Jn. 10:27-29). This is known as the doctrine of eternal security, or the perseverance of the saints.

This gift of eternal life is not conferred upon all men but only upon those whom God chooses. This does not mean that any who want to be saved are excluded, for the invitation is, “whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17). The fact is that a spiritually dead person cannot will to come. “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw [literally, drag] him” (Jn. 6:44). Only those who are quickened (made spiritually alive) by the Holy Spirit ever have that will or desire; these are the elect. But in contrast with these, there is another group that may be called the non-elect. Concerning them, Floyd Hamilton very appropriately wrote: “All that God does is to let them alone and allow them to go their own way without interference. It is their nature to be evil, and God simply has foreordained to leave that nature unchanged. The picture often painted by opponents of Calvinism, of a cruel God refusing to save all who want to be saved, is a gross caricature. God saves all who want to be saved, but no one whose nature has not been changed wants to be saved.”

3. Christ’s atonement

It is not revealed why God does not save all mankind, when all were equally undeserving, and when the sacrifice on Calvary was that of a Person of infinite value, amply sufficient to save all men, had God so desired it. The Scriptures do show that not all will be saved; however, it must be remembered that the atonement, which was worked out at an enormous cost to God Himself, is God’s own property; He is at liberty to make whatever use of it He chooses. No man has any claim to any part of it. The Bible teaches repeatedly that salvation is by grace. Grace is favor shown to the undeserving — even to the ill-deserving. If any part of man’s salvation were due to his own good works, then indeed there would be a difference in men, and those who had responded to the gracious offer could justly point the finger of scorn at the lost and say, “You had the same chance that I had. I accepted, but you refused; therefore, you have no excuse.” But no! God has so arranged this system that those who are saved can only be eternally grateful that God has saved them. It is not for man to ask why God does as He does, for the Scripture declares: “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called…” (Rom. 9:20-24).

Only the Calvinist seems to take the fall of man seriously. A proper evaluation of the fall and man’s present hopeless condition is the missing element in so much of today’s thinking, teaching and preaching. Arminianism seriously errs in assuming that man has sufficient ability to turn to God, if only he will. The Calvinist insists that man is not merely sick or indisposed or just needing the right incentive; he is spiritually dead. The atonement of Christ does not merely make salvation an abstract possibility (such that all men can turn to God if they will). The Calvinist holds that the atonement was an objective work, accomplished in history, which removed all legal barriers against those to whom it was to be applied. It is followed by the work of the Holy Spirit subjectively applying the merits of that atonement to the hearts of those for whom it was divinely intended.

Here, again, is one of the most important verses in Scripture concerning the matter of salvation: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (Jn. 6:44). Another like it is, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out” (Jn. 6:37). The Apostle Paul wrote, “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14).

How does God cause the elect to exercise faith? The answer is that in regeneration the Holy Spirit subdues man’s heart to Himself and imparts a new nature which loves righteousness and hates sin. He does not force man against his will but makes him lovingly and spontaneously obedient to God’s will. When the Lord appeared to the hardened persecutor Saul as he was on the way to Damascus, he immediately became obedient to God’s will. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power” (Ps. 110:3). God gives His people the will to come! That act on God’s part, in the subconscious nature of the person, is known as regeneration, the new birth, or being born again. When a man is given a new nature, he reacts according to that nature. He exercises faith and does good works characteristic of repentance as naturally as the grape vine produces grapes. Whereas sin was previously his natural element, now holiness becomes his natural element (though not all at once, for he still has remnants of the old nature clinging to him; and as long as he remains in this world he still is in a sinful environment). But as his new nature is free to express itself, he grows in righteousness; he enjoys reading God’s Word, praying and having fellowship with other Christians.

One must choose between an atonement of high efficiency which is perfectly accomplished, and an atonement of wide extension which is imperfectly accomplished; one cannot have both. If one had both one would have universal salvation. The Arminian extends the atonement so widely that, so far as its actual effect is concerned, it has practically no value other than as an example of unselfish service. Dr. B. B. Warfield used a very simple illustration to present this truth. He said that the atonement is like pie dough: the wider you roll it, the thinner it becomes. The Arminian, in making it apply to all men, reduces its effectiveness to such an extent that it becomes practically no atonement at all.

Furthermore, for God to have laid the sins of all men on Christ would mean that, as regards the lost, He would be punishing their sins twice: once in Christ, and then again in themselves. Certainly that would be unjust! If Christ paid their debt, they are free, and the Holy Spirit will invariably bring them to faith and repentance. If the atonement were truly unlimited, it would mean that Christ died for multitudes whose fate had already been determined, who were already in hell at the time Christ suffered. If the atonement merely nullified the sentence that was against man (so as to give him a new chance if he would exercise faith and obedience), it would mean that God was placing him on test again, as his ancestor Adam. But that kind of test was tried and had its outcome long ago, even in a far more favorable environment. Carried to its logical conclusion, the theory of unlimited atonement leads to absurdity.

Christ’s suffering in His human nature, as He hung on the cross those six hours, was not primarily physical but mental and spiritual. When He cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Mt. 27:46), He was literally suffering the pangs of hell. For that is essentially what hell is: separation from the comfortable presence of God, separation from everything that is good and desirable. Such suffering is beyond man’s comprehension. But since Christ suffered as a divine-human Person, His suffering was a just equivalent for all that His people would have suffered in an eternity in hell.

As a matter of fact, the redeemed man gains more through redemption in Christ than he lost through the fall of Adam. For in the incarnation God literally came into the human race and took human nature upon Himself, which nature Christ in His glorified body will retain forever. Evidently He will be the only Person of the Godhead that the redeemed will see in heaven. Peter says that those who have obtained like precious faith now are “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4); Paul says that believers are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17). Think of that: partakers of the divine nature, joint-heirs with Christ! What greater blessing could God possibly confer upon sinful men? As such redeemed men are superior to the angels, for angels are designated in Scripture only as God’s messengers, His servants.

Ultimately the Arminian is faced with precisely the same problem as the Calvinist: that broader problem as to why a God of infinite holiness and power permits sin at all. In his present state of knowledge the theologian can give only a partial answer. But the Calvinist faces up to that problem and acknowledges the scriptural doctrine that all men had their fair and favorable chance in Adam. God now graciously saves some of the fallen race while leaving others to go their own chosen sinful way, manifesting His justice in their punishment. But having admitted foreknowledge, the Arminianism has no explanation as to why God purposefully and deliberately creates those He knows will be lost, those who will spend eternity in hell.

As regards the problem of evil, the Calvinist can say that God created this world as a theater in which He would display His glory, His marvelous attributes for all His creatures to see and admire: His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. How does God manifest His justice?

God’s justice demands that goodness must be rewarded and sin punished. It is just as necessary that sin be punished as it is that goodness be rewarded; God would be unjust if He failed to do either. He created men and angels not as robots who would automatically produce good works as a machine produces bolts or tin cans (but deserves no rewards) but as free moral agents, in His own image, capable (in Adam before the fall) of choosing between good and evil. He manifests His justice toward those whom He purposed in grace to save, by rewarding them for the good works that are found in Christ their Savior and credited to them, confirming them in holiness, and admitting them into heaven. He manifests His justice toward those whom He purposed to bypass because of their willing continuance in sin.

Likewise, if sin had been excluded, there could have been no adequate revelation of God’s most glorious attributes — grace, mercy, love and holiness — displayed in His redemption of sinners. The angels in heaven earned salvation through a covenant of works by keeping God’s law. Like Adam, they had been promised certain rewards if they obeyed. They did obey and were confirmed in holiness. They do not experience salvation by grace. There is an old hymn which says, “When I sing redemption’s story, the angels will fold their wings and listen.” So it will be in the ultimate contrast between men and angels.

Hence the explanation of sin is that God permits it but controls and overrules it for His own glory. If sin had been excluded from the creation, those glorious attributes could never have been adequately displayed before His intelligent universe of men and angels, but for the most part would have remained forever hidden in the depths of the divine nature.

4. God’s Foreknowledge

The evangelical Arminian acknowledges that God has foreknowledge and is able to predict future events. But if God foreknows any future event, that event is as fixed and certain as if foreordained. Foreknowledge implies certainty, and certainty implies foreordination. The evangelical Arminian does not deny that there is such a thing as election to salvation, for he cannot get rid of the words “elect” and “election,” which occur some twenty-five times in the New Testament. But he tries to destroy the force of these words by saying that election is based on foreknowledge: that God looks down the broad avenue of the future and sees those who will respond to His gracious offer, and so elects them.

But in acknowledging foreknowledge, the Arminian makes a fatal concession; figuratively speaking, he cuts his own throat. Why? For the simple reason that as God foresees those who will be saved, He also sees those who will be lost! Why, then, does He create those who will be lost? Certainly He is not under any obligation to create them; there is no power outside Himself forcing Him to do so. If He wants all men to be saved and is earnestly trying to save all men, He could at least refrain from creating those who, if created, certainly will be lost. The Arminian cannot consistently hold to the foreknowledge of God and yet deny the doctrines of election and predestination.

The question persists: Why does God create those He knows will go to hell? It would be mere foolishness for Him to wish to save or try to save those He knows will be lost! That would be for Him to work at cross-purposes with Himself. Even man has better sense than to try to do what he knows he will not do or cannot do. The Arminian has no alternative but to deny the foreknowledge of God, and then he is left with only a limited, ignorant, finite God who in reality is not God at all, in the true sense of that word. If election is based on foreknowledge, it is so meaningless that it is more confusing than enlightening. For even as regards the elect, what sense is there for God to elect those whom He knows are going to elect themselves? That would be just plain nonsense.

5. The Universalistic Passages

Probably the most plausible defense for Arminianism is found in the universalistic passages in Scripture. Three of the most quoted are: “…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). “…Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all…” (1 Tim. 2:5-6). In regard to these verses it must be borne in mind that (as we have said earlier) God is the absolute sovereign Ruler of heaven and earth, and man is never to think of Him as wishing or striving to do what He knows He will not do. For Him to do otherwise would be for Him to act foolishly. Since Scripture teaches that some men are going to be lost (e.g., Mt. 25:46), Peter cannot mean that God is earnestly wishing or striving to save all individual men. For if it were His will that every individual of mankind should be saved, then not one soul could be lost. As Paul said, “For who hath resisted his will?” (Rom. 9:19).

These verses simply teach that God is benevolent and does not delight in the sufferings of His creatures, any more than a human father delights in the punishment that he sometimes must inflict upon his son. The word will is used in different senses in Scripture (as in everyday conversation). It is sometimes used in the sense of “desire” or “purpose.” A righteous judge does not will (desire) that anyone should be hanged or sentenced to prison, yet he wills (pronounces sentence) that the guilty person shall be punished. In the same sense, for sufficient reason a man may will to have a limb removed (or an eye taken out), even though he certainly does not desire it.

Arminians insist that in 2 Peter 3:9 the words “any” and “all” refer to all mankind without exception. But it is important, first of all, to see to whom those words were addressed. The epistle is addressed not to mankind at large but to Christians: “…to them that have obtained like precious faith with us” (2 Pet. 1:1). At the beginning of this very chapter Peter addressed those to whom he was writing as “beloved” (3:1). An examination of the verse as a whole, and not merely at the last half, reveals that it is not primarily a salvation verse at all but a second-coming verse! It begins by saying, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise [singular].” What promise? “The promise of his coming” (v. 4). The reference is to Christ’s second coming when He will come for judgment, and the wicked will perish in the lake of fire. The verse has reference to a limited group. It says that the Lord is “longsuffering to us-ward”; that is, to His elect, many of whom had not yet been regenerated and who therefore had not yet come to repentance. Hence verse 9 may quite properly be read as follows: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness, but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any of us should perish, but that all of us should come to repentance.”

What about 1 Timothy 2:4-6, “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth… Who gave himself a ransom for all”? It must be noted that “all” is used in various senses. Oftentimes it means not all men without exception but all men without distinction: Jews and Gentiles, bond and free, men and women, rich and poor. In this context it is clearly used in that sense. Through many centuries the Jews had been, with few exceptions, the exclusive recipients of God’s saving grace. They had become the most intensely nationalistic and intolerant people in the world. Instead of recognizing their position as that of God’s representatives to all the people of the world, they had kept those blessings to themselves. Even the early Christians for a time were inclined to appropriate the mission of the Messiah only for themselves. The salvation of the Gentiles was a mystery that had not been known in other ages (Eph. 4:6; Col. 1:27). So rigid was the pharisaic exclusivism that the Gentiles were regarded as “unclean,” “common,” “sinners of the Gentiles” — even “dogs.” It was not lawful for a Jew to keep company with or have any dealings with a Gentile (Jn. 4:9, Ac. 10:28, 11:3). After an orthodox Jew had been out in the marketplace where he had come in contact with Gentiles, he was regarded as unclean (Mk. 7:4). After Peter preached to the Roman centurion Cornelius and the others who were gathered at his house, he was severely taken to task by the church in Jerusalem. One can almost hear the gasp of wonder when, after Peter told them what had happened, they said, “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life” (Ac. 11:18) — that is, not to every individual in the world but to Jews and Gentiles alike. Used in this sense the word “all” has no reference to individuals but simply to mankind in general.

When it was said of John the Baptist that “there went out unto him all the land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins” (Mk. 1:5), it is obvious that not every individual did so respond. After Peter and John had healed the lame man at the door of the temple it is said that “all men glorified God for that which was done” (Ac. 4:21). Jesus told his disciples that they would be “hated of all men” for His name’s sake (Lk. 21:17). Thus, when Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (Jn. 12:32), He certainly did not mean that every individual of mankind would be so drawn. What He did mean was that Jews and Gentiles, men of all nations and races, would be drawn to Him—and it is evident that this is what is actually happening.

In 1 Corinthians 15:22 it says, “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” This verse is often quoted by Arminians to prove unlimited or universal atonement. This verse is from Paul’s famous resurrection chapter, and the context makes it clear that he is not talking about life in this age (whether physical or spiritual) but about the resurrection life. Christ is the first to enter the resurrection life; then, when He comes, His people also enter into their resurrection life. What Paul says is that at that time a glorious resurrection life will become a reality, not for all mankind, but for all those who are in Christ. This point is illustrated by the well-known fact that the race fell in Adam, who acted as its federal head and representative. What Paul says, in effect, is this: “For as all born in Adam die, so also all born again in Christ shall be made alive.” This verse, therefore, refers not to something past, nor to something present, but to something future; it has no special bearing at all on the Calvinist-Arminian controversy.

Two other verses that also are often quoted in defense of Arminianism are: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20); and “…whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17). This general invitation is extended to all men. It may be (and often is) the means the Holy Spirit uses to arouse in certain individuals the desire for salvation, as He puts forth His supernatural power to regenerate them. But these verses, taken by themselves, are silent about the truth that fallen man is spiritually dead and totally unable to respond to the invitation, as are the fallen angels or demons. Fallen man is as dead spiritually as Lazarus was dead physically until Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” He is as dead spiritually as the Pharisee Nicodemus, to whom Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3). Christ said to the Pharisees, “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word” (Jn. 8:43). Apart from divine assistance, no one can hear the invitation or put forth the will to come to Christ.

The declaration that Christ died for all is made clearer by the song that the redeemed sing before the throne of the Lamb: “Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Rev. 5:9). Oftentimes the word all must be understood to mean all the elect, all His Church, all those whom the Father has given to the Son (as when Christ says, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me” [Jn. 6:37]), but not all men universally and every man individually. The redeemed host will be made up of men from all classes and conditions of life: princes and peasants, rich and poor, bond and free, male and female, Jews and Gentiles, men of all nations and races. That is the true universalism of Scripture.

6. The Two Systems Contrasted

It is the author’s conviction that Christianity comes to its fullest expression in the Reformed faith. The great advantage of the Reformed faith is that in the framework of the five points of Calvinism it sets forth clearly what the Bible teaches concerning the way of salvation. Only when these truths are seen as a unit and in relation to each other can one really understand or appreciate the Christian system in all its strength and beauty. The reason that so many Christians have only a weak faith, and that so many churches present only a rather superficial form of Christianity, is that they never really see the system in its logical consistency. It is not enough for the professing Christian to know that God loves him and that his sins have been forgiven; he should know how and why his redemption has been accomplished and how it has been made effective. This is set forth systematically in the five points of Calvinism.

Historically the five points of Calvinism have been held by the Presbyterian and Reformed churches and by many Baptists, while the substance of the five points of Arminianism has been held by the Methodist and Lutheran churches and also by many Baptists. The five points of Calvinism may be more easily remembered if they are associated with the word T-U-L-I-P:

T – Total inability

U – Unconditional election

L – Limited atonement

I – Irresistible (efficacious) grace

P - Perseverance of the saints

The following material (taken from Romans: An Interpretive Outline, by David N. Steele and Curtis Thomas) contrasts the five points of Calvinism with the five points of Arminianism in a particularly clear and concise form. It is also included as an appendix in The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, by the present writer. (Each of these books is published by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co., Phillipsburg, N.J.)

The Five Points of Arminianism

1. Free-will or human ability. Although human nature was seriously affected by the fall, man has not been left in a state of total spiritual helplessness. God graciously enables every sinner to repent and believe but does not interfere with man’s freedom. Each sinner possesses a free will, and his eternal destiny depends on how he uses it. Man’s freedom consists in his ability to choose good over evil in spiritual matters; his will is not enslaved to his sinful nature. The sinner has the power to either cooperate with God’s Spirit and be regenerated or resist God’s grace and perish. The lost sinner needs the Spirit’s assistance but he does not have to be regenerated by the Spirit before he can believe, for faith is man’s act and precedes the new birth. Faith is the sinner’s gift to God; it is man’s contribution to salvation.

2. Conditional election. God’s choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the foundation of the world was based upon His foreseeing that they would respond to His call. He selected only those whom He knew would of themselves freely believe the Gospel. Election therefore was determined by or conditioned upon what man would do. The faith which God foresaw, and upon which He based His choice, was not given to the sinner by God (it was not created by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit) but resulted solely from man’s will. It was left entirely up to man as to who would believe and therefore as to who would be elected unto salvation. God chose those whom He knew would, of their own free will, choose Christ. Thus the sinner’s choice of Christ — not God’s choice of the sinner — is the ultimate cause of salvation.

3. Universal redemption or general atonement. Christ’s redeeming work made it possible for everyone to be saved but did not actually secure the salvation of anyone. Although Christ died for all men and for every man, only those who believe on Him are saved. His death enabled God to pardon sinners on the condition that they believe, but it did not actually put away anyone’s sins. Christ’s redemption becomes effective only if man chooses to accept it.

4. The Holy Spirit can be effectually resisted. The Spirit calls inwardly all those who are called outwardly by the gospel invitation. He does all that He can to bring every sinner to salvation. But inasmuch as man is free, he can successfully resist the Spirit’s call. The Spirit cannot regenerate the sinner until he believes; faith (which is man’s contribution) precedes and makes possible the new birth. Thus, man’s free will limits the Spirit in the application of Christ’s saving work. The Holy Spirit can only draw to Christ those who allow Him to have His way with them. Until the sinner responds, the Spirit cannot give life. God’s grace, therefore, is not invincible; it can be — and often is — resisted and thwarted by man.

5. Falling from grace. Those who believe and are truly saved can lose their salvation by failing to keep up their faith, etc. All Arminians have not been agreed on this point; some have held that believers are eternally secure in Christ, that once a sinner is regenerated, he can never be lost.

According to Arminianism, salvation is accomplished through the combined efforts of God (who takes the initiative) and man (who must respond); man’s response being the determining factor. God has provided salvation for everyone, but His provision becomes effective only for those who, of their own free will, choose to cooperate with Him and accept His offer of grace. At the crucial point, man’s will plays a decisive role; thus man, not God, determines who will be recipients of the gift of salvation.

The Five Points of Calvinism

1. Total inability or total depravity. Because of the fall, man is unable of himself to savingly believe the Gospel. The sinner is dead, blind and deaf to the things of God; his heart is deceitful and desperately corrupt. His will is not free; it is in bondage to his evil nature; therefore, he will not—indeed he cannot—choose good over evil in the spiritual realm. Consequently it takes much more than the Spirit’s assistance to bring a sinner to Christ—it takes regeneration, by which the Spirit makes the sinner alive and gives him a new nature. Faith is not something man contributes to salvation but is itself a part of God’s gift of salvation; it is God’s gift to the sinner, not the sinner’s gift to God.

2. Unconditional election. God’s choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the foundation of the world rested solely in His own sovereign will. His choice of particular sinners was not based on any foreseen response of obedience on their part, such as faith, repentance, etc. On the contrary, God gives faith and repentance to each individual whom He selected. These acts are the result, not the cause, of God’s choice. Election therefore was not determined by or conditioned upon any virtuous quality or act foreseen in man. Those whom God sovereignly elected He brings through the power of the Spirit to a willing acceptance of Christ. Thus God’s choice of the sinner — not the sinner’s choice of Christ — is the ultimate cause of salvation.

3. Particular redemption or limited atonement. Christ’s redeeming work was intended to save the elect only, and actually secured salvation for them. His death was the substitutionary endurance of the penalty of sin in the place of certain specified sinners. In addition to putting away the sins of His people, Christ’s redemption secured everything necessary for their salvation; including faith which unites them to Him. The gift of faith is infallibly applied by the Spirit to all for whom Christ died, therefore guaranteeing their salvation.

4. The efficacious call of the Spirit or irresistible grace. In addition to the outward general call to salvation (which is made to everyone who hears the Gospel), the Holy Spirit extends to the elect a special inward call that inevitably brings them to salvation. The external call (which is made to all without distinction) can be—and often is — rejected; whereas the internal call (which is made only to the elect) cannot be rejected; it always results in conversion. By means of this special call, the Spirit irresistibly draws sinners to Christ. He is not limited in His work of applying salvation by man’s will, nor is He dependent upon man’s cooperation for success. The Spirit graciously causes the elect sinner to cooperate, to believe, to repent, to come freely and willingly to Christ. God’s grace, therefore, is invincible; it never fails to result in the salvation of those to whom it is extended.

5. Perseverance of the saints. All who are chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and given faith by the Spirit are eternally saved. They are kept in faith by the power of Almighty God and thus persevere to the end.

According to Calvinism, salvation is accomplished by the almighty power of the triune God: the Father chose a people, the Son died for them, the Holy Spirit makes Christ’s death effective by bringing the elect to faith and repentance, thereby causing them to willingly obey the Gospel. The entire process (election, redemption, regeneration) is the work of God and is by grace alone. Thus God, not man, determines who will be the recipients of the gift of salvation. This is the biblical Gospel.

If you have never bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, then call upon Him today to save you. Scripture offers this hope: “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy” (Mic. 7:18). Cast yourself upon God’s mercy, seeking Him with all your heart, putting your full confidence and trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. “Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed” (Rom. 10:11).

by John Owen

Our next task is to take a view of the idol himself, of this great deity of FREE-WI LL, whose original being not well known. He is pretended, like the Ephesian image of Diana[1], to have fallen down from heaven and to have his endowments from above. But yet considering what a nothing he was a this first discovery in comparison of that vast giant-like hugeness to which now he is grown, we may say of him as the painter said of his monstrous picture, which he had mended or rather marred according to every one’s fancy, “It is the issue[2] of the people’s brain.” Origen[3] is supposed to have brought him first into the church; but among those many sincere worshippers of divine grace, this setter forth of new demons found but little entertainment. It was looked upon but like the stump of Dagon with his head and hands laid down before the ark of God without whose help he could neither know nor do that which is good in any kind, still accounted but “a fig – tree log, an unprofitable piece of wood.” The fathers of the succeeding ages had much debate to what use they should put it, and though some exalted it a degree or two above its merits, yet the most concluded to keep it a block still until at length there arose a stout champion,[4] challenging on his behalf the whole church of God, and like a knight-errant,[5] wandered from the west to the east to grapple with any that should oppose his idol; who, though he met with divers adversaries, one especially,[6] who in the behalf of the grace of God continually foiled him and cast him to the ground, and that in the judgment of all the lawful judges assembled in councils and in the opinion of most of the Christian bystanders. Yet by his cunning insinuation,[7] he planted such an opinion of his idol’s deity and self-sufficiency in the hearts of divers[8] that to this day it could never be rooted out.

Now after the decease of his Pelagian worshippers, some of the corrupter schoolmen,[9] seeing him thus from his birth exposed without shelter to wind and weather, to all assaults, out of mere charity and self-love built him a temple and adorned it with natural lights, merits, uncontrolled independent operations, [and] many other gay attendances. But in the beginning of the Reformation—that fatal time for idolatry and superstition together with abbeys and monasteries—the zeal and learning of our forefathers with the help of God’s Word demolished this temple and brake this building down to the ground. In the rubbish whereof we well hoped the idol himself had been so deeply buried as that his head should never more have been exalted to the trouble of the church of God, until not long since some curious wits, whose weak stomachs were clogged with manna and loathed the sincere milk of the word, raking all dunghills for novelties, lighted unhappily upon this idol, and presently with no less joy than did the mathematician at the discovery of a new geometrical proportion exclaim, “We have found it! We have found it!” And without more ado, up they erected a shrine, and until this day continue offering of praise and thanks for all the good they do to this work of their own hands.[10]

And that the idol may be free from ruin, to which in himself they have found by experience that he is subject, they have matched him to contingency,[11] a new goddess of their own creation, who having proved very fruitful in monstrous births upon their conjunctions,[12] they nothing doubt they shall never [lack] one to set on the throne and make president of all human actions. So that after he hath, with various success at least twelve hundred years, contended with the providence and grace of God, he boasteth now as if he had obtained a total victory. But yet all his prevailing is to be attributed to the diligence and varnish of his new abettors[13] with—to our shame be it spoken!—the negligence of his adversaries. In him and his cause there is no more real worth than was when by the ancient fathers he was exploded and cursed out of the church. So that they, who can attain, through the many winding labyrinths of curious distinctions to look upon the thing itself, shall find that they have been like Egyptian novices, brought, through many stately frontispieces[14] and goodly fabrics with much show of zeal and devotion, to the image of an ugly ape.

Yet here observe, that we do not absolutely oppose free-will, as if it were a mere figment [or as if] there is no such thing in the world, but only in that sense the Pelagians and Arminians[15] do assert it. About words we will not contend. We grant man in the substance of all his actions as much power, liberty, and freedom as a mere created nature is capable of. We grant him to be free in his choice from all outward coaction[16] or inward natural necessity to work according to [choice] and deliberation, spontaneously embracing what seemeth good unto him. Now call this power free-will or what you please, [as long as] you make it not supreme, independent, and boundless, we are not at all troubled. The imposition of names depends upon the discretion of their inventers.

Again, even in spiritual things, we deny that our wills are at all debarred[17] or deprived of their proper liberty. But here we say, indeed, that we are not properly free until the Son makes us free . . .we do not claim such a liberty as should make us despise the grace of God, whereby we may attain true liberty indeed, which addeth to, but taketh nothing from our original freedom. But of this, after I have showed what an idol the Arminians make of free-will. Only take notice in the entrance that we speak of it now, not as it was at first by God created, but as it is now by sin corrupted; yet being considered in that estate also, they ascribe more unto it than it was ever capable of.

“Herein,” saith Arminius, “consisteth the liberty of the will, that all things required to enable it to will anything being accomplished, it still remains indifferent[18] to will or not.” And all of them at the Synod:[19] “There is,” say they, “accompanying the will of man an inseparable property, which we call liberty, from whence the will is termed a power, which when all things prerequired as necessary to operation are fulfilled, may will anything or not will it.” That is, our free-wills have such an absolute and uncontrollable power in the territory of all human actions, that no influence of God’s providence, no certainty of His decree, no unchangeableness of His purpose can sway it at all in its free determinations or have any power with His highness to cause him to will or resolve on any such act as God by him intendeth to produce! Take an instance in the great work of our conversion. “All unregenerate men” saith Arminius, “have by virtue of their free-will a power of resisting the Holy Spirit, of rejecting the offered grace of God, of contemning[20] the counsel of God concerning themselves, of refusing the gospel of grace, of not opening the heart to him that knocketh.” What a stout idol is this, whom neither the Holy Spirit, the grace and counsel of God, the calling of the gospel, the knocking at the door of the heart, can move at all, or in the least measure prevail against him! Woe be unto us then, if when God calls us, our free-will be not in good temper and well disposed to hearken unto Him! For it seems there is no dealing with it by any other ways, though powerful and almighty. “For grant” saith Corvinus,[21] “all the operations of grace which God can use in our conversion, yet conversion remaineth so in our own free power that we can be not converted; that is, we can either turn or not turn ourselves,” where the idol plainly challengeth the Lord to work His utmost and tells Him that after He hath so done, he will do what he please. His infallible prescience,[22] His powerful predetermination, the moral efficacy of the gospel, the infusion of grace, the effectual operation of the Holy Spirit, all are nothing, not at all available in helping or furthering our independent wills in their proceedings. Well, then in what estate will you have the idol placed?

“In such a one wherein he may be suffered to sin or to do well at his pleasure” as the same author intimates. It seems then as to sin, so nothing is required for him to be able to do good but God’s permission? No! For the Remonstrants[23] “do always suppose a free power of obeying or not obeying, as well in those who do obey as in those who do not obey”—where all the praise of our obedience, whereby we are made to differ from others, is ascribed to ourselves alone, and that free power that is in us.

Now, this they mean not of any one act of obedience, but of faith itself, and the whole consummation thereof. “For if a man should say, that every man in the world hath a power of believing if he will, and of attaining salvation, and that this power is settled in his nature, what argument have you to confute[24] him?” saith Arminius triumphantly to Perkins,[25] where the sophistical innovator[26] as plainly confounds grace and nature as ever did Pelagius. That, then, which the Arminians claim here in behalf of their free-will is, an absolute independence of God’s providence in doing anything, and of His grace in doing that which is good—a self-sufficiency in all its operations, a plenary indifferency[27] of doing what we will, this or that, as being neither determined to the one nor inclined to the other by any overruling influence from heaven. So that the good acts of our wills have no dependence on God’s providence as they are acts or on His grace as they are good, but in both regards proceed from such a principle within us as is no way moved by any superior agent.

Now, the first of these we deny unto our wills because they are created; and the second because they are corrupted. Their creation hinders them from doing anything of themselves without the assistance of God’s providence; and their corruption from doing anything that is good without His grace. A selfsufficiency for operation without the effectual motion of Almighty God, the first cause of all things, we can allow neither to men nor angels unless we intend to make them gods. And a power of doing good equal unto that they have of doing evil, we must not grant to man by nature unless we will deny the fall of Adam and fancy ourselves still in Paradise.

Endued we are with such a liberty of will as is free from all outward compulsion and inward necessity, having an elective faculty of applying itself unto that which seems good unto it, in which it is a free choice. Notwithstanding, it is subservient to the decree of God, as I showed before. Most free it is in all its acts, both in regard of the object it chooseth and in regard of that vital power and faculty whereby it worketh, infallibly complying with God’s providence and working by virtue of the motion thereof. But surely to assert such a supreme independency and every way unbounded indifferency as the Arminians claim, whereby, all other things requisite being presupposed, it should remain absolutely in our own power to will or not to will, to do anything or not to do it, is plainly to deny that our wills are subject to the rule of the Most High…against its exaltation to this height of independency, I oppose —

First, Everything that is independent of any else in operation is purely active, and so consequently a god; for nothing but a divine will can be a pure act, possessing such a liberty by virtue of its own essence. Every created will must have a liberty by participation, which includeth such an imperfect potentiality as cannot be brought into act without some pre-motion[28] of a superior agent. Neither doth this motion being extrinsical[29] at all prejudice the true liberty of the will, which requireth indeed that the internal principle of operation be active and free, but not that that principle be not moved to that operation by an outward superior agent. Nothing in this sense can have an independent principle of operation which hath not an independent being.

Secondly, if the free acts of our wills are so subservient to the providence of God as that He useth them to what end He will and by them effecteth many of His purposes, then they cannot of themselves be so absolutely independent as to have in their own power every necessary circumstance and condition, that they may use or not use at their pleasure. Now the former is proved by all those reasons and texts of Scripture I before produced to show that the providence of God overruleth the actions and determineth the wills of men freely to do that which He hath appointed. And, truly, were it otherwise, God’s dominion over the most things that are in the world [would be] quite excluded: He had not power to determine that any one thing should ever come to pass which hath any reference to the wills of men.

Thirdly, all the acts of the will being positive entities, were it not previously moved by God Himself, “in whom we live, move, and have our being,” must needs have their essence and existence solely from the will itself; which is thereby made a first and supreme cause, endued with an underived30] being.

Let us now, in the second place, look upon the power of our freewill in doing that which is morally good, where we shall find not only an essential imperfection, inasmuch as it is created, but also a contracted effect, inasmuch as it is corrupted. The ability which the Arminians ascribe unto it in this kind—of doing that which is morally and spiritually good—is as large as themselves will confess to be competent unto it in the state of innocency, even a power of believing and a power of resisting the gospel, of obeying and not obeying, of turning or of not being converted.

The Scripture, as I observed before, hath no such term at all or anything equivalent unto it. But the expressions it useth concerning our nature and all the faculties thereof in this state of sin and unregeneration seem to imply the quite contrary: as that we are in “bondage” (Heb 2:15); “dead in sins” (Eph 2:1); and so “free from righteousness” (Rom 6:20); “servants of sin” (v. 17); under the “reign” and “dominion” thereof, (vv. 12, 14); all “our members being instruments of unrighteousness” (v. 13); not “free indeed” until “the Son make us free” (Joh 8:36); so that this idol of FREE-WILL, in respect of spiritual things, is not one whit better than the other idols of the heathen.

1 Diana – Acts 19:24-35 Greek goddess of the moon; her temple at Ephesus was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
2 issue – the flowing out, therefore, the product.
3 Origen (c. 185-c. 254) – theologian and Biblical scholar of the early Greek Church.
4 Pelagius (c. 354-c. 420) – British monk, who argued for a totally free human will to do good and held that divine grace was bestowed in relation to human merit. His views were condemned as heresy by the Council of Ephesus (431).
5 knight-errant – a wondering knight; a knight who traveled in search of adventures for the purpose of exhibiting military skill, prowess, and generosity.
6 Augustine of Hippo (354-430) – early church theologian born in Tagaste, North Africa. Known by many as the father of orthodox theology; taught the depravity of man and the grace of God in salvation.
7 insinuation – to work one’s self into favor subtly; to introduce gradually and by clever means.
8 divers – several; more than one but not a great number.
9 schoolmen – a term for the teachers of philosophy and theology in the Middle Ages. Also known as scholastics, examples would be Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) and John Duns Scotus (c. 1265-1308).
10 A reference to the followers of Arminius.
11 contingency – the absence of necessity; something that occurs only as a result of something else.
12 conjunctions – joining together, meaning the union of free-will and contingency.
13 abettors – to encourage, support, or assist in a criminal act.
14 frontispiece – the ornamental façade or face of a building.
15 Arminians/Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609) – Dutch theologian, born in Oudewater, The Netherlands. He rejected the Reformers’ understanding of predestination, teaching instead that God’s predestination of individuals was based on His foreknowledge of their accepting or rejecting Christ by their own free will.
16 coaction – force; urging to action by moral pressure.
17 debarred –hindered or prevented.
18 indifferent – impartial.
19 Synod of Dort (1618-19) – a synod is an assembly of church officials. Such was the gathering of Reformed theologians at Dordrecht (Dort) in The Netherlands to counter and condemn the teachings of Jacobus Arminius and his followers (Remonstrants).
20 contemn – to treat as despicable; to reject as disdained.
21 Johannes Arnoldus Corvinus – supporter of Arminius and signer of the Remonstrance.
22 prescience – knowledge of actions or events before they occur.
23 Remonstrants – a remonstrant is one who protests or rejects. The Dutch Remonstrants were the followers of Jacobus Arminius who rejected the teaching of the Reformed churches and provoked the Synod of Dort.
24 confute – refute decisively.
25 William Perkins (1558-1602) – influential English Puritan theologian. Referred to by some as the “principle architect of Elizabethan Puritanism.”
26 Sophistical innovator – one who introduces something new with elaborate and devious arguments. The reference is to Arminius.
27 plenary indifferency – a full, a complete impartiality or neutrality.
28 pre-motion – a previous motion or excitement to action.
29 extrinsical – external; outward.
30 underived – not obtained from another source.

From “A Display of Arminianism,” in The Works of John Owen, Vol X, reprinted by The Banner of Truth

Predestination is the doctrine that God alone is the One who chooses who is saved, that He ordains the means, the time, and the circumstances of salvation and that without His predestination, no one would ever be saved. In part this is because human nature is so completely corrupted by sin that no person is capable of choosing God unless God first regenerates that person. But any Bible student will soon discover there are verses which say God wants all men to be saved. For example, “This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:3-4, NIV). The question, then, is if God predestines only some to salvation, why are there verses that say God wants all to be saved?
The answer is simple: The “all” are the Christians. Now, before you toss this paper aside, please try to be open-minded. I will prove that the “all” in at least three important verses that deal with salvation means the Christians. To do so, I would like to examine 2 Cor. 5:14, 1 Cor. 15:22, and then Rom. 5:18 where the word “all” is used in a way that can only mean the elect. Then I will examine other apparent universal passages.
Before I begin, and for clarity, I would like to introduce a couple of terms: Arminianism and Calvinism. Essentially, Arminianism states that man is able, by his own free will, to choose or reject God and that Jesus died for everyone who ever lived. Calvinism states that it is God alone who chooses who is saved, not man, and that Jesus died only for the Christians.
Also, I would like to introduce a principle that will become important later in this paper. It will help us in understanding God’s word. Let’s say we have two sets of scriptures that are related. For example, they deal with salvation and contain the word “all.” And let’s say that some of the scriptures can be interpreted in two ways, and the rest of the scriptures can only be interpreted one way. It follows then that those that can be interpreted two ways must be interpreted in harmony with those that have only one interpretation.
If the first group of salvation verses containing “all” have two interpretations and the second group of salvation verses containing “all” has only one possible interpretation…Then the first group must be interpreted in such a way as to agree with the second group; both must be interpreted as, say, “B.” This will prove helpful in looking at scriptures later, especially after we’ve examined the next three verses.
One last thing: you will find that though I seek to prove a single presupposition, I end up discussing several points. This is because of the intermingling of theological ideas that flow from the verses discussed. I simply ask that you bear with me.

2 Corinthians 5:14-15:

      “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.”
At first glance the phrase “He died for all” would lead you to think that Jesus died for every individual who has ever lived. But upon a closer look we see something different revealed. When Paul speaks of people dying, in relation to the death of Christ, he is speaking of the Christians who have died in Christ: “Now if we have died with Christ…” (Rom. 6:8); “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world…” (Col. 2:20); “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3); “It is a trustworthy statement: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him” (2 Tim. 2:11). The only ones who have died with Christ are the believers, not the unbelievers. Therefore, this verse can only make sense if it is understood that the “all” spoken of is not everyone who has ever lived, but only the Christians: “…that one (Jesus) died for all (the Christians), therefore all (the Christians) died…”
But, you might ask, “If God meant only the Christians, then why did He use the word ‘all’?” I believe it is because from all eternity God knew who He had chosen to be the elect and the eternal plan of redemption was carried out to reclaim “all” He had chosen. Therefore, the “all” to Him is the all for which He intended the death of Christ to atone.
It is important here that you understand that sometimes God uses words differently than we do. For example, the Bible says that God only knows believers, not unbelievers. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27, NIV); “…The Lord knows those who are his,” (2 Tim. 2:19, NIV); “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matt. 7:21-23, NIV). Of course, God knows who everyone is, He is omniscient. But the way He is using the word in relation to the saved is different than we use it: He knows the Christians, and doesn’t know the non-Christians. This knowing is an intimate, familiar kind of knowing.
You see, it is important to understand that the Bible best interprets itself. We need to see how it uses words and phrases and then, once we have a clearer understanding, attempt to interpret the Word of God.

1 Corinthians 15:22-23:

      “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming.”
Who are the ones who will be made alive? They are the Christians and only the Christians. First of all, to be “in Christ” is a phrase that describes a saving relationship between the redeemed and the Redeemer: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1, NIV) (See also, Rom. 6:11; 12:5; 16:7; 1 Cor. 1:2, etc.); second, those who are made alive at Christ’s coming are the believers. We will be made alive with Christ: “By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also” (1 Cor. 6:14, NIV); “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Cor. 15:52, NIV).
The “all” that died in Adam were all that Adam represented: every individual who ever lived. Those “in Christ” are only believers. The “all” therefore can only be the believers, because it says “in Christ all shall be made alive.” If all shall be made alive, then the “all” can only mean the believers because only believers are made alive in Christ. There simply isn’t any biblically consistent alternative interpretation. But you might object and say that the first “all” refers to everybody, obviously. So why, then, doesn’t the second do the same? Because the second “all” can’t refer to everyone. Only the Christians are made alive.
It could be said that everyone, believer and unbeliever alike, will be raised; only the unbelievers are raised to receive damnation. This is true, but it does not fit here in this passage because it is speaking of those who are Christ’s; that is, the believers. The “all” of these verses can only be the elect.

Romans 5:18

      “So, as through one offense, there resulted condemnation to all men, so also, through one righteous deed, there resulted justification of life to all men.”

      The literal, word for word, translation of Romans 5:18 is:

      so therefore as through one offense into all men into condemnation, so also through one righteous deed into all men into justification of life”

      So, therefore, as through one offense, into all men into condemnation,
so, also, through one righteous deed, into all men into justification of life.

      Because there is no verb in this verse (it is not unusual in Greek for there to be no verb in a sentence), a verb must be borrowed or implied. Since there isn’t a verb close enough in the previous verses to borrow and that would fit appropriately, one from the context must be derived. A smoothed out version would be:

      So, as through one offense, there resulted condemnation to all men,
so also, through one righteous deed, there resulted justification of life to all men.

      We know that inserting the words “there resulted” into the text is correct by simple logic. The offense of Adam resulted in condemnation to all men–no one disputes that. Adam represented all his people (everybody) in the garden. When he sinned, we fell with him. There was a result, an actual result to his sin: condemnation. It follows that “there resulted” should be in the second part of the sentence as well because the second part has the same syntax as the first and says “also.” That is, Paul is implying a parallel between the actions of Adam and the actions of Jesus. Adam represented his people; Jesus represented His.
1) The structure of the first and the second parts of the verse are the same: adverb(s), preposition, noun, (verb place), noun, and object.

Paul is trying to make it clear in this verse that the deeds of the respective persons had definite results upon those whom they represented. That is why the verse is really two sentences of identical structure.
Adam’s sin resulted in condemnation to all
Jesus’ sacrifice resulted in justification to all

Where the first Adam brought condemnation to all, the second Adam (Jesus is called the second Adam in 1 Cor. 15:45) brought justification to all–that is what the text says, despite the apparent problem of “all people being justified.”
Justification is being declared legally righteous before God. If someone is declared legally righteous before God, then he is saved. Only the saved are justified: “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him ” (Rom. 5:9). Since the Scriptures clearly teach that not all men are saved (Matt 25:31-33), we know that the “all” in this verse can’t refer to every individual. It must refer to something other than everyone who ever lived. I conclude that the “all” can only mean the Christians. God was so sure of His predestination that to Him, the elect are the “all” He wishes to save.
The NASB gives the best translation: “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.”
The NIV does not translate it as literally. It says, “Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.” The NIV is right in adding the word “result.” The NIV is an excellent translation but in this verse it sacrifices the literalness needed to draw out this aspect of biblical teaching.
Furthermore, if the verb phrase “that brings” is in the second part, it should then be in the first part of the verse because the verse is two identical thoughts. If that were done, then “that brings” would take on the meaning of result, because condemnation is exactly what resulted to all men when Adam sinned. Since the verse is in two identical parts, what is done to one should be done to the other. The NIV is not consistent in its translation at this point.
The KJV translates it thus: “Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” The words “free gift” are not in the Greek. The translators have drawn conclusions, though accurate ones, but this is still not an accurate translation.  They have inserted an interpretation into the translation and not let it say what it actually says. Also, if the free gift simply came upon all people, then it does not mean that it resulted, and the apparent problem of all people being justified is taken care of. Unfortunately, that isn’t what the Greek says.
I believe some translators of the Bible, when coming across this verse, realize the problem of saying the atonement resulted in justification to all men. They assume the “all” means every individual and then translate the scripture in light of their theology to allow harmony with their interpretations of the rest of the scriptures. I think that is a mistake. Translators should translate the text as accurately as possible, even if it conflicts with their theology.
In these three verses it is clear that God has used the word “all” differently than what would normally be expected. This is an indication that God has intended for the “all” to be saved, and they are. When God is thinking of the “all” He is thinking of a specific group. These three verses bare that out. But, what about other verses that have a universal flavor to them?

The Universal Passages

      John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
If predestination is true, then why does this verse state “whoever believes” will be saved? The Bible says that faith is a gift from God (Rom. 12:3); that it is God who grants belief (Phil. 1:29); it is God who produces belief in a person (John 6:29); and only those appointed to eternal life by God are the ones who believe (Acts 13:48). Also, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Rom. 10:17). In order for someone to believe, they must hear the gospel of Jesus (1 Cor. 15:1-4) because the gospel is the power of God for salvation (Rom. 1:16). There is no other name under heaven besides Jesus by which anyone may be saved (Act 4:12). And, one must receive Jesus (John 1:12) in order to be saved.
Since these things are true, then how can the “whoever” of John 3:16 apply to those who never heard the Word of God? There are multitudes who never heard the gospel at all, who never had the chance. Consider the Aborigines, the Bushmen, the Eskimos, or the American Indians, who died before the time of Christ, or who even lived before the time of Christ. Yet they NEVER heard ANYTHING about Christianity, the atonement, the resurrection, the holy scriptures, or the gospel. It was never preached to them at all. How, then, can the “whoever” apply to them when they have no chance of hearing the Word of God concerning Jesus and salvation? From what I know of scripture, they cannot.
To answer this question some say that those who never heard the gospel will not be judged the same way as those who have. But that answer contradicts the scriptures that clearly say no one gets to the Father but through Jesus (John 14:6); that it is the gospel that saves (Rom. 1:16); the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection for sins (1 Cor. 15:1-4); and, there is no other name under heaven besides Jesus by which anyone may be saved (Acts 4:12).

      John 12:32: “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.” (NIV)
Does the “all” here refer to every individual on the planet? If yes, then how can they be drawn and come to salvation if they never hear of Jesus and the gospel message? I don’t see how they can since they never had the opportunity to hear and, therefore, believe in Jesus. Again, what about the tribesmen in the Amazon? What about the Incas and Aztecs at the time of Christ? What about the countless people who had never even heard of Jesus, the Bible, Jehovah, or the Jews? How are they drawn if Jesus draws all men? They certainly must be drawn if the Arminian position is valid and the “all” here means every individual. But no one can believe unless they hear the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). How can the heathen believe without hearing? How can they all be drawn if they never hear the gospel or even have the slightest chance to ever hear it? They cannot.

      Romans 8:32: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?” The question again here is, who are the “all”? Are they every individual on the planet who ever lived (the Arminian position) or are they the elect, the chosen of God (the Calvinist position)? We need to examine the verses in their context.
Romans 8:31-38: “What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (NIV).
Verse 31 starts the context and it is clearly speaking of the Christians. Only those who are covered by the blood of the Lamb have been reconciled and are no longer enemies of God (Rom. 8:7). The “us” of verse 31 can only refer to the Christians. Verse 32 speaks of Jesus’ sacrifice for “us all.” Is the “us” suddenly everyone, the unbeliever too? Verse 33 speaks of the ones God has chosen; that is, the Christians. Verse 34 speaks of Jesus’ intercession for “us”; the “us” can only be the Christian’s because Jesus is not mediating for the unbeliever. Verses 35-39 speak of the Christians inseparability with God. It is clear that the whole context is speaking about Christians and no one else. The “us all” of Rom. 8:32 must, then, refer to the Christians.
Before beginning the next section, I need to propose what I think is a correct supposition regarding the mind of the Jews and, therefore, bears influence on interpreting the writers of the N.T. It is this: The Jews were so narrowly minded that they considered the Messiah to be for them only, not the whole world.
That is why there are salvation verses that speak of all being saved, of a sacrifice not only for our sins, but those of the whole world (1 John 2:2). In other words, Jesus is the savior not only of the Jews, but of all people, including the Gentiles — the whole world.  Please consider the following as proof of Paul’s attempt to correct the mistaken idea that the Jews alone were to be saved:
Rom. 1:16: “for I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Rom. 2:9-10: “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Rom. 10:12: “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon Him.” Gal. 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Incidentally, the “all” here means only the believers.) Col. 3:11: “and a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew...”

      1 Timothy 2:4-6: “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all…”
First of all, Jesus is the mediator for the believers, not the unbelievers. To me, “men” in this verse can only mean the elect, the Christians. Though I understand how an Arminian would interpret this verse, the Calvinist position is more consistent with the rest of the scriptures I’ve examined.
Second, considering that “all” in 2 Cor. 5:14-15, 1 Cor. 15:22, and Rom. 5:18 can only mean the Christians, it follows that when we approach verses like 1 Tim. 2:4-6, there is legitimacy in interpreting it in a consistent manner with the other verses; that is, the “all” is the elect. Therefore, 1 Tim. 2:4 can have two possible interpretations:
1) The Arminian: The “all” means every individual.
2) The Calvinist: The “all” means the Christians. But since the Arminian interpretation would contradict the interpretations found in 2 Cor. 5:14-15, 1 Cor. 15:22, and Rom. 5:18, we are left with the Calvinist interpretation as the only legitimate one; namely, that the “all” means the Christians.
Also, there is the problem of answering how the desire of God is thwarted. The Arminian position has the desires of God frequently thwarted in addition to having the decision of God depend on the decision of man. God can only save someone if that someone makes the right choice.

      2 Pet. 3:9: “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
Peter wrote this epistle to the Christians. “Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:1). Also, “This is now, beloved, the second letter I am writing to you...” (2 Peter 3:1).
In the immediate context, verse 8, says, “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”
It is very clear that Peter is talking to the believers. It follows, then, that in verse 9 when it says the Lord is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, he again is speaking of the believers. God’s patience is here told to be toward the believers, not the unbelievers. God does not want any of them (the believers, the elect) to perish. And they won’t, because God’s wishes are not thwarted. But again if “any” is every individual then we again have the problem of God’s desires being thwarted.

      John 1:19: “The next day he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” This could be interpreted either in the Arminian or the Calvinist camp. However, if the sins of every individual are actually taken away, then why do any go to hell? After all, aren’t all the sins taken away? “Ah,” but you say, “they are taken away only if that person believes.” The only problem with that is that Jesus’ blood is sufficient to cleanse of all sin, even the sin of unbelief. Therefore, even that sin is covered. Remember, it says that the sins were taken away by the cross of Christ, not made possible to be taken away.
 
John 6:33: “For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.” How is “gives life” to be understood? Does it mean that the life is offered or does it mean that it is given? If something is offered, it does not mean that it is received. If it is given, then it carries with that word the implication that it is received. Only the believers receive life. The world in general is the recipient of that life.

      John 6:51: “I am the living bread that came down out of heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he shall live forever; and the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” Simply partaking of the Lord’s Supper does not guarantee salvation. To eat the bread of Jesus means that it must be done by faith–which only the believer, only those who are appointed to eternal life and believe (Acts 13:48), can do. This could be interpreted either in the Arminian or the Calvinist camp.

      Rom. 11:12,15: “Now if their transgression be riches for the world and their failure be riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!…15For if their rejection be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” It is only the Christians who are reconciled. If the Jews’ rejection of the Christ be the reconciliation of the world, “the world” there must mean the believers. It cannot mean that every individual is reconciled to God; otherwise, everyone would be saved, and this simply isn’t true. If you say this means that reconciliation is generally applied to the world and that whoever wants to believe may, then you are ignoring what the verse says, that their rejection be the reconciliation of the world.

      2 Cor. 5:19: “namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” Again Paul speaks of God reconciling the world to Himself. This verse is even more clear than Rom. 11:12,15, for it states what the reconciliation of the world entails: not counting their trespasses against them. This clearly means salvation for only the Christians who are forgiven and reconciled. The word “world” here can only mean the Christians. Its interpretation makes the most sense in the Calvinist camp.

      Hebrews 2:9: “But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. ” This verse can be interpreted in both the Arminian and Calvinistic camps. The Arminian and the Calvinist say that Christ tasted death for everyone. To the Calvinist, the death of Christ actually removes the wrath of God upon the ungodly (the elect). To the Arminian the death of Christ was for all and doesn’t actually remove the wrath; it makes it possible for the wrath to be removed based upon a human condition: belief. Therefore, the choice of God depends upon the choice of the person man.

LIMITED PASSAGES

      Matt. 26:28: “for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.” Notice that the verse does not say for all, but for many.

      John 10:11: “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.” and John 10:15: “even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” Both these verses specifically state that Jesus laid His life down for the sheep (Christians) as opposed to the goats (non-Christians). These verses are best interpreted in the Calvinist camp. Frankly, I don’t see how this could be interpreted in the Arminian sense at all.

      John 17:9: “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine.” Jesus is making a distinction in His prayers to the Father in regard to who is being asked for. It is the ones whom the Father gives to the Son that are being prayed for. The whole of John 17 bears this out. Jesus is not praying for everyone. His prayers are “limited.”

Acts 20:28: “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” This could be interpreted either in the Arminian or the Calvinist camp but makes more sense in the Calvinist one. It was the church that was purchased with the blood. The unbeliever was not purchased. Also, this shows that there was a result, a direct result to the sacrifice: the church was purchased, not made possible to be purchased. It occurred. It happened because of the atonement. The Arminian might say that the purchase made by the blood becomes effectual only after the person believes in Jesus. But this is a problem because then the sacrifice of Christ must await validation and efficacy depending upon what people do. I see that as a problem because the infinite value of Christ’s blood accomplished what it was shed for; it purchased the church.

      Eph. 5:25-27: “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” This could be interpreted either in the Arminian or the Calvinist camp but makes more sense in the Calvinist one. Jesus gave Himself up for the church, not the unbelievers.

      Rom. 8:32: “He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also with him freely give us all things?” I addressed this verse above. The “all” here can only mean the believers. Paul is speaking of the saved which is why he says that God will “freely give us all things”.

      Isaiah 53:12: “Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the transgressors.” Obviously this speaks of a limited sacrifice, that Jesus bore the sin of many, not all. How does the Arminian interpret this passage?

      Heb. 9:28: “so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.” Again, another verse that says that Jesus bore the sins of many, not all.

      It seems clear that God sometimes uses words differently than we do. When we examine the scriptures, we see that “all” when used in the context of salvation can be interpreted in at least two ways: 1) It can only mean the elect, 2) it can mean everyone. As I mentioned above, when two sets of related scriptures have various interpretations and there are a few that can only be interpreted one way, then it seems best to interpret all the scriptures in such a way so that they agree.
When God wants all men to be saved, they are. God predestines. He died for those He predestined. And He has been working from all eternity to atone for, sanctify, and glorify His elect. It will occur because God has ordained it so.

Matt Slick 3/26/92

From Spurgeon’s sermon, “APART”

True repentance is always accompanied by sorrow.

Repentance is a deep, radical, fundamental, lasting change;
and you will find that, whenever you meet with it in Scripture,
it is always accompanied with sorrow for past sin.

And rest assured of this fact– that the repentance which has
no tear in its eye, and no mourning for sin in its heart,
is a repentance which needs to be repented of.

In such false repentance, there is no evidence of conversion,
and no sign of the existence of the grace of God.

The man who knows that his sin is forgiven,
does not cease to mourn for it.
No, brethren, his mourning becomes deeper as
his knowledge of his guilt becomes greater.
His hatred of sin grows in proportion as he understands
that love of Christ by which his sin is put away.

In true believers, mourning for sin is chastened and sweetened,
and, in one sense, the fang of bitterness is taken out.

But, in another sense, the more we realize
our indebtedness to God’s grace, and the more we see of
the sufferings of Christ in order to effect our redemption,
the more do we hate sin, and the more do we lament
that we ever fell into it.

The man who has led the purest life, when he is brought
before God by the humbling influence of the Holy Spirit,
is the man who almost invariably considers himself
to have been viler than anybody else.

“Repentance is to leave
The sin we loved before,
And show that we in earnest grieve
By doing so no more.”

Reasons which enforce repentance

1. God’s sovereign command. “He commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). Repentance is not optional. It is not left to our choice, whether or not we will repent—but it is an indispensable command. God has enacted a law in the High Court of heaven—that no sinner shall be saved, except the repenting sinner—and he will not break his own law. Though all the angels should stand before God and beg for the salvation of an unrepenting person—God would not grant it. “The Lord God, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished” (Ex 34:6-37). Though God is more full of mercy than the sun is of light—yet he will not forgive a sinner while he goes on in his guilt! “He will not leave the guilty unpunished!”

2. The pure nature of God denies communion with an impenitent creature

Until the sinner repents, God and he cannot be friends: “Wash yourselves and be clean! Let me no longer see your evil deeds. Give up your wicked ways.” (Isa 1:16). “Go, steep yourselves in the brinish waters of repentance! Then,” says God, “I will parley with you!” “Come now, and let us reason together” (Isa 1:18). But otherwise, do not come near me! “What communion has light with darkness?” (2 Cor 6:14). How can the righteous God befriend him who goes on still in his trespasses? “I will not justify the wicked” (Ex 23:7). If God should be at peace with a sinner before he repents—God would seem to accept and approve all that evil he has done. He would go against his own holiness. It is inconsistent with the sanctity of God’s nature, to pardon a sinner while he is in the act of rebellion.

3. Sinners continuing in impenitence are out of Christ’s commission

See his commission: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted” (Isa 61:1). Christ is a Prince and Savior—but not to save men in an capricious way, whether or not they repent. If ever Christ brings men to heaven, it shall be through the gate of repentance. “Him has God exalted to be a Prince and a Savior—to give repentance” (Acts 5:31). A king pardons rebels if they repent and yield themselves to the mercy of their prince—but not if they persist in open defiance.

4. We have by sin wronged God

There is a great deal of equity in it that we should repent. We have by sin wronged God. We have eclipsed his honor. We have infringed his law, and we should, reasonably, make him some reparation. By repentance we humble and judge ourselves for sin. We set to our seal that God is righteous if he should destroy us, and thus we give glory to God and do what lies in us to repair his honor.

5. If God should save men without repentance, making no discrimination, then by this rule he must save all, not only all men—but all devils. And so consequently the decrees of election and reprobation must fall to the ground. How diametrically opposed this is to sacred writ—let all judge. There are two kinds of people who will find it harder to repent than others:

(1) Those who have sat a great while under the ministry of God’s ordinances—but grow no better. The ground soaks up the rain that falls on it—yet “bears thistles and thorns, it is useless. The farmer will condemn that field and burn it.” (Heb 6:8). There is little hope of the metal which has lain long in the fire—but is not melted and refined. When God has sent his ministers one after another, exhorting and persuading men to leave their sins—but they settle upon the lees of external formality and can sit and sleep under a sermon—it will be hard for these ever to be brought to repentance. They may fear lest Christ should say to them as once he said to the fig-tree, “May you never bear fruit again!” (Matt 21:19).

(2) Those who have sinned frequently against the convictions of the Word, the checks of conscience, and the motions of the Spirit. Conscience has stood as the angel, with a flaming sword in its hand. It has said, “Do not this great evil!” But sinners regard not the voice of conscience—but march on resolvedly under the devil’s colors. These will not find it easy to repent: “They are those who rebel against the light” (Job 24:13). It is one thing to sin for lack of light—and another thing to sin against light. Men begin by sinning against the light of conscience, and proceed gradually to despising the Spirit of grace.

This serves sharply to reprove all unrepenting sinners whose hearts seem to be hewn out of a rock, and are like the stony ground which lacked moisture. This disease, I fear, is epidemic: “Is anyone sorry for sin? Does anyone say, ‘What a terrible thing I have done?’ No! All are running down the path of sin as swiftly as a horse rushing into battle!” (Jer 8:6). Men’s hearts are marbled into hardness: “They made their hearts as hard as stone, so they could not hear the law or the messages that the Lord Almighty had sent them by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. That is why the Lord Almighty was so angry with them.” (Zech 7:12). They are not at all dissolved into a penitential frame.

It is fabled that witches never weep. I am sure of this—that those who have no grief for sin are spiritually bewitched by Satan! We read that Christ “denounced the cities where he had done most of his miracles, because they hadn’t turned from their sins and turned to God” (Matt 11:20). And may he not denounce many now for their impenitence? Though God’s heart is broken with their sins—yet their hearts are not broken. They say, as Israel did, “I love foreign gods, and I must go after them!” (Jer 2:25).

The justice of God, like the angel, stands with a drawn sword in its hand, ready to strike—but sinners have not eyes as good as those of Balaam’s donkey to see the sword! God smites on men’s backs—but they do not, as Ephraim did, smite upon their thigh (Jer 31:19). It was a sad complaint the prophet took up: “you have stricken them—but they have not grieved” (Jer 5:3). That is surely reprobate silver which becomes harder in the furnace. “When trouble came to King Ahaz, he became even more unfaithful to the Lord” (2 Chron 28:22).

A hard heart is a dwelling for Satan. As God has two places he dwells in—heaven and a humble heart; so the devil has two places he dwells in—hell and a hard heart. It is not falling into water which drowns—but lying in it. It is not falling into sin which damns—but lying in it without repentance: “having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Tim 4:2). Hardness of heart results at last in the conscience being seared. Men have silenced their consciences, and God has seared them. And now he lets them sin and does not punish them, “Why should you be beaten any more?” (Isa 1:5) —as a father stops correcting a child whom he intends to disinherit.

A Serious Exhortation to Repentance

Let me in the next place persuade you to this great duty of repentance. Sorrow is not good for anything—except for sin. If you shed tears for outward losses, it will not advantage you. Water for the garden, if poured in the sink—does no good. Medicine for the eye, if applied to the arm, is of no benefit. Sorrow is medicinal for the sinful soul—but if you apply it to worldly things it does no good. Oh that our tears may run in the right channel—and our hearts burst with sorrow for sin! That I may the more successfully press this exhortation, I shall show you that repentance is necessary, and that it is necessary for all people and for all sins.

1. Repentance is necessary

Repentance is necessary: “except you repent—you shall all likewise perish!” (Luke 13:5). There is no rowing to paradise—except upon the stream of repenting tears. Repentance is required as a qualification. It is not so much to endear us to Christ—as to endear Christ to us. Until sin be bitter—Christ will not be sweet.

2. Repentance is necessary for all people

Thus God commands all men: “now God commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).

(1) Repentance is necessary for GREAT people: “Say unto the king and to the queen, Humble yourselves” (Jer. 13:18). The king of Nineveh and his nobles changed their robes for sackcloth ( Jon. 3:6). Great men’s sins do more hurt than the sins of others. The sins of leaders are leading sins, therefore they of all others have need to repent. If such as hold the scepter repent not, God has appointed a day to judge them—and a fire to burn them! (Isaiah 30:33).

(2) Repentance is necessary for the FLAGITIOUS sinners in the nation. England needs to put itself in mourning and be humbled by solemn repentance. What horrible impieties are chargeable upon the nation! We see people daily listing themselves under Satan. Not only the banks of religion—but those of civility, are broken down. Men seem to contend, as the Jews of old, who should be most wicked. “It is the filth and corruption of your lewdness and idolatry. And now, because I tried to cleanse you but you refused, you will remain filthy until my fury against you has been satisfied” (Ezek. 24:13). If oaths and drunkenness, if perjury and luxury will make a people guilty, then it is to be feared that England is in God’s black book. Men have cancelled their vow in baptism and made a private contract with the devil! Instead of crying to mercy to save them, they cry, “God damn us!” Never was there such riding posthaste to hell—as if men despaired of getting there in time. They have boasted how many they have debauched and made drunk. Thus “they declare their sin as Sodom” (Isaiah 3:9). Indeed, men’s sins are grown daring, as if they would hang out their flag of defiance against God—like the Thracians who, when it thunders, gather together in a body and shoot their arrows against heaven. “For they have clenched their fists against God, defying the Almighty. Holding their strong shields, they defiantly charge against him.” (Job 15:25-26). They are desperate in sin—and run furiously against God.

Oh to what a height is sin boiled up! Men count it a shame not to be impudent. May it not be said of us, as Josephus speaks of the Jews. Such was the excessive wickedness of those times, that if the Romans had not come and sacked their city, Jerusalem would have been swallowed up with some earthquake, or drowned with a flood, or consumed with fire from heaven. And is it not high time then for England to enter into a course of remedy, and take this pill of repentance, which has so many vile sins spreading in her? England is an island encompassed by two oceans, an ocean of water—and an ocean of wickedness. O that it might be encompassed with a third ocean—that of repenting tears!

If the book of the law chances to fall upon the ground, the Jews have a custom presently to proclaim a fast. England has let both law and gospel fall to the ground, therefore needs to fast and mourn before the Lord. The ephah of wickedness seems to be full. There is good reason for tears to fall apace, when sin fills so fast! Why then, are the wells of repentance stopped up? Do not the sinners of the land know that they should repent? Have they no warning? Have not God’s faithful messengers lifted up their voice as a trumpet—and cried to them to repent? But many of these tools in the ministry have been spent and worn out upon rocky hearts. Has not God blessed us with many preachers to call men to repentance—but still they are settled on their lees (Zeph. 1:12)? Do we think that God will always put up with our affronts? Will he endure thus to have his name and glory trampled upon? The Lord has usually been more swift in the process of his justice, against the sins of a professing people. I say therefore with Bradford, “Repent, O England!” You have belepered yourself with sin, and must needs go and wash in the spiritual Jordan. You have kindled God’s anger against you. Throw away your weapons, and bring your holy tears of repentance, that God may be appeased in the blood of Christ. Let your tears run—or God’s scroll of curses will fly (Zech. 5:2). Either men must turn—or God will overturn. Either the fallow ground of their hearts must be broken up—or the land broken down. If no words will prevail with sinners, it is because God has a purpose to slay them (1 Sam. 2:25). Those who, by their prodigious sins have so far incensed the God of heaven that he denies them the tears of repentance, may look upon themselves as condemned people.

(3) Repentance is necessary for the CHEATING crew. “They are wise to do evil” ( Jer. 4:22), making use of their invention only for circumvention. Instead of living by their faith, they live by their shifts. These are those who make themselves poor so that by this artifice they may grow rich. I would not be misunderstood. I do not mean such as the providence of God has brought low, whose estates have failed, but not their honesty—but rather such as feign a break, that they may cheat their creditors. There are some who get more by breaking than others can by trading. These are like beggars that discolor and blister their arms—that they may move others to charity. As they live by their sores, so these live by their breaking. When the frost breaks, the streets are more full of water. Likewise, many tradesmen, when they break, are fuller of money. These make as if they had nothing—but out of this nothing great estates are created. Remember, the kingdom of heaven is taken by force, not by fraud.

Let men know that after this golden sop, the devil enters. They squeeze a curse into their estates. They must repent quickly. Though the bread of falsehood is sweet (Proverbs 20:17)—yet many vomit up their sweet morsels in hell!

(4) Repentance is necessary for MORAL people. These have no visible spots on them. They are free from gross sin, and one would think they had nothing to do with the business of repentance. They are so good, that they scorn God’s offer of mercy. Indeed these are often in the worst condition: these are they who think they need no repentance (Luke 15:7). Their morality undoes them. They make a “savior” of it, and so on this rock they suffer shipwreck. Morality shoots short of heaven. It is only nature refined. A moral man is but old Adam dressed in fine clothes. The king’s image counterfeited and stamped upon brass will not go current. The moral person seems to have the image of God—but he is only brass metal, which will never pass for current. Morality is insufficient for salvation. Though the life is moralized, the lust may be unmortified. The heart may be full of pride and atheism. Under the fair leaves of a tree, there may be a worm.

I am not saying, repent that you are moral—but that you are no more than moral. Satan entered into the house that had just been swept and garnished (Luke 11:26). This is the emblem of a moral man, who is swept by civility and garnished with common gifts—but is not washed by true repentance. The unclean spirit enters into such a one. If morality were sufficient to salvation, Christ need not have died. The moral man has a fair lamp—but it lacks the oil of grace.

(5) Repentance is needful for HYPOCRITES. I mean such as allow themselves in the sin. Hypocrisy is the counterfeiting of sanctity. The hypocrite or stage-player has gone a step beyond the moralist, and dressed himself in the garb of religion. He pretends to a form of godliness, but denies the power (2 Tim. 3:5). The hypocrite is a saint in disquise. He makes a magnificent show, like an ape clothed in fine purple. The hypocrite is like a house with a beautiful facade—but every room within is dark. He is a rotten post, which is beautifully pointed over. Under his mask of profession, he hides his plague-sores.

The hypocrite is against painting of faces—but he has but painted holiness. He is seemingly good—so that he may be really bad. In Samuel’s mantle, he plays the devil. Therefore the same word in the original signifies to use hypocrisy—and to be profane. The hypocrite appears to have his eyes lifted to heaven—but his heart is full of impure lustings. He lives in secret sin against his conscience. He can be as his company is, and act both the dove and the vulture. He hears the word—but is all ear. He is for temple-devotion, where others may look upon him and admire him—but he neglects family and closet prayer. Indeed, if prayer does not make a man leave sin—sin will make him leave prayer. The hypocrite feigns humility—but it is that he may rise in the world. He is a pretender to faith—but he makes use of it rather for a cloak than a shield. He carries his Bible under his arm—but not in his heart! His whole religion is a sly lie (Hos 11:12).

But is there such a generation of men to be found? The Lord forgive them their painted holiness! Hypocrites are “in the gall of bitterness” (Acts 8:23). O how they need to humble themselves in the dust! They are far gone with their disease, and if anything can cure them, it must be feeding upon the salt marshes of repentance. Let me speak my mind freely. None will find it more difficult to repent—than hypocrites. They have so juggled in religion, that their treacherous hearts know not how to repent. Hypocrisy is harder to cure than insanity. The hypocrite’s abscess in his heart, seldom breaks.

Such as are guilty of prevailing hypocrisy, let them fear and tremble. Their condition is sinful and sad. It is sinful because they do not embrace religion out of choice but design; they do not love it, only pretend it. It is sad upon a double account.

Firstly, because this art of deceit cannot hold long; he who hangs out a sign of holiness—but has not the commodity of grace in his heart—must needs break at last!

Secondly, because God’s anger will fall heavier upon hypocrites. They dishonor God more and take away the gospel’s good name. Therefore the Lord reserves the most deadly arrows in his quiver to shoot at them. If heathen are damned, hypocrites shall be double-damned. Hell is called the place of hypocrites (Matt. 24:51), as if it were chiefly prepared for them.

(6) Repentance is necessary for God’s own people, who have a real work of grace. They must offer up a daily sacrifice of tears. The Antinomians hold that when any come to be believers, they have a writ of ease, and there remains nothing for them now to do but to rejoice. Yes, they have something else to do, and that is to repent. Repentance is a continuous act. The outlet of godly sorrow, must not be quite stopped until death. Jerome, writing in a letter to Laeta, tells her that her life must be a life of repentance. Repentance is called crucifying the flesh (Gal. 5:24), which is not done on all at once—but continuously, all our life. And are there not many reasons why God’s own people should go into the weeping bath? “Are there not with you, even with you—sins against the Lord?” (2 Chron. 28:10). Have not you sins of daily living? Though you are diamonds, you still have flaws. Do we not read of the ‘spot of God’s children” (Deut. 32:5). Search with the candle of the Word into your hearts—and see if you can find no matter for repentance there!

(a) Repent of your rash censuring. Instead of praying for others, you are ready to pass a verdict upon them. It is true that the saints snail judge the world (1 Cor. 6:2)—but wait your time; remember the apostle’s caution in 1 Corinthians 4:5: “judge nothing before the time, wait until the Lord comes”.

(b) Repent of your vain thoughts. These swarm in your minds as the flies did in Pharaoh’s court (Exod. 8:24). What bewilderings there are in the imagination! If Satan does not possess your bodies, he does your imaginations. “How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you?” (Jer. 4:14). A man may think himself into hell. O you saints, be humbled for this lightness in your head.

(c) Repent of your vain fashions. It is strange that the garments which God has given to cover shame—should reveal pride! The godly are bid not to be conformed to this world (Romans 12:2). People of the world are garish and mirthful in their dresses. It is in fashion nowadays—to go to hell. But whatever others do—yet let not Judah offend (Hos. 4:15). The apostle Paul has set down what outer garment Christians must wear: “modest apparel” (1 Tim. 2:9); and what undergarment: “be clothed with humility” (1 Pet. 5:5).

(d) Repent of your decays in grace. “You have left your first love” (Rev. 2:4). Christians, how often is it low water in your souls! How often does coldness of heart come upon you! Where are those flames of affection, those sweet meltings of spirit—which you once had? I fear they are melted away. Oh repent for leaving your first love!

(e) Repent of your non-improvement of talents. Health is a talent; estate is a talent; wit and abilities are talents; and these God has entrusted you with, to improve for his glory. He has sent you into the world as a merchant sends his steward beyond the seas to trade for his advantage—but you have not done the good you might. Can you say, “Master, your talent has earned five more talents” (Luke 19:18)? O mourn at the burial of your talents! Let it grieve you that so much of your life has not been time lived but time lost; that you have filled up your golden hours more with froth than with devotion.

(f) Repent of your forgetfulness of sacred vows. A vow is a binding one’s soul to God (Num. 30:2). Christians, have you not served for common uses after you have been the Lord’s by solemn dedication? Thus, by breach of vows, you have made a breach in your peace. Surely this calls for a fresh laver of tears.

(g) Repent of your unanswerableness to blessings received. You have lived all your life upon free grace. You have been bemiracled with mercy. But where are your returns of love to God? The Athenians would have ungrateful people sued at law. Christians, may not God sue you at law—for your unthankfulness? “I will recover my wool and my flax” (Hos. 2:9); I will recover them by law.

(h) Repent of your worldliness. By your profession you seem to resemble the birds of paradise—which soar aloft and live upon the dew of heaven. Yet as serpents you lick the dust! Baruch, a good man, was taxed with this: “do you seek great things for yourself?” (Jer. 45:5).

(i) Repent of your divisions. These are a blot in your coat of armor, and make others stand aloof from true religion. Indeed, to separate from the wicked, resembles Christ, who was “separate from sinners” (Heb. 63 7:26). But for the godly to divide among themselves, and look askew one upon another—had we as many eyes as there are stars, they were few enough to weep for this! Divisions eclipse the church’s beauty and weaken her strength. God’s Spirit brought in cloven tongues among the saints (Acts 2:3)—but the devil has brought in cloven hearts. Surely this deserves a shower of tears!

(j) Repent for the iniquity of your holy things. How often have the services of God’s worship been frozen with formality and soured with pride? There have been more of the peacock’s plumes—than the moans of the dove. It is sad that pious duties should be made a stage for vainglory to act upon. O Christians, there is such a thick crust upon your duties, that it is to be feared there is but little substance left in them for God to feed upon. Behold here repenting work, cut out for the best. And that which may make the tide of grief swell higher, is to think that the sins of God’s people do more provoke God, than do the sins of others (Deut. 32:19). The sins of the wicked pierce Christ’s side. The sins of the godly go to his heart! Peter’s sin, being against so much love, was most unkind, which made his cheeks to be furrowed with tears: “When he thought about it, he began to weep” (Mark 14:72).

3. Repentance is necessary for ALL sins.

Let us be deeply humbled and mourn before the Lord for original sin. We have lost that pure frame of soul that once we had. Our nature is vitiated with corruption. Original sin has diffused itself as a poison into the whole man, like the Jerusalem artichoke which, wherever it is planted, soon overruns the ground. There are not worse natures in hell, than we have! The hearts of the best are like Peter’s sheet, in which there were a number of unclean creeping things (Acts 10:12). This primitive corruption is bitterly to be bewailed because we are never free from it. It is like a spring underground, which though it is not seen—yet it still runs. We may as well stop the beating of the pulse—as stop the motions to sin! This inbred depravity retards and hinders us in that which is spiritual: “I do not do the good that I want to do” (Romans 7:19).

Original sin may be compared to that fish Pliny speaks of, which cleaves to the keel of the ship and hinders it when it is under sail. Sin hangs weights upon us—so that we move but slowly to heaven. O this adherence of sin! Paul shook the viper which was on his hand into the fire (Acts 28:5)—but we cannot shake off original corruption in this life. Sin does not come as a lodger for a night—but as an indweller: “sin which dwells in me” (Romans 7:17). It is with us as with one who has a cancer in him; though he changes the air—yet still he carries his disease with him. Original sin is inexhaustible. This ocean cannot be emptied. Though we sin much—yet the stock of sin is not at all diminished. The more we sin—the fuller we are of sin. Original corruption is like the widow’s oil—which increased by pouring out.

Another wedge to break our hearts, is that original sin mixes with the very habits of grace. Hence it is that our actings towards heaven are so dull and languid. Why does faith act no stronger—but because it is clogged by sin? Why does love to God burn no purer—but because it is hindered with lust? Original sin mixes with our graces. As bad lungs cause shortness of breath—so original sin having infected our heart, our graces breathe now very faintly. Thus we see much in original sin, which may draw forth our tears.

In particular, let us lament the corruption of our will and our affections. Let us mourn for the corruption of our will. The will, not following the dictates of right reason, is biased to evil. The will has a distaste for God, not as he is good—but as he is holy. It contumaciously affronts him: “We will do whatever we want. We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and sacrifice to her just as much as we like!” (Jer. 44:17). The greatest wound has fallen upon our will.

Let us grieve for the corruption of our affections. They are taken off from their proper object. The affections, like faulty arrows, shoot beside the mark. At the beginning, our affections were wings to fly to God; now they are weights to pull us away from him. Let us grieve for the sinful inclination of our affections. Our love is set on sin—our joy on the creature. Our affections, like the lapwing, feed on dung. How justly may the corruption of our affections bear a part in the scene of our grief? We of ourselves are falling into hell, and our affections would thrust us there.

Let us lay to heart actual sins. Of these I may say, “Who can understand his errors?” (Psalm 19:12). They are like sparks of a furnace. We have sinned in our eyes; they have been conduits to let in vanity. We have sinned in our tongues; they have been fired with passion. What action proceeds from us—wherein we do not betray some sin? To compute all these, would outnumber the drops in the ocean. Let actual sins be solemnly repented of, before the Lord.

Powerful Motives to Repentance

That the exhortation to repentance may be more quickened, I shall lay down some powerful motives to excite repentance.

1. Sorrow and melting of heart fits us for every holy duty.

A piece of lead, while it is in the lump, can be put to no use—but melt it, and you may then cast it into any mold, and it is made useful. So a heart that is hardened into a lump of sin is good for nothing—but when it is dissolved by repentance, it is useful. A melting heart is fit to pray. When Paul’s heart was humbled and melted, then “behold, he prays” (Acts 9:11). It is fit to hear the Word. Now the Word works kindly. When Josiah’s heart was tender, he humbled himself and rent his clothes at the hearing of the words of the law (2 Chron. 34:19). His heart, like melting wax, was ready to take any seal of the Word. A melting heart is fit to obey. When the heart is like metal in the furnace, it is facile and malleable to anything: “Lord, what will you have me to do?” (Acts 9:6). A repenting soul subscribes to God’s will and answers to his call—as the echo answers to the voice.

2. Repentance is highly acceptable to God.

When a spiritual river runs to water this garden, then our hearts are a garden of Eden, delightful to God. I have read that doves delight to be about the waters. And surely God’s Spirit, who descended in the likeness of a dove, takes great delight in the waters of repentance. The Lord esteems no heart sound, but the broken heart: “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit” (Psalm 51:17). Mary stood at Jesus’ feet weeping (Luke 7:38). She brought two things to Christ, ointment and tears. Her tears were better than her ointment. Tears are powerful orators for mercy. They are silent—yet they have a voice: “the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping” (Psalm 6:8).

3. Repentance commends all our services to God.

That which is seasoned with the bitter herbs of godly sorrow, is God’s savory meat. Hearing of the Word is then good, when we are pricked at the heart (Acts 2:37). Prayer is delightful to God when it ascends from the altar of a broken heart. The publican smote upon his breast saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner”. This prayer pierced heaven: “he went away justified rather than the other” (Luke 18:14). No prayer touches God’s ear—but what comes from a heart touched with the sense of sin.

4. Without repentance nothing will avail us.

Some bless themselves that they have a stock of knowledge—but what is knowledge good for, without repentance? It is better to mortify one sin, than to understand all mysteries. Impure notionalists do but resemble Satan transformed into an angel of light. Learning and a bad heart—is like a fair face with a cancer in the breast. Knowledge without repentance, will be but a torch to light men to hell.

5. Repenting tears are delicious.

They may be compared to myrrh, which though it is bitter in taste, has a sweet smell and refreshes the spirits. So repentance, though it is bitter in itself—yet it is sweet in the effects. It brings inward peace. The soul is never more enlarged and inwardly delighted—than when it can kindly melt. How oft do the saints fall aweeping for joy! The Hebrew word for “repent” signifies “to take comfort”. None so joyful as the penitent!

They say that tears have four qualities: they are hot, moist, salty, and bitter. It is true of repenting tears. They are hot, to warm a frozen conscience; moist, to soften a hard heart; salty, to season a soul putrefying in sin; bitter, to wean us from the love of the world. And I will add a fifth. They are sweet, in that they make the heart inwardly rejoice “Your sorrow shall be turned into joy!” (John 16:20). “Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” (2 Corinthians 6:10)

“Let a man,” said Augustine, “grieve for his sin and rejoice for his grief.” Tears are the best sweetmeats. David, who was the great weeper in Israel, was the sweet singer of Israel. The sorrows of the penitent are like the sorrows of a woman giving birth: “A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world” (John 16:21). So the sorrows of humbled sinners bring forth grace, and what joy there is when this child is born!

6. Great sins repented of, shall find mercy.

Mary Magdalene, a great sinner, obtained pardon when she washed Christ’s feet with her tears. For some of the Jews who had a hand in crucifying Christ, upon their repentance, the very blood they shed was a sovereign balm to heal them! “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18). Scarlet in the Greek is called “dibasson”, because it is “twice dipped”, and the arts of man cannot wash out the dye again. But though our sins are of a scarlet color, God’s mercy can wash them away. This may comfort those whom the heinousness of their sin discourages, as if there were no hope for them. Yes, upon their serious turning to God, their sins shall be expunged and done away with!

“Oh—but my sins are sinful beyond measure!” Do not make them greater, by not repenting. Repentance unravels sin and makes it as if it had never been. “Oh—but I have relapsed into sin after pardon, and surely there is no mercy for me!” The children of God have relapsed into the same sin: Abraham did twice equivocate; Lot committed incest twice; Asa, a good king—yet sinned twice by creature-confidence, and Peter twice by carnal fear (Matt. 26:70; Gal. 2:12). But for the comfort of such as have relapsed into sin more than once, if they solemnly repent, a white flag of mercy shall be held forth to them.

Christ commands us to forgive our trespassing brother seventy times seven in one day, if he repents (Matt. 18:22). If the Lord bids us do it, will not he be much more ready to forgive upon our repentance? What is our forgiving mercy, compared to his? This I speak not to encourage any impenitent sinner—but to comfort a despondent sinner that thinks it is in vain for him to repent and that he is excluded from mercy.

7. Repentance is the inlet to spiritual blessings.

It helps to enrich us with grace. It causes the desert to blossom as the rose. It makes the soul as the Egyptian fields after the overflowing of the Nile, flourishing and fruitful. Never do the flowers of grace grow more, than after a shower of repentant tears! Repentance causes knowledge: “When their heart shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away” (2 Cor. 3:16). The veil of ignorance which was drawn over the Jews” eyes shall by repentance be taken away. Repentance inflames love. Weeping Mary Magdalene loved much (Luke 7:47). God preserves these springs of sorrow in the soul—to water the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22).

8. Repentance ushers in temporal blessings.

The prophet Joel, persuading the people to repentance, brings in the promise of secular good things: “rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord . . . the Lord will answer and say to his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil” (Joel 2:13,19). When we put water into the pump, it fetches up only water—but when we put the water of tears into God’s bottle, this fetches up wine: “I will send you wine, and oil”. Sin blasts the fruits of the earth: “You have sown much, and bring in little” (Hag. 1:6). But repentance makes the pomegranate bud and the vine flourish with full clusters. Fill God’s bottle—and he will fill your basket! “If you return to the Almighty, you shall lay up gold as dust” (Job 22:2324). Repenting is a returning to God, and this brings a golden harvest.

9. Repentance staves off judgments from a land.

When God is going to destroy a nation, the penitent sinner stays his hand, as the angel did Abraham’s (Gen. 22:12). The Ninevites repentance caused God to repent: “God saw that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not” (Jonah 3:10). An outward repentance has adjourned and kept off wrath. Ahab sold himself to work wickedness; yet upon his fasting and rending his garments, God said to Elijah, “I will not bring the evil in his days” (1 Kings 21:29). If the rending of the clothes kept off judgment from the nation, what will the rending of the heart do!

10. Repentance makes joy in heaven.

The angels do, as it were, keep festive day: “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents” (Luke 15:10). As praise is the music of heaven, so repentance is the joy of heaven. When men neglect the offer of salvation and freeze in sin, this delights the devils—but when a soul is brought home to Christ by repentance, this makes joy among the angels.

11. Consider how dearly our sins cost Christ.

To consider how dearly our sins cost Christ, may cause tears to distill from our eyes. Christ is called the Rock (1 Cor. 10:4). When his hands were pierced with nails, and the spear thrust in his side, then was this Rock smitten, and there came out water and blood. And all this Christ endured for us: “the Messiah shall be cut off—but not for himself” (Dan. 9:26). We tasted the apple—and he drank the vinegar and gall. We sinned in every faculty—and he bled in every vein! Can we look upon a suffering Savior with dry eyes? Shall we not be sorry for those sins—which made Christ a man of sorrow? Shall not our enormities, which drew blood from Christ—draw tears from us? Shall we sport any more with sin and so rake in Christ’s wounds? Oh that by repentance we could crucify our sins afresh! The Jews said to Pilate, “If you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend” (John 19:12). Likewise, if we let our sins go and do not crucify them—we are not Christ’s friends.

12. This is the end of all afflictions which God sends, whether it is sickness in our bodies or losses in our estates—that he may awaken us out of our sins and make the waters of repentance flow. Why did God lead Israel in that march in the wilderness among fiery serpents, but that he might humble them (Deut:8:2)? Why did he bring Manasseh so low, changing his crown of gold into fetters of iron—but that he might learn repentance? “He humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God” (2 Chron. 33:12,13). One of the best ways to cure a man of his lethargy—is to cast him into a fever. Likewise when a person is stupified and his conscience grown lethargic—God, to cure him of this distemper, puts him to extremity and brings one burning calamity or another, that he may startle him out of his security and make him return to him by repentance.

13. The days of our mourning will soon be ended.

After a few showers that fall from our eyes—we shall have perpetual sunshine! Christ will provide a handkerchief to wipe off his people’s tears: “God shall wipe away all tears” (Rev. 7:17). Christians, you will shortly put on your garments of praise. You will exchange your sackcloth for white robes. Instead of sighs—you will have triumphs; instead of groans—anthems; instead of the water of tears—the water of life! The mourning of the dove will be past—and the time of the singing of birds will come. This brings me to the next point.

14. The happy and glorious reward which follows upon repentance.

“But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life!” (Romans 6:22). The leaves and root of the fig-tree are bitter—but the fruit is sweet. Repentance to the fleshy part seems bitter—but behold sweet fruit—everlasting life. The Turks imagine that after this life is a paradise of pleasure, where dainty dishes will be served in, and they will have gold in abundance, silken and purple apparel, and angels will bring them red wine in silver cups, and golden plates. Here is an epicure’s heaven. But in the true paradise of God there are astonishing delights and rare viands served in. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” (1 Cor. 2:9). God will lead his penitents from the house of mourning—to the banqueting house. There will be no sight there—but of glory; no sound there—but of music; no sickness—unless of love. There shall be unspotted holiness—and unspeakable joy. Then the saints shall forget their solitary hours and be sweetly solacing themselves in God—and bathing in the rivers of divine pleasure!

O Christian, what are your duties—compared to the recompense of reward? What an infinite disproportion is there between repentance enjoined—and glory prepared? There was a feast-day at Rome, when they used to crown their fountains. God will crown those heads which have been fountains of tears. Who would not be willing to be a while in the house of mourning—who shall be possessed of such glory as put Peter and John into an ecstasy to see it even darkly shadowed and portrayed in the transfiguration! (Matt. 17) This reward which free grace gives, is so transcendently great that could we have but a glimpse of glory revealed to us here, we would need patience to be content to live any longer. O blessed repentance, that has such a great light side—with the small dark side; and has so much sugar—at the bottom of the bitter cup!

15. The next motive to repentance is to consider the evil of impenitence.

A hard heart is the worst heart. It is called a heart of stone (Ezek. 36:26). If it were iron—it might be mollified in the furnace—but a stone put in the fire will not melt; it will sooner fly in your face. Impenitence is a sin which grieves Christ: “being grieved for the hardness of their hearts” (Mark 3:5). It is not so much the disease which offends the physician—as the contempt of his remedy. It is not so much the sins we have committed which so provoke and grieve Christ—as that we refuse the remedy of repentance which he prescribes. This aggravated Jezebel’s sin: “I gave her space to repent, and she repented not” (Rev. 2:21 ).

A hard heart receives no impression. Oh the plague of an obdurate heart! Pharaoh’s heart turned into stone—was worse than his waters turned into blood. David had his choice of three judgments plague, sword, and famine—but he would have chosen them all rather than a hard heart. An impenitent sinner is neither allured by entreaties nor affrighted by menaces. Such as will not weep with Peter—shall weep like Judas! A hard heart is the anvil—on which the hammer of God’s justice will be striking to all eternity!

16. The last motive to repentance, is that the day of judgment is coming

This is the apostle’s own argument: “God commands all men everywhere to repent; because he has appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world” (Acts 17:3031). There is that in the day of judgment, which may make a stony heart bleed. Will a man go on thieving—when the the Judge is looking upon him! Will the sinner go on sinning—when the day of judgment is so near? You can no more conceal your sin—than you can defend it. And what will you do when all your sins shall be written in God’s book—and engraved on your forehead! O direful day, when Jesus Christ clothed in his judge’s robe shall say to the sinner, “Stand forth; answer to the indictment brought against you. What can you say for all your oaths, adulteries, and your desperate impenitence?” O how amazed and stricken with terror will the sinner be! And after his conviction he must hear the sad sentence, “Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!” Then, he who would not repent of his sins—shall repent of his folly! If there is such a time coming, wherein God will judge men for their impieties—what a spur should this be to repentance! The penitent soul shall at the last day lift up his head with comfort and have a discharge to show—written by the Judge’s own hand!

Exhortations to Speedy Repentance

The second branch of the exhortation is to press people to speedy repentance: “God now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). The Lord would not have any of the late autumn fruits offered to him. God loves early penitents, who consecrate the spring and flower of their age to him. Early tears, like pearls bred of the morning dew, are more orient and beautiful. O do not reserve the dregs of your old age for God, lest he reserve the dregs of his cup of wrath for you! Be as speedy in your repentance as you would have God speedy in his mercies: “the King’s business required haste” (1 Sam. 21:8). Therefore repentance requires haste.

It is natural to us to procrastinate and put off repentance. We say, as Haggai did, “The time is not yet come” (Hag. 1:2). No man is so bad, but he purposes and intends to repent—but he procrastinates so long, until at last all his purposes and intentions prove abortive. Many are now in hell—who purposed and intended to repent!

Satan does what he can to keep men from repentance. When he sees that they begin to take up serious thoughts of repentance, he bids them “wait a little longer.” “If this traitor, sin, must die” (says Satan), “let it not die yet.” So the devil gets a reprieve for sin; it shall not die at present. At last men put off repentance so long—that death seizes on them, and their work is not done! Let me therefore lay down some effective arguments to persuade to speedy repentance:

1. Now is the season of repentance—and everything is best done in its season. “Now is the accepted time” (2 Cor. 6:2); now God has a mind to show mercy to the penitent. He is on the giving hand. Kings set apart days for healing. Now is the healing day for our souls. Now God hangs forth the white flag and is willing to parley with sinners. A prince at his coronation, as an act of royalty—gives money, proclaims pardons, fills the conduits with wine. Now God promises pardons to penitent sinners. Now the conduit of the gospel runs wine. Now is the accepted time. Therefore come in now and make your peace with God. Break off your iniquities now by repentance. It is wisdom to take the season. The farmer takes the season for sowing his seed. Now is the seedtime for our souls.

2. The sooner you repent—the fewer sins you will have to answer for. At the deathbed of an old sinner, where conscience begins to be awakened, you will hear him crying out: “Here are all my old sins come about me, haunting my deathbed as so many evil spirits—and I have no forgiveness! Here is Satan, who was once my tempter, now become an accuser—and I have no advocate; I am now going to be dragged before God’s judgment seat where I must receive my final doom!” O how dismal is the case of this man. He is in hell—before his time! But you who repent early of your sinful courses, this is your privilege—you will have the less to answer for. Indeed, let me tell you, you will have nothing to answer for. Christ will answer for you. Your judge will be your advocate (1 John 2:1). “Father,” Christ will say, “here is one that has been a great sinner—yet a broken-hearted sinner; if he owes anything to your justice, charge it to my account!”

3. The sooner we repent, the more glory we may bring to God. It is the purpose of our living—to be useful in our generation. Better lose our lives—than the purpose of our living. Late converts who have for many years taken pay on the devil’s side, are not in a capacity of doing so much work in the vineyard. The thief on the cross could not do that service for God—as Paul did. But when we turn early from sin, then we give God the first fruits of our lives. We spend and are spent for Christ. The more work we do for God—the more willing we shall be to die—and the sweeter death will be. He who has wrought hard at his labor is willing to go to rest at night. Such as have been honoring God all their lives, how sweetly will they sleep in the grave! The more work we do for God—the greater will our reward be. He whose pound had gained ten pounds, Christ did not only commend him—but advance him: “you will be governor of ten cities as your reward” (Luke 19:17). By late repentance, though we do not lose our crown—yet we make it lighter.

4. It is of dangerous consequence to put off repentance longer. It is dangerous, if we consider what sin is. Sin is a poison—it is dangerous to let poison lie long in the body. Sin is a bruise. If a bruise is not soon cured, it gangrenes and kills. Just so, if sin is not soon cured by repentance, it festers the conscience and damns! Why should any love to dwell in the tents of wickedness? They are under the power of Satan (Acts 26:18), and it is dangerous to stay long in the enemy’s quarters.

It is dangerous to procrastinate repentance because the longer any go on in sin the harder they will find the work of repentance. Delay strengthens sin—and hardens the heart—and gives the devil fuller possession. A tree at first may be easily plucked up—but when it has spread its roots deep in the earth, a whole team cannot remove it. It is hard to remove sin when once it comes to be rooted. The longer the ice freezes—the harder it is to be broken. The longer a man freezes in sin—the harder it will be to have his heart broken. The longer any travail with iniquity—the sharper pangs they must expect in the new birth. When sin has long been fastened in the heart—it is not easily shaken off. Sin comes to a sinner as the elder brother came to his father: “I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders” (Luke 15:29), and will you cast me off now? What, in my old age, after you have had so much pleasure by me? See how sin pleads custom, and that is a leopard’s spot (Jer. 13:23 ). It is dangerous to procrastinate and delay repentance because there are three days which may soon expire:

(1) The day of the GOSPEL may expire. This is a sunshiny day. It is sweet, but swift. Jerusalem had a day but lost it: “but now they are hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:42). The Asian churches had a gospel day—but at last the golden candlestick was removed. It would be a sad time in England to see the glory departed. With what hearts could we follow the gospel to the grave? To lose the gospel were far worse than to have our freedom taken from us. “Gray hairs are here and there” (Hos. 7:9). I will not say the sun of the gospel has set in England—but I am sure it is under a cloud. That was a sad speech, “The kingdom of God shall be taken from you” (Matt. 21:43). Therefore it is dangerous to delay repentance, lest the market of the gospel should depart, and the vision cease.

(2) A man’s personal day of GRACE may expire. What if that time should come, when God should say the means of grace shall do no good: that ordinances shall have “a miscarrying womb and dry breasts” (Hos. 9:14)? Were it not sad to adjourn repentance until such a decree came forth? It is true, no man can justly tell that his day of grace is past—but there are two helpful signs by which he may fear it:

(a) When conscience has done preaching. Conscience is a bosom-preacher. Sometimes it convinces, sometimes it reproves. It says, as Nathan to David, “You are the man!” (2 Sam. 12:7). But men imprison this preacher, and God says to conscience, “Preach no more! He who is filthy, let him be filthy still!” (Rev. 22:11). This is a fatal sign that a man’s day of grace is past.

(b) When a person is in such a spiritual lethargy that nothing will work upon him or make him sensible. There is “the spirit of deep sleep poured out upon you” (Isaiah 29:10). This is a sad presage that his day of grace is past. How dangerous then is it to delay repentance when the day of grace may so soon expire!

(3) The day of LIFE may expire. What security have we—that we shall live another day? We are marching rapidly out of the world. We are going off the stage. Our life is a candle, which is soon blown out. Man’s life is compared to the flower of the field, which withers sooner than the grass (Psalm 103:15). “Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath. Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro.” (Psalm 39:4-6). Life is but a flying shadow. The body is like a vessel filled with a little breath. Sickness broaches this vessel; death draws it out. O how soon may the scene alter! Many a virgin has been dressed the same day in her bride-apparel, and her winding-sheet! How dangerous then is it to adjourn repenting when death may so suddenly make a thrust at us.

Say not that you will repent tomorrow. Remember that speech of Aquinas: “God who pardons him who repents—has not promised to give him tomorrow to repent in.” I have read of Archias, who was feasting among his cups, when one delivered him a letter and desired him to read the letter immediately, for it was of serious business. He replied, “I will mind serious things tomorrow”; and that day he was slain. Thus while men think to spin out their silver thread, death cuts it. Olaus Magnus observes of the birds of Norway, that they fly faster than the birds of any other country. Not that their wings are swifter than others—but by an instinct of nature they, knowing the days in that climate to be very short, not above three hours long, do therefore make the more haste to their nests. So we, knowing the shortness of our lives and how quickly we may be called away by death—should fly so much the faster on the wing of repentance to heaven!

But some will say that they do not fear a sudden death; they will repent upon their deathbed. I do not much like a deathbed repentance. He who will venture his salvation within the circle of a few short minutes, runs a desperate hazard. You who put off repentance until your deathbed, answer me to these four queries:

(a) How do you know that you shall have a time of sickness? Death does not always give its warning, by a lingering illness. Some it arrests suddenly. What if God should presently send you a summons to surrender your life?

(b) Suppose you should have a time of sickness, how do you know that you shall have the use of your senses? Most are demented, on their deathbed.

(c) Suppose you should have your senses—yet how do you know your mind will be in a frame for such a work as repentance? Sickness does so discompose body and mind, that one is in no condition, at such a time, to take care for his soul. In sickness a man is scarcely fit to make his will, much less to make his peace with God! The apostle said, “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church” (James 5:14). He does not say, let him pray—but let him call for the elders, that they may pray over him. A sick man is very unfit to pray or repent; he is likely to make but sick work of it. When the body is out of tune, the soul must needs jar in its devotion. Upon a sick bed a person is more fit to exercise impatience than repentance. We read that at the pouring out of the fourth vial, when God did smite the inhabitants and scorched them with fire, that “they blasphemed the name of God, and repented not” (Rev. 16:9). So when the Lord pours out his vial and scorches the body with a fever—the sinner is fitter to blaspheme than to repent!

(d) How do you who put off all to a deathbed, know that God will give you in that very juncture of time, grace to repent? The Lord usually punishes neglect of repentance in time of health—with hardness of heart in time of sickness. You have in your lifetime repulsed the Spirit of God, and are you sure that he will come at your call? You have not taken the first season, and perhaps you shall never see another springtide of the Spirit again. All this considered may hasten our repentance. Do not lay too much weight upon a deathbed. “Do your best to come before winter” (2 Tim. 4:21). There is a winter of sickness and death a-coming. Therefore make haste to repent. Let your work be ready before winter. “Today, if you hear his voice–do not harden your hearts” (Heb. 3:7-8).