God's glorious Justice affects everyone

"God's justice is...inexorable: no sinners can escape being punished; the sins of the godly are punished in their surety Christ, and they are afflicted in this life.  God is justice itself, justice is essential to him, his will is the rule of justice, a things is just because he wills it, and he does not will [something] because it is just.  He will right the wrongs of his children, 2 Thess 1:6-8.  He cannot be corrupted or bribed."  Leigh.  Treatise.

This is truly good news.  Of course we fear God.  Just think he cannot be bought off and he will judge us through and through.

Let’s Talk About Calvinism Again

“Not the free-will, Calvinist debate again.  Give it a break.”  Many times I have heard people say this with a fluster.  I still hear it at times.  The fact is these people in the church have a vested interested to keep human free will and keep God’s will contingent (dependent & grouped) around human will.  In the past a heretical system of doctrine called socinianism held to this.  So did Arminianism; actually the two errors developed somewhat together.

I want to highlight 2 things that Socinianism said…

1.         God knows things as certain only as they happen in time.

We know we had supper last night because it happened.  We do not know for sure we will have supper tonight because it has not happened yet.  This is the kind of thing Socinians foisted onto God’s person.  This is a denial of God’s omniscience.  Imagine a God who does not know what will really happen tomorrow!  Imagine God not knowing that “all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28 ESV). 

Much of evangelicalism is double minded on this point.  One the one hand they defend free will, and say we decide our destiny and that God cannot do anything until we let him do it.  In other words, God does not really know if we will make it in the Christian life.  But then on the other hand when tragedy strikes or a great trial comes into their lives they affirm God is in complete control.  But how can he be if he does not know for certain what you will do in the trial?!  God is as anxious as you are – maybe even more.

Socinians also said...      

    

2.         God only knows future possibilities.  He recognizes that in the future some things cannot     happened while others either may or may not happen.

They said Satan cannot win and conquer God.  Modern evangelicals say that too.  They said God cannot destroy himself.  The church today says this too.  However, whether a person is saved, or overcomes personal sin, or remains faithful to Christ and so on; well, that may or may not happen.  It all depends on man’s choice.  Many in the evangelical church say this too. 

Of course this makes man the maker of his own destiny.  God is not our Saviour by his grace alone.  Yes, he will save us, but only if we make the choice. 

So, should we stop talking about free-will and God's sovereignty?  No.  The church must listen to what she is saying about God and about humans.  Then she must read the Bible to see if what she is saying matches with God’s Word.  To assert the two things mentioned above is to believe heresy.  Scripture is very clear…God is absolutely sovereign.  He knows for certain all that will happen in this world because he has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass.  Check these passages out, and then talk about them.   (Eph 1:11; Rom 11:33; Heb 6:17; Rom 9:15-18; Acts 15:18; 1 Sam 23:11-12; Matt 11:21, 23; Prov 16:4; Rom 8:30; Dan 4:34-35; Ps 136:6; Acts 17:25-26; Job 38).

God is Immutable: He never stops being himself

God in his essence never changes.  His nature and being are true, eternal, and infinite and so God is not subject to change. His name is “I am that I am.” A.W. Pink wrote: “He cannot change for the better, for he is already perfect; and being perfect, he cannot change for the worse.” To put it another way. God never stops being himself. We change, either we grow too big for our clothes, or maybe once in a while we grow too small for them, so alterations have to be made. God never changes thus he never has to alter himself. The One true eternal God has no addition, or subtraction, no decay or rejuvenation. God eternally remains the One he is…“I am that I am.”

Fatalism in Calvin's Institutes

Calvin brings up fatalism and number of times in chapter 17 of his Institutes. It warrants a separate blog entry. Here it is.

1. What is fatalism? The doctrine which purports that all things are subject to fate. “Fatalism views God as nothing more than the workings of natural or unknown impersonal forces which make all things come out in some predetermined way. The Stoic called it Destiny. One scholar explained fate by imagining man as a water-beetle caught in a torrent of water. He may struggle, or he may let himself be swept along in peace simply accepting his doom. If we see God's providence as nothing more than fate, then the best we can hope for is to resign ourselves to the horrors that may lie ahead, and be swept along by blind destiny.” Bob Burridge.

2. Does fate play a role in the events of our life’s well being? No! (Prov 16:9)

3. God providentially watches over His children. [See Ps 55:22; 54:23; 90:1; 91:1, 12; Zech 2:8; Gen 15;1; Jer 1:18; 15:20; Is 49:15, 25; 1 Pet 5:7] These examples “Teach that all men are under his power, whether their minds are to be conciliated, or their malice to be restrained that it may not do harm” (Pg., 219). Other examples are given by Calvin to support and confirm God’s providential dealings. [ see Ex 3:21; 1 Kgs 22:22; 12:10; 2 Sam 17:7,14; Job 1;12; Hos 2:21-22] God wills nothing but what is just and expedient. [see Gen 45:7-8; 50:20; Job 1:21; 2 Sam 16:11; Ps 39:9]

4. Calvin teaches what the Bible teaches when he writes, “When that light of divine providence has once shone upon a godly man, he is then relieved and set free not only from the extreme anxiety and fear that were pressing him before, but from every care. For as he justly dreads fortune, so he fearlessly dares commit himself to God. His solace, I say, is to know that his heavenly Father so holds all things in his power, so rules by his authority and will, so governs by his wisdom, that nothing can befall except he determine it” (Pg., 224). [see Ps 91:3-6; 90:3-6; 118:6; 117:6; 27:1, 3; 26:1; Ps 22:4; 56:4, 11-13]

5. What about this ever changing world? “Whatever changes take place from time to time, they are governed by God” (Pg., 225). [see Is 7:4ff; 46:9ff; Ezek 29:4]

Happy news: God guides and governs us: Part 2.

God’s providence is no “white ivory tower” doctrine, disconnected to human history. Think of all the great stories in Luke’s Acts of the Apostles. God Almighty upheld, directed, made ready the places, people, and events of the early church and guided the Apostles to them and by them. There is a great symphony in our lives, a great harmony God is directing. It is this: he guides us to and through the normal things of life.
God by his providence had guided us to chapter 17 of the Institutes today. Calvin too taught the church that providence is for our life, not just text books or theological debate.


1. Remember the basic thought from our last study. There is a purpose for everything God ordains, and by his just and loving omnipotent power brings those things to pass. The reason and cause (whether from God directly or through secondary causes) are not completely known to us. We might have some idea, and Scripture gives us certain general statements like, all things work together for good, (Rom 8:28), and we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus to good works which God has ordained before hand that we should walk in them (Eph 2:11), however we do not fully know why God does this and that fully.

2. OK, what about sin? What about God’s sovereignty and the works of evil? This is a question the church has always had to deal with because so many think, that if God’s will of purpose is being accomplished through them, then God must either be tainted with sin, or unjust in judging and damning sinners.

What about the devil and demons? They “Are completely restrained by God’s hand as by a bridle, so that they are unable either to hatch any plot against us or, having hatched it, to make preparations or, if they have fully planned it, to stir a finger toward carrying it out, except so far as He has permitted, indeed commanded” (Pg., 224). [see 1 Thess 2:18 w/ 1 Cor 16:7; Ps 31:15]

3. In the church the issue has basically taken two sides in regards to how God relates to evil.

4. One side claims that God is sovereign over the works of evil. He is not tainted with sin at all, but bends evil instruments and employs them to carry out His judgments and purposes. All by his providence.

5. The other side asserts that the works of evil occur only by permission rather than by providence.

6. We must say no to the "permission" theory! “The figment of bare permission vanishes: because it would be ridiculous for the judge only to permit what he wills to be done, and not also to decree it command it to be done” (Pg., 320). Notice what God’s Word teaches. [see Acts 4:28; 2:23; 3:18; 2 Sam 16:10; 2 Sam 16:22 w/ 2 Sam 12:12; Jer 1:15; 7:14; 50:25 w/ Jer 25:9; 27:5-6; Haggai 1:12-14; Is 10:5; Matt 3:10; Is 28:21; 2 Sam 16:10-11; Matt 11:20-24; Rom 9-11]

7. How does God’s providence work this in man? God is sovereign, therefore, he uses the forces of darkness and man’s will, mind and emotions for his glorious ends. They are sinful, but God is even omnipotent over their sinfulness. “Whatever we conceive of in our minds is directed to His own end by God’s secret inspiration....Two statements perfectly agree; man, while he is acted upon by God, yet at the same time himself acts” (Pg., 231).

8. Scriptures’ testimony: (Ezek 7:26; Ps 107:40; Job 12:24; Lev 26:36; 1 Sam 26:12; Is 29:10,14; Deut 28:28; Zech 12:4; Rom 1:28; Ex 9-14; 1 Sam 16:14; 2 Cor 4:4; 2 Thess 2:11; Ezek 14:9).

9. This fact that God is sovereign even over evil does not teach, as so many have charged, that God has two contrary wills. A good will and a bad will. God’s good and holy will is one. (Job 1:21; Ps 115:3; Is 45:7; Amos 3:6; Ex 21:13; Acts 4;28; Eph 3:9-10)

10. God is the author of evil, is the charge certain persons make who do not understand the Bible’s teaching about God and providence. They confuse God’s will with his holy law. (Ps 111:2; 2 Sam 16:10-11, 22; 1 Kgs 12:20; Hos 8:4 cf. Hos 13:11; 1 Kgs 11:23) “God accomplishes through the wicked what he has decreed by his secret judgment, they are not excusable, as if they had obeyed his precept which out of their own lust they deliberately break” (Pg., 235).

11. Augustine said it beautifully. “There is a great difference between what is fitting for man to will and what is fitting for God, and to what end the will of each is directed, so that it be either approved or disapproved. For through the bad wills of evil men God fulfills what he righteously wills” (Pg., 234).

Happy news: God guides and governs us: Part 1.

Our study of Calvin’s Institutes goes on. Chapter 17 is the focus today and tomorrow. I've summarized it in two parts.

Chapter 16 defined the doctrine of God’s providence. Chapter 17 explains how it connects with our human lives. The questions of human responsibility, human guilt, and God’s relation to evil are discussed here.


1. There is a purpose for everything God ordains, and by his omnipotent power brings those things to pass. Calvin says that, “God’s providence must first of all be considered with regard to the future as well as the past. Secondly, it is the determinative principle of all things” (Pg., 210).

2. Nevertheless, the reason and cause for his providential acts are not always known. But we can trust him and “So reverence his secret judgments as to consider his will the truly just cause of all things” (Pg., 211). [see Ps 40:5; Ps 115:3]

3. God is the maker and framer of the universe. (Ps 36:6; Deut 30:11-14; Rom 11:33-34; Is 40:13-14).

4. There is no fatalism here. Man cannot blame God for his evil, nor can he leave his life’s well being to fate. More on this in Part 2.

5. When a man sins, he sins, not God. Yet, God is so omnipotent that he uses evil instruments to do good. Calvin explains. “But do we do evil things to the end that we may serve him? Yet he by no means commands us to do them; rather we rush headlong, without thinking what he requires, but so raging in our unbridled lust we deliberately strive against Him” (Pg., 217).

6. Grant that God uses evil instruments “to carry out the judgments that he has determined with himself” (Pg., 217); does that not, (1) marry God with their sin, or (2) excuse the sinner from his sin? No! Why? “In their own conscience they are so convicted as to be unable to clear themselves; in themselves they so discover all evil, but in him only the lawful use of their evil intent, as to preclude laying the charge against God” (Pg., 217).

7. Does fate play a role in the events of our life’s well being? No! (Prov 16:9)

8. “We are not at all hindered by God’s eternal decrees either from looking ahead for ourselves or from putting all our affairs in order, but always in submission to his will” (Pg., 216). This is actually our responsibility according God’s decree. That is, in his free sovereignty he ordained men to be faithful stewards according to his good will.


9. “Now it is very clear what our duty is: thus, if the Lord has committed to us the protection of our life, our duty is to protect it; if he offers helps, to use them; if he forewarns us of dangers, not to plunge headlong; if he makes remedies available, not to neglect them” (Pg., 216).

God's justice and mercy; no need to reconcile friends

At times it has been very vogue to say, "I can't fit God's justice, severity, and wrath with his everlasting mercy and grace." Trying to figure this out has driven people either away from the true God or driven them to create a new "god" with whom they can be comfortable.


Doug Wilson, over at his blog had this to say about this. See it here.
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