Human Responsibility
It has been said that if God is absolutely sovereign, controlling all things which take place (including the activities of angels, devils, and people), then it cannot be said that man is responsible for all that he does. After all, can we not then say, “God made me do it?” Somehow, so say some, we must teach that God relinquishes part of His sovereignty in order to maintain the responsibility of man. That argument is as old as creation itself. After the fall of Adam into sin, when God confronted him, Adam declared, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat” (Gen. 3:12). What was Adam saying? He pleaded innocent and pointed his finger at God. God is sovereign; He gave Eve to Adam—so Adam could hardly be considered responsible.
But the argument does not “hold water” with God. He carries out the curse of death because of the sin of Adam. God held Adam fully responsible. So it always is. God determines and governs all things—also in the lives of moral, rational creatures. Yet man is fully responsible for his actions. Scripture also gives examples.
Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave into Egypt. Later, when they asked his forgiveness, Joseph said, “As for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Gen. 50:20). God determined the very actions of Joseph’s brothers for which they themselves were guilty as they confessed. God’s purpose is good—yet the brothers were judged guilty of terrible sin.
The ultimate example of God’s Sovereignty is seen in Jesus’ crucifixion. Peter said at Pentecost (Acts 2:23), “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” Both the crucifixion and the manner of it were determined by God. That did not excuse His crucifiers. It was their wicked hands that accomplished this terrible deed. They are fully responsible.
Do we completely understand how God does absolutely determine and guide all things—yet that man is held responsible? Perhaps not. Scripture teaches it—and by faith we believe it.
So Scripture comes with its command (not offer), “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). No one can plead before God that they are not responsible for their action in answering—since God is sovereign. That command still comes with all of its force to us today. He who does not repent and believe shall be damned but all those who believe shall be saved (Mark 16:16).
In the great Judgment Day, Jesus Himself shall say so.
Not Willing That Any Should Perish
“The Lord is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (II Pet. 3:9).
It is quite amazing how wrong interpretations of certain verses in Scripture can come to be so generally accepted that no one even considers any other explanation, but assumes, without thinking, that the wrong one is correct.
So it is with the explanation of II Peter 3:9.
Almost everyone simply accepts the fact that this verse teaches the well-meant offer of the gospel; i.e., that this text teaches that God desires the salvation of all men. The text says, after all, “Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” Does not the text clearly say that God does not want any man to perish, but that He wants every man to repent?
But does the text really say that “God wants every man to be saved”? A careful reading of the text will surely show that Peter (and the Holy Ghost) had no such thing in mind.
A number of considerations will clearly show this.
First of all, it ought to be remembered that Peter is writing to God’s people, not to the wicked: “… to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (1:1). This already suggests strongly that Peter is talking about the fact that God does not want any “who have obtained like precious faith with us” to perish.
Secondly, Peter is talking in the context about scoffers (3:3) who deny the coming of Christ; and he is concerned that some of those to whom he writes might be persuaded that these scoffers are right. This danger is all the more real in the light of the fact that many to whom Peter was writing expected the Lord to return at any moment. That the Lord did not return seemed to God’s people to be a great disappointment and opened the door to the danger of believing the scoffers.
Thirdly, Peter wants to assure God’s people that Christ comes as quickly as possible. “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (3:8). “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise” (3:9). He comes as quickly as He possibly can. But God cannot come as quickly as the saints thought He should come, because there are millions of saints, yet unborn, who must also be saved. Hence, it seems to us as if He delays, when in fact, He does not.
Fourthly, the text itself says that God is longsuffering to us-ward. God is not longsuffering to all men, but only to us who have obtained like precious faith. This longsuffering of God is manifested in His willingness that none (of us) should perish, but that all (of us) should come to repentance.
Fifthly, the word “willing” in the text is a word which, in the Greek, refers to God’s eternal counsel in which God elected a definite number of people to be saved. He “wills” that these should not perish, but that they should come to repentance.
Finally, God’s longsuffering cannot refer to an attitude of God towards all because in verse 15 of the same chapter Peter says, “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.” If longsuffering is towards all men, and longsuffering is salvation, then all men are finally saved. Only the most liberal universalist believes that.
The text is a great comfort to God’s people in the world. It teaches that God does not delay fulfilling His promise to send Christ to save the church. Christ comes as quickly as possible.
While we suffer, especially at the hands of wicked men, God is longsuffering towards us. He suffers with us, knowing the pain and agony, but knowing too that it is for our good. Our sufferings do not go unnoticed.
But every one of the church must be saved. Christ cannot come until every saint is brought to repentance. This God wills. Every elect on earth now and every elect yet to be born must be brought to repentance. But when the last elect is born and brought to repentance, Christ comes to take the whole church to glory. Every elect is saved, or no elect can be saved. The church is Christ’s body, saved entirely or not saved at all.
So we have great incentive to endure in the midst of suffering. Prof. Hanko
For All Men?
Is the faith of our fathers living in your life? In your church? We sing the song: “Faith of our fathers living still …” and no doubt the faith is living. But the question is, “Where is that faith living and confessed?” And, “What is the faith of our fathers?” It was expressed over 350 years ago by our church fathers at the Synod of Dordt (in the Netherlands). We use the familiar acrostic: TULIP to help us remember what our fathers said the Bible teaches:
T – Total Depravity
U – Unconditional Election
L – Limited Atonement
The great gospel message that so many today are urgently carrying to distant lands is that Christ made atonement with His death. But there are two critical points at which this message is so severely distorted that it no longer carries the gospel message.
THE FIRST DISTORTION concerns what Christ’s death did. The biblical truth of the atonement is that His death paid for sins. Yet so many today teach that Christ’s death was only an example for us to follow, and if one merely follows His example he will be saved. Or it is taught that Christ’s death did not actually pay for any specific sins, but made it possible for all sins to be paid for.
But the Bible says that Christ’s death on the cross actually paid for sins. Acts 20:28 says that God bought the church with His own blood (see also Matt. 26:28; Heb. 7:26-27).
THE SECOND DISTORTION of this biblical truth is that Christ died for all men. Some teach that Christ made it possible for all men to be saved. But the questions that must be asked are: “IF Christ died for all men, why are not all men saved?” “Can not God do what He desires to do?” “Is there something defective in Christ’s death?” “Must man desire to be saved first?” But a man who is totally depraved cannot will to be saved. He hates God and wants nothing to do with Christ’s death. So it must not be said that Christ died for all men.
The Bible says that Christ laid down His life for His sheep, and only them (John 10:11). The ATONEMENT is LIMITED to the elect of God. Every sin of every one of Christ’s sheep is paid for. Those sins and those alone have been paid for. That is the only gospel because that is the Bible. (… to be continued)
