Lord
A most important name of our Saviour is that wonderful name, Lord. Like the name Christ, Lord is not a personal name but a title of honour. This title is important first because it reminds us that Jesus is God. One needs no further proof of His divinity than this: that He is identified in Scripture as THE LORD. “My Lord and my God” are the confession (John 20:28).
The title Lord emphasizes especially His sovereign ownership of all things. As Lord He not only rules over all with sovereign authority and power, but all things belong to Him and are His servants, that is, slaves. It is as the Lord that God says in Psalm 50:12, “The world is mine, and the fulness thereof.” That means the psalmist confesses to Him in Psalm 119:91, “All are thy servants.” This lordship of God has been given to Jesus (Acts 2:36).
There are two sides to the lordship of Jesus. On the one hand He holds rightful ownership of all things as their Creator, ruling them with sovereign might according to His purpose. This aspect of the lordship of Christ is sometimes called the rule of His power.
But there is also what is called the rule of His grace. In this sense He is Lord only of His people—and that by right of purchase. His people belong to Him not merely as creatures but as a purchased treasure. “They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels” (Mal. 3:17). He exercises that lordship over them not by mere power but by the sweet influences of His grace. That is to say, He rules them not with a rod of iron but with a shepherd’s staff (Ps. 23:1).
This aspect of His lordship can be confessed only through the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 12:3). If I confess His lordship in this way I do not simply acknowledge that He is Lord, but that He is my Lord. Then I confess that I belong to Him and am precious in His sight, not because of what I am or what I have done but because of the blood He shed for me.
Furthermore I confess that all I have belongs to Him as well. Nothing I have is really my own: not my family, not my time, not my possessions, not even my body. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (I Cor. 6:20). We must use all things, therefore, as blood-bought servants of the Lord, for His glory and His kingdom.
Can you make that confession? Is Jesus Lord? your Lord? Do you live and use everything as belonging to Him? Rev. Ron Hanko
Wisdom’s Cry
“Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded” (Prov. 1:24).
It is a common objection to the rejection of the “well-meant offer of the gospel” (a desire of God to save all man bar none) that one of our readers raises by suggesting this text for discussion.
At first glance the passage seems to support such this teaching. Does it not say that God stretches out His hand even to those who do not regard it? Does not the stretching out of His hand suggest pleading or earnest longing, as though expressing deep desire? And if God stretches out His hand to those who refuse Him, does that not imply that He desires the salvation of the wicked reprobate referred to here?
A few words about the context are necessary. The text speaks of “Wisdom” (20), and “Wisdom” is our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Prov. 8:14-21). “Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets; she crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words” (20-21). The surrounding verses describe the sin of rejecting Wisdom and the judgment that follows: “But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh” (25-26).
We do indeed deny the “well-meant offer of the gospel.” That is, we deny that Scripture teaches that God desires and longs for the salvation of all men. Such a view contradicts God’s eternal will to save His elect and to damn the reprobate in the way of their sin.
At the same time we do not teach, as hyper-Calvinists do, that the gospel must be preached “only to the elect.” The gospel must be proclaimed to all men, and all who hear must be confronted with the command to repent of sin and believe in Christ. The Canons of Dordt state:
Moreover, the promise of the gospel is that whosoever believeth in Christ crucified shall not perish but have everlasting life. This promise, together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be declared and published to all nations, and to all persons promiscuously and without distinction, to whom God out of His good pleasure sends the gospel (II:5).
Proverbs 1:24 refers to that gospel as it goes out to all, accompanied by the command to repent and believe. The text clearly teaches that God commands all who hear the gospel to repent.
It also teaches something important about that command. First, Christ is serious when He commands all men to repent and believe. The Canons say: “As many as are called by the gospel are unfeignedly [that is, seriously] called. For God hath most earnestly and truly declared in His Word what is pleasing to Him, namely that those who are called should come unto Him” (III/IV:8).
God is not playing games when He calls. He means what He says. Those who refuse the command of the gospel perish in their sin.
The text further teaches that when God commands sinners to repent and believe, He does so in a way that reveals His goodness. He does not present Himself as a monster or a tyrant who calls men only to enslave and crush them. He does not call merely to destroy those who appear before Him.
He presents Himself as a good God. It is not to man’s disadvantage to come to Christ. It is not fearful to obey the command. It is the only way to true good and lasting happiness. God promises eternal life to all who come. He sets forth the command in such a way that those who hear can understand that obedience is the most desirable thing in the world. It is the only path to true joy.
Scripture frequently presents the gospel command in this way: “Hear, for I will speak of excellent things” (Prov. 8:6). “What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?” (Isa. 5:4). “But to Israel he saith, All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people” (Rom. 10:21).
God commands in such a way that His goodness is displayed, so that the sin of rejecting Him is exposed for what it truly is. There is no excuse for refusing God’s command. The fault does not lie in the gospel, nor in Christ offered therein, nor in God who calls by the gospel and bestows various gifts through the ministry of the Word. The fault lies in the sinner himself (cf. Canons III/IV:9).
Only unbelieving and wicked men who deserve eternal punishment commit such a terrible sin. Prof. Herman Hanko
Is the Soul Immortal?
In volume II, no. 19 of the News we wrote about the immortality of the soul and stated, “To call the continued existence of the souls of the wicked ‘immortality,’ is, however, a somewhat careless and unbiblical use of that word.” One of our readers has written questioning this statement in view of the fact that the Reformed creeds (Westminster Confession of Faith 32.1, Belgic Confession 37) and most Reformed theologians use the word to refer to the continued existence of the souls of all men after death.
We agree that the statement was misleading. The fact of the matter is that the word has traditionally been used in theology to teach that our souls are not annihilated after death but continue to exist either suffering eternal punishment or enjoying eternal blessedness. This is an important truth today especially because many so-called evangelicals are teaching what is called “conditional immortality,” that the wicked suffer torment in hell only for a while and then are annihilated.
We wish to make it as clear as we can that we do not believe either in immediate annihilation after death or in conditional immortality. We believe in hell and believe that the wicked will suffer eternal torment in hell.
In the earlier article we wished only to point out that the use of the word “immortality” is different in the Bible. The Bible uses the word in reference to God Himself and to the eternal heavenly life the elect receive in glory. It never uses the word to refer to the wicked who perish. Even Adam did not have immortality in the biblical sense of the word.
The word “immortality” means “not able to die.” Scripture teaches that the unsaved cannot cease to exist, yet they are described as having died in body and soul even while they continue in existence. From the first death they pass into the second death (Rev. 20:14) and they never see life (John 3:36).
But neither theologians nor the Reformed creeds deny this when they speak of the “immortality” of the soul. In that usage the word refers to continued existence after death, not to eternal life.
Nor is it necessarily wrong for theologians to use a term in a sense somewhat different from Scripture. We do the same with the word “predestination.” In theology, predestination often refers to both election and reprobation, while in Scripture it refers only to election.
So long as we do not adopt unbelieving philosophical ideas about the soul, we may use the term immortality in its theological sense. In theology the word simply refers to continued existence after death. But Greek philosophy used the idea differently. It treated the soul as naturally indestructible and independent of the body, often denying the resurrection altogether. Philosophy therefore reduced the question to two options: either the soul continues forever or death ends everything. Scripture, however, teaches something different. It teaches both the continued existence of the soul and the resurrection of the body, as well as the reality of death, judgment and hell (cf. Acts 17:32).
We trust this clears up any confusion we may have caused. Rev. Ron Hanko
