Election
Having written in the last issue of the News about reprobation, we wish in this issue to write about the wonderful, biblical doctrine of election. As awesome as is the doctrine of reprobation, so beautiful is the doctrine of election.
It is impossible to deny that the Bible teaches election; so often does the Bible speak of it. The question, therefore, is not whether there is such a thing, but what it is and when it is.
We believe that election is God’s sovereign choosing of some to salvation and eternal life, and we believe that God made this choice in eternity. He does not choose now in response to what man does, but has chosen some from “before the foundation of the world” (Rom. 9:10–13; Eph. 1:3–6).
To see, though, that this doctrine of election is not something to be hated and rejected, we must realize that election is not just a choice that God makes, but a revelation of His eternal and unchangeable LOVE.
The Bible not only tells us that God chose some; it also tells us why He chose them and, by doing so, gives us a glimpse, as it were, into the very heart of God. God chose some people simply because He loved them!
That love of God is eternal. He has always loved His people.
That love of God is unconditional. It is not a response to what men do. He did not love them because they first loved Him. He was the first to love, from eternity (I John 4:9).
That love of God is sovereign and powerful. It never goes unfulfilled, but is revealed in the death of Jesus Christ for the complete salvation of all those for whom Christ died (John 3:16).
We believe that the word “foreknowledge” in the Bible refers to God’s love. It does not refer to mere foresight, but to the love of God before time. The word “know” is used elsewhere in the Bible to describe intimate love, like the love of a husband for his wife and of a wife for her husband (Gen. 4:1, 25).
That is the way God “foreknows” His people (Amos 3:2). He does not just know who they are, or all about them, but deeply, tenderly and intimately loves them through Jesus Christ.
What a reason for thankfulness! God’s love is amazing in the shadow of the cross of Jesus and what He did there for lost sinners. But how much more amazing is the love of God when we remember that eternally, unchangeably and unconditionally He loved His own. That is indeed a love which “passeth knowledge” (Eph. 3:19). Do you know it? Rev. Hanko
As Perfect as God
“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5:48).
Sometimes the admonitions that God addresses to us in Holy Scripture are shocking. They are shocking because they call us to a life that seems to be, and indeed is, far beyond our attainment.
One of our perceptive readers has noticed this and asked for comment on this calling to perfection found in the text quoted above.
This is not the only passage that speaks such strong language. One may find the same idea in other places in Scripture, for example, I Peter 1:15–16: “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
Holy as God Himself? Are we really called to that high holiness? How shall we ever attain it? Does not God demand too much of us?
Perfection! The perfection of God Himself! Is that our calling? How can it be?
Many people, especially Arminians (who are often to be found in the charismatic movement), really believe that perfection is possible for the child of God in this world. In fact, with relative ease and without any great difficulty, such people claim to attain to perfection and to practise such perfection for the remainder of their lives.
It reminds me of a minister in the Netherlands who, one Sabbath morning, proudly announced to his congregation that he was celebrating an anniversary. “It was,” he said, “exactly three years ago that I had committed my last sin.”
Such people have no conception of sin and its terrible power in the holiest believer. Even Paul groaned and complained that of all sinners he was the chief (I Tim. 1:15). They think that sin is only in the deed, and forget that it is also in the nature. We not only sin; we are sinners. Those natures conceived in sin and born in iniquity (Ps. 51:5) remain corrupt all our life long, even though we are regenerated and brought to conversion.
Every child of God knows this. Daily he bemoans his sin. Daily he flees for refuge to the cross of Jesus Christ. He knows the truth of those sober statements in the Heidelberg Catechism: “Even the holiest of men, while in this life, have only a small beginning of [true] obedience” (Q. 114), and “Our best works in this life are all imperfect and defiled with sin” (Q. 62).
Every child of God knows that he comes far short of the calling to love the Lord his God with all his heart, and all his soul, and all his mind and all his strength. He is not now perfect and never attains it this side of the grave.
Why does God require perfection from us when it is totally beyond our reach in this life?
Several reasons for this may be found.
In the first place, God created us perfect and, in demanding perfection, He only requires what He first gave us and still has a right to demand of us. After all, we lost our perfection by our own sin.
Secondly, by calling us to perfection God reminds His people that they have not yet attained to perfection and still fall short of it. Thus God calls them to flee to the cross for forgiveness, for their sins remain many and great.
Thirdly, by calling us to perfection God reminds us of what He Himself will someday do for us. All our holiness and all in us that pleases Him are given us of grace alone. Someday, beyond this life, in the kingdom to come, God will make us completely like our Saviour, Jesus Christ, so that we are holy as He is and, being holy as He is, we shall be holy as God is. Every time the calling to perfection comes to us, we look beyond this life, in which we still sin so much, and ponder the perfection that someday shall be ours.
Finally, God calls us to perfection because He calls us to press on in our struggle against sin. It is true that, while we are in this life, we attain to only a small beginning of the holiness God requires. But we are called to strive for a goal higher than we can attain, so that all our life we continue the fight. Never may we become complacent and self-satisfied. That is spiritual disaster. Always, by the strength of the cross, we press on to those great, towering heights to which we are called, and which someday we shall attain when we go to glory.
So the calling is very urgent, very important, very comforting. Let us then, each in his own place in life, strive to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect. We shall someday be as He is! Prof. Hanko
Is the Doctrine of “Free Will” Unbiblical?
One of our readers has submitted the following question: “Is the doctrine of ‘free will’ unbiblical in the light of Rom. 9:16, Jn. 1:13, Jer. 4:22 and Jn. 15:16?”
In answer to this question we include the following article, written for a local newspaper; most of our readers will not have seen it.
At the time of the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther wrote a book entitled, The Bondage of the Will. This book was written against a man named Erasmus and his teaching that man has free-will, that is, the ability to choose whether or not he would be saved. Luther told Erasmus that this question about free-will was the most important issue of the Reformation. He said, “You [i.e., Erasmus] have not worried me with extraneous issues about the papacy, purgatory, indulgences, and such like, trifles rather than issues … you, and you alone, have seen the hinge on which all turns, and have aimed for the vital spot.”
In spite of what Luther wrote, the teaching of Erasmus concerning free-will has become the teaching of most of Protestantism today. Free-will is:
- A denial of predestination. Predestination means that God’s will (God’s choice) determines all things, including who will be saved (Eph. 1:3-6). Free-will teaches that man’s choice is the decisive thing in salvation.
- A denial of the biblical truth that saving faith is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8-10). Free-will teaches that faith is a person’s own decision to trust in Christ.
- A denial of the truth that Christ died only for His people (Matt. 1:21). Free-will teaches that Christ died for all without exception and that their salvation now depends on their accepting Him, that is, on their “free-will” choice.
Belief in free-will also shows itself in the kind of preaching and evangelism that is most popular today, the kind that begs sinners to accept Christ, that uses altar calls, appeals, decision times, raising of hands, and other such tactics to persuade them to do so. All these things presuppose that a person’s salvation depends on his own choice.
We believe that man’s will is in bondage to sin and that he not only cannot do good, but he cannot even want (will) to do it (Rom. 8:7-8). Especially he cannot do the greatest good of all, of choosing God and Christ.
We believe, therefore, that man cannot believe in Christ unless it is “given him from above” (John 6:44).
We also believe that not man’s will, but God’s sovereign and eternal will (predestination) is the decisive thing in salvation (Acts 13:48; Phil. 2:13).
What, then, is the point of preaching the gospel to all? It is “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16), the way in which God gives faith and repentance to all those whom He has chosen from eternity and redeemed in Christ. May it be that power unto salvation for many! Rev. Hanko
