That is truly the sixty-thousand-dollar question! In addition, Lutzers redirect in assuring people they can know they are among the elect is somewhat self-centered and narcissistic. But in that Lutzer believes and presents the call to believe as an irresistible work of the Spirit based on an unconditional election, and yet also presents the call to believe as a response the sinner has to make to the preaching of the gospel, this shows up unconditional election as the hollow doctrine that it is. This view of election is in large part necessary because of the Arminian worldview where man chooses God, instead of God choosing man. There are those for whom he cares (i.e., the elect), and for all the rest God couldnt care less. Decretum horribile. But as I pointed out elsewhere, this experience is untrustworthy, because according to Calvin the Spirit can give such evidences for a time to the non-elect, but remove his presence in the end. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. While it is true that only God knows those who are his (2 Timothy 2:19), is it also true that he initiates the desire within a human heart only if he knows in advance he or she is going to be "his"? OK, on further review I think I am forgetting a key distinction about free will and the more determinist PoV in Calvinism. God does not want them to be saved and therefore has not predestined them to salvation. It is not God who does not love them nor desire their salvation. And of course Christ will not cast anybody out who comes, because only those unconditionally elected or predestined will come. Now, we know that Jesus perfectly fulfilled the law in every way (Matt. The phrase "seek God" is used by Paul in Acts 17:27, but with carefulness, as seen by the surrounding words, "might" and "perhaps". All Scripture is quoted from the King James Translation. Come to Christ and be saved! In the latter, a persons eternal destiny is fixed. ( Ezekiel 33:11 ). What does that mean? God bears witness against him, not for him; and testifies that "there is none righteous, no, not one"; that there is "none that doeth good"; none "that understandeth"; none that even seeks after God, and, still more, none that loves Him (Psa. Perhaps this is an entirely different question, but how then is one to know that one is seeking after the true God? [2] This dark mystery has its roots in erroneously thinking that faith is a meritorious work and that sinful man, because of his total inability, is incapable of confessing what God requires him to confess that he is a sinner incapable of saving himself and that he must put his trust in Christ for salvation. A person can reject the salvation offered to them even though accompanied by the work of the Spirit who enables them to believe. But also, inconsistently, Lutzer makes it seem that the sinner themselves is responsible for their believing. Rather than a joyful, universally applicable salvation message of divine saving love and grace demonstrated in the cross of Christ which can be sincerely offered to all and freely received by all by simple faith alone, the dark cloud of an unconditional deterministic salvation has taken front and center. He is a Calvinist and therefore holds to a doctrine of unconditional election. They say it sounds harsh or that it can sound like the elect are boasting. 14, 16). So, if man is characterized by total inability, and election is unconditional, and the call is effectual and grace is irresistible, how is it that the person needs to do something as if it is they who can do it or not do it? What happens if someone who is not elect, tries to seek God? It is full of conditions they need to do. Covenant and Law (including New Covenant Theology), Sovereign Grace (the Doctrines of Grace, Calvinism, the TULIP), Biblical Typology (Types and Shadows in the Bible), Issues (religious, political, and societal controversies), Spanking Children in Light of the New Covenant, You Are My Disciples, If You Have Love for One Another. Subscribe to our mailing list to receive our newsletter. And the experience they create is not even coherent with their election as unconditional. That the Bible uses the words elect and chosen to refer to some people is indisputable. And if a person is elect, what they will evidence must be the list of things Lutzer describes believe on Jesus, stop trusting, trust wholly in, transfer your trust, coming and the receivingthe gift of eternal life. Thus, this Calvinist if is the great mystery, the great qualifier, the indicator and separator of the elect from the non-elect. What is the connection between v.19a and 19b? On Lutzers message of unconditional election the work of God and the Spirit happens or does not happen, is experienced or not experienced, for one reason only, that is, because a person is elect or not elect. The Spirit will continue to work until he has produced in you the effect he has predetermined faith. Accidentally put regular gas in Infiniti G37. The assurance of Gods love and the saving applicability of Christs death on behalf of you or me or anyone else is placed in doubt. Repent, and believe in the Good News. We obey Jesus by believing the Gospel. Instead, the emphasis is to believe. We dont. They are called the "elect" because that word denotes "determining beforehand," "ordaining," "deciding ahead of time." Every four years in the U.S., we "elect" a Presidenti.e., we choose who will serve in that office. Paul's doctrine of election reflects on how God has chosen in the past." Calvinists are Christians and Calvinists and non-Calvinist Christians share a multitude of common ideas and Thats the only way you can know is by coming to Christ in humble repentance and receiving, by faith, the gift of eternal life.. In a similar respect, I get worried that my efforts to help or ease or relieve or please persons which end up being non-elect will be entirely in vain in other words, any improvements made to their life will be in vain within the context of the eternity which awaits them Is God pleased when people improve the health and wellbeing of the non-elect (as He knows Himself who is elect and who is non-elect) or doesn't He care at all about whether they are in affliction or in an 'unpleasant' condition or whether they are prospering? To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? Here God says he will hear the prayers of Christians, on the condition that they conduct themselves in the proper Christian manner. Read or subscribe:https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/do-the-non-elect-have-a-chance-to-repent Of course in this life all we ever see is snapshots somewhere short of "glorified", but those who seek God will find him because they only sought God in the first place because they had been called (and justified). The first injection is if God has worked in your heart, and the second is if the Spirit is working in your heart. These have direct bearing upon how we understand the nature, content and function of the gospel message. Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. We are left confused. What Lutzer has told them has to do with them appropriating the salvation accomplished for them by Jesus. Since this election is unconditional there is nothing they can do to transfer themselves from the one category of person to the other. Practically it has no implications or meaning. February 10, 1985 - Clear Theology Matthew 11:27 - All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? 1st Peter 2:6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Nevertheless, the elect and the non-elect, also called the reprobate, have had two different destinies from eternity. On Calvinism, the people Lutzer is speaking to cannot and will not do these things contrary to how Lutzer makes it seem. (Reformed point of view). Gods work and the Spirits work occurs for each person on the basis of an unknown unconditional election to salvation or an unknown unconditional reprobation to eternal perdition. The gospel is not if God has worked in your heart or if the Spirit is working in your heart then consider this a sign of your unconditional election. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. First of all, the doctrine of election is one of the most difficult theological doctrines and it is easily misunderstood. That tag carries with it a need for that context. How does he answer the question Who are the elect? What does he tell people as to how they can know they are a member of the elect? He does so by circumventing and contradicting his doctrine of unconditional election by making a free offer of salvation to all based upon the sinner fulfilling certain conditions that presuppose the sinners ability to perform and hence the truth of libertarian free will. The Calvinist cannot object to my assessment above for he would be objecting to the character of his own God and his own divine decree. Still, in the parable of the sower, Mark 4:3-20, Jesus speaks of some that have an apparent interest in the things of God, but then fall away. That's not true. Whether or not they do so is left up to them by God. What you need to do, if God has worked in your heart, is to believe on Jesus, stop trusting your goodness, trust wholly in the work of Christ, transfer your trust to Jesus alone and then you will know that you are elect. What Does the Bible Say About Knowing And Not Knowing God? - OpenBible.info Am I included? Hence, where has the gospel gone? Note first that Lutzer holds to the standard Calvinist definition of election as an unconditional, unilateral choice God made before the creation of the world as to which individuals will be saved. (1) Election does not mean that God merely knew who would believe and on that basis elected them. And since he calls all to salvation, he enables all to that end. Whom he justified, those he also glorified (Romans 8:29-30). [4] G. I. Williamson, The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes, (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1978), X.2, p. 88. According as it is written, God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day. David says, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, a stumbling block, and a retribution to them. Therefore, Calvinism is christologically deficient because an unconditional election detracts from the sinner having Christ presented to him as the mediator of salvation, the expression of Gods salvific love and will and the very source of the sinners hope. Therefore, their coming is not only inevitable, but to say to them that they need to come to Christ as if that is a necessary step in their salvation or something they must do is both incoherent and redundant. Reddit, Inc. 2023. We know this by virtue of the universal call that applies to each and every person who hears the gospel. Rather, God calls us to believe, to receive Jesus Christ as Savior, by grace through faith ( John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9 ). My Hope America Reflections on Two Incompatible Gospels, A Christians Reflections on an Election in America, Christian Reflections on the Present Turmoil in America. Therefore, people should be able to find out if they are not among the unconditionally elect. As weve seen, this is the right answer to the question, Who are Gods elect? The Body of Christ consists only of the elect whom God chose in eternity. For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. The Elect Are the Jews and/or the People or Nation of Israel I know that I said this article would concern itself with the body of people the New Testament calls "elect" and "chosen." Yet, there are Bible teachers who insists that the elect people of God in the New Testament are the Jews or the nation of Israel. Isaiah 1:11 through 15 The non-Calvinist agrees that the salvation of a sinner is a work of the Spirit. Privacy Policy. Gods sheep will hear their Shepherds voice and follow Him (John 10:27) when God sees fit to regenerate them. He said that the angels would gather the elect, not the elect and the non-elect (verse 31). They cannot even believe. - Open-Air Street Preaching, Eric Holmberg Open-Air Preaching at Kentucky Derby, The Table Of The Lord - The Purpose Of Communion by Eric Svendsen, The divine testimony concerning man is, that he is a sinner. The Bible never says that you must believe to know you are among the unconditionally elect or that only those unconditionally elected to salvation will believe. That is not so given the Calvinists unconditional election. But inconsistent with his unconditional election, Lutzer believes, Whosoever will may come. Once you have called people to believe on Jesus, stop trusting your goodness, trust wholly in in the work of Christ transfer your trust to Jesus alone, come to Christ in humble repentance and receive by faith the gift of eternal life a doctrine of unconditional election makes no sense or practical difference. That is good news. Lutzer says, Well, you can all be among the elect by believing. This has not only got things backwards, but it is driven by having to make relevant to the process of salvation his a priori doctrine of unconditional election. It is hard to say, seeing as the Bible would imply that the sole purpose of their existence is so that God could bring glory to Himself through judging, sentencing, condemning and tormenting people according to their works Archived post. And then you can know, and you will know it by the work of the Spirit, by the assurance of the Word of God, and if you struggle with assurance and that can be very normal, all of us do from time to time, and thats why here at the Moody Church we have prayer partners after the service, we want to help you in those areas but the fact is this, that, you and I must be aware of the fact that when we come to Christ he will receive us, he will not cast anybody out who comes. The assurance that Gods love and Christs work is savingly relevant to everyone has been removed. Clearly God does love even those who spurn His tender mercy, but it is a different quality of love, and different in degree from His love for His own. Above all else, election is a cause of praise to the Lord who has chosen to save us even when we would never have chosen Him if left to ourselves (Eph. Therefore, there is no such distinction in Scripture, as the Calvinist presents that distinction, between an elect and a non-elect. He should more accurately indicate that these particular experiences are the evidences of a persons unconditional election. Psalms 5:5, 11:5 Romans 9:16-18 However we in this life must love these people because the only thing that separates us from them is grace Matt 5:44. God not only knows the end from the beginning, He declares it, determines it, doing all that He pleases (Isaiah 46:10). That's what John Calvin called the doctrine of reprobation (Institutes 3.23.7). But it could just as well be that they believe because they are responding to the good news of the gospel. Note first that given unconditional election, this promise of knowing the status of our eternal destiny seems strange in that Calvinists typically respond to such an inquiry as being a futile attempt to pry into the secret counsels of God. Doesnt this make God unfair, unloving, and unmerciful as well as the author of sin? If and when we do so, God's Holy Spirit in some mysterious way takes God's word, as heard through our lips and seen through the quality of our lives, and initiates in a human heart the process of seeking after God. So we learn about who is elect by looking inward to see if God is at work upon our desires in a positive way, determining our beliefs, responses, decisions and actions. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
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