God's Decree and Man's Freedom

When Governor Pilate looked at Jesus, he did not have the eyes to see the truth of who was standing before him. What's more, he did not have the eyes to see neither the limit nor the true origin of his own power as governor. This was especially demonstrated when Jesus refused to answer one of Pilate's questions - to which Pilate responded in great arrogance: "You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have the authority to crucify you" (Jn.19:10)? At this incredibly brazen statement, Jesus broke His silence and put Pilate in his place: "You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above" (Jn.19:11, italics mine).

These words of Christ were a sobering revelation to this pagan Roman ruler. For they revealed the truth that no matter what Pilate chose to do, his actions were only carrying out a greater purpose and power that he could not see. Pilate's every decision and the fulfillment thereof was "to do whatever [God's] hand and...plan had predestined to take place" (see Acts 4:27-28). In short, Pilate's choices were simply but profoundly (even mysteriously!) establishing God's decree.

Now it might be asked in the light of this truth: "Well, if Pilate was fulfilling God's decree, then does that make him nothing but a mere puppet with no free will?" This is a typical response raised as a matter of objecting to the truth that God has decreed everything that comes to pass (including the choices of a man who would order the crucifixion of the Son of God). But what must be recognized, is that God's sovereign decree does not violate the will of man, but actually sustains and provides his freedom to choose; while at the same time, God fulfills His sovereign plan by the means of those choices. Consider how God's Word states this truth in the Book of Proverbs:

"The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord." (16:1)

"The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." (16:9)

"Many are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." (19:21)

"The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will." (21:1)

"No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can avail against the Lord." (21:30)

"The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the Lord." (21:31)

In each of these passages it should be clear that man makes real choices. He plans and devises to do many things. But none of his choices work against God's decretive will nor do they overturn God's decretive will - but instead, they establish what God has already planned to happen in time.

In the 1689 Baptist Confession, consider the careful and insightful words written to declare this relationship between God's decretive will and man's freedom of choice: "Neither, by reason of [God's] decree, is the will of any creature whom He has made violated; nor is the free working of second causes put aside; rather is it established." We are not puppets with no volition, freedom, or power. Man has genuine freedom which can be defined as "the absence of external coercion." Or, as Sam Waldron put it: "If a man is not forced by any power outside himself to do that which is contrary to 'what he wants to do', then we may properly say that he is 'free'." Bringing greater clarity to this truth, with an important qualification, G.I. Williamson observed:

"The wonder of God's predestination is that God does leave men free in this sense, even though he predestines everything that every man will ever do. Some people use the word "freedom" in another sense, however, which is false in the extreme. They mean, by the 'freedom' of man, that man is able to do good or evil at any moment of time. To say that man is able to do good or evil, is very different from saying that a man is at liberty to do what he desires. We believe that man has liberty but not ability to do what is right. For the truth is that man, while free from coercion from the 'outside' is not free from the control of his own nature. He who is evil by nature must of necessity do evil. Just as we may say that God is good and therefore cannot do evil, so we may say that man (by nature) is evil and cannot (of himself) do good."

So when we talk about man's freedom of choice, we need to be clear about what this means biblically. Man is free to do what he wants but this does not mean that he is able to do whatever he wants. He is free to follow the desires of his nature; and God does not violate that freedom. Thus the Scripture says: "The heart of man plans his way..." (Prov.16:9). Man's "heart" (or nature) is free to choose. There is no coercion here on the part of God, or anyone else for that matter. However, what man chooses to do is not independent of God's sovereign decree. Man's freedom exists under the sovereign rule and reign of God, ordering and establishing the steps of man to fulfill God's eternal purpose. Man therefore is only as free to follow the desires of his heart as God has permitted in His sovereign will.

A good example of this is in Genesis 20, when king Abimelech took Abraham's wife, Sarah, to be his wife (under the false idea that Sarah was Abraham's sister). But before Abimelech could consummate the marriage, the Scripture says that, "God came to Abimelech in a dream by night" (20:3) - in this dream, God declared that this pagan king was a "dead man" for taking another man's wife. In response to this charge, Abimelech protested to God that he was completely innocent in this affair because both Abraham and Sarah told the king that they were siblings. Moreover, at this point, Abimelech had not yet had sexual relations with Sarah.

Now in view of the king's innocence in this matter, God said to him: "Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart..." (20:6a). In this statement, God is not only acknowledging Abimelech's innocence, but even the freedom of what he desired to do by taking Sarah to be his wife. However, the only reason why Abimelech had not yet consummated the marriage, was because God did not permit him. God said to this king: "...it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her." Abimelech followed the desires of his heart to take Sarah to be his wife; but his freedom to do this was entirely under God's sovereign will - thus he was not able to consummate the marriage because God did not let him. "The heart of a man plans his way, BUT the Lord establishes his steps" (Prov.16:9). Man therefore is only as free to follow the desires of his heart as God has permitted in His sovereign will.

Thus, Pilate was free and responsible for the choices he made against Christ (God did not force Pilate to hand Jesus over to be crucified). Yet, all of Pilate's free choices were only the "second causes" for Jesus going to the cross. The "first cause" for Christ to be crucified was God's eternal decree (Isa.53:10; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28). God therefore preordained both the ends and the means that put His Son on the cross.

So then, when we affirm the biblical truth that God has ordained everything that comes to pass - we are not denying that man makes real, responsible choices that have real consequences which he will be held accountable to answer. However, what we do affirm, is that nothing man chooses to do can override or thwart God's sovereign decree. For if in some sense God does not ordain everything that comes to pass, then He is not really sovereign; and if He is not sovereign, then He is not God. Perish the thought!

A Baptist Confession and God's Decree

The most well known and widely published Confession of Faith in Baptist history is The Second London Confession of 1689. It was the adopted confession for the very first Baptist Association in America in 1742 (i.e., the Philadelphia Association, est. 1707). The Charleston Association (1767) also adopted it as their confession for Baptists in the South; and in 1839, Jesse Mercer (1769-1841), republished the 1689 Confession to run as a series in The Christian Index (the Baptist state paper for Georgia) - calling it, "our Old Confession." Moreover, the 293 delegates who met in Augusta, Georgia to form The Southern Baptist Convention (May 8, 1845), all came from Baptist churches and associations who held to the 1689 Confession in its adopted form as the Philadelphia/Charleston Confession of Faith.

Now among the 32 chapters which frame this confession, the third chapter, handles with the greatest care and most well chosen words, the biblical truth of God's decree. In the first paragraph of this chapter, the overall truth of this doctrine is affirmed:

"From all eternity, God decreed all that should happen in time, and this He did freely and unalterably, consulting only His own wise and holy will. Yet in so doing He does not become in any sense the author of sin, nor does He share responsibility for sin with sinners. Neither, by reason of His decree, is the free working of second causes put aside; rather is it established. In all these matters the divine wisdom appears, as also does God's power and faithfulness in effecting that which He has purposed."

Now to just begin wrapping one's mind around this mammoth truth of Scripture, it would be helpful to simply paint with a broad brush a few central truths which are expressed in this paragraph. First, God's decree is His eternal sovereign purpose over all things in the universe. This means that we are not speaking here of what has been called "God's revealed will." The revealed will of God is clearly pronounced commands in Scripture (e.g., the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:1-17). God's will, in this respect, can be obeyed or disobeyed by man. However, God's decretive will is not "revealed" in every respect (Deut.29:29) nor is it a moral command God has given us to obey. Rather, God's decree is His eternal sovereign purpose that encompasses everything that happens in the universe. Hence nothing happens in the universe apart from God's decretive will (see Isa.46:10; Dan.4:34,35; Eph.1:11).

Second, God's decree cannot be frustrated or thwarted by man. Proverbs 19:21 says, "Many are the plans in the mind of man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." In Isaiah 14:24-27, God's decree concerning His judgment on Assyria is couched in terms which bespeak of His sovereign will as irresistible: "The Lord of hosts has sworn: 'As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand...For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who shall annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back' (vv.24,27)?

Finally, God's decree is not conditioned by anything outside of Himself. The Confession states that what God decreed, "He did freely and unalterably, consulting only His own wise and holy will." God does not wait for man to act and then decide what He should do. Never! When God decreed all things to come to pass, He did so as an act of sheer sovereign will. The universe and all its events, great and small, bow the knee to the decretive will of a holy, all-wise God who says: "it will be done."

What does Calvinism teach about "free will" ?

Calvinism has never denied that man has the freedom to choose, but it has been very careful to clarify the precise limits of that freedom. And what Calvinism has stressed most of all about man's freedom of choice, is that our ability to choose cannot go beyond our nature. Therefore, since man is born with a sinful nature (cf. Psa.51:5; 58:3; Jer.17:9; Rom.5:12) his natural choices will never be in favor of God but in rejection of God (Psa.10:3-4). So then, when a sinner hears the gospel he cannot understand it but thinks it to be foolish (see I Cor.1:18; 2:14); furthermore, because his heart is corrupted by sin, his desires are as well - which is why Jesus taught that sinners "hate the light" and will not come to the light because they "love the darkness" (Jn.3:19-20). And out of that love for the darkness comes a rebellion and resistance against God and His way of salvation in Christ.

Thus, if a sinner is left to himself to make the choice to follow Christ, he will renounce Christ everytime. It is not in man as a sinner to want Christ to save him. His desires and ability are both enslaved to his sinful nature, and are therefore bound to oppose God as a way of life. This is why the Bible declares as a matter of fact concerning all sinners apart from God's grace in Christ: "...there is none who seeks for God" (Rom.3:11). This one statement in the context of Romans 3:9-18, is stating that man in his sinfulness has not one single inclination to seek God as his God and Savior. In fact, based upon the meaning of the verb "seeks" (Greek: ekzeteo), Romans 3:11 is saying that in the nature of every sinner there does not exist a searching, longing, inquiring, craving, and seeking drive to want God in a saving way. This does not mean that man has no freedom to choose, but again, his free choices are totally limited by the natural bent of his nature. And if his nature is sinful (which it is!) then he cannot and will not choose to come to Christ for salvation, left to himself.

This is why Jesus made it so plain in John 6:44, that "no one can (Greek: dunamis - "power or ability") come to me, unless the Father draws (Greek: elkuo - "take possession of") him." Think carefully about what this verse is saying: no sinner has the ability to come to Christ unless God takes supernatural possession of him and brings him savingly to Christ. But this possession is not coercion. God is not forcing the sinner to come against his will. Rather, by giving the sinner a new nature through the new birth (Ezk.36:26; Jn.3:1-8; II Cor.5:17), he comes to Christ willingly and freely as he is enabled by the Holy Spirit (cf.Jn.6:63). This truth is expressed in the most comprehensive way in Chapter Ten of the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith:

"At a time appointed by and acceptable to God, those whom God has predestinated to life are effectually called by His Word and Spirit out of the state of death in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ. Their minds are given spiritual enlightenment and, as those who are being saved, they begin to understand the things of God. God takes away their heart of stone and gives them a heart of flesh. He renews their will, and by His almighty power He sets them to seek and follow that which is good, at the same time effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ. And to all these changes they come most freely, for they are made willing by divine grace."

This therefore is Calvinism's position on the idea of "free will": man has the natural ability and desire to choose many things, but because he is by nature a sinner, he cannot make the righteous and spiritual choice to trust Christ to save him. He is morally and spiritually unable and unwilling to excercise his will towards Christ. The great gospel evangelist and Calvinist, George Whitefield (1714-1770), summed up the Calvinist doctrine on free will best when he said: "Man has a free will to go to hell but none to go to heaven, till God works in him to will and do for His good pleasure."

A Cardinal Baptist Doctrine

One of the most important foundational and historic principles in Baptist church life is what's called, "regenerate church membership." This principle simply states that the church can only be made up of people who have been "born again" (Jn.3:3-8). The church therefore cannot be composed of any other person but those who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit with credible proof of that inward work by a life of saving faith in Christ and repentance of their sins. Or to state this principle in the words of the 1689 Baptist Confession:

"All persons throughout the world who profess to believe the gospel and to render gospel obedience unto God by Christ are, and may be called, visible saints, provided that they do not render void their profession of belief by holding fundamental errors or by living unholy lives; and of such persons all local churches should be composed "(Chap. 26, para. 2; italics mine).

Writing once on the practice of this principle in Baptist churches during the 18th & 19th centuries, Greg Wills observed:

"Baptists believed that Christ designed his churches for the redeemed. They held that the churches should admit the regenerate only. They therefore required persons seeking admission to the church to give evidence of their conversion. Members knew they could not peer directly into another's soul - they could not know certainly whether a person was truly born again. But they were convinced that Christ required them to judge the evidence. They admitted persons who 'in the judgment of charity' gave satisfactory evidence of conversion."

Needless to say, regenerate church membership is mandantory to the health of a local church. For one thing, it separates the church from the world. This principle maintains the truth and integrity of biblical teaching which draws a clear distinction between believer and unbeliever (see Eph.4:17-5:14; I Jn.3:4-10). A regenerate church membership says that Christians cannot be under the same "yoke" with a non-Christian - "for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols" (II Cor.6:14-18)? The church may be in the world but the church is not of the world (Jn.17:16).

In addition to this, the principle of regenerate church membership treats conversion to Christ as a supernatural work of God. One of the great implications of this principle is that to be a true member of the church results from one thing only: the sovereign, omnipotent grace of God in Christ bringing salvation to a lost sinner (Eph.2:1-10). Church membership therefore is the consequence of what God has done to bring the sinner to Himself. Thus conversion to Christ is not a decision made, a prayer prayed, or an aisle walked - but the work of God in the sinner delivering him from the tyranny of sin and uniting him to Christ, whereby he is supernaturally baptized into the body of Christ, which is the church (see Rom.6:1-11; I Cor.12:12-13; Eph.1:22,23). And the visible proof this divine work is a life in love with Christ, trusting Christ, and obeying Christ above all things. Such a person bears the marks of a genuine member of Christ's church.

Finally, regenerate church membership keeps the door to the church narrow & exclusive. There is no "open door" policy under this principle. It is not "come one, come all" - no matter what you believe. The door to church membership allows only those who trust in Christ alone for their salvation and bear the fruit of that trust in a life of faithful obedience to Him.

The Doctrine of God in the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith

Since I have mentioned in my last two posts our studies in the 1689 Baptist Confession on the doctrine of God - I thought it might be helpful to give a sample of that chapter from the Confession. Here is the first paragraph from chapter two regarding the attributes of God:

"There is but one, and only one, living and true God. He is self-existent and infinite in His being and His perfections. None but He can comprehend or understand His essence. He is pure spirit, invisible, and without body, parts, or the changeable feelings of men. He alone possesses immortality, and dwells amid the light insufferably bright to mortal men. He never changes. He is great beyond all our conceptions, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty and infinite. He is most holy, wise, free and absolute. All that He does is the out-working of His changeless, righteous will, and for His own glory. He is most loving, gracious, merciful and compassionate. He abounds in goodness and truth. He forgives iniquity, transgression and sin. He rewards those who seek Him diligently. But He hates sin. He will not overlook guilt or spare the guilty, and He is perfectly just in executing judgment."

Gen.17:1; Exod.3:14; 34:6,7; Deut.4:15,16; 6:4; I Kings 8:27; Neh.9:32,33; Psa.5:5,6; 90:2; 115:3; Prov.16:4; Isa.6:3; 46:10; 48:12; Jer.10:10; 23:23,24; Nah.1:2,3; Mal.3:6; John 4:24; Rom.11:36; I Cor.8:4,6; I Tim.1:17; Heb.11:6.

A Man-Centered View of God

For nearly ten months our church has been studying on Wednesday evenings the biblical doctrine of God, as it is expressed and expounded from the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. This has been the richest study so far in the Confession, and I imagine there will be no other study that will exceed both its depth and importance. Quite frankly, there is no doctrine more important to the Christian faith than the doctrine of God - who God is, what He is like, and how He works. For if we go wrong on this one doctrine, then we will go wrong on every other doctrine in Christianity.

Sadly though, there is probably no doctrine more twisted, misunderstood, and misapplied than the doctrine of God. In other words, how the revelation of God's nature, character, and works are taught in His Word, has got to be the most underminded and distorted truth of Scripture. And the chief reason for this perversion is because when we talk about God, we tend to always begin and end with man at the center of the universe. To say this another way: many people in the church really believe that God exists and works for the sole purpose of making them happy. In short, God exists to glorify man. Consider how Edward Donnelly made this same tragic observation in his book entitled, Heaven and Hell:

"The God people speak about today - if he exists at all - is only for man's benefit. His purpose, it seems, is to supply our needs, to provide for our happiness. God is a heavenly bell-boy. When he is needed you ring for him, and when you don't need him any longer you tell him to go away. The first answer of the Shorter Catechism has been rewritten to read, 'God's chief end is to satisfy man and to provide for him forever.' Even in evangelical churches the impression is too often given that God exists to make us happy, to solve our problems, to answer our prayers, to heal our sicknesses, to improve our marriages, to help us to keep a diet.

[Martin] Luther described this as 'using God'. What a disgustingly accurate expression! Have you ever been used? You thought that someone was your friend. You assumed that they enjoyed your companionship and valued you for yourself. You trusted them, but then found out that they were using you. They cultivated you only for what they wanted from you, then laughed at you behind your back. What would you think of a man who spoke of using his wife? What a wretch he would be! Yet this is exactly what people are attempting to do with God. This is how they think they can treat the Lord of heaven and earth. There is no sense of his holiness, awesomeness or majesty. He is seen as a puppet who stays in a box until we press the switch to let him out.

How Important is the Doctrine of the Trinity?

This morning as I was preparing for our Wednesday evening study in the 1689 Baptist Confession, I came across this searching and sobering observation regarding the biblical doctrine of the Trinity (our present studies right now are concerning this vital doctrine). The observation comes from Dr. James White, in his book The Forgotten Trinity. There is much here that the church at large needs to weigh in and evalute when we think and talk about God:

"The Trinity is a truth that tests our dedication to the principle that God is smarter than we are. As strange as that may sound, I truly believe that in most instances where a religious group denies the Trinity, the reason can be traced back to the founder's unwillingness to admit the simple reality that God is bigger than we can ever imagine. That is really what Christians have always meant when they use the term "mystery" of the Trinity. The term has never meant that the Trinity is an inherently irrational thing. Instead, it simply means that we realize that God is completely unique in the way He exists, and there are elements of His being that are simply beyond our meager mental capacity to comprehend...When men approach God's truth with a haughty attitude, they often decide that particular elements of that truth are not "suitable" to them, so they "modify" the message of the faith to fit their own notions. Since the Trinity is the highest of God's revelations concerning himself, it is hardly surprising to discover that many groups deny it. If one denies any of the preceding truths upon which the Trinity is based, one will end up rejecting the entire doctrine en toto. An unwillingness to worship God as God is and has revealed himself lies behind every denial of the Trinity that appears down through history. We want a God we can fit in a box, and the eternal, Triune God does not fit that mold."