Is God Fair?

We are in no position to judge God, but He is our judge and we have no right to question His fairness, for what's fair is what He decrees as fair by its very nature and definition.  One recalls the parable of the Prodigal Son whereby the elder brother is dispirited at the grace shown the younger one and thinks it's unfair.  He should've celebrated the fact that he had always been the son and never suffered estrangement.

Too many Christians think that it is unfair that criminals who make deathbed conversions can get saved when they lived their whole life for Christ.  They should've noted that they get to live for Christ, not had to live for Him.  It is a privilege to live for Christ and one should be thankful for all the opportunities and be stewards of them.  He has become the recipient of greater reward, as God rewards according to our deeds whether we are in Christ a short time or long time.  We don't have to be Christians, we get to be Christians!  Many who are first shall be last, according to Christ, and the last, first.  The classic example of deathbed conversion is the famed thief or malefactor on the cross on the right side of Christ and to whom He said, "Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise."

In the final analysis, life may not always be fair because some people's portion is in this life and others have to learn the hard way--but God will make it all fair in the end at the judgment and He is just in all His ways.  And so, who's to say that inequity defines unfairness?  God is the moral center of the universe, thank God!  Soli Deo Gloria!

Does God Woo All?...

NOTE: I USE THE TERM ARMINIAN TO REFER TO THOSE WHO DENY THE TULIP FORMULA OF CALVINISM  (OR REFORMED THEOLOGY) BUT SOME THEOLOGIANS CLAIM TO BE FOUR-POINTERS, DENYING THE LIMITE OR DEFINITE ATONEMENT SCHEMA. THERE ARE ONLY TWO INTERPATIONS OF THE GOSPELS OF GRACE: ARMINIAN AND CALVINIST AND MOST FALL SOMEWHERE INBETWEEN, LIKE ARMINIANS WHO AFFIRM ETERNAL SECURITY. 

There is no question that we cannot come to Christ apart from the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives to make us able and willing to believe ("This is the work of God, that you believe..." according to John 6:29).  Some theologians of the Arminian persuasion do admit to the wooing of the Holy Spirit and even have a name for the pre-salvation work of Christ in our hearts, known as prevenient grace, whereby God makes you able to respond to the gospel. Calvinists or Reformed theologians subscribe to an efficacious grace or as it is called irresistible grace (cf. Rom. 5:21). 

God doesn't try to save sinners, He saves them.  He doesn't offer to save us but saves us.  The word for wooing in Koine (Greek )is elko, which means to compel or drag.  You can picture drawing water from a well.  God has the power to make the most unwilling willing, and to turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh! God literally drags us into the kingdom and makes believers out of us!

The big issue is whether God draws all and if He does, does He draw them equally? And if all are wooed, why do some not respond?   The golden chain of redemption in Romans 8:29-30 says that whom He foreknew He called.  There is a general gospel call given to all the world (cf. Titus 2:11), but the inner calling of the Holy Spirit is only given to the elect. (cf. Acts 2:32).  "The elect obtained unto it, and the rest were hardened,"  (cf. Rom. 11:7). "As many as were elected believed..." (Acts 13:48).  We are commanded to call all because we do not know whom the elect are, but God looks on the heart and knows those who are His.  God doesn't draw all equally, because some need more work than others and are given more grace ("Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more," according to Rom. 5:20).

The Arminian will not admit that God doesn't draw some at all, but leaves them in their sin. (Passing them by is called preterition).   God reserves the right to have mercy on whom He will have mercy according to Romans 9:15.  No one can resist God's will according to Romans 9:19 and if God decides to save someone, they will get saved--He is determined to bring about the salvation of the elect at the appointed time.  This brings up the issue or doctrine of preterition, which is when God passes over the non-elect so that they will receive the justice of God and not the mercy of God. He doesn't work fresh evil in their hearts but simply lets them go their way of sin and follow their hearts in the flesh, enslaved to sin.

"No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them," (cf. John 6:44).  We cannot respond to the gospel apart from the wooing, and this wooing  guarantees that we will respond to the gospel message--the Greek word elko means "to compel by irresistible superiority." Arminians like the word "woo" because it doesn't sound authoritarian, but that is downgrading God's omnipotence and sovereignty.  Arminians believe God may only draw those He sees will respond, but cannot say why God doesn't woo the others who fail to come to Christ.  Perhaps it is the intensity of the wooing! We cannot attribute some merit to ourselves for responding to the wooing ministry, for salvation is by grace alone.

The big question is why some people respond and others don't.  According to Scripture, we are called according to His purpose and grace and to the pleasure of His good will, nothing inherent in us to boast of.  "What do you have that you didn't receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7).  We have no inherent virtue or wisdom to qualify us for the kingdom. The only explanation is that faith is a gift from God and the result of regeneration not the cause of it--we don't conjure it up, but faith is not achieved but given.  We believer through grace. (Acts 18:27).  

However, the Arminian believes some respond favorably because of something in them such as being less biased or smarter, which makes salvation is ultimately based on their merit and works and not grace and faith.  If  you can come to God in faith without being regenerated, what good is it?  There is a tug on the heart as the elect hears the gospel message ("Faith comes by hearing and by hearing of the Word of God" according to Rom. 10:17).        Soli Deo Gloria!

What Is Saving Faith?

You gotta have faith!  How big is your God, not how big is your faith?  It depends on the strength of our God, not our faith.  Without faith, you cannot please God! (Cf. Heb. 11:6).  A real, genuine faith is one that grows and is not static or going nowhere.  True faith consists of right knowledge (you cannot subscribe to heresy), assent or agreement, and trust or reliance on it.  We don't have blind faith, for we have sound reasons to believe and don't believe in spite of the evidence.  We don't believe something we know isn't true--there is ample and compelling circumstantial evidence for the open-minded and willing person--no one can say there is lack of evidence.  We don't have faith in faith, but in the object of Christ (the object saves not the faith).  Faith is a verb and entails action:  "By faith Abraham obeyed ..." and so forth.  It is a matter of the will--it is volitional.  We choose to believe of our own ("If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know..." (cf. John 7:17, ESV), but God quickens faith in us and makes us alive--dead people cannot believe!

We must take the leap of faith from the seed planted.  Faith is not a work (if it were we would have merit before God, but we are not saved by works).   If it were a work, we would foul it up somehow!   The faith you have is the faith you show:  Paul says, "I'll show you my works by my faith," while James says, "I'll show you my faith by my works."  We are saved by faith alone, according to the Reformation doctrine, but not by a faith that is alone.  Works are no substitute for faith, but only evidence of it, as we are saved unto works, not by works.

The theological axiom applies:  "Only he who is obedient believes, only he who believes is obedient." Obedience is the only true test of faith and they are correlated in Hebrews 3:18 and John 3:36. The obedience of faith separates the bogus profession of faith and the reality of faith as seen in Acts 6:7 ("... [M]any of the priests became obedient to the faith") and Romans 1:5.  You must trust and obey! (Mark 10:9 says, "What God has joined together let not man put asunder.")

Faith is given, not achieved--it is the gift of God and we do not conjure it up.   It is the work of God as His gift, but we must use it and take the leap.  "... [H]e greatly helped those who through grace had believed" (Acts 18:27, ESV).  But there is a difference between head belief and heart belief:  the demons also believe and tremble!  The first step to faith is a positive attitude expressed in listening, then understanding with the mind, then believing with the heart, and finally trusting and relying on will or volition.  The result:  "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope"  (Romans 15:13, ESV).

What is the progression of faith?  Openness to the truth (unbelievers reject the truth), acceptance of the gospel message, willingness to obey God's will in relinquishment, surrender to the Lordship of Christ, and self-denial and willingness to follow Jesus.  We must give up, surrender, and commit to what we know is true.  The elements of faith in progression are:  Knowing, reckoning, yielding, obeying, trusting, delighting, committing, waiting, and anticipating.

Its logical conclusion is a relationship with Jesus with a love for Him--"[T]hough you have not seen him, you love him (cf. 1 Pet. 1:8, ESV). Faith begets fruit and works, no fruit, no faith!  "If you love me, you will keep my commandments"  (John 14:15, ESV).  Note that no one has perfect faith:  God requires only sincere, unfeigned faith according to 1 Tim. 1:5 says:  "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith" (ESV). Final Caveat: Beware of easy-believism whereby one thinks he is saved by merely believing without submitting to His lordship.  Soli Deo Gloria!

On Cloud Nine...

Is it realistic to expect Christians to always have their minds literally focused on Christ?  Hebrews 3:1; 12:2 says:  "Looking to Jesus...."  He is our Exemplar and the one to emulate.  Put everything in respect to the Lord first.  The only philosophy or worldview that Christ will fit into is the one where He is the starting point and premier focus.  We are not to be so heavenly minded, we are no earthly good, it is well said. This means don't have the perspective of man but see things through Christ's eyes and remembering Him at every opportunity--keeping the door of prayer open. We can be doing the most menial task and do it with the Lord in mind, as unto the Lord and in the name of the Lord, but we must concentrate on the job at hand and not try to multitask.  "Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD with slackness..." (Jer. 48:10, ESV).

Being a believer doesn't entail that we neglect the mundane because it is not spiritual.  Scripture warrants no distinguishing between sacred and secular duties--they are all to be done as unto the Lord! We need a disciplined mind that redeems the time for the Lord and makes the most of the opportunity given us. You cannot walk in the glow of some mystical or surreal experience for the rest of your life and think that is being spiritual.  God honors faith and a faith walk more than going by feelings or being dependent on them. Faith is what pleases God (cf. Heb. 11:6).

When we bring glory to God through our works we are minding heavenly things.  The goal of our thoughts and the pleasure of our thinking should be heavenly as we delight in the things of God in heaven: "Delight yourself in the LORD..." (cf. Psalm 37:4).  As we walk with the Lord in fellowship we enjoy His presence and blessing on our life, and we can see things in light of eternity as we have a more abundant life and live life to the fullest. 

Cloistered virtue is no virtue:  The monks of the dark ages would escape from the world to meditate in monasteries and their retreat from the world's cares was thought to make them "holy." ("Holier than thou" is more like it!)  God has put us in the world, but we are not part of it (cf. John 15:19).

We do not live for the here and now, as the heathen do, but in light of eternity and in preparation for the coming of the Lord.  When we see things from the divine viewpoint in Christ's perspective, we can live confidently and keep focused on what's really important--"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness..." (cf. Matt. 6:33).   I know of no greater joy than of doing the Lord's work and if I can see that what I am doing has His blessing I enjoy it all the more--we live for the approbation and applause of our Savior, not man's approval.  If we are ready to meet our Maker we have certainly gotten our minds focused on the eternal and have put everything into perspective.

The more we treasure things in heaven and the more we have at stake here, the more focused we will be on heavenly things.  Once you've experienced the joy of the Lord, you will not settle for the cheap thrills of this life and what it has to offer.  We don't chase earthly fantasies or dreams that have no spiritual benefit. We need heavenly goals and a divine purpose, setting our plans on something that will outlast this life and count in eternity. 

An example of a heavenly philosophy would be:  I want to be a great Christian with a great commitment to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.  Having the right mindset (getting our thinking straightened out) will give us endurance and orientation to face the trials and tribulations of life--our attitude counts.   Soli Deo Gloria!