Summary of Chosen by God
by R.C. Sproul
A.
1. Defintion of predestination:
"Predestination means that our final destination, heaven or hell, is
decided by God before we are even born."
2. God's sovereignty: God is supreme authority of heaven and earth.
3. God is supreme power. All other authority and power are under God.
4. If God is not sovereign, he is not God.
5. God exercises his sovereignty in such a way that it does no evil and
violates no human freedom.
6. Man's first act of sin is a mystery. That God allowed men to sin
does not reflect badly upon God.
7. All Christians face the difficult question of why God, who
theoretically could save everyboy, chooses to save some, but not all.
8. God does not owe salvation to anyone.
9. God's mercy is voluntary. He is not obligated to be merciful. He
reserves the right to have mercy upon whom he will have mery.
Justice
--------
--------
Non-Justice
-------------
| Mercy |
-------------
| Injustice |
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10. God's sovereignty and man's freedom are not contradictory.
B.
1. Free will is defined as "the ability to make choices according to our
desires."
2. The concept of a "neutral free will," a will without prior
disposition or inclination, is a false view of free will. It is both
irrational and unbiblical.
3. True free will involves a kind of self-determination which differs
from coercsion from an external force.
4. We struggle with choices, in part because we live with conflicting
and changing desires.
5. Fallen man has the natural ability to make choices but lacks the
moral ability to make godly choices.
6. Fallen man, as St. Augustine said, has "free will" but lacks
"liberty."
7. Original sin is not the first sin but the sinful condition that is
the result of Adam's and Eve's sin.
8. Fallen man is "unable to not sin."
9. Jesus taught that man is powerless to come to him without divine aid.
10. Before a person will ever choose Jesus, he must first be born again.
C.
1. The pervasive, universal presence of human sin cannot be explained
adequately by a myth.
2. Man's sinfulness cannot be explained by "society."
3. Society is made up of individuals, who each must be a sinner before
the society as a whole can be corrupt.
4. Realism also fails as an explanation because it involves a fanciful
approach to Scripture.
5. The federal view of the fall takes seriously the role Adam played as
our representative.
6. Adam perfectly represented us not by virtue of his perfection but by
virtue of God's perfect selection.
7. All Christians must have some view of the fall.
8. God's saving grace is directed toward those whom he knows to be
fallen creatures.
D.
1. Our salvation flows from a divine initiative. It is God the Holy
Spirit who sets the captive free. It is he who breathes into us
spiritual life and resurrects us from spiritual death.
2. Our condition before we are quickened is one of spiritual death. It
is more sevr than mere mortal illness. There is not an ounce of
spiritual life in us until God makes us alive.
3. Without rebirth no one will come to Christ. All who are reborn do
come to Christ. Those who are dead to the things of God stay dead to the
things of God unless God makes them alive. Those whom god makes alive,
come alive. Salvation is of the Lord.
E.
1. Foreknowledge is not a valid explanation of predestination.
2. It makes redemption ultimately a human work.
3. Predestintion is sidestepped and rendered virtually empty of
significance.
4. The Golden Chain shows that our justification depends upon God's
calling.
5. God's calling rests upon a prior predestination.
6. Without predestination there is no justification.
7. It is not our future choices, however, that induce God to choose us.
8. It is God's sovereign decision on our behalf.
F.
1. Not all men are predestined to salvation.
2. There are two aspects or sides to the question. There are those who
are elect and those who are not elect.
3. Predestination is "double."
4. We must be careful not to think in terms of equal ultimacy.
5. God does not create sin in the hearts of sinners.
6. The elect receive mercy. The non-elect receive justice.
7. No one receives injustice at the hands of God.
8. God's "hardening of hearts" is itself a just punishment for sin that
is already present.
9. God's choice of the elect is sovereign, but not arbitrary.
10. All of God's decisions flow from His Holy character.
G.
1. We conclude that assurance of salvation is vital to our spiritual
lives. Without it our growth is retarded and we are assailed with
crippling doubts.
2. God calls us to make our election sure, to find the comfort and
strength that God offers in assurance. In Romans 15 Paul declares that
it is God who is the source or fountainhead of our perserverance and
encouragement (v. 5) and of our hope (v. 13). Finding our assurance is
both a duty and a privilege.
3. No true believer ever loses his salvation. To be sure, Christians
fall at times seriously and radically, but never fully and finally. We
perservere, not because of our strength but becuase of God's grace that
preserves us.
Go back to Contend for the Faith.
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