Articles on Christian Apologetics and other Contemporary Issues

There is too much evangelistic activity going on today, but too much of the wrong kind, said a scholar. I do not believe he is exagerating. Modern evangelicalism has grasped for the tangible (numbers) and they have ultimately conquered the air. Today, evangelism is nothing more than a magic potion that finds its rest on unrepentant sinners. The gospel was revived for us in the Reformation and by God's grace it will never be lost again.

In this six part series you will find an introduction to the gospel beginning in Genesis and climaxing in the redemption of Christ.

Click Notes From week 1 - HTPC - The Holiness of God, The Fall, and Human Nature

Click Notes From week 2 - HTPC - The Work of Christ - The Perfect Sacrifice

Click Notes from week 3 - HTPC - Spiritual Resurrection - What happens at salvation?

Click Notes from week 4 - HTPC - The Doctrine of Repentance and Saving Faith.

Click Notes from week 5 - HTPC - Cultural Mandate.

click Notes from week 6 - HTPC - Great Commission and implications in daily life.

For questions, send e-mails to: apologus@hotmail.com

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"The Sovereignty of God and Man's Responsibility"

by Uri Brito

I affirm that the Sovereignty and Free-will of God are compatible with the responsibility of man. While this is true we must avoid by all means the extent of Calvinism, which is Hyper-Calvinism. This extreme view is diametrically opposed to historic Calvinism which supports Compatibilism. At the point we sacrifice human responsibility we end up with a fatalistic worldview ( as in Islam) and at the point we sacrifice the Sovereignty of God for the ultimate freedom of man we end up with a Semi-Pelagian worldview, which places man ultimately in control. Both must be avoided by all means. It is the opinion of this author that this matter is solved when we look at it from God's perspective first and then man's perspective In this article it is my intention to demonstrate these two truths by demonstrating the Biblical basis for the Sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man.

One of the main truths observed in the pages of Scriptures is the magnificent and glorious charge given to us by Jesus and the apostles to preach the gospel (II Timothy 4:2) and to defend the faith (I Peter 3:15). The Scriptures repeatedly exhorts us to be faithful, work, pray, love, encourage and many other such charges. It is absolutely absurd to assume as Hyper-Calvinists do that God placed humans on earth to simply go on with life and expect his coming. Interestingly, even "going on with life" or "expecting His coming" are diametrically opposed to this teaching. Both require action namely, responsibility. Man has been created with the need to serve His Master. And the idea that is clearly brought forth in the Bible are the serious consequences of not following this mandate which is to serve God. Serving is a declaration that the Sovereign God has chosen you for Himself and hence you are separated from worshipping darkness to the worship and praise of the brilliance of His dear Son.

The clarity of this position is shown when we notice that God has determined before time what man must do and yet He gives man a sense of responsibility for his own actions. In other words from man's perspective he is genuinely making a decision, but from God's perspective He has determined all things from eternity past. A clear example of this is Jesus’ betrayal. It was both necessary and freely chosen. Jesus himself proclaimed: “ The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him” (Luke 22:22). God determined that the betrayal simply had to happen, but when it occurred, it did so as a result of a responsible choice of Judas Iscariot. There is no contradiction between these two truths.

A second example is found in the enslavement of Joseph. God is the One who brought it to pass. Looking briefly at one example from the Old Testament, Genesis thirty-nine informs the reader that Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave into the land of Egypt. Eventually Joseph said, “ So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God” (Genesis 45:8). Later he added, “ But as for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 50:20). Both are absolutely true. While wicked men sought to use their freedom to destroy one's life, yet God determined that this be used to save one's life.

These are only few examples of this divine truth. In fact, no one has ever demonstrated a contradiction between predestination and human responsibility. There is no conflict whatsoever between an event being predetermined by an all-knowing God, and it also being genuinely performed by man. Again, it is perspectival. The famous Calvinistic Westminster Confession (1646) makes this point when it says, “ Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the First Cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly, yet by the same providence he orders them to fall out, according to the nature of Second Causes, either necessarily freely, or contingently.”

Consider the logic of the Puritan Stephen Charnock’s view: “First of all, God knows all things (Isaiah 46:10). Secondly, whatever God foreknows must come to pass (i.e., is determined). If it did not come to pass, then God would have been wrong in what He foreknew. But an all-knowing Being cannot be wrong in what he foreknows. Finally, God knew Judas would betray Christ.”Further, good reasoning informs us that if someone is forced against his will to commit a crime, then he is not responsible for it. For example, if some three-hundred-pound muscleman forced a person’s hand on a loaded gun and pointed it at someone else and squeezed one’s finger on the trigger, a person is not responsible for the shot that killed someone else.

The famous existentialist Jean Paul Satre argued: “ If God exists then the future is determined and I am not free; I am free; therefore, God does not exist.” In contrast, the great Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards argued: “ If every event has a cause, then so do free human choices; God is the First Cause of everything; therefore, God must be the cause of our free choices” (Luther and Erasmus pg. 332).

The reconciliation has been shown in the beginning with the examples given and the various biblical passages to prove it. However, in order to emphasize the truths of God’s sovereignty and responsibility, it would be important to prove them separately; doing so, this logical doctrinal truth will become very clear.As Divine Sovereignty comes to thought in this particular study the Bible teaches very clearly that God Almighty is in control over the entire universe, including human actions. One clear example is when Job declared to God: “ I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withheld from thee” (Job 42:2). The Psalmist acknowledged that, “ Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep places” (Psalm 135:67). Solomon said, “ The King’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turns it wherever he wills” (Proverbs 21:1). But God’s Sovereignty is not only exercised in general over His creation, but it is manifested in particular matters of human redemption and salvation. Even Christ - the sole means of salvation (Acts 4:12; I Timothy 2:5), “ was handed over... by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge” (Acts 2:23). Luke declares that, “ all who were appointed for eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). In perhaps the strongest of all passages on Divine Sovereignty, the Apostle Paul boldly declares that salvation does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort but on God’s mercy. Paul writes, “ Therefore, he has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens” (Romans 9:18). It is to the utter despair that the Arminian looks in Scriptures and discovers that God alone is Sovereign, man is lost and desperately wicked and his ability to choose good in God's eyes has been annihilated on the garden (Genesis 3). All that leaves us is with only one question and that is, on the battle of God's Sovereignty and Man's Free choice, guess who wins?

God is the first cause of all things and nothing comes to pass without having been first decreed from eternity past ( Read Ephesians 1). By nature we are alienated, enemies of God and God-haters. The truth is nothing in us wants to please God (Romans 8:8). Hence, we are left to God's mercy and Grace and now that we have been given a new nature we have a new goal, a new vision in life, that is, to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.

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