God Does It All
QUESTION
“I am concerned about a comment you made, ‘God saves his people without any assistance or participation on the part of man whatsoever.’” (Anonymous)
ANSWER
There is no need for concern. “God saves his people without any assistance or participation on the part of man whatsoever,” is precisely what I believe. We are saved by the obedience of one (Romans 5:19), by one offering (Hebrews 10:14), by a savior who by himself purged our sins (Hebrews 1:3) and who has obtained eternal redemption for his people as a past historical fact (Hebrews 9:12). It is for these reasons that Paul declared we are eternally saved "not by works of righteousness which we have done" (Titus 3:5), "not according to our works" (II Timothy 1:9), and that our eternal salvation is "not of works" (Ephesians 2:8-9), and "not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” (Romans 9:16)
QUESTION
“I believe in sovereign grace and sovereign election. Are you saying that man has no responsibility?” (Anonymous)
ANSWER
I am saying that where the work of the eternal salvation of God's people is concerned, man is utterly without responsibility. It is impossible for a man to "responsibly" participate in a monergistic act of God, let alone one who is dead in trespasses and in sins. If a man can perform a spiritually responsible act, you can be sure of this, he is born again, and if he is born again he is ALREADY IN POSSESSION of eternal life, else he would lack any desire or inclination to spiritual responsibility. Stated plainly, man does NOTHING to either OBTAIN or MAINTAIN the free and sovereign gift of eternal salvation. Absolutely nothing. This is an unavoidable consequence of the fact that regeneration is a monergistic act of God and eternal life is a state from which someone “shall never perish” (John 10:28). Those who are in a state of eternally saving grace, who believe the truth of their salvation in Christ, are admonished to present their bodies a living sacrifice unto God as their reasonable service to God (Romans 12:1). That is their responsibility in discipleship. It is the proper motion of the new creature under gospel instruction, not the prerequisite of the unregenerate for becoming a new creature.
Saying “man has no responsibility in the matter of eternal salvation” might be disorienting, given the prevalence within the so-called “sovereign grace” camp of those who insist that eternal salvation involves both “God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility.” Those who say such things violate the principles of “sovereign grace” they claim to uphold. There are a lot of ways to illustrate that but I’ll give you DEPRAVITY and TIMING for consideration:
DEPRAVITY - The “sovereign grace” Christians who speak of eternal salvation as involving both God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility also insist that man is totally depraved and they make a great deal of this in their theology. But total depravity is nothing if not total irresponsibility in spiritual matters. If man in his natural state can perform a sincere, spiritually responsible act, then he most certainly is not totally depraved. It follows that any assertion that eternal salvation involves man’s responsibility is in conflict with the doctrine of total depravity.
TIMING - Since “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” (Romans 14:23), and unregenerate men have no faith (II Thessalonians 3:2), it follows that man cannot perform a spiritually responsible act until he is ALREADY IN POSSESSION of eternal life. Thus man’s capacity for and exercise of spiritual responsibility is too late to the party to ever account for how he obtained the free gift of eternal life. So, once again, we find that human responsibility has no participatory involvement in the work whereby one is eternally saved.
QUESTION
“Why then Paul's missionary journeys? Are you saying that mankind should not evangelize? To go ye therefore and make disciples?” (Anonymous)
ANSWER
This is essentially the same question as "If you believe that, why Preach?" I have a short video which answers this common objection and you may find it helpful. In short, saying that “preaching does not impart eternal life” is not the same as saying “preaching has no purpose.” Preaching serves many useful purposes in the kingdom of God but it does not alter the number of people who will be eternally saved. It instructs those who have the ears to hear so that they may live in accordance with God’s word as obedient disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord commanded us to "make disciples.” He did not command us to impart eternal life to men. Men are materially involved in making disciples but the new birth, wherein eternal life is imparted, is a work of God alone. Without the preceding, life-giving work of God directly upon the soul, all efforts to disciple men are vanity. This is the Nicodemian Precept, “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)
QUESTION
“Or are you referring to man not needed as an intercessor (priest)?” (Anonymous)
ANSWER
Man is not an intercessor in the work of eternal salvation (Matthew 1:21) because that is a High Priestly, intercessory office held by the Lord Jesus Christ alone (Hebrews 4:14). The bible teaches that “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (I Timothy 2:5). Simply put, preachers have nothing to do with mediating the grace of eternal salvation to God’s people, this is a work of God alone (John 5:25). In contrast, God's ministers in this world are instrumental, not in imparting eternal life to men, but in directing them to the Lord's church and in instructing them in gospel truth as obedient disciples of Christ (Ephesians 4:1ff) Instruction in the truth is the purpose of Christian ministry in the Kingdom of God (Matthew 28:19-20).
Ironically this observation reveals that much of what transpires under the rubric of Christian ministry is a fool’s errand. Those who believe that they are in the business of imparting eternal salvation to men are endeavoring to do the impossible (Matthew 19:26). What ministers can do is teach those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6) about their Savior and how to serve Him in the Kingdom of God during our sojourn here in this tabernacle of flesh (Romans 12:1). We can make disciples through baptism and membership in the Lord’s New Testament church (Matthew 28:19-20) where they can find rest, comfort, fellowship, and spiritual instruction for themselves and their families (Matthew 11:28-30). That is the purpose of the gospel ministry and it is in short supply.
- Elder Daniel Samons