And let it be, when these signs are come
unto thee, that thou do as occasion serve thee; for God is with thee (I Sam. 10:7).
COMMON GRACE ARGUMENT:
This passage is often thought to teach that
though Saul was a reprobate, he was nevertheless an object of God’s favour and
blessing.
(I)
Robert C. Harbach (1914-1996)
It
may be that a godly man may
bless a reprobate person (Heb. 11:20); it may be that one man may say to another who happens to be a
reprobate, “God is with thee” (as in I Sam. 10:7). But God does not ever say of a reprobate, “I have
blessed him,” “fear thou not,” or “God was with him” (Cp. Gen. 39:2, 3, 21; Judges
6:12; I Sam. 3:19; 18:14). When He uses
this language He uses it with reference to His children. (see Isa.
41:10; Matt. 28:20.)
---------------------------------------------------
(II)
Rev.
Angus Stewart
God
was “with” Saul only in the sense of giving him abilities to reign as king (for
he was a little-known farmer with no experience of ruling before this)—see
also http://www.cprf.co.uk/crnews/crnaugust2002.htm#saul.
God
was only “with” him from the perspective of his office. This is no proof that
God is “with” non-office bearing reprobates, however. This only proves that God
only blesses His Church (organically speaking) and never those who are outside
her.
---------------------------------------------------
(III)
More
to come! (DV)
No comments:
Post a Comment