Wherefore
the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election
sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall (II Pet. 1:10).
ARMINIAN ARGUMENT:
Arminians interpret this
text as saying that election is conditional and not certain.
(I)
Prof. Herman C. Hanko
How it is possible to make our
calling and election sure? This is a good question, and worthy of our
consideration.
It is a good question, first of all, because it has had some erroneous
interpretations, which have resulted in a denial of certain cardinal doctrines
of the Reformed faith.
One of these interpretations is that election must be conditional,
because the verse implies that we can lose our election. God elects us, but we
must make it sure by what we do. The decisiveness of our election rests upon
our faith in Christ and our perseverance in the way of obedience. If we fail to
do our part, we will lose our election and be consigned to the eternal judgment
of hell.
This is bad exegesis of this verse, even from the point of view of the
other parts of Scripture which speak of the certainty of our election. When a
man has been chosen by God from all eternity as one of God’s elect, there is
nothing at all which the man needs to do to guarantee or seal that election.
There is, therefore, no power on earth, in heaven, or in hell, which can
possibly rob him of his election. Nor can anything he does be the cause of the
loss of his election.
The verse does not say anything like that, and it is gross error to teach
it. Indeed, a doctrine such as this really robs the believer of his comfort. If
my election depended in any way on me, I would lose it every moment of my life,
for I constantly sin in everything I do, and those sins are so great in God’s
sight that they would necessarily be a forfeit on my election.
Rather, the text means to say that we must diligently strive to live in
the assurance of our calling and election. We make our calling and our election
sure when we are assured of both.
Let us make this clear.
In God’s work of salvation, election always precedes calling: the order
is election, then calling. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate …
And whom he did predestinate, them he also called …” (Rom. 8:29-30).
The reference in the text is to the efficacious call of the gospel which
sovereignly and irresistibly calls out of the darkness of sin into the light of
God’s grace. Only the elect are called, and election precedes the call.
Here, in the text the order is
reversed. We must not make our election and calling sure; but we must make our
calling and election sure.
Why this reversal of the order?
The answer is that we can make our election sure only when first
we make our calling sure. The calling is first.
The calling is first because when God sovereignly calls us through the
preaching of the gospel, He works faith in our hearts so that we lay hold on
Christ set forth in the gospel. And when we lay hold on Him, we know also that
we are called, for Christ’s sheep hear His voice, and they follow Him (John
10:2,3). After all, as the text expresses it, Christ calls His sheep “name by
name” (v. 3—where the idea is that He calls His own, name by name, i.e., each
one by his name). If He calls our name, we are sure of our calling, for we hear
Him call us.
Election follows upon calling in the assurance of the child of
God. The child of God hears the voice of the good Shepherd, follows Him, and
knows that he is called. But, once knowing that he is called by the good
Shepherd, he comes to know that Christ calls His own (“He calls his own sheep
by name …,” John 10:3). And so we come to be assured of our election, i.e.,
that we are elect in Christ and belong to Him. Election is the deepest reason
for our call.
How do we make our calling and election sure?
The answer lies in the context of verses 5-7: “Add to our faith virtue;
and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance
patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness, and
to brotherly kindness charity.”
In short, we are to make our calling and election sure by laying hold on
Christ through faith and finding in Him our full and complete salvation, and to
trust in Him as our Savior.
And, as Peter makes so graphically clear, we are to walk in
sanctification. Part of our calling is to walk in obedience to our Lord and
Savior. Then we make our calling sure. And, making our calling sure, we make
our election sure.
Let us then be very clear on this. If we walk in sin, we have no
assurance of our calling and election. How could we? If we disobey God, trust
in ourselves, walk as the world walks, deny our calling, we can have no
assurance of that calling. And having no assurance of that calling, we have no
assurance of our election.
But when we forsake sin, flee to
the cross for forgiveness and strength to walk as God’s people, strive to live
in obedience to Christ our King, then we know and are assured of our calling;
and then the blessed and joyful conviction that our names are written in the
Book of Life is ours.
-----------------------------------------
(II)
More to come! (DV)
No comments:
Post a Comment