If any man will come after me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow me (Matt. 16:24).
ARMINIAN ARGUMENT:
This text is appealed to in support of conditional
salvation—salvation dependent upon the will of man. Christ is, apparently,
offering salvation but upon certain terms which man must first fulfil.
Is our discipleship “conditional” or
“unconditional”? “Offered” or “demanded”? A matter of “decision” or “election”?
(I)
Prof. Herman C. Hanko
I remember that, as a young
man, I heard a sermon on this passage by Rev. Herman Hoeksema. He began his
sermon with these startling words: ‘Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ. We have
in this passage a three-fold prescription for going to hell.’
He meant by those introductory
words to impress upon us that the requirements of discipleship were so contrary
to anything we want in life that none of us would ever agree to be a disciple
of Jesus. To deny ourselves? Whoever in all the world wants to do that? To take
up a cross? Every man who seeks followers makes lavish promises of what benefits
will be the possession of those who follow him. But here is someone who says: ‘If
you want to follow me, you will have to carry a cross!’ Who would ever do that?
Follow Christ? But the path He walked led to shame, rejection, crucifixion, and
death. Can any of us really say that we would deliberately choose that path
that Christ walked?
I mention these things
deliberately, because, in a way, the very impossibility of it all points
also to the answer to the question.
The question, if I
understand it correctly, means to ask whether we are offered the chance to
become a disciple, whether discipleship is, therefore, a matter of our decision;
and whether discipleship is, as a result, conditional upon what we do. That is,
we decide that we would like to accept Jesus’ offer and so become a disciple of
Jesus so that our discipleship is conditional upon our actions.
Or is the matter rather
that discipleship is a matter of sovereign election; an unconditional work of
grace; and a demand of the gospel?
It ought to be apparent
to anyone at the outset that, if the decision were ours to make, we would
never, never make it. And we would never be or become a disciple of Christ.
Let it be clearly
understood that every one who becomes a disciple of Jesus becomes one through
a sovereign and irresistible work of grace. Only the elect of God ever
become Christ’s disciples, and the work is God’s work in its entirety. He not
only makes us disciples of Christ, but by His grace He also preserves
us as disciples throughout all our life. If He did not, we would resign as
quickly as possible!
This is clearly taught in
the whole of Scripture where repeatedly Scripture emphasizes that the whole of
salvation is God’s work—and discipleship belongs to salvation!
We have an interesting
illustration of this in one of the clearest pictures of discipleship in all
Scripture. I refer to Mark 15:21. There we are told that Simon the Cyrenian
carried Jesus’ cross behind Christ to Calvary. But he was compelled to
carry it, the text says.
But this same truth is
clear from the context in which these words of Jesus are found.
First of all, after his
amazing confession (given to him by grace), Peter is lifted up in pride. When
Jesus begins to describe the suffering that awaits him, Peter attempts to
dissuade the Lord. Peter thinks he knows better than the Lord the road the Lord
ought to take to His kingdom.
The Lord brushes Peter’s
foolishness aside with a sharp reprimand in which He informs Peter that Peter’s
remarks are part of Satan’s temptation.
And so, we have this
text. The way Christ must walk is not an easy way. It is a way of suffering and
being killed. But, to be a disciple of Christ is to come after Him, and that
way for every disciple is equally a way of suffering and death.
In other words, Jesus is
not explaining the conditions of discipleship which a man must fulfil to become
a disciple. Who in all the world would ever do what Jesus says? But Jesus is
correcting a serious impression on the part of Peter and the disciples, that
the way of discipleship was a way which would lead to glory, riches and fame in
an earthly kingdom.
In the second place, it
ought not to escape us that the text itself says, ‘Then said Jesus unto his
disciples …’ These men were disciples already, made such by sovereign grace.
Now they had to learn an important lesson about what discipleship would cost.
Hence these words.
There is more here.
No one, knowing the cost
of discipleship, would ever agree of his own free will to become a disciple.
This does not mean,
however, that those who are made disciples become reluctant and unwilling
disciples who only remain disciples because their resistance is overcome by sovereign
grace, and their ability to break away from Christ is resisted by a power greater
than anything they have.
When God’s people are
made Christ’s disciples by the Holy Spirit, they are made willing, obedient,
eager, and joyful disciples. Yes, even though the ‘cost’ of discipleship is
self-denial and cross-bearing, the Holy Spirit alters their will so that these
disciples consider it a great privilege to follow Christ—even in His way of
suffering. Discipleship is a gift.
When the Canons of
Dordt describe the work of conversion (which includes the work of being
made a disciple), it says: ‘God … infuses new qualities into the will, which
though heretofore dead, he quickens; from being evil, disobedient, and
refractory, he renders it good, obedient, and pliable …’ (III&IV, 11).
That disciples joyfully
bear their cross is evident from the joy with which the apostles praised God
when they were whipped by the Sanhedrin for preaching Christ (Acts 5:41).
Someone may ask, however,
‘If Jesus is simply instructing His disciples and us in the true qualifications
of discipleship, why does He put it the way He does? Why does He say, ‘If
any man will come after me …’? It sounds like every one has a chance, and
the final decision rests with man.’
But that kind of
interpretation is so wrong that it is not even really worth talking about.
There is certainly an
implied demand here. Disciples must deny themselves, take up their
cross, and follow Christ. Jesus requires
that. In fact, this is so much a part of discipleship that, without self-denial
and cross-bearing, we can never be a disciple. But the reasons Jesus
puts it this way are two:
In the first place, it is
our Lord’s purpose to save us so that we become willing disciples. But He
does not work that willingness in our hearts blindly or as one manipulates a
robot. He comes with the demands of discipleship and works by His Spirit so
that we joyfully follow Him regardless of the cost.
And in the second place, because
all our nature is contrary to what discipleship requires, we fulfil these
demands only in the way of struggle against sin, putting down our own
inclinations which are opposed to self-denial and cross-bearing, and earnestly
beseeching God’s grace in prayer and supplication that we may be true
disciples.
We are made willing in
the day of His power, as Psalm 110 puts it (v. 3). And so, in willingness and
joyful obedience, we choose what no man can possibly choose apart from grace.
As Moses did when he ‘by faith … chose rather to suffer affliction with the
people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the
reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt’ (Heb. 11:25-26).
A foolish choice from a
human point of view, but a choice that leads to glory—as it did for Christ—and
we follow Him.
It is all God’s work in
us and through us and to His glory.
------------------------------------------
(II)
More
to come! (DV)
No comments:
Post a Comment