EPHESIANS 2:1–10
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins
(Eph. 2:1).
Even if the Bible never mentioned predestination or election, we would be driven to this conclusion solely on the basis of what the Scriptures have to say about man’s fallen condition. The Bible teaches that natural man is “dead in his transgressions” and unable to come to Christ on his own free will. Yet, the prescience view maintains that man has the ability to embrace Christ. Those who hold to this view will assert that redemption is 99 percent God’s activity, but that 1 percent reserved for man is the decisive factor.
You will often hear the following metaphor to describe the prescient view of salvation: A man is drowning. He is about to go under the water when God tosses a life preserver right next to his outstretched hand. The man, then, has the choice to either grab hold of that life preserver or throw it away. If he grabs hold, then he is saved. You can easily see that the main assumption of this metaphor is that fallen man is not really dead in his sins. He has a spark of life remaining within his soul that supplies just enough virtuous ability to turn him to Christ. But, as Scripture so pointedly addresses, man does not have any ability to come to Christ.
The Augustinian, or Reformed, view of predestination maintains that the sinner has no inclination or desire within his heart for the things of God unless God first changes the disposition of his heart through the supernatural act of regeneration. Without regeneration sinners will never incline themselves to God. We learned this from Jesus’ teaching in John 6 where He said that no man can come to Him unless it is given to him of the Father. The stress is on man’s inability. We cannot come to Christ unless God enables us. No one can grab hold of the life preserver unless God first changes their heart and enables them to act in faith. The prescience view assumes that man has the ability to act in faith on his own, and that you are born again because you have come to Christ.
Our Lord teaches that you can only come to Christ because you have been born again. It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh can do nothing. That nothing is not 1 percent. The grace of our salvation is 100 percent God’s.
CORAM DEO
1 Samuel 19–21
Luke 16:1–18
Think of someone you know personally who remains in unbelief. Answer the following questions: Why did you come to Christ and this other person did not? Was it because you were more righteous? More aware of your need and thus more humble? Any answer except “by God’s grace” would be contrary to Scripture’s teaching.
For further study: Rom. 3:9–20 • Eph. 4:17–24 • Col. 2:11–23
thursday
april