God's Sovereignty

This is a question sent to me and my response.

QUESTION-

"I am a Pentecostal Christian. At times, I think God is very passive in a submissive Christian's life. Why not? I know He is sovereign, but yet He doesn't take control of situations. I love a very deep answer please."

RESPONSE-

I am a bit confused by the way your question is worded so I will need to make an assumption on what you are really asking. What's confusing is that you say, "Why not?" immediately after the phrase, "I think God is very passive in a submissive Christian's life."  What you seem to be asking in context though is, why is it that God sometimes seems passive in a Christian's life? Even though we know he is sovereign over all creation, why does he not "take control of the situation"? I will assume your "why not?" question applies to, why does God not take control of the situation. So I apologize if I have misunderstood the intent of your question.

The key to the answer is found in your very question when you say, "I know he is sovereign". Yes, he is sovereign! We know this from scripture. "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases (Ps 115:3)  "Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose" (Is 46:10)  "All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, 'What have you done?'" (Dn 4:35) "This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men." (Ac 2:23) "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." (Ro 8:28)  "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will..." (Ep 1:11) and I could go on and on! Scripture clearly reveals and proclaims the absolute sovereignty of God, meaning that he alone has the ability to do all that he desires, to accomplish all his purposes.

However, that in no way implies that he will intervene in our individual situations in a manner that we would prefer. Not at all! In fact, God's sovereignty means that he will accomplish *his* purposes completely and perfectly and that means allowing or ensuring our situations play out just as they do! If we truly believe God is sovereign over all things then it includes our lives and situations. God knows you perfectly. He knows your current situation perfectly and he knows every future event perfectly. Part of God's sovereignty is that perfect knowledge which includes what is often called "middle knowledge". God's middle knowledge means that God not only knows the beginning situation perfectly (i.e. the "now"), and the end (i.e. the future) perfectly, but he also knows everything in the middle perfectly. He knows what decisions you would make given any possible situation you could face in the world that God himself created and arranged. This is how God works all things together for your good and for his glory. This is referred to as God's providence and is what scripture clearly teaches. Therefore, far from passive, God is intimately active in every event and every situation such that Paul could make that amazing claim in Romans 8:28 - "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."  So we must be careful not to confuse situations and outcomes that don't please us with God being passive! This is where Christian faith comes into play. As the writer of Hebrews explains in chapter 11 by reminding us of the great heroes of faith. God made promises to them. But their life situations appeared not to be coming out as God promised. God appeared to not be giving Abraham the land he promised for example. But Abraham believed God, trusted in God's goodness and his sovereign purposes, and that was accounted to Abraham as righteousness. So it is with everyone who follows God. He wants us to trust him and believe in his goodness and sovereign purposes that, while it might appear God is not actively fulfilling his promises in our lives, he is indeed working all things together for our good and his glory! This is the essence of faith, what it means to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Co 5:7).

Russell, I hope this helps and may God richly bless you!

Can a Christian Lose Salvation?

This is a very important question and has been hotly debated within Christianity for centuries. Perhaps you know a bit about the ongoing debate and positions that have been defined in it, but to make sure we have at least a basic context let's consider a very brief summary.

Typically the answer to this question has fallen into two opposing camps. On one side is the Calvinist or Reformed position and on the other side is the Arminian position. The Calvinist position proposes an answer of "no", a true Christian cannot lose his or her salvation whereas the Arminian position proposes a "yes" answer to the question. Both of these positions would be considered within the pale of orthodoxy. However, there are people in each of these groups who would be considered of the more "radical" adherents, that would say the opposing position is heresy. However, throughout the history of the church either of these positions, as long as they were not accompanied by some other recognized heretical doctrine, was considered acceptable.

The Calvinist position holds that God converts the soul, causes the rebirth and transforms the nature, writing the law on the heart of the believer, and as such, the believer cannot "unconvert" him or herself. The believer now has a new nature and will act according to that new nature just as an unbeliever can only act according to his or her sinful, corrupt nature. Therefore, as a new creation, the believer will be faithful unto the end. But what about the passages of scripture that warn believers not to fall away, that seem to indicate a true believer can turn away from the faith? Heb 3 and Heb 6:4-12 are perhaps the classic passages to which most turn to make the claim that true believers can fall away. There are others as well but these seem to be the most significant. The Calvinist proponent tries to make the case these passages are really addressing the "pseudo-believer" and not a truly born again person. Additionally, some Calvinist would claim that, even if they are addressed to true believers, God uses these kinds of warnings to keep the true believer in the faith, as a means of sustaining or preserving grace. More about this later.

The Arminian position would say we must take the warnings at face value and if they appear to be issued to true believers, we should assume the audience is the true believer and therefore, true believers are authentically subject to falling away. Of course, this view is built upon the foundational view of libertarian free will that is key to the Arminian theology. And, conversely, the Calvinist view is built on their foundational view of total depravity and the bondage of the will. On the Arminian view, the will remains free to simply walk away from Christ, and thus conditions could occur that would result in a true believer walking away, committing apostasy. God works in the life of the believer to sustain and keep the believer but in the end, the believer has libertarian freedom and can use that freedom to turn away from God's grace.

But, something on which both Arminians and Calvinists agree, is that if a true believer were to ultimately and finally reject Christ there would be no hope for repentance per Hebrews 6:4-6. This would be the "point of no return".  Some ask if a true Christian can lose their salvation "due to repeated disobedience". There is scriptural evidence, specifically Heb 3, that indicates continued disobedience and rebellion, and "the deceitfulness of sin" can lead one to unbelief and a final rejection of Christ. But it is the final rejection of Christ that dooms one. It's not the disobedience or even denials like Peter's three denials, it's the unbelief. It is the rejection of Christ as our Savior that dooms us to the judgment of God because there is no other solution for our sin (Heb 10:26) and anything left to provide reconciliation to God! So both Arminians and Calvinists agree that to be saved, one must continue to believe in Christ unto the end. The difference is that Arminians believe a true believer can ultimately and finally turn away from Christ and fall into unbelief whereas the Calvinist believes that God will work to maintain the true believer in faith unto the end. On Calvinism, a true believer might turn away for a time but will ultimately return in faith.

As mentioned above, some Calvinists would claim that various warnings we see in scripture are indeed aimed at true believers. But, the warnings do not mean that a true Christian can ultimately turn away from Christ, rather they function as a means of God's grace to maintain the true Christian's faithfulness so they don't turn away. They function to help sustain saving faith. This actually assumes a Molinist understanding of God's middle knowledge. The idea here is that believers have the ability to turn away from Christ if it were not for God's sustaining activity. God knows exactly what each of us would do under any given circumstance so, in his providence, he arranges the lives of his elect in such a way that will sustain their faith. While the true believer *could* turn away, they are not being coerced against their wills or forced in any way to stay with Christ, God knows if circumstances are arranged in a given manner, they *will* not turn away from Christ. In other words, God's providence based on his omniscience, which includes middle knowledge as described, is the method he uses to sustain and preserve his elect in faith without violating their free agency.  This is the position I hold.  I am reformed in my theological position but adopt Molinism as the *way* God ensures his purposes are achieved without violating human freedom. And, using his middle knowledge, he sustains and preserves his elect in faith unto the end.

In summary, the key points on which most all agree are: 1) one must continue believing in Christ until the end. When Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive someone who wronged him, he assumed Jesus might say as many as 7 times! That would be generous for sure. But Jesus said 70 times 7! In other words, there is no limit to forgiveness for those who come back to Christ in repentance and faith. And 2) the only way to lose one's salvation is to finally reject Christ, to simply turn away from him and never return. As long as you are trusting Christ, asking him for forgiveness for your sin and disobedience, you are by definition in faith.

Oh not to receive the grace of God in vain

What does Paul mean in 2Cor 6:1? Some things I think we can conclude: One, he is talking to the church, albeit the Corinthian church. He is talking to professing Christians so it must be that people who profess to be Christians can be in danger of receiving the grace of God in vain. Secondly, receiving the grace of God IN VAIN actually negates the grace of God. In other words, if someone receives God's grace in vain that means they did so in an empty, meaningless, powerless way so really that person did not truly receive the grace of God. That's why I say Paul was addressing PROFESSING Christians. He certainly was addressing the entire Corinthian church (2Cor 1:1) so, the third thing to note, is that it must be true a church can have a mixture of people who have truly received the grace of God (in power) and those who have "received" it in vain. Fourthly, one evidence of having received the grace of God in vain is that you don't separate yourself from the world (2Cor 6:14-7:1). That was how some of the Corinthians were demonstrating it so Paul warned them and pleaded with them in 6:1 to not be ones who receives the grace of God in vain. Some were apparently claiming the name of Christian but also maintaining their relationships, ties, activities and behaviors they had as non-Christians. They looked and acted just like pagans/unbelievers.

What a challenge to all who name the name of Christ! "Come out from among them" the Lord says. Paul challenged the Corinthians to examine themselves to see if they be in the faith (2Cor 13:5). We must do the same. If we wish to follow Christ and fellowship with Him we cannot follow and fellowship with "the world" or with sin. Oh Lord, change my heart and keep it tender and repentant so that I will not be one who received Your grace in vain!