This week and next I want to talk about Scriptures that talk about the sovereignty of God and predestination. The doctrine of Sovereignty is all-inclusive and contains within it the concept or sub-doctrine of predestination.Sovereignty is, for sure, a controversial topic and Christians are divided on exactly what it means. Most Christians do agree that God was sovereign in the creation of the heavens and the earth. No one, but Him, was involved in the creation process. He didn’t need any one’s permission or help.

Christians do mostly agree that He is sovereign in nature. He controls the weather, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, rain, floods, etc. Scripture is replete with examples of God controlling the elements. The splitting of the Red Sea, the fiery end of Sodom and Gomorrah, fire coming down on the prophets of Baal, raising Lazarus from the dead, and Jesus walking on water are just a few examples.

The rub comes and the disagreements begin when we talk about how sovereign God is or isn’t in the process of salvation. Can anyone get saved or regenerated anytime they choose? Is all people’s fate predetermined before the foundation of the world; Que sera, sera? Or, is the process a cooperation between God and man? These are some of the various approaches people take toward God’s sovereignty in the salvation process.

So, who is right? Me, of course. JK. So what do I believe?

Seriously, I have held and moved through different views on the salvation process over my lifetime. I finally landed, firmly, in about 1981. I believe in the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation. I don’t expect all my readers to agree with me, but I hope they will at least hear out my reasoning.

This topic is very important because it gives insight into the very person of God. How one believes about this will influence or control how much peace one has. Think about it. If one believes that once truly saved they are secure for eternity, then they will have peace and trust God to keep them. It’s all of God and God gets all the glory. We are unable and have always been unable to add to God’s grace.

On the other hand if one believes that they can lose their salvation as many do, then peace will be a fleeting thing. In this case at least some of the burden and effort remains on the individual to maintain salvation. I know that in some churches people come forward regularly to get saved or regain salvation lost. This, in my opinion, makes a mockery of God’s grace. In this view timing is everything. One must be paid up, prayed up, packed up, ready to go up at the time of death or else.

We have to ask this question too. If God isn’t in total control, not just of salvation, but everything else, then who is? If we go down this road then we cannot really have any security. Someone or something can thwart God’s will. I truly believe that with God, there is no plan B. Everything is plan A and He never fails at bringing it to pass.

The Westminster Confession states my belief better than I can, so I will state part of it here to make my point. Then, next week I will go through Scriptural reasons why I believe this view to be the true one.

Westminster Confession: Chapter III, Sections I-IV

I. “God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass; yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.

II. Although God knows whatsoever may or can come to pass upon all supposed conditions; yet has He not decreed anything because He foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such conditions.

III. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death.

IV. These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished.”

Let me quote from David N. Steele and Curtis C. Thomas’s book The Five Points of Calvinism that restates the above in layman’s terms.

“God’s choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the foundation of the world rested solely in His own sovereign will. His choice of particular sinners was not based on any foreseen response or obedience on their part, such as faith, repentance, etc. On the contrary, God gives faith and repentance to each individual whom He selected. These acts are the result, not the cause of God’s choice. Election therefore was not determined by or conditioned upon any virtuous quality or act foreseen in man. Those whom God sovereignly elected He brings through the power of the Spirit to a willing acceptance of Christ. Thus, God’s choice of the sinner, not the sinner’s choice of Christ, is the ultimate cause of salvation.”

Next week I will present some Scriptures that I think very strongly support this position.
Feel free to email me with any comments. Love to hear from you. [email protected].