The Arminian-Calvinist Controversy
Today we celebrate Thanksgiving Sunday. As we look back upon this year and our entire lives, there are many things to be thankful for. But today’s passage teaches us that the biggest reason to be thankful to God should be our salvation in Christ Jesus. My prayer is that today’s message will make us sing a song of thanksgiving to God for His salvation from the bottom of the heart.
Now we come to Romans 9. In fact, chapters 9-11 are some of the most difficult in the whole Bible to understand and appreciate. Romans 9 is about God’s sovereign choice, the doctrine of election, while Romans 10 is about human responsibility. These chapters are not easy. They are solid food. But if we properly digest these passages with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will become even more joyful, thankful, and humble. This is our aim today. The Arminian-Calvinist controversy over these chapters has been bitter and intense for centuries. In this matter Charles Simeon, who was an English preacher in 19th century, can be a good role model. He warned his congregation of the danger of forsaking Scripture in favor of a theological system. He said, “When I come to a text which speaks of election. I delight myself in the doctrine of election. When the apostles exhort me to repentance and obedience, and indicate my freedom of choice and action, I give myself up to that side of the question.” He would often use the following illustration from the Industrial Revolution: “As wheels in a complicated machine may move in opposite directions and yet subserve a common end, so may truths apparently opposite be perfectly reconcilable with each other, and equally subserve the purposes of God in the accomplishment of man’s salvation.”[1] The doctrine of election and the doctrine of free will are mystery. They are complementary, not contradictory.
Who Is the True Israel?
As we begin to explore today’s scripture, the first question we must ask is, “Who is Israel?” In verse 6 Paul says, “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel.” In other words, there have always been two Israels – ethnic Israel and true Israel. As we know, ethnic Israel is those who physically descended from Jacob. Then, who is the true Israel? They are spiritual offspring of Abraham whether they are the Jews or the Gentiles (v. 24). Paul calls them the children of the promise, the children of God (v. 8). In Galatians Paul defines who the true Israel is in this way: “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus… if you belong to Christ, then you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you!” (Gal 3:26-29, NLT) That is, Christians are the true Israel.
Is God Unjust?
Then, how do we become a Christian, a child of promise, a child of God? Here Paul answers this question with the doctrine of election. God chose Isaac over Ishmael. God chose Jacob over Esau even before they were born or had done anything good or bad. The choice was unconditional. It was rooted in God alone and not in man. We become children of God, not because of ethnic origin or physical birth, or any human resource, but because of God’s sovereign choice. Some of you may think that’s not fair. You may think that the doctrine of election makes God unjust (v. 14). But that’s not the case. In fact, election does let God be God. It is an indispensable foundation of our eternal thanksgiving and worship to our God.
James Kennedy gives us a very helpful illustration here: Suppose I have five friends who are planning to hold up a bank. I find out about it and I plead with them. I beg them not to do it. Finally they push me out of the way and they start out. I tackle one of them and wrestle him to the ground. The others go ahead, rob the bank, a guard is killed, they are captured, convicted, sentenced … The one man who was not involved in the robbery goes free. Now I ask you this question: Whose fault was it that the other men died? … Now this other man who is walking around free— can he say, “Because my heart is so good, I am a free man”? The only reason that he is free is because of me; because I restrained him. So those who go to hell have no one to blame but themselves. Those who go to heaven have no one to praise but Jesus Christ. Thus we see that salvation is all of grace from its beginning to its end.”[2]
If we were responsible for our own salvation even in part, we would be blowing our own trumpet in heaven. But today’s passage, the doctrine of election, clearly proclaims that there is nothing we can boast before God. All that we can do is to thank Him and to worship Him eternally: “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness!” (Ps 115:1) “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev 7:10) “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” (5:13) Amen! God is just, and he is merciful. Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever! (2 Ch 20:21, KJV)
Human Responsibility
Romans 9 teaches us that if anyone is lost, the blame is theirs, but if anyone is saved, the credit is God’s. In today’s passage Paul uses Pharaoh as an example of how God’s sovereignty relates to human responsibility (v.17). On the one hand, the Bible says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Ex 4:21). But on the other hand, we are also told that Pharaoh hardened his heart (Ex 8:15). So how should we interpret this? Leon Morris rightly says, “Neither here nor anywhere else is God said to harden anyone who had not first hardened himself.”[3] In Romans 1:24 Paul says that people’s hearts are full of lusts and “therefore God gave them over” to their desires. God’s hardening of Pharaoh’s heart was a “giving him over” to his own stubbornness. In fact, God gave Pharaoh a chance 10 times to humble himself and change his heart, but Pharaoh decided to resist God to the end. And God reinforced him in that position. God gave Pharaoh what he chose. The Holy Spirit says to his people, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert” (Heb 3:7-8). God’s grace is active in our everyday life. God constantly speaks to us, nudges us, invites us, convicts us, gives us second chances. Let us do not harden our hearts. Let us do not resist God’s grace!
Mark of the Christian
In Romans 9:29 Isaiah predicted concerning Israel, “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah.” All of us have gone astray. We have gone to our own way. Not only that, in fact, we were sprinting towards destruction, hell – that was our destination. We are on the way to be like Sodom and Gomorrah if God does not step in and save us. Let us learn from this what we are like apart from God’s grace in our life. And let us be humble, be thankful.
Christians are those whose eyes are opened to God’s grace. We were not God’s people, but now he calls us “my people.” We were not loved, but now he calls us “my loved one.” We were not his children, but now we are called “children of the living God” (vv. 25-26). Paul experienced this grace. He said, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain” (1 Cor 15:10a). He also said, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst” (1Tm 1:15). This is the mark of the Christian: genuine humility and thankfulness. But there is more! When God opens our eyes to his grace, we begin to see people around us, particularly those who resist God’s grace. They become our prayer burden. In verse 2 we see Paul’s continuing love for his people Israel who have rejected Christ. He says, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.” At that time, more than forty men of Israel bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul. And many others hated him, cursed him, persecuted him. But, Paul prays, “Lord, I would be willing to be cut off from Christ, if that would save my people.” This was Moses’ prayer for his people. This was Stephen’s prayer for his people. In fact, this was Jesus’ prayer for his people. Let this be our payer.
I Smell Feet!
I want to close by sharing the story of one Korean missionary to Tibet. He and his wife were discipling Tibetan young adult group. One day the missionary couple invited them to their home. As the brothers and sisters were coming in, the missionary couple was almost fainted because of strong foot odors. Typically, Tibetans do not take a shower for life, and they don’t care about smell. After the young adult group left, they had to clean their house for three days. The thing is there was a small group meeting every week at their home. But at some point, the missionary couple did not smell feet any longer. Now the young adults had washed their feet and worn new socks before they came, because they realized how bad their foot odors were. The interesting thing is that the time when they received the gospel did coincide with the time when foot odors were gone. Somehow when they smelled their feet, they finally did smell a stagnant smell of their sin.
Do you smell your feet? Do you smell a stagnant smell of your sin? If so, you are blessed. That’s a sure sign that you receive God’s grace. Come to Jesus, and be washed by the blood of Christ. Then, go and wash those who don’t smell the smell of their sin by intercessory prayers and by laying down your life for them. As we worship today, let us be humble and thankful that we are included in the true Israel, the children of God by his sovereign grace.
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[1] John Stott, The Message of Romans: God's Good News for the World (InterVarsity Press: Downers Grove, IL, 1994), 278-79.
[2] Timothy Keller, Romans 8-16 For You: For reading, for feeding, for leading (The Good Book Company: 2014), 58-59.
[3] John Stott, 269.
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