doctrine of election

Can Paul’s compassion for the Jews save? (Romans 9:1-5)

INTRODUCTION. Considering Paul’s compassion for his fellow Israelites, does this influence God’s sovereign choice? Is Paul suggesting that Israel gets special treatment because they had been “God’s chosen people?” Evaluate compassion and duty in evangelism. How can we use these ideas to equip a congregation to proclaim Christ more effectively?

These are my notes and thoughts copied from the Study Guide for “Romans” by John MacArthur. These notes are from page 75 in the chapter on Romans 9-11.  

When talking about Paul’s earnest desire for the salvation of his fellow Israelites, MacArthur writes, “Paul’s love and concern for his countrymen was such that he wished he could trade places with them, literally that he could go to hell so that they might be saved.” Then MacArthur asks a question about how we might increase our compassion for the lost.

My response to that question was, “I do not see evangelism as a matter of compassion but as a matter of duty and obligation.” (Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 9:16-23; 1 Thess. 2:4)

Below that answer, I observed that “Here in Rom. 9:1-5, Paul expresses his compassion for his fellow Jews.” We can see Paul’s compassion for his fellows as admirable, and it certainly is admirable, but I do not think Paul wrote these emotional words in the inspired Scripture to highlight his own compassion. Rather, I think it is more likely that Paul told of his fervent desire for the salvation of his fellow Israelites to show that not even apostolic compassion or deep longing for another person’s salvation can influence God’s sovereign choice in election. Despite Paul’s most impassioned pleas and his deepest longings for the salvation of his fellow Israelites (see also Romans 10:1), God is always fully sovereign over the salvation of every human being.

THOUGHTS ON COMPASSION AND DUTY

[NOTE: In this section, “proclaim the gospel” (or something similar) refers to the believer’s intentional attempt to encounter the unsaved and to bring up topics or ideas related to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We might also call this “intentional evangelism.” The believer may be “scattering seeds” or he may be “reeling in a hooked fish,” but the gospel is in the believer’s mind and winning a lost soul to Christ is the ultimate aim of the effort. This is what I mean by “proclaiming the gospel.”]

So, let’s consider compassion. Compassion is good, but compassion is unreliable. My level of compassion ebbs and flows depending on my emotional level or my physical energy, and compassion varies widely from one individual to the next. In some, compassion may motivate to action, but in others, compassion, whether great or small, does not motivate. Notice, however, that in either case, compassion cannot save. Emotional feeling for the lost cannot save them. To be meaningful, compassion must compel us to proclaim the gospel to the lost, for it is the gospel that has the power to save (Romans 1:16). Compassion that remains divorced from action is simply a feeling.

Now consider duty. As a believer, it is my duty to be Christ’s witness (Acts 1:8), regardless of my level of compassion. It is simply a matter of responsibility, part of my “job description” as a worshiper of Jesus, whether I feel emotions about it or not. (Consider these verses: Matt. 4:19; 13:3; 28:18-20; 1 Cor. 9:15-23; 2 Cor. 5:20.)

Notice also that all Paul’s compassion and emotion for his fellow Israelites did not save a single soul and did not influence God’s sovereign choice in the slightest way. Romans 9:16 says, “So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs but on God who has mercy.” Thus, the Scripture explicitly says that salvation depends on God’s mercy, not on man’s compassion.

“Compassion is subjective, but command is objective.” This statement is not meant to dismiss human compassion, but rather is intended to put the emphasis where it will produce results. So, I witness to the lost because of the commands of Jesus Christ and because of the clear teaching of the New Testament (objective), rather than waiting until I feel compassion about the perilous position of the unsaved. To paraphrase, “To obey is better than compassion, and to fulfill your duty than to have fervent emotion” (modification of 1 Sam. 15:22). Compassion has no power to rescue the lost, but preaching the gospel, regardless of how I feel, “is the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16).

PRACTICAL APPLICATION IN A LOCAL CONGREGATION

With these thoughts fresh in our mind, how can we work with our congregation to make them more active in their evangelism, in “proclaiming the gospel?” My suggestion would be to make the congregation more aware of their biblical duty of witnessing for the Lord Jesus. That is, review those verses in the New Testament which make it clear that it is every believer’s duty to be a witness for the Lord Jesus and to be an ambassador for Christ. This means that the believer does not seek to win the lost primarily because they feel compassion for them, although the believer certainly should have compassion for those who are perishing. The disciple of Jesus does not sow the seed of the gospel primarily because of the emotion they feel for those outside Christ, although we should feel emotion for those outside of Christ. The believer is an ambassador for Christ and a fisher of men and a sower of the gospel seed and a witness for Jesus and a proclaimer of the excellencies of our gracious Redeemer primarily because of the believer’s love for Jesus Christ.

Therefore, the more we understand about our responsibility and our duty to be witnesses and ambassadors of the Lord Jesus, the more we will be compelled to reach the lost. So the leadership of the church (pastors and elders) focuses their teaching energies on making the congregation aware of our duty to our Lord to proclaim the gospel.

But awareness of a duty without equipping to fulfill that duty only produces guilt and resentment. So, the pastors and elders must go beyond awareness and must also train the congregation how to fulfill their duty. The leadership should provide means and methods for “proclaiming the gospel” so that the congregation can discharge their duty. This means that the leadership of the church (or other members of the church) should make available regular and tangible proclamation vehicles.

“Regular” means that proclamation vehicles are regularly scheduled on the church calendar. “Regular” also means that these opportunities for proclamation are preceded by training to equip the participants so that their experience is edifying and successful.

“Tangible” means that the proclaiming activity gives the participant the sense that they meaningfully participated in a bona fide evangelism event. The goal is for participants to have the sense that they genuinely proclaimed the gospel and discharged their duty to their King.

SDG                 rmb                 6/1/2022                     #538

1 Peter 2:9 (Part 2) – Identity: chosen race, royal priesthood

INTRODUCTION. The first letter of Peter provides a sound foundation for the newly converted disciple of Jesus Christ to begin their journey with their Savior, and the heart of their conversion is captured powerfully in 1 Peter 2:9-10. Here Peter declares the disciple’s new identity, their new purpose, and their new people. This post is about the disciple’s new identity as part of “a chosen race and a royal priesthood.” (See previous post #522 on April 27, 2022, about this same verse.)

9 But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; 10 for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. – 1 Peter 2:9-10

In the first chapter of the epistle, Peter has already told us that we were redeemed from our futile way of life (1:18) by the precious blood of Christ (1:19) and that, by God’s great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope (1:3), but now the apostle is going to tell us more about our new identity in Christ.

A CHOSEN RACE

The redeemed in Christ are, first, a chosen race. Peter declares that we believers have been chosen. But, for us to be chosen, of course, there must be someone who chose us. By whom were we chosen? The answer to that question was already provided at the beginning of the letter when Peter said we were “chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1:1-2). So, God the Father chose us. When did He choose us? The apostle Paul tells us that “God the Father chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). Thus, God chose us in eternity past. And to what end did God the Father choose us in eternity past? He chose us “so that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.”

This verse speaks of the great biblical truth of God’s election, that the Lord of the universe has chosen His people before the world began so that His redeemed people may proclaim His glory and may be witnesses to the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8). The people of God are a chosen race to proclaim His excellencies.

A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD

Not only are we a chosen race, but we believers are also a royal priesthood. Now, we should realize that, under the first covenant, which was governed by the Law given at Sinai in the Old Testament, it was impossible for there to be a royal priesthood. According to the Law, the tribe of Levi was the priestly tribe responsible for bringing the people’s sacrifices to God and bringing God near to the people. But the royal line of David came from the tribe of Judah. No priest was allowed to be king, and no king could become a priest. That was under the Law, the first covenant.

But now Christ has come and has ushered in the new covenant in His blood. The Levitical priesthood is gone and Jesus, the King of kings, is now our Great High Priest, so that those who have believed in Him for salvation have become a royal priesthood. We are brothers of King Jesus so we are part of the royal family of God. As the crippled Mephibosheth was allowed to eat at King David’s table as one of his sons (2 Samuel 9), so we eat as royalty at the table of King Jesus. As priests, we bring to God the sacrifices of praise and prayer and thanksgiving. We are given free access into His throne room (Hebrews 4:16) so that we can offer our requests before Him. We offer our bodies as living sacrifices to God (Romans 12:1). Believers have been redeemed to be a royal priesthood so that we can proclaim the excellencies of our glorious King.

SUMMARY

The apostle addresses this epistle to aliens scattered throughout the regions of modern-day Turkey (1:1-2). If we were to meet these people, there would be little that was outwardly impressive about them. Truth be told, they were very ordinary folks, probably still rough around the edges from their former pagan lives and godless practices. “There were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble” (1 Cor. 1:26). But now these ordinary aliens in Asia Minor had heard the gospel and had believed on Christ, and now they are no longer ordinary in God’s sight. Now they are a chosen race and a royal priesthood redeemed to proclaim the excellencies of God.

Next time, we will continue to examine their new identity.

SDG                 rmb                 5/27/2022                   #536

“They will come to Me” – (John 6:37 – Part 2)

INTRODUCTION: This is part of a series of blog posts studying John 6:37, a verse in which Jesus teaches us about the sovereignty of God in salvation. In this series, we will examine not only what Jesus explicitly teaches in this verse, but also its implications based on other passages of Scripture and plain reasoning.

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” – John 6:37 (NASB)

In our first study in this series, we examined the phrase, “All that the Father gives Me.” (See post #465 on 12/6/2021.) It was discovered that all the souls given by God the Father to God the Son was established and fixed “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4) when the Father chose the elect for salvation. These people have been given as a gift by the Father to the Son to worship the Son forever in heaven (see Revelation 7:9-12). These truths mean that the phrase, “All that the Father gives Me,” could be expressed as “All the elect.”

In this part of our series, we will consider the next phrase, “will come to Me.” We will break this study into two parts: first, the implications of “All that the Father gives Me” with respect to who will come to Jesus for salvation, and second, what it means for any sinner to “come to Jesus” for salvation.

WHO WILL COME TO JESUS?

Now that we have begun to dig deeper into this verse, we need to identify who will, and who will not, come to Jesus for salvation. If we simply read the verse as it appears, the answer appears obvious. Who will come to the Son for salvation? All that the Father has given the Son will come to the Son for salvation. To simplify this answer, we can make the substitution we mentioned above. Thus, “All the elect will come to the Son for salvation.”

Let’s talk about this a little. Here Jesus is making a statement of divine decree. That is, God has decreed that all those He chose in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) will certainly come to Christ for salvation during the course of their natural lifetimes. (The corollary to this decree is that only those the Father chose in Christ before the foundation of the world will come to Christ.)

So far, so good. But is there any way to know who is elect and who is not? Because if only the elect will come to Christ for salvation, I want to know who those people are. More specifically, I want to know that I am one of the elect. So, is there any way to know who is elect and who is not?

WHO IS ELECT?

The answer is, “Yes. We can know who is elect.” The way that we discover who is elect is by observing who comes to Christ for salvation. To give a personal example, I know that I am one of the elect. I know that because about thirty years ago I came to Christ for salvation. I placed my faith in Jesus, I repented of my sins, I was baptized upon profession of my faith, and my life was radically changed, and I have continued to follow Jesus in the fellowship of His church to this day. My coming to Christ revealed my election by God before the foundation of the world. So, the way we know the elect; the way we know those the Father has given to the Son, is by noticing those who come to faith in Christ.

Okay. So, are we saying that only those who have come to Christ are the elect? Not exactly. You see, we have said that all those given by God the Father to God the Son (the elect) will certainly come to Christ for salvation during the course of their natural lifetimes. As we think about this, though, it becomes obvious that some people may be of the elect, but they have not yet come to Christ for salvation. If they are elect, then they will certainly come to Christ before they die, but they have not come to Christ yet. The fact is that it is impossible to know those who are elect unless and until they come to Jesus for salvation. This, by the way, is the reason that we continue to pray for and to evangelize all people until they come to Christ or die, because we do not know who, among the unsaved living, is elect and who is not.

WHO IS NOT ELECT?

But sadly, there is a way to know who is not elect. Every person who dies outside of Christ, that is, who never comes to the Jesus the Son for salvation during their natural lifetime has revealed that they were not of the elect. They were not given by the Father to the Son. Because they died outside of Christ, they perished. Every person who does not come to the Son for salvation will be judged on the last day and will be thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO “COME TO JESUS”?

This leads to an extremely important question. If only those who “come to Jesus” are saved from the lake of fire, then the critical question is, “What does it mean for the sinner to ‘come to Jesus’?” I am glad that you asked. That will be the subject of the next post on John 6:37.

SDG                 rmb                 12/10/2021                 #468

“All that the Father gives Me” (John 6:37) – Part 1

INTRODUCTION: This is part of a series of blog posts on John 6:37, a verse in which Jesus teaches us about the sovereignty of God in salvation. In this series, we will examine not only what Jesus explicitly taught in this verse, but also its implications based on other passages of Scripture and plain reasoning.

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.” – John 6:37 (NASB)

In our study, we will examine the verse in small bites.

“All that the Father gives Me” – From this opening phrase, we conclude that there is a specific, fixed number of souls that the Father has given to the Son. The Father has not given every soul to the Son, but only “all that the Father gives Me.” This phrase limits the number of those who will be saved to only those given by the Father. We know, therefore that all will not be saved.

It is also true that the Father certainly knows the number who will be saved, for “The Lord knows those who are His” (2 Timothy 2:19). If the Father knows the number of hairs on each person’s head (Matthew 10:30), then He certainly knows the exact number of souls that He has given to His Son, so we can say with confidence that the number is specific and fixed.

We also know that the number of those who are given to the Son for salvation is specific and fixed because these were chosen by the Father “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). At a time that was before all time, “before the foundation of the world,” God the Father chose the full number of those who would ever be in Christ. Once the Father “chose us in Him,” the full number of future saints was forever established and could not be changed. Thus, we can say that the number is specific and fixed.

Notice also that the Father is completely sovereign in this giving of souls to the Son. The Father alone has determined the exact number of souls that will be given to His beloved Son, and the Father alone is the One who gives them. The people who are chosen by the Father for salvation and then given to the Son are passive. (NOTE: This does not mean that we are saved passively. We will address what it means to come to Jesus for salvation later in this series, but our salvation is not passive. What we are discussing here is that we who are the recipients of salvation made no contribution to our being chosen by the Father and being given to the Son.)

Finally, we call “all the Father has given” to the Son “the elect” or “the chosen.” Substituting this term into the opening phrase yields, “All the elect (will come to Me).”

In the next post, we will consider the phrase, “will come to Me.”

SDG                 rmb                 12/6/2021                   #465

They will return to Me (Jeremiah 24:5-7)

SUMMARY: This (fairly long) article was taken out of Jeremiah 24 and gives a fascinating account of the LORD promising eternal blessings on people whom He “regards as good.” The expression, “regards as good,” introduces the idea of God’s sovereign election of some for salvation. This passage shows that God was sovereign over their salvation and, by implication, He is also sovereign over our salvation.

“The Lord God is sovereign over His universe.” Most professing Christians will agree with this statement whether they have thought much about it or not. But it makes sense, especially when we remember that, according to Genesis 1, God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. Since He is the Creator, He should also be the ruler. Many do not realize, however, that the Bible claims that God is sovereign over all that takes place to anyone anywhere in the world, including where people will spend eternity. And uncomfortable though some may be with the Lord God’s right to rule His universe as He sees fit, and “to have mercy on whom He desires, and to harden whom He desires (Romans 9:18),” the biblical evidence of God’s sovereignty is plentiful in both testaments. In my daily Bible reading, I was in Jeremiah 24 and found a fascinating passage about good figs and bad figs.

BACKGROUND

In the Old Testament, it is often helpful to get the context of a passage. In Jeremiah 24, the year is 597 BC. The nation of Judah has been in moral and social decline for a long time. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has recently carried away into exile Jeconiah king of Judah along with many others in Jerusalem and has brought them to Babylon. Jeremiah has been the LORD’s anointed prophet to Judah for thirty years, warning them of the LORD’s coming judgment and urging them to repent.

In Jeremiah 24, the LORD shows Jeremiah a vision of two baskets of figs:

2 One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness.

Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

5 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans. 6 For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; and I will build them up and not overthrow them, and I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will also give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.’”

Consider carefully what the LORD God of Israel says:

“I will REGARD AS GOOD the captives of Judah, WHOM I HAVE SENT OUT of this place into the land of the Chaldeans.”

REGARDED AS GOOD

The LORD declares that He will regard the captives as good. Notice that it is of no importance how the captives regard themselves. Nor is it of any importance whether the captives are actually good or not. We search the text in vain for any mention of the obedience or of the moral character of the captives. We do not know if they fear the LORD and try to obey the Law or if they ignore the LORD altogether. When the LORD regards them as good, all other data or opinion becomes irrelevant.

Again, we ask, “Why does the LORD regard them as good?” No reason is given. The LORD regards the captives as good because the LORD regards the captives as good. No other reason is given because no other reason is needed. The LORD’s declaration of “good” establishes the fact of the captives’ “goodness,” and nothing can change it.

The LORD’s declaration of “good” was not based on anything the captives had done in the past, and so it cannot be lost by anything they will do in the future. The captives did nothing to merit the LORD’s regarding them as good. According to His sovereign will, the LORD chose to regard as good this group of people called captives, and whatever the LORD regards is irrevocable.

THE LORD AT WORK IN THE PAST

But notice also that the LORD’s sovereignty has already been at work in the past on behalf of these captives. The LORD says the captives are those “whom I have sent out of this place.”

How did this group of captives get taken from Jerusalem? The LORD sent them out. Well, how did these captives get taken to Babylon? The LORD sent them out. But didn’t Nebuchadnezzar come to Jerusalem from Babylon and take these captives away with him? Yes, the LORD sent out these captives by bringing Nebuchadnezzar and his army from Babylon to Jerusalem and then having him gather the exiles and take them back to Babylon That was how the LORD sent them out.

THE LORD HAS PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

And, also, notice that the LORD has plans for those who He has regarded as good. The LORD pours out eight promises for future blessing.

I will set My eyes on them for good.

I will bring them again to this land.

I will build them up and not overthrow them.

I will plant them and not pluck them.

I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD.

They will be My people.

I will be their God.

They will return to Me with their whole heart.

The LORD gushes out on the captives four promises of temporal, material blessings, but He also pours out four promises of eternal, spiritual blessings. Note that none of these blessings have been requested by the captives and that none of them are earned by the captives. These promised blessings are given by the LORD solely because it is His sovereign will to do so. Also observe that in these promises, the LORD is declaring what He will certainly do. These promises will certainly come to pass because the LORD always does what He intends to do. Nothing and no one resists His will (Romans 9:19).

ETERNAL SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS

“I will give them a heart to know Me.” All children of Adam are born with a heart that is deceitful and desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9). We have a hard heart (Ephesians 4:18), a foolish heart (Romans 1:21), a stubborn, unrepentant heart (Romans 2:5), and an evil, unbelieving heart (Hebrews 3:12). But the LORD here promises a new heart to those whom He regards as good, a heart that will know Him. He “will remove the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36:26-28).” And with that heart they will know the LORD.

“They will be My people and I will be their God.” The captives who are regarded as good will be the people of the LORD (1 Peter 2:10), and in all the earth they will be His treasured possession (Exodus 19:5). And the LORD will be their God: their defender, their shield, their refuge, their provider, their Lord and their God.

“They will return to Me with their whole heart.” Read this carefully, for in this blessing the LORD is making an unconditional promise about what free people will do. What does it mean when the Scripture says, “Return to Me with their whole heart”? This is an Old Testament way of saying that they will genuinely and fully believe in the LORD. We would say that they will be saved. But notice that the LORD is promising that these captives whom the LORD regards as good WILL CERTAINLY return to Him with their whole heart. How can the LORD promise that these captives will do that? He can make this promise because the LORD is the sovereign ruler of the universe and has ordained it to be so.

APPLICATION TO OUR LIVES

This story from Jeremiah 24 of God’s eternal promises and of His regarding some people as good to their eternal, unmerited benefit is the story of the gospel and of how God has sovereignly chosen His people for salvation. But this story in Jeremiah also shows that, when the Lord chooses to regard someone as good, He also ordains that all the means necessary to bring about that person’s salvation will providentially occur in their lives.

So, just as the LORD unconditionally regarded the captives as good, so the Lord has unconditionally “chosen His people in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).”

As the LORD promised to give the captives a heart to know Him, in the same way the Lord has “made us alive with Christ and raised us up with Him” (Ephesians 2:4-5), and the Lord has “caused His people to be born again to a living hope (1 Peter 1:3).”

The LORD declared that these captives would return to Him with their whole heart, and now we who are in Christ have a heart that says, “To live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).” We are those who declare, “I count all things loss in view of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord (Philippians 3:8).”

SDG                 rmb                 3/12/2021