THE PROBLEM OF PREDESTINATION

By: Ray Shelton

  1. THE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM.

    THE MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE NEED FOR SALVATION

    The doctrine of the sinful nature was introduced into Christian theology by Augustine in the early fifth century A.D. to explain why man can not save himself by his meritorious works. Instead of denying that salvation has anything to do with meritorious works, Augustine assumed that salvation is by meritorious works and he taught that since the fall, because of his inherited corrupt or sinful nature, man cannot do meritorious works to earn salvation apart from the grace of God. Thus Augustine taught that the grace of God which is infused into man's will by the sacraments enables him to earn eternal life.

    But Augustine's assumption is wrong. According to the Scriptures ( Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 4:4-5), salvation is not by meritorious works, eternal life is not earned by meritorious works, and the doctrine of the sinful nature is unnecessary to deny that man can save himself. According to the Scriptures, man cannot save himself because he cannot make himself alive, not because he cannot do meritorious works. The law cannot deliver one from death or sin, neither can the law produce life or righteousness. The law cannot make alive.

    "Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not;
    for if a law had been given which could make alive,
    then righteousness would indeed be by the law." (Gal. 3:21)
    There is no salvation by the law.

    The sinful nature is not needed to explain why man cannot save himself, because the law was not given by God for salvation; the law cannot make alive. God gave the law, not for salvation from sin, but for the knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20b); that is, to show what should be man's right personal relationship to God and to his fellow men (Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:37-40). This knowledge does not save man but only shows man what he ought to be but it cannot make him to be that. Salvation is only through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, not by the law and not by human self-effort (the flesh). Jesus Christ is Life, and he who has Him has life and is alive to God (I John 5:11-12).

    Thus according to the Scriptures, man does not sin because of a inherited sinful nature, but because of spiritual death received from Adam.

    "12 Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world,
    and death through sin,
    and so death passed unto all men,
    because of which all sinned: --
    13 for until the law sin was in the world;
    but sin is not reckoned when there is no law.
    14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses,
    even over those who had not sinned
    after the likeness of the transgression of Adam,
    who is the type of him who was to come."
    (Rom. 5:12-14 ERS).

    "...For if by the offense of one the many died,
    much more did the grace of God
    and the gift by grace of the one man, Jesus Christ,
    abound unto the many."
    (Rom. 5:15 ERS)

    "For if by the offense of the one,
    death reigned through the one,
    much more shall those who receive the abundance of grace
    and the gift of righteousness
    reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ."
    (Rom. 5:17 ERS)

    "21 For as by a man came death,
    by a man has come the resurrection of the dead.
    22 For as in Adam all die,
    so also in Christ shall all be made alive."
    (I Cor. 15:21-22)

    Thus the Scriptures teach that Adam as the head of the human race brought spiritual and physical death on the whole human race ( Rom. 5:12-19; I Cor. 15:21-22); but this was not as a punishment for the sins of the human race, neither personally for their own sins nor as a participation in Adam's sin ( Rom. 5:13-14). Neither does the Scriptures teach that man inherited a corrupt or sinful nature from Adam. On the contrary, the Scriptures teaches that man inherited death, spiritual and physical, from Adam ( Rom. 5:12; I Cor. 15:21-22). And according to Rom. 5:12d ("because of which [death] all sinned" ERS) all men sin because of death ("the sting of death is sin", I Cor. 15:55-56).
    "55 O Death, where is thy victory?
    O Death, where is thy sting?
    56 The sting of death is sin,
    and the power of sin is the law."
    (I Cor. 15:55-56)
    And this death is not the sinful nature. These are two totally different concepts. The sinful nature is the nature of man that is sinful and the nature of man is what man is - that which makes man what he is and what he does. The nature of anything is that essence of the thing that determines what it is and how it acts. The sinful nature is that nature of man, and because it is sinful, makes him sin. Death, on the other hand, is a negative relationship of separation. Physical death is the separation of man's spirit from his body, spiritual death is the separation of man's spirit from God, and eternal death ("the second death," Rev. 20:14) is the eternal separation of man from God. Spiritual death is the opposite of spiritual life, which is to know personally the true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. In His great intercessory prayer, Jesus said:
    "This is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God,
    and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." (John 17:3)
    That is, spiritual death is not to know personally the true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. Knowledge is a relationship between the knower and that which is known; it is not a nature nor the property of a nature. Now it should be clear that spiritual death is not the sinful nature; spiritual death is a negative relationship between man and God and not the nature of man.

    This spiritual death is not the necessary cause but the ground or condition of sin, the choice of a false god. The Greek preposition epi translated "because" in the last clause of Rom. 5:12 means "on the condition of" or "on the basis of". It does not imply any necessary or deterministic causal connection between death and sin. Man sins by choice, not of necessity. In this state of spiritual death, he chooses freely his false god and thus sins. Then his false god puts him into bondage; he becomes a slave of sin, his false god being his slave master. The Calvinistic doctrine of Total Depravity or Total Inability misinterpretes this slavery of sin and equates it with the sinful nature or the results of the sinful nature, and turns the slavery of sin into a determinism and the denial of human freedom of choice.

    Man's nature is not sinful or good, but is what he choose it to be; if he chooses a false god as his ultimate criterion of his choices, his choices will be sinful. Since men are spiritually dead, that is, not spiritually alive in a personal relationship to the true God, they will choose a false god as their ultimate criterion of their choices of how they will think or act. God opposes man's basic sin of idolatry and the sins that follow from it; this opposition is the wrath of God. And if a man continues to serve his false god, refusing the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ, he will receive eternal death, the wages of this slavemaster. This has nothing to do with merit or demerit, nor with the execution of justice in paying the penalty for law breaking. Romans 6:23 is about the slavery of sin and its consequences; the word "sin" in the singular there refers not to the sinful nature but to sin as a slavemaster, who pays the wages of eternal death. And this eternal death is not the penalty of sin, but is the wages paid by sin as a slavemaster, the false god that a man has chosen.

    "The wages of sin is death,
    but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
    (Rom. 6:23).
    Sin as a slave master is the false god that a man chooses as his ultimate criterion of all his choices. Thus all men sin in choosing a false god and from this false god as their slavemaster they receive the wages of this slavemaster, eternal death. God does not choose just some to be saved, leaving the rest to be damned. But each man chooses his god and lord; if he chooses a false god that becomes his slavemaster, then he will receive the consequence of that choice, eternal death. But if he chooses to receive the true God as his God and His gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ, His Son, acknowledging Him as his Lord, he is saved.

    One of the implications of Augustine's doctrine of the sinful or corrupt nature of man is that salvation is entirely the work of God (monergism), since man, because of his sinful nature, is totally unable to do good works in order to earn salvation by them. According to Augustine, not only is the grace of God the work of God but so is faith, since salvation is "by grace through faith" ( Eph. 2:8). According to Augustine, the faith that receives the grace of God is also the work of God. This monergism totally eliminates the human will from any part or place in salvation. Augustine understood the human will, not as a choice between sin and righteousness, but choice according to one's nature: the choice of sin if one's nature is sinful, the choice of righteousness if one's nature is good. So accordingly all men's choices are sin because their nature is sinful. And the grace of God must enable the will of man if he is going to do meritorious works to earn his salvation. This efficient grace is received through the sacraments. Thus salvation is a monergism, where God does all that is needed to earn salvation, not a synergism, where God's act of grace enables the will of man to earn salvation, as was taught by the later Roman Church.

    Furthermore, in Augustine's teaching, grace is reduced to something that enables the human will to do good works so that it can earn salvation. These views of Augustine concerning salvation follow from his view of human nature as sinful or corrupt. The Calvinist Reformers denied Augustine's view of grace and sees the grace of God as the unmerited favor of God in which God gives to the elect the righteousness or merits earned for them by Christ's active obedience. That is, God in Christ has earned for them the salvation that they themselves cannot earn because of their sinful nature. But the Calvinist is wrong; righteousness is not merits but is a right personal relationship to God through faith.

    "4 Now to the one who works his wages is not reckoned according to grace [as a gift]
    but according to debt [something owed since it was earned]
    5 But to the one who does not work,
    but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly,
    his faith is reckoned for righteousness." (Rom. 4:4-5 ERS).
    And God puts man into this right personal relationship to Himself by His grace, not by vicarious meritorious works that was earned for them by another. The grace of God is not just the unmerited favor of God, but it is the love of God in action to save man from death to life.
    "4 But God, being rich in mercy,
    because of His great love with which He loved us,
    5 even when we were dead in offenses,
    made us alive together with Christ
    (by grace you have been saved),
    6 and raised us up with Him,
    and seated us with Him in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus;"
    (Eph. 2:4-6 ERS).
    Calvinism's view of salvation like Augustine's is monergistic, that is, God alone is active in salvation, because it believes that since man's nature is sinful and man does what his nature is, then all the acts of man are sinful and he cannot do any righteous act to earn salvation. Therefore, God alone must earn it for him. Calvinism, denying the Augustinian view that man does these meritorious acts by the grace of God that man receives from God through the sacraments, asserts that God alone does these meritorious acts through the active obedience of Christ; Christ has earned salvation for us. God alone is active in man's salvation. Not only is the grace of God the work of God but so also is faith, since salvation is "by grace through faith" ( Eph. 2:8). According to Calvinism, the faith that receives the gift of God is also the work of God. The Calvinistic doctrine of Irresistible Grace teaches that God gives the elect a new nature by which they can believe and thus be saved. Thus not only is salvation by grace but so also is faith the gift of God. But the phrase in Eph. 2:8, "and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God", refers not to faith but to salvation. In the Greek of this verse, the demonstrative pronoun translated "that" agrees in gender (masculine) with the verbal participle translated "have been saved", and not with the noun translated "faith" which is feminine. Salvation is the gift which God has given and is received by man's faith. And this faith does not earn this salvation by meritorious works. For faith is not a meritorious work.
    "8 For by grace you have been saved through faith;
    and that [salvation] is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
    9 not as the result of works, that no one should boast."
    (Eph. 2:8-9 ERS)

    Salvation is not by meritorious works, not because a man is not able to do them, but because God does not deal with mankind on the basis of the merit scheme. As Jesus made clear in his parable of the householder (Matt. 20:1-16), God does not act toward us on the basis of our merit but on the basis of His generosity. And because God does not treat mankind according to their desserts, but according to His love, He often puts the least deserving before the more deserving. "The last will be first and the first last." (Matt. 20:16; 19:30; Mark 10:31; Luke 13:30)

    The Apostle Paul in opposing salvation by works refers to meritorious works as "the righteousness of the law" (Rom. 10:5; Phil. 3:6, 9) and as "the works of the law" (Rom. 3:20; 4:2-5; Gal. 3:2, 5, 10). The law was legalistically considered to be the standard by which the merits of good works can be determined. This is a distortion of the Mosaic law and is a characteristic of legalism.

    THE MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST

    Calvinism not only misunderstands the need for salvation, but also misunderstands the meaning of the death of Christ. Christ's death is seen as dealing basically with the consequences of sin. From the legalistic point of view, man needs to be saved because he is guilty of breaking the law. Salvation is accordingly conceived of as a removal of that guilt. Justice requires that the penalty be paid before the guilt can be removed. It cannot be forgiven freely but only can be taken away by the paying of the penalty which alone can satisfy justice. Because of the enormity of the guilt - it is against an infinite moral being - finite man himself can never pay the penalty and go free. From this legalistic point of view, man's sin demands an eternal punishment, and being finite, man cannot meet the infinite demand of justice. If he is to be saved at all, he must be saved by another - one who is man like himself but without sin, but also one who is God who alone can meet the infinite demands of justice. Where is such a one to be found? Only God can provide that one, and God has provided the perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty by sending His Son to become man. His death is the perfect sacrifice. It can remove the guilt by paying the penalty. In His death, Christ endured the eternal punishment due to man's sin.

    This penal satisfaction theory of the death of Christ is clearly legalistic. It assumes that the order of law and justice is absolute; free forgiveness would be a violation of this absolute order; God's love must be carefully limited lest it infringe on the demands of justice. Sin is a crime against God and the penalty must be paid before forgiveness can become available. According to this view, God's love is conditioned and limited by His justice; that is, God cannot exercise His love to save man until His righteousness (justice) is satisfied. Since God's justice requires that sin be punished, God's love cannot save man until the penalty of sin has been paid, satisfying His justice. God's love is set in opposition to His righteousness, creating a tension and problem in God. How can God in His love save man from sin when His righteousness demands the punishment of sin? This is the problem that the death of Christ is supposed to solve. According to this legalistic theology, this is why Christ needed to die; he died to pay the penalty of man's sin and to satisfy the justice of God. Redemption is misinterpreted as paying the penalty of man's sin and propitiation is misinterpreted as the satisfaction of God's justice. And reconciliation is misinterpreted as as a vicarious act, instead of another, God being reconciled to man by Christ's death paying the penalty of man's sin.
    The necessity of the atonement is the necessity of satisfying the justice of God; this necessity is in God rather than in man. And since this necessity is in God, it is an absolute necessity. If God is to save man, God must satisfy His justice before He can in love save man.

    If Christ did not die to pay the penalty for man's sin and to satisfy God's justice, then why did Christ have to die to save man? Why then do men need to be saved? An examination of Scripture (John 10:10; Eph. 2:4-5; Heb. 2:14-15; I John 4:9; etc. See also the sections of Chapter 1 of my book, From Death to Life, entitled " Death" and " Death and Sin".) clearly shows that the answer to this question is that man needs to be saved because he is dead and needs life. Man is spiritually dead and is dying physically. Being spiritually dead, man is separated and alienated from God (Eph. 4:18; Col. 1:21). Man does not know God personally, and because he does not know the true God, he turns to false gods, to those things which are not God and makes them into his gods (Gal. 4:8). The basic sin is idolatry (Ex. 20:2; Rom. 1:25), and man sins (chooses these false gods) because he is spiritually dead, separated from the true God.

    And all men have sinned because they are spiritually dead. This is what the Apostle Paul says in the last clause of Romans 5:12: "because of which [death] all sinned." Spiritual death which "spread to all men" along with physical death is not the result of each man's own personal sins. On the contrary, a man sins as a result of spiritual death. He received death from Adam, from his first parents. The historical origin of sin is the fall of Adam - the sin of the first man. Adam's sin brought death, spiritual and physical, on all his descendants (Rom. 5:12, 15, 17). This death, inherited from Adam, is the personal, contemporary origin of each man's sin. Because he is spiritually dead, not knowing God personally, he chooses something other than the true God as his God; he thus sins.

    This is why a man needs to be saved. He is dead spiritually and dying physically. Man needs life; he needs to be made alive, to be raised from the dead. And if he receives life, if he is made alive to God, death which leads to sin is removed. And if death which leads to sin is removed, then man will be saved from sin. Thus salvation must be understood to be primarily from death to life and then secondarily from sin to righteousness. And since God's wrath, God's "no" or opposition to sin, is caused by sin (Rom. 1:18), the removal of sin brings with it also the removal of wrath. Salvation is then thirdly from wrath to peace with God (Rom. 5:1, 9).

    The righteousness of God is God acting in love for the salvation or deliverance of man. This righteousness of God has been manifested, that is, publicly displayed, in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21-22). God was active in Jesus Christ, particularly in His death and resurrection, for salvation (Acts 4:12; I Thess. 5:9; I Tim. 2:10; 3:15; Heb. 5:9). Because He is the act of God for our salvation, Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God (I Cor. 1:30). The gospel or the good news is about this manifestation of the righteousness of God. The gospel tells us about God's act of salvation in the person and work of Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:1-4; I Cor. 15:3-4; Eph. 1:13). God acted in Him to deliver man from death, from sin, and from wrath. But since wrath is caused by sin and sin is caused by death, salvation is basically the deliverance from death to life. Man cannot make himself alive. Only God can make alive for He is the living God and the source of all life. And God did this through the death and the resurrection of Jesus.

    SALVATION FROM DEATH TO LIFE

    Because God loves man, He did not leave him in death but has provided for him deliverance from death by sending His Son into the world.

    "For God so loved the world,
    that he gave his only begotten Son,
    that whosoever believeth on him should not perish,
    but have eternal life." (John 3:16 KJV)
    Thus God in His love for man sent His Son to become a man, Jesus Christ, the God-man (John 1:14). He was the perfect man; He lived in perfect fellowship with God, His Father, and perfectly trusted God throughout His entire life (John 1:4; 8:28-29; 12:50; 16:32; 17:25). But He came not just to be what we should have been or to give us a perfect example; He came to die on our behalf in order that we might have life in Him. Jesus said,
    "10 I came that they might have life,
    and have it more abundantly.
    11 I am the good shepherd:
    the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."
    (John 10:10-11 KJV)
    And the Apostle John said,
    "In this was manifested the love of God toward us,
    because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world
    that we might live through him." (I John 4:9)
    He entered not only into our existence as man, but He entered into our condition of spiritual and physical death. On the cross He died not only physically but spiritually. For only this once during His whole life was He separated from His Father. "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46 KJV) He was forsaken for us; He died for us.
    "By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us" (I John 3:16 ERS).

    But God raised Him from the dead. He entered into our death in order that as He was raised from the dead we might be made alive with and in Him (Eph. 2:5). Hence Christ's death was our death, and His resurrection is our resurrection (II Cor. 5:15). He became identified with us in His death in order that we might become identified with Him in His resurrection and have life. He became like us that we might become like Him. As the second century Christian theologian and bishop of Lyon, Irenaeus (125-202 A.D.), said,

    "... but following the only true and steadfast teacher,
    the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ,
    who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are,
    that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself." [1]
    The writer to the Hebrews also wrote,
    "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels,...
    so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."
    (Heb. 2:9 NIV).

    "14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood,
    he himself likewise partook of the same nature,
    that through death he might destroy him that has the power of death,
    that is the devil,
    15 and deliver all those who through fear of death
    were subject to lifelong bondage."
    (Heb. 2:14-15)

    He acted as our representative, on our behalf and for our sakes. The Greek preposition huper does not mean "instead of" but "on the behalf of" or "for the sake of". In the following passages, the Greek preposition huper cannot mean "instead of".
    "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of [huper] Christ
    you should not only believe in him
    but also suffer for his sake [huper autou, on the behalf of him]"
    (Phil. 1:29)

    "It is right for me to think this about all of you [huper pantan humon],
    because I have you in my heart,
    since both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the Gospel
    you all are partakers of grace with me." (Phil. 1:7 ERS)

    "5 On the behalf of [huper tou toitotou] such a man I will boast,
    but on behalf of myself [huper emautou] I will not boast,
    except of my weaknesses.
    6 For if I wish to boast, I shall not be foolish,
    for I shall be speaking the truth;
    but I refrain from this lest anyone reckon to me
    above what [huper ho] he sees in me or hears from me,
    7and by the surpassing greatness [huperbole] of the revelations.
    Wherefore, in order that I should not be exalted [huperairomai]
    there was given me a thorn in the flesh,
    a messenger of Satan to harass me,
    in order that I should not be exalted [huperairomai].
    8About this [huper touton]
    I besought the Lord that it should leave me;
    9 and He said to me,
    'My grace is sufficient for you,
    for my power is perfected in weakness.'
    Most gladly therefore I will boast in my weaknesses,
    that the power of Christ may rest on me." (II Cor. 12:5-9 ERS).

    Thus the Greek preposition huper does not mean "instead of" but "on the behalf of" or "for the sake of". And thus Chirst died on the behalf of all men, not instead of them.
    "14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced
    that one has died for all [huper panton, on the behalf of all],
    therefore all have died [that is, in Christ who represents all].
    15 And he died for all [huper panton, on the behalf of all],
    that those who live might live no longer for themselves
    but for him who for their sake [huper auton, on the behalf of them]
    died and was raised." (II Cor. 5:14-15).

    Adam acting as a representative brought the old creation under the reign of death. But Christ acting as our representative, on our behalf, brought a new creation in which those "who have received the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life" (Rom. 5:17).

    "21 For since by man came death,
    by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
    22 For as in Adam all die,
    even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
    (I Cor. 15:21-22)

    "Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature:
    the old things are passed away;
    behold, they are become new." (II Cor. 5:17)

    [Jesus said]
    "Because I live ye shall live also." (John 14:19 KJV)

    Acting through our representative, God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ, that is, God has brought us into fellowship with Himself.
    "18 But all things are of God,
    who reconciled us to himself through Christ...
    19 to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself...."
    (II Cor. 5:18-19; see also Rom. 5:10-11; I Cor. 1:9; I John 1:2-3).
    This representative work of Christ should be understood, not as a vicarious act, instead of another, but as a participation, an act of sharing in the condition of another. Christ took part or shared in our situation. He entered, not only into our existence as a man, but also into our condition of spiritual and physical death.
    "14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood,
    he himself likewise partook of the same nature,
    that through death he might destroy him that has the power of death,
    that is the devil,
    15 and deliver all those who through fear of death
    were subject to lifelong bondage."
    (Heb. 2:14-15)
    On the cross, Jesus died not only physically but also spiritually ("My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matt. 27:46), sharing in our spiritual death. We are reconciled to God through the death of Christ (Rom. 5:10) because He shared in our death (Heb. 2:9). But He was raised from the dead, and that on behalf of all men (II Cor. 5:15). He was raised from the dead so that we might participate and share in His resurrection and be made alive with Him ( Eph. 2:4-5). His resurrection is our resurrection. He was raised from dead for us so that we might participate in His resurrection and have life, both spiritual and physical. Thus the representative work of Christ is a participation, an act of sharing in the condition of another. He participated in our death so that we could participate in His life.

    Since spiritual death is no fellowship with God (it is the opposite of spiritual life which is fellowship with God), then being made alive with Christ we are brought into fellowship with God. Hence we are reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10; II Cor. 5:17-19). The Greek word katallage, which is translated " reconciliation" in our English versions, means a "thorough or complete change." Hence it refers to a complete change in the personal relationship between man and God. Because man is dead, he has no personal relationship with God, no fellowship with God. When a man is made alive to God with Christ, he is brought into a personal relationship with God, into fellowship with God. His personal relationship to God is completely changed, changed from death to life. Reconciliation can, therefore, be defined as that aspect of salvation whereby man is delivered from death to life. And the source of this act of reconciliation is the love of God. It is a legalistic misunderstanding of reconciliation to say that God was reconciled to man. The Scriptures never say that God is reconciled to man but that man is reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10; II Cor. 5:18-19). The problem is not in God but in man. Man is dead and needs to be made alive. Man is the enemy of God; God is not the enemy of man. God loves man, and out of His great love He has acted to reconcile man to Himself through the death and resurrection of Christ. It is true that God in His wrath opposes man's sin and in His grace has provided a means by which His wrath may be turned away. But this aspect of salvation is propitiation, not reconciliation. Reconciliation should not be confused with propitiation. God in reconciling man to Himself has saved man from death, the cause of sin, and hence He has removed sin, the cause of His wrath - no sin, no wrath. Christ's death is a propitiation because it is a redemption and it is a redemption because it is a reconciliation, salvation from death to life.

    SALVATION FROM SIN TO RIGHTEOUSNESS

    Now this salvation (primarily from death to life and secondarily from sin to righteousness) is exactly what God accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, His Son. Jesus entered into our spiritual death in order that as He was raised from the dead, we might be made alive with and in Him ( Eph. 2:4-5). And by saving us from spiritual death, Christ saves us from sin. It is by taking away the spiritual death which leads to our sin that God takes away our sin. Jesus died for our sins - literally - to take them away (John 1:29). What the Old Testament sacrifices could not do (Heb. 10:1-4), the death of Christ has done. The blood of Jesus (His death) cleanses us from our sins (I John 1:7). We are delivered from sin itself, not just from its consequences. We were saved from our trust in false gods when we put our trust in Jesus Christ and in the true God who sent him. Did we not "turn from idols to serve the living and true God" (I Thess. 1:9)? When we were spiritually dead, we trusted in and served those things that were not God: money, power, sex, education, popularity, pleasure, etc. But when we turned to the risen Christ, and received Him as our Lord, we entered into life, leaving behind those false gods. The risen Jesus Christ is now our Lord and our God (John 20:28).

    The death and resurrection of Jesus was the means by which God removed death - the barrier to knowing the true God personally and knowing His love. Now God reveals Himself to us in the preaching of the gospel, making us spiritually alive to Himself when we receive Jesus Christ who is life (John 14:6; I John 5:12). To be spiritually alive is to know God personally, and to know God personally is to trust Him. For "God is love" (I John 4:8, 16) and love begets trust. And the trust in God that God's love invokes in us is righteousness (Rom. 4:5, 9); it relates us rightly to God. Just as trust in a false god is sin, so trust in the true God is righteousness (Rom. 4:3-5). Righteousness is not a quality that we possess, neither is it merit that we have earned nor have imputed to our account, but it is a right relationship to God; faith in the true God relates us rightly to Him. And just as sin flows from death, so righteousness flows from life ( Gal. 3:21). Thus by taking away death, God takes away sin. By making us alive to Himself, God sets us right with Himself through faith. Life produces righteousness just as death produced sin.

    God not only acted in Jesus Christ to reconcile us to Himself, that is, to deliver us from death to life, but also to redeem us from sin.

    "In Whom [Christ] we have our redemption through His blood,
    the deliverance from our offenses,
    according to the riches of His grace"
    (Eph. 1:7 ERS; see also Col. 1:14).
    The redemption that is in Christ (Rom. 3:24) is deliverance from sin by the payment of a price, a ransom, which is the blood of Christ, that is, His sacrificial death. The price is not the payment of a penalty but is the means by which the redemption from sin is accomplished.
    "18 Knowing that ye were not redeemed
    with corruptible things, like silver or gold,
    from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers;
    19 but with the precious blood,
    as of a lamb without blemish and without spot,
    even the blood of Christ."
    (I Pet. 1:18, 19 ERS; see also Heb. 9:14-15).
    According to the English translations of Eph. 1:7 and Col. 1:14, redemption is made equivalent to forgiveness of sins. But the basic meaning of the Greek word aphesis here translated "forgiveness" is "the sending off or away." Hence to redeem from sins is to send them away, to deliver from sin. Jesus "was manifested in order to take away sins" (I John 3:5 ERS). He is "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).

    Salvation is not just forgiveness. It is more than forgiveness of sins; it is also deliverance from death; it is the resurrection of the dead. Forgiveness of sins is not enough; man needs to be made alive to God because he is spiritually dead. And he is dead, not because of his own sins, but because of the sin of another, Adam. So the forgiveness of a man's sins does not take away spiritual death because the spiritual death was not caused by that man's sins. Thus forgiveness of sins does not remove spiritual death. But the removing of spiritual death does removes sins. Salvation as resurrection from the dead is also salvation from sin and thus is also the forgiveness of sins. Thus to be made alive to God means that sins are forgiven.

    This redemption from sin was accomplished by the death of Jesus Christ because His death is also the means by which we were delivered from death, the cause of sin. Since spiritual death leads to sin ( Rom. 5:12d ERS), sin reigns in the sphere of death's reign (Rom. 5:21). And since Christ's death is the end of the reign of death for those who died with Christ, it is also the end of the reign of sin over them. They are no longer slaves of sin, serving false gods. Sin is a slave master (Rom. 6:16-18) and this slave master is the false god in which the sinner trusts. We were all slaves of sin once, serving our false gods when we were spiritually dead, alienated and separated from the true God, not knowing Him personally. But we were set free from this slavery to sin through the death of Christ. For when Christ died for us, He died to sin (Rom. 6:10a) as a slave master. Sin no longer has dominion or lordship over Him. For he who has died is freed from sin (Rom. 6:7). That is, when a slaves dies, he is no longer in slavery, death frees him from slavery. Since Christ "has died for all, then all have died" (II Cor. 5:14). His death is our death. Since we have died with Him and He has died to sin, then we have died to sin. We are freed from the slavery of sin and are no longer enslaved to it (Rom. 6:6-7). But now Christ is alive, having been raised from the dead, and we are made alive to God in Him. His resurrection is our resurrection. "But the life He lives He lives to God" (Rom. 6:10b). This is the life of righteousness. And so we, who are now alive to God in Him, are to live to righteousness. For just as death produces sin, so life produces righteousness.

    "And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross,
    that we might die to sin and live to righteousness;
    for by His wounds you were healed." (I Pet. 2:24)
    Christ bore our sins to take them away (to redeem us from sin) so that we might die to sin with Christ and be made alive to righteousness in His resurrection. Having been redeemed from the slavery of sin through the death of Christ, we who are now alive in Him have become slaves of righteousness (Rom. 6:17-18), that is, slaves of Christ who is our righteousness (I Cor. 1:30). Redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness.

    SALVATION FROM WRATH TO PEACE

    Now that God has redeemed us from sin by the death of Christ, we are also delivered from the wrath of God. The death and resurrection of Christ is not only deliverance from sin but also deliverance from the wrath of God.

    "Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood,
    much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God" (Rom. 5:9).

    "God put forth Jesus Christ as a propitiation through faith in His blood"
    (Rom. 3:25 ERS).

    The death of Jesus Christ is a propitiation because it is the means that God has appointed for turning away His wrath from man. While God in His love could have mercy on man and turn away His wrath from man (Psa. 78:38; Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:19-20), God has appointed means whereby His wrath will be turned away. In the Old Testament, God's appointed means for turning away His wrath were the sacrifices and offerings. When these sacrifices were offered in true repentance and faith, they were an atonement or propitiation. But these sacrifices could never take away sin (Heb. 10:4, 11); that is, they could not bring about repentance and faith because they could not make alive ( Gal. 3:21). On the contrary, there is in those sacrifices a continual remembrance of sin year by year (Heb. 10:3). That is, the worshippers, not having been cleansed of their sins, still have a consciousness of sin (Heb. 10:2); they keep on sinning and knew that they were sinning. Therefore, those that draw near could never be made perfect by those sacrifices (Heb. 10:1). But Christ has put away sin once for all by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 9:26; 10:12), and has made perfect them that are being sanctified or set apart to God (Heb. 10:14). Now there is no more remembrance of sins (Heb. 10:17) since those drawing near, having been cleansed from their sins, have no more consciousness of sins (Heb. 10:22). It was to accomplish our cleansing from sin that Christ "gave Himself for our sins" (Gal. 1:4) and "died for our sins" (I Cor. 15:3). God has acted in Jesus Christ to redeem us from sin.

    Neither could the Old Testament sacrifices reconcile man to God; they could not make man alive to God ( Gal. 3:21). But through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, man can be made alive and reconciled to God and his sins can be taken away. And then since there are no sins to cause wrath, the wrath of God is turned away. No sin, no wrath. Thus Christ's death is the perfect sacrifice for turning away God's wrath because by it man is redeemed from sin. Christ's death is a propitiation because it is a redemption; it is both a propitiation and a redemption.
    Propitiation is the sacrificial aspect of Christ's work of salvation from wrath to peace with God, and
    redemption is the liberation aspect of Christ's work of salvation from sin to righteousness.
    And it is a propitiation and a redemption because it is a reconciliation to God.
    Reconciliation is representative aspect of Christ's work of salvation from death to life.
    By being made alive to God, death, the cause of sin, has been removed, one is set free from sin, and by being liberated from sin, which is the cause of wrath, wrath is removed.

    Both Calvinism and Ariminianism do not understand that Christ's death dealt basically with death, and secondarily with sin because they do not understand that all men have sinned because of (spiritual) death ( Rom. 5:12d ERS; etc.). Christ entered into our spiritual death on the cross
    ("My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?")
    so that we could be made alive with Him in His resurrection ( Eph. 2:4-5). By saving us from death to life, God saves us from sin to righteousness. This salvation from death to life, and hence from sin to righteousness, was accomplished by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God's Son, for all men. He died, not just for some men, but for all men.

    "But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels,
    crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death,
    so that he might taste death for every one [pantos]."
    (Heb. 2:9; see also II Cor. 5:14-15; I Tim. 2:3-6; Titus 2:11; I John 2:2).
    He entered into death for us, both spiritual
    ("My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Matt. 27:46)
    and physical, so that we could be made alive to God in His resurrection.
    He became what we were that we could become what He is ( Eph. 2:4-5; see Rom. 6:8). His resurrection is our resurrection. He was raised from dead for us so that we might participate in His resurrection and have life, both spiritual and physical. Thus the representative work of Christ is a participation, an act of sharing in the condition of another. He participated in our death so that we could participate in His life.

    THE THREE ASPECTS OF SALVATION

    This is why a man needs to be saved; he is dead spiritually and dying physically. Man needs life - he needs to be made alive - to be raised from the dead. And if he receives life, if he is made alive to God, death which leads to sin is removed. And if death which leads to sin is removed, then man will be saved from sin. Thus salvation must be understood to be primarily from death to life and secondarily from sin to righteousness. And since God's wrath - God's "no" or opposition to sin - is caused by sin (Rom. 1:18), the removal of sin brings with it also the removal of wrath. No sin, no wrath. Salvation is then thirdly from wrath to peace with God (Rom. 5:1).
    Propitiation is the sacrificial aspect of Christ's work of salvation that saves us from wrath to peace with God.
    Redemption is the liberation aspect of Christ's work of salvation that saves us from sin to righteousness.
    And salvation is a propitiation and a redemption because it is a reconciliation to God.
    Reconciliation is the representative aspect of Christ's work of salvation that saves us from death to life. Being made alive to God, death, the cause of sin, is removed, and sin, the cause of wrath, is then removed.
    Christ's death is a propitiation because it is a redemption;
    and it is a propitiation and a redemption because it is a reconciliation to God, salvation from death to life.
    Reconciliation, Redemption, and Propitiation are the three aspects of salvation. 

    
                 THREE ASPECTS OF SALVATION
In Adam                                                In Christ 

From--------------------SALVATION------------------------> To

DEATH-----------------RECONCILIATION--------------------> LIFE 
 |                                                         |
 V                                                         V
SIN---------------------REDEMPTION------------------> RIGHTEOUSNESS
 |                                                         |
 V                                                         V
WRATH------------------PROPITIATION--------------------> PEACE

    THE SALVATION OF ALL MEN

    This salvation by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was for all men ( Heb. 2:9; see also II Cor. 5:14-15; I Tim. 2:3-6; Titus 2:11; I John 2:2). But this death and resurrection of Christ for all men must be received by faith in order for them to be saved.

    "8 The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart
    (that is, the word of faith which we preach);
    9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and
    believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
    you will be saved.
    10 For man believes with his heart unto righteousness, and
    he confesses with his mouth unto salvation.
    11 The scripture says,
    'Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.'
    12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek;
    the same Lord is Lord of all and
    bestowes his riches upon all who call upon him.
    13 For, 'every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.'"
    (Rom. 10:8-13 ERS).
    The death and resurrection of Christ was not limited just to a few men (the Elect), but was for all men.
    "3 This is good, and acceptable in the sight God our Savior,
    4 who desires all men to be saved
    and come to the knowledge of the truth.
    5 For there is one God,
    and there is one mediator between God and man,
    the man Christ Jesus,
    6 who gave himself as a ransom for all,
    the testimony to which was borne at the proper time."
    (I Tim. 2:3-6)

    "11 For the grace of God has appeared
    for the salvation of all men,..."
    (Titus 2:11)

    "1 My little children,
    I am writing these things to you that you may not sin.
    And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father,
    Jesus Christ, the righteous.
    2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins;
    and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world."
    (I John 2:1-2 NAS. See also Heb. 2:9; II Cor. 5:14-15).

    But they must believe in their hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead and confess with the mouth Jesus as Lord in order for them to be saved (Rom. 10:9-10). God choose before the foundations of the world to save all men in Christ, but only those who believe are in Christ and thus are saved (Eph. 1:4, 13). Calvinism is correct when they affirm that God's choice or election is not based on or conditioned by any foreknowledge of man's works; salvation is not by works. But they are wrong when they affirm that only some, not all, are chosen to be saved. On the contrary, God has unconditionally chosen to save all men rather than not to save them. God did not have to save man, but He sovereignly chose in His love to save all men. But not all men will choose to accept that salvation and thus they will perish.

    "16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son,
    that all of those believing in Him should not perish,
    but have eternal life.
    17 For God sent the Son into the world,
    not to condemn the world,
    but that the world might be saved through Him."
    (John 3:16-17 ERS)
    God did not love just some men (the Elect), but the world, all men ( Heb. 2:9; see also II Cor. 5:14-15; I Tim. 2:3-6; Titus 2:11; I John 2:2). But only all those who believe in His Son, accepting the gift of His love, have eternal life and are saved through Him. They are saved unconditionally by grace [God's love in action] through faith, not by works lest any man should boast.

    But Calvinism is wrong in asserting that only those chosen by God in eternity are enabled to accept the gift of God and cannot resist and refuse the gift. On the contrary, man does not have a sinful nature that must be changed by God's grace in order that the man chosen by God in eternity can accept the gift of God. The grace of God is not a divine determinism that must overcome the determinism of the sinful nature. God sovereignly created man in His own image, giving him free will (the ability to choose between good and evil) to exercise his dominion over the rest of creation (Gen. 1:26). And at the fall of man, when Adam sinned by choosing evil, God did not take away that freedom nor corrupt his nature so that he can only choose evil. Death, spiritual and physical, was the result of the fall of man. Spiritual death is not the sinful nature, but separation and alienation of man from God. Death is a power ("death reigned", Rom. 5:14, 17) that separates man's spirit from God (spiritual death) and separates man's spirit from his body when he dies physically (physical death). Because of this condition of spiritual death, all men have sinned by choosing a false god as their ultimate criterion of their choices. All men have sinned, not because they have sinful nature, but because they are spiritually dead ( Rom. 5:12cd).

    God has chosen to save all men, if they will receive that salvation. God has not chosen just a few to be saved [the Elect], but all men ( Heb. 2:9; see also II Cor. 5:14-15; I Tim. 2:3-6; Titus 2:11; I John 2:2). But not all men will be saved, not because God has not chosen them, but they have not chosen Him. Each man must make his own choice of which god he will have as his ultimate criterion of choice, to be his god and lord. God does not make that choice for him. In the preaching of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit opens the eyes of the spiritually blind and sets their wills free from the slavery of sin to their false god, so that they can choose the true God. Then if they refuse to choose the true God and to receive His gift of life, they are left in spiritual death and in their sin.

    END NOTES

    [1] Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book V,
    preface Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, eds.,
    The Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1.
    The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus
    (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1956), p. 526.

  2. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE SOLUTION.
    1. THE MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE ORIGIN OF SIN.
    2. THE ORIGIN OF SIN.
    3. THE NEED FOR SALVATION.
    4. THE BONDAGE OF SIN.
    5. GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY.
    6. MONERGISM.
    7. LEGALISM.
    8. THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
    9. THREE ASPECTS OF SALVATION.
    10. SALVATION OF ALL MEN.

  3. THE SUMMARY OF THE SOLUTION.

    The traditional doctrine of God produced many problems. One of these is the problem of predestination. This problem is part of a larger problem, the so-called problem of evil. This problem may be stated as follows: There is compelling evidence for evil in the world. There are physical evils, such as famines, earthquakes, and natural catastrophes, along with pain, sickeness, and death. There are also moral evils, such as sin, injustices, wickedness of men, and war. Now, if God cannot prevent evil in the world, then God must not be all-powerful, and, if he will not prevent evil, then God is not all-good. Thus there are two alternates:
    (1) God is not all-powerful, or (2) God is not all-good.
    The Greek philosophers tended to favor the first altenative. They attributed evil to matter as principle of limitation and disorder; matter is the source of evil. For them matter was eternal and was not made by God; God did not control matter absolutely. In other words, God was limited by something outside of himself; God is not all-powerful. Manicheism taught a eternal dualism of two Gods, one of Light and Good, the other of Darkness or Evil; they eternally co-exist and constantly are at war with each other in the world. Neoplatonism also asserted a dualism of being and non-being, the One and the Many, order and disorder, with gradations and mixtures between them. Evil is not something positive, but rather is a negative, a privation or lack of being, of order that "ought to be there."

    Traditional Christian theology found neither alternative acceptable; God is all-powerful and all-good. Although Augustine at first, after his conversion, favored the Neo-platonic concept of evil as privation, in his later writings Augustine attributed evil to the free will of God's creatures, who made evil choices. Evil in the world is the result of the evil choices of creatures that God has created. Could God prevent those choices?
    Yes, God could have, but then that would be the end of free will. God created beings like himself, with free will and with the possiblity of evil by their free choice. God, being all-good, choose to create this good, creatures like himself, and he made a plan to take care of the evil that would result from the wrong exercise of those free wills.

    But Augustine did not carry out the logic of this solution; he introduced a divine determinism (predestination) and a determinism of the human sinful nature (the doctrine of original sin) which completely eliminated the free will of the creatures. Many philosophers have opted for a total divine determinism, completely eliminating the free will of the creatures. Leibniz, for example, puts forth in his Theodicy a position which has been called cosmological optimism. According to Leibniz, God created the world according to best possible plan. But the best plan, he says, "is not always that which seeks to avoid evil, since it may happen that the evil is accompanied by a greater good." Leibniz' reasoning on the problem of evil has rarely been found completely convincing. His doctrine that "this is the best of all possible worlds" was mercilessly satirized by Voltaire in his Candide. This solution of Leibniz to the problem of evil is based on the view of reality that everything that happened is determined by God; man's free choices have no place in what happens, good or evil. Thus God is responsible for the evil, if He is all-powerful, or He is not all-good because he caused the evil. Other views either ignore or dismiss the problem of evil. Pantheism ignores the problem by treating evil as an illusion. Naturalism dismisses evil as only a stage in the evolutionary process.

    Traditional Christian theology has not followed the Biblical solution to the problem of evil. Because of their legalistic interpretation of the need for salvation and of salvation, they have misunderstood the problem of evil and its solution. They misunderstood sin as only a breaking or falling short of the moral standard of the law, and death as the punishment of sin. And that man sins because of the inherited sinful nature. Thus they misunderstood the nature of evil. They did not understand that the basic sin is idolatry, that is, that the basic sin is the faith and trust in a false god, and that death is more than physical death, the separation of man's spirit from his body; death is also spiritual death, the separation of man's spirit from God. And because of the spiritual death received from Adam, all men have sinned in choosing a false god ( Rom. 1:25; 5:12d ERS). Evil, that is, death and sin, came into the world that God had created, by the sin, the wrong choice of the head of the race, the first man, Adam.

    "Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world,
    and death through sin,
    and so death passed unto all men,
    because of which all sinned:--" (Rom. 5:12 ERS)

    "21 For as by a man came death,
    by a man has come the resurrection of the dead.
    22 For as in Adam all die,
    so also in Christ shall all be made alive."
    (I Cor. 15:21-22)

    The removal of that evil was by the new head of the race, the God-man, Jesus Christ. Through the death and resurrection of Christ, not only has physical death but spiritual death have been removed. Because all men have sinned in choosing a false god because of spiritual death ( Rom. 5:12d ERS), by saving man from death God saves man from sin. When the offer of the gift of spiritual and eternal life is presented in the preaching of the gospel, each individual man (and women) may choose to accept that gift. But not all men will accept this gift of life in Christ; and thus they will receive the consequence of their wrong choice, eternal death (Rom. 6:23), eternal separation from God. At the last judgment, God will ultimately solve the problem of evil by separating the evil from the good (Rev. 20:14-15).