On another site where I have occasionally commented about issues related to divine sovereignty, a reader left the comment and questions below. Since the moderator on that site tends to be hostile towards Calvinists, and since these are interesting topics for readers of THEOparadox, I have elected to respond here.
Pamela wrote:
"Hi Derek, I have recently been reading with interest your dialogue with Matt “Strider” from a number of years ago. I have not yet finished the entire thread, but I appreciated both of your efforts to illuminate the differing doctrines. It does seem to me that both of you danced around the crucial point, although I would say Matt came a little bit closer to addressing it. The issue of whether we can freely choose white socks or blue socks is irrelevant. Even the issue of whether we can freely choose to sin or not is irrelevant. Christ’s work on the cross is complete. Our proclivity to continue sinning does not affect the sufficiency of his completed work. I have some hypothetical questions for you that I think get more to the point.
1) Can a non-elect person choose to put their faith in Christ, and worship and serve him throughout their life? Conversely, can an elect person reject Christ and refuse to worship and serve him throughout their life?
2) If the answer to those questions is yes, will the non-elect person who spent his life faithfully worshiping and serving Christ still be eternally condemned? And conversely, will the elect person who rejected Christ throughout his life still go to heaven?
I hope these questions are straightforward enough to warrant a straightforward answer. Thank you in advance."
I appreciate these questions and the opportunity to clarify a few items regarding Reformed Theology, at least as I understand and embrace its tenets. In order to adequately answer these questions, we must distinguish between what we might call "basic ability" and "moral ability," and we must define "elect" and "non-elect."
To the first question, I would answer that there is a sense in which a non-elect person can believe in Christ, worship, and serve Him. Both elect and non-elect persons have a heart/mind/soul which has the basic ability to trust in any person or concept that is encountered (and, in fact, every person does by necessity place faith in various persons or ideas). Each of us has this basic capacity and ability to trust or not trust as we move through life. We also have the basic ability to worship anything we encounter and serve anyone we encounter, whether we are elect or non-elect.
The elect certainly have this basic ability to reject Christ, and refuse to worship or serve Him, and indeed they exercise this ability consistently prior to their conversion.
With that said, we must also recognize a sense in which it is impossible for a non-elect person (or an unregenerated elect person) to trust in Christ. As sinners, though we may have the basic ability, we lack the moral ability to trust Christ (as an illustration of this distinction, I have the basic ability to eat liver, but lack the moral ability, so I never eat liver). Our hearts/minds/souls are bent against Christ and simply unwilling to trust Him, though we have hearts/minds/souls that are capable of exercising such trust. In our eyes, when we are in the unregenerate state, He has no value or trustworthiness to us. Thus, while having the basic ability to trust in Him or anyone else we encounter, we lack the moral ability to trust in Him (choosing unfortunately to trust in ourselves instead--which epitomizes our horrific bondage to sin and selfishness).
With regeneration comes the moral ability to trust in Christ as our eyes are opened by the Lord and we begin to see the worthiness, power, love and faithfulness of Jesus. Then we trust Him. Then we worship and serve Him. I nearly weep now with exuberant joy as I consider the way this miracle of regeneration was given to me by grace and changed my hardened heart to a heart of love for Christ!
To the second question, the answer is "no" because election and non-election speak not to what a person can do (by basic ability), but to what they will do. The elect are elected not simply to arrive someday in heaven, but to be called, regenerated, and converted here. They will live in a new heaven and a new earth because they were made new in this world by the pure grace of God.
On that note, I will add a huge "AMEN" and agreement to these comments from Pamela:
"Christ’s work on the cross is complete. Our proclivity to continue sinning does not affect the sufficiency of his completed work."
I hope this is helpful in providing a clear answer to your inquiries. Have a blessed Lord's day!
