…What a relief it was to become an atheist.
I had become worn out and frustrated by my fruitless search for God.
I had studied holy writings from three different continents. No God there.
I had tried prayer and “positive thinking” as if they were the same thing.
I had wrestled with the problems of theodicy without even knowing that the word existed.
I felt that I had sought God everywhere – in the cosmos, in my neurones, in my bank account.
Arminian theology teaches that God’s election of individuals to salvation is based on his foreknowledge of their faith. God knows beforehand that they will believe, and on that basis elects, or predestines them, to eternal life. This approach has the apparent advantage of relieving the tension between divine election and human freedom. A key text here is Rom 8:29 –
Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.…
Election is ‘God’s decision to choose us to be saved before the foundation of the world.’ Or, more fully, ‘election is an act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure.’
The term ‘predestination’ is a broader term, including as it does God’s leaving of the non-elect to the consequences of their own sins. …
John Charles Ryle ministered in East Anglia in the middle years of the 19th century before becoming the first (Anglican) bishop of Liverpool. His writings are refreshingly clear, robust, and heartfelt. He explains, defends and applies the evangelical faith with deceptive simplicity. Ryle deals with the doctrine of election in his book Old Paths. Here’s a summary:-
We are familiar with the idea of a general election to Parliament. But there is a greater election.…
Election is such a hot potato that we can end up resenting the very existence of the doctrine, and almost reproach God for putting it in the Bible at all. Because we find many of our arguments about election to be unedifying, we are tempted to conclude that the doctrine itself is unedifying.
But look at the attitude of Paul: he is neither embarrassed nor ashamed of election. The thought of election leads Paul to praise, Eph 1:3ff, to encouragement, Rom 8:33ff, and to ethical appeal, Col 3:12.…
Robert Traill (1642-1716) was a Puritan pastor whose works were re-issued by the Banner of Trust Trust in 1975. They include a series of six sermons on
Galatians 2:21: ‘I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.’
The six sermons are also available in their entirety here, and are highly recommended. What follows is a very abbreviated precis of the first two sermons:-
1.…
Here’s the last in this series, summarising responses to objections to the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement that relate to aspects of the Christian life:-
Penal substitution seems occupied with the salvation of the individual but fails to address the need for reconciliation between peoples divided by political, ethnic, economic and social barriers. Nor does it provide for the redemption of the entire cosmos from its fallen state.…
The next set of objections to the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement cluster around our understanding of God:-
Critics sometimes argue that the doctrine of penal substition violates the unity of the godhead by depicting the Father and the Son as acting independently. Whereas Rom 5:8 affirms that God demonstrates his love by means of what Christ did, penal substitution implies that in the atonement God did something to Jesus.…
Continuing this series that summarises (in order to commend) material within Jeffrey, Ovey & Sach’s book Pierced for our Transgressions, we reach those objections that assert that the doctrine of penal substitionary atonement violates the principle of justice:-
According to Tom Smail, ‘the penal substitution theory…must answer the question: How can it be just to punish a righteous man for the sins of many unrighteous people?’…
Having considered objections to the doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement that are based on appeals to the Bible and to culture, the authors of Pierced for our Transgressions deal with those that assert that the doctrine is an instance of ‘the myth of redemptive violence’.
It was for this reason that C.H. Dodd objected to the translation of hilasterion as ‘propitiation’, for this would be ‘misleading, for it suggests the placating of an angry God, and although this would be in accord with pagan usage, it is foreign to biblical usage’.…
