Particular Redemption (II)
Christ Jesus, the eternal Son of God, fully God and fully man, died a death of infinite value and worth. In His death on the cross of Calvary, Christ mediated peace between God and His covenanted people. His blood was shed for the remission of sins (Eph 1:7), and this is the basis of reconciliation between parties at enmity with one another (2 Cor 5:18–19).
When Adam, the representative head of humanity, sinned against his Creator, all the seed of humanity was in him (Gen 3; Rom 5:12). Adam’s corruption contaminated his entire progeny (Rom 3:23; Eph 2:1). His transgression is transferred to each soul, so that all are guilty before Almighty God (Rom 3–5).
In God’s eternal counsel, derived from His eternal good pleasure, God has willed for some, but not all, to be saved (Mt 1:21; 20:28; Mk 10:45). The attributes of God are prominently displayed in His eternal purpose to call many, but to choose few (Acts 17:30; Rom 8:30; 11:5). In election, God displayed mercy and grace to an undeserving people (Rom 9:15–16, 23; 1 Jn 3:18), a remnant of humanity, on whom He set His love in eternity. In reprobation, God displayed his just judgment and punishment on vessels of wrath He has prepared for destruction (Rom 1:18; 9:22).
God sends the Gospel of His irresistible grace to whom He wills (Mt 24:14; Mk 16:15; Is 61:1; Lk 4:18; Acts 13:48). The Spirit-filled preacher warns the reprobate of the coming day of judgment (Mt 3:7; Lk 3:7; Jn 16:8). In the same message, the preacher declares so great a salvation, and God’s elect, redeemed people are given faith to believe it (Rom 1:16–17; 12:3; Gal 3:22; Phl 1:29; Heb 12:2). There is no limitation on the preaching event, as the hyper-Calvinists suggest. The pleasure of God, at announcing truth in a world of lies, is like the bright and morning sun, dispelling the dark of night. Still, the Gospel goes where the Spirit directs it. Some remain blind in the face of the blazing sun.
The Gospel preacher never offers the Gospel, as if it were a product or service to be peddled to prospective buyers. Rather, it is proclaimed, as news of who Christ is and what He has done, to secure salvation for the beloved of God. Who believes our report?
Whosoever believes the Gospel report shall not perish but has everlasting life (Jn 3:16). Thus, faith is the evidence of one who has heard the Word of God, the Word of truth, and placed her trust in Christ for salvation (Rom 10:14–17). Why does she believe?
Faith is a product of God’s grace (Eph 2:8–9), directed toward God’s elect people. God works. His work is grace toward some, not all. Grace produces faith in the regenerated soul. This faith is accompanied by repentance, which is a turning away from Satan, sin, and the world (Acts 5:31; 17:30). One who has received the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16), by receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, has had her mind changed about God and Christ (Rom 12:2). She is happy to tell you about it!
Those who hear the Gospel call, heralded by faithful preachers (1 Cor 1:1–4), but who remain in unbelief, have not received grace unto salvation. Those who die in unbelief were not elect but proved to be reprobate (Jn 10:26). Men cannot generate faith in and of themselves. It must be planted in them like a seed, by God’s grace. Only the indwelling Spirit manifests the grace that produces faith.
Unelect, unregenerate, unbelievers have no desire to be saved (Rom 3:10–12), even when they hear the Gospel of peace preached to them. He will never come to Christ of his own will and desire (Jn 1:12–13). This exposes the futility of Arminian Evangelical gimmicks and tactics, employed to manipulate people into the kingdom of God.
For one to heed the call to come to Christ, requires the Father dragging her to Christ the Son (Jn 6:44). For all whom the Father drags, the Son will in no wise cast out (Jn 6:37). Man is responsible for his sin, but God is responsible for a man’s salvation (Ps 3:8; Jon 2:9; Rev 19:1). The Gospel is a savor of death unto death, for the eternally decreed reprobate (Rom 9:18; Jn 12:39–40), who sins, disobeys in unbelief, and wills never to seek God. Thus, God’s reprobation and man’s willful rebellion are perfectly compatible doctrines.
In conclusion, in eternity, our Triune God, in sovereign counsel, decreed the will of God for the salvation of a definite number of people, each, personally known by his Creator (2 Tim 2:19).
God the Father chose each individual and gave them to God the Son, who was sent, in accordance with the will of God, to be the Savior of the world. The eternal purpose of Christ is the redemption of these same souls known by the Lord (1 Cor 1:30; Eph 1:7; 3:11; 2 Tim 2:19).
Christ’s death at Golgotha was efficient to save His people from their sins (Mt 1:21). He saved us (Titus 3:5), not just making salvation possible. According to the covenant of grace, made active by Christ the Mediator (1 Tim 2:5), the sins of God’s people are actually and fully forgiven (Rom 8:1). The alienation from God is no more for them (Rom 5:10).
The redeemed people of the Lord live to bring glory to Christ (Gal 6:14). They are faithfully preserved through life and death, bearing witness to their Lord and Savior (Acts 1:8). They acknowledge that salvation belongs entirely to the Triune God (Ps 3:8; Jon 2:9; Rev 19:1). They are not ashamed about their total depravity in will and ability. Their trust is not in themselves, but it rests entirely in Christ the King of heaven and earth (Ps 118:8; Prv 3:5–6).
They rejoice in the choice of God to save them. They rejoice in the blood of the covenant, shed by the Lamb of God. They rejoice in the gift of justifying faith, given to them by the Spirit. They rejoice in the perfect, predetermined plan of God that cannot fail to attain His eternal purpose. Praise to God and to the Lamb!
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
November 17, 2021
