Seeing the Call in Its Biblical Fullness
Notes
Transcript
This morning we are continuing our careful consideration of the words to be found in the final phrase in Romans 8:28, where Paul writes,
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.
Over these last several sessions, we have begun to understand what Paul means when he describes believers as those who are “called according to His purpose.”
But as we considered this, we had to recognize that Scripture uses this word call in two related but distinct senses. Nor could we resolve the difference merely by appealing to the Greek, because the same word-family appears in both contexts.
First, there is the general call of the gospel, the outward and indiscriminate proclamation of Christ crucified to every hearer.
The general call includes a genuine invitation – the free offer of Christ to every hearer. In it, God genuinely proclaims the fullness of the gospel to all.
It declares that God is holy, and that man is sinful.
It declares that God did what even His just and holy Law could not do, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin.
It declares Christ crucified and risen, and promises that those who believe upon Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead will be saved.
And it declares that those who are saved are made to die to the Law through the body of Christ and joined to Him who was raised from the dead. Only in Christ are they adopted as sons and made heirs of God—fellow heirs with Christ, the only begotten Son.
This general call, however, is more than just an “invitation”, this general call also commands everyone everywhere to repent, and Christ sincerely promises that the one who comes to Him He will never cast out.
So that is the first use of the word “call”.
But then, there is what theologians have called the effectual call, God’s distinct inward action by which He opens blind eyes, transforms the disposition of the sinner, and brings that person willingly and believingly to Christ.
But while the general call may be resisted, the effectual call unfailingly accomplishes its saving purpose.
That is why Paul can say in Romans 8:30 that every person who is called in this sense is also justified, and everyone so justified is also glorified. There is no one who is effectually called by God that will remain condemned, because this call will never fail to bring them to Christ.
Last time, we considered the objection that so often immediately rises against this doctrine of an effectual call, that if God effectually calls one guilty sinner while leaving another in his unbelief, has God treated that second sinner unfairly?
This is at the heart of one of the most significant objections to predestination. The objection seeks a kind of logical symmetry; if God chooses one person for salvation, it is assumed that He must choose another for condemnation in precisely the same manner.
But what we hold is that God, according to His own purpose before the foundation of the world, chooses to save certain guilty sinners. He passes over others, leaving them within the guilt and corruption already belonging to them in Adam, and ultimately judges them for their own real and willing sin.
God graciously creates spiritual life in the sinner He saves, but He does not create the evil for which the sinner He condemns is punished.
In the course of our look into this last time, however, we discovered that sovereign mercy toward one guilty sinner does not become an injustice toward another. The essential difference, the reason why we here at Hickory Corners Bible Church believe the way we do, is that both sinners already stand guilty in Adam and their own willing acts of sin simply further deepen that guilt. If God were to leave both under the condemnation their sin deserves, both would receive real and true justice – they would get precisely what they deserve, no more, no less.
If He rescues either one, that sinner receives mercy and grace – not because justice has been discarded, but because Christ has borne that sinner’s condemnation in his place.
God declared to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.” His sovereign freedom in showing mercy is absolute; no man or woman can, through any contrivance, require that God grant mercy at all – Paul will ask in Romans 11:35 “Or who has first given to Him that it might be repaid to him?” The answer is a resounding no one!!
God is entirely sovereign, and in His sovereignty He alone has the right to reveal His goodness, His glory, and His name.
So, this objection falls flat, it falls short of what God has revealed in His Word to be true.
But even after putting that first objection away, there is a second equally important objection that we now need to look at, and rather than being based in emotion or a natural man’s sense of fairness, this objection comes to us with an open Bible,
First, we read in 1 Timothy 2,
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.
And then Peter writes concerning the apparent delay of Christ’s return,
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
But only 2 verses earlier, Peter had written this,
But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
And now the question becomes unavoidable:
If God desires all men to be saved, and if He is not willing for any to perish, why does He not effectually call everyone?
How can Peter declare that God is unwilling for any to perish while, in the very same paragraph, declaring that ungodly men will certainly be destroyed?
Does Romans 8 teach that God’s saving call is particular and unfailingly effective, while Paul and Peter teach elsewhere that God desires the salvation of every individual?
Is God’s desire somehow frustrated by the will of man?
Or does this mean that God will ultimately save everybody – even though Peter has just declared that ungodly men will be judged and destroyed?
These objections, these questions do need to be answered, and answered rightly – because on the face of it, what we read in Romans 8, 1 Timothy 2, and 2 Peter 3:9 seem to contradict each other.
But we know that the problem cannot lie within the Word of God itself. The Holy Spirit does not contradict Himself, and so what He inspired Paul and Peter to write cannot, in the final analysis, be in contradiction either.
Yet more… each of these statements is equally inspired by God – we can’t just pick a passage and force everything else to conform to it. Neither can we simply seize upon words like “all” or “any,” and then simply assume that they must always refer to every individual without exception, and declare the question settled.
So let us begin by looking again at 1 Timothy 2:3–4, but as we do, we need to understand Paul’s words within their proper context – an argument he began in the first verse of that chapter, where he had commanded that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made “for all men,” and then he specifically included “kings and all who are in authority.”
This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.
The argument generally proceeds like this: if “all men” means every individual person without exception, and if God’s desire is that every one of those individuals should be saved, then how could God have sovereignly chosen to save some and not others?
If God possesses both the desire and the power to save every individual, then a particular election would appear to contradict His own desire. And so, some conclude that the call mentioned in Romans 8 cannot proceed from God’s unconditional choice of particular sinners.
But before we allow that conclusion, we must ask whether Paul is actually using “all men” to describe every individual without exception for salvation – or whether the context reveals a different emphasis.
Look at the preceding verses:
First of all, then, I exhort that petitions and prayers, requests and thanksgivings, be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
When we look at the context, Paul is instructing the church not to restrict its prayers according to the categories and distinctions men naturally make.
Believers were not to pray only for people who were like them, people who were close to them, or people who appeared naturally sympathetic to the gospel, no!
Notice, then, that the expression “all men” did not first appear in verse 4, Paul had already used it in verse 1, setting the stage already there for how we ought to think about the phrase.
And importantly for our purposes here, Paul’s concern is not to identify every individual whom God has chosen for salvation. His concern is that the church must not restrict its prayers according to rank, class, nationality, hostility, or apparent spiritual receptivity.
They were to pray for “all men” – even kings and those in authority, even people who might appear distant, powerful, or hostile, even people who they considered entirely unlikely to believe.
And Paul says that this indiscriminate breadth of prayer is good and acceptable to God because God our Savior “desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.”
In other words, God’s saving concern is not restricted to one class, one rank, one nation, or one apparent “kind” of person – He saves people from every station, nationality, and condition of life.
And Paul confirms that this is central to his thinking only a few verses later when he reminds Timothy that he himself had been appointed as a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
The gospel was not confined to Israel. Christ was not the Savior of one social rank or one national people alone; there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, and every sinner who is saved must be saved through Him and through Him alone.
So the primary force of “all men” in this passage is to tear down every artificial restriction by which we might decide that one category of people lies beyond our prayers or beyond the proper reach of gospel proclamation.
So, now that we understand the context here, what does it mean when Paul writes in verse 4 that God
who desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.
The question is whether this word “desires” describes an efficacious will of God – in other words, whether Paul means that God has sovereignly determined to bring about the salvation of every person included within the expression “all men.”
The short answer is that Paul is not describing an efficacious determination to save every individual without exception – because that is not what “all men” means within this argument.
But neither should we empty this word “desires” of its force, as though God merely possessed a distant or ineffectual preference that He knew would never be accomplished.
No, Paul is telling us something true and substantial about God our Savior: God’s saving purpose is not confined by the distinctions men naturally make. He really, truly wills to save men and women from every rank and station of life – from among rulers and subjects, Jews and Gentiles, the powerful and the powerless, those near to us and those far away.
And that saving desire is not frustrated! God really does save people from all these classes and conditions. The presence of Gentile believers throughout the churches to which Paul ministered, and Paul’s own appointment as an apostle to the Gentiles, stood as living evidence that God was accomplishing precisely what Paul describes.
Does God genuinely desire the salvation of every kind of person, without regard to the human distinctions by which we might consider some people worthy of our concern and others beyond the reach of grace?
Most certainly!
God has not purposed to save one nation alone, one social class alone, or only those people whom we consider likely candidates for conversion. There is no category of human being for whom Christ is an unsuitable Savior; there is no rank of society excluded from the gospel; there is no nation lying beyond the proper reach of Christian prayer and gospel proclamation.
But that does not mean that God has effectually determined to save every individual person who has ever lived.
The objection only succeeds if it can establish two things from Paul’s words: first, that “all men” means every individual without exception; and second, that “desires” means God’s efficacious determination to bring about the salvation of every one of them.
But the context does not establish either conclusion. Paul’s emphasis is upon every class and condition of men, and the purpose of his statement is to direct the prayers of the church outward without the restrictions and prejudices men naturally impose.
Nor should we confuse everything God commands, approves, and delights in with everything He has sovereignly determined to bring about in every individual case.
God genuinely commands every person everywhere to repent; He truly approves of repentance rather than continued rebellion. He sincerely promises salvation to everyone who believes in Christ Jesus. None of this is dishonest, reluctant, or insincere.
But neither does any of this require that God must effectually call and save every individual who has ever lived. His revealed command tells every sinner what he or she is obligated to do; this is the general call of the gospel. But through His effectual call, God accomplishes within particular sinners what they never would and never could accomplish for themselves: He brings them willingly to repentance and faith in Christ.
And Scripture plainly denies that every individual will finally be saved. As Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:7, the present heavens and earth are “being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” Jude writes of this day, when the Lord will come with many thousands of His holy ones in Jude 15 “to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
There are ungodly men who will face judgment. Therefore, when Paul says that God “desires all men to be saved,” he cannot mean that God has effectually determined to save every individual without exception.
There is, then, no conflict between this passage and our primary text in Romans 8:28. God genuinely commands and invites all through the general call; He genuinely saves people from every rank and condition; and those whom He calls according to His purpose are unfailingly brought to justification and glory.
This resolves the argument drawn from 1 Timothy 2 that God must be effectually calling every individual. So now let us turn to the second passage we considered earlier in 2 Peter 3:9, in which we read
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
At first glance, Peter’s language may appear even more sweeping than Paul’s – he does not merely say that God “desires all men to be saved,” but that He is “not willing for any to perish.”
The argument will generally sound something along the lines of “surely any means any person whatsoever, and all means every individual who has ever lived—does it not? So if God doesn’t want any to perish on the one hand, and for all to come to repentance on the other, certainly this must mean that either He gets His way in the matter, or else His ‘will’ doesn’t mean anything at all - that it’s some wishful fancy He’s powerless to do anything about.”
But once again, the context is vital to a proper understanding, and understanding it rightly will prevent us from making a grave error.
Before we seize upon words like “any” and “all” and simply run with them, we need to ask a prior question: toward whom does Peter say the Lord is being patient?
Throughout this chapter Peter has distinguished between two groups. “I am writing to you,” he says in verse 1; but then, beginning in verse 3, “mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts.”
In other words, Peter distinguishes between “the beloved”, those who have received faith in Christ, and the scoffers who mock the promise of His return, who deliberately overlook the past judgment of God, who continue in their own lusts. It is this second group whom Peter has already identified as ungodly men reserved for destruction.
Then, in verse 8, Peter turns again to the first group:
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
And then he continues…
The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
That “you” provides the natural frame within which we should understand the “any” and the “all” that follow. The Lord is patient toward His beloved people, not willing for any of those toward whom He exercises this saving patience to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
Now, Peter was writing directly to particular believers, but the saving patience he describes was not exhausted upon those original recipients. Remember, he addresses them as members of the people of God – the beloved, the people Christ continues to gather throughout this present age.
The apparent delay of Christ’s return allows God’s saving purpose to be completed as every person whom He has determined to rescue is brought to repentance.
Peter himself confirms this interpretation later in the chapter in verse 15 where he urges his readers to “…consider the patience of our Lord as salvation…”
What the scoffers interpret as slowness, Peter tells us to interpret as saving patience. Christ has not failed to return because God is forgetful, powerless, or frustrated by the will of man, no! He has not yet returned because God is still accomplishing His saving purpose.
This, I believe, is the most natural reading of Peter’s words. The “any” and the “all” are governed by the people toward whom God is being patient.
But even if someone understands “any” and “all” more broadly, this verse still cannot mean that God has effectually determined to save every individual. Peter has already declared that ungodly men will be destroyed, and in the very next verse he says that the day of the Lord will come.
At most, that broader interpretation would express God’s genuine approval of repentance, His patience toward sinners, and His sincere call for them to turn from their rebellion. It still could not mean that God has decreed the salvation of every individual, because the same context plainly declares that some will perish under His judgment in verse 7!
So God’s patience does not cancel judgment; instead, it explains why judgment has not yet come. He will not bring history to its appointed conclusion until His saving purpose has been completed. But once that purpose has been accomplished, the day of the Lord will surely come.
So to bring all of these questions back together under the declaration Paul makes in Romans 8:28, where we read
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.
…we gain great insight into this particular, effectual call that does unfailingly accomplish the purpose from which it proceeds.
Rather than contradicting one another, these passages in reality support one another.
In 1 Timothy 2, we see that God’s saving purpose is not confined by the distinctions men naturally make. He effectually calls people from every rank, every nation, and every condition of life; so on account of this our prayers should extend to all kinds of people, and our proclamation of the gospel should go freely to every hearer.
And in 2 Peter 3 we see that what the scoffers perceive as slowness is actually God’s saving patience; He is still bringing to repentance all whom He has purposed to save, and He will not bring this present age to its appointed conclusion until that saving purpose has been accomplished.
So far from weakening Paul’s declaration in Romans 8:28, these passages help us see its fullness.
The effectual call of God unto salvation is according to His purpose, and His purpose is settled, everything in this present age serves the completion of that purpose.
God is not simply throwing salvation out there and then waiting anxiously to discover whether sinners will permit Him to succeed or not, no!
He commands all people everywhere to repent through the general call of the gospel; and through His distinct, effectual call, He brings those whom He has purposed to save willingly and believingly to Christ, this is precisely why a true understanding of the doctrine of election can never become an excuse for indifference toward the lost.
We do not know whom God has purposed to save. We have never been commanded to identify the elect before preaching the gospel, we’ve already made that clear in prior sessions as well as today. We are commanded to pray for all, proclaim Christ to all, and call every hearer to repentance and faith.
And we do so with confidence; not confidence in the natural receptivity of the sinner, or even our ability to convince others, but rather confidence in the God whose effectual call opens blind eyes.
And everyone who comes to Christ will discover that beneath his willing repentance and genuine faith was the gracious call of God; a call arising not from anything worthy within the sinner, but wholly and entirely according to the eternal purpose of God.
So the general call comes to every hearer: do not mistake the patience of God for indifference, or His apparent delay for safety apart from Christ. Instead, be warned, the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and on that day there will be no further opportunity to repent; God’s command is clear: repent and believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ while it is still called “Today” – and Christ has promised that the one who comes to Him He will never cast out.
And for those who have come to Christ, there is no ground for boasting, but there is every ground for assurance. The call that brought you willingly to Christ arose from the eternal purpose of God; and the purpose that opened your blind eyes will not fail before bringing you safely to glory!
Those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.
Let us pray!
