THE REFORMED FAITH
Part II
by Loraine Boettner
The Sovereignty of God
The purpose of this article is to set forth, in plain language
and in terms easily understood, the basic differences between
the Calvinistic and the Arminian system to theology, and to
show what the Bible teaches concerning these subjects. The
harmony that exists between the various doctrines of the
Christian faith is such that error in regard to any one of them
produces more or less distortion in all of the others.
There are in reality only two types of religious thought.
There is the religion of faith, and there is the religion of works.
We believe that what has been known in Church History as
Calvinism is the purest and most consistent embodiment of the
religion of faith, while that which has been known as
Arminianism has been diluted to a dangerous degree by the
religion of works and that it is therefore an inconsistent and
unstable form of Christianity. In other words, we believe that
Christianity comes to its fullest and purest expression
in Reformed Faith.
In the early part of the fifth century these two types of
religious thought came into direct conflict in a remarkably clear
contrast as embodied in two fifth-century theologians,
Augustine and Pelagius. Augustine pointed men to God as the
source of all true spiritual wisdom and strength, while Pelagius
threw men back on themselves and said that they were able in
their own strength to do all that God commanded, otherwise
God would not command it. We believe that Arminianism
represents a compromise between these two systems, but that
while in its more evangelical form, as in early Wesleyanism, it
approaches the religion of faith, it nevertheless does contain
serious elements of error.
We are living in a day in which practically all of the historic
churches are being attacked from within by unbelief. Many of
them have already succumbed. And almost invariably the line
of descent has been from Calvinism to Arminianism, from
Arminianism to Liberalism, and then to Unitarianism. And the
history of Liberalism and Unitarianism shows that they
deteriorate into a social gospel that is too weak to sustain
itself. We are convinced that the future of Christianity is
bound up with that system of theology historically called
"Calvinism.' Where the God centered principles of Calvinism
have been abandoned, there has been a strong tendency
downward into the depths of man centered naturalism or
secularism. Some have declared - rightly, we believe - that
there is no consistent stopping place between Calvinism and
atheism.
The basic principle of Calvinism is the sovereignty of God.
This represents the purpose of the Triune God as absolute and
unconditional, independent of the whole finite creation, and
originating solely in the eternal counsel of His will. He
appoints the course of nature and directs the course of history
down to the minutest details. His decrees therefore are eternal,
unchangeable, holy, wise and sovereign. They are represented
in the Bible as being the basis of the divine foreknowledge of
all future events, and not conditioned by that foreknowledge or
by anything originating in the events themselves.
Every thinking person readily sees that some sovereignty
rules his life. He was not asked whether or not he would have
existence, when or what or where he would be born, whether
in the twentieth century or before the Flood, whether male or
female, whether white or black, whether in the United States,
or China, or Africa. All of those things were sovereignly
decided for him before he had any existence. It has been
recognized by Christians in all ages that God is the Creator and
Ruler of the world, and that as such He is the ultimate source
of all power that is found in the world. Hence nothing can
come to pass apart from His sovereign will. Otherwise He
would not be truly GOD. And when we dwell on this truth we
find that it involves considerations which establish the
Calvinistic and disprove the Arminian position.
By virtue of the fact that God has created everything that
exists, He is the absolute Owner and final Disposer of all that
He has made. He exerts not merely a general influence, but
actually rules in the affairs of men (Acts 4:24-28). Even the
nations are as the small dust of the balance when compared
with His greatness (Is. 40:12-17). Amid all the apparent
defeats and inconsistencies of our human lives, God is actually
controlling all things in undisturbed majesty. Even the sinful
actions of men can occur only by His permission and with
the strength that he gives the creature. And since He permits
not unwillingly but willingly, then all that comes to pass -
including even the sinful actions and ultimate destiny of men -
must be, in some sense, in accordance with what He has
eternally purposed and decreed. Just in proportion as this is
denied, God is excluded from the government of the world,
and we have only a finite God. Naturally, some problems arise
which in our present state of knowledge we are not able fully
to explain. But that is not a sufficient reason for rejecting what
the Scriptures and the plain dictates of reason affirm to be true.
And shall we not believe that God can convert a sinner
when He pleases? Cannot the Almighty, the omnipotent Ruler
of heaven and earth, change the character of the creatures He
has made? He changed the water into wine at Cana and
converted Saul on the road to Damascus. The leper said,
"Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean" (Matt. 8:2).
And at a word his leprosy was cleansed. Let us not believe, as
do the Arminians, that God cannot control the human will, or
that He cannot regenerate a soul when He pleases. He is as
able to cleanse the soul as the body. If He chose He could
raise up such a flood of Christian ministers, missionaries and
workers of various kinds, and could so work through His Holy
Spirit, that the entire world would be converted in a very short
time. If He had purposed to save all men He could have sent
hosts of angels to instruct them and to do supernatural works
on the earth. He could have worked marvelously in the heart
of every person so that no one would have been lost.
Since evil exists only by His permission, He could, if He
chose, blot it out of existence. His power in this respect was
shown, for instance, in the work of the destroying angel who in
one night slew all of the first-born of the Egyptians (Ex.
12:29), and in another night slew 185,000 of the Assyrian army
(II Kings 19:35). It was shown when the earth opened and
swallowed Korah and his rebellious allies (Nu. 16.31-35).
King Herod was smitten and died a horrible death (Acts
12:23). In Daniel 4:34-35 we read that the Most High God's
"dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from
generation to generation; and all the inhabitants of the earth are
reputed as nothing; and he doeth according to his will in the
armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and
no one can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?"
All of this brings out the basic principle of the Reformed
Faith - the sovereignty of God. God created this world in
which we find ourselves, He owns it, and He is running it
according to His own sovereign good pleasure. God has lost
none of His power, and it is highly dishonoring to Him to
suppose that He is struggling along with the human race, doing
the best He can to persuade men to do right, but unable to
accomplish His eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise, and
sovereign purpose.
Any system which teaches that the serious intentions of
God can in some cases be defeated, and that man, who is not
only a creature but a sinful creature, can exercise veto power
over the plans of Almighty God, is in striking contrast to the
biblical idea of his immeasurable exaltation by which He is
removed from all weaknesses of humanity. That the plans of
men are not always executed is due to a lack of power, or a
lack of wisdom, or both. But since God is unlimited in these
and in all other resources, no unforeseen emergencies can arise.
To Him the causes for change have no existence. To assume
that His plan fails and that he strives to no effect is to reduce
Him to the level of His creatures and make Him no God at all.
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