The above is the fourth video in the series of 16 short videos by RC Sproul that I have been commenting on recently. In this one he relates an anecdote that he used to repeat often, in relation to his theological disagreement with the Arminian camp. I had previously responded to it in an earlier blog post three and a half years ago. In this video he adds more context to the question, so I am going to reply to it again with the same message, but with more context added to it. He begins the anecdote as follows:
“One of the things I often say to my Arminian friends is, Do you know anybody of your friends, or members of your families, who are not Christians? And they say, Of course. And I say, And you are a Christian? They say, Yes. I said, Well, the simple question is, Why are you a Christian, and your friend, or family member is not? I mean, you have both heard the gospel? Yes. And you believe that God gives the same grace, the so-called “prevenient grace,” to both you and to your neighbor? That is right, they will say. And I say, But in the final analysis, you cooperated with the invitation to the gospel; you cooperated with this grace that God offered to you; but your friend didn’t. Your friend stiff-armed that grace. Your friend said, No, I am not going to come to Jesus; I am not going to put my trust in him. Now the simple question is, Why did you say Yes to the offer of the gospel, and your friend say No? Was it because you were more righteous? And I have asked many of my friends that question: “Are you a Christian because you are more righteous than your neighbor?” And if I have asked that question a thousand times, the answer a thousand times out of a thousand is, Of course not! I don’t believe that I became a Christian because I am more righteous than my neighbor. Well, why then? Why did you say Yes, and they said No? Is it because you are more intelligent? Well, they know where I am going with that. If they say Yes, it is because I am more intelligent, the next question is gonna be, where did you get that intelligence? Wasn’t that a gift of God to you?”
That is because he is asking the wrong question. Jesus has given a prepared answer to that question in several places in the New Testament. Here is one:
Luke 17:
7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?
8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?
9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.
10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
I follow that advice. After I have “done all” that God has required of me to do, I say, “I am an unprofitable servant”. I don’t claim to be better than, or superior to anyone else. And there is no telling that my friend or neighbor who is rejecting the gospel today, might repent and accept it tomorrow, and become a more committed disciple than I am. That, however, does not mean that there is no merit in keeping God’s commandments. The only thing it means is that I am not the one who is qualified to judge. I don’t sit in judgement on my own righteousness, or on anyone else’s righteousness. That is reserved for God. Here are another set of scriptures that he has overlooked:
Matthew 10:
22 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
Matthew 24:
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Mark 13:
13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
According to the words of Jesus, nobody is “saved” until they have “endured to the end” (meaning to remain true to the gospel to the end of one’s life, see Matt. 13:18–23; Mark 4:14–20). “Instant salvation,” and “once saved always saved” are figments of the Evangelical and Calvinistic imagination. There isn’t any such thing. And since the “end” hasn’t come yet, there is no guarantee that either of us are “saved”. There is no telling that I may apostatize tomorrow and be damned; and my next-door neighbor, who is now rejecting the gospel, may repent and accept it tomorrow, “endure to the end,” and be saved. Here is another scripture he has missed:
Luke 14:
11 For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
I am not the judge of my own righteousness, nor of anyone else’s (nor required to be). God is the judge of that. I do what God commands, and leave judgement up to him. But that does not mean that there is no virtue or merit in keeping God’s commandments. Here is another:
Matthew 7:
1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Luke 6:
37 Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: …
I am not required to sit in judgement on anyone’s righteousness, including my own. Judgement belongs to God. But that does not mean that I should not attempt to be righteous, or that my righteousness has no merit in the sight of God. RC Sproul then continues his anecdotal conversation with the Arminian as follows:
“And then as I pursue this, I say, Well, wait a minute. You say it is not because you are more righteous. Let me come after it a little different way here: If God offers Jesus Christ to you, and offers salvation to you—If you will just repent, and make a decision to put your trust in him—is there a right response to that? Is it not the right thing to do to say Yes to Christ? And if I say No to Christ, isn’t that the wrong thing to do? If I refuse the offer of grace, am I not at that very moment sinning against God? They have to say, Yes, that is a sin against God.”
That is not entirely correct either. There are many reasons why people may not accept the gospel at one time in their lives, but do so at a later time. Does he not know of anyone who may not have accepted the gospel one time in their lives, but done so at a later time? That is why God is also patient, and doesn’t condemn people at the first rejection of the gospel message, but likes to give them time to repent and be converted, as Peter says:
2 Peter 3:
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
It is said that Noah preached repentance to the ante-diluvian sinners for a 100 years, before their time ran out, and God eventually destroyed them. Most of the ancient prophets of Israel preached to the Israelites for many years, often under persecution, before their time ran out, and God sent down his final judgement upon them. Jeremiah preached for many years (and I am sure there were many Jews who were converted to his message), but the majority didn’t, and so God allowed the Babylonians to come and destroy many of them, and took the rest into captivity and exile. He then continues:
“And I say, In the final analysis, the reason why you are in the kingdom, and your neighbor isn’t, is because you did the right thing, and they did the wrong thing; and that does give you something about which to boast.”
Not true! Very wrong! Receiving the gospel message is not something to “boast” about. It is something to be happy about, to rejoice in; but not something to “boast” about. I am not aware that anybody does. I am not aware of anybody who does what is right in his life, that thinks he has something to “boast” about:
Acts 16:
34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
Romans 5:
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Philippians 4:
4 Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.
1 Thessalonians 5:
15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.
16 Rejoice evermore.
17 Pray without ceasing.
1 Peter 1:
8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
According to these verses, the gospel is something to be happy about, to rejoice in, but not something to “boast” about. I am not aware that anybody does. Then he continues:
“Now where that puts you in a precarious position is that if you really, in your heart of hearts, are trusting your right decision, your right action, as the reason why you are saved, …”
Wrong on many fronts. Making a freewill choice and decision to accept the gospel is not the same thing as “trusting in your right decision” to be saved. The “trust” is in Jesus who does the saving, not in my “right decision”. My decision to accept the gospel doesn’t do the “saving”. The “saving” comes from God; but I have the choice to accept or reject that salvation. My “choice” has merit in the sight of God. God is “pleased” with my choice, and applies the saving; but the “saving” comes from God, not from me. He continues:
“… now you have come perilously close to the Roman Catholic view, because you are now trusting in something you did, in some kind of action that is at least bearing what the Rome Church calls “congruous merit,” because it is on that basis that God accepts you, because you did the right thing, and your neighbor did the wrong thing.”
Too many errors combined. Firstly, the “neighbor” issue has been dealt with above, and is not of concern here. Secondly, I am not an expert on the Roman Catholic view; but whatever it is, it appears to be a lot closer to the Bible and the truth than his is. Thirdly, the Bible certainly teaches that there is “merit” in the sight of God in doing what is right, in repenting of our sins, and in keeping God’s commandments. That is written all over the Bible, Old and New Testaments (which I have discussed in numerous previous posts). Fourthly, doing good, repenting of our sins, keeping God’s commandments, making the right choices and decisions in life, and doing what is right and pleasing in the sight of God are not “works,” nor are they “trusting in your own works for salvation;” neither are they something to “boast” about. But they do lead to salvation, without which salvation cannot be obtained. That is taught all over the Bible. Many examples given in previous posts. Here a couple:
Matthew 7:
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Luke 6:
46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
James 1:
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is all about doing, not just hearing or believing. According to the Bible, God saves all who do what is good and right in their lives, Christians or pagans alike (Matt. 25:14–46; Luke 12:47–48; 19:15–26; John 5:28–29; Acts 10:34–35; Rom. 2:6–16); and condemns those who don’t. The “salvation” comes from God, by virtue of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, not by means of my “choice”. I have the freedom to accept that offer of salvation (through faith and repentance), or to reject it. But my freewill choice and decision to accept that offer of salvation does not do the “saving”. He wants to portray that as some kind of “works-salvation,” which is illogical and false. Calvinism is based on the complete predestination and predetermination of all future human choices and decisions, and a denial of human freewill; so he sees any attempt at introducing the involvement of human freedom in the salvation process as some kind of “works-salvation,” which of course it is not. He then concludes:
“So even though you protest that you are not trusting in your own righteousness, and you are not trusting in your own works, when we scratch under the surface, so often what we find is that you really are trusting in your own works.”
Wrong! See above. Doing what is good and right, and keeping God’s commandments, is not the same as “trusting in your own works”. What that is basically saying is that nobody should attempt to do any good, be righteous, or keep the commandments of God. That is what it amounts to—which is absolute heresy, an abomination, evil beyond description, a recipe for damnation, and a Satanic perversion of the gospel. Nothing is taught more clearly, repeatedly, and emphatically throughout the Bible, Old and New Testaments, than that God desires mankind to do good, to do what is right, to be righteous, to repent of their sins, and keep God’s commandments; and that there is both merit, as well as a reward and salvation in so doing. The heresy of Calvinism has led him far astray! These videos are quite old, and there are signs that later in life RC Sproul softened his stance on some of these issues.
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