Thinking on Scripture with Dr. Steven R. Cook
Religion & Spirituality:Christianity
God’s Sovereignty and Human Volition at the Cross
One can see God’s sovereignty and human volition working simultaneously at the crucifixion of Jesus. In the sovereignty and wisdom of God, without overruling human volition, the Lord accomplished His will by means of the wills of wicked men who sought to oppose Him. Luke tells us, “this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death” (Acts 2:23). Here, wicked men did their worst against God and His Messiah, and yet, what was done to the Messiah, was done “by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.” Luke states something similar when he recorded Peter’s prayer to God, saying, “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur” (Acts 4:27-28). These wicked men “were gathered together against” Jesus, to oppose and crucify Him. Yet Peter says to God they did “whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.” These wicked men—whose pride and power were threatened by Jesus—sought to destroy Him by means of false witnesses and illegal trials, and to put Him to death in the most horrible way possible; crucifixion. But God is sovereign, and by means of His invisible hand, used the very actions of those who opposed Him to accomplish the thing He desired; the death of Messiah for everyone. Here is a mystery that brings awe and bewilderment, as the wills of wicked men became the vehicle of divine destiny to produce exactly what God intended. God was in no way the author of their sin. Those who crucified Messiah acted freely. Yet their free actions were the modus operandi to accomplish His will, and so Messiah was crucified and bore the sins of those who placed Him on the cross.
Human Choice to Believe
God is sovereign, and He created people with volition, which is the ability to choose. One should not seek to press sovereignty or free will to an extreme. Arnold Fruchtenbaum correctly notes, “if one goes too far with sovereignty, he ends up teaching that there is absolutely no free will. He would teach that people are saved whether they willed it or did not will it. Some of the elect are dragged into the Kingdom kicking and screaming. That has gone over to the sovereignty extreme.”[1] In Scripture, we observe clear statements where people are called to exercise their volition and personally trust in Christ as Savior (John 3:16-18; Acts 16:30-31; Rom 10:12-15; Eph 2:8-9). Fruchtenbaum continues:
Election does not remove the responsibility to believe in Christ as Savior (Rom 10:13-14). Faith is non-meritorious, having no saving value in itself. Christ alone saves. In order for people to be saved, they must believe in Jesus as the Savior (John 3:16; Acts 4:12; 1 Cor 15:3-4). From the human side of salvation, faith in Jesus is the necessary response to God’s call, and no one can be saved any other way (John 14:6; Acts 16:31). According to Robert Lightner, “God the Father is sovereign. He must be to be God. Human responsibility is just as biblical as divine sovereignty. Jesus stressed both. Jesus said no one can come to him unless drawn by the Father but he also said none who come to him would be cast out (John 6:37).”[3]
There are a number of passages that emphasize human volition. Concerning unbelieving Israel, Jesus said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling” (Matt 23:37). The Bible teaches that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4), and that “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men” (Tit 2:11), and the Lord is “not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet 3:9). If someone perishes eternally, it is because they failed to respond to God and His drawing them to Himself. Jesus said that one is judged eternally, “because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18b). And when speaking to unbelievers, Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life” (John 5:39-40). [Article: Why Volition Matters] Stephen, when about to be stoned to death, said to his attackers, “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did” (Acts 7:51). All who end up in the lake of fire are there by personal choice and not because God failed to love them or make provision for their eternal salvation. According to Lewis Chafer, “If men go to perdition it will be because every possible mercy from God has been resisted.”[4]
The spiritual condition of unbelievers is that they made the choice not to believe. Also, Satan imposes spiritual blindness upon them. As Paul wrote, “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:3-4).
God saves everyone who is positive to Him and believes in Christ as their Savior (John 3:15-16, 18, 36; 5:24, 39-40; 6:47; 20:31; Rom 3:28; 4:3-5; 5:1-2; 1 Cor 1:21; 15:1-4; Gal 2:16; 3:26; Eph 2:8-9; Phil 3:9; 1 John 5:10-13), and condemns forever those who are negative to Him, who suppress His truth in unrighteousness (John 3:19; 12:37; Rom 1:18-32), and who reject His offer of eternal life, leaving them to suffer for their own choices (John 3:18; 5:39-40). This means God sovereignly chooses to elect those who believe in Christ as their Savior.
What About Children who Die Before Reaching the Age of Accountability?
What about babies and little children? Are they among God’s elect? Do they go directly to heaven whey die? Yes. All babies and little children go to heaven if they die before reaching the age of accountability. Concerning this doctrine, Robert B. Thieme Jr., states:
The age of accountability is a theological extrapolation that is born out of certain passages of Scripture. For example, Moses wrote of “little ones… have no knowledge of good or evil” (Deut 1:39). And God spoke of Isaiah’s son, Shear-jashub (Isa 7:3), that “before the boy will know enough to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you [Ahaz] dread will be forsaken” (Isa 7:16). According to Norman Geisler, “These texts seem to imply that there is an age of moral accountability. Even of adults, Jesus said, ‘If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains’ (John 9:41). How much more would this apply to infants who cannot yet know right from wrong.”[6] Another revealing passage is found in 2 Chronicles where we’re told, “Jehoiachin was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem, and he did evil in the sight of the LORD” (2 Ch 36:9). Here we see an eight year old whose actions were called “evil in the sight of the LORD.” It reveals that an eight year old with normal cognitive function could be held morally responsible for his actions before the Lord.
Moral accountability before God seems to assume normal sensory and cognitive function, such that a person who has the sensory and intellectual capacity to know that God exists through creation (Psa 19:1-2; Rom 1:18), can then make a decision to pursue Him, or to “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18). It would seem that those who suffer from an intellectual or developmental disability (i.e., Down syndrome, severe autism, etc.) are granted a special dispensation concerning their moral accountability before God, and they are granted free access to heaven. The command to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation presupposes intelligence and the ability to exercise one’s volition. Children and those who are mentally disabled lack the intellectual and volitional capacity to make a decision for or against Christ; therefore, they are not made accountable for sin. Robert Lightner states:
An often-cited biblical passage on this matter is found in the life of King David who lost a newborn son as a result of his adulterous affair with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband, Uriah. David was guilty of horrible sin, but he had a sensitive heart and was very concerned for his child. After the death of David’s son, he said, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the LORD may be gracious to me, that the child may live.’ But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Sam 12:22-23). While the child was alive, David prayed to God to be gracious “that the child may live.” However, after the child died, David expressed optimism by saying “I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” David was thinking of heaven, where he knew his infant son had gone. Concerning this passage, Robert Lightner states:
That heaven welcomes little children is stated in Jesus’s Words, when He told His disciples, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mark 10:14; cf., Matt 18:3). John Walvoord notes, “The case of those who die before reaching the age of responsibility is a different problem. The proper doctrine seems to be that infants are regenerated at the moment of their death, not before, and if they live to maturity, they are regenerated at the moment they accept Christ.”[9]
Summary of Election:
In summary, God’s election is a sovereign act from eternity past and is predicated on love and grace (Eph 1:3-6), and not on any foresight of worth or good works (Deut 7:7-8; 1 Cor 1:26-31; Rom 9:9-16). God elects based on His foreknowledge, as Peter states, we are “chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Pet 1:1-2), and the elect are saved through the preaching of a gospel message (Rom 10:14-17), and believing in Christ as their Savior (John 3:16; Acts 4:12; 16:31). The basis for condemnation is always a person’s unbelief (John 3:18; 5:39-40; Eph 2:3), as it is negative human volition that keeps people from coming to Christ (1 Tim 2:4; 4:10; John 5:40; Acts 7:51). Election is not merely to salvation, but to a holy and righteous life that honors the Lord (Col 3:12; 2 Th 2:13; 1 Pet 2:9). Election agrees with unlimited atonement (John 1:29; 3:16–17; Heb 2:9; 1 John 2:2), and produces humility because it reveals that salvation is completely of the Lord and that people have nothing to boast about (Rom 4:2; Eph 2:9), and God preserves eternally those who are saved (John 10:28-29). Lastly, babies and little children are not held accountable for their actions, as they do not know right or wrong (Deut 1:39; Isa 7:16), and are counted among God’s elect and enter heaven when they die, for, as Jesus said, “the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mark 10:14; cf. 2 Sam 12:22-23).
Dr. Steven R. Cook
[1] Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, God’s Will & Man’s Will: Predestination, Election, & Free Will, ed. Christiane Jurik, 2nd Edition. (San Antonio, TX: Ariel Ministries, 2014), 2.
[2] Ibid., 3–4.
[3] Robert P. Lightner, Handbook of Evangelical Theology: A Historical, Biblical, and Contemporary Survey and Review (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1995), 191.
[4] Lewis Sperry Chafer, Salvation (Philadelphia, PA: Sunday School Times Company, 1922), 40.
[5] Robert B. Thieme, Jr. “Age of Accountability”, Thieme’s Bible Doctrine Dictionary, 4.
[6] Norman L. Geisler, Systematic Theology, Volume Three: Sin, Salvation, 448.
[7] Robert Lightner, Safe in the Arms of Jesus (Grand Rapids, Mich. Kregel Publications, 2000), 15-16.
[8] Ibid., 55.
[9] John F. Walvoord, The Holy Spirit (Galaxie Software, 2008), 135.
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