The Sovereignty Of God In Reprobation: Part Two
“Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God”(Rom. 11:22).
In the Westminster Confession it is said, “God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably foreordain whatsoever comes to pass.” The late Mr. F. W. Grant-a most careful and cautious student and writer-commenting on these words said: “It is perfectly, divinely true, that God hath ordained for His own glory whatsoever comes to pass.” Now if these statements are true, is not the doctrine of Reprobation established by them? What, in human history, is the one thing which does come to pass every day? What, but that men and women die, pass out of this world into a hopeless eternity, an eternity of suffering and woe. If then God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass then He must have decreed that vast numbers of human beings should pass out of this world unsaved to suffer eternally in the Lake of Fire. Admitting the general premise, is not the specific conclusion inevitable?
In reply to the preceding paragraphs the reader may say, All this is simply reasoning, logical no doubt, but yet mere inferences. Very well, we will now point out that in addition to the above conclusions there are many passages in Holy Writ which are most clear and definite in their teaching on this solemn subject; passages which are too plain to be misunderstood and too strong to be evaded. The marvel is that so many good men have denied their undeniable affirmations.
“Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle. For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that He might destroy them as the LORD commanded Moses” (Josh. 11:18-20).
What could be plainer than this? Here was a large number of Canaanites whose hearts the Lord hardened, whom He had purposed to utterly destroy, to whom He showed “no favour.” Granted that they were wicked, immoral, idolatrous; were they any worse than the immoral, idolatrous cannibals of the South Sea Islands (and many other places), to whom God gave the Gospel through John G. Paton! Assuredly not. Then why did not Jehovah command Israel to teach the Canaanites His laws and instruct them concerning sacrifices to the true God? Plainly, because He had marked them out for destruction, and if so, that from all eternity.
“The LORD hath made all things for Himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil” (Prov. 16:4). That the Lord made all, perhaps every reader of this book will allow: that He made all for Himself is not so widely believed. That God made us, not for our own sakes, but for Himself; not for our own happiness, but for His glory, is, nevertheless, repeatedly affirmed in Scripture-Revelation 4:11. But Proverbs 16:4 goes even farther: it expressly declares that the Lord made the wicked for the Day of Evil: that was His design in giving them being.
But why? Does not Romans 9:17 tell us, “For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew My power in thee, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth”! God has made the wicked that, at the end, He may demonstrate His power”-demonstrate it by showing what an easy matter it is for Him to subdue the stoutest rebel and to overthrow His mightiest enemy.
“And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:23). In the previous chapter it has been shown that the words “know” and “foreknowledge” when applied to God in the Scriptures, have reference not simply to His prescience (i.e., His bare knowledge beforehand), but to His knowledge of approbation. When God said to Israel, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth” (Amos 3:2), it is evident that He meant, “You only had I any favourable regard to.”
When we read in Romans 11:2 “God hath not cast away His people (Israel) which He foreknew,” it is obvious that what was signified is, “God has not finally rejected that people whom He has chosen as the objects of His love”-cf. Deuteronomy 7:8. In the same way (and it is the only possible way) are we to understand Matthew 7:23. In the Day of Judgement the Lord will say unto many, “I never knew you.” Note, it is more than simply “I know you not.” His solemn declaration will be, “I never knew you”-you were never the objects of My approbation. Contrast this with “I know (love) My sheep, and am known (loved) of Mine” (John 10:14). The “sheep,” His elect, the “few” He does “know”; but the reprobate, the non-elect, the “many” He knows not-no, not even before the foundation of the world did He know them-He “NEVER” knew them!
In Romans 9 the doctrine of God’s Sovereignty in its application to both the elect and the reprobate is treated of at length. A detailed exposition of this important chapter would be beyond our present scope; all that we can essay is to dwell upon the part of it which most clearly bears upon the aspect of the subject which we are now considering.
Verse 17. “For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show My power in thee, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth.” These words refer us back to verses 13 and 14. In verse 13 God’s love to Jacob and His hatred to Esau are declared. In verse 14 it is asked “Is there unrighteousness with God?” and here in verse 17 the Apostle continues his reply to the objection. We cannot do better now than quote from Calvin’s comments upon this verse.
“There are here two things to be considered-the predestination of Pharaoh to ruin, which is to be referred to the past and yet the hidden counsel of God-and then, the design of this, which was to make known the name of God. As many interpreters, striving to modify this passage, pervert it, we must observe, that for the word ‘I have raised thee up,’ or stirred up, in the Hebrew is, ‘I have appointed,’ by which it appears, that God, designing to show that the contumacy of Pharaoh would not prevent Him to deliver His people, not only affirms that his fury had been foreseen by Him, and that He had prepared means for restraining it, but that He had also thus designedly ordained it and indeed for this end,-that He might exhibit a more illustrious evidence of His own power.”
It will be observed that Calvin gives as the force of the Hebrew word which Paul renders “For this cause have I raised thee up,”-“I have appointed.” As this is the word on which the doctrine and argument of the verse turns we would further point out that in making this quotation from Exodus 9:16 the Apostle significantly departs from the Septuagint-the version then in common use, and from which he most frequently quotes-and substitutes a clause for the first that is given by the Septuagint: instead of “On this account thou hast been preserved,” he gives “For this very end have I raised thee up!”