Recap: Last week we looked at a question that is usually the first concern that comes to mind with regard to the Reformed view of election which proposes that God has already (unchangeably) chosen who will be saved and who will not. The question is, Why evangelize?
We analyzed the two common answers from the Calvinistic perspective: 1) because God commands it, and (2) because God not only determines the ends but also the means. The most troublesome aspect of the first answer is that it means that God commands a completely cruel and disingenuous offer of hope to those who have been predetermined to be eternally hopeless - a completely untenable view of the character of God.
The second response is a true, biblical statement, but is based on a false premise. God determines the ends and the means, but there is no biblical warrant to believe that, before the foundation of the world, God determined who would be saved and who would be lost.
When we truly believe that God wants "all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim 2:4), and that one method God has chosen to achieve his goal is through the proclamation of the gospel, then we realize that the more appropriate question is "Why not evangelize?"
Vexing Question #5
The third chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith begins with these words: "God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatever comes to pass." This creed from the 17th century, describes the Reformed position that God knows everything that will come to pass because he has ordained everything that will come to pass.
So, here's the question: if God has ordained everything that comes to pass - including everyone's eternal destiny -
Why does God search people's hearts? What could he be looking for?
The Heart-searcher
One of my favorite descriptors of God is "The heart-searcher".
... For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7 ESV)
"... the LORD searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will cast you off forever. (1 Chronicles 28:9 ESV)
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him... (2 Chronicles 16:9 ESV)
Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! (Psalm 139:23 ESV)
"I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds." (Jeremiah 17:10 ESV)
And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:27 ESV)
... And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. (Revelation 2:23 ESV)
These beautiful verses clearly reveal God as the One who searches people's hearts. And we can gather from these verses that God searches our hearts for a number of things: devotion, faithfulness, blamelessness, purity, obedience. These verses also provide the not-so-subtle message that God will reward those whose hearts treasure those things, while those whose hearts are devoid of those things will be punished (Jer 17:10, Rev 2:13). In other words, we are evaluated based on what God finds in our hearts.
Note that all of the above characteristics for which God searches (devotion, faithfulness, blamelessness, purity, and obedience) can be found in Christ. So, I believe it is fair to say that, since the death of Jesus on the cross, when God searches a person's heart, he is looking for evidence of Jesus in that person. He wants to see his Son in us. We see this in Paul's prayer for the saints in Ephesus,
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. (Ephesians 3:16 NIV)
And in Paul's encouragement to the Corinthian church,
For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6 ESV).
And in Peter's exhortation to the elect exiles,
but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy... (1 Peter 3:15 ESV).
The Reformed Response
The dilemma for the Calvinist is obvious; a sovereign God who has determined "everything that comes to pass" has no need to search people for anything because all is known, all has been pre-ordained. So how do they reconcile these verses with their concept of God's total divine determinism/meticulous providence?
The only explanation given by the Calvinist for these verses is to appeal to "anthropomorphic language". Anthropomorphism in Scripture is a literary device which gives God, the Spirit, human features. They maintain that, despite the many scriptural references, God doesn't really search people's hearts, he simply knows our hearts because he controls/ordains/determines our hearts. They propose that the "searching" language in these verses is to convey a more familiar human action to help us understand something about the God whose ways are inscrutable.
I believe that we are on solid hermeneutical ground when we understand that God, the Spirit, does not have the physical features of man. However, we tread unsteadily when we assume that the emotions or actions of God in the Bible are anthropomorphic devices (Did God speak to Moses or not? Is God a jealous God, or not? Does God really search the heart, or not?, etc.).
God Knows the Heart
Interestingly, we find a number of places where God simply tells us that he knows the heart.
He said to them, "You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts... " (Luke 16:15 NIV)
would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart. (Psalm 44:21 ESV)
And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, (Acts 15:8 ESV)
So, we have verses that tell us that God searches hearts. And we have verses that tell us that God knows hearts. The clear and obvious implication is that God knows the hearts as a result of his search. I believe that the reason for the search is that God, in his sovereignty, has allowed us to fill our hearts with whatever we choose. Nowhere does the Bible tell us that God knows our hearts because he has predetermined the contents of them. The clumsy and questionable Calvinistic appeal to anthropomorphism is only necessary to force the heart-searching passages to fit within the non-biblical doctrine of divine determinism.
Perhaps the most puzzling aspect of the Calvinistic response to the "heart-searcher" verses is, if God has predetermined the attributes of our hearts, it portrays a God who seems to be constantly seeking to affirm the merits of his own work. Very odd, indeed.
So, let's be sure that when God looks into our hearts, he finds exactly what he seeks - a person who is "honoring Christ as holy" - evidence that his beautiful, devoted, faithful, obedient Son dwells there.
Next Post: We'll take a look at another perplexing issue with regard to the Reformed view of the doctrine of election - the puzzling plight of the non-elect. Here's a link to the next post: https://www.bibleinsights.net/post/post-15-vexing-question-6
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