Recap: In the last post, I expressed a frustration with both Calvinists and non-Calvinists who seem intent on exposing the failures of the other side but neglect to be persuasive in their handling of the weaknesses in their own arguments. (Yes, both perspectives have significant, unconvincingly-resolved issues.)
Previously we looked at the following "gotcha" question often posed by Calvinists to non-Calvinists:
Question #1 - Why did you come to believe in Jesus but your neighbor (or brother, or friend, etc.) – did not?
Are you smarter? Wiser? More discerning? Special? Do you have something that they lack? If so, where/how did you get it, and why didn't they?
The focus of the last post (https://www.bibleinsights.net/post/post-7-challenging-questions) was on understanding the 'how' - that is, the mechanics of the process of becoming a Christian - the ordo salutis - the order of salvation. Today we'll dig a bit into the 'why'. I want to emphasize that this is a wonderfully complex issue with a lot of variables. There's no one-size-fits-all when it comes to our response to the gospel. One thing is certain - it's definitely not as simple or as convenient as "you were chosen."
The Hope in "Yet"
Implicit in the question, why did you come to believe in Jesus but your neighbor (or brother, or friend, etc.) – did not?, is the implication that the unbeliever's future is settled. What's missing from the question is the all-important, hope-engendering word "yet". The more appropriate - more biblical question is, "Why haven't they believed, yet?"
The insinuation that the unbeliever's future is settled is the result of the completely unbiblical idea that God has predetermined everyone's ultimate destiny. The hopeless ideology that a person's spiritual destiny is unchangeably settled not only reflects a fatal futility in the gospel, but it denies God's own self-revelation as the "God of hope."
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (Romans 15:13 ESV)
God is not the "God of hope" for some, and the "god of hopelessness" for others. The belief that our spiritual destinies are settled also denies one of the explicit purposes of God's word - the impartation of encouragement and hope.
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4 ESV)
So, back to the question at hand, Why did we come to believe the gospel - the good news that Jesus is exactly who he claimed to be, while others did not?
Grace Abounds
Let's give credit where credit is due. Yes, we chose to believe a crazy, completely illogical, yet wonderfully divine story - but it wasn't without God's help. "God is always previous", says von Hügel. Simply put, God loved us first (1 John 4:19). Before we chose him, he sought after us, and by "us", I mean all of us!
Here are three ways God is "previous" in our lives, and is stacking the deck for us to find him.
1. Prevenient Grace - the "God Acquisition Device" (GAD)
It has always been observed that children have an amazing, almost supernatural ability to acquire languages. Language acquisition is the single most complex process of human development, yet children can grasp the complexities of grammar and structure and syntax with amazing facility. Experts in language acquisition cannot explain how kids do this, so they shrug their shoulder and chalk it up to some mysterious feature in their brains called a “Language Acquisition Device” – LAD. Whatever it is, this ability to process language diminishes as the child becomes an adult. Language learning then becomes a pretty arduous task (as you know, if you took a foreign language in high school).
In the same way, I believe that the God-given human spirit is a “God Acquisition Device” - GAD. We can’t explain how it works but it is the mechanism by which God communicates with us – revealing spiritual things to "spiritual people"; Spirit-to-spirit. It is the conduit through which God speaks to us.
Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it" (Luke 18:17 ). Young children are especially receptive to God's "language".
Children have the ability to hear and internalize spiritual messaging with great facility. And, as with any language learning endeavor, hearing and receiving God clearly becomes more difficult for adults as we clog our lives with things of the world. So, according to Jesus, the adult must become a spiritual "child", uncluttering our spiritual senses of worldly interference so that we can hear the still, small voice of God more clearly.
2. Positional Grace
And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, (Acts 17:26-27 ESV)
This verse describes a God who is actively and lovingly manipulating our lives and arranging our circumstances with the specific goal of helping us find him, though he's "not far from each one of us." Note the synergy - God stacks the deck for us to succeed, but we have to "seek, and feel our way toward him and find him."
3. Personal Grace
God sends us people. I remember reading years ago that the average believer has heard some form of the gospel seventeen times before responding with belief. When I think of my own journey of faith, that number sounds about right - a believing mother - the gospel; Sunday School teachers - the gospel; pastors/preachers - the gospel; missionaries/evangelists - the gospel; Christian friends - the gospel; a college campus club - the gospel; a praying grandmother - the gospel! (Thank God for praying grandmothers!)
Rejection of the Gospel
While there are many reasons expressed by skeptics for their rejection of the gospel, here are five common possibilities:
Intellectual challenges - Let's call it the unbelievability-factor of the gospel story. The gospel defies credibility by any measure of rational thinking - see the previous post.
A "Godless" childhood - 32% of atheists say they grew up in a home where the parents did not believe in God.
Unbiblical expectations - the expectation of a different God, leading to disappointment with God.
The desire for moral freedom - a love for the world and a prideful attitude of not wanting to "bend a knee" to anyone.
Disappointment with Christians - (This one really hurts!) or disappointment with the institutional church.
The problem? God!
Your neighbor might not believe in Jesus yet for any one, or combination of several of the above reasons. At the heart of the justification for rejecting the gospel is what A.W. Tozer calls "the overwhelming problem of God." God. Who he is; that he is; what he is like; and what we mere mortals must do about him. Tozer goes on to say that every error in doctrine and every failure in Christian ethics can be attributed to “imperfect and ignoble” thoughts of God. Wrong-thinking about God is at the heart of the rejection of the gospel. Tragedy only occurs when the misunderstanding of the nature, purpose and plan of God leads to a prideful, unwavering and firmly cemented refusal to "love the truth and so be saved" (2 Thessalonians 2:10 ESV).
So, the next time someone asks you, why you came to believe in Jesus but your neighbor didn't, tell them that you came to believe because when the praying grandmother (and all those other wonderful people) that God arranged to be in your life (Acts 17:26), told you about Jesus (Rom 10:17), it resonated with your God-given spirit - your God Acquisition Device (1 Cor 2:13-14, 1 Cor 15:44)) and revealed the gospel as truth.
As for your neighbor? First, correct their question for them with the gentle rejoinder, "You mean, 'why hasn't my neighbor believed in Jesus, yet'." Let them know that the God of hope who is not far from each one of us, is still lovingly and patiently waiting. That should suffice.
To learn more, please consider picking up my book - God's Elect: The Chosen Generation
(also available on Kindle)
Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Elect-Generation-John- Chipman/dp/1632695723/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1507WZLOS9FHL&keywords=god%27s+elect+chipman&qid=1682632127&sprefix=god%27s+elect+chipman%2Caps%2C293&sr=8-1
(Also available at Barnes & Noble & Christianbook.com)
Next Post: We'll take on the next vexing question often posed to non-Calvinists, "How can a dead person bring himself to life?" Here's a link to the next post:
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