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God Helps Those Who Help Themselves? Roles & Responsibilities in the Process of Conversion "God helps those who help themselves." Do you remember the first time your heard this "truism"? I first heard it in a church! Why I remember the sermon I cant say, but I do remember as a young Christian hearing those words roll right off the pastors tongue. No proof was offered, no biblical text cited. The truth seemed self-evident. And I must not be alone. According to George Barna, 68 percent of born-again Christians agree with this statement, and 75 percent of Americans at large.[1] I have always been suspect of "Christian" polling, so I decided to conduct my own poll at work. I asked ten people, five men and five women, all who claim to be Christians, whether they agree with the statement. The results? Eight out of tenthats 80 percent, for the mathematically challengedagreed with the statement! Of those eight, four are professing evangelicals, three of whom go to Southern Baptist churches, while the other attends a Christian church. Of the remaining four who agreed but who do not classify themselves as "evangelical," two are professing Roman Catholics, one is a Methodist, and the other is non-denominational. The two who disagreed? A Reformed Baptist (no surprises here), and an evangelical Episcopalian. What this means is, four of the six (67 percent) evangelicals agreed with the statement (compared to Barnas 68 percent). As a Southern Baptist, I sadly observed that all my denominational friends agreed, one of whom is the wife of a husband in ministry. Perhaps Barna is right after all. SOLA BOOTSTRAPSIS Where does this idea come from? It doesnt come from the Bible;[2] it comes from Benjamin Franklins Poor Richards Almanac. And Franklin and his contemporaries adapted it from one of Æsops fablesHercules and the Waggoner (6th century BC). In the story, a waggoners heavy load becomes bogged down in mud. In despair, the waggoner cries out to Hercules for help. Hercules replies, "Get up and put your shoulder to the wheel. The gods help them that help themselves."[3] Its rather ironic that a polytheistic tale appealing to Greek mythology has now made its way into what believers think is in the pages of Scripture. Whats the significance of all this? It reveals how most Christians conceive of their relationship with God. To paraphrase, "If I put my shoulder to the wheel, then God will help me." My preaching professor used to call this sola bootstrapsis theology. I first move to reform my life, then God willand perhaps is obligated torespond and cooperate with me. Which means our relationship with God is both conditional and synergistic. As Christians considering the topic of conversion, we might ask whether this is how we should appeal to non-Christians? "Put your shoulder to the wheel of salvation, and God will then come to your aid?" Do we summon them to self-activity, where "there is no road to deity except by way of human activity?"[4] What exactly is our role and responsibility, and what is Gods role and responsibility, in the process of conversion? THE ORDO SALUTIS DEFINED Some scholars today eschew the whole discussion, fearing that it turns salvation into a mechanistic process more akin to Aristotelian philosophy than the biblical witness. Though this critique is not without merit, the ordo salutis is still helpful. One must simply keep in mind that salvation is a unitary process intimately connected with our union in Christ. "Regeneration, faith, conversion, renewal and so on, after all, here frequently do not denote consecutive components on the road of salvation but sum up in a single word the whole transformation that takes place in humans."[7] All the benefits are given to the elect at the same time. The emphasis is not primarily chronological, but logical and causal. THE ORDO SALUTIS AND ANTHROPOLOGY
Reflecting upon the human condition it was Cicero who said, "Man is a disaster." In the historic Protestant understanding, salvation has always and only been a work of Gods wonderful, sovereign, and unmerited grace (cf. Eph 2:8-9). THE ORDO SALUTIS BEGINS WITH GOD THE ORDO SALUTIS IS GROUNDED IN ELECTION FROM ETERNITY PAST [14] Scripture simply never speaks of faith as the ground, or reason for Gods choosing us. All we know is that his choices, inscrutable as they often are, function to magnify his grace (cf. Rom 9:18, 2 Tim 1:8). Rightly understood, unconditional election in Scripture never leads to despair but encouragement for the believer (cf. Rom 8:28, Eph 1:11, 2 Thess 2:13). It is an overwhelmingly gracious act that highlights the goodness of God (Matt 1:25-30; Eph 1:3-11). Justice demands all die, but in the mercy of God he has chosen to do for men what he did not do for rebellious angelselecting and redeeming some to eternal life. In summary, election is unconditional, gracious, and grounded in eternity past. It is the foundation from which we are now able to discuss the work of redemption in human lives. Calling Logically, the application of Christs redeeming work begins with calling. This is first presented through the gospel call, which is the offering of salvation in Christ to people, together with an invitation to accept Christ in repentance and faith, in order that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.[15] The gospel call is a general or universal call, for it is made equally to all. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30; cf. Matt 22:1-14). It is also a genuine call seriously offered by God. Jesus sincerely weeps and mourns over Jerusalems stubborn rejection and refusal of his message (Matt 23:37). God truly desires that all come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9), so that they might receive rest (Matt 11:28; cf. Jn 1:11-12; Rev 3:20). This raises the rather thorny question of why some believe, and others do not. "Ay, heres the rub!" Hamlet would say. Synergistic systems teach that either individuals are inherently capable of producing initial faith (Roman Catholic view) to which God necessarily responds in grace, or that God provides all people with an enabling or prevenient grace (Arminian/Wesleyan) that overcomes the effects of the fall. Armed with this prevenient grace some then choose to respond in faith. In other words, prevenient grace is a sufficient grace that only becomes efficient when the sinner cooperates with it. We might say prevenient grace is really nothing more than "the democratization of saving grace."[16] In either the Roman Catholic or Arminian system, the power to believe or not to believe finally rests with the individual. Monergism sees Gods election of some as the explanation for why some believe, and others do not. "For many are called (the gospel call), but few are chosen" (Matt 22:14). In our fallen condition we are unwilling and unable to accept the gospel, "for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing" (1 Cor 1:8; cf. Rom 3, Eph 2:1-5). God therefore must work effectually in us, willing us to believe. Monergists, therefore, distinguish between a gospel call and an effectual call. In the effectual call the Spirit works through the Word to "confirm," "attest," and "make manifest" Gods election.[17] For the monergist, to say Gods call is conditionally effectual upon mans exercise of faith is "tantamount to saying that it is intrinsically ineffectual."[18] Yet in Scripture, the call of God is effectual upon the elect. "Those whom God called, he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified" (Rom 8:30). "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (Jn 6:44). It is an effectual call to salvation that brings us into fellowship with Christ (cf. 1 Cor 1:9). The teaching of an effectual call is not without opposition. First, if Gods call upon the elect is effectual and irresistible in that all who are called actually come, why bother with the outward preaching of the gospel call? This is a common objection, but the Bible reminds us that God ordains the means as well as the ends. God in his infinite wisdom and goodness has ordained that the gospel message, preached by human voices and accompanied by the Spirit, is to be the instrument of redeeming grace (cf. Rom 10). Second, some ask, does not the teaching of an effectual call suggest that God relates to us in an impersonal way? If God is the "cause" or our salvation, and our faith is merely the byproduct or "effect," in what sense is this relational? Process theology and open theism all level this charge against an effectual call. Love, they argue, does not operate by mere principles of cause and effect, as a matter of God unilaterally turning the will. Love must be mutual, reciprocal, and non-coercive. God must woo his people, not with causal power but with the power of love and persuasion. Though some in classical theism have drifted into a depersonalized Aristotelian Prime Mover conception of God, evangelical Protestants have steered clear. God may bend and determine the will, but never in any way that is incongruous with human nature. God "can and does draw them, by the powerful influence of his grace upon them to himself and to his Son, and this he does without forcing their wills; he sweetly allures, by his grace, to come to Christ and his ordinances; he powerfully persuades."[19] Theologian Kevin Vanhoozer helpfully reminds us that Gods effectual call is one of both energy and information. It is not merely a causal but a communicative act. In the effectual call God communicates to us through Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh. The effectual call is a speech act, and is thus deeply personal.[20] Third, some argue that an effectual call contravenes human freedom. It is manipulative and coercive. Open theist John Sanders goes so far as to call it divine rape, for God forces his will upon the elect. Yet there is no biblical account of one being forced to accept the gospel against his will. No one is brought kicking and screaming into the kingdom. There is nothing violent when the ears of the deaf are miraculously opened so they can hear the sweet voice of the Savior calling them by name. To use another biblical metaphor, God graciously makes the blind see. Is this a malicious, violent act? It is the case that the one illumined is both passive and active. Being made to understand, an individual understands and lovingly embraces the truth. This embrace is hardly compatible with the notion of divine rape. In summary, "the application of salvation is and remains a work of the Spirit, and is therefore never coercive and violent but always spiritual, lovely, and gentle, treating humans not as a block of wood but as rational beings, illuminating, persuading, drawing, and bending them." Regeneration Just as we are passive in our physical birth, so we are in our spiritual birth. In other words, regeneration is solely a work of God. John says the children of God are those "who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (Jn. 1:13). Similarly, Peter writes, "According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope" (1 Pet. 1:3). In regeneration God replaces our hearts of stone with hearts of flesh so that we who were spiritually dead become spiritually alive. It is obvious, then, that regeneration must precede conversion.[21] At the Synod of Dort, the early Protestants beautifully summarized Gods radical, instantaneous, and supernatural regenerating work.
Conversion Though conversion is distinct from regeneration, the distinction is not so much chronological as logical. In Scripture, there is not a category for one who has been regenerated by the Spirit, and yet becomes converted some time in the future. The two happen effectively at the same time, and yet Gods work logically precedes our response to him in repentance and faith. "The relationship between regeneration, and let us say faith, is like that between turning on the light switch and flooding a room with light the two actions are simultaneous."[23] John Gill summarized it well:
Implications Second, we ought to be confident in our assurance of salvation "for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil 2:13). What is more comforting, to rest our salvation upon the power of our choice, decision, and faithfulness alone; or to rest it on the sacrificial work of Christ graciously applied to us by the Spirit? Synergistic systems "make everything wobbly and uncertaineven the victory of the good and the triumph of the kingdom of Godbecause it hangs everything on the incalculable arbitrariness of humans. Standing up for the rights of humankind, it tramples on the rights of God and for humans ends up with no more than the right to be fickle."[26] Lastly, we must make personal appeals! We are the God-ordained messengers of salvation. In our appeals there always must be the three necessary components of: presentation, invitation, and promise. We must be clear on our presentation (God, man, Christ). We must boldly call for a personal response. And we must honestly hold out the promise of eternal life. In the promise we must always remember that the ground of our eternal life is found in Christs work, not our decision or a prayer. Our confidence that his work has been applied to us is the evidence of spiritual fruit in our lives (cf. Jn. 15:8, 1 Jn. 2:3-6).
Christianity knows of no such schemes. Salvation is of grace, from beginning to end. According to the good pleasure of God, the basis of Christs work, the agency of the Spirit, and the instrumentality of the word, God elects, effectually calls, and regenerates. We are commanded to repent and believe, but this is all in vain if God does not first work in us. That is why faith itself is even called a gift of God (cf. Eph 2:8). God helps those who help themselves? If so, we are to be pitied above all men. Never has heaven appeared so far away. Endnotes: Brad Wheeler is an elder at Third Avenue Baptist Church, a master of divinity student at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a portfolio manager for Merrill Lynch in Louisville, Kentucky. © 9Marks Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way, you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction, and you do not make more than 1,000 physical copies. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be explicitly approved by 9Marks. Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: ©9Marks. Website: www.9Marks.org. Email: info@9marks.org. Toll Free: (888) 543-1030. |
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