There is a wonderful little pamphlet by Theodore Monod titled LOOKING UNTO JESUS. It’s based on the Bible verse that says, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). One of the things that I found refreshing as I read Monod’s pamphlet is when he writes the following:
LOOKING UNTO JESUS, and not at our doubts. The more we look at them the larger they appear, until they can swallow up all our faith, our strength, and our joy. But if we look away from them to our Lord Jesus, Who is the Truth (John 14:6) the doubts will scatter in the light of His presence like clouds before the sun.
LOOKING UNTO JESUS, and not at our faith. The last device of the adversary, when he cannot make us look elsewhere, is to turn our eyes from our Saviour to our faith, and thus to discourage us if it is weak; to fill us with pride if it is strong: and either way to weaken us. For power does not come from the faith, but from the Saviour by faith. It is not looking at our look, it is “looking unto Jesus.”
These words caught my attention, especially when Monod made the point that it is “LOOKING UNTO JESUS, and not at our faith” ‒ because this is exactly the opposite of what Calvinists do! For example, in his book “Free Grace” Theology: 5 Ways It Diminishes the Gospel [of Lordship Salvation], Wayne Grudem keeps repeating the same question, focusing on his faith (or the lack of it) and doubting if he has truly believed:
- “How do I know that I have truly believed?” (pg. 85)
- “How do I know that I personally have believed?” (pg. 85)
- “How do I know that I have believed and that I have been born again?” (pg. 89)
Sadly, Grudem here is focusing on his doubts and looking at his faith (or the lack of it), not “looking unto Jesus”. Whereas the Bible says we are to be “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). Let’s keep our focus on Jesus, and then everything else with come into proper focus!
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Lordship Salvation hinders “looking unto Jesus” because it changes the focus from “looking unto Jesus” to instead focus on other things such as one’s faith or lack of faith. But it is not our strong faith that keeps us saved, but the Savior! It is not our grip on him that is always strong, but His grip on us!
A find that a problem for many who think that regeneration occurs before faith, is that they never look to Jesus to get saved in the first place. They may believe it intellectually, but never humbled themselves and looked to Christ as their savior. They just automatically assume they are chosen, and faith is a just symptom of their regeneration. It's placing the cart before the horse.
ReplyDeleteYes, I would say it must be confusing for them, although I doubt they'd admit that their beliefs are confusing. Instead, they seem to play it off like it's a divine conundrum that only makes sense to God! But Jesus said, "For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:40). That is God's sovereign will! And another Bible verse says that God is "not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
ReplyDeleteI agree it is placing the cart before the horse when Calvinists say that regeneration precedes faith in Christ. That's backwards — even John 3:16 proves it so. It says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who BELIEVES in Him shall not perish, but has EVERLASTING LIFE [i.e. REGENERATION]." So here we can clearly see the proper order is faith in Christ comes first, followed by regeneration (having eternal life). So when the Calvinists say that regeneration precedes faith, they have it backwards!
I would hope that at least some Calvinists are saved, but there is another big problem (among many) with Calvinism, as I'm sure you know. Not only do they say that regeneration precedes faith (opposite to what the Bible teaches), but they also redefine saving faith by making it include all kinds of things in addition to simply looking to Christ for salvation, like the Bible says in many passages (e.g. Num. 21:8-9; Isa. 45:22; Zech. 12:10; Jn. 3:14-17, 6:40, 19:37, etc.). Calvinists redefine saving faith to make it include all kinds of other things such as a willingness to pay the ultimate price for salvation, a willingness to forsake everything and follow Christ, a total commitment, counting the cost and being willing to give up everything for Christ, etc., etc. It all sounds very pious and noble. The only problem is those are the costs of discipleship, not the costs of salvation (justification), which is free (see Romans 3:24). So the point is, Calvinists confuse salvation (justification) with discipleship (sanctification). In effect, Calvinists load up the word faith with everything the Bible says about discipleship! Wow, I think I left a lot out! Let's see, oh yeah, a person has to be willing to be martyred for Christ in order to be saved, according to Calvinists. At least if they wanted to be consistent, I think they would have to say that is a salvation requirement. And the list goes on and on. I think I barely scratched the surface of what they include in their redefinition of saving faith. By the way, I'm not saying any of those things are bad things. Not at all. Those are very good things, it's just that they are not requirements for salvation. For example, take the requirement of martyrdom. That is something for which Christians will receive a reward: the martyrs crown (see James 1:12; Rev. 2:10). If Christians are going to receive a reward for something, it is clearly A GOOD WORK! So right there is proof that in reality, Calvinists preach good works for salvation, not free grace. But the Bible says, "If it is by grace, it is cannot be based on works, otherwise grace is no longer grace" (Romans 11:6). I also like what Romans 4:4-5 says: "Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness" (Romans 4:4-5).
I want to repeat some comments here that I've made elsewhere because they also relate to the topic of this post. In the comments section of my blog post "I Never Knew You" (posted July 6, 2019), I said the following in regards to where our focus should be:
ReplyDelete"We need to take our focus off ourselves and turn our eyes upon Jesus! The Bible says that we need to be 'looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith' (Heb. 12:2). In the Gospels, what happened to Peter when he tried to walk on the water but took his eyes off the Lord? Peter began to sink! Likewise, when we take our eyes off Jesus we too will begin to sink into doubts and despair. The Bible says that Christ has been made unto us our righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). We have God’s Word on it, and that is where our assurance is found!"