byu@csri.toronto.edu (Benjamin Yu) (05/08/91)
I have been reading J.I.Packer's latest book (I think) "A Quest For Godliness". It is on the Puritan's theology, ministry and Christian life. I am a bit perplexed on his exposition of Puritan's theological stand on Calvinism and I hope someone can help me solve some questions. I hope this will not turn out to be another debate between Calvinism and Arminianism! From what I gather in the book, here is a summary: 1) Christ died for the elect (limited atonement). 2) The elect, or chosen ones, are all sinners like every one else and thus "unable to lift a finger to do God's will or better their spiritual lot". 3) "Grace is free" 4) Grace is "not merely an enlightening, but also a regenerating work of God in men, `taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good; and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.'" 5) Faith has to be exercised to receive Jesus Christ as the divine Saviour. So I conclude: Since only the chosen ones are saved, and these chosen ones could have come to Christ only by grace (since they couldn't do anything to begin to turn to God) through faith, the logical sequence of events for one who is truly saved must be: 1) Christ died for this individual 2) Gospel is preached to him/her 3) Grace is given to him/her 4) .. so that s/he can believe and exercise faith to receive Christ Fine, so far I think this is syllogistically sound, but I come to another proposition in the book: invitation is issued freely to guilty sinners to come to Christ and "these invitations are universal". Why does God invite everyone to come to Christ but only give the means (which is the grace) to selected few? The analogy is that why does God invite everyone to a banquet but only provides transportation for a few only? Thanks! -- Benjamin Yu University of Toronto CSNET, UUCP, BITNET: Department of Computer Science byu@csri.toronto.edu Toronto, Ontario Canada M5S 1A4 byu@csri.utoronto.ca (o)(416)978 - 4299 (h)(416)470 - 8206 {uunet,watmath}!csri.utoronto.edu!byu [I think few theologians would claim to know with any degree of completeness why God set things up the way he did. However at least something can probably be said. Most theologians who take this line want to regard those who are damned as being morally responsible for their damnation. You can't hold someone responsible for not coming unless they got the invitation. This doesn't solve all problems -- you still have to deal with the question of why God compelled some to come in and not others. But it means that those who are rejected have done somthing to merit their condemnation. --clh]