The Gospel...A History Lesson Part 5

In our last post about the gospel, part 4, we ended talking about synergism within the church.  To review, the word "synergism" comes from the Greek prefix SYN, which means "together with; at the same time" and the Greek word ERGOS, which means "work".  Therefore, synergism is the belief that man and God are cooperating, or working together at the same time, to achieve man's salvation. In this system of belief, it is only logical that man get some of the credit for his salvation.  That is because, in the synergistic view, God has done all He can do by sending Jesus Christ to die on the cross...to make salvation possible for you.  Now, you have to make the decision to accept or reject this offer.  That is SYNERGISM.  God has done something; now, you do something.  That is the semi-Pelagian view of salvation and it dominates the landscape of Christianity today.  The problem with this view is that is completely unbiblical.  We will attempt to show why today.

"Salvation is from the Lord.”  (Jonah 2:9)

How is salvation of the LORD?  Well, salvation is of the LORD when it is the LORD who does it from start to finish.  That is what a MONERGISTIC view of salvation consists of...or, in another word, MONERGISM.  This is a view that regeneration and salvation are completely dependent upon the working of God upon a person.  What is a monergistic view of regeneration and salvation, or MONERGISM?  The word comes from a Greek prefix, "mono", meaning "one; alone" and the Greek word "ergos" meaning work.  Therefore, the word monergism means that God alone works the regeneration and salvation of a person through the rebirth of a dead spirit.  This is in direct contrast to synergism, which teaches that God and man work together to accomplish this task.

At the risk of being redundant, the synergistic view of regeneration and salvation holds that man is not dead in trespasses and sins...he is merely sick or wounded.  His nature is not in total and complete bondage to sin.  He is, thereby, able to help himself by helping God.  In this view, God gives grace to ALL men at some point in time.  When this happens, it is incumbent upon the individual to improve upon that grace by showing enough sense to accept this grace and get saved.  In other words, the regeneration and salvation of a person is dependent upon the person and their choice to accept or reject grace.  The credit and glory for this goes, in part, to the person for having enough wits about them to make the right choice.  It does not go to God for having worked a miracle in a dead spirit.

In the monergistic view, man is ruined and held in bondage by the sin nature.  Man is:

"Dead in trespasses and sins"  (Ephesians 2:1)

"By nature children of wrath"  (Ephesians 2:3)

"There is none who does good; not even one"  (Romans 3:12)

"All of us like sheep have gone astray,

"Each of us has turned to his own way"  (Isaiah 53:6)

And, because of this, Jesus tells Nicodemus:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."  (John 3:3)

The phrase "born again" here literally means "born from above" and is talking about the regeneration of the spirit of a man.  We are dead in our trespasses and sins.  Unless we are regenerated, or reborn, or born again or born from above, we cannot see the kingdom of God.  That is because our nature is inherently sinful and cannot be in the presence of a holy God.  As David said in the Psalms:

"Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
And in sin my mother conceived me."  (Psalm 51:5)

We are born with a sinful nature.  That sinful nature must be dealt with if we are to stand blameless in the presence of God.  This rebirth is an act of the Holy Spirit that happens TO US, not an act in which we take part or help God along.  We did not participate in our physical birth; neither do we participate in our spiritual birth.  How do we know this?  Here is the testimony of the Scriptures:

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)"  (Ephesians 2:4-5)

These are some of the most glorious verses in all the Scriptures.  Look at what they say.  Verse 4 must be read in the context of verses 1-3.  Verse 1 says we were dead in trespasses and sins.  Verse 2 says that we formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.  Verse 3 says that we were, by nature, children of wrath.  That is a dire sentence against us and the verdict is in.  We were, by nature, children of wrath, dead in trespasses and sins.  In that context, verse 4 breaks in and becomes most glorious.  "But God....".  I think those 2 words are my favorite in the Scriptures.  But God, because He is rich in mercy......But God, because He loved us with a great love......But God, even when we were dead in our transgressions......made us alive together with Christ.  Notice that this happened EVEN WHEN WE WERE DEAD IN OUR TRANSGRESSIONS.  He had to MAKE US ALIVE because we WERE DEAD.  He did not ask us if we wanted to be alive.  He did not give us a multiple choice option on life....A) I want to remain dead or B) I want to be made alive.  He did not kinda raise us up out of a deep slumber and then leave us to either roll over and go back to sleep, rejecting Him waking us up......or sitting up, jumping out of bed, attacking the day and accepting being risen out of bed.  That is not what the text says.  It says HE MADE US ALIVE WITH CHRIST (BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED).  That is what grace is.  It is favor and mercy from God that is neither expected nor deserved.  Notice this also.  In verse 8, Paul says:

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  (Ephesians 2:8)

Grace is in operation in more ways than one.  Grace raises you from deadness.  Grace also saves through faith because the faith to believe is ALSO given to you.  That is the gift spoken of here....your faith.  Your faith is not of yourselves.  Your faith is the gift of God.  Notice when you put all of these verses together that the first thing that happens is that God MADE YOU ALIVE WITH CHRIST because of the fact that YOU WERE DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS.  That is being "born again" or regenerated.  After that, God gives you the faith to believe.  That is justification, or salvation.  They are both works that God does to you without needing you to help Him along.  He does it all.  

That is monergism.....in a quick, over-simplified nutshell.  I honestly believe that it is the only view of our regeneration and salvation that puts the credit and glory where it belongs....on God and His grace.  Any view that states God has done all He can do and now it's up to you robs God of the credit and glory that belongs to Him and Him alone.  It really is that simple.  I would ask all who read this to prayerfully consider what has been said in this post and Part 4.  A proper view of God and His role is vitally important. A proper view of man and his lack of any roll is also vitally important.  Credit must go where credit is due.  To whom will you give your credit....yourself and your intelligence for choosing God or God and His grace in doing the choosing?

The "Church" is in Trouble...But There is an Answer

I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom:  preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.

2 Timothy 4:1-4

Every two years Ligonier Ministries, the legacy of the late R.C. Sproul, does a poll of a cross section of Americans about all things theology.  Some of those respondents claim to be Christian; some do not.  While the results, taken as a whole, are not all that surprising, they become much more disturbing when you analyze them from the standpoint of those who claim to be Christian.  That is the purpose of this post...to look at the poll results from the viewpoint of those who claim to be Christian.  The results show confusion and, in some cases, straight heresy.  All in all they show a "church" that has no clue what the Bible teaches, a "church" that does not know God and a "church" that has no idea what it believes or why.

Ligonier has been doing this poll since at least 2014.  You can find everything in this post pertaining to the poll at this website.  We will be looking at results from 2020 and years past.  Some questions are asked over the span of multiple years of the poll.  Some questions are unique to a specific year.  I will be clear when comparing various years as opposed to speaking about a specific poll year.  Also, to be clear, all of the questions are true / false questions, so the responses are agree / disagree responses.  Let's just dive in.

We are going to start with some poll questions concerning the members of the Godhead:

True or False

Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God.

If you are a Christian, if you claim to be saved then this statement is a no-brainer and is Christianity 101.  This is foundational.  Let's go to John 1:1-2:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.

There it is.  The Word, being Jesus, WAS God.  God didn't create Himself.  Therefore, He did not create Jesus.  Jesus WAS God.  The answer to this, if you are a Christian, is no...false...I disagree...that is straight heresy, plain and simple.  Sadly, among professing Christians, that is not the case.  11% were unsure about that statement.  56% agreed with it.  So, a total of 67% of "Christians" have no idea who Jesus is.  Amazingly, these numbers are actually a little better than they were in 2016, when 70% of professing "Christians" weren't sure or agreed with that statement.

Piggybacking on the above statement, a follow up statement was made only in the 2020 poll:

True or False

Jesus was a great teacher, but He was not God.

Here is the testimony of the Scripture:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  (John 1:1-2)

I and the Father are one.  (John 10:30)

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."  (John 8:58)

For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.  (Colossians 2:9)

The same 56% of "Christians" that agreed that Jesus was God the Father's greatest creation should also agree with this statement because if Jesus was created, He CANNOT be God.  Therefore, the percentage should be at least 56%, because 100% of the 56% should say Jesus wasn't God, if they follow their own line of thinking.  However, that is not the case.  Only 32% agree with that statement.  4% were not sure.  This shows clear confusion as to what they believe.  It also shows that they don't understand the implications of what they believe because if Jesus was not the God-man, He cannot be their Savior.

Another statement that should be a non-issue is this one:

True or False

The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.

This is saying that the Holy Spirit is not a person but exerts influence as some sort of mystical, Star Wars type of entity.  Again, this should be Christianity 101 because the Holy Spirit can speak:

Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says....(Hebrews 3:7 and following)

And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying....(Hebrews 10:15 and following)

The Holy Spirit can be grieved:

But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them.  (Isaiah 63:10)

Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  (Ephesians 4:30)

The Holy Spirit can be lied to:

But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?  While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control?  Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”  (Acts 5:3-4)

A force doesn't speak.  A force doesn't become grieved and have feelings.  You can't lie to a force.  Only a person speaks, has feelings and can be lied to.  The Holy Spirit has and does these things.  It is the clear testimony of the Scripture.  Apparently, this is lost on a majority of those inside the church who call themselves Christian.  51% agree with the statement that the Holy Spirit is a force and not a personal being;  that is sad.  The results of this poll over the years regarding the person and character of the members of the Godhead are a clear indictment against the "church" and its "leaders".  There is no knowledge of God...at all.  It's terrible.

Let's look at some statements of what people think about themselves as humans.

True or False

Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  (Genesis 6:5)

There is none righteous, not even one;

There is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God;

All have turned aside, together they have become useless;

There is none who does good, there is not even one.  (Romans 3:10-12)

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.  Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.  (Ephesians 2:1-3)

The answer to this is false.  Man is born into sin.  Man is, by nature, a child of wrath thanks to Adam. Man is born dead in trespasses and sins.  Man is born with an evil, selfish bent.  That is the testimony of Scripture.  That is the testimony of life.  Sadly, those who claim to be Christian are unaware of this.  In 2020, 47% agree with the above statement.  This is slightly better than years gone by but, as a whole, the numbers show an incredible lack of knowledge about what the Scriptures clearly teach about humanity.

To go along in the same vein, the respondents to the poll were then asked this:

True or False

Even the smallest sin deserves eternal damnation

Any person that calls themselves a Christian should understand the implications of sin and say YES to this statement.  ANY sin deserves eternal damnation.  Why?  Because God is infinitely holy and has no part in sin.  He demands that we: 

are to be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.  (James 2:10)

Failing to do what God has told us to do and doing what God has commanded us not to do is sin.  That is not perfection.  We cannot do what God has commanded us to do.  We just can't; it's impossible.  But that is beside the point; that is what God demands....perfection.  

Praise the Lord for Jesus, who came and lived that perfect life for me because I could not.  

One sin, no matter how small and insignificant in our eyes, demands infinite, eternal damnation because it is a sin against an infinitely, eternally holy God. 

The above statement should have a 100% agreement rate by all who call themselves Christians.  It doesn't.  Only 40% agree with it.  Put another way, 54% disagree with the understanding that sin is a big deal to God.  Simply put, people within the walls of the church, who call themselves Christian, have no idea who God is.  That is because those standing in the pulpit have no idea who God is.  These percentages stay fairly consistent from year to year and, frankly, it's mind numbing to me.

Here is one last statement to leave you pondering the state of the church and those who call themselves Christians:

True or False

Abortion is a sin

There is absolutely no way around this.  Anybody who calls themselves a Christian and does not agree with this statement is, in my opinion, to be frank, not saved, unregenerate and needs to stop calling themselves a Christian.  Abortion is murder, period.  

Rape is not a valid reason.  Incest is not a valid reason.  The child having a medical condition, such as Down's Syndrome, is not a valid reason.  Eliminating the consequence of your action through terminating the life of the unwanted pregnancy is not a valid reason.  Why?  Because abortion is murder.  There are THOUSANDS of families that would love to adopt your "problem" because they cannot have children.

I know that people love to shout that the health of the mother can be at danger and she needs to have this option to abort.  Granted, this happens very, very rarely.  I am not saying that this does not take place.  I am saying that it does not take place commonly.  That statement about the health of the mother is made in an effort to blur the facts.  And the fact is this:

Abortion is a matter of convenience.

People want to be able to do whatever they want and have no consequences for their actions.  A baby is the natural result of the act of sex.  Don't want a baby?  Don't have sex.  Simple, is it not?  But, in the instant gratification age of "I want what I want now and I don't want to have to answer for it", the baby pays the price.  It's just true.

The percentage of people who call themselves Christian and think abortion is a sin is somewhere between 76% and 80% over the years.  In 2020, 18% said they disagree.  6% were not sure.  So, 24% of "Christians" either disagree with the statement "Abortion is a sin" or are not sure about it.  This is, honestly, atrocious.  It should be 100%...end of discussion.  

Friends, behold the "church".  These are just a few of the statements put forth to the respondents in the polling since 2014.  But I chose these because they are telling.  They tell a story.  A story of people, people who are supposedly Christians, who have no idea who God is and no idea who they are.  They are ignorant of the most elementary doctrines about God and man. 

I place the blame squarely at the foot of the pulpit.  No, the pastors in the churches are not totally responsible for every aspect of their sheep's theology.  But they do set the tone.  They are to do what Paul told Timothy, using the Scriptures:

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness...(2 Timothy 3:16)

How do they do this?  By doing what the Scripture at the beginning of this post says:

PREACH THE WORD

Pastors, teachers, elders, Sunday School teachers, Wednesday night Bible Study leaders:

PREACH THE WORD

That is the only thing that will lead us to a saving knowledge of Him.  Everything else is meaningless. 

Do Not Be Deceived

It is interesting, to say the least, that in biblical times miracles validated the messenger but in today's world, that is not necessarily the case.  Why?

In the book of Acts and the epistles, the vast majority of the miraculous signs and wonders were performed by THE apostles or those closely associated with them.  This is what 2 Corinthians 12:12 says:

Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

This clearly shows that one of the signs of a true apostle was signs and wonders.  When I say true apostle, I am talking about an original apostle...one of the 11, after Judas had gone to do what he was going to do.  And Paul...he can be thrown into this mix because he was an eyewitness of the Lord Jesus according to Acts 9.  Does this mean that ordinary people cannot perform miraculous things with the help of the Holy Spirit?  No, I am not saying that at all.  I am saying that those occurrences are the exception, not the norm.  These things are not something that need to be, or should be, sought out.  God can do what He wants to do whenever He feels like He wants to do it.  But, according to His recorded Word, the miraculous signs and wonders were something that followed the apostles, not Joe Smith on Main Street.

According to the Scripture, in Acts 2:22, Jesus was a man "approved of God" by miraculous things:

“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know

I will say no more about this.  I don't need to say anything further.  It speaks for itself.  Jesus was "approved of God" because of the "miracles and wonders and signs" which God did through Him.  Further along in Acts, chapter 14 and verse 3, Paul and Barnabas were confirmed as genuine messengers of God.....because of the signs they did:

Therefore they spent a long time there, speaking boldly with reliance upon the Lord, who was testifying to the word of His grace, granting that signs and wonders be done by their hands.

Now, again, these verses DO NOT prove that God doesn’t give His miraculous gifts to just anybody.  He can do what He feels like doing when He feels like doing it.  But, these verses also DO NOT say that miraculous signs are for just any believer.  If anybody outside of those people had these miraculous gifts, it was the exception, not the norm.  All of these verses speak to God's apostles....or to Jesus Himself.  Therefore, we can conclude that miraculous signs were given to the apostles, and Christ, at this time to CONFIRM the message of God and the Gospel. 

Also, another thing to keep in mind is this:

At this time, there was no Word of God.  There was no Bible.  We could not look to what God had to say to us.  He was speaking new revelation to people because He needed to do this.  He was doing miraculous things because He needed to do these things.  Now, we don't need this.  We have His word.  He has given to us all we need.  Here is how I know this:

God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.  (Hebrews 1:1-2)

Notice the tense....this is in past tense.  "after He spoke long ago....".  "...last days has spoken....".  These verbs are in the past tense.  It's been done.  It's not something that He is doing.  He has done it.  He HAS SPOKEN to His people.  Also, 2 Peter 1:19:

So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place

Peter, James and John had a legitimate experience on the mount of Transfiguration.  They saw the Lord Jesus in all His glory.  They saw Moses and Elijah.  They asked if they should put up a tent for them, for heaven's sake.  They saw these men.  It was a legitimate thing that happened to them.  But, Peter pointed his audience to God's Word.  That is our anchor.  Let me tell you why this needs to be our anchor...2 Corinthians 11:13-14:

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.  No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light

This passage is talking about false teachers, in context.  But, it also can be applied to false spirits, masquerading as messengers of Jesus, leading people astray because that's what they want...miraculous signs and wonders.  Pauls goes on, verse 15:

Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

He is saying not to be surprised when demons and devils disguise themselves as angels of light.  Why?  Because it is their job.  They are here to betray.  They are here to mislead.  They are here to deceive.  In Matthew, chapter 24, our Lord himself said this:

Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many.  (Matthew 24:11)

For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.  (Matthew 24:24)

These signs and wonders, AND PROPHETIC UTTERANCES, will be so convincing so as to even deceive those that are elect of the Father, if that were possible to do.  That, of course, is not possible.  But to those who fall into this category, who rely on these things; to those, this is going to happen....and it is the most terrifying passage in all of Scripture, I think.  Matthew 7:21-23 says this......take heed:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.  Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many [n]miracles?’   And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

There are a ton of things that are done in the "name of Jesus".  There are a ton of good works that are done in the "name of Jesus".  That does not necessarily mean it is of Jesus.

There are a lot of videos floating around on the internet of prophecies and dreams of political things and raptures.  There are people who literally post something new everyday.  They mean no harm.  They think they are speaking for God.  They think they have received a "word" from the Lord.  Maybe, maybe not.  They may be 100%, absolutely correct in everything they "say" they have received from God.  So what?  That does not, and I mean DOES NOT, mean it is from the Lord Jesus, God the Father or the Holy Spirit.  Satan is ready to deceive.  We cannot place any hope in these things.  As we have read, Satan is more than ready to lead astray those who place their hope in miraculous signs and wonders....because they are placing their hope and trust in miraculous signs and wonders....not Jesus Himself.  I know that sounds harsh.  It's just true.  

There's one place to place your hope.  It's in His word.  Period.  Look to the Word.  And nowhere else.  Your soul depends on it.

The Gospel...A History Lesson Part 4

Semi-Pelagianism is merely a watered-down version of Pelagianism.  Pelagianism teaches that you can save yourself and you are not hindered by Original Sin.  Your nature is not damaged by Adam's sin.  You are born in a completely neutral state.  You can choose to be evil or you can choose to be good.  You can choose to follow God and His law or you don't.  You can exercise your will and follow God's commandments...all 600+ of them.  Semi-Pelagianism teaches that God's grace IS necessary for salvation and you cannot save yourself.  BUT, YOU MUST accept God's grace in order to be saved.  There is a difference in the two views but not much.  The semi-Pelagian view just kinda, sorta sounds better.  Ultimately, you are saving yourself by what you do in both systems.  Please don't have an aneurysm here.  I'll make my point later. 

In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the castle church at Wittenberg.  They were 95 points of contention that he had with the Roman Church, mainly the selling of indulgences by Johann Tetzel.  Luther was a monk at the time he posted his theses, but God opened his eyes to the truth of the gospel 2 years later, in 1519, as he was teaching through Romans.  When he got to this verse, Romans 1:17, illumination took place:

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Young Martin Luther's understanding was shaken as the Holy Spirit taught him what the Word of God meant. I will let the late RC Sproul explain what was happening to Luther in a more understandable, and totally more authoritative, way than I ever could.  This is a transcript of a portion of teaching that can be found at the link I will provide at the end of the transcript:

He says, “Here in it,” in the gospel, “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘the just shall live by faith.’” A verse taken from the book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament that is cited three times in the New Testament. As Luther would stop short and say, “What does this mean, that there’s this righteousness that is by faith, and from faith to faith? What does it mean that the righteous shall live by faith?” Which again as I said was the thematic verse for the whole exposition of the gospel that Paul sets forth here in the book of Romans. And so, the lights came on for Luther. And he began to understand that what Paul was speaking of here was a righteousness that God in His grace was making available to those who would receive it passively, not those who would achieve it actively, but that would receive it by faith, and by which a person could be reconciled to a holy and righteous God.

Now there was a linguistic trick that was going on here too. And it was this, that the Latin word for justification that was used at this time in church history was—and it’s the word from which we get the English word justification—the Latin word justificare. And it came from the Roman judicial system. And the term justificare is made up of the word justus, which is justice or righteousness, and the verb, the infinitive facare, which means to make. And so, the Latin fathers understood the doctrine of justification is what happens when God, through the sacraments of the church and elsewhere, make unrighteous people righteous.

But Luther was looking now at the Greek word that was in the New Testament, not the Latin word. The word dikaios, dikaiosune, which didn’t mean to make righteous, but rather to regard as righteous, to count as righteous, to declare as righteous. And this was the moment of awakening for Luther. He said, “You mean, here Paul is not talking about the righteousness by which God Himself is righteous, but a righteousness that God gives freely by His grace to people who don’t have righteousness of their own.”

And so Luther said, “Woa, you mean the righteousness by which I will be saved, is not mine?” It’s what he called a justitia alienum, an alien righteousness; a righteousness that belongs properly to somebody else. It’s a righteousness that is extra nos, outside of us. Namely, the righteousness of Christ. And Luther said, “When I discovered that, I was born again of the Holy Ghost. And the doors of paradise swung open, and I walked through.”

RC Sproul on Luther and Romans 1:17

Luther had been converted.  His understanding of the gospel, as he had always known it, had been radically altered forever.  And he would go to his grave defending the biblical doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to the Scriptures alone, to the glory of God alone.

On September 1, 1524, Desiderius Erasmus, a Roman Catholic apologist from Rotterdam, published his work titled Diatribe Concerning Free Will.  Luther responded with what could be considered his most compelling and important work The Bondage of the Will, containing  over 300 bible verses to support his argument.  Luther stood shoulder to shoulder with Augustine, defending the biblical doctrine, against the semi-Pelagian views of Erasmus.  With this book, Luther drew a distinct line in the sand that marked out the Roman Catholic view of justification and the Reformed view.  The ensuing debate has raged from then until this very day.....the Monergistic / Synergistic Controversy.  We talked very briefly about these last post.

Erasmus wrote his book directed specifically at Luther because after his conversion, he was having an impact within the Roman Catholic ranks.  Erasmus targeted Luther's awakening of Augustinian teaching...that men are totally and completely dead in sins and that there is absolutely nothing that they can contribute to their salvation....that it is a total and complete work of a sovereign God.  Instead, he believed and taught that God offered grace to all people.  And all people still have within themselves, somewhere, the ability to accept or reject this grace.  And it was the choice of the sinner that God rewards with salvation.  This is called SYNERGISM, coming from the Greek prefix "syn" and the Greek word "ergos".  The prefix "syn" means "with; together with; at the same time".  It refers to two or more.  For example, it's used in the word SYNCHRONIZE.  The word "ergos" means work.  Putting these together, you get the word SYNERGISM, meaning "to work together with" or "working at the same time".  The word synergism suggests a cooperative effort between man and God to accomplish the salvation of man.  God has done what He can do; now you do what you have to do.  

Luther saw this as nothing more than putting lipstick on a pig.  In other words, this was works based salvation hiding behind flowery language.  Luther believed that the semi-Pelagian view of Erasmus denied the doctrine of Original Sin and the full impact Adam's sin had on his offspring.  According to Erasmus, man was not dead; he was merely wounded and had the ability to help himself by helping God.  Luther understood that this view of Erasmus made the grace of God a reward for our faith.  Put another way, a man believes the gospel and, because of his good work of believing, God gives him the grace of salvation.  

I do not care how you look at it; I do not care how you play with words; I do not care about semantics.  It doesn't matter how you slice it.  In the semi-Pelagian view of Erasmus, and the massive majority of churches even today, some of the credit for a man's salvation goes to him because he deserves it.  Part of the glory MUST GO to man, right?  He did the right thing and chose God.  God had done all He could do by offering up Jesus.  That is His best.  He gave His Son.  Now, man does his thing.  He has to accept the gift.  And when he does, he gets credit; at least some of it.  There is absolutely no way around it.  The glory of salvation, in this stream, is split between God and man....period.  And that is not biblical in the slightest because according to the Scriptures:

Salvation is from the Lord.  (Jonah 2:9)
I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.  (Isaiah 42:8)

So, what's really at stake in this monergistic / synergistic controversy, that still goes on today, is the glory of God vs. the glory of man; a right understanding of God and who He is vs. a wrong understanding of man and where he stands before God.

This is the synergistic, semi-Pelagian view of salvation.  God has done all He can do.  Now it's up to you.  How many times have you heard, "You take that first step of faith and God'll take the rest and carry you the rest of the way."  That's synergism.  That's semi-Pelagianism.  That's not biblical but it is the dominant view in the church today.

Next time, we'll look at the other side of the fence...monergism.

    

The Gospel...A History Lesson Part 3

Church historian Philip Schaff helped us see what the Roman Catholic Church would become by reminding us that Zosimus, the Bishop of Rome, agreed with Pelagius and denounced the Council of Carthage for cursing Pelagius and calling his teaching heretical.  Enter Cornelius Otto Jansen.

Jansen was a leader of the post-Reformation movement within Roman Catholicism.  He died in 1640 but it was after his death that a majority of his writings were published and his teachings became popular.  He believed, like Martin Luther, that the Church of Rome had strayed away from the teachings of the early church that all of life was by the grace of God.  He believed and taught what Augustine had taught; that man is born with a DEAD spirit that needs regeneration...a resurrection...what the Bible calls being "born again".  We will come back to this "born again" concept a little later and explain this next verse and another to help bolster this argument of being "dead" and needing "resurrection".  Here are the verses I'm talking about:

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."  (John 3:3) 

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.  Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)
(Ephesians 2:1-5)

Jansen knew that what happened to man was by God's grace and His grace alone, not man making it happen because he had some faith.  The Jesuits, on behalf of the Pope, attacked the Jansenists.  Pope Clement XI issued a "papal bull", or a formal condemnation of the Jansenists in 1713, disagreeing with and condemning 101 statements in the Jansenist writings.  Many of the statements denounced by the Bishop of Rome, or Pope, were direct quotations from Augustine against Pelagius.

The church, in times past, had been on the side of the Augustinians against the Pelagians.  So how does this drift happen?

In his history of the church that we quoted last time, Philip Schaff merely gave us a small glimpse into what had happened.  As the church moved into the Middle Ages and the Bishop of Rome became the quote, unquote "visible head of the church", or Pope, the "Pelagianizing tendencies" spoken of by Schaff had mutated, metastasized and began to spread like a cancer running through the human body.  By the time of the Reformation, the church in Rome was teaching that man saved himself by cooperating with God and His grace...basically, by allowing God to save him.  This is known as semi-Pelagianism, an in-between view that is neither Pelagian, which teaches that man is not born dead in sin, or Augustinian, which teaches that man is born dead in sin.  Semi-Pelagians teach that man is born, well, just kinda sick.

If Pelagius is correct and man is born innocent and ok, then he simply needs a guide to kinda, sorta lead him.

If man is born sick, then he merely needs the help of a doctor and the two of them, working together in cooperation, can make the sick man well.

If, as Augustine taught, man is born dead, he needs to be resurrected.  THAT is something he simply cannot do for himself.

So, the logical result of all of this is:

If you are a Pelagian, you need a teacher to teach you how to do it.  You can do it on your own with some guidance.

If you are a semi-Pelagian, all you need is a doctor with whom you can cooperate.

If you are an Augustinian, or someone who believes in the doctrines of grace and would be called a.....gasp.....Calvinist today, then you need a resurrection; a raising from the dead.  Furthermore, you realize that salvation is all of God's grace.

The semi-Pelagian view is a synergistic, as opposed to a monergistic, approach to redemption.  We will look at those two terms and give a definition in our next post in this series...if you do not already know what they mean.  Basically, in a nutshell, semi-Pelagianism teaches that man and God work together, or cooperate, to accomplish redemption.  That is not biblical.  Not in the slightest.

Back to our two verses and the idea of needing to be "born again".  And before we look at the verses in some depth, let me make an argument about birth from a completely logical, human point of view.  Then we will look at the grammar and verbiage of the original language.  

Did you choose where you were born?  Did you choose your parents?  Did you choose the timing?  Did you ask for it?  Did you plan it?  Did you have anything, at all, to do with your birth, other than the fact that it happened to you?  The answer to all of these questions is no, obviously.  I'll close this thought with words from AW Pink in his work The Sovereignty of God:

The new birth is solely the work of God the Spirit and man has no part or lot in it.  This from the very nature of the case.  Birth altogether excludes the idea of any effort or work on the part of the one who is born.  Personally we have no more to do with our spiritual birth than we had with our natural birth.  The new birth is a spiritual resurrection, a "passing from death unto life"  (John 5:24)  and, clearly, resurrection is altogether outside of man's province.  No corpse can re-animate itself.

AW Pink
The Sovereignty of God
Apple iBooks Edition
Page 168

Back to our verses.  Here is John 3:3:

Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

In this verse, the verb "is born again" translates two Greek words.  They are "gennao anothen".  Translated literally, it means "born from above".  There are two important points to make about the original language here.  In the Greek, the verb is in the passive voice and the subjunctive mood, according to blueletterbible.org.  The passive voice means that the verb is happening to the subject or, in other words, the subject is the recipient of the action.  So, in this verse, the subject, "one", is the recipient of the action of being "born again".  It happens to the one.  The one doesn't do anything to make it happen.  It just happens.  It is a moving of the Holy Spirit that you cannot coerce.  Also, the subjunctive mood means that the action is a possibility or a potentiality.  The action may or may not happen, depending on circumstances.  This is corroborated by John 3:8:

The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

In other words, quite frankly, God the Holy Spirit is in complete control of when and how He works.  Period.

Here is Ephesians 2:1-5 again:

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.  Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)

In these verses, the word dead translates the Greek word "nekros".  After having done an in depth word study, I have discovered that the word "nekros" in the Greek can be translated into English as DEAD, meaning DEAD, as in NOT ALIVE.  If something is not alive, it does not need a Pelagian teacher-guide.  It does not need a semi-Pelagian doctor assistant to help you get well.  It needs to be brought to life...a regeneration...a resurrection.  Later on, the phrase "made us alive together with" translates one Greek word, which is "syzoopoieo".  This word means "to make one alive together".  Do you see the important word here?  It is "MAKE".  You have to go back to the beginning of verse 4 to figure out who does the "making alive".  It is God:

 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)

There is not way around it.  Scripture is packed full of this teaching; that God is sovereign over salvation.  That it is Him and Him alone who does the saving of a soul.  The book of John is probably the most concentrated, densely packed place in all the Scripture to see the doctrines of grace expounded and taught.

Pelagianism is heretical and semi-Pelagianism is dangerously close to that.  Semi-Pelagianism is also known by a different name and as we continue our jet tour through church history, we will see what that name is.