Walking Through Westminster, WCF 3.6-8

Friends,

First of all, I apologize for the lack of consistency lately. The move into our new apartment has been busy, stressful, and has left little time for writing. Secondly, it has occurred to me that going through the confession one point at a time is a slow process. While fine for personal progress, it makes for a very sluggish blog series. Considering that, my aim for the future of this series will be to take larger chunks of the confession together, perhaps several sections or even whole chapters at a time. The goal will be to make it through the whole confession by the end of summer 2017, still taking a reasonable amount of time to process and understand. Hopefully, this will also make for easier and more enjoyable reading. Thanks for Walking Through Westminster with me!

Westminster Confession of Faith 3.6-8

"VI. As God has appointed the elect unto glory, so has He, by the eternal and most free purpose of His will, foreordained all the means thereunto. Wherefore, they who are elected, being fallen in Adam, are redeemed by Christ, are effectually called unto faith in Christ by His Spirit working in due season, are justified, adopted, sanctified, and kept by His power, through faith, unto salvation. Neither are any other redeemed by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, but the elect only.

VII. The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of His own will, whereby He extends or withholds mercy, as He pleases, for the glory of His sovereign power over His creatures, to pass by; and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of His glorious justice.

VIII. The doctrine of this high mystery of predestination is to be handled with special prudence and care, that men, attending the will of God revealed in His Word, and yielding obedience thereunto, may, from the certainty of their effectual vocation, be assured of their eternal election. So shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God; and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the Gospel."

Summary

In foreordaining the salvation of His chosen people, God not only appointed their end, but the ways in which they would reach that end. This logically follows from what has already been established in chapter 3, namely, that God has foreordained all things; from the birth and death of galaxies, to the growth of every leaf on a tree. However, this section specifies this truth with regard to salvation. God has not only ordained the "what" (i.e. that the elect shall be saved), but He has also ordained how, when, where, and why the elect shall be saved. The progression of salvation is laid out as such: fallen state > redemption by Christ > effectual calling by the Spirit > justification > adoption > sanctification > glorification in eternity. Because God is the one doing this work in the believer, the confession specifies that no one but the elect only receive any part of this saving work. Therefore, it is never the case that a reprobate person could participate in any of this progression. 

Rather, the reprobate person is given over by God to dishonor and wrath for their sin. As has already been said, God does not force them to sin and then punish them for it; instead, God merely allows them to do what they desire to do in their sinful nature. God never violates the will of His creatures, whether toward salvation or reprobation. Because of our limited capacity to understand God and His will, which the confession calls "unsearchable", we must handle the doctrine of predestination with great care. Too many Christians run rough shod with this doctrine and do great harm to themselves and/or others. We must remember our finite ability to understand all things, and instead accept that God's ways are always best, because He does all things well. The doctrine of predestination ought to lead the soul to heartfelt obedience, assurance of salvation, and to cause the believer to grow in love for God and love for others.

+ Blessings in Christ +

 

Walking Through Westminster, WCF 3.5

Westminster Confession of Faith 3.5

"Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God, before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His eternal and immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasure of His will, has chosen, in Christ, unto everlasting glory, out of His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith, or good works, or perseverance in either of them, or any other thing in the creature, as conditions, or causes moving Him thereunto; and all to the praise of His glorious grace."

Summary

      God’s election of His people in Christ is completely gracious. It is in no way merited or deserved. God chose His people without any forethought of their faith, good works, perseverance, or any other thing. There are no conditions on His election, which is where we get the U in the helpful acronym TULIP, standing for “unconditional election”. God’s love is freely bestowed on all who believe, and it bestowed upon them because of grace, not because they believed. God’s election and predestination of His people is done entirely to the praise of His glorious grace; that all heaven and earth might at the Last Day look upon the redeemed people of God and give all glory and praise to God, He alone receiving the glory.

+ Blessings in Christ +

Walking Through Westminster, WCF 3.4

Westminster Confession of Faith 3.4

"These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished."

Summary

Because God’s foreordination must be sure and certain, there must be a definite number of men and angels elected to eternal life, as well as eternal punishment. The words of Christ must be true, “Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition”. (John 17:12b) The number of men and angels elected to eternal life can never be changed, whether increased or decreased. This doesn’t mean that the numbers cannot appear to fluctuate. When the gentiles heard the preaching of Paul in Antioch, they were converted to the Lord and born again. But we see that this isn’t a matter of people who were formerly not-elect suddenly becoming elect through grace, but rather “as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.” (Acts 13:48) And, on the flip side, any who for a time appear to be regenerated, but are lost in the end, were never truly born again, as the apostle John says, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us." (1 John 2:19)  In spite of appearances, God has so foreordained all things that none of the elect can ever be lost, nor can any of the reprobate ever be saved. Their numbers are fixed by the predetermination of God.

+ Blessings in Christ +

Walking Through Westminster, WCF 3.3

         Westminster Confession of Faith 3.3

     "By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death."

 Summary

 

      If God has foreordained whatsoever comes to pass, then by necessity He has to have foreordained the eternal destiny of all things, including men and angels. All men and angels are either foreordained by God to everlasting life or everlasting death. He executes this foreordination by decree. God decrees it to be so, and it must therefore be so. He does not do this arbitrarily, but for the manifestation of His own glory, which is the express purpose for which all things were created in the first place. Romans 9, along with other scriptures, deals with this issue thoroughly: “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” God will be glorified in and by both the just punishment of sinners outside of Christ and by the merciful forgiveness of sinners in Christ. God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ez 18:32). He is not vindictive in His foreordination, nor does He do it sinfully. As stated in WCF 3.1, God does not violate the will of wicked men, even in His foreordination to eternal punishment. God foreordains the elect to eternal life and the reprobate to eternal destruction, and He does so in such a way that their will is in no way violated or forced.

+ Blessings in Christ +