The following “Question” was received by Grace To You (GTY) from one of their radio listeners and “Answered” by John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Anjela Paje of Spokane, WA, from the tape, GTY86, titled “John MacArthur Takes the Hot Seat.” A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412, or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE, or by going online to www.gty.org ©2003. All Rights Reserved. The format for the question and answer is that the director of GTY, Phil Johnson, is asking John MacArthur the question, and John gives him the answer.
Phil Johnson: Well, let me ask you a couple of difficult questions about the doctrine of election. If God chooses some people and not others, then, how does that not eliminate human responsibility?
John MacArthur: Because God says it doesn’t. And, that, also, is not comprehensible to me, but that’s what it says. The Bible says that people go to hell because they refuse to believe. I believe that as strongly as I believe the doctrine of election. I believe the sinner is culpable. The sinner is guilty. I believe, the sinner is responsible to God and will be judged for his willful rejection. How God partners up His sovereign elective purpose with volition and human responsibility is maybe something God could have told me more about, but I think, in the end, that no matter how much He told me about it, I still would not comprehend it. So, it’s like everything else in my life, when it comes to God. As John Murray once wrote: “In all major doctrines there’s an apparent paradox that appears to us inscrutable.” But, that’s because we’re dealing with the infinite with finite minds. I don’t think, if I had more information on how election and human responsibility go together, it would help me to ultimately understand it. But, I think it’s wrong for people who believe strongly in human responsibility and human will and who see the call of the gospel extended universally, and the culpability of sinners clearly indicated in scripture over and over and over again to, therefore assume that the doctrine of election is in violation of that and is not true.
It’s also wrong for those who affirm the sovereignty of
God, that the Lord does reign, that He does what He will in heaven, that His
purposes are always fulfilled, that He chooses us before the foundation of the
world to therefore eliminate human responsibility. To, therefore eliminate human
culpability, to therefore eliminate the sinners’ responsibility to respond to
the gospel, and at the same time, to fail to carry the message of the gospel to
the ends of the earth and preach it to every creature. That’s why when I’m
pushed on this issue, I don’t like to say publicly, I’m a Calvinist. Because
most people have a caricature of what that is. If you say you’re a Calvinist,
that’s caricature. Just like in the book that Dave Hunt wrote. What you have in
that book, What Love Is This, I think is the title of it, is what I
believe to be a caricature of Calvinism and you raise up straw men and then
whack them down, and that’s consistent with how so many people believe Calvinism
exists. And so I don’t like to use those labels, because they feed into
caricatures. And, labels always do that. I mean, if I said to somebody, “I’m a
Baptist.” Whatever that person’s view of a Baptist is, is what I’m going to be.
If I said, “You know, we have a Presbyterian form of government.” Immediately,
somebody’s going to think we baptize babies, and have some kind of a
hierarchical structure. So, I just feel like labels oversimplify and tend to
play into people’s caricatures. So, I’d rather just simply say, “I see in the
Bible very clearly the sovereignty of God and the doctrine of election is
unmistakable. Down to the simple thing of calling a fellow believer, “the elect
lady.” It is also unmistakably clear that every sinner is called upon by God to
live up to the light that He has. Romans chapter one. But, what they do is they
reject the truth of God for a lie. And, they plunge into the situation of sin
and judgment. That’s not a problem for me to believe those. It’s not even a
problem for me not to be able to resolve them. I leave that with God, happily.
Phil: Why does God pass over some and not elect them?
John: When you ask me "why?" about God, you’ve taken me out of my zone. God does
what He does because He chooses to do it. And, He is not subject to my
evaluation.
How God does things is revealed in scripture. The means
by which a sinner can be saved is revealed in scripture. Why God chooses to do
what He does, puts me in the same category as Job was in. What happened in Job’s
life was inexplicable, because he didn’t know God and Satan had this
conversation, and, God was going to prove to Satan that you couldn’t break
saving faith. Satan was going to try to prove to God that he could break a man’s
saving faith, he could break Job’s faith. And, so God said, "Have at him." Job
didn’t have a clue what was going on. His friends didn’t have a clue, and they
kept accusing Job of being evil and having secret sin and that this was their
little paradigm. This is all going bad because you’re a bad person, and where
are you hiding it, and Job’s looking around saying look, it’s not there. My
heart is right before God and God had even said that he was the most righteous
man on the earth. But, then, finally, Job says to God, you know, what’s going
on? And, he starts to cry out to God, and God answers him like this: “Where were
you when I made the world? Where were you when I put the stars in the sky? Well,
who do you think you are? You’re asking me what I do what I do? You’re not a
part of the plan, except in the way that I make you a part of it. You’re not a
part of the discussion about what’s going to happen.” And, He never tells him
why it all happened, never. Never tells him. So, I just say, look, when you ask
me questions about why God does what He does, why does He allow evil, the
problem with theodicy, why does He choose whom He chooses, why does He pass by
whom He passes by, why does He have mercy on whom He will have mercy? "Why"
questions are all bound up in His eternal will, and I can’t answer those
questions.
Paul: I know. I knew you were going to answer that question that way, but
people ask it all the time. Why does God pass over some? Really, the question we
ought to be asking, the more difficult question, is why does God elect anyone,
right? Why does God show mercy at all?
John: And, you could also ask the question, yes, why did God bother to save any
of us? And, you can also ask the question, why should I be penalized for
something that Adam and Eve did? That might not seem to my fallen mind like, you
know, the fair thing to do, but that isn’t for me to make that judgment. I can
also ask the question, why does God hold every single sinner on the planet
responsible for what He does with divine truth? Why? If they can’t do anything
about it does He hold them responsible? Well, the simple answer is they are told
to do something about it which they don’t do. I don’t understand how that all
works. But, I don’t think God is sending people to hell after having held them
accountable for what they did with His truth, unless there’s real culpability
there, unless there is genuine gospel opportunity there. So, I can never know.
Maybe, I’ll even never know in heaven. Because my mind, even there, will still
be a glorified human mind and not an infinite mind. All of that, but at this
point, God is God. And, you could ask the same question about anything. Why did
He make the world the way He made it? Why did He make trees the way He made
trees? Why did He make water the way He made water? You know, I mean, why did He
do anything He did? It’s up to Him to determine that.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's “MacArthur's Questions and
Answers” by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 119
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
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Email: tony@biblebb.com
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