Christians have often been confused over the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility in the matters of salvation and sanctification. Some have emphasized God’s sovereignty in salvation to the exclusion of human responsibility. For example, when William Carey planned to go to India as a missionary, he was told by one minister, “Young man, sit down. When God pleases to convert the heathen, He will do it without your aid or mine.” Others have stressed human responsibility to the exclusion of divine sovereignty. These folks lay a guilt trip on you by saying, “If you don’t witness to your neighbor, his blood will cry out to God against you on judgment day!” They put all the emphasis for salvation on us.
On the matter of sanctification, or growth in salvation, some teach that we are to be passive: “Let go and let God.” If you struggle or strive against sin, they say you’re operating in the flesh, because the Christian life is an effortless experience of “not I, but Christ.” Others stress obedience and effort to the exclusion of God’s power, so that people end up trying to live the Christian life in their own strength.
Where’s the biblical balance? I contend that the Bible teaches both/and, not either/or. God is absolutely sovereign and yet we are responsible, both in salvation and in sanctification. If the scale is tilted, it is in the direction of God’s sovereignty, since He initiates, sustains, and brings the whole plan to completion. But, even so, we have a responsibility in the process.
Source:bible.org
No comments:
Post a Comment