Spurgeon on Free Will and Determinism

That God predestines, and that man is responsible, are two things that few can see.  They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory; but they are not.  It is just the fault of our weak judgment.  Two truths cannot be contradictory to each other.  If then, I find taught in one place that everything is fore-ordained, that is true; and if I find in another place that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is my folly that leads me to imagine that two truths can ever contradict each other.  These two truths, I do not believe, can ever be welded into one upon any human anvil, but one they shall be in eternity: they are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the mind shall pursue them farthest, will never discover that they converge; but they do converge, and will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring.  -Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Why do we pray?

Prayer is to the Christian what breath is to life.-RC Sproul

I received this question from a friend of mine a few days ago and, with his permission, I am answering it here:

I'm really digging into prayer for the salvation of others, and am interested in any insight you may have. I realize this is a big question for a little Facebook message though...


Really I'm wondering God's role, perhaps in prayer in general. Like...it appears as though, for whatever reason, he has limited some of what he does on earth and will respond only when we come to Him in prayer. Kind of a "receive not because you ask not" thing. I get especially confused when trying to pray for the specific lost people in my life because I haven't really untangled the Calvinist/Arminian thing and I feel like that affects what I would pray.


"God I pray that you would elect this person. That you would choose that person. God I know that it is only by grace that people believe, so please give that grace to this person. Give faith to that person". I don't even know, Jason. I'm a little befuddled.


We know that it's God's will that none should perish...he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked...he wishes for all to come to repentance. So why do some people not believe. Has he chosen to not give then the grace and faith. Has he chosen to not open their hearts like he did to Lydia in acts. Is he just waiting for a praying people to ask him!? to stand in the gap? to intercede? Or is there an aspect of free will that I'm not grasping?-Jerry


These are great questions; some of the same ones I struggle with.

First, I do not believe that God chooses to limit himself or his knowledge in any way. Open theism, a theory popularized by men like Clark Pinnock and Greg Boyd, supports the notion that God chooses to limit His own power, thus making the future unknowable. I don't believe that is at all true. Orthodox, or classical, Christianity has rejected open theism outright.

So, if we assume God does not limit himself, where does that leave us? Let us start with the notion of God's foreknowledge. In Ephesians 1:4-5, Paul writes "he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will." As I read this, I am pretty well convinced that God chose, or predestined, us (Christians) long before we ever even existed according to his own will--not because of our own good works or righteousness (Eph 2:8; see also John 15:16). This gift is not because we worked harder or did anything--it is because of his "glorious grace which he lavished upon us" (Ephesians 1:7-8).

Parenthetically, many people struggle with this notion of predestination; however, I do not think we should be surprised by it. There is ample evidence in the New Testament that we are predestined by God, not only in Ephesians, but certainly in Romans (particularly chapter 9 and even more specifically verse 11). I am frequently struck that people who really struggle with predestination never seem to have a problem with the fact that God had a "chosen" people.

So, if God chose us before the foundation of the world, why then do we pray? I heard John Piper once say, "we pray because God tells us to" (I Timothy 2) or something along those lines and for me, it is really that simple. Christ frequently went away to pray and he taught his disciples to pray. Prayer is communication with the father. Prayer is an essential part of the believer's life.

In God's sovereignty, it may be that he is allowing our prayers, evangelism, preaching, and so forth to be the conduit he is using to bring others to salvation. But, I think a simpler answer is, if we are to follow the full counsel of scripture, we pray for the lost, trusting that God is working all things out according to the purpose of his will (Ephesians 1:5). For me, this more reformed view of God's electing love also removes some anxiety because I cannot thwart his will (Job 42:2) if I "mess up" in evangelism or prayer. I pray because God tells me to, but he works it out for his glory.

The next question you asked was about 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." The "you" in this verse refers to the elect--not all people (see I Peter 1:1). Basically, the Lord is patient toward the elect, not wishing that they should perish but rather, reach repentance.

Ezekiel 33:11 reads, "As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways." I believe that God's having "no pleasure in the death of the wicked" is not contradictory to God's election of believers. For example, I take no pleasure in punishing my children, but I do. Judges who enforce the death penalty (typically) take no pleasure in meting out justice to deserving offenders, but they do. All humans deserve God's justice; it is because of his mercy that He elects to open the eyes of some, but he does not open the eyes or hearts of all--like Lydia.

So, briefly, I believe God chose us before the foundation of the world (predestination), that he opens the eyes of some (election), and that we are called to pray and evangelize in working out his sovereign plan. And, as I said earlier, I think the brief prayer you wrote in the middle of an email is an excellent one!

See this post as well for more information.

II Thessalonians 2:11-12: Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Tonight, a friend asked me to read these verses and give my impression. This is a hard passage. I don't claim to have the right take on this, but what I have arrived at came from pondering the passage, but also reviewing a few commentaries (particularly John Calvin's) on the subject.

I think it is first important to say that we need to be careful not to analyze the verse by itself, which should be true of all of our Biblical study. We need to consider the context.

1. In the preceding verses of 2 Thessalonians 2, we read about the coming of the man of lawlessness (i.e., the antichrist), who figures importantly here.
2. With the antichrist as the backdrop, in verse 3 we read of people who "let themselves be deceived." An even stronger statement appears in verse 10 where it says "because they refused to love the truth and so be saved." In other words, it suggests that these people possess a knowledge of the truth, yet are engaging in willful, volitional rejection of God.

Now, consider verse 11 carefully. It begins with "therefore." In other words, because of or as a consequence of their refusal to love the truth, God deluded them. God takes an active role in responding to their rejection of Him.

This line of thinking intrigues Calvinists and makes Arminians squirm. It provides a key to the doctrine of reprobation, which is an extension of predestination (see Romans 8:29 among others). If God elects some to His kingdom, there are also then non-Elect, or the reprobate (Romans 1:28). An amazing thing about this verse to me is that it allows for both free will and predestination.

So bottom line, God rejects (in fact deludes) those who reject Him.

What do other people think?

Adopted for Life-chapter 5 (redux)

I love when reading of God's word intersects with what is going on elsewhere in life. I know that God speaks to us through His word, but sometimes, it is evident that His word is timely and specific.

Throughout chapter 5 of Adopted for Life , Moore touches on the many decisions that we encounter in the adoption journey. I was struck by his chapter conclusion, "One's life story is typically made up of little decisions...The most important thing for you to know about these decisions is that whatever you decide, you're not going to wreck God's plan for your life. Whatever your views about how God's kingship fits with human freedom, you know as a Christian that God is at work in bringing about his good purposes for you. Your decisions fit, mysteriously, into that overall plan." (p 144).

At the same time as I was contemplating this life of decisions, I began studying Ephesians again. In the first chapter, Paul wrote about predestination. Actually, the power of the first chapter slipped by me the first time, but when I went back and looked again, I was blown away. Beginning in verse 4, it reads, "In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will." Through the metaphor of adoption, we learn that God chose us for His family according to His purposes, but I wondered, what does this passage say about our decision to adopt?

Here is what I came away with:

It is easy to get overwhelmed by all of the decisions we face. Sometimes they are little ones, like "chocolate or vanilla?" and sometimes they are big, scary, life altering decisions like "should we adopt?" The implication of those decisions become so much easier to deal with when we recognize that our sovereign Lord has a grand plan. As Christians, we were lovingly adopted into God's family, through Christ's death and resurrection, according to the purpose of His will "before the foundation of the world" (verse 4). So, too, the decisions we make every day are a part of God's plan and, as Moore points out, we're not going to "wreck" it. We should take comfort in our own powerlessness knowing that we have a God whose good and perfect will far exceeds our own fallibility.