The Means of Salvation (WCF 3.6)

Teaching Note

Just as God has specifically chosen His elect, so He has ordered the specific historical means He will use to accomplish that salvation. Christ did not die in order to make salvation possible, but in order to actually save specific men and women. What God has willed, He brings about.

Scripture Verse

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:14-17

WCF Text

1. As God hath appointed the elect unto glory, so hath he, by the eternal and most free purpose of his will, fore-ordained 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.

Teaching Content

• God Uses Means: It belongs to the character of God to use means. He doesn’t just make nuts, He makes the tree, the squirrels, and the forest for the nuts to exist logically and naturally within. He is a master craftsman who desires things to be in context so that they can be sustained and beautiful. As a result what He has willed from eternity past He has ordained all of the means for that to actually come to fruition in the course of history. It was always His plan that He should bring about our salvation through Jesus Christ. He knew we would be weak and wanting, so He sent His Spirit to work in us and preserve us. God brings about our redemption, justification, adoption, sanctification, and preservation because all of us NEED all of those divine blessings for salvation. (Acts 27:22–31, Genesis 50:20, Acts 2:23, Philippians 2:12–13, Genesis 1:11–12)
• No Mistakes: The God who has the hairs on our heads numbered doesn’t miss anything. Anyone He has ordained from eternity will be saved in the course of history through ordinary means and anyone who is not elect will not receive that blessing. No matter how many times you go to church, sit under the Word, partake of the sacraments, salvation belongs to the Lord and He alone works the things necessary in the heart to save men from their sins. Remember, Christ did not die in order to make salvation possible, but in order to actually save His elect. Without that work there is no salvation and so exposure to the same means does not guarantee salvation. Yet, we should still expect God to meet us through the ordinary means as they are His specific channels to bless us and effect His desired end. (Matthew 10:29–31, John 6:37–39, 2 Corinthians 2:15–16, Matt 7:21-23)

Discussion Questions

Passed By Unto Death (WCF 3.7)

Teaching Note

God doesn’t have to show mercy to anyone, but when He does it is His own free, unmerited, and gracious decision not based on anything in the creature. God’s choice to save is sovereign, unearned favor and mercy; His choice to not save is righteous justice and judicial wrath. He does not treat the non-elect with malice, but with exact and fair holiness in view of their guilt. But both choices are fundamentally good because God is Good. This means that for those ordained to Hell he first passes them over and chooses not to extend His grace and then in the course of time men and women are not condemned generally as sinners but specifically for their exact sins, both inherited and actual.

Scripture Verse

For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory… Romans 9:15–23

WCF Text

1. The rest of mankind God was pleased, according to the unsearchable counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy as he pleaseth, 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.

Teaching Content

God is Sovereign: Reprobation, or God passing by, means that God has willed not to extend mercy and grace to those whom He passed by. Fundamental to understanding this is remembering that God is absolutely sovereign and bound by nothing external to Himself. He does not pass by some because He saw that they would be particularly wicked, or that they would refuse His grace, or for any other reason except that He chose to pass them by. His choice is rooted in His own sovereign character.(Proverbs 16:4, Romans 9:15-22, 1 Peter 2:8)

Passing By: For God to pass by a creature means that He is willing, from eternity past, not to extend the mercy of Christ’s death to them. This does not mean they will never hear the gospel, but that the Holy Spirit will never give them the ears to hear it, the heart to believe it, and the lips to confess it. The gospel will remain a dead and lifeless thing for them because God has refused to give to them grace to understand. This does not mean the gospel is a dead and lifeless thing, but they themselves are unable to heart it rightly. For this to make sense you have to remember that none of us deserve mercy. We all deserve death, but God showing mercy to some does not oblige Him to show mercy to all. Grace is gracious not universal. (Matthew 11:25-26, Matthew 13:11-15, Romans 11:7-8)

Actively Condemning: God sovereignly ordains the judgment and justice of Hell. No one is in Hell without God willing it, but because of the way God created and sustained the world, there is no one in Hell who doesn’t deserve to be there. We are free, rational creatures and those whom God chooses to pass by do, in the course of the history, actually choose sin. So to say that God ordains them to judgment does not mean that God is morally culpable in damning them, because God is not the author of their sins. God does not force anyone to sin against their will, but rather ordains that man will freely choose to sin based on their internal character and logic. This also means that there is a great and beautiful justice in that men and women are not condemned generally as sinners but specifically for their exact sins, both inherited and actual. Without a savior they were born dead in sin, but throughout the course of their life they actively chose to commit more sins. It is on the basis of that sin that they are condemned. (Romans 2:5-8, Romans 9:22-24, James 1:13-14, Jude 1:4)

Discussion Questions

Predestination - A Balm, not a Cudgel (WCF 3.8)

Teaching Note

The Westminster Standards are pastoral. They were written by pastors and theologians that cared deeply about the truth and about their flocks and so 3.8 is more of a statement about how a doctrine ought to be handled rather than about the doctrine itself. Predestination is difficult and complicated, and so we need to handle it with special care. It is true and biblical, so we can’t abandon it, and moreover, when predestination is handled rightly, it brings about assurance and praise to God.

Scripture Verse

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. Deuteronomy 29:29

WCF Text

Westminster Confession of Faith 3.8 8. 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.

Teaching Content

High Mystery: People have a problem with the doctrine of predestination, because they think it gets rid of their free will and makes them pawns being moved around the board unjustly. It strikes directly at the pride of man. Even those saved by Christ struggle with understanding it because it is a high mystery, directly relating to the heart and mind and plan of God, who is beyond our comprehension. So while it is an essential article of our faith and can be taught profitably to children, it is also a matter that requires maturity and wisdom in teaching and preaching it. (Rom 11:33, Isaiah 55:8-9)

Assurance of Salvation: One of the great blessings of the doctrine of predestination is our ability to have assurance of salvation. When Christ works in our hearts, when we are bearing fruit in keeping with repentance, growing in grace, and living out our faith. Predestination reminds us plainly that it is NOT our own doing. We are saved by grace, through faith, in Christ not on the basis of any works done by us, but by His sovereign election from eternity past. When we stumble and fall, the same is true, our salvation rests entirely and completely on God’s sovereign mercy and election from eternity past. The blood of Christ is sufficient because the Lord will sustain the elect in it! (2 Peter 1:10, Romans 8:29-33, Philippians 1:6)

Praise to God: When handled and understood rightly, predestination directly assaults human pride and directs all glory to God alone. It reminds us of how small we are and how worthy of praise God is. (Eph 1:5-6, 2 Thessalonians 2:13).

Discussion Questions