Survey of the Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 3)

Survey of the Westminster Confession of Faith

Chapter 3

Of God’s Eternal Decree

(Part 6)

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 praised of His glorious justice.

The Confession has said a portion of humanity has been elected to eternal life. That means, of course, that the rest of humanity will not experience the saving mercy of God. The choice to save some, as we have seen, is grounded in God’s secret will. Likewise, the choice not to save others, that is, not to extend the grace necessary for their regeneration, is grounded in God’s “unsearchable counsel.” God is free to do as He pleases with His creatures. Out of the fallen and condemned human race, God is bringing some to everlasting life. The rest He leaves to suffer the just end of their sin.

Once again, the Confession mentions God’s glory as the ultimate goal of this matter. God is glorified in the elect; He is glorified in the non-elect. In both cases, “His sovereign power over His creatures” is manifested. It is difficult for some of us to grasp the idea that God is free to do as He pleases with us. He doesn’t “owe” His creatures anything. On the contrary, as creatures, we owe Him everything. Therefore, the salvation of some is a wonderful act of mercy and the condemnation of others is a sobering, but justified act of righteousness.

No man can object that God has dealt with him “unfairly.” This is so because all men are sinners who deserve only God’s wrath. Too often, Christians act like God owes His creatures something; they act like God is somehow unjust to uphold His own holy character and condemn one of His creatures to eternal death. They forget simple verses like: “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 6:23)

It’s only when we realize that God is, indeed, sovereign and can do as He pleases with us that we come to understand the glory of our redemption. No Christian who reads the Bible should fail to come away with a solemn image of God and His sovereignty in salvation. The more God-centered our thinking on this subject becomes, the greater will be our reverence for God; and, as a consequence, our dependence upon ourselves in all areas of life will be less pronounced. On the other hand, as is evidenced by the state of the modern church, the more man-centered our thinking is on the subject under discussion, the lower will be our reverence for God; and, as a consequence, our dependence upon ourselves in all areas of life will be more pronounced.

We are reminded, once again, that God-centered theology, which begins with the most fundamental fact of our redemption, produces a Biblical view of life and responsibility. A man-centered theology, one in which we assign more ability to ourselves than what God has revealed to us, produces a view of life and responsibility that is alien to the Scriptures.

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.

Now that the doctrine of God’s decree has been explained in detail, the writers of the Confession, recognizing the weightiness of the matter, offer a word of advice about how the teaching should be handled. They say that it should be “handled with special prudence and care.” Obviously, this doctrine requires more thought than most others; it is a defining doctrine that bears upon everything we believe about God and upon the manner in which we view ourselves in this world. The doctrine of predestination is not to be “flaunted” by those who believe it; neither is it to be ignored because of its severity.

As the Confession points out, this doctrine has one marvelous benefit: it serves to assure us of our “eternal election.” Our redemption, from beginning to end, is a matter of God’s activity, not our own. It is grounded in His sovereign choice of us and is, therefore, guaranteed by the character, power, wisdom and righteousness of God. This doctrine should be, to be sure, of great comfort to all believers. It moves us to praise God, to revere Him, to admire Him; it calls forth humility in us, it motivates spiritual diligence and provides consolation to us as we live out the lives God has given us.

Notice the connection made between this doctrine and the life of the believer: …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… The Confession doesn’t present this doctrine as though simply by believing the teaching itself one can have assurance of salvation. The idea here is that, as those who have made a profession of faith yield their lives to God, as they see the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s work in their lives, they can be assured that they belong to God.

Behind the obedience and good works, which themselves provide assurance of salvation, is the doctrine of predestination that says God has elected some unto eternal life. This doctrine is the theological basis for what the converted sinner observes in his life. When he sees spiritual fruit in his daily walk and because he knows about this doctrine of predestination, he can be certain that he is one to whom God has shown abundant mercy.

The doctrine of predestination gives the converted sinner a solid foundation for his belief that he is born again. By studying this issue, he knows God has elected some to faith; by studying his own life, he sees evidence that he is one of the elect. Therefore, he is comforted.