TWO WILLS OF THE FATHER

“This is the will of My Father who sent me, that of all He has given Me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” John 6:39

“And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him has everlasting life and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:40

Two “wills” of God and two truths that are eternally true. As first glance they may seem to contradict each other. Because of this, the tendency of many is to emphasize one truth at the expense of the other. The fact that two divine truths are hard for our feeble minds to reconcile is nothing new. Christians must get used to this constant tension. It begins right early as we grope to understand the nature of God who is One yet subsists in three Persons. Then we have Christ who is One person yet possesses a dual nature, human and divine. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD wrangled over this mystery for weeks in the face of many errors that misrepresented the true nature of Jesus Christ. Then there is the mystery of the believer himself, who is wholly human yet is has a new nature that is energized by the indwelling of the Godhead in the Person of the Holy Spirit. This divided nature of the believer is acknowledged by Paul when he says, “But now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me” (Romans 7:17). These mysteries and others can befuddle the Christian who tries to understand his faith from a purely rationalistic approach. In a previous post we highlighted another theological paradox, that of God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. How can man freely choose while God governs all events large and small? In this post we shall look at the paradox of man’s salvation. If we read the above two verses together we might come to the conclusion that God ordains who will be saved while man chooses who will be saved. Well, which is it, Jesus? And of course His answer is ‘both.’ In fact, only two verses earlier, Jesus put both truths together side by side without batting an eye.

“All that the Father gives me shall come to me and he who comes to me I will in no wise cast out” (John 6:37).

The number of those who will be saved is a set number given to the Son while on the other hand the offer to be saved is valid for all men who need merely receive the proffered gift.

As we leaf through the Sacred Writ we will see that both truths are clearly and widely taught. God chooses those to be saved and man chooses Christ to be saved. Let us look first at the truth that God chooses those who will be saved. The book of Ephesians begins with “blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world’”(Ephesians 1:3-4). That God chooses those to be saved is a doctrine to be understood right early. To the infant church at Thessalonica Paul writes, “But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth’ (2 Thess 2:13). As Paul is preaching in Pisidian Antioch, Luke makes a startling comment about those who believed the message. “Now when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many has had been appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48). As we have seen in the header verses, John expresses this truth by affirming that the Father gave a specific people to the Son that He might save them. Jesus states this truth times over in John chapter 17 as He prays His high priestly prayer. “You (the Father) have given Him (the Son) authority over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him” (John 17:2; see also verses 6, 9, 11, 12, 24). When Joseph asks about what he should name his Son, the angel replies, ‘‘You shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). Verses that state God has saved a specific people are scattered throughout the Biblical story. The idea of election is also dense in the Old Testament. God elects for Himself Abraham, Noah, Aaron and David over other men. He chooses the entire nation of Israel over all the other nations in the world (Deut 7:7-8; Amos 3:2). He chooses Jerusalem to be the place where His name dwells (2 Chronicles 6:6). God has even chosen to write an entire chapter to prove that God chooses His people by name. The whole of Romans 9 is written to demonstrate that God chose Jacob to carry forth the covenant line and not his twin brother, Esau. These choices are gracious (without reference to the object) but not capricious (random). Rather they are rooted in a covenant we call the covenant of redemption. This is a trinitarian covenant whereby in eternity past the Father gave to His Son a people to call His own and the Son accepted that commission from the Father and came to earth to ransom those very people. This story is the crux of our New Testament. Though there can be many applications of this truth of election, there is one important application that is especially suited to believers. Jesus came to die for His people and He did not fail in His mission. Every name given to the Son by the Father will be saved. No exceptions. Though this truth can make many Christians uneasy, it is the very grounds for the believer’s assurance of faith. If God has elected a specific people then all those who are Christians can never be rejected by God because their spiritual safety lies not in their choice but in the unchangeable covenant made by God. Let us not forget that God is immutable and if God chooses to save a person then nothing in heaven or hell, no, not even one’s own will, can separate that person from the love of God. Thus John 6:39 is a great comfort to believers of all ages.

Now, to those who don’t believe in Jesus this truth will be highly offensive. We see this clearly in John 6. The Jews in John 6 had no intention of believing in Jesus as the Messiah. They did everything they could to discredit Him and His miracles. They asserted that Moses was believable because he had great signs, purposely missing the fact that Jesus had just fed five thousand people with a few scraps of food. Furthermore they mocked His claim that He came from heaven by sarcastically noting His connection to common earthly family. This all proved that they were blind, which is exactly the point Jesus was making. Those who don’t believe (vs 64) have no spiritual discernment and will always reject the message of faith. Election is offensive to all who will not believe.

In verse 40 Jesus states the companion truth. He does this to reach out to unbelievers so they won’t despair. This second will of God is that He will save all those who come to the Son. God does choose, but God also offers salvation to all men indiscriminately. Anyone who comes to the Savior will be saved, pure and simple, no questions asked. We call this the free offer of the gospel. And it is as much the will of the God as the truth that God has chosen some to salvation. This doctrine chases sinners from wondering about their election and puts salvation in the hand of faith. If they believe they will be saved and they will in no wise be cast out. This doctrine is a great universal call to all men, especially unbelievers. This will of God invites sinners to come rather than pushing them away. Men should never forget this most wondrous truth. Jesus ever pleads with men to come to Him and lays no roadblock in between.

How we totally reconcile John 6:39 and 40 is ultimately a matter of faith. God chooses and man chooses. However one distinction is helpful. These truths highlight the fact that God has both a secret will and a revealed will. His secret will is that He ‘knows those who are His’ (2 Tim 2:19). No one knows the identify of these people except God alone. We find this truth in verse 39. God’s revealed will is found in verse 40 and teaches us that any sinner who comes to Christ will be saved. This is a truth that man can know and observe. Man cannot know the hidden will of God and therefore should stop trying to discern it. But man can know the revealed will of God and must live into it.

What does this mean for us? For starters, we must be fully convinced that God is in control of all things, yes even in salvation. This truth ought to remove from man any angst as it takes the weight of salvation off our shoulders and puts it on God. The parallel truth teaches man that there is work to be done, for in order that men come to Christ they must hear the gospel. This gives the church its marching orders as it goes to the world with the message of ‘believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.’

The paradox here is real. But the composite picture is lovely. God has a people that He most certainly will save by covenant decree. God also has a beautiful gospel message that earnestly entreats all men to come to the Savior. And when history is wrapped up both truths will come together in perfect harmony. All who were elect came to Christ and all who came to Christ were elect. But before we can see this glorious harmonization we are left on this earth seeing through a glass darkly. So let us forget about reconciling deep truths and let us be about our Father’s business and preach the gospel to every creature. The paradox has now become amazingly simple.