It Is Not in the Bible

One of the main objections raised against the clear biblical doctrine of predestination goes something like this, “but the Bible says that God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Before you read any farther, you should read 2Peter 3:1-10. You will not find that quotation in that passage or anywhere else in the Bible.

I. In the first place, there is nowhere in the Bible that it says that “God is not willing that any should perish.”The complete passage that this is lifted from says the exact opposite of what the anti-predestination crowd would say.

It is unnecessary perhaps to say it to Christians, but we must remember that the Bible trumps any human emotion, desire, will, or wish. We cannot presume to know more than God and elevate our internal desires or dreams to contradict the Scriptures. God is good to the unjust and to the ungodly, but this only ripens them for judgment, as Romans 2 says. The goodness of God is designed to lead men to repentance and serves to reveal the hardness of their hearts and the justness of God’s wrath against them.

“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us–ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

The “promise” is the promise of the second coming of the Lord. See 2Pet 3:1 Scoffers mock at the promise, but the Lord gives the reason why He has not come yet: “He is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

He has not come because all of us have not been saved yet. It is not because he is not willing that any whatsoever perish. If that were true He would have come hundreds of years ago, for far more have been born and died in unbelief than have turned to Christ. If Christ is unwilling that people perish, He should come immediately for thousands of unbelievers are being born every day. In fact, He would not have created the world at all, for He surely knew of the millions and millions that would descend into hell even before the Lord Jesus came.

The only thing that has delayed the coming of the Lord is that the full total of the elect of God has not yet been made up. When that happens, Christ will come as a thief in the night, and will be very willing to bring vengeance upon His enemies.

Because it is impossible to know the exact number of the elect of God, Jesus could come at any moment, when the fullness of His church is complete.

II. In the second place, This objection is foolish on the face of it, for God is certainly willing that the ungodly perish. Please note the following:

Ps 11:6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: [this shall be] the portion of their cup.

Rev. 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

2Thess 1: And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;

Re 21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

III. Third, the objection is silly on another level. If God is unwilling that any sinners perish, then why do they perish? Who has Him in a hammerlock that compels Him, against His will, to bring the awful wrath that the Bible described upon the ungodly.

This objection reveals a faint-heartedness and timid state of mind. I suspect that there are those who are afraid people will not believe if they are told the truth about God, that He will in flaming fire take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. To convince people to believe [under the illusion that they can do such a thing by human manipulation. We are proclaimers not manipulators] they present a false view of God, ashamed of the God they claim to serve, and so become false prophets. Instead of proclaimers of the word they become little more than salesmen, minimizing the defects of their product in order to make the sale, hoping that the customer will not catch on that they misrepresented their product.

Grace Doesn't Do Moral Darkness, You Know.

God cannot be the source of disobedience, for that would be to deny Himself. "God is light, and Him is no darkness at all, " is the way James puts it.

Paul puts it this way, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world...." [Titus 2:11,12]

How can you say that you can live in an ungodly way because you believe in grace? Grace teaches something else. In the school of grace you learn to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. In that school you learn to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world.

So, why would those who talk of grace lie to one another? Why would they lie about their ministers and elders? Why would they thumb their noses at the judicatories of the church? Why would they say, "Lord, Lord," and do not the things that Jesus said?

Must the minister apologize to his congregation for teaching them what the Scriptures say about esteeming highly those who are over them; a text that specifically applies to the officers of the church who are to admonish the unruly? [1Thess. 5:12-14] "Are over" means to have rule, to preside, to administer. The Lord Jesus has prescribed a government and order to His church. Must he be sorry that is written in the Scripture and apologize for it? Must parents apologize to their children because the Scripture says, "Honor your Father and your Mother?" Does the Scripture and grace teach us to hate our parents and spurn them even unto their deaths? To defy and slander those who try to obey this order? Even worse, are we to be abettors of those who live unruly lives?

Of course the rebels always have a ready response. They like the idea that there is truth on both sides of everything and are ready, "You must be Roman Catholic and deny the priesthood of the believer and the freedom of the Christian." Neat, self comforting, and wrong.

This perversion and corruption of grace does not come from heaven, but from somewhere else. It is a wisdom that does not descend from above but arises from somewhere else.

"For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." James 3:16, 17

A good minister will refuse profane old wives fables, but will be nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine and will exercise himself unto godliness. [see 1Tim. 4:6] Godliness means obeying God and not the tizzy fits that silly women have. ["silly women" is to be considered as a single idea, denoting only one class of women. The Bible also speaks of wise, sober, and godly women who do not run from house to house stirring up strife in the church.]

Not only is sin contrary to grace, but the counsel that aids and abets the behavior is also not of grace. That which is contrary to godliness cannot be of grace. Every work of darkness is contrary to grace and is to be reproved, rebuked, and corrected, or what is the ministry for? Jesus was no enabler and comfort for those who rebelled against the truth. Neither must we be.

"They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you." --Jer. 23:17

Grace and Peace to the Faithful Saints

Paul's greetings to the church at Ephesus is typical: "to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ."

The first two words describe the people of God: saints and faithful. They are saints because they are sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all and have received the gift of the Holy Ghost which is given to them who belong to Christ. They are believers because the Holy Spirit works faith in them and hope which is the adjunct of faith. By hope they trust in the promises of God, which they esteem more precious than any thing in the world.

The last two words describe the most precious gifts that God gives to his faithful saints: grace and peace. Grace means that they live in a state of blessedness by the free gift of God; their sins are forgiven them, they are adopted children of God and inherit freely all the gifts of the Holy Spirit which are showered upon them, described in Galatians 5.

By peace is meant the assurance of all the blessings of God by the free gift of God through Jesus Christ, so that the soul rests, ceasing from its agitation about the favor of God, for this is assured to Him by grace. "Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." God would have his people live with a settled peace in their souls. The peace of God is to keep our hearts and minds.

So peace also means confidence that God will supply all our needs, so that we need not be agitated over what we shall eat, what we shall drink, or wherewithal we shall be clothed, as Jesus said. Our heavenly father knows what we need before we ask and will supply all our needs, according to our riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Peace means that we are not so attached to the things of the world that our souls become disquieted because of them; we learn in what ever state we are to be content.

Because the soul is at peace with God and because it does not fret over earthly things, the faithful saint is able to live at peace in the church with the people of God. He trusts in His father and does not fear what men can do to him nor does he presume to control the behavior of others, the two major causes of strife in the world. He faithfully does the work that God has given him to do and does not meddle in the affairs of others. Pr 20:3 "It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling." The fool meddles because wisdom is not in his heart and mind.

Grace and peace go together, just as holiness and faith go together. Holiness and faith are characteristics of the likeness of Christ, and grace and peace are the precious gifts of God.