Article 2: The Manifestation of God’s Love
“Translation © 2011, Faith Alive Christian Resources, Christian Reformed Church in North America.”
But this is how God showed his love: he sent his only begotten Son into the world, so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (1 John 4:9; John 3:16).
If the first article on divine election and predestination in the Canons focuses on the fallenness of mankind, our guilt and sinfulness, and the fact that God is under no obligation to save His creation, then the second article focuses on God’s big but.
(nope, you read that right. It’s but, with one t.) 😋
So often in scripture the description of grace, the gospel story and the message of salvation is preceded with the words “but God.” Find 20 such verses in a list here: “But God”
"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us." ~ Romans 5: 6-8 NRSV
"All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," ~ Ephesians 2: 3-6 NRSV
~ Emphasis added
Having focused on the lostness of mankind the Canons move to the love of God, the gift of the Son and that everyone who believes in the promise of Jesus will have eternal life. The second article works in both 1 John 4:9 and John 3:16, with it’s own “But God” statement.
That small word “But” is so very important in how it presents this declaration of divine grace and salvation, because it draws us back to the first point.
Separate from the truth about the just condemnation of sinners from before, the declaration of God’s love from John 3:16 often gets taken out of context. The popular culture form of Christianity sees this as a declaration that God’s love is manifest because He sees something good or desirable in sinful men and woman. The “But” shows us that there must be something else going on here.
Dr. Kim Riddlebarger says:
But what is there in us that is good? The Scripture says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). We do not seek God, we do not understand the things of God and every inch of us is tainted, stained, and ruined by sin (Romans 3:9-20). Indeed, the prophet Habakkuk declares about God, “You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong” (Habakkuk 1:13).
This is why we must be careful to realize that the very essence of grace is that it is purely gracious. As one Puritan divine puts it, “there is no reason to be given for grace but grace.” The only place to look for an answer to the questions about sin and grace then is in the justice, the love and the mercy of God, not in the supposed “goodness” of sinful men and women.
Dr. Kim Riddlebarger
God didn’t choose to save any person from their sins dependent on any goodness or merit in of themselves, but instead salvation and grace arise from something inherently good within Himself. The five points of Calvinism call this “Unconditional Election”, R.C. Sproul likes to refer to it as “Sovereign Election”, and W. Robert Godfrey likes to call it “Redemption planned”. What all of these mean is,
“That it is God’s divine right to execute clemency when and where He desires. He says from the beginning, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.” It is not on those who meet some conditions, but on those whom He is pleased to bestow the benefit.”
R. C. Sproul
Scripture tells us that this goodness of God that causes Him to save sinners is based on His love.
On one side, people misunderstand this idea that God is love, because we often interpret love to mean our understanding of love. So we often make arguments such as, “A loving God wouldn’t ______” (Feel free to fill in the blank.) When we do this, we are taking our idea of love and applying it to God. Not only does this create horrible theology, but it also leads to us creating an idol that we put in to place of the God of scripture.
Many outside of Christianity or outside of the Reformed tradition find this concept of election to be cruel. “A loving God wouldn’t choose some and not others” And so this idea of love leads to a belief that we must be responsible for our own winning and losing of salvation, or that we can lose our salvation once attained, or that we can have no assurance of salvation because we do not know if we are one of the elect or not.
These first two articles put aside all of those arguments, and instead bring an amazing assurance of salvation for those who believe.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." ~ John 3:16
Godfrey says,
“One of the misrepresentations of predestination is that many people want to believe, or even actually do believe, but they cannot be saved because they are not elect. Such a misrepresentation is utterly rejected. Before the meaning of predestination is examined, the canons declare unequivocally that every person who believes in Jesus will be saved.”
Saving the Reformation: The Pastoral Theology of the Canons of Dort
by W. Robert Godfrey
Several years before I was married, two young Mormon men came to my door. I invited them in, and we talked about our faiths. The men, (they call themselves elders) asked me how I would feel if I knew that living apostles among us today could help me be assured of salvation. (Their doctrine of election does not mention faith in Christ, but instead about living an obedient life. Only then will they one day be elected by God.)
I responded that I knew from scripture that I had assurance of salvation, because I believed in Jesus Christ.
They told me I might believe in Jesus, but how could I know I was one of the elect?
I quoted John 3:16 and then walked them through some more of John and 1 John. (Afterwards I prayed with them that they would come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ…The Mormons never came to my home again after that).
"Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life." ~ 1 John 5:13 NRSV
"But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12 NRSV
"Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life." ~ John 5:24 NRSV
"But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name." ~ John 20:31 NRSV
"Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he has promised us, eternal life." ~ 1 John 2:24-25 NRSV
"Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins." ~ 1 John 4:7-10 NRSV
"And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." ~ 1 John 5:11 NRSV
"And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life." 1 John 5:20 NRSV
The Cannons of Dort make it clear from the get go, you can be assured of salvation. You are one of the elect if you believe in the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is with joy we can say with Paul:
"The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost." ~ 1 Timothy 1:15 NRSV
God showed us His love, by sending His son to save sinners. What greater love is there than this?
In Christ,
Jory
Reformed in Tualatin 