Covenant Hearts’ Blog

John 17:6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 “Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. 9 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.

20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.

Did Jesus Christ give His life a sacrifice for all men’s sins or the sins of those God gave Him? And not only the elect that were there with Him, but all of the elect in Jesus’ “past,” present and “future”…

2 Chronicles 25:4 However, he did not put their children to death, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, which the LORD commanded, saying, “Fathers shall not be put to death for sons, nor sons be put to death for fathers, but each shall be put to death for his own sin.”

Yet God will “[visit] the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation (Deuteronomy 5:9).” Although God does this He does not allow us to judge others in this manner. We are not God. We must judge based solely on the actions of the individual…Similarly Jesus Christ “of thine own mouth will I judge thee (Luke 19:22)”…Remember sin is ethical, not metaphysical.

Note: God imputes sin but I’m not sure if He condemns solely based on imputation alone. That is a tough issue to answer, which I cannot at this moment.

I first heard this phrase used by an open theist that I am acquainted with (Jesse Morrell). I did not understand what he meant by it.

This is interesting to note since this phrase, I believe, was coined by Cornelius Van Til, a premier Calvinist philosopher and theologian and Professor of Apologetics at Princeton Theological Seminary then Westminster Theological Seminary.

As I was listening to an Apologetics course taught by John Frame (you can download it for free) I heard him use this phrase. I looked it up online and found that Frame cites Van Til.

On another site I found that Frame attributed this phrase as a paraphrase of Herman Bavinck (”…the source is Bavinck…”), another Calvinist theologian/philosopher. I believe that I have discovered the volume in which Bavinck expounds this; his Reformed Dogmatics: Volume 3 Sin and Salvation in Christ.

Deuteronomy 21:22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:

23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged [is] accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance.

Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed [is] every one that hangeth on a tree:

Trees represent life. Especially the tree of life. But in general trees represent life. In the garden which was in Eden God gave man the fruit of every tree to eat as food save one. Trees = life.

What happens when you turn an instrument of life into an instrument of death? You are cursed. This is not some voodoo hex I’m talking about, it is simply the sanctions God imposes upon sin. Blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. If you turn tools of life into tools of death you are cursed and the curse of God is upon you/your nation.

Abortion is an obvious reference. But what about hanging on a tree? If you kill/are killed by hanging on a tree this is the curse of God. The Roman nation was cursed and is no longer around today. Jesus Christ was cursed. (Sounds kind of sacrilegious to say.)

Maj. premise: Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.
Min. premise: Christ was hanged on a tree.
Concl: Christ was cursed.

But that is not to say that Christ was paying a penalty for a sin He committed…He was paying the penalty for sin. Again He was cursed.

Isaiah 53:5 But he [was] wounded for our transgressions, [he was] bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace [was] upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

I Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

Copied from Blue Letter Bible.

Thanks be to God for His sovereignty and providence without which none could be saved.

In dealing with the issue of sin its nature and origin, the discussion must include a discussion of God himself.  If God is omnipotent (def: infinite in power) as Christianity classically teaches then He is in absolute authority over everything including sin.  The Bible says God is not the author of sin.

This appears to be a problem.  If we hold to the Bible as our ultimate presupposition then let the Bible answer to this issue.  Does the Bible present an infinite or a finite God?  Without listing verses, my assessment is the Bible presents a view of God with infinite authority.  Are their any philosophical issues with the concept of omnipotence?

Well, I think there are issues otherwise the Bible wouldn’t have to make such a strong case for God not being the author of sin.  As a Reformed Christian this is my dilemma.  How do I reconcile an omnipotent God with evil in the world?

But what of the other side?  If God is not omnipotent then what kind of God do you have?  If the future is “open” then God cannot be omnipotent in the traditional sense of the word.  If sin happens apart from God’s will then God is not omnipotent.  Those who would follow the path of Pelagianism in any measure have to wrestle with the concept of a finite God (if they are consistent, that is).

I (as an Augustinian) will wrestle with the question of why there is sin (etc.), but ascribing all power to God in any case.  My opponents must wrestle with proving that limits on God do not take away from His omnipotence (proving a=~a) or they are affirming that God is not infinite and they must reconcile this with the Bible testifying to the contrary.

Summary: Ultimate Presupposition; the Law-Word of God (i.e. Bible) is the foundation for all of Life and Thought.  Derivative Presupposition; God is infinite in power, omnipotent.