The Westminster Confession of Faith outright rejects John MacArthur's false teaching of Lordship Salvation and I can prove it. MacArthur's view amounts to Arminianism or the libertarian free will view since the Bible clearly teaches that the human will is corrupted by sin and cannot obey God without God's monergistic and irresistible grace that leads to both conversion and to a process of sanctification. God can and often does withhold His grace of sanctification in order to humble proud elect persons:
Westminster Confession of Faith: Chapter 5: Of Providence.
5. The most wise, righteous, and gracious God doth oftentimes leave, for a season, His own children to manifold temptations, and the corruption of their own hearts, to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, that they may be humbled;1 and, to raise them to a more close and constant dependence for their support upon Himself, and to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends.2
1 2 Chron. 32:25,26,31; 2 Sam. 24:1.2 2 Cor. 12:7,8,9; Ps. 73:1-28; Ps. 77:1,10,12; Mark 14:66-72; John 21:15,16,17.
So much for "making Jesus Lord of your life." That statement is an outright denial of the doctrines of sovereign grace since it is God alone who saves, justifies, sanctifies, keeps and preserves His elect. The idea that we keep ourselves is flat out synergistic and/or semi-pelagianism. James White, Paul Washer, John MacArthur and even J.I. Packer ought to repent of their false teaching of synergism in this area.
I'm learning a lot from your site - intense stuff. I'm sorry to ask but can you show me in Of Providence 5. where it is saying "that we keep ourselves"? It sounds like God is doing all of the work here. But then maybe it's in this section?, "to make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin, and for sundry other just and holy ends."
ReplyDeleteRubin, since salvation is completely a monergistic work of God by grace and mercy, everything is done by God to save His elect. We do not "cooperate" with God's grace to save ourselves. That's synergism. It's also "semi-pelagianism". The Arminians and other compromisers want to make salvation synergistic and they downplay their semi-pelagianism by trying to make it "semi-Augustinian". But the truth is they are moving away from Augustinianism and the doctrines of sovereign grace. Let's call it what it is: semi-pelagianism.
ReplyDeleteOf course we are fully accountable and responsible for our sins--even when God withdraws His grace of sanctification for a season. He does that to humble the more Pharisaical side of some elect persons.
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12 NKJ)
If you read the proof texts you can easily see that it is God who keeps us and God who disciplines us by letting us sometimes fall into sin. So much for the hyper pietistic crowd like John MacArthur and others.
There is nothing in the Westminster Standard or any other Reformed standard that says, "We keep ourselves."
ReplyDeleteBasically, God is God and He can--just on the principle of your former sins alone--allow anyone at any time to fall into grievous sins. That's plainly what the WCF says above. In other words, even if you're not actually committing any sins now, God could humble you by allowing you to fall--just on the fact that you sinned before! Pride says, "Look how HOLY I am! I'm not sinning anymore." Look out. You might be in for the Lord's discipline.
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