Q7. What are the decrees of God? (Westminster catechism)
The decrees of God are his eternal plan, based on the purpose of His will, by which, for his own glory, He has foreordained everything that happens.

So God has foreordained everything that happens in life? And Westminster catechism has taken it from verses like:

Ephesians 1:11(ESV)

¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will

Westminster’s says God has foreordained everything that happens. That’s pretty shocking God foreordained everything that happens!! Then what happens to our free will then? So many questions swirl around our minds, and it is hard to reconcile, and I am sure this has to be nuanced properly. That’s a big theological question that many evangelical Christians esp charismatics and Pentecostals have not embraced, let alone teaching it and applying in life. Pretty much it’s the reformed world that’s applying it and teaching. I consider this as a rich theological doctrine, and its biblical, but to what extent, and that’s the question.

The verse that we need to look at is Eph 1:11-12. Paul writes that Our inheritance has been predestined according to the purpose of God who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Here Paul used the word God works all things according to his counsel and will.

Predestined: in Greek: προορίζω 1

decide upon beforehand,  predetermine, of God^[1]

He already decided beforehand. But why do we see so many sufferings in this world? Did God actually predetermine all these tragedies and sadness and sufferings? True mystery of God, a tough question to answer or address indeed. Westminster catechism says:

The decrees of God are his eternal plan, based on the purpose of His will, by which, for his own glory, He has foreordained everything that happens.

God has foreordained everything that happens for his own glory, and also based on the purpose of his will. That means whatever God foreordained, it’s based on the purpose of His will. But why did God pre-destine sufferings? Come to think of it, God did that eventually with His own Son, Jesus Christ as He had to fulfil the prophecy, and became the ultimate sacrifice as the ultimate lamb of God sacrificed on the cross to redeem the elect, the chosen ones. So if we ask God why? Then look at the cross, and ask God “Why?”

Its therefore unfathomable.

Ephesians 1:11(ESV)

¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will

If you look at Joseph’s life, one cannot help asking the question “Why Lord?” Well, by reading Exodus, you will find that the path of suffering an injustice of Joseph turned up to be the path to his stardom in Egypt, as he was called by Pharoah to interpret dreams, which he did, and was consequently promoted right away to be the Prime Minister of Egypt. Such amazing story is truly from rags to riches.  Did God foreordain this? Predestinated it? Sure He did.

The better question is really does God foreordained all in life as in Eph 1?? That’s a really hard doctrine to prove. But the reality is at the end of day, scriptures say so. But we find it hard to reconcile to real life!

This is a very important verse to consider in view of the question:

Ephesians 1:7–10 (ESV)

⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Our redemption is thru the blood of Christ, this we know, for the forgiveness of our trespasses, and that’s according to the riches of His grace which God lavished upon us, in all wisdom and foresight, making known to us the mystery of His will. You see its mystery!

But more than that! That grace and the God’s will and purpose is set forth in Christ as a plan, in the fulness of time, to unite all things in Him, all things in heaven and on earth. This is another universal language, on uniting all things in Christ. There is a master plan behind all these things happening in the cosmos, the God who created us all, has a master plan to unite us all in Christ! That’s part of that mysterious will of God progressively revealed , climaxed on the cross and Christ’s resurrection which catapulted to the biggest single event in the cosmos, called resurrection that happened on Easter which we celebrate yearly.  That master plan is predestinated, foreordained well even before the foundation of the world. And it’s all for singular consuming purpose, and that’s to unite all things on earth and heaven to be in Christ. That certainly has to be a universal language.

Can we then apply this concept likewise for the ordaining all things as well? If all things are ordained with a singular purpose of God, then it will make sense, and it has to be in this context. Eph 1:11is really confutation of v10, and if put together they look like this:

Conclusion

Ephesians 1:11 (ESV)   ¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,

Ephesians 1:11 (NIV)

¹¹ In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,

NIV is clear in this: In Christ we were chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of God who works everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. That means we have been predestined according to the propose of God’s will. The has to be predestination. Or else, it’s impossible for God to work everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.

I would expound here : everything in conformity means the major consequential events in our life, not every little petty things in life.

^[1] William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature, 2000, 873.

Can we really do the works that Jesus did? And greater works than these will he do

The biggest problem with the perception of the supernatural and Christianity

The biggest problem with the perception of the supernatural and Christianity is that it ties heavily into the uneducated, poor countries of the third world, and it is out of fashion with the educated western first world. That mentality is precisely what blocks the flow of the supernatural I’m on the church or Christians. Also the I did that that has been grossly affected in an influence by the enlightenment period in the 1600s that essentially put science and logical thinking recently on the throne and replaced God as a supernatural. In fact, model philosophy in science essentially find ways and means to remove anything supernatural from the Bible and reject them, but embracing the moralistic teachings of Christ without the spirit of the supernatural. And that has in my opinion, largely hampered, the growth of the church, especially in the western world. I heard from Jon Tyson’s podcast, so interesting. He shared his crew leaving New York City to go to do missions in Latin America. He said that just before leaving for Latin America, they’ve done the same thing praying for the sick and nothing much happened at all. But when they arrived at Latin America and laying hands and praying for the sick, healing begin to happen. He’s spoken just that it’s almost like when you’re boarded the plane in LaGuardia or JFK, flight attendant announced, welcome and getting ready as we are embarking towards the destiny of the supernatural. Funny it may sound, but there’s a lot of truth in it.

The biggest need is to have a intellectual discourse and papers and books published regarding the simplicity in the validity of miracles from the ministry of Jesus. We talked about it. We argued against it, we argued for it, or worse just being silent about it, meaning apathy, but Jesus just did it.

Greek word “do” in John 14

John 14:12–14 (ESV)

¹² “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Do…. ποιέω (Hom.+)

of divine activity, specifically of God’s creative activity create (Hes., Op. 109; Heraclitus, Fgm. 30 κόσμον οὔτε τις θεῶν οὔτε ἀνθρώπων ἐποίησεν, ἀλλʼ ἦν ἀεὶ καὶ ἔστιν καὶ ἔσται;^[1]

The Creative Power of God in Healing

When Jesus said whoever believes in me will do the works I’ve been doing, and they would do even greater things than this, because I’m going to the father, that word do means a divine activity called specifically of God’s creative activity. So in order to do the works of Jesus in this world like he promised here, we essentially are called and privileged enough to do the creation work of God and that makes sense because God has called us to work with him to renew all things on earth and that involves new creation.  Matt 19: ²⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

For a man or woman to be transformed and be renewed in our heart of soul by the by the word of God and the Holy Spirit, that is a new creation.  Rom 12 ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Think in terms of the creation power of God

And that’s why Jesus called us to do healing, praying for the sick and cast out demons etc and that applies to this modern day as well, it means to be involved in the creative power of God and in that sense and only in that sense, we will do even greater than what Jesus has been doing from there overall perspective of the body of Christ the Church of Jesus. Helpful in order to see the works of the supernatural in our life in the 21st century in America in the big cities like New York City, we will need to think in terms of the creation power of God and that will wake us up to totally realize that it is a supernatural work of God my hip alone.

The Danger of throwing out the Supernatural because of some bad past historically

And along that line, to refute the supernatural works in our modern days it’s essentially refueling the creation activity of God through us. Do not think that God is not doing any more creation activity today because it is finished in Genesis chapter 2, or at the end of Acts, but the ongoing work as Romans 1 says, “be transformed by the renewing of our mind”, and that is the creative activity of God the Holy Spirit. And that’s why Jesus said, “unless you are born again you can enter the Kingdom of God,” (John 3:3)— that again is a new creation activity of God in the name of Jesus by the Holy Spirit. And therefore it would be foolish for us to abandon all this supernatural mindset, and just dwell in our comfort zone of intellectual zone because that will be denying the creative power of God in our modern times.

What we need is a totally new once intellectual understanding of the supernatural through biblical theology and systematic theology

So that we can do offer it to the body of Christ the supernatural in how Jesus did it and not how it’s been all squandered and mired up in the charismatic excess, sadly, that we have heard like the Toronto blessings for example and the rest. We must not let some bad apples destroy our pursuit on what Jesus said greater things you shall do. And indeed Paul himself also said do not stop speaking in tongues and eagerly desire to prophecy.

1 Corinthians 14:38–40 (ESV)

³⁸ If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. ³⁹ So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. ⁴⁰ But all things should be done decently and in order.

^[1] William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature, 2000, 839.

Choosing the lesser of two evils is really an exercise of wisdom in the normative priority, situational priority, and existential priority. In Matthew 23:23 Jesus criticized the teachers of the law and Pharisees as hypocrites, as they gave a tenth of the spices but they neglected the more important matters of the law call mark justice, mercy and faithfulness. So clearly there’s a different level of priority in the duties and the laws of God.

So choosing the lesser of the two evils is a very situational situation. For example Jesus said the Sabbath was made for men, not man for the sabbath so the son of man is the lord even of the sabbath in Mark 2:27-28. Situationally Jesus broke the sabbath to eat in the sight of the Jewish pharisees. And also in Acts 15:20, the Apostolic committee told the gentiles that they should abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the strangled animals and from blood which is not part of the law, but a situational priority.

Now we can apply the comparison contrast for “less than two evils” for example Nazis at the door knocking at the door, “would you hand over the innocent Jews?” You either lie or protect the Jews. It’s a matter of prioritizing seeking the greater good and the higher law. In the same situation in Exodus 1, Frame wrote about the Hebrew wives lied to Pharaoh in order to save Hebrew babies. And God praised the Hebrew midwives for saving the Hebrew babies, but if you look at it, the Hebrew midwives lied which is supposedly a sin. This clearly speaks of the lesser evil of the two, either to lie or kill the babies. Same case for Rahab who lied to the army of Jericho about the two Jewish spies that hid in her artic, because she feared God of Israel. It’s a common sense to know that killing babies is a far greater evil than to lie. If we extend that to the election we get to look at the casting our vote for example, for the lesser of two evils, and coincidentally, we are faced with policy of killing babies by abortion or looking at the character of another candidate some decades ago.

This is a well framed answer, but as a response, how do you ensure this approach is not susceptible to pragmatism or avoid the charge that it selects its ethics on the basis of each person’s situation?

Clearly there are different levels of sin, some sins are worse than the others. (Frame, Doctrines of Life, 225). Westminster larger catechism 151-52 tells us that some sins are worse than others. Jesus also said in Luke 10: ¹¹ ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹² I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

Luke 12:47–48 (ESV)

⁴⁷ And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. ⁴⁸ But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Therefore we can legitimately argue for the lesser of the two evils and its completely found in scriptures, in fact, both from the Lord Jesus himself.

So this is clearly beyond just the situational perspective. Interestingly, the just concluded presidential election has torn Christianity apart in supporting them. I would argue we should vote for the lesser of the two evils. In terms of policy, one has only good and hardly any evil, and the other is literally overflowing with evils form abortion till 12^th week, to transgenderism using tax dollars, and cheating using illegals to bolster their vote, of a level unseen or heard in any country that I know of.

Some have argued that the topics of election and predestination should be avoided in preaching due to their complex and difficult nature, and even that they are a hindrance to evangelism. Do you agree or disagree? Provide rationale for your position.

I would say that it is not easy to talk about election and predestination in our evangelism correct, however there are some phenomenal truths that can be very appealing to the non-believers in evangelism. For instance God from all eternity by His most wise and holy council of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass and yet he is not the author of saying, and also he does not violate the free will of the creatures, neither is the liberty and contingency of secondary courses being taken away but rather established. That to me is a very appealing voice of the attribute and the character of God. Because he’s totally in charge in control and yet he gives us the free will to respond he doesn’t control his creation robotically. And also the liberty or contingency of the secondary causes are not taken away but rather established. That means what we do matter and we are not going towards fatalism.

JI Packer also expounded that the whole Bible is the outworking of God’s sovereign purpose for his world, the purpose that led him to create, the sin that disrupted, and his work of redemption is currently restoring. I think that’s a really appealing message that in this broken world which non believers will acknowledge, to know that God is currently restoring the world, it is a real message of comfort and encouragement and relevance of God. And the purpose of all this restoration is the endless expression and enjoyment of love between God and his rational creatures- love shown in their worship, praise, thanks, honor, glory, and service given to him, ending the fellowship, privileges, jaws, and gifts they give to them. Bible tells us that what God has done to advance God’s redemptive plan for sin damaged planet earth, and they look ahead to the day of its completion, when planet earth will be recreated in unimaginable glory. They proclaim God as the almighty creator Redeemer and do all constantly of the multifaceted works of grace that God performs in history to secure for himself a people, a great company of individuals together, with whom his original purpose of giving and receiving love can be fulfilled. God has shown himself absolutely in control in bringing his plan to the point and working out everything according to his own will and completing his redemptive project.

Considering the area of pastoral care alongside of preaching/evangelism (you hint at an answer, but aim it toward this question): How might you discuss election & predestination with someone faithfully attending your church, who did not grow up in a Reformed church, but who wants to talk to you about how they believe “election and predestination don’t have any practical use,” instead, they say: “these doctrines just seem to make people complacent in their faith”?

Topics of election and predestination should be avoided in preaching due to their complex and difficult nature?

I would say that while election and predestination is highly mysterious, and we cannot deny it as its plainly written in the Bible. And WCF has really articulated it beautifully, though, hard to swallow sometimes, because, the reality is its still hard to understand fully, but we have to remember that we are his creature, and He is God. And He reserves the right to mystery that He hasn’t revealed, and He has the perfect right to reveal what He chooses to His creatures, as in: Deuteronomy 29: ²⁹ “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

An important point is that God doesn’t violate our free will. WCF: “God does not violate the free will of the creatures, neither is the liberty and contingency of secondary courses being taken away but rather established.”

That settled, I would then focus on the restoration of this broken world, as JI Packer puts it, “The whole Bible is the outworking of God’s sovereign purpose for his world, the purpose that led him to create, the sin that disrupted, and his work of redemption is currently restoring.”

God’s sovereign purpose and work now is the work of redemption that’s currently restoring what’s been destroyed by sin, and it’s that restoration, we believers in Christ, we are honored and called, to take part in. And it’s the highest calling for all of us all.

First of all the distance between God and humans is so great that we can never have any fruition of him as our blessedness and reward except by God’s condescension upon us, which he has expressed by way of covenant. So, God has chosen to relate with us and to reveal himself to us through a covenantal way like the Abrahamic covenant, Mosaic covenant, and eventually the new covenant by the son of God our Lord Jesus Christ himself. All these covenants are in fact the covenant of grace not of law. So, covenant is the means whereby we enjoy God as our blessedness and reward. Therefore, our justification and sanctification in life completely depends on the revelation and the relationship of God with us through the covenant which is the only means we can enjoy his blessings and reward.

Our justification is completely dependent on Christ’s fulfillment of the covenant works which is the first covenant God made with man whereby life was promised to Adam, and in him his posterity, upon condition of perfect and personal obedience. That covenant of works points to the terms of conditions on which the blessings of the covenant continues. Man by his fall has made himself incapable of life by that covenant of works, the Lord was pleased to make a second, commonly called the covenant of grace; Whereby he freely offered unto sinners life in salvation by Jesus Christ; requiring them of faith in him, that they may be saved and promising to give unto all those who are ordained unto eternal life his Holy Spirit, to make them willing, and able to believe. Now this is a huge promise because fallen man like all of us will not be able to be willing to believe in Christ if it were not for the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, those of us who are the elect. In the covenant of grace, there is blessing despite disobedience. The covenant of grace conditions are fulfilled by Jesus on our behalf. Our faith is required of us in the covenant of grace but it is not the basis of salvation. It is merely the means to receive the blessing which Jesus has obtained on our behalf. Therefore our obedience is tied up with Christ’s fulfillment of the conditions.

The only way we can go on in our lives sanctified is by and through the mediator of our Lord Jesus Christ to stay in grace. Like Westminster says we are brought into this covenant by grace and stay in it by our mediator our Lord Jesus Christ. Our ongoing sanctification depends on our obedience to Christ. Our obedience can only follow from the active and passive obedience of Christ because Christ fulfilled the conditions of the covenant of works, our salvation is by grace alone and by faith alone in Christ who has obeyed perfectly the covenant of works on our behalf.

This is hugely encouraging to folks in church to understand that it is not by our effort to continue to be sanctified and walking with Christ but it is rather Christ has already won the battle on the cross by his perfect obedience, and that we are drinking in that benefit and walking in him by the Holy Spirit, commonly called abiding in Christ. And then we are justified by Christ because he fulfilled all the conditions of the works of covenant which our forefather Adam failed. And now we can continue to be sanctified because of his complete obedience that our obedience is tied up with Christ fulfillment of the conditions and because he has fulfilled it, we can be overcomers in our Christian walk with God.