John Knox, and God's Will Concerning Sinners |
John Knox, and the attitude of God toward sinners is discussed in an article by Rev B L Dole. Extracts are provided from Knox on Predestination and Gillespie and Rutherford. A principle is identified.
It is a common sentiment in evangelical preaching, that God the Father wills that each and every sinner upon earth should believe in Christ as his or her own Saviour. This sentiment is not confined to Arminian denominations. It has been adopted unquestioningly by many of calvinistic conviction today in Scotland. As to the sincerity of the will of God concerning the sinners for whom Christ did not die, recourse is frequently had to attributing two wills to God. One will is explained as being universal in desire, while the second will desires only the salvation of the elect. With the recent republishing of Knox' Works[i], and, somewhat earlier the works of George Gillespie and Samuel Rutherford, it becomes possible to read what these fathers of the Church of Scotland believed and taught on the subject. Theirs was a markedly different Gospel to the modern one in several important aspects. The best place to observe John Knox' teaching on the matter is in his substantial work On Predestination[ii]. While living in Geneva about 1558, Knox was asked by persons back in England to answer a book circulating there titled Careless by Necessity. This work, written by an Anabaptist, denied the doctrine of Predestination. Knox complied with the English request, probably completing the work while in Dieppe awaiting official permission to re-enter England. This work is the longest of Knox' writings—occupying 443 pages in the David Laing reprint. No doubts exist concerning its authorship. Knox was independently named as its author when permission was granted for it to be printed in Geneva on Nov 13th 1559. On Predestination is in the form of an 'answer', and is disputational in structure. Knox alternately quotes an assertion from his 'Adversarie' immediately following it with his 'Answer'. Our interest is in Knox' teaching as to whom God wills to be saved. The following extracts demonstrate his convictions as he counters assertions from his Anabaptist opponent.
Writing 87 years later Samuel Rutherford would echo the same truths; 'Humbled, wearied and self-condemned sinners only, are to believe, and come to Christ. It is true, all sinners are obliged to believe, but to believe after the order of free grace; that is, that they be first self-lost and sick, and then saved by the physician.'[vi].
Samuel Rutherford described the matter thus; 'The love of 3 of John 16 is restricted to the church...[viii] 'The loved world, the world saved (v17), the world of which Christ is the Saviour (John 4:42), the world that Christ giveth His life unto (John 6:33) and for whose life he giveth His life (v55), the world of which Abraham, but much more Christ, is heir (Rom 4:13) the reconciled world, occasioned by the Jews falling off Christ (Rom 11:15). All these are the Elect, Believing, and Redeemed World;'[ix] George Gillespie, while participating in the Westminster debate on John 3:16, expounded the passage as, 'God so loved the elect that whosoever believes in him...'[x]
Samuel Rutherford put it, 'He came to call his own sinners only, not all sinners.'[xiv] What is being emphasised by Knox, Rutherford and Gillespie is that the sinners who are called to forgiveness by Christ's Spirit are those sinners convinced that they are sinners. Not sinners who are self-righteous and deny the fact of their sinfulness. And this distinction is in complete agreement with Christ's assertion that He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now it is here that this doctrine of Knox, Rutherford and Gillespie is attacked by some who prefer a more `generous' gospel. Such moderns accuse John Knox of hyper-calvinism. They assert that for Knox, the gospel message is `practically' preached to the elect only. But herein they muddy the water. Starting with the call from God's perspective (the internal call), they immediately equate this with the preaching of the Gospel generally (the external and internal call). If their point was that the Gospel is effectually preached only to the elect, all calvinists of whatever persuasion confess this to be true. Instead, they hint that Churches and ministers of Knox' persuasion consciously confine their preaching to the elect alone. The Missionary history of the Church of Scotland shows that this accusation is not based on fact. The multitude of souls that have sought and found salvation within the Church of Scotland also shows this accusation to be unfounded. And a cursory comparison of sermons preached in Knox' day with those preached later in the 17th Century (by men such as William Guthrie, Richard Cameron and Donald Cargill[xv]), demonstrate an abiding, deep concern, to awaken the unconverted of their congregations and to lead them to eternal life. If the critics mean that the preaching is focused more on the saved than the unsaved, then the criticism has some foundation. The church's duty is not solely to repeat its Gospel invitation to sinners, but it must also build up the saints in the whole counsel of God[xvi]. Here God's power is also seen week by week. Here the church excels as she preaches the whole of God's word and applies it to the hearts of hearers. And her gospel is vastly superior when she does preach to the unsaved. Unlike the inoffensive gospel commonly heard today, Knox' Gospel is no hypothetical, theoretical possibility of salvation to some, but a summons, a real, divinely powerful, most certain offer of eternal life to every conscious sinner upon whose ears it falls! 'Arise shine', it pronounces, 'for thy light has come, and the Glory of the Lord is Risen over thee!' We need such men as Knox today, who will not flinch at declaring the whole counsel of God, whether palatable to 21st century congregations or not. Such Knox-like men will make a permanent difference upon earth. And lost sinners will find the church to be the gateway to heaven indeed. May God grant us continual supplies of men like Knox, Rutherford and Gillespie into the ministry of the EPC of Australia. by Rev. Brian L.Dole References
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