Reformed doctrine of predestination - Boettner - XIII - Chapter 18 & 19

Required reading
Reformed Doctrine of Predestination by Loraine Boettner (Available from Amazon or free on the internet, here for example).  Read Chapter 18 (That it discourages all motives to exertion) and 19 (That it represents God as a respecter of persons, or as unjustly partial).

My summary
Today we continue looking at objections to the doctrine of predestination.

The first objection we look at is that if predestination is true, it discourages people from seeking God.  Among other things, Boettner uses the healing of the paralysed man to show that man still has responsibility to come to Christ even if predestination is true: 'Suppose that when the palsied man was brought to Jesus and heard the words, "Rise up and walk," he had merely replied, "I cannot; I am palsied!" Had he done so he would have died a paralytic. But, realizing his own helplessness and trusting the One who gave the command, he obeyed and was made whole. It is the same almighty Saviour who calls on sinners dead in sin to come to Him, and we may be sure that the one who comes will not find his efforts vain.'

Moreover we see that predestination instead of discouraging people from seeking God, it encourages people to seek him.

The second objection we look at today is that predestination represents God as unjust because he chooses to save some and not others.  But we must remember that God's saving any is based on his grace and they have no rights to it: 'People who make this objection neglect to take into consideration the fact that God is dealing not merely with creatures but with sinful creatures who have forfeited every claim upon His mercy.'

Thus the fact that God chooses to save any from their sin is wonderful, otherwise 'It might as reasonably be argued that since God punishes some, He should punish all; but no one goes to that extreme.'

What grabbed me
I liked how Boettner showed that by our understanding of Satan's fall, it would be consistent with God's justice to bypass the entire human race: 'A strong argument against the Arminian objection that this doctrine makes God unjustly partial, is found in the fact that while God has extended His saving grace toward fallen men, He has made no provision for the redemption of the Devil and the fallen angels. If it was consistent with God's infinite goodness and justice to pass by the whole body of fallen angels and to leave them to suffer the consequences of their sin, then certainly it is consistent with His goodness and justice to pass by some of the fallen race of men and to leave them in their sin. When the Arminian admits that Christ died not for the fallen angels or demons, but only for fallen men, he admits limited atonement and in principle makes the same kind of a distinction as does the Calvinist who says that Christ died for the elect only.'

We should praise God for choosing to save anyone from eternal condemnation, not complain that he has only saved some!

Next week's reading
Read Chapter 20 (That it is unfavorable to good morality), 21 (That it precludes a sincere offer of the gospel to the non-elect) and 22 (That it contradicts the universalistic scripture passages).

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.