Contents:
1. Introduction
2. The Problem
3. Free Will
4. God's Sovereignty
5. The Solution
6. Other Worldviews

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For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.

Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (Romans 13:1-7)

It would be impossible to summarize all that the Bible teaches about government in several paragraphs. And it is difficult to say anything at all about it without stirring up related questions. Of course, it does not help that many Christians are more touchy about politics than they are about the Lord Jesus Christ. For our purpose, the solution is to restrict ourselves to the main thrust of the passage. Paul makes a point here that does not always receive sufficient emphasis. It is the Christian's basic stance toward the government.

The apostles were united in commanding submission to the government (see also 1 Peter 2:13-17). And in Luke's account of their ministries, they often made it a point to assure the authorities of their compliance, even as they stood firm for their message concerning God and the Lord Jesus. It is worth noting that they did not operate under some civic paradise, but a government that was, to put it mildly, less than righteous, efficient, and compassionate. Yet they instructed believers to submit.

Paul offers two reasons for this.

The first reason is a theological basis for submission. There is no authority except that which God has established. This does not mean that every official exemplify justice and holiness, and indeed the opposite often appears to be the case. Herod and Pilate were no saints. And Nero was insane. The apostle means that God is the one who has established the institution of human government, and the one who providentially installs each official to serve his own divine purpose. Thus even Nebuchadnezzar was called God's "servant" when he was sent to slaughter and enslave the Jews (Jeremiah 25:9). He was God's servant not in the sense that he was saved – no, he was not saved, but he was used. In any case, God has established the institution of human government, and therefore Christians are to submit to it.

The second reason contains an element of practical concern. If you do wrong, the government will punish you. If you are punished because you are a thief, or a murderer, or a rapist or perjurer, then you deserve to suffer. If you do not wish to suffer, then do not be a criminal. Paul seems to have in mind an ideal government that rewards good and punishes evil, but his intent is to stress submission, and not to work out the matter from every angle. Peter teaches the same doctrine, but since his subject includes suffering and not only submission, he also recognizes the possibility of unjust punishment: "Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed" (1 Peter 3:13-14). Even then, Peter does not teach rebellion, but submission to the government. In another place, Peter writes, "However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name….So then, those who suffer according to God's will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good" (1 Peter 4:16, 19).

The conclusion is that we must submit to the government because of conscience, since God is the one who has established the institution, and because of possible punishment, since the government has the power to punish criminals. This is also why Christians must pay taxes and render to the authorities what is owed.

In some circles it is common for Christians to criticize the government, to lament the loss of religious liberty, to complain about excessive taxation, a biased curriculum, and so on. Although many times our efforts might be better directed elsewhere, this is not forbidden as long as it is performed in a legal manner and with restraint. The apostles worked with the laws of the land to facilitate their work, but unlike many in our day, they did not lose their focus on the gospel.

Even more important than taking advantage of existing laws is to declare the Christian's basic stance toward the government, and that is one of submission. The Christian approach to spreading the religion of Jesus Christ consists in communication – in speaking and writing – and in charitable deeds. We talk. We help. That is our method. We must make it a point to affirm, both to the government and to believers, that our method condemns violence and subversion. We are not troublemakers, but we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

Paul's desire was that the Israelites may be saved. This means that they were not saved. What kind of people were they, that they were not saved?

First, they were zealous for God, but their zeal was not based on knowledge. This zeal for God sounds better to us than what is meant, because the kind of zeal that we know is a zeal for the God of Scripture as he has been revealed in Jesus Christ. But the Jews did not have this kind of zeal. Jesus said that they did not in fact believe God or Moses or the Scripture, or they would have believed in him instead of trying to trick him or murder him all the time. Rather, Jesus said, they were zealous for the religious traditions that their elders invented. Instead of enforcing God's commandments, these traditions subvert them, working around them while pretending to follow them.

So the religion of the Jews – their zeal for God – was not a precursor to the faith of the Christians. Indeed the religion of Moses was a precursor to Christ, but the Jews did not believe Moses. If they had believed Moses, they would have believed Jesus, because Moses told them about Jesus and commanded them to receive him when he arrived. Nevertheless, although their religion was not the religion of the Old Testament, it was heavily influenced by it, so that their theology and morality were closer to God's revelation than the pagans. It was the best non-Christian religion.

Yet even the best non-Christian religion could not save anyone. Instead of leading to charity, holiness, and salvation, it produced cruelty, hypocrisy, and damnation. Instead of leading to a true worship of God and faith in his Messiah, it resulted in idolatry of the heart, arrogance and self-righteousness, and the murder of their Messiah. Paul himself was an example of this kind of zeal. He condoned the stoning of Stephen and persecuted the followers of Christ until the Lord stopped him by force. Therefore, a zeal for "God" without the knowledge of Christ is not a good thing that needs to be made better, but it becomes an entirely blasphemous and destructive power.

This is God's answer to the claim that it does not matter what we believe as long as we believe it with sincerity and passion. A sincere non-Christian is still a non-Christian, and he is still condemned. The difference is that he is not pretending to be wicked, but he is sincerely wicked. And the fact that he is passionately wicked does not make him admirable, but dangerous.

Second, the Jews did not know the righteousness that comes from God, but they sought to establish their own. Although the text refers to the Jews, it is easy to see how this applies to every non-Christian religion or philosophy. Paul has demonstrated that there is a righteousness from God that comes only through Jesus Christ and that is imputed to us by faith. Therefore, anyone who attempts to make himself "right" by pursuing another route in principle commits the same error as the Jews. The verdict is the same that was declared against the Jews: "They did not submit to God's righteousness." The attempt to attain righteousness by any other means than faith in Jesus Christ is itself defiance against God's righteousness.

What kind of people were the Jews that they were not saved? They were people zealous for their idea of God, but who did not believe in Jesus Christ. They were not saved because their zeal was not based on Christian theology. They went to hell because they did not believe the right doctrines. And they were people who did without the righteousness that comes from God through Jesus Christ, but instead tried to establish their own. Through Jesus Christ, there is righteousness for everyone who believes. But they were not saved, because they were not Christians.

Paul has demonstrated in the previous verses that whether a man attains salvation through Jesus Christ does not depend on the person's will or decision, but on God who chooses to show mercy to this individual. Then, a man disbelieves or even opposes God not because the person decides this for himself, but because God has chosen to harden him for God's own purpose. The apostle concludes, "Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden" (v. 18).

A man believes in Jesus because God causes him to believe in Jesus. Another man is hardened against the gospel because God causes him to be hardened. Each person's path is determined before he is born, even in eternity before the creation of the world. His decisions do not determine his path, but his foreordained path determines his decisions. A man's destiny is not determined, but rather revealed by, his choices, that is, by what God causes him to decide in accordance with the divine purpose.

This is one of the most simple and explicit biblical doctrines. However, it is also the most detested doctrine because it most clearly presents God as God, and even Christians do not like God very much. In this doctrine we come face to face with what it means to be God, and we are compelled to show whether we truly acknowledge him as the total sovereign, or whether we wish to retain control over some aspects of our selves, and to entertain the delusion that it is in fact possible to do so. Even as believers and theologians pay lip service to God's sovereignty, very few receive this doctrine of his direct and total causation of all things without attempting to make a way of escape for themselves. Or, they would condemn this true version of God and then rescue him by reducing him into something less.

So Paul anticipates disagreement. He expects someone to say to him, "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" (NIV). In other words, if God is the one who hardens a man so that he cannot pursue righteousness or believe the truth, then why does God still condemn and punish the sinner? The objection makes no sense unless it is assumed that responsibility presupposes freedom, so that a person must be free to make his own decisions if he is to be held accountable for them. But God does not grant this assumption; in fact, all these previous verses have repudiated it. A person is condemned and punished for his sins because he has transgressed God's commands. The cause of his transgressions is irrelevant. If he has transgressed, then he is a transgressor.

Paul proceeds to answer the challenge, and in the process reveals additional insights into the doctrine. He declares that the potter has the right to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use. The apostle has been making the contrast between two kinds of people – the elect, or those whom God has predetermined to become Christians, and the reprobates, or those whom God has predetermined to remain non-Christians. So the honorable vessel represents the Christian, and the dishonorable vessel represents the non-Christian. The honorable vessel would probably be displayed in the household as a testament to the owner's wealth and refinement. On the other hand, a dishonorable vessel probably refers to a trash can or even a toilet. Thus God thinks that the reprobates are the trash cans and toilets of this world. We know what toilets are full of – it is something that reeks of the non-Christian's unbelief, science, and religion.

The Bible contradicts the almost unanimous opinion of Christian theologians in that its exposition of the doctrine leaves no room for freedom and self-determination in any sense, or the notion that divine sovereignty is compatible with these. Why does it matter if the potter's control over the clay is compatible with the clay's wishes? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" The man is not represented as saying, in one way or another, "Why have you passively ordained that I should use my power of self-determination to concurrently decide to become what you have decreed that I should be?" No, he says, "Why have you made me like this?" You. You made me. You made me into this.

By direct contact, and with his own hands, the potter molds the clay into the vessel that he wants it to become. Although this applies to both the honorable and the dishonorable, the objection refers to those whom God "blames" – it is mainly concerned with how the dishonorable vessel is manufactured. Paul's reply means that God is hands-on in making the wicked man into who he is. He does this using the "same lump" out of which he makes the honorable vessels, and not some material with existing dishonorable traits. In other words, the characteristics of the reprobate come directly and entirely from God's hands and nowhere else. Paul sees nothing wrong with this. God has the right to make one man into his masterpiece and another man into a toilet. Who says that a master potter must not make a toilet if he wants to make one? And who is the toilet to say to the potter, "Why have you made me like this?" But even a complaining toilet knows better than to cry, "I have free will!" or even "I am not coerced!"

The truth of the Christian faith is plain and obvious. There is never a good objection against it, but it should be reverently accepted. And because the truth is plain and obvious, every objection against the Christian faith is always stupid and evil. Because every objection against the Christian faith is stupid and evil, we must attack every objection, and lest it is alleged that we avoid the issue, we should answer it as well. But more than this, it is characteristic of the Bible to attack the person who makes the objection. This is because whenever a person questions the Christian faith, it necessarily means that there is something wrong with the person.

Paul does not say, "O you wonderful and intelligent man, why do you make such an outrageous objection against God?" No, the apostle attacks the man himself – "But who are you, O man, to talk back to God?" This is a rhetorical question – he means that the man is a nobody and should shut his mouth. Paul is not stupid like our preachers and theologians. They tell us that non-Christians can be sincere and intelligent and yet make objections against God. Where did this nonsense come from? Perhaps they learned it from the non-Christians, who are always desperate to assert their sincerity and intelligence. Or perhaps the preachers and theologians wish to compliment their own defiance against God. But Jesus said that the mouth speaks out of the abundance of the heart. The non-Christian makes objections because he is a sinner, a rebel – he does not just act like one, but he is one. Any Christian who makes a meaningful contribution in preaching and debate must criticize and belittle the person – the non-Christian himself – and not just his arguments and his actions.

Who are you, O non-Christian, to challenge the truth of God, when the Bible declares that you already know about him? Like a coward, like a traumatized little child, you repress this knowledge so that you do not need to deal with reality. Who are you to reject a guilty verdict when the Bible shows that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God? You retort, "Who are you to judge me?" Well, who are you to tell me that I may not declare God's judgment upon you? Who are you to decline the gospel? You are nobody. You are nothing.

Who are you, O legalist, O self-righteous religionist, to refuse Jesus Christ, when the Law itself tells you to abandon your own efforts and depend on him as your mediator and champion? Who are you to think that you can be his equal or better? Who are you to say that you can attain heaven by what you regard as good works, when God has renounced them as filthy rags? You are nobody. You are nothing.

Who are you, O Arminian, to say that God does not decree and cause all things solely by his own will and for his own purpose, and without consideration of the faith and decision of man, but rather causes man's faith and decision because of his eternal decree? Who are you to think that man has the power to choose, even to decide his eternal destiny? Who are you to say that Christ could pay the price to redeem a man, and yet loses the man to God's wrath? And who are you to say that a man, once apprehended by God, can pluck himself out of the hands of Christ? You are nobody. You are nothing.

Who are you, O Calvinist, to say that God cannot be the author of sin, and the one who directly creates and hardens wicked men? Who are you to say that God merely passes by the reprobates, when Scripture states that he forms them by his own hands as a potter molds clay into trash cans and toilets? You hypocrite! You pretend to defend the justice and holiness of God, when the matter arises only because you have judged him by the standard of man. With one hand you rob God of his divine sovereignty, and with another you repay him in human righteousness. Who are you, O man, to think that you can get away with this? You are nobody. You are nothing.

Who are you, O Reformed theologian? Are you much better than the Arminian? Again and again, in planting one foot in orthodoxy and one foot in blasphemy, you generate countless paradoxes and contradictions, and you call this the high mystery of God! Oh vanity of vanity, a theology of systematic futility!

Away with all of you! God exercises complete and immediate control over all things, including the decisions and destinies of all men. Just as he molds his chosen ones into his masterpieces, he molds the reprobates into receptacles of rubbish and feces. Unlike our preachers and theologians, Paul's opponent at least understands the doctrine, that it is God who creates and hardens the sinner, but the sinner is still blamed and punished. God hardens whom he wants to harden (v. 18), so that they cannot believe and be saved. He does this by his active and direct power, as a potter molds the clay (v. 21). Such men are prepared for destruction (v. 22). They cannot resist his will, but he still blames and punishes them (v. 19). He can do this because he is God, and no one can utter a word against him (v. 20).

Is there a difference between objective and absolute truth?

You will have to study how a person uses these terms to determine what he means by them. Of course, it will often be the case that he has never considered these terms, and he might use them in awkward and unwarranted ways, or in ways that are inconsistent with his own philosophy. I can tell you what I mean by the terms and how they fit with the Christian system. From the perspective of the Christian faith – the only perspective that is right – they ought to be just different ways of referring to the same thing.

It is often said that everything is relative, and the assertion is made in order to dismiss all definitive judgment. But we can reach a different conclusion when we investigate the matter further. To call something relative is to acknowledge that it is relative to something. A mass murderer is judged to be especially vicious relative to one who has murdered only one person. However, Christians would not call the underachiever an exemplar of righteousness and compassion. Why? Because we judge him by a standard that we have received from God, a standard relative to which all else is judged, and that is measured only relative to itself. The Christian faith acknowledges that God is the definitive standard of judgment, one that cannot be dismissed by an appeal to the relative nature of all judgments. Whether a man has murdered one person or a hundred people, or if he has only stolen a stick of chewing gum, he is a lawbreaker relative to God.

Every person is evaluated relative to God, or the standard that he has revealed. On the other hand, God's judgment is measured only against God's judgment. There is no higher authority. All creatures are judged relative to God. If he disapproves of a man, then that man is condemned. And God is judged relative to himself. If he approves of himself, then he is vindicated, and the opposition of men means nothing. When we lift our hands to heaven and praise him for his perfection, it is not because we recognize that he is closer to some final standard to which we are both accountable. There is no higher standard, and he is accountable to no one other than himself. We praise God because he is who he is, and that he is perfect relative to himself, who is perfection. Therefore, God is the absolute, and the absolute and relative are one in God.

Likewise, our judgments are said to be subjective. My judgment is my opinion, and you might have a different opinion. My opinion might be truly my opinion, but they might not be true – that is, objective. What is the difference? We must appeal to God to resolve this for man. My opinion is that there are three marbles on the table, and your opinion is that there are five. But God thinks that there are ten. The objective truth (one that is the case because of itself and that is independent of the opinion of creatures), then, is that there are ten, because God is the one who has created the marbles, who has put them there, and who now sustains them moment by moment. So he knows about the marbles because he is the doer of all things and he knows himself. Our subjective opinions are wrong, and they are wrong because they differ from God's opinion.

With God, there is no difference between desire, opinion, and reality. If God desires to have ten marbles on the table, then there are ten marbles on the table, because his will is never defeated. He makes what he wills, and what has been made is always what he has willed to make. His desire and power are in harmony. And if God thinks that there are ten marbles on the table, then there are ten marbles on the table, because his knowledge never fails, and he knows himself. The will to create, the act of creating, and the knowledge of his own desire and action, are in harmony.

Therefore, God is the objective truth, and the objective and subjective are one in him. They are not one in his creatures; rather, they must look to him for objective truth. Since God is the ruler and cause of all things, he has decreed and caused my opinion that there are three marbles on the table, and God thinks that I think that there are three marbles on the table, although he himself thinks that there are ten. My subjective opinion is that there are three marbles on the table. It is the objective truth that this is my subjective opinion (because he causes and knows my opinion), and my opinion disagrees with God's opinion (because we disagree on how many marbles are on the table). Thus the objective truth is that my subjective opinion is wrong.

This is the basis for the condemnation of those who do not believe the message of Jesus Christ. Their opinion differs from God's opinion, and so it is objectively true that they are wrong and subject to the endless torment of hell. Since the objective and the subjective are identical in God, this means that whenever I agree with God – whenever my subjective opinion is identical to God's subjective opinion – that is when I attain objective, or absolute, truth. To have knowledge of anything at all is to agree with God on that particular matter.

In a realm where the king possesses total authority, his subjective opinion is the objective law for everyone – the two become identical. He always remains in good standing with the law as long as he approves himself, because he is the law. Anyone who crosses him is a criminal and is brought to justice, a justice that this same king defines by his opinion, which accords with his nature, or the kind of person he is.

"Ah," you say, "but this makes him a tyrant." The king is a tyrant only if the king thinks so, and it is bad to be a tyrant only if the king thinks it is bad to be a tyrant. In any case, no mere man possesses such authority, but this kingship is fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ. By him, all our beliefs and actions are measured. Without him, we are nothing and can accomplish nothing. But in him, we are the righteousness of God and the heralds of his kingdom.

What, then, shall we say in response to this?

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.

Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? …I am convinced that neither death nor life…nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:28-39)

Christians would often say to someone, "God has a wonderful plan for your life." And they mean that the person could either go along with God's plan, or reject God's goodness and pursue a path of destruction. This kind of thinking is entirely hostile to the Bible, and entails a denial of the nature of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul insists in this same letter to the Romans that God creates some individuals for salvation, to receive his mercy and kindness, and he creates all other individuals for damnation, to suffer everlasting torment in hell. God's decision as to whom to save or damn is not based on the kind of people we are; rather, we are the kind of people that we are because of God's decision (Romans 9:10-24).

So we must not indiscriminately say to someone, "God has a wonderful plan for your life." No, if God has created you for damnation, then he has a terrible plan for your life. Do not feel relief when someone tells you, "Everything will turn out fine." No, everything will turn out wrong for you. Your future is filled with fear and confusion, and with extreme pain that will never end. And even the little pleasures that you enjoy in this life are designed to dull your conscience and to increase your trespasses, so that your punishment may be multiplied. As long as you remain ignorant of or resistant to the message of Jesus Christ, we have reason to think that you are numbered among the damned. But if God gives you faith, then you can become a Christian.

Everything is different when you are a Christian, when you renounce all confidence in yourself and trust in Jesus Christ to represent you, to rescue you from sin and condemnation, and to secure your place in God's kingdom. If God has chosen you for salvation – that is, if you are a Christian or will become a Christian – then he truly has a wonderful plan for your life, and he wants you to remember this when you face sufferings and disappointments. His plan was conceived and put into motion way before you came to faith. The day you believed was when you found out about it.

Like Satan himself, wicked men are eager to enslave God and to exalt themselves. They wish to place their feet on the neck of the Most High while he bows down to them in worship. For this reason, they would distort even the most basic and obvious biblical terms to accommodate their sinister aspirations. And so there are many who insist that God chooses men for salvation on the basis of their own decision to have faith in Jesus Christ, and that this faith comes about from their own free will. They rant on and on about how much they are able to do to liberate themselves. By the time they are finished, we marvel at the Tower of Babel and wonder why they would need Christ at all. Men are accustomed to self-delusion, but we know that no tower constructed by human hands can attain eternal life.

The proposal is defeated even if the misuse of foreknowledge remains unchallenged. This is because the Bible teaches that faith is not something men can muster up at will, but that it is produced in men by God according to his decision and as a gift from him (John 6:44, 65, 10:26; Ephesians 2:8). Therefore, to say that God chooses individuals for salvation on the basis of foreseen faith becomes just an awkward admission that he chooses whomever he wishes apart from the people's will and merit (Romans 9:16).

Suppose I was about to put on the greatest stage performance in the history of the universe. I wished to show it to fifty people, and so I made fifty seats and fifty tickets. To fill these seats, I conceived a hundred people in my mind and wrote out a guest list of fifty and a reject list of fifty – then I created these people from the lists (9:21). The blacklisted people are needed because part of the performance involves showing my guests the envy, rage, and agony of those who would be shut out (9:22-24). After this, I handed out the tickets to the fifty people on the guest list.

Now suppose a person declares that I chose the fifty guests based on whether they would have tickets. This would betray a strange misunderstanding of how the event unfolded, since I am the one who conceived them, who created them, and who handed them the tickets. If the illustration were to be more similar to what God has done, then I must have also picked up their hands and put the tickets in them, and then carried them to their seats! Thus the claim that I chose the guests on the basis of foreseeing those who would have tickets is just an unintentional admission that I chose them based on reasons that were entirely within myself, on the basis of knowledge about myself. This is the picture of redemption described for us in this letter to the Romans and in other portions of the Bible.

Of course, we entertained this claim about foreknowledge only for the sake of argument, because it would have failed even before we considered the nature of faith. First, Paul does not say that God foreknew the faith, but the persons. At this point, faith simply does not factor into what he is talking about. Second, in a context like this foreknowledge does not refer to an awareness of facts in advance, but to "know" carries a sense of personal favor and intimacy. As God said to Jeremiah, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you" (Jeremiah 1:5). God conceived and designed the person, loved and favored him in his mind, and then created him.

Therefore, to foreknow means to forelove, and that not because of a passive awareness of future facts, but an eternal affection and faithfulness toward what God himself would create and cause. He conceived and designed the chosen ones – the Christians – in his mind, and he loved them in advance. This is how the wonderful plan began. And this is why in all things God works for the good of those who love him – whom he has created and caused to love him – who have been called according to his purpose.

God foreloved the chosen ones. Then these same individuals are predestined to become like the Son of God. Then, these same individuals are called. The same individuals that are called, are justified. And the same individuals that are justified, are glorified. The exact individuals were specified when God foreloved them. After this stage, no one enters or leaves this predefined group. For the present passage, the essential thing is that no one leaves. The individuals at the point of foreknowledge are the same individuals that he sees through all the way to glorification. What does this mean? It means that God is for us, that he is for us at every stage, and that he will be for us constantly, and over and over again. And he will never withdraw his favor because he was the one who foreloved us in the first place. The whole process was his idea, and he will see it through.

If God is for us, who can be against us? He sent his Son to die for us. Everything else is trivial in comparison, and nothing can hinder the completion of redemption. Who will bring any charge against us? Accusations can come from all sides, but God has justified us. God is in fact the only one whose charge carries any weight, and he accuses those who remain in unbelief, who remain non-Christians. Who is he who condemns us? Condemnation is all talk unless it can lead to a guilty verdict and result in punishment. But Jesus Christ has already died for our sins and has risen from the dead. He continues to represent us and speak for us at the right hand of God. God is in fact the only one whose condemnation leads to a guilty verdict and ends in eternal suffering. And he declares that those who do not believe in Jesus Christ are already condemned (John 3:18). No one can condemn us, and no one can bring a charge against us, not because we have never done wrong, but if there is any charge or any condemnation, Jesus Christ has answered it. Therefore, we denounce sin and proclaim righteousness without embarrassment. Surely we would feel self-conscious and hypocritical if we were to declare our own goodness, but as the heralds of Christ we preach about his righteousness and his salvation.

Who can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus? Only God can extend or withhold his love, and by his foreordination and through Jesus Christ, he has extended his love toward his chosen ones. No one is stronger than God. No one forced or persuaded him to love us, and no one can force or persuade him to stop. He has decided, and he will not change. The love of God toward us is immutable and invincible.

God is for us – for those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose, and who are predestined to become like the Son of God. How demeaning it is, then, when people become more concerned about whether God is for their nation, or race, or interest group. "Is God for America?" "Is God for black people?" "Surely this is a special time for the Chinese!" All such thinking is childish and unspiritual. As Jesus rebuked Peter, "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." God is for the Christians. Some people insist that Christians ought to support the Jews. What? How about telling the Jews that they must support the Christians? And they issue stern warnings about mistreating the Jews. We should not mistreat anyone, Jews or not, but what Paul wrote, he wrote to Christians: "God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you" (2 Thessalonians 1:6). Those who mistreat Christians will live forever to regret it – in hell – unless God turns them into Christians as well.

Whether God is for us is not mainly a racial or political question, but a religious and redemptive one. God is for those whom he has foreloved, and these are the ones whom he causes to follow Jesus Christ. Even when Paul discusses his concern for the Jews, he states that God foreknew not all the Jews but the remnant among them – that is, the Christians (11:2-6). And his optimism is based on an expectation that many of the Jews would become like his Gentile readers – that they would become Christians. He warns the Gentiles against arrogance, not because the Jews are in a superior position – the warning is meaningful precisely because the Jews are not in such a position – but because the Gentiles themselves are saved only because of the sovereign kindness of God. Therefore, in Christ there is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, American nor Brazilian, Asian nor European. We are either in or out. If we are in Christ, then we are all united in him. And if we are not in Christ, then we are nothing.

If we are in Christ, then God is for us, and he orders all things for our good and for his purpose. He has foreloved us in eternity, he has justified us in our lifetime, and he will see us through to our glorification. God has great things in store for us. We are so pleased with the Christian life. It is righteous and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit! And just as we are overcome by the exceeding kindness that God has already lavished upon his people, he reminds us that the best is yet to come.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:19-23)

In accordance with God's plan, when Adam fell into sin he dragged down the creation with him. As God said to the man, "Cursed is the ground because of you" (Genesis 3:17). The result was not that man must learn to take care of the earth and cooperate with it in order to bring forth sustenance from it. Rather, God said that the earth would now resist the man, so that the man must subdue the earth to take from it what he needs (v. 18). Then, after a while the man would die and his body would return to the earth (v. 19). When two parties struggle under God's curse, neither comes out as the winner. Since that time the whole creation had been groaning for liberation right up to the time of Paul, and it has continued its groaning until now because what it longs for still has not arrived.

Thus long before creation became polluted with plastic bottles, it was polluted with sinners, with non-Christians. It groans not because it longs to be rid of factories and skyscrapers, but to be liberated from the bondage and decay that came upon it because of sin. That day is marked by the revelation of the sons of God, that is, when God shall definitively vindicate his people and complete their adoption by the redemption of their bodies, or the resurrection of the saints. Its liberation is bound up with the salvation that Christians enjoy, or with "the glorious freedom of the children of God." The corollary to this is that creation yearns to be rid of the non-Christians, so that the meek shall inherit the earth.

Therefore, non-Christian environmentalists make a mockery of creation, because they are the ones who perpetuate its sufferings, not by their foam cups by their very existence! And Christians who match the non-Christian fanatics in their environmentalist zeal are just as aggravating, because to stay clean and alive is not what the creation wants at all. A prisoner may appreciate some books and magazines from his defense lawyer to help him pass the time, but when the attorney settles down to discuss the literature with him, the prisoner would likely complain that the time might be better spent in working on the case to secure his freedom. A lawyer who allows what is good but secondary to distract him from what is best and necessary is a bad lawyer. A Christian who allows even legitimate environmental concerns to distract him from advancing the message of Christ is a bad Christian. A true friend of creation will always put the gospel first.

Some Christians are not very good at preaching, or writing, or praying, or counseling, or even directing traffic in the church parking lot. They are pretty much useless when it comes to anything important. If these people wish to focus on recycling, I have no problem with it. They can even claim to fulfill the "cultural mandate" and make that part of the gospel ministry by force in order to make themselves feel better while the rest of us work at the actual commission that Christ gave us. If this sounds too harsh against those who labor so hard to improve the environment, the main point is that our priority must be to promote the Christian message about sin and righteousness, damnation and salvation, and the incarnation, crucifixion, atonement, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Any other item, no matter how practical and desirable, cannot be combined or equated with this, and must assume a distant second place.

Nowadays people would rather stab their neighbor to death than to allow their cats and turtles to go hungry, but creation itself longs to be set free from the likes of these imbeciles. Only Christians are in tune with creation, because they long for the same thing – not for alternative energy, as wonderful as that might be, but for the completion of the application of redemption. They long not for preservation but culmination, not for perpetuation but consummation. Of course, non-Christians do not share this concern, because that is also the day when they will be cast into the fires of hell. For this reason, non-Christians will always be the enemies of creation. As Christians, we groan together with all of creation not for the salvation of polar bears, but for an end to sin and for the redemption of our bodies.

Jesus Christ is the only hope for humanity and for creation. If creation could talk, it would reprimand some of us for posing as its savior. What arrogance! What dereliction of truth and duty! Be kind to animals, and be good to creation – I am extremely fond of animals, and even more fond of clean air and water – but remember the true work of the gospel and put that above all other considerations. Do not entertain the ridiculous notion that it is as important to save the environment as it is to save human souls. Indeed, these are not mutually exclusive, but they are two different things, and one is clearly more important than the other. If a choice must be made, the ministry of the gospel must always come first.

Go save the whales if you wish – especially if you tend to get in my way when you attempt ministry work – but do not glorify it as some heroic quest. The whales also groan for you annoying zealots to leave them alone and preach the gospel to your fellow men and women. And if you must bother the whales because you are bad preachers (the whales do not need to know this), at least pray for those who share the creation's actual concern while you are cleaning out the blowholes. Then both the preachers and the whales will thank you.

Jesus Christ attained for his chosen ones more than acquittal, as precious and necessary as that is, but in his exceeding kindness, God adopts them as his children and transforms them into the likeness of his Son. Then, his Holy Spirit causes them to be confident in his enduring love toward them, and to be confident in their place as his children. Therefore, a certainty that one has been rescued from condemnation does not go far enough. God has made us his very children, and he wants us to know it.

It is not a question of "Am I a member of this club?" That is a wrong way to regard the issue. When God converts a man through faith in Christ, the Spirit of sonship or adoption enables and inspires the person to address God as "Father." This is at the same time an indication of who God is to the man and who the man is to God. It becomes natural for the man to call God his Father because the man is a child of God. In other words, the confidence of adoption is not contingent on something that you have but concurrent with something that you are. This confidence is not an implication derived from something that we do or have done, but it is an identification with what God has made us. You are one who calls God your Father.

Paul writes, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." Thus the knowledge of our salvation is not a piece of information that we discover, but it is information that the Spirit of God testifies to independent of our effort or our subjective state of mind. Whether the emphasis is on the Spirit testifying to our spirit or along with our spirit, it is information that is announced, even imposed on us, by a foreign person and power.

God has made us into his children, so that we call him Father because of what we are, and the Spirit of God testifies to and with our spirit that we are his children. The result is not a subjective mindset or attitude, but knowledge and certainty. You are what you are – a child of God. And the Spirit says what he says – you cannot make him do it and you cannot stop him from doing it. When God testifies to something to and with your inner being, and when he has made you into that very thing that he testifies about, there is unavoidable knowledge. There can hardly be a more certain form of knowledge even in the life to come.

There is a distinction between the private aspect and the public aspect of our relationship with God, and where the issue of knowledge applies, there is a distinction between private knowledge and public knowledge. Unless we possess omniscience, or almost omniscience, so that we know all the thoughts of all the believers in all of history as they commune with God in their minds, then this distinction is evident and undeniable. And this distinction will persist in the life to come unless we will gain omniscience, or almost omniscience, to know all the thoughts that the saints shall place on the altar of their minds in all of eternity. The distinction between private and public stands even if only one person has only one private thought before God in all of history. This is so not only because we lack omniscience, but because God sees to it that this is the case: "I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it" (Revelation 2:17). This private aspect of our relationship is precious to him, and he will not relinquish it to avoid upsetting our theological traditions and philosophical theories.

This distinction is usually not mentioned when we summarize the Christian faith as an intellectual system and when we engage non-Christians in debate. The reason is that in these contexts the aim is to present the biblical worldview as a public philosophy. The Bible is a public revelation of the history and worldview of the Christian faith. The information is accessible to all to be studied and discussed. This public revelation is what we declare to believers and unbelievers, and it is what we defend before its detractors. The Spirit's testimony that I am a child of God is not what I preach. And it is the Christian faith as a worldview and not myself as a believer that I defend when I face the critics.

Both our private knowledge and our public knowledge in the life to come rest on the same basis as the public knowledge that we now possess – all knowledge comes from God's mind and becomes ours by his action. In the study of philosophy and apologetics, we establish that there is no knowledge apart from what we derive from the Bible. The context is the kind of public knowledge available to us in this life. In effect, this means that our public knowledge in this life is limited to what God has revealed in the Bible, and our private knowledge is limited to what God would cause us to know as stated in the Bible, including the knowledge of adoption. Thus this distinction between private and public knowledge does not leave room for the non-Christian to possess even private knowledge, since their sensations and speculations remain unreliable. And the Christian's private knowledge of his place in Christ is not derived from his sensations and speculations, but it is caused by an action of the Holy Spirit that the man can neither initiate nor prevent.

To further illustrate, consider the innate knowledge of God mentioned in Romans 1 and 2. There it is said that all men possess knowledge of the nature and the power of God as well as the moral requirements of the law apart from the public revelation of Scripture. Although all men possess this knowledge, it is private in the sense that it is internal, so that it is not subject to public examination and cannot be the basis for public declaration – one man cannot examine another man's innate knowledge of God, even if both of them possess it. (Indeed, the influence of this private knowledge is often evident in men's public philosophy, but the knowledge itself remains internal.) This has some similarities to the private knowledge that the chosen ones receive regarding their place in Christ, but there are important differences. The confidence of sonship is not possessed by all men, but only by Christians. And they have this knowledge not because of their natural constitution as those made in the image of God, but because of the special operation of the Holy Spirit.

Christian doctrine must affirm that a private confidence of sonship is possible, and that it is a reality for the believer. It must affirm its possibility because the public revelation of the Bible makes room for it, and it must affirm its reality because the public revelation of the Bible declares it as an operation of the Holy Spirit in the Christian. Although some oppose this doctrine, the Spirit still testifies to my spirit, apart from my effort, that I am a child of God. It is an objective divine work, and not a subjective belief or attitude. It is not a matter of self-discovery or self-knowledge. If he does not testify the same about you, how is that my fault? But some wish to divert attention from their own lack of certainty, and some would crucify the Bible to protect their own tradition or philosophy.

The testimony of the Spirit is a secret operation that results in private knowledge. The Spirit testifies to my spirit that I am a child of God. Again, this is usually not mentioned because we do not relate to one another on the basis of the Spirit's internal testimony. The Spirit does not tell you what I am. You will have to judge me according to the public revelation of the word of God. You must interact with me and examine my confession, my character, and so on. I cannot preach the Spirit's testimony to the non-Christian, and it would offer him little personal profit to believe that I am a child of God. Rather, I must declare to him the gospel and the doctrines of Jesus Christ, so that he might believe and become a child of God.

Now if we are children of God, then we are also heirs of God, even co-heirs with Christ. Because of this, we have the confidence to endure suffering, knowing that if we share in his sufferings, we shall also share in his glory. On the other hand, non-Christians lack the Spirit of adoption and his testimony that they are children of God. They shall inherit nothing but fire and brimstone.

The word "law" is used in two different senses in the surrounding passages. It can refer to a rule or command, or a system of rules and commands. Paul uses the word with this meaning when he writes, "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin" (7:14). Then, the word can also refer to a regularity of operation, a vital principle, or a controlling force. As Paul says, "So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me" (7:21).

There is an evil force at work in every non-Christian. Even if the non-Christian is not possessed by a demon, he might as well be. This dark power drives him to unbelief and rebellion, to speak all sorts of damnable blasphemies and to espouse all kinds of absurd scientific and religious theories. Thus the non-Christian becomes the personification of sin and stupidity. If you want to see sin do its work, look at the non-Christian. If you want to see what stupidity does when it has lips and arms and legs, watch anyone who does not believe in Jesus Christ. This evil force runs his life – it is his life – and he cannot overcome it or escape from it. And because the non-Christian is so sinful and stupid, he does not want to escape it. This power has reduced man into a mere brute. If nothing is done for him, he will remain sinful and stupid all his life, and even as he burns in hell in the life to come.

Now "the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God" (v. 7-8). The non-Christian cannot obey God, and even though he lacks the ability to obey, this failure to obey is still counted as sin. Therefore, human ability and freedom have nothing to do with whether a transgression has occurred, they have nothing to do with whether the transgression results in condemnation, and they have nothing to do with whether this condemnation accords with justice. For the same reason, the fact that theologians consider it important to argue for the existence of human freedom in some sense, and for the compatibility of this freedom with divine sovereignty, shows that they have already disowned the biblical doctrine even as they pretend to defend it.

There is another power. It is the power of the Spirit, which comes to a man and assumes control as God causes him to have faith in Jesus Christ and transforms him into a Christian. This is the power of life. This is the power of righteousness. This is the power of intelligence. This is the power of holiness and resurrection. It is not a power that we take hold of, but it is a power that takes hold of us, because God has decided to show kindness toward us and by this law of the Spirit of life he delivers us from the law of sin and death. Therefore, although Christians find themselves in some of the same circles and societies as the non-Christians, the followers of Jesus Christ live on a superior plane. Poison, death, and evil are at work in the non-Christians, killing their bodies and rotting their minds. But at work in the Christians are faith, joy, blessing, and reverence. As Jesus said, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" (John 10:10, ESV).

The two different forces produce two different kinds of people. These two kinds of people are distinguished by their mentalities, their desires, and their preoccupations: "Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires" (v. 5). Two different kinds of fruit result from this. As Paul writes to the Galatians, "The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like….But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:19-23).

Non-Christians are "controlled by the sinful nature." But to the Christians, Paul says, "You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ." So one who is a Christian also has the Spirit, and one who has the Spirit is also controlled by the Spirit. If one is controlled by the sinful nature, then he does not have the Spirit, and he is a non-Christian.

These insights – that the Christian has the Spirit living in him, and that the Spirit rules over him to set his mind on the things of the Spirit – provide the Christian practical help as he strives to grow in strength and holiness. Whereas the non-Christian is ruled by sin and cannot submit to God, the Christian is ruled by the Spirit and he does submit to God. He is not only able to do this, but he knows how to do it. Paul tells the Galatians: "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature" (Galatians 5:16).

In other words, the Christian can remain free from sin and grow in righteousness by being what has now become natural to him, by living in accordance with the dominant power that rules his thoughts and passions. This does not mean that all temptations have vanished and that he will never stumble again. Although Jesus Christ has fully accomplished redemption for his people, its application follows a divine plan and is not yet complete. The same Spirit who has made his dwelling in the Christian and who has started to rule over him and to transform him will also complete the change at the resurrection of the dead.

So although it seems that a struggle remains, it is not like the tension between an ignorant zeal for the law and the inherent rebellion of the sinful nature. No, the Christian's desire for righteousness is good, sincere, and empowered by the Spirit of God. His energies are not exhausted in trying to extricate himself from the clutches of sin, but the Spirit gives wings to his true desire for truth and holiness as he pursues these things with wild abandon. And as he does so, he will "not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." It is now possible to "put to death the misdeeds of the body" (Romans 8:13).

The Bible teaches this pattern in a number of places. Paul counsels the Ephesians to "put off the old self" and to "put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 5:22-23). Hebrews 12 admonishes us to "throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles" (v. 1), and to run the race marked out for us, not only to escape from evil, but to run with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (v. 2).

Paul applies this to practical items as he writes, "He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Ephesians 4:28-29). The strategy to overcome sin is mainly positive, not negative. That is, a Christian should not only stop stealing, but he should work to supply for himself and to share with others. The Christian who used his words for evil should not only stop doing it, but he should now use his words to build up faith and hope in others.

If you are a Christian, then the power of the Holy Spirit is in you, driving you to desire and to perform the works of Jesus Christ. You might still struggle, and you might still stumble, but now Jesus Christ has drastically transformed the battle, and it is one that he has already won for you. Actively pursue the good things, and you will find that you enjoy doing them. This is the new you, and by developing in that direction, you will be living in the Spirit, and putting to death the deeds of the flesh. This is what is called being "led by the Spirit of God" (Romans 8:14), as Jesus Christ fills us with his power and ushers us into a glorious life of purpose, truth, and holiness.