one28 PodcastGrant What You Command
The Source of Repentance
Ezekiel 18:30-32; 36:26-27
2009.01.29
09SR Session Four
When it comes to the practice of repentance, what is our biggest problem? Why is it that we don’t repent more quickly? Why is repentance so difficult? Obviously the problem is sin, and as we talked about last night, sin does a masterful job of trapping us with pleasure, but that is not our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is that repentance is beyond our ability. We cannot repent on our own without God’s grace granting us repentance.
The debate over free will is an old one. In fact, it is a 1600 year old debate. Many of the Reformers in the 16th century relit the torch of man’s depravity and God’s sovereignty in salvation, but the first, and probably most foundation debate took place in the 4th and early 5th century between Augustine and Pelagius.
I say it was the first time for the debate because in the first four centuries, the church was busy defending and clarifying other key doctrines such as the Trinity, the Deity of Christ, and the Canon of Scripture. But now, grace and salvation were on the table, and Augustine took up the fight. The subsequent debates between Luther and Erasmus, Calvin and Arminius, Whitefield and Wesley were only rehashing the original.
Our understanding of how repentance comes about is no small issue, nor is it merely a theoretical or doctrinal one. It touches our anthropology–understanding of man, hamartiology–understanding of sin, soteriology–understanding of salvation, our evangelism–how and what we say about the gospel, and it touches our affections and worship.
I believe a large part of the reason why Christians are so weak, why our churches are so worldly, and why our impact on the world is so pitiful is because we don’t know and live in light of God-given repentance. I’m also convinced that one reason God made Augustine’s ministry so fruitful (like the Reformers, Edwards, and Spurgeon later) is because Augustine loved to proclaim, defend, and exalt in God’s sovereignty.
This debate was no small part of Augustine’s life, and it has no small consequences for us today.
The struggle with Pelagianism was thus in reality a struggle for the very foundations of Christianity; and even more dangerously than in the previous theological and Christological controversies, here the practical substance of Christianity was in jeopardy. The real question at issue was whether there was any need for Christianity at all…. (Warfield, “Augustine and the Pelagian Controversy,” A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of teh Christian Church, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1905), 13-71).
So tonight we’re going to consider the Debate and the Doctrine.
The Debate over Free Will
In many ways, the debate starts with Augustine’s Confessions. We wouldn’t normally think an autobiography could cause such a stir. His autobiography was a very popular book. Not only did Augustine himself regard it as the most important of his works, many of his contemporaries carried copies with them and read it like a devotional, for their own personal edification. It was well known, not only for its literary excellence, but also for its spiritual blessing.
One of the most important people ever to read, or actually, to have the book read to him, was a man who reacted violently when chapter 10 was read in his presence. This man was so hot with disagreement, he almost got into a fight with the reader. The man who was upset was Pelagius.
Pelagius was a British monk, well known on his own for preaching morality and seeking the righteous living of his flock. In fact, Augustine had written positive things about Pelagius in the early years of his work. However, Pelagius aimed men at holy living because he was convinced that they had the power, on their own, to live holy lives.
In chapter 10 of the Confessions, Augustine repeated a particular prayer four times. There is nothing else like it in the whole book. No doubt many ideas are repeated, but none word for word like this. The prayer was,
Grant what You command, and command what You will.
A controversy that lasts until today exploded from this one sentence. Pelagius had absolutely no disagreement with the second half of the prayer. Of course, God was the authority and therefore, could make whatever rules He chooses. That is the divine prerogative, and Pelagius was vigorous in his preaching of God’s law.
But he could not handle the first part of Augustine’s prayer: “Grant what You command.” This was completely unacceptable to Pelagius. In fact, he believed that such a naive approach would actually hinder men from obedience rather than help them.
Pelagius assumed one thing that drove his interpretation and perspective on everything else. He assumed that if God commanded men to do things, men must also have the ability to do those things. If men did not have the ability, Pelagius reasoned that God’s command was a fiction.
How could God command us to do anything if we were unable to do what He commands?
This reasoning affected his view of man’s condition, starting with Adam. Adam represented only Adam. “Adam’s sin merely set an ill example, which [man] has been quick to follow.” But that was it. Men are born innocent, but their environment makes them bad. The problems could be solved, according to Pelagious, by education.
Pelagious concluded that men were sinners, but that sin was not so powerful or dominating that it could not be overcome. In addition, Pelagius questioned whether any of God’s grace was necessary for men to choose holiness and attain to heaven. He didn’t deny that there was such a thing as grace, or that grace was helpful, but Pelagius believed that grace was superfluous. God expected His creatures to obey Him. Nothing could be more reasonable than that, and, obviously this must needs be possible. Any man could “work out not only his own salvation, but also his own perfection” (Warfield).
Pelagius seriously underestimated the problem.
Pelagianism had appealed to a universal theme: the need of the individual to define himself, and to feel free to create his own values in the mist of the conventional, second-rate life of society. (Brown, 346)
So Pelagius began to write, and though Augustine was in his 70′s, he knew this was a charge that must be answered. At stake was the gospel itself. If men could obey apart from grace, there was no need or faith or for the cross.
It was a personal issue for Augustine, and he had not always taken the position he would now. He had written in his younger days about the freedom of the will, so much that one biographer claimed “Augustine was, on paper, more Pelagian than Pelagious” (Brown, 148). Pelagius quoted Augustine against himself. But Augustine had come to realize that he was lost apart from God granting him repentance. Here is a sampling. His understanding of grace was rooted in his own experience, along with his reading of the apostle Paul.
Bring me to a sweetness surpassing all the seductive delights which I pursued. Enable me to love you will all my strength that I may clasp Your hand with all my heart. (I. xiv.)
I sought a way to obtain strength enough to enjoy You; but I did not find it until I embraced “the mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). (VII. xviii. 128)
The fact that those things that make for successful progress towards God should cause us delight is not acquired by our good intentions, earnestness and the value of our own good will–but is dependent on the inspiration granted us by God….Surely our prayers are, sometimes, so lukewarm, stone-cold, indeed, and hardly prayers at all…. (quoted in Brown, 155)
So Augustine attributed every change to God’s initiating, sovereign work.
You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, You put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted You, and feel but hunger and thirst for You. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is Yours. (X. xxvi.)
Augustine clearly understood that God gave him everything, including repentance. “Grant what You command, and command what You will.” Augustine taught, “…sinful man depends, for his recovery to good and to God, entirely on the free grace of God” (Warfield, quoted in Piper, 25).
In his first book addressing the need for sovereign grace, On the Grace of Christ, argues that grace is not according to our merit, and makes obedience, possible, not just easier. The second book, On Original Sin, argues that men do not have a capacity for either good or bad. Adam was more than a bad example. On Grace and Free Will was Augustine’s fullest explanation, God sovereignly governs and is wholly gratuitous in His grace. The Gift of Perseverance taught that grace keeps men in faith.
But is it biblical? Augustine thought it was. He said, “We must first bend our necks to the authority of Scripture in order that we may arrive at knowledge and understanding through faith.” Warfield said of Augustine, “No other of the fathers so conscientiously wrought out his theology from the revealed Word; no other of them so sternly excluded human additions….[His theology] leads to God, and it came from God; and in the midst of the controversies of so many ages it has shown itself an edifice whose solid core is built out of material ‘which cannot be shaken.’”
The Doctrine of Sovereign Grace
There is no doubt that God commands repentance. The question is, how do men come to repentance? Why does one repent and the person in the chair next to him doesn’t? Consider a couple passages with me that require repentance.
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live. (Ezekiel 18:30-32)
In Ezekiel 18, the prophet is making a case that men are responsible for their sin. “The one who sins dies” is the point. Fathers and sons and grandsons each answer for their own sin, though there may be overlapping consequences. Ezekiel repeats the message multiple times throughout the chapter: “the soul who sins shall die” (v. 20).
The message of personal responsibility brings Ezekiel to verses 30-32 and a call to repent. Jerusalem is going to be destroyed, but the people should humble themselves before God. The LORD God declares, “I will judge you, o house of Israel, every one according to his ways.” And then not how many things the Lord requires.
- Repent
- Turn
- Cast away
- Make a new heart and a new spirit
- Turn and live
By doing so, they would gain life. He asks, “Why would you die?” He states He is not happy when people die (v. 32). It seems like it is all up to each man himself to choose. He even commands them to make new hearts and new spirits for themselves. It appears not only to be their responsibility, but also within their ability.
The command to repent is also frequent in the NT. It was a major part of the apostles’ message in Acts. Peter commanded repentance at Pentecost (2:38), again at Solomon’s Portico after he and John healed the lame beggar. Paul summarized his ministry, as a call of repentance before King Agrippa (26:19-20) and note in particular his message before the Areopagus in 17:22-32.
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead. (Acts 17:30-31)
Judgment is coming, so God commands repentance. Again it appears like repentance is within man’s grasp. He can choose to repent for life (which makes the most sense) or he can maintain his current course of unrighteousness and pay later.
So why don’t more men repent? Can they really not see the advantage? As we’ve discussed this week, one reason for unrepentance is that their unconvinced the joy will be there like they have now. Another reason may be simple indifference. But I think both of those are driven by a deeper problem. No man can repent without God granting it to him.
Though it doesn’t use the word “repent,” look back at Ezekiel, but this time chapter 36.
Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. And I will deliver you from all your uncleanness. And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. I will make the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field abundant, that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations. Then you will remember your evil ways, and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominations. It is not for your sake that I will act, declares the Lord God; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel. (Ezekiel 36:22-32)
First thing first, this is a specific promise to God’s people, Israel. This is about the New Covenant, and that commitment is for God to the Jews. But part of the promise not mentioned here, is that God graciously opened up His saving plan to the Gentiles, and is currently bringing His chosen from every nation to salvation. Therefore, we participate in the spiritual parts of the promise in Ezekiel 36, though Israel will eventually and fully participate in all of His blessings.
See verses 26 and 27 especially. What God commands in chapter 18, He enables here. Making a new heart and a new spirit are His work, at His initiative. He cleanses us when we were not cleansing ourselves. He enables us to see sin for what it is, “[we] will remember [our] evil ways, and [our] evil deeds that were not good, and [we] will loathe [ourselves] for [our] iniquities and [our] abominations” (v. 31).
This commitment on God’s part is not responsive. It does not wait for us. It does not depend on us. The paragraph opens and closes with the motivation, “for the sake of My holy name.”
This heart transplant is beyond our ability. That’s why we sing, “Lord, now indeed I find, Thy power and Thine alone, can change the lepers’ spots, and melt the heart of stone.” No man has ever successfully performed heart surgery on himself. He wouldn’t even know he needed surgery unless God acted on him. God writes His law on the hearts of men so that it becomes their desire to do His will. It is irresistible grace; those who are given the gift of faith can’t help but believe.
And let’s also see how the men in Acts describe repentance. Peter, who commanded men to repent and believe, said
The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. (Acts 5:30-31)
God gave repentance to Israel, a beginning fulfillment of the New Covenant. It was God’s gift, not man’s product. Peter also acknowledges God’s work among the Gentiles.
If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way? When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.” (Acts 11:17-18)
As he reported God’s work to the church in Jerusalem, he explicitly attributes God’s initiative, and the people respond by acknowledging “God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
I want us to look at one more passage that may be the clearest of them all in regards to God’s sovereign granting of repentance. In 2 Timothy 2:22-26, the apostle Paul provides instructions for Timothy on how to handle those who quarrel and talk ignorantly. The first part of the counsel concerns Timothy’s character (v. 22), then Paul calls him to exercise wisdom and discretion for knowing what battles to fight (v. 23), and then describes the proper approach.
And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. (2 Timothy 2:24-25a)
Then look at the hope.
God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2:25b-26)
The hope is for God to sovereignly intervene. It isn’t about more clearly explaining his argument; repentance leads to a knowledge of the truth, not the other way around. It wasn’t about exposing how awful it is to live according to the devil, because repentance is the only way of escape. The gate of repentance is opened by God. God grants repentance. It is His gift. He doesn’t always grant it, that’s why Paul says “God may perhaps grant repentance.” God may not. It is His sovereign prerogative. But without His initiation, repentance will not happen.
It all starts with God.
I call you into my soul which you are preparing to receive You through the longing which You have inspired in it. (XIII. i.)
Pelagius seriously underestimated the problem. He failed to comprehend the depth of man’s depravity and his captivity to sin and the devil. He was right in seeing that men are responsible to repent, he missed the crucial ingredient of God’s sovereign grace.
Conclusion
There are a least a few clear summary points to make.
First, we need to repent. God requires it. If we will not repent, we will be judged to eternal death.
Second, we do not have the power to repent. Even our repentance depends on God.
Third, we must throw ourselves on God’s mercy, acknowledge our wickedness and our weakness, asking Him to forgive us and help us turn away from sin.
And fourth, if we do that, if we repent, if we start to see sin for what it is and turn from it to God, we must give every part of the credit to God. He must get the praise for any good that comes through our lives.
The song, “Were It Not for Grace” by Larnelle Harris
In my soul I yearned to follow God
But knew I’d never be so strong
I looked hard at this world
To learn how heaven could be gained
Just to end where I began
Where human effort is all in vain.Were it not for grace
I can tell you where I’d be
Wandering down some pointless road to nowhere
With my salvation up to me
I know how that would go
The battles I would face
Forever running but losing the race
Were it not for grace
That is exactly where each one of us would be. This is theocentric salvation.
“Grant what You command, and command what You will.”
First and foremost because no subject [but grace] gives me greater pleasure. For what ought to be more attractive to us sick men, than grace, grace by which we are healed; for us lazy men, than grace, grace by which we are stirred up; for us men longing to act, than grace, by which we are helped? (quoted in Brown, 355)
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