2.7 The Eternal Decrees of God

2.7.1 Overview

We teach that God, from all eternity, by His perfect wisdom, holy intra-Trinitarian counsel and free will, sovereignly and unchangeably decreed and ordained everything that comes to pass. We teach that God has decreed the end from the beginning – namely, all of history – that is, past, present and future as well as succession of moments in eternity. We teach God’s eternal counsel forever stands and God will perfectly and completely accomplish all God has purposed. We teach that the ultimate purpose of the eternal decrees of God is to glorify God.

(cf. Genesis 45:8; 50:20; Job 14:1-5; Psalm 33:11; 39:4; 119:89-91; Proverbs 16:4, 33; 19:21; Isaiah 14:24; 46:10; John 1:13; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28; 17:26; Romans 8:29-30; 9:1-33; 11:33-36 Ephesians 1:4, 6, 9-11, 12, 14; 2:8-10; 3:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 1:9; Hebrews 9:27-28; 1 Peter 1:2; Revelation 4:11).

2.7.2 Introduction

We DO NOT teach that God is the author of sin (cf. Genesis 50:20; Psalm 5:4; 92:15; Habakkuk 1:13; 1 John 1:5; 3:5; James 1:13).

We DO NOT teach that God makes plans or alters His plans as human history develops.

We teach that God has eternally made His plans from all eternity and His plans remain eternally fixed and unaltered.

We DO NOT teach that God offered violence to the will of His creatures (cf. Genesis 4:6-8).

We DO NOT teach that the independent decrees of God contradict the liberty or contingency of second causes.

We teach that the sovereign decrees of God establish the liberty and contingency of second causes.[1]

We teach that the eternal decrees of God are not inconsistent with free agency. The eternal decrees of God do not take away man’s responsibility to do right. We DO NOT teach that the eternal decrees of God remove accountability upon the motives of man to which man must give an account to God. We DO NOT teach that the eternal decrees of God remove the responsibility for the exertion of human will to practice what is right to which man must give an account to God. What is more, the eternal decrees of God do not make God the author of sin.

We teach that the eternal decrees of God are the eternal purposes of God based on God’s most wise and holy eternal counsel, through which God freely and unchangeably, for God’s own glory, decreed all that comes to pass including the fact that evil is in the world as well as the eternal purpose for the salvation of everyone who would ever trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved from the wrath of God (cf. Isaiah 14:24-27; Romans 8:28; Ephesians 1:4, 9, 11; 3:9-11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13, 16; 2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2; 1 Peter 1:20; Revelation 13:8).

We teach that the eternal decrees of God are based upon God’s perfections and because God is holy and righteous – We teach that God cannot purpose anything that is wrong. We teach that everything God has eternal decreed He eternally decreed in the most holy, righteous and good way.

We teach that the means to which the eternal decrees of God have as their end is the glory of God – which never ends. We teach that God is absolute perfection.

We teach that the eternal decrees of God envelope exhaustively and completely without exception all that comes to pass, namely, all the past, the present and the future as well as all succession of moments in eternity, with no one or nothing excluded from being under the Theistic-deterministic jurisdiction of God and God’s Sovereign decree. We teach that everything has been pre-determined by God. We teach that there is no one or nothing outside of God that influenced God in making God’s eternal decrees.

https://bcri.wordpress.com/2016/06/24/on-predestination-double-predestination-and-limited-atonement/

2.7.3 The Wisdom of God

We teach that the wisdom and knowledge of God perfectly correlates and is in perfect eternal harmony to the eternal decrees of God. God’s wisdom is God’s perfect knowledge to act to bring about His eternal purpose and perfectly glorify Himself and is not subject to anyone or anything outside of God (cf. Romans 11:33; 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16; Ephesians 1:8-14; 3:10-11; Colossians 1:16; Revelation 4:9-11; 5:12-13).

We teach that God created everyone and everything by His Word in the most wise and holy counsel of His own will (cf. Genesis 1:3; Job 12:13; Psalm 33:6; 147:15; 148:5; Isaiah 40:8; 48:13; Hebrews 11:3).

We teach God created everyone and everything by His wisdom and God redeems whosoever He wills by His wisdom (cf. Job 38:1-42:6; Isaiah 40:28; Psalm 19:1-7; 104; Proverbs 8-9; Jeremiah 10:12; Deuteronomy 4:6-8; Romans 16:25-27; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16).

We teach that God’s wisdom and knowledge is eternal and not subject to change in temporal succession – in other words, God knows everything at once from eternity and in totality while knowing all distinctions and all order. God’s knowledge has the eternally perfect logical order and structure. We teach God’s knowledge is from Himself and is not dependent on anyone or anything outside Himself.

We teach that the word of the cross of Christ is the power of God and Christ Jesus is the power of God and the wisdom of God (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16).

2.7.4 The Will of God

We teach that God’s will is perfect. God’s will is His eternal sovereign intentional purpose and independent superintendency in governing the direction of all that comes to pass. We teach that God has determined all that comes to pass from His will.

The NT words that were used to describe the will of God are the Greek terms βουλή boulé (noun), βούλημα bouléma (noun), βούλομαι boulomai (verb), θέλημα theléma (noun), and θέλω theló (verb).[2]

We teach that the will of God is the predetermined plan and predestined purpose for the Lord Jesus Christ to die on the cross in penal-substitutionary atonement for everyone who would ever trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved from the wrath of God, thus atoning for sin and reconciling sinners to God (cf. Luke 22:42; Acts 2:23; 4:28).

We teach it is the will of God to extend His salvation to the elect. We teach that God wants and desires to birth faith in the elect which empowers them to believe in the Person and finished redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ and continue in believing unto glory persevering to the end (cf. Ephesians 1:9; Hebrews 10:36-39).

We teach that everyone and everything is dependent on the will of God, e.g. creation, preservation of creation, governments, election and reprobation, suffering, regeneration, sanctification, every man’s life and destiny, as well as the biggest things down to the smallest things (cf. Psalm 135:6; Proverbs 21:1; Isaiah 45:9; Jeremiah 18:6; Daniel 4:17-35; Matthew 10:29; Luke 22:42: Acts 2:23; 4:27-28; 18:21; 22:23; Romans 9:15-18; 12:1-3; 15:32; Ephesians 1:11-12; Philippians 2:13; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; James 4:15; 1 Peter 3:17; Revelation 4:11).

We teach God’s will is sovereign and independent (cf. Psalm 115:3; Proverbs 21:1; Job 9:1-10:22; Isaiah 10:15; 29:16; 30:14; 40:15-17; 46:10; 64:8; Jeremiah 18:1-10; Daniel 4:35; Matthew 20:15; Romans 9:19-24).

We teach it is God’s will for believers to be separate from the world-system. We teach that it is God’s will for believers to live lives of purity – that is, practicing abstaining from sexual immorality and this is God’s will in sanctification (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:3).

We teach it is God’s will for believers to have full assurance of salvation (cf. Colossians 4:12).

We teach that it is God’s will for the church to be ruled by a plurality of elders without partiality and served by a plurality of deacons without military, medical and business pragmatism (cf. Timothy 3:1-16; 5:17-22; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-18; Romans 12:7-13; Titus 1:5-13; Philippians 1:1; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 5:1-4).

We teach that leadership, offices and gifts in the church come only by the will of God (cf. Ephesians 1:1; Colossians 1:1).

We teach it is God’s will for the church and church membership not to be based on the worldliness of the American dream – that is, making the decision to join a church based on one’s own family, secular work, military service, material goals, retirement, recreation, personal preferences, or public persona, but instead to make decisions where the Lord Jesus Christ comes first and where His church is not a second or third tier commodity (cf. Romans 12:1-2; James 4:15; 1 Peter 5:2; 1 John 2:17).

We teach that God is omniscient and God will have the victory by accomplishing all that God has willed concerning the church as well as the eternal security of the Christian (Romans 8:26-30).

We teach that believers in the Lord Jesus Christ practice the will of God from the heart (cf. Ephesians 6:6). We teach that believers practice what is right (cf. John 9:31; 1 Peter 2:15)

We teach that it is God’s will for believer in the Lord Jesus Christ to share in the sufferings of Christ and as such, suffering in the Christian life is according to the will of God (cf. 1 Peter 4:19).

We teach there is perfect harmony and agreement in the Godhead concerning the will of God. We teach that God is not a frustrated deity. We teach there is no confusion in the Godhead. We teach there is unity in the Godhead concerning the will of God. We teach that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit cooperate in the economy of the Godhead concerning God’s will in seeking to save those who have been set upon by electing grace from eternity. We teach the Father elects, the Son comes to die for the elect and the Holy Spirit gathers the elect through regeneration (cf. Matthew 20:28; Luke 19:10; John 1:12-13; 3:1-17; 4:34; 5:19, 30; 6:38-40; Ephesians 1:3-14; Titus 3:5).

We teach that the will of God cannot be frustrated by man. We teach that God is not restrained in accomplishing His purposes. We teach God knows what God is doing and accomplishes all His purposes (cf. Isaiah 46:9-10; 55:11).

We teach that the ultimate explanation for the will of God is found in the vicarious propitiatory penal-substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead (cf. Acts 2:23-24).

2.7.5 The Logical Order of the Decrees of God

We teach predestination. The word προορίζω (proorizó) “predetermine” was used no less than six times in the New Testament (cf. Acts 4:28; Romans 8:29, 30; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 1:5, 11). The term was comprised of the preposition (πρό) “before” and (ὁρίζω) horizó to which the English word “horizon” was derived.[3] Therefore, προορίζω literally means “before horizons.” The word ὁρίζω as a verb means “I define, determine, appoint, decree, I separate, mark off by boundaries; I determine, appoint, designate” and was found no less than seven times in the New Testament (cf. Luke 22:22; Acts 2:23; 10:42; 11:29; 17:26; 31; Romans 1:4).

We teach that eternity is not a measurement of time. Instead, eternity is static – that is, eternity is a fixed state. We teach predeterminism or predestination is always to be understood from the perspective of God’s eternal decree (cf. Ecclesiastes 3:14).

We teach that the ultimate explanation for predestination is found in the vicarious propitiatory penal-substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead (cf. Acts 2:23-24).

We teach the logical order of God's decree to decree the fall of man in relation to God’s decree to save some sinners through election and condemn others through reprobation by way of an infralapsarian decree.[4]

We teach that the decree of election and reprobation respectively are decreed from eternity (cf. Ephesians 1:4-6; Romans 9:18-23).

When one reads the Word of God one reads of the biblical succession of facts and acts one after another in time – and we teach it was by one single act that God has at once ordained these things from eternity.

We teach that God from eternity, by His grace and according to the free good pleasure of His will (cf. Romans 9:18), God chose from eternity in Christ to save a definite number of particular people out of the entire human race (cf. Ephesians 1:4-14) - a race that had fallen in time after the foundation of the world by its own fault from its original innocence into sin and ruin (cf. Genesis 1-3).

We teach the logical order of God’s eternal decrees as follows:

(1) The decree of God to create the world and humanity in it.

(2) The decree of God to permit the Fall of humanity.

(3) The decree of God to predestine/elect some fallen humans to salvation and eternal life and predestine others to damnation and everlasting punishment in hell.

(4) The decree of God to provide salvation through Christ’s atonement (limited) for the redemption of the elect.

(5) The decree of God to send God the Holy Spirit to gather the elect through regeneration and apply salvation (the righteousness of Christ) to the elect and leave the reprobate to their deserved fate (cf. John 1:12-13; 3:1-36; 16:7-11).

We teach that it was not merely some of the members of the human race who were the objects of God’s decree to create, but all of mankind.

We teach it was not merely some men, but the entire human race, which was decreed to fall in Adam (cf. Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22a).

We teach when it comes to election and reprobation, all men are fallen and are equally unworthy and guilty (cf. Romans 9:21).

We teach that the elect have been chosen “out of the world” (cf. John 15:19).

We teach that election is solely of the sovereign grace and mercy of God and therefore is unmerited by the object of God’s electing grace (cf. Romans 9:16, 23).

We teach that reprobation is judicial and is a manifestation of the justice of God to render just deserts upon the sinfulness of the object that is reprobate (cf. Romans 1:24, 26, 28; 9:22; Job 21:30).

We teach it was from the mass of the entire fallen race of men that some were elected to eternal life while others were sentenced to eternal conscious torment for their sins.

We DO NOT teach supralapsarianism.[5]

Supralapsarianism is the view that God’s decrees of election and reprobation preceded God’s decrees to create mankind and decree the fall of mankind in order to apply God’s plan of reprobation. However, it was all men who were objects of God’s decree to create and it was all men who fell in Adam. Election no longer is grounded on the idea of Grace if election logically precedes the decree to create and permit the fall – that is, to elect some creatable men to life and to condemn others to destruction and then apply sin because God needed sinful creatures on which to be wrathful. Supralapsarians emphasize this idea of discrimination. What is more, it has been taught by supralapsarians that God is the author of sin.[6] The final reason why supralapsarianism is false is due to the compartmentalization of God’s attributes.[7]

We DO NOT teach that God is the author of evil.

We DO NOT teach that God is the author of sin.

We DO NOT teach an abstract sovereignty.

We DO NOT teach that God’s sovereignty is exercised in an arbitrary way.

We teach that the Sovereignty of God is in perfect unity and inseparable constrained to all of God’s perfections.

We teach that God cannot commit sin. We teach that God possesses the divine incommunicable attribute called impeccability.

2.7.6 The Theodicy of God

We teach the theodicy of God.

Theodicy is a Greek term that literally means “God-just.” Theo means “God” and dicy or dikē means “just.” The Greek root for just is found in the Greek word for righteousness, namely, “δίκαιος, ία, ιον.”[8] Δίκαιος is an adjective which is defined of God as, “just, righteous, a just judge” (cf. John 17:25; Rom 3:26).”[9] The same word is described of God the Son, the second Person of the Eternal Trinity, namely the Lord Jesus Christ (God in human flesh), in 1 John 2:1 which reads, “we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” In the Context of 1 John 2:1-2 it is Jesus who is an advocate with the Father against sin. Consequently, it is Jesus Christ who satisfies God the Father’s wrath toward sin. This propitiation is through the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Δίκαιος is also used to describe the excellent innocence of Jesus Christ in Lk 23:47. The Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate standard of righteousness and perfection.

The opposite of righteousness is the word “ἀδικία” (unrighteous) and it is described of fallen man in Romans 1:18. The alpha privative on “ἀδικία” indicates non- “dikē” or non- justice/righteousness. The word ἀδικία is used in 1 John 5:17a which reads, “All unrighteousness is sin”. Early in 1 John 3:4 the author defined sin when he wrote, “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness”. In the next verse, the author identifies the Lord Jesus Christ as being the one who came to take away sins and the one who has no sin in Him when he writes, “You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5; cf. Heb 4:15). Therefore, God is righteous and He will judge unrighteousness (i.e. sin). He cannot judge unrighteousness if He is not righteous and He is not righteous if He has any unrighteousness or created unrighteousness. To this effect, the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit made an explicit theodicy argument when he wrote, “But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.) May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world?” (Romans 3:5-6; see Isa 10:1-4).

This same issue was taught in the book of Genesis with the patriarch Joseph and his brothers. For instance, Joseph’s own brothers plotted to kill him, but he was sold into slavery, stealing him away from his family in an attempt to destroy his life (cf. Gen 37:18-36). Therefore, the brothers’ intent was wicked toward Joseph. But why did those terrible things happen to Joseph? God tells us why these terrible things happened to Joseph – that is, “as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (Gen 50:20). Genesis 50:20, as well as the book of Job, are clear examples of the doctrine of concurrence. In the case of Joseph’s suffering, God meant it for good, whereas the brothers meant it for evil. God’s intent was only for Joseph’s good and the good of others. On the other hand, the brothers took exception to Joseph and committed evil against their own brother. God decreed the entire event before the foundation of the world. God brought the event to pass. Joseph suffered. Yet God’s intent was only for good, and God holds the human agency – that is, the brothers, responsible. Therefore, God is always justified. Moreover, God, Joseph and Job were all magnanimous toward those who caused them harm or in Job’s case those who were worthless counselors who added to Job insult to injury (cf. 42:7-10). This is the issue of Theodicy – that is, justifying the existence of the Omni-Benevolent Sovereign God when we suffer in a world in which evil is a reality of our daily experience.

The most challenging question a person can be asked when they suffer is the question God asked Job in chapter 40, verse 8 – that is, “Will you really annul My judgment? Will you condemn Me that you may be justified?” This question is at the heart of the book of Job, for reason that God is the main character of the book and as consequence Job is about Theodicy (i.e. justifying the existence of the omnibenevolent God and defending God’s Sovereign decrees when there is suffering and evil in the world). We teach that the book of Job helps believers understand theodicy and the sovereign decrees of God as well as personally helping believers navigate through their own trials and sufferings in life that God has ordained for them by His Sovereign wisdom and will. We teach that the word of God is the ultimate source that defends and accurately represents God when there is suffering, and remind the readers when they suffer to entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right (cf. 1 Peter 4:19).

We teach that the ultimate explanation for the theodicy of God is found in the Person and vicarious propitiatory penal-substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead (cf. Acts 2:23-24). For concerning humanity – it was the Lord Jesus Christ who was the only truly innocent sinless person who has ever suffered. And it is only by faith in His personal righteousness, finished cross work and resurrection from the dead that the believing sinner is declared justified by God (cf. Job 9:1-2; 16:19; 19:25-27; Isaiah 53:1-12 emphasis on v. 11; Luke 18:13-14; Romans 3:19-31; 4:1-25; 5:1-21; 1 Corinthians 15:17; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 2:20).

2.7.7 Summary

We teach the Sovereignty of God.

We teach the wisdom of God – see section 2.7.3 above.

We teach the will of God – see section 2.7.4 above.

We teach predestination – namely, that God has predestined everything that comes to pass.

We teach the logical order of the eternal decrees of God – see section 2.7.5 above

We teach the theodicy of God – see section 2.7.6 above.

We teach that at the heart of the eternal decrees of God is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We teach that the ultimate explanation for predestination as well as the will, wisdom and logical order of the eternal decrees is found in the vicarious propitiatory penal-substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection from the dead (cf. Acts 2:23-24; Romans 5:6-11; Galatians 4:4; 1 Peter 3:18).

We DO NOT teach that God is the author of sin (cf. Genesis 1:31; Psalm 5:4-6; Habakkuk 1:13; James 1:13-18; 1 John 1:5).

[1] We agree with the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter III of God’s Eternal Decree; article I which reads, “God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.”

[2] Nowhere in the NT is the word ἡδονή [hédoné] (i.e. from where the term hedonism is derived) used to describe the will of God or the pleasure of God (cf. Luke 8:14; Titus 3:3; James 4:1, 3; 2 Peter 2:13). What is more, the desire God has for believers to live by faith is not an eros sexual desire. To please God by faith does not mean a desirous hedonistic pleasure seeking. Every time the term ἡδονή [hédoné] is used in the NT it is used negatively to identify sinful desire (cf. Luke 8:14; Titus 3:3; James 4:1, 3; 2 Peter 2:13). The Greek term for “please” from the phrase “and without faith, it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6) is the Greek term εὐαρεστέω [euaresteó] which has the sense to mean “good and acceptable service” (cf. see Hebrews 10:38). John Piper founder of Desiring God Ministries, was in error when he said, “the book of Hebrews is a ‘go-to’ text for me in arguing about the connection between vertical hedonism and horizontal hedonism. Now, vertical hedonism is God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in Him . . . that’s me and God. And what glorifies God most? Answer – when I am most deeply satisfied in Him. . . How does that become horizontal? The answers to Hebrews 11 is ‘by faith.’” The Master’s Seminary, “Affections and Salvation in the book of Hebrews: A Conversion with John Piper” (video interview by Austin Duncan, Uploaded April 12, 2023) accessed April 15, 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x035KI9wNU4&t=34s. However, the connection between what God desires with faith is not a connection between ἡδονή [hédoné] kind of pleasure and pistis (faith) but instead the connection is between θέλημα [theléma] “will” and πίστις [pistis] cf. 2 Corinthians 8:5-7; and the connection between the εὐδοκέω [eudokeó] to be well-pleased and pistis (faith) cf. Hebrews 10:36-39; Ephesians 1:9.

[3] The preposition (πρό) “before” in juxtaposition with (ὁρίζω) is not to be understood as coming from the sphere or domain of time [i.e. chronological succession of moments measured by and constrained to a point of origin (i.e. beginning period) and a point of cessation (i.e. ending period)] but rather as God’s eternal decree.

[4] The term lapsarian has the Latin root lapsus meaning fall. In Theology, lapsarianism has the sense to mean the fall of humanity (cf. Genesis 3). Supra-lapsarianism means before lapse (fall). Infra-lapsarianism means after lapse (fall). Sub-lapsarianism means under lapse (fall).

[5] The grammar in Romans 9:22-23 makes a case for double predestination and limited atonement, but does it make a case for a supralapsarianism or an infralapsarianism double predestination? Romans 9:22-23 teaches double predestination because there are two fixed fates for two types of people – that is, the non-elect are destined for reprobation and will suffer divine wrath for eternity and the elect are destined for justification and as such are saved from the wrath of God. Justification is the act in which God declares His righteousness to the account of the believing sinner. Because of the grammar in Romans 9:22-23 the passage does not teach supralapsarianism. For example, the Apostle Paul maintained God’s Sovereignty over salvation and reprobation when he wrote, “So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires” (Romans 9:18) – And when Paul explained the fairness of the situation he wrote, “You will say to me then, ‘Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?’ On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,’ will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?” (Romans 9:19-21). Then Paul asked the following question: “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?” (Romans 9:22). Next, Paul wrote, “And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory.” (Romans 9:23). The two categories of people namely “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction” and “vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory” have different words in Greek used for “prepared.” For instance, the Greek word “prepared” from “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction” out of verse 22 is κατηρτισμένα, a perfect participle passive accusative neuter plural from the verb καταρτίζω (I fit together, prepare). Because the voice of this participle is passive the subject receives the action. If the voice was active the subject performs the action. Paul used a completely different Greek word and form (i.e. a verb and not a participle) for “prepared” in verse 23 for “vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory” – namely, προητοίμασεν from the Greek verb προετοιμάζω (I prepare beforehand, predestine). The word used for “He prepared beforehand” from verse 23 is not a participle like the word “prepared” (κατηρτισμένα) from verse 22. Instead, the word used for “He prepared beforehand” from verse 23 is a verb. What is more, it is in a different tense (i.e. Aorist) and is in a completely different voice – namely, active voice. God is clearly the subject that performs the action to the object of verse 23 because the “vessels” of verse 23 are in the accusative case – the accusative case is the case that designates the direct object in Greek and functions to show the direction or extent or end of an action. The direct object is shown in verse 23 to be governed by the active verb “He prepared beforehand” where God is the subject, the verb is active, showing the subject performing the action on the direct object – namely, “vessels of mercy . . . for glory.” Paul maintains in Romans 9:22-23 the wrath of God, though he showed a distinction in the Greek tenses that cannot be ignored. God actively prepared vessels for glory (i.e. the elect). On the other hand, vessels are prepared for destruction, where the voice is passive or middle because these vessels are storing up wrath for themselves – “But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God” (Romans 2:5). Paul wrote, “you are treasuring up to yourself wrath” (literally), and there “in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” The non-elect are destined for reprobation in God’s court and the sentence of the judgment of God but they prepared this themselves and God is not responsible for their sin. Instead, man is responsible for preparing himself, treasuring up wrath for himself (cf. Romans 2:5), and consequently are objects of the wrath of Almighty God. Although the Gospel message of the Lord Jesus Christ goes forth and God commands all men everywhere to repent “because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31), those who are reprobate refuse to repent. Man must be born again to have the ability to repent, yet everyone is responsible to repent of their sins and turn to God. The word reprobate in the King James Version is from Romans 1:28 which reads, “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper” (for ἀδόκιμος “fail to pass the test; unapproved” cf. 1 Corinthians 9:27; 2 Corinthians 13:5, 6, 7; 2 Timothy 3:8; Titus 1:16; Hebrews 6:8). The word reprobate is an adjective and was used to describe the mind of a person dead in their sin – that is, total depravity. In Ephesians 2:1-3 Paul wrote that everyone is in a state of total inability (depravity) concerning their minds “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.” – and Paul wrote that to describe who believers once were before conversion just as the rest of mankind. From the entire lump God only extended His grace to some (these are known as the elect); the rest He left in their condition and did not extend either the grace of unconditional election or the propitiatory vicarious penal-substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ who is “. . . the Lamb having been slain from the founding of the world” (cf. Revelation 13:8).

[6] One particular supralapsarian argued that God is the author of sin when he wrote, “What I’ll do is create something worthy of my wrath, something on which I can exhibit the glory of my wrath . . . I am not accusing God of sinning; I am suggesting that he created sin . . . It was God’s desire to make his wrath known. He needed, then, something on which to be wrathful. He needed to have sinful creatures. R.C. Sproul Jr., Almighty Over All; Understanding the Sovereignty of God (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1999), 52-7.

[7] How does supralapsarianism compartmentalize God’s attributes? The supralapsarian view emphasizes that God’s primary purpose in relation to the world is to glorify himself by saving some people and damning others by displaying His attributes of Holiness and Wrath. However, in the attempt of the supralapsarian school to uphold the specific attributes of God’s Holiness and Wrath, the system actually denies the Holiness of God. For example, Psalm 5:4 reveals that the presence of evil does not abide with God, for sin is contrary to God’s nature, when it reads, “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You.” Why would God create that which is contrary to His nature? If God created sin then He approved of it, but then that would contradict Habakkuk 1:13a-b which reads, “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor.” After God created everything He said in Genesis 1:31a the following, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. . .” Moral Light has no fellowship with immoral darkness (cf. James 1:17; 1 John 1:5). God could not have created sin because James 1:13 reads, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He himself does not tempt anyone.” In James 1:13, namely “μηδεὶς πειραζόμενος λεγέτω ὅτι Ἀπὸ Θεοῦ πειράζομαι ο γαρ Θεὸς ὰπειραστός εστιν κακῶν, πειράζει δὲ αὐτὸς ουδενα,” There is an alpha privative attached to the Greek word for tempted that describes that God cannot be tempted by evil. The word is ἀπείραστός and is an adjective nominative singular masculine that describes that God is not able to be tempted. The word ἀπείραστός is a hapax legomenon (i.e. a term that is recorded only once in the NT) and because it is only found once it has a unique theological significance, namely it is not a part of God’s nature to tempt. It is contrary to God’s nature to be tempted by evil. James 1:13 is found in the same context as 1:17 which reads, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” Within the same context as James 1:13 is the theological context of God described as unchangeable. This means that God is unchangeable and not able to tempt anyone in light of His Self-Existence. Therefore, God could not be the author of sin related to the origin of sin or any present manifestation of sin.

[8] Bruce M. Metzger, Lexical Aids for Students of New Testament Greek, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1998), 14.

[9] William Arndt and F Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature: A Translation and Adaptation of the Fourth Revised and Augmented Edition of Walter Bauer’s Griechisch-Deutsches Wörterbuch Zu Den Schriften Des Neuen Testaments Und der Übrigen Urchristlichen Literatur, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), 195.