Simply Irresistible Part 4

This is part 4 of a series on the doctrine of Irresistible Grace. Here are parts 1, 2, and 3.

Last week I examined John 3:1-15, a key passage in the development of a doctrine of the new birth. Jesus, continuing his conversation with Nicodemus, says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him" (John 3:16-17).

The first thought that comes to a person's mind when coming into initial contact with the doctrines of grace usually has something to do with John 3:16. With good reason they wonder how God could love the world and yet only devote Himself to the salvation of some. For many Calvinists this is not a problem; they will simply argue that "world" here refers to the elect. Or, perhaps (and more likely than the former in my mind) Jesus is speaking of a love that reaches every part of the globe. But I think D.A. Carson gives the most balanced and accurate insight into this text we will find. After rejecting this idea that Jesus is merely referring to the elect he states, "...world in John does not so much refer to bigness as to badness. In John's vocabulary, world is primarily the moral order in willful and culpable rebellion against God. In John 3:16 God's love in sending the Lord Jesus is to be admired not because it is extended to so big a thing as the world, but so bad a thing; not to so many people, as to such wicked people" (The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, 17).

I think Carson is right with an idea that fits the context of what Jesus has been saying and will continue to say to Nicodemus. Man, born in his sinful state, is not intrinsically lovable by God. He must therefore be born of God if he is to enter the kingdom of God. This new birth is described as a free act of the Spirit. So why does Jesus bring his own mission into this conversation on the new birth? His life and death have a deep connection with the new birth; he not only died an atoning death but his death purchases our gift of regeneration (compare Luke 22:20 with Jeremiah 31, I will cover this in a future post).

"Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God" (John 3:18-21).

Here we see a contrast between those who believe in Christ and those who do not believe. Those who believe are not condemned and they come to the light so that it can be seen that their works are of God. This way of speaking parallels very well with Romans 8 and Ephesians 2 (check them out). But those who do not believe are condemned already, you don't have to change your standing with God to be condemned, you are born into that standing. They are wicked and hate the light. Thus, they are resistant to God (I will answer that objection later) and they need a new heart. They need to be born again.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen