Dec 27, 2017
Dr. Leighton Flowers, Director of Apologetics for Texas Baptists, explains why John Piper's teaching necessarily entails that God is acting monergistically in regard to evil. Dr. Leighton Flowers, Director of Apologetics for Texas Baptists, explains why John Piper's teaching necessarily entails that God is acting monergistically in regard to evil.
John Piper on Causality
1. Piper teaches that God decisively causes whether or not you
will trust in Christ or not. This is like the call of Lazarus out
of the grave. Jesus called with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out”
(John 11:43). And the dead man came out. This kind of call creates
what it calls for. If it says, “Live!” it creates life. If it says,
“Repent!” it creates repentance. If it says “Believe!” it creates
faith. If it says “Follow me!” it creates obedience… He really did
call us — like Lazarus — from death to life… grace was decisive in
bringing us to Christ. (i.e. Monergistic regeneration)
(https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-we-believe-about-the-five-points-of-calvinism)
2. Piper teaches that God decisively causes whether or not you
walk in obedience God assisted with some conviction of sin and
some enlightenment, but he did not transgress the sovereign
territory of human self-determination. Therefore, this is his role
in sanctification as well. He can assist with nudges and reminders
and the like, but the final and decisive cause of progressive
holiness is the self-determining power of the human will.
In the one theology God decisively causes me to walk in his
statutes. And in the other theology he suggests that I walk in his
statutes but I provide the decisive urge from my self-determining
power. (i.e. Mongeristic
Sanctification/Obedience) (https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/those-whom-he-justified-he-also-glorified)
3. Piper teaches that God decisively causes all evil preferences and choice.
The more technical definition of free will that some people use is
this: We have free will if we are ultimately or decisively
self-determining, and the only preferences and choices that we can
be held accountable for are ones that are ultimately or decisively
self-determined. The key word here is ultimate, or decisive. The
point is not just that choices are self-determined, but that the
self is the ultimate or decisive determiner. The opposite of this
definition would be that God is the only being who is ultimately
self-determining, and is himself ultimately the disposer of all
things, including all choices — however many or diverse other
intervening causes are.
On this definition, no human being has free will, at any time.
Neither before or after the fall, or in heaven, are creatures
ultimately self-determining. There are great measures of
self-determination, as the Bible often shows, but never is man the
ultimate or decisive cause of his preferences and choices. When
man’s agency and God’s agency are compared, both are real, but
God’s is decisive. Yet — and here’s the mystery that causes so many
to stumble — God is always decisive in such a way that man’s agency
is real, and his responsibility remains.
(https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/a-beginner-s-guide-to-free-will)
For more please visit www.soteriology101.com