by Patch Blakey
The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, has some of the highest humidity of any city on the East Coast during the summer months. For the incoming class of midshipmen (Plebes) at the Naval Academy, the humidity is a particularly unwelcome "shipmate" during their first summer of indoctrination.
In an effort to prepare them morally, mentally, and physically, the Plebes are frequently exposed to rigorous physical exercise (with due concern being provided that it's not overly demanding for the level of humidity). This training often occurs just before noon meal formation when the Plebes are expected to look their best for visitors and for inspecting officers.
At noon meal formations, the midshipmen may be inspected by a Marine Major, with a crisply pressed uniform, closely shaven head, and penetrating, unsympathetic eyes, without the slightest hint of moisture on his person. Conversely, the Plebes, at rigid attention, would, like the Wicked Witch of the West, look to all the world as though they were melting in a pool of their own sweat. And then the Major would chance upon some hapless Plebe and, with a piercing gaze, ask, "Are you sweating?" The fearful Plebe would croak back with as much chutzpah as he could muster, "YES, SIR!" To which the Major would respond, "Well . . . knock it off! That's an order!"
To many Christians, this is the same kind of absurdity that they imagine when someone suggests that God commands men to repent and believe, but that men are unable to do so in and of themselves. "How can God hold men responsible for something that they do not have the ability to do?" they ask. This, they assert, would make God out to be unfair or unjust; a sadist who delights in watching men try to do the impossible. And because such a god does not coincide with their imagination, he could not be God, Who would "never" require men to do something that they can't.
I would readily agree with them that God is no sadist. However, is it true that the Bible teaches that God never requires men to do what they are unable to do? Or another way of stating it, are men responsible for what God has ordained them to be? Let's look at some examples.
In 2 Samuel 24:1, it reads, "And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, "Go, number Israel and Judah." Yet nine verses later after the deed had been done, David `s conscience caused him to repent of his sin in numbering the people. And then in verses 12 and 13, the seer Gad was sent to David by God to declare God's punishment for David's sin: Go and say unto David, "Thus says the Lord, I offer you three things; choose you one of them, that I may do it unto you." So Gad came to David, and told him and said unto him, "Shall seven years of famine come unto you in thy land? Or will you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue thee? Or will there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me."
So even though it was God who moved David to give the order, God still held David responsible.
God had ordained for Jesus to be put to death by ungodly men at the instigation of the Jews, "Him, being delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2:23). Yet God held those same Jews responsible for their evil deed: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36; cf Acts 3:14,15; 4:10; 7:52). In fact, that whole generation was condemned. "Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you shall kill and crucify; . . . that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom you slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation" (Matt. 23:34_36).
God commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). But the Scriptures teach that it is impossible for men to repent in their state of sinfulness: "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:7-8; cf. 1 Cor. 2:14, Heb. 11:6). Unrepentant sinners are condemned to eternal damnation: "I tell you, nay: but, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3,5). God holds men responsible for their inability. Yet God is not unjust so as to condemn the righteous (1 Kings 8:32), nor does He take pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 33:11). God is righteous in all His acts (Judg. 5:11).
Since the Scriptures demonstrate that God does hold men responsible for their actions despite their inability, then the Church needs to re-evaluate its position on this issue. The Bible testifies that salvation "is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. . . . Therefore he has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens" (Rom. 9:15, 18). Yet someone is bound to ask, "How can God hold men responsible for their inability since no one can resist His will?" "Nay but, O man, who are you that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, `Why have you made me thus?'" (Rom. 9:20).
God is not on trial before us. Rather it is we who are ever under the scrutiny of a righteous and holy God, our Creator, Who is far more demanding and just than any Marine Major conducting a noon meal inspection of Plebes at the Naval Academy.
A few years ago, a friend of mine who is a financial consultant told me of an encounter he had with a prospective client. The person, an officer of considerable responsibility and commensurate pay (I'll call him the Colonel), came to see my consultant friend about setting up some sort of financial plan to provide for himself and his wife after he retired from military service.
The Colonel and his wife had spent their twenty-plus years in the military service spending all of his pay and then going into debt to take frequent, extravagant vacations to the Caribbean at posh hotels. Their vacationing had cost them heavily. They were over $100,000 in debt without any tangible assets to help offset their obligations. On top of this, the Colonel was only a few months away from retiring. He was about to lose his only source of income which he and his wife had been using to service the debt that they had accumulated over the years from spending it solely on consumable goods. He had no job prospects and they did not own a house. <>
My consultant friend had to regrettably acknowledge that there was nothing he could do to help the Colonel and his wife, other than to strongly urge them both to stop spending any more money on consumable items other than essentials, and to start seeking employment so they could begin to rid themselves of their accumulated debt. The officer, in desperation, demanded that there must be something my friend could do to help him since he would soon be without any income and had a mountain of debt to pay. But my friend sadly assured the Colonel that a few months of wisely managed financial planning could not compensate for two decades of profligate living. <>
I would guess that most Christians today, while feeling a sense of compassion for the anguish and financial hardship that this officer and his wife had brought upon themselves, would nonetheless still think it only right that this couple pay their creditors. To not do so would be tantamount to a violation of the eighth commandment, "Thou shalt not steal" (Ex 20:15). And likewise, even though the Colonel and his wife had no physical assets nor potential sources of income with which to pay their debt, most Christians would agree that the Colonel's present inability to pay did not absolve him of his responsibility to pay. <>
Although we as Christians are willing from a human perspective to attribute financial responsibility, despite the debtors' culpability in accumulating the debt and his inability to pay, yet many Christians are unwilling from a spiritual perspective to acknowledge the same principle in the area of man's salvation. What do I mean? <>
Man is responsible for his own sin, inherited from his father, Adam; "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. 5:12 NKJV). "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23 NKJV). Sin entered the world through man, so man is responsible for sin. And because all men have inherited their progenitor's sinful nature, they share the same responsibility for their own sins. <>
Man's sin, like the Colonel's debt, must be paid; there is no spiritual equivalent of declaring bankruptcy. The Bible teaches, "For the wages of sin is death..." (Rom. 6:23 NKJV). "Now to him that works is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt" (Rom. 4:4 NKJV). "Now the end has come upon you, And I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways, And I will repay you for all your abominations" (Ezek. 7:3 NKJV). God justly holds men responsible for their sinful deeds. <>
And just as debt is financially debilitating, so too, sin is spiritually debilitating, preventing the sinner from responding to or even acknowledging spiritual truth. "There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God....There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Rom. 3:11,18 NKJV, emphasis added). "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear" (Is. 59:2 NKJV). Even if an unregenerate sinner were to pray to God, God says He will not hear! What prayer could a lost sinner possibly pray to be saved if his sins keep God from even hearing his prayer? <>
And although a man may be able to work his way out of financial debt over time, any attempt to pay our own debt of sin is considered as further debt; "And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags" (Is. 64:6 NKJV) and "...for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified" (Gal. 2:16 NKJV). <>
Why do we as Christians, the ones whom God has redeemed with the precious blood of the Lamb according to His abundant mercy in Christ Jesus, insist so defiantly that God would not require man to do anything which he is incapable of doing? If unregenerate men are capable in any way to save themselves or to help save themselves by coming up with their own faith, then what need have they of a Savior or Redeemer? Such talk is pure silliness. <>
What would be the meaning of being redeemed if we somehow had the ability to do anything to help save ourselves, if we could work our way out of sin over time? It is a rhetorical question. The Bible teaches us, "That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph. 2:12 NKJV). We need to repent of our hard-hearted unbelief and give God the glory for saving us when we were helpless and hopeless, sinful men who were fully responsible for our iniquities, yet totally unable to do anything about it. <>
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