MRS. MARJORIE
BOND
1505 Scotland Street
Calgary, Alberta
October 5, 1959
Dr. C.D. Cole
746 W. Noel
Rt. 2
Madisonville, Kentucky
Part 9
My Dear Dr. Cole:
2. There are passages like John 3:16; I John 2:2 which seem
to teach that Christ died for every individual. However, the
word “world” rarely ever means every individual of the human
race. The word “world” is sometimes used to distinguish
between the saved and the lost (I John 5:19); between the
Jew and the Gentile (Rom. 11:11-15) and between the few
and the many (John 12:19). I believe John 3:16; I John 2:2
teach that Christ died for Gentiles as well as Jews. He died for
men as sinners and not as any class or kind of sinners. The
Jews thought their Messiah, when He came, would deliver
them and destroy the Gentiles. John says that He is the
propitiation or Mercy-seat for all believers regardless of class
or colour. In other words, Christ is no tribal Saviour. If we think
of Christ’s death as substitutionary, then I agree with
Spurgeon, that He died for the elect only. If he died as the
substitute for every individual, then every individual would be
saved, else His death was in vain. Now I believe there is a
sense in which Christ’s death affects every person. By His
death He bought the human race, not to save every individual,
but in order to dispose of every individual. The right to judge
this world is Christ’s reward for His suffering. All judgment has
been committed unto the Son (John 5:22). In the parable of
the hid treasure, Christ is the man who bought the field (world)
for the sake of the treasure (the elect) for the sake of those
given Him by the Father (Matt. 13:44). See also John 17:6-11;
II Peter 2:1. Incidentally, the word for Lord in II Pe 2:1 is
Despot (Gk. despotes), and indicates more authority than
Kurios (Lord).
In II Peter 3:9, the apostle is explaining why the Lord has not
returned to this earth, the reason being, that He is not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
This refers to His will of purpose. It is God’s purpose that all
should come to repentance and be saved. In longsuffering He
waits until all the “us-ward” have been brought to repentance.
The “us-ward” are described as those who had obtained the
like precious faith (II Peter 1:2); who had ben given all things
that pertain to life and godliness (II Peter 1:3); and who had
escaped the corruption that is in the world (II Peter 1:4). In II
Peter 3:15, the apostle tells the same “us-ward”, that they are
to account the longsuffering of the Lord as salvation. Christ’s
longsuffering towards the elect keeps Him on His mediatorial
throne until all have been saved. Had He come sooner than
planned, many of the elect would not have been saved. I have
been a Christian for 51 years, and if He had come before my
conversion, I would have perished in my sins. It is not His will
of purpose that any of those given to Him by the Father shall
perish. The words “all” and “every” are hardly ever used in the
absolute sense (Matt. 3:5-7; I Cor. 4:5) The “all” of II Peter 3:9
are all of the “us-ward” who shall be brought to repentance.
This is not good grammar, but it is good theology and
necessary to plainness. Christ will not come in judgment until
all those given Him by the Father have come to repentance.
When He comes He will usher in the new era of the “New
heavens and a new earth”, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
3. The story told you by your dear father has been duplicated
in many cases of people who seem to be under deep
conviction, and yet oppose those who try to lead them to
Christ. Such conviction is not of the Holy Spirit, who convicts
of the sin of unbelief and leads to faith in Christ. Such cases
do reveal the fact of the enmity of the carnal mind towards
God, and not a mind wrought upon by the Holy Spirit. A case
in point is that of Felix who trembled at the preaching of Paul
and then dismissed him until a more convenient season (Actd
24:25).
There is a natural conviction of sin which may be felt by
everybody when confronted by his sin (John 8:9), and there is
evangelical conviction by the Holy Spirit, and leading to
repentance and faith. God never abandons the good work He
begins in the soul (Phil. 1:6). The Holy Spirit, in my judgment,
never tries to regenerate one of the non-elect. There is much
Scripture for this. The New Testament speaks often of those
given to the Son by the Father and their salvation is assured.
These are called “sheep” and “elect” before they come to
Christ. (John 6:37-44; 10:14-16,25-28; II Tim. 2:10) You ask
whether or not the woman referred to was an “elect”? I do not
know. I can only say that at the time she gave no evidence of
being an elect. However, later she may have been convicted
by the Holy Spirit of the sin of unbelief and brought to
repentance. We can only judge whether a person is an elect
or not by his attitude toward the gospel of Christ. If she were a
sheep of Christ, she did come to His at some later date, for
Christ says, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and
they follow me”.
4. “Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 20:16; 22:14).
Calling in the New Testament usually means the effectual call
to salvation–saints are made by a Divine call, but it cannot
mean that many hear the invitation to accept Christ who have
not been chosen by God to salvation (II Thess. 1:4-7; II
Thess. 2:13). Calling and choosing are not the same. The
choosing or electing took place in eternity past; calling takes
place in time and brings about conversion to faith in Christ.
There is a general call given to every sinner in gospel
preaching, and there is the special call of the Holy Spirit,
inducing acceptance of the general call. The general call in
gospel preaching is to men as sinners; the special call by the
Holy Spirit is to the elect and results in salvation. Romans
8:28 refers to this effectual call. (I Cor. 1:26; Gal. 1:15,16)
5. You complain of being “caught up in a sort of fatalistic
attitude –that what is to be will be”. There is a vast difference
between cold, impersonal something called “fate”, and the
providential workings of a great and wise God. Things do not
come to pass by cold fate, but by God, “Who worketh all
things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11). Dr.
Charles Hodge was once asked if he believed what is to be
will be. He replies, “Why yes I do; would you have me believe
that what is to be won’t be?” Prophecy is the Divine prediction
of many things which are to be, and these predictions have
been or will yet come to pass.
The second paragraph of your letter on this subject expresses
a glorious truth. God is ruling this world, making even the
wrath of man to praise Him; the remainder of wrath men might
do, He restrains. (Ps. 76:10; Prov. 21:1)
Referring to the 1st paragraph of your letter on page 27 it is
true that the elect will be saved, and that my failure to witness
will not thwart God’s purpose to save them. God uses me, but
He is not dependent upon me. I dare not think that God is
helpless without me; if I fail He can use someone else. I am
not to witness because of any assured results, but in
obedience to His will of command. I cannot know His will of
purpose concerning those to whom I bear testimony, We are
to witness to people as sinners and not as elect sinners.
Election has nothing to do with our obligation to witness.
Isaiah preached when he was told there would be no good
results in the way of response from the people. Isa. 6:8-13
Your letter closes with questions concerning prayer. I have no
hope of giving much help here, but will make some
observations. Prayer is one of the means by which God brings
to pass what He has decreed. Answered prayer is indited by
the Holy Spirit. He knows the mind and will (purpose of God)
and makes intercession for us according to the will of God
(Rom. 8:26,27). How one may know that his prayer is indited
by the Holy Spirit, I cannot tell. But the Holy Spirit leads us to
pray for that which is within the circle of the Divine will, and if
we ask anything according to His will He heareth us (I John
5:14). We are taught to pray for His will to be done. This
shows we are not to try to change His will by our praying. This
would take control out of His hands and put us in charge.
Whether we can harmonize our praying with His decrees or
not; It is our duty to pray because He commands it (Luke
18:1). Prayer implies two things: our inability and His ability.
Prayer is an act of dependence upon God who is “able to do
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” Eph.
3:20.
I do not presume to be able to reconcile the doctrine of Divine
decrees with such passages as James 4:2,3 5:16. But I can
see how prayer can prevail without changing God, when I
think of it as one of the means by which His will of purpose is
effected. In Mueller’s case, I can think that he was led by the
Holy Spirit to spend the night on his knees as the means of
getting milk for the children. We have the same difficulty in the
case of Paul’s ship-wreck as recorded in Acts 27. When all
hope of being saved was gone (Acts 27:20), the angel of God
told Paul there would be no loss of life. He then comforts the
despairing sailors, soldiers, and prisoners, saying, Be of good
cheer; for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me
(Acts 27:25). Then later when the sailors were about to
abandon the ship, Paul said to the centurion and soldiers
“Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved” (Acts
27:31). God had declared there would be no loss of life, and
Paul believed Him, and yet he believed their safety depended
upon the sailors staying with the ship. We might charge Paul
with inconsistency but there it is.
As to praying for the sick, we must always pray without
knowing what the Divine will is in every particular case. It is
appointed unto men once to die, and when the appointed time
comes our praying will not cancel the Divine will. David
recognized this in praying for his sick child. He fasted and
prayed while the child was alive, but when the child died, he
bowed to the manifest will of God and said, “While the child
was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, Who can tell
whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live?” II
Sam. 12:22. Paul’s prayer for the thorn to be removed is
another case of asking for something outside the circle of
God’s will of purpose. Paul prayed without knowing the will of
God, and when it was made known to him, that sustaining
grace would be given rather than the removal of the thorn, he
bowed in sweet submission and said, “Most gladly therefore
will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may
rest upon me” (II Cor. 12:9).
My mind often reverts to the terrible war between our North
and our South–the so-called “Civil War”. There were men of
God on both sides–men of piety and prayer–who pleaded with
God for victory. I believe it is conceded that the most
outstanding men of God belonged to the Southern Army–such
men as Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Robert E.
Johnston. And now all of us rejoice that it was God’s will for
the Union to be saved.
It is becoming in all of us to seek our Father’s face and pray
for His blessings, and then bow in reconciliation to His
mysterious providence in our lives.
“God holds the key of all unknown,
and I am Glad;
If other hands should hold the key,
Or if He trusted it to me, I might be sad
“What if tomorrow’s cares were here
Without its rest!
I’d rather He unlocked the day;
And as the hours swing open, say,
‘My will is best.’
“The very dimness of my sight
Makes me secure;
For groping in my misty way,
I feel His hand; I hear Him say
‘My help is sure.’
I cannot read his future plans;
But this I know;
I have the smiling of His face,
And all the refuge of His grace,
While here below.
“Enough! this covers all my wants,
And so I rest!
For where I cannot He can see,
And in His care I safe shall be,
Forever blest.”
We are all poor sinners in the need of an adequate Saviour.
This Saviour is the Lord Jesus Christ Who says, “Him that
cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out”. If Christ is the Saviour
of sinners, this poor sinner can qualify for salvation. I praise
Him for dying for me, and I praise the Holy Spirit for making
me to realize my helplessness and for taking the things of
Christ and showing them to me (John 16:14,15).
May the Lord bless you in the coming discussion on Nov. 5th,
and make you a blessing to others! I wish I might have been
of more help in this reply to your questions. Let me exhort you
not to worry over failure to be able to reconcile doctrines
which seem to our finite minds to be contradictory.
With heartfelt thanks for this opportunity to discuss with you
some of the deep things of God, I am
Yours in gospel bonds,
C.D. Cole
“Only one life to live and soon is past
Only what’s done for Christ will last!”
Hoping to make the time I have left count for the glory of God.
THE BIBLE DOCTRINE OF ELECTION By C. D. Cole Part 9