Happy Birthday, Jonathan Edwards!

Today is the 309th anniversary of the birth of my favorite theologian, Jonathan Edwards. So, to celebrate, here's an excerpt from his book A History of the Work of Redemption.

God’s disappointing the design of building the city and tower of Babel belongs to the great work of redemption. For that was undertaken in opposition of this great building of God of which we are speaking. Men’s going about to build such a city and tower was an effect of the corruption into which mankind were now fallen. This city and tower was set up in opposition to the city of God, as the god to whom they built it, was their pride. Being sunk into a disposition to forsake the true God, the first idol they set up in his room, was their own fame. And as this city and tower had their foundation laid in the pride and vanity of men, and the haughtiness of their minds, so it was built on a foundation exceedingly contrary to the nature of the kingdom of Christ, and his redeemed city, which has its foundation laid in humility. Therefore God saw that it tended to frustrate the design of that great building which was founded in Christ’s humiliation: and therefore the thing displeased the Lord, and he baffled and confounded the design. God will frustrate and confound all other designs, that are set up in opposition to the great work of redemption.

Isaiah ii. representing God setting up the kingdom of Christ in the world, foretells how, in order to it, he will bring down the haughtiness of men, and how the day of the Lord shall be on every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, Christ’s kingdom is established, by bringing down every high thing to make way for it, 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. “For the weapons of our warfare are mighty through God, to the pulling down of strong holds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God.” What is done in a particular soul, to make way for the setting up of Christ’s kingdom, is to destroy Babel in that soul.

They intended to have built Babel up to heaven. However, that building of which we speak shall reach to heaven indeed, the highest heavens, at the end of the world, when it shall be finished: and therefore God would not suffer the building of his enemies, in opposition to it, to prosper. If they had prospered in building that city and tower, it might have kept the world of wicked men, the enemies of the church, together, as that was their design. They might have remained united in one vast, powerful city; and so have been too powerful for the city of God.

This Babel is the same with the city of Babylon; for Babylon in the original is Babel. But Babylon is always spoken of in Scripture as chiefly opposite to the city of God, as a powerful and terrible enemy, notwithstanding this great check put to the building of it in the beginning. But it probably would have been vastly more powerful, and able to vex if not to destroy the church of God, if it had not been thus checked.

Thus it was in kindness to his church, and in prosecution of the great design of redemption, that God put a stop to the building of the city and tower of Babel. [I, 3]

The Golden Chain of Redemption

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. [Romans 8:29-30]

Many people exegeting this passage hone in on the word "foreknew." In fact, I've seen blog posts which will put the word in bold and go on for paragraphs about it while seemingly forgetting everything that comes after. "Foreknew," however, is not said in isolation, and in fact is said in a series of verbs in what is known by many as "the golden chain of redemption." The order is:

• Foreknew
• Predestined
• Called
• Justified
• Glorified

The first question to bring forward: does God truly know foreknow what will come? The easy answer is: yes, God does know what will come, having perfect knowledge of all that has been, is, and soon will be. All knowledge, wisdom and understanding comes from the perfect knowledge, wisdom and understanding of God (cf. Prov 2:6). This is why the blessed apostle begins this section of his epistle with "those whom He foreknew." Those who jump to this word immediately argue that God already knew what was going to unfold, and therefore conclude that God merely reacted to the libertarian free will of man. However, no where does this text say that God reacted to that which the person did, only that He foreknew their existence beforehand.

What the synergistic conclusion also forgets is that the apostle Paul moves on from this perfect knowledge of God to God acting upon that knowledge. Those "whom He foreknew, He also predestined." God, seeing Person A and Person B, both of whom He knew would be in the fallen state of Adam, predestined Person A to "become conformed to the image of His Son." Note this: if God simply foreknew Person A would become a Christian, there would ultimately no need for this predestination, for it was already known that Person A would, in the far future, become a Christian.

After this, we have a further procession: from this predestination for conformation comes the order of how this conformation comes about. That is: "these whom He predestined, He also called," then "these whom He called, He also justified," and finally "these whom He justified, He also glorified." We have here four actions - predestination, calling, justifying, and glorifying - overlapping one another in a true chain. One thing is absolutely certain in this case: those God has predestined will in the end be glorified. Nowhere in this entire chain is it ever suggested that those predestined would not end up being called, nor that any of those called would not be justified, nor that any of those justified would not be glorified. Those God had chosen through predestination to be called and justified will in the end be glorified. A perfect case, if any, for Perseverance of the Saints.

Many would still interject here with: "But the word foreknew! God foreknew all this would happen, which means He simply reacted to the free will!" I reiterate again, however, that if God already had perfect foreknowledge of what the person was going to do, then there would be no need for predestination to conformation. If the person was already set in stone to be conformed into the image of Christ, God would not have to predestine the matter. If we argue that he was conformed because of God's predestination, then the argument for libertarian free will is simply turned on its head. That is, if we say God foreknew He would predestine the person, then that leaves God in complete control of the situation. If we say God foreknew they would become Christian, and so he predestined, but he foreknew because of the predestination...then we simply argue in circles. To even suggest the foreknowing is from God's foreknowledge of His predestining is likewise still placing the authority upon God.

In this regard, it must be noted that God is said to be the only active party here. By that I mean that God is the enabler and causation of all the actions. The apostle Paul writes: He predestined, He called, He justified, He glorified. Everything happens because of God and God alone. This is not man acting down the corridor of time and God merely reacting. This is God carrying out His divine decree.

Many reacting to this conclusion will jump to the assumption that this exegesis essentially turns God into a great puppeteer with mankind nothing but marionettes, and others will claim that it turns mankind into robots. However, this is not the case. It is not that a man's actions are controlled completely by God's will, but that God's will is sovereign to mankind's free will. The man going through the golden chain of redemption will be free to do whatever he pleases, but only within those parameters. A man predestined cannot refuse the call; a man called cannot deny himself justification; and a man justified cannot forsake glorification.

Many more will call this unfair, as anyone glorified cannot resist God's will, while those left perishing are not able to receive that glorification. Ironically, this was precisely the argument Paul posed later on in the same epistle...and then answered:

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? 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? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles. [Romans 9:19-24; NASB]

Mankind is in a perishing state, and no one does what is right in the eyes of God. That God chose to save any of us through His Son is enough of a sign of mercy. If our Lord were "fair" in the strictest human sense, then we would all be in hell. God, however, as Potter, is the Perfect Artist, and the Golden Chain of Redemption is but one example of the Perfect Artist going about His handiwork with His glorious creation.