Lisa du Plessis’s Reviews > What Is Reformed Theology?: Understanding the Basics > Status Update

“The goal of the atonement was to save the lost. Christy loved his church and gave himself for it. He died in order to save his sheep. His purpose was to effect reconciliation and redemption for his people. […] Was God’s propose to make salvation for all possible, or to make salvation for the elect certain? The ultimate aim of God’s plan of redemption was to redeem his elect.” (p202)

“[God] considers the mass of mankind in their fallen sinful condition. He chooses to redeem some people from this condition and to leave the rest in that condition. He intervenes in the lives of the elect, while he does not intervene in the lives of the reprobate. One group receives mercy and the other receives justice. […]No one is treated with injustice.No one can charge that there is unrighteousness in God.”

“The positive side refers to God’s active intervention in the lives of the elect to work faith in their hearts. The negative refers, not to God’s working unbelief in the hearts of the reprobate, but simply to his passing them by and withholding his regenerating grace from them.” (p185, on God’s decrees in double predestination)

“In reality he elects to save some, but not all. Those who are saved are beneficiaries of his sovereign grace and mercy. Those who are not saved are not victims of his cruelty or injustice; they are recipients of justice. No one receives punishment at the hands of God that they do not deserve. Some receive grace at his hands that they do not deserve.” (p176)

“It still seems that if God gives grace to one person, in the interest of fairness he “ought” to give grace equally to another. It is precisely this “oughtness” that is foreign to the biblical concept of grace. Among the mass of fallen humanity, all guilty of sin before God and exposed to his justice, no one has any claim or entitlement to God‘s mercy.” (p176)

“The prescient view holds that we are elected because we will have faith. The Reformed view holds that we are elected unto faith and justification. Faith is a necessary condition for salvation, but not for election. The prescient view makes faith a condition of election; Reformed theology sees faith as the result of election.” (p170)

“Fallen man has the natural ability to choose God (the necessary faculties of choice), but he lacks the moral ability to do so. The ability to make righteous moral choices requires righteous desires and inclinations. […] Since the flesh makes no provision for the things of God, grace is required for us to be able to choose them.” (p159)

“Prior to the fall we also had a good inclination, enabling us to choose the good. It is precisely this inclination to the good that was lost in the fall. Original sin does not destroy our humanity or our ability to make choices. The natural ability or faculty remains intact. What was lost is the good inclination or righteous desire for obedience.” (p158)

“[…]we choose according to our strongest inclination at the moment.[…]Every time I sin, I do so because at the moment I prefer the sun to obedience. I may have a real desire in my heart to be obedient, but this desire runs into conflict with my sinful desires.[…]The struggle between the spirit and the flesh is the struggle of the regenerate person. The unregenerate, natural man has no such struggle.”(p156)

“[…]we choose according to our strongest inclination at the moment.[…]Every time I sin, I do so because at the moment I prefer the sun to obedience. I may have a real desire in my heart to be obedient, but this desire runs into conflict with my sinful desires.[…]The struggle between the spirit and the flesh is the struggle of the regenerate person. The unregenerate, natural man has no such struggle.” (p156)