As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Reformed Baptist Academic Press: Another example of a contemporary author who argues for a change in God’s existence due to creation is K. Scott Oliphint. He contends “that God freely determined to take on attributes, characteristics, and properties that he did not have, and would not have, without creation.”
Here are some wise words on the eternal controversy between God’s sovereignty and man’s personal responsibility in salvation from J.I. Packer, from his classic little book, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (Pgs. 16-17):
In 1988, John MacArthur released The Gospel According to Jesus and the phrase “lordship salvation” rocketed into popular evangelical vocabulary. Of course, the debate had been simmering long before MacArthur published his book, but he helped turn the simmer to a rolling boil.
You’re going to visit a friend. His house across a huge snow-covered field, so he says you will have to drive his truck from the road to his house. And he tells you to avoid hitting any of his trees and bushes. Crossing the field, you turn several times. Once to avoid a large pit, once to avoid a bear that runs across your path, once because your hand slips on the wheel, making the truck veer slightly, a few times because you just felt like swerving, and once because you decided to drive over a bush.
At a time when the daily news trumpets the latest political scandal, our Facebook walls vomit forth more madness, our Twitter feeds grow ever darker, and the comment boxes on our favored websites grow more vile by the moment, a Christian ought to pause to consider the end-game. Christ will return, and there will be true peace on earth for all those with whom He’s favored. Then, on that day, there will be no more “fake news,” no more victimized gymnasts, no more predatory medical doctors — no more sin at all. Christ declared to the Apostle John, “Behold, I make all things new!” (Rev 21:5).
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