Doctrine of Reprobation

This is a very tough doctrine. I have been reading Robert Haldane’s commentary on Romans, and as you would surmise, I have gotten as far as the ninth chapter. Below are some excerpts from Haldane’s commentary:

“Reprobation includes two acts: the one is negative, which consists in what is called preterition, or the passing by of those who are not elected – that is, leaving them in their natural state of alienation or enmity against God; the other is positive, and is called condemnation, - the act of condemning on account of sin those who have been passed by.

That first act consists in God’s simply withholding His grace, to which no man can have any claim. For this, accordingly, the Scriptures give no reason but the sovereign pleasure of God, who has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and who might justly have left all men to perish in their sins.

In the second act, God considers man as guilty, a child of wrath; and as on this account He punishes him in time, so from all eternity He has ordained to punish Him.

In electing sinners, then, or in passing them by, God acts as a sovereign dispensing or withholding His favours, which are His own, as to Him seemeth good. In condemning, He exercises His justice in the punishment of the guilty. He may impart grace to whomsoever He pleases, without anyone having a right to find fault, since in regard to those whom He destines to salvation He has provided means to satisfy His justice.

On the other hand, those who are guilty have no right to complain if He hath appointed them to wrath, (1Thess. 5:9; 1 Peter 2:8; Jude 4 ;) for God was under no obligation to exercise mercy towards sinners. Both these doctrines of election and reprobation are exemplified in the case of Jacob and Esau, in which there is nothing peculiar. Jacob was loved and chosen before he was born, and Esau before he was born was an object of hatred and reprobation. Under one or the other of these descriptions, all who receive the above doctrines must be convinced that every individual of the human race is included.”

“Unless men reject the Bible, they must admit that all were condemned in Adam; and if they were justly condemned, there can be no injustice in leaving them in that state of condemnation, and punishing them as sinners. It is only from the sovereign good pleasure and love of God that any of the human race are saved. He had no such love to the fallen angels, and they all perished; nor has He such love to those of the human race that shall perish, for He says, ‘Depart from Me, ye cursed, I never knew you.’ Men had no more claim upon God for mercy than the angels.”



“The doctrine of the Sovereignty of God is derogatory to the pride of man; it lays all his high notions of independence in the dust, and reduces him, when acknowledged, to a sense of his utter helplessness and misery. Happy, nevertheless, are they who have learned this lesson, for it is one which flesh and blood cannot teach, but only our Father which is in heaven. In light of this chapter they see themselves as lying entirely in the hand of God, having nothing that distinguishes them from others, but His sovereign will and favour in their election.”

“Whatever difficulties are found in the doctrine of the sovereignty of God, and in the truth that He ordains for His own glory whatever comes to pass, yet this, it is clear, is the doctrine of Scripture from beginning to end. Every part of it represents God as ordering and directing all events, and without this, and were anything left to depend or be regulated by the will of His creatures, He would cease to be the Supreme Ruler.”

Haldane concludes his chapter on Romans nine with the following sentence:
“If we lose sight of sovereignty, we lose sight of God.”

“As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, not of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.” ~ Romans 9:13-23

God leads His children

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." ~ Romans 8:14

"In spiritual things we are as little children, who, on account of their weakness, have need to be led by the hand that they may not fall.

It is necessary, then, that believers be led by the Spirit of God.

The manner in which the Spirit leads them is not by violence against their inclination, but by bending and changing their will, in a manner consistent with its nature. When Jesus Christ says, ‘No man can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me, draw him,’ it is not meant that God forces against their will those whom He draws, but it shows us that we are naturally so indisposed to go to Jesus Christ, that it is necessary that God, by His Spirit, draw us to Him, and that by His secret but powerful influence He changes our resistance into consent.

This is what is meant by the Church in the Song of Solomon, when she says, ‘Draw me, we will run after Thee;’ for this shows that she is drawn in such a way that she runs, that is, that her will being changed, and her perversity removed, she with alacrity follows the Lord.

God gives His people to will and to do of His good pleasure, making them willing in the day of His power, and by His Spirit changes their hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.

This leading of the Spirit consists, too, in enlightening our understandings, as Jesus Christ says, ‘When He the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all truth.’ It consists also in the sanctification of our will and affections; so that he who is led by the Spirit is transformed by the renewing of his mind, proving what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. He has the eyes of his understanding enlightened to know what is the hope of the calling of God, and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.

The Holy Spirit takes the glory of the person of Jesus, as God manifest in the flesh, and of His office, as the one Mediator between God and man, and discovers it to His people. Convincing them of their sinful condition, and of Christ’s righteousness, He leads them to renounce everything of their own, in the hope of acceptance with God. He teaches them as the Spirit of truth shining upon His own word, striving with them by it externally, and internally by His grace conducting, guiding, and bringing them onwards in the way of duty, and, as the promised Comforter, filling them with Divine consolation. Thus He leads them to Christ, to prayer as the spirit of grace and of supplication, to holiness, and to happiness.

This leading is enjoyed by none but Christians; for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” ~ Robert Haldane

True Freedom

“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” ~ John 8:36


“All that the Scripture knows about free-will is, that in the state of nature, antecedent unto the converting, sanctifying work of the Spirit, all men whatever are in bondage unto sin, and that in all the faculties of their souls.

They are ‘sold under sin;’ are ‘not subject unto the law of God, neither indeed can be;’ – can neither think, nor will, nor do, nor desire, nor love any thing that is spiritually good, according to the mind of God.

But as unto what is evil, perverse, unclean, that they are free and open unto – ready for, prone, and inclined, and in every way able to do.

On the other side, in those who are renewed by the Holy Ghost and sanctified, it acknowledgeth and teacheth a freedom of will, not in and indifferency and flexibility unto good and evil, but in a power and ability to like, love, choose, and cleave unto God and his will in all things.

The will is now free from its bondage unto sin, being enlarged by light and love, willeth and chooseth freely the things of God, having received spiritual power and ability to do so.

It is the truth, -that is, faith in the gospel, the doctrine of truth, - which is the means of this freedom; the truth that makes us free.

And it is the Son of God by his Spirit who is the principal efficient cause of it; for “if the Son makes us free, then we are free indeed,” and otherwise we are not, whatever we pretend.” ~ John Owen

The Redeemer's Love

“Your Redeemer first brought you out of nothing; and when you had sold yourselves for naught, he himself became your ransom, though he needed you not: see, therefore, that ye ascribe all to his love. It was not any betterness of yours that gave you preference in redemption, nor was it your ingenuous compliance that made redemption effectual to you, (those are slight pretences); had not your Redeemer bought you from yourself, released you from your imaginary freedom, and saved you from unbelief, you had never known what this redemption had meant, not what it is to be free indeed. No, it was purely your Redeemer’s love: he valued you as being his Father’s gift; and as given to be one with himself: “He therefore loved you, and gave himself for you.” When you were in your blood, and no eye pitied you (no not your own); then was the time of his love: even then he accepted the motion made by his Father and yours, and signed the contract. He knew both your weight and your worth; your natural unfitness for him, and averseness to the match: he also knew what it must cost him to make you both meet and willing; and that it was so stupendous a work, that all the hosts of heaven would have broken under. He further knew, that after all he should do and suffer for you, you could not advantage him in the least; only he should have the satisfaction to have made you happy against your unrenewed will; and he declined it not: he came “leaping upon the mountains, and skipping over the hills” (of death and difficulties), as longing for, and delighting to be in that work: he was straightened until it was accomplished; such was the intenseness of his love to you; and a great deal ado he had with your wills, before you were brought to be willing. And for all this, he only expects you will carry it worthy of so great a lover, and such manner of love: which is, in effect, but to accept of, and to continue in, his love, and be willing he should save you freely; and own this love of his as the immediate fountain whence your happiness is derived.” ~ Elisha Coles

Christ At the Center of Salvation--Dr. W Robert Godfrey

Christ At the Center of Salvation--Dr. W Robert Godfrey

“We can never love God to an height while we forget his loving kindnesses.”

“Praise and thankfulness be the only heavenly work that can be done on earth; the only joyful employment that shall last to all eternity in another life; a work that should…continually glorify God; yet how unthankful are most professors?”

“Are not we unmindful of the gracious dealings of God with us? Have not we forgotten the God of our salvation, and been “unmindful of the rock of our strength?’”

“I wonder not that many complain of their decays of love to God, while they forget his wonders of grace and love to their souls.”

“And did we oftener recount the mercies of God, they would work endearments betwixt God and our souls: did we consider what a wonder it is that God should draw us out of nothing; that he who stoops to “behold the things of heaven” should put his finger to our workmanship: that he should curiously work us, as needle work, in the dark vaults of nature; and that when we were fuller of sin than the toad of poison, that yet he should feed a toad and clothe a cockatrice: the fire of love to God would burn within our breasts. How is God provoked by this sin?

“God took it ill at the hands of the Israelites that they “remembered not his hand; nor the day in which he delivered them:” how much more do we grieve the Lord, who remember not the goodness and salvation of the Lord in Canaan, yea, in Zion? How have we forgot the God that bridled nature’s proud waves and said, “Hither to ye shall go and no further?” When we were ripe for judgment then mercy stepped in, and yet how slow to give thanks?”

“Did not he present the face of Christ as lovely to thy soul, who before was “despised and rejected?” And hath not Christ fed thee with fresh supplies of free grace that have watered thy soul every moment so that you have been “Kept through his mighty power?” And yet, O wretched heart! How unthankful hast thou been? “Thou hast forgotten all his benefits.”

The above quote comes from “A Gospel Glass”, by Lewis Stuckley. While reading, my mind was filled with the many scriptures where God had commanded that His people remember, that they be careful to diligently pass all God had entrusted to them down to their children. The Psalms rehearsed over and over the greatness, goodness, and loving kindnesses of God. The prophets time and time again lamented that the people had forgotten, they did not consider, somewhere along the way they neglected to set their mind on the things of God, they became indifferent to the God of their salvation. They no longer talked with their children of the things of God as commanded. They no longer retained God in their minds, and eventually, they were “destroyed for a lack of knowledge.”

I wanted to end the post with the words “Thou hast forgotten all his benefits,” for those are truly heartbreaking words. How could we forget Christ? What loathsome, wicked and ungrateful creatures we are. For the words are true, our Beloved puts His hand on the latch, yet we are too comfortable and drowsy (our minds filled with what?), to arouse ourselves and go to Him. And even after we have so sorely mistreated Him, He doesn’t forsake us, but stands behind the lattice to allure us back to Him, then we remember His beauty and worth, we sing His praises and search for Him, no longer resting content in the fog of forgetfulness.  And yet, we forget.

But, that is not where Mr. Stuckley stopped. Like the prophets of old, he felt obligated to warn his readers of the consequences of such ungrateful forgetfulness.

“A man would think it were impossible that every unpleasing providence should make us so forgetful of all the mighty works that have been done within doors upon our souls. How just is it with God to plague us for this our unkindness unto him? “because thou hast forgotten,” “therefore the harvest shall be all an heap.” In the beginning all succeeded well according to our desire: “In the day the plant grew, and in the morning the seed flourished;” but because of unthankfulness extreme misery followed. Wonder not that the showers are withheld; that the Lord causeth the sun to set on the prophets at noon-day; that the manna falls not at your doors; that the “hidden manna” and “white stone” are denied you; you have been unthankful – you have “not taken care for the fragments that nothing be lost.”

May we be brought to repentance before the warning of this dear saint becomes our reality.

“God knows what a controversy there is with the land for the unthankfulness of them that dwell therein. Because you have not served God with joy and praise in the days of plenty, therefore it is but a righteous thing that you serve in scarcity and famine of bread – of the word of the Lord.”

Follow holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.” ~ Matthew 5:8

“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:” ~ Colossians 1:12

The following quote is from John Owen as he discusses “The Necessity of Evangelical Holiness.”

“Follow holiness,” saith our apostle, “without which no man shall see the Lord;” for it is the “pure in heart” only that “shall see God.” It is hereby that we are “made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.” Neither can we attain it before we are thus made meet for it. No unclean thing, nothing that defileth or is defiled, shall ever be brought into the glorious presence of this holy God. There is no imagination wherewith mankind is besotted more foolish, none so pernicious, as this, that persons not purified, not sanctified, not made holy, in this life, should afterward be taken into the state of blessedness which consists in the enjoyment of God. There can be no thought more reproachful to his glory, nor more inconsistent with the nature of the things themselves; for neither can such persons enjoy him, nor would God himself be a reward unto them. They can have nothing whereby they should adhere unto him as their chiefest good, nor can they see any thing in him that should give them rest or satisfaction; nor can there be any medium whereby God should communicate himself unto them, supposing them to continue thus unholy, as all must do who depart out of this life in that condition. Holiness, indeed, is perfected in heaven, but the beginning of it is invariably and unalterably confined to this world; and where this fails, no hand shall be put unto that work unto eternity.”

“All unholy persons, therefore, who feed and refresh themselves with hopes of heaven and eternity deceive themselves. Heaven is a place where as well they would not be as they cannot be; in itself it is neither desired by them or fit for them.”

“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” 1 John 3:3

“There is, therefore, a manifold necessity of holiness impressed on us from the consideration of the nature of that God whom we serve and hope to enjoy, which is holy.”

“Our concernment and interest in God, both here and hereafter, do depend on our being holy.”

Owen has strong words for those who hold to antinomianism:

“He that thinks to please God and to come to the enjoyment of him without holiness makes him an unholy God, putting the highest indignity and dishonor imaginable upon him. There is no remedy; you must leave your sins or your God.”

And lest his readers conclude that he had veered off course into works righteousness, he continues:

“It is true, that our interest in God is not built upon our holiness; but it is as true that we have none without it. Were this principle once well fixed in the minds of men, that without holiness no man shall see God, and that enforced from the consideration of the nature of God himself, it could not but influence them unto a greater diligence about it than the most seem to be engaged in.”

May we all take seriously these words of caution and encouragement; the Scriptures clearly show the necessity of holiness. Those who are justified are also being sanctified. The process of sanctification in our “here and now” is preparing us, “making us meet” for the enjoyment of God for all eternity.

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” ~ Hebrews 12:1