Dr. Alan J. Dunn
The Sovereign Purpose of God
Returning to Jeremiah 31:31-34, we see that the New Covenant is not like the Old Covenant which they broke although I was a husband to them (Jer 31:32). How did Israel break the Old Covenant? By their persistent idolatry (see Jer 11:10; 22:8-9) which brought God’s covenant curses upon the theocratic nation (see Deut 27-28). Unlike the New Covenant, the Old Covenant was conditional and dependent upon the obedience of the nation: IF you will obey… THEN you shall be My possession (Exo 19:4-6). However, there were unconditional aspects to God’s dealings with Old Covenant Israel. For example, God’s previous unconditional promise of the coming Seed in Genesis 3:151 was given to Abraham who received it simply by faith (Gen 15:6). In the Old Covenant there continued to be a remnant who, like Abraham, received God’s promises by faith. The promise of the Seed was again reiterated unconditionally to David (2 Sam 7:12-16).2 Indeed, the Lord repeatedly told Israel that He came to them in grace because of His faithfulness to Abraham, not because of anything earned by them.3 Nevertheless, the Mosaic Covenant made with the tribal nation of Israel was a conditional covenant which served a specific purpose in the unfolding of God’s plan of redemption.4
The New Covenant however, brings the unconditional grace of God’s sovereign purpose to the fore. Along with the seven I will’s of Jeremiah 31:31-34, there also are three certain they shall/will’s. This prophecy of the New Covenant is found within the context of God’s expressed sovereignty. In Jeremiah 31:35-37, we read of the Lord’s determination to eternally establish the offspring of Israel as a nation before Me forever. This eternal, eschatological Israel is the regenerated people of the New Covenant to whom God gives eternal life. Again, an eternal covenant is promised in Jeremiah 32:38-41 which also rehearses the blessings of the New Covenant. I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear Me always… I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. YHWH Himself guarantees that in this new, everlasting covenant, His people will not ever be able to apostatize, for He will keep them faithful.
The author of Hebrews calls the Old Covenant the first covenant which was not faultless (Heb 8:7). What was its fault? Verse 8 answers that question: for finding fault with them. The fault was with them, with the people. The New Covenant is better5 precisely where the Old was faulty. In the Old Covenant, not all were regenerated, not all believed. The Old Covenant people as a nation persisted in pursuing the gods and idols of the unbelieving Gentiles and nationally apostatized. But the people of God in the New Covenant will not break their covenant because God’s purposes of sovereign grace cannot be thwarted. He means what He says in Jeremiah 31:31-34 when He says I will seven times, and they shall/will three times. Jeremiah 31:31-34 puts the emphasis on the will and purpose of our gracious Lord. The emphasis that our Arminian friends place on man’s will and choice is misplaced.
The Saving Priesthood of Christ
Arminianism not only places man’s will at the center of salvation, it also misrepresents the atoning work of Christ as our New Covenant priest. Arminianism teaches a universal or unlimited atonement: that Jesus died equally for all men without exception. Consequently, Jesus actually died for no one in particular, but has merely made salvation possible for all,6 contingent on the sinner’s choice. However, Scripture teaches that Jesus’ death was a priestly sacrifice. A priest, by definition, performs his duties on behalf of a specific people. In Jeremiah 31:34 the Lord alludes to the priestly sacrifice of Christ when He promises, I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more. For, without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness (Heb 9:22b).
We learn of Jesus’ sacrifice and priesthood in the book of Hebrews. Jesus’ priesthood is of the order of Melchizedek, who as a type, uniquely held the offices of both a king and a priest (Gen 14). The main point of Hebrews is that Jesus is the enthroned royal priest of the New Covenant.7 Jeremiah 31:31-34 is cited twice in Hebrews chapters 8 and 10 as having been fulfilled in the priestly work of King Jesus. With the sacrifice of Jesus and His exaltation as our High Priest and King, we now know the Lord in terms of the promised New Covenant. Jesus’ one sacrifice for sins for all time has now effected our full, final and complete forgiveness of sin. Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin (Heb 10:18). Now that the promised sacrifice has been offered by the exalted High Priest and King, we are given the privilege of worship as the New Covenant people of God (Heb 10:19ff).
If Jesus’ work of redemption was accomplished officially as the Priest-King of the New Covenant, then the Arminian view of the atonement is mistaken. A king does not rule over a nondescript nation nor does a priest act on behalf of an idea or with the prospect of a mere possibility. God’s Royal Priest ministers specifically on behalf of God’s people. After the High Priest in the Old Covenant performed the sacrifice in the Holy Place on the Day of Atonement, he then came out of the temple complex to bless Israel. The Amorites, Hittites, Philistines and Babylonians could not have cared less. The sacrifice of Israel’s High Priest had nothing to do with them. Only Israel received the benefit of his priestly service. Likewise, if Jesus assumes both offices of king and priest, then He must perform the duties of His offices on behalf of a specific people.
The question concerning the extent of the atonement is: “For whom did Jesus die?” Did Jesus die for an unlimited, non-descript possibility that some sinner might choose to trust in Him? Scripture teaches that He died for His sheep (John 10:11, 14-18) who are given to Him by the Father (John 10:26-30; 17:24). He died for His church (Eph 5:25). He is the High Priest of the New Covenant whose ministry benefits those chosen by the Father and regenerated by the Spirit. In other words, Scripture teaches “Limited Atonement.” We discern those for whom Jesus died when the Spirit applies the blessings of the atonement to them. They respond in repentance and faith to the proclamation of the gospel. They are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. The only explanation for their repentant faith is God’s sovereign grace. The Father loves them. Jesus accomplished their redemption as their royal priest. The Spirit is applying the benefits of Jesus’ death and resurrection to them. The promise of forgiveness of sin in Jeremiah 31:34 is fulfilled by Jesus’ priestly work graciously applied by the Holy Spirit to the people of the New Covenant. Jesus’ atonement actually accomplished the salvation of His people. He did not just make someone’s salvation possible, contingent on the sinner’s fallen will. He actually saves us, the people of the New Covenant.
Our Understanding of Salvation is Neither Hyper-Calvinist Nor Arminian
Arminianism over-emphasizes man’s choosing. Hyper-Calvinism, on the other hand, over-emphasizes God’s choosing. Hyper-Calvinism so focuses on the doctrine of predestination that it gives no place for the free will of man. Hyper-Calvinism minimizes the necessity of genuine human choice in the sinner’s response to the gospel. Hyper-Calvinism so emphasizes the doctrine of election that you must somehow determine if you are one of the elect before you can listen and respond to the gospel. The Arminian thinks that since the gospel is to be declared to all men, then Christ must have died for all men. The Hyper-Calvinist thinks that since Christ died for only the elect, then the declaration of the gospel is only for the elect. Interestingly, both the Arminian and the Hyper-Calvinist tend to advocate a crisis experience in order to arrive at some assurance of one’s salvation. The Arminian will point to the time when he decided to believe in Jesus. He is liable to end up believing that he has believed rather than believing in Jesus. The Hyper-Calvinist likewise will speak of some mystical experience, some event which occasioned his intuitive awareness that he must be one of God’s elect. Believing that he is elect, he is then confident that the gospel is good news to him. However, the call of the gospel does not negate the necessity of human choice, nor is it a message to be declared only to the elect.
We must acknowledge the essential distinction between the being of God the Creator, and man the creature. God’s sovereignty does not negate or circumvent our essential humanity. God’s problem with us is not that we are creatures, but that we are sinners. The gospel is proclaimed to all men as sinners. We respond to the gospel with all of our created human faculties which includes our wills. The call to repentance and faith requires a choice. We must decide to turn away from the path of disobedience and to follow Christ. Our problem, however, is our innate depravity. Man is fallen and in his natural state, his will, along with the rest of his faculties, is inherently bent in rebellion against God. The gospel calls the sinner to choose, and choose he must. But in order for him to choose Christ, his will must be changed. Apart from the regenerating work of the Spirit, the natural man cannot and will not submit himself to Christ (1 Cor 2:14; Rom 8:5-8). We go forth to preach the gospel like Ezekiel in Ezekiel 37, calling out to dead bones. But look what happens when the gospel is proclaimed. Dead men come to life! Blind eyes are opened to see the glory of God revealed in the face of Jesus. Deaf ears now hear the voice of the Shepherd who calls His sheep. The formerly rebellious sinner begins to confess his sin while expressing confidence in the sole sufficiency of Christ. When a sinner chooses to come to Christ, he comes because the Spirit has worked life in him and has granted him the gifts of repentance and faith.
It is sometimes asked, “What if a man wants to come to Christ but he has not been elected?” That is impossible. No one who wants to come to Christ is prevented by the doctrine of predestination. You will never encounter someone who wants to be a Christian but cannot be a Christian because he has not been elected by God. All who come to Christ want to come to Christ and no one comes to Christ who does not want to! We can freely call all men to come to Christ, confident that the Lord will work through the proclamation of the gospel to unite His people to Christ by the sovereign, most mysterious, workings of the Spirit (see Jn 3:8). Let us be like Jesus. He freely summoned and received sinners in John 6 while simultaneously acknowledging that none come to Him who have not been first given to Him by His Father. All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out (Jn 6:37). The Lord speaks to our exalted Melchizedekian priest, Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power (Ps 110:3). All who come to Christ, come willingly. None come who do not want to come. But they come because of the power of the Spirit and the Word of our exalted priestly King. When we see a sinner come to Christ, we witness a work of God’s sovereign grace and God gets all the glory.
The Arminian Remonstrants challenged the Reformed Church in Holland in the early 17th century at the Synod of Dordt. History has bequeathed us Dordt’s rejection of those five challenges popularly known as “The Five-Points of Calvinism.” These doctrines give due place to the sovereignty of God in salvation which is so clearly seen in the I wills and the they wills of Jeremiah 31:31-34. Let us join with Paul in the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 1:6) and declare with the Psalmist, Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth (Psa 115:10).
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1 Genesis 3:15 is called the “proto-evangel” because it articulates the gospel in its nascent form.
2 We should note the conditional aspects of God’s dealings with Abraham (see Gen 22:18 where, upon Abraham’s obedience, the promises of Gen 12:1-3 are completed with the Lord’s assurance that In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice). Likewise, the Lord promises the certain establishment of David’s house and kingdom, while informing David that He will nevertheless discipline David’s sons when they sin. Indeed, the Lord disciplined David’s royal line in the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. However, this conditional aspect of the Davidic Covenant is rendered unconditional in the certain obedience of Jesus, David’s singularly promised Son. David’s natural seed sinned and needed the Lord’s discipline, but his promised Seed, conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary, guaranteed the unconditional certainty of David’s divinely established eternal kingdom.
3 See Exodus 2:24; 3:6; 6:2-8 et. al.
4 The Old Covenant was designed to be an earthly, this-age arrangement, typologically pointing us to heavenly, eternal realities and giving us the categories by which we understand the person and work of the Messiah. The New Testament defines Jesus’ death in terms of the Old Covenant cultus: the temple, priesthood and sacrifices. The cultus was the elementary school instruction God gave to His people in a similar way that we give our little ones picture books (see Gal 3:23-26; 4:1-5). One of the purposes for the Old Covenant is to show us the nature of our sin in order that we would see our need of God’s grace given in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:19; Rom 7:7ff).
5 Better is the most frequently used vocabulary term in Hebrews.
6 There is a universal implication of the atonement which is expressed in “the free offer of the gospel.” The good news of forgiveness of sin is to be universally proclaimed without any limitation. The unlimited call of the gospel does not mean, however, that the atonement is itself unlimited. Christ’s accomplishment and the Spirit’s application of the atonement are aspects of God’s special, saving grace and have God’s elect in view. Whereas the universal preaching of the gospel is the apex of God’s common grace kindness extended indiscriminately to all men everywhere.
7 Hebrews 8:1-2, Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man.
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