Rejection of the Gift of Faith or Suppressing the Truth
The rejection of God’s gift of faith, ‘biting the hand that feeds you,’ comes from ignoring or refusing general revelation from God. Even if someone does not recognize it or acknowledge it, it is rebellion against God. Romans 1:25 says that this lack of someone’s recognition and acknowledgement is turning the truth of God into a lie and worshiping and serving the creature rather than the Creator.
Romans 1:18-32 answer the question about what everyone knows. They know enough to deserve the wrath of God for rejecting Him. How do we know what we know? God tells us. One of the weaknesses of science is that it cannot prove a universal negative. People cannot be everywhere at once and see everything that can be seen to negate that something did or did not happen. Only God knows what people know and do not know. If God Almighty says people know it, then they know it. Science or man’s observation cannot prove this wrong.
It’s worse than not knowing. People “hold fast” or suppress the truth in their unrighteousness (1:18). When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God (1:21). And everyone starts by knowing God through general revelation.
Moving from General Revelation to More Revelation
General revelation is not enough revelation to give saving faith. Scripture says faith, which is saving faith, comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Very commonly people will question the love, grace, and mercy of God because people somewhere in the Congo or Ecuadorian jungle could not hear, see, or know enough for salvation. If none of these people did ever hear enough to receive saving faith, the implication or assumption of scripture is that they had the opportunity or they could have heard and known it.
When someone receives general revelation, he can and will receive more revelation. Everyone will receive enough revelation to receive more revelation. The Bible confirms this with various examples. The Lord Jesus talks about this when He mentions how much the people of Sodom (Matthew 10:15), Tyre and Sidon (11:21), and the queen of the South knew (12:42) versus Capernaum, Bethsaida, and Chorazin. When you look at that list, God judged Sodom and Tyre and Sidon and saved the queen of the South, and these are similar examples. What is the distinguishing or differentiating factor is what they did with the revelation they received.
Examples of Reception
Various people do have available to them in their lifetimes different amounts of revelation. The latter areas above received more to different degrees of revelation than the former. These examples give evidence of that. Furthermore, scripture communicates this same truth through narrative portions that are also authoritative for doctrine. One good example, given a lot of space in Acts 10-11, is the centurion. The Bible provides a paradigm for this point with the salvation of the centurion. One can also point to all those saved through mission endeavors and efforts throughout Acts.
The centurion shows what happens when someone receives the revelation he has. God will give more. History also gives many other examples of this. Other examples in the Bible show in a negative sense what happens with certain ones who reject the revelation they do have, such as Pharoah in Egypt. Certain foreigners, like Nebuchadnezzar and those in the city of Nineveh show God’s mission and mercy mindset.
The Impediments to Reception
I want to go back to the 50 dollar example of sufficient revelation for saving faith. You won’t get to 50 until you receive 10. 10 is not enough. People will not get to 50 without receiving less than that, leading up to 50.
Someone who keeps receiving revelation of God will arrive at scripture to receive. Then someone must keep receiving scripture until finally he receives the gift of faith. That’s how it happens according to scripture. Jesus talks about the impediments to reception in Matthew 13. That is the best answer as to why someone does and someone else doesn’t receive saving faith.
Jesus presents four categories in Matthew 13 and each of them have to do with a receptive heart or not. He presents the saving revelation as seed. Three categories reject the revelation and one receives. One heart is a hard heart, another a worldly heart, and then one hard to categorize, what I would classify as a superficial heart, something either solely emotional or merely intellectual.
None of the four types of heart look like predetermination. God is sovereign. God chooses who He will save, but figured into that choice is how someone responds to revelation. He is sovereign over how He saves and does not save. All the way through and in the end, God is the determiner. Salvation is of the Lord. When He saves a person, that means He keeps saving someone.
When does someone get the sufficient scriptural knowledge for saving faith? Less knowledge from revelation is not helpful. Deep knowledge is better. in 1 Timothy 3:15, Paul tells Timothy that knowledge of the holy scriptures make someone wise unto salvation.
More to Come
Amen. Thank you for writing. God lights everyman that comes into the world (John 1:9). If that man responds to the light, the Lord will send him more. He will be given the $10, $20, $30, and finally the $50. This metaphor is really helpful for thinking about the drawing process God offers. It makes me wonder, do you think people can get to $30 and perhaps, think they have $50? And be somewhat stuck? My mind is bringing some examples to me where that might be the case.
Hi Benjamin,
Good verse John 1:9. It’s worth breaking out into all the various light God gives, which is best and most represented by Jesus Christ Himself.
Yes, I believe that along the way to 50 in the metaphor, people get stuck at 30 and never beyond that. Those are the ones in John 2, who believe. Their belief is insufficient to save, but it didn’t come from nothing.
Dear Bro Brandenburg,
Thank you for this series.
Maybe you will deal with this in upcoming parts; if not, I would be interested in hearing what you would say to someone who says that people only suppress general revelation, rather than responding positively to it, and only when special revelation in Scripture comes do people respond positively to grace by the drawing of the Spirit. The argument would be texts that say things like that the Gentiles in the OT were without hope, etc. when, it would seem, that if some responded positively to general revelation, they would not be without hope, as well as the question of why no people in places without Scripture seem to respond positively to general revelation to the point where they came to the point where they would get special revelation and be saved. In other words, what if someone grants your argument that God would give greater revelation to those who respond to general revelation, but then says that nobody responds positively to it?
Thank you.