Alan Dale Gross
Active Member
Some supralapsarians believe in double predestination. They mistakenly say that God is the chargeable cause of the loss of the lost. Hence, their view makes God the author of sin.
Neither the text nor the context of Isaiah 45:7 justifies the view that God created sin. The word sin does not occur in the text or the context of Isaiah 45:7--"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."
The Lord creates not the evil of sin but the evil of punishment for sin. Evil in this verse is used for punishment. As darkness is the privation of light, the evil of punishment is the privation of peace. The contrasted word to evil is not good but peace.
This interpretation harmonizes with the text and context. God punishes sin by sending evil to punish sin. Sin is not found among God's creatures in Genesis 1. Nevertheless, the Lord suffers sin and
overrules it for the good of His people and for His own glory.
Job spoke of God sending the evil of punishment: "...shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil..." (Job 2:10).
Amos proclaimed that God brings the evil of punishment on sin as a punishment for sin: "...shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?" (Amos 3:6).
God did not make man to damn him.
He is not the chargeable cause of the loss of the lost.
God is by no means the origin of moral evil: "...God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (I John 1:5).
As darkness does not come from God who is light, the evil of sin does not come from God who is holy. As night is not due to the presence of the sun, sin is not due to the presence of God. As the stench of a dunghill does not come from the sun, the evil of sin does not proceed from the holy God.
He tempts no man to evil (James 1:13-14). God does not find men wise, good, and tender and make them foolish, wicked, and hard. He takes men as they are in their depravity and excites them as they are.
There are two aspects of reprobation--negative and positive. When God elected some to salvation, He passed by others. Passing by is negative reprobation.
He did not positively condemn those He passed by. In positive reprobation, God condemns a person to punishment for his own sin.
Therefore, sin is taken into account in positively reprobating a person.
Pharaoh illustrates positive reprobation. God's action in hardening Pharaoh's heart was His reaction to Pharaoh's action of self-hardening (Ex. 4:21-14:8).
Every Scripture reference to God hardening an individual is always associated with the sin of mankind.
An illustration is given in Romans 1. God gave people up because of what they had previously done. They had "changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things" (Rom 1:23).
God reacted to their self-hardening and gave them up to follow their wicked ways. Positive reprobation is always associated with committed sin. God did not predestinate men to hell to the exclusion of their association with sin.
To say that God created man to damn him, one would have to ignore the fall, sin, etc.
Therefore, double predestination--in that sense--will not stand the test of Scripture.
Reprobates are ordained to condemnation, but they are ordained thereto because of their sin.
Reprobation is not on the ground of God's foresight that man would be a sinner. If it were, all would be reprobated because God saw all men dead in trespasses and sins. Sin did not enter the world from the act of reprobation.
If sin came only by reprobation, reprobates alone would have been tempted and fallen.
However, Scripture teaches that Adam sinned, and all men sinned in him.
Therefore, all fell in Adam (Rom. 5:12).
The temptation and fall were universal. Since all sinned and fell in Adam, universally, all men are sinners by nature.
However, the act of reprobation was particular. God selected some and
passed by others. Hence, the elect and the reprobate are all under sin.
Every person is by nature a child of wrath until he is rescued by grace. Both elect and reprobate are branded as sinners.
Knowledge of those who are elected and those who are reprobated is bound up in the secret things of the Lord.
Consequently, the gospel must be preached indiscriminately. It should be
preached to sinners as sinners.
When God rescues a person by His grace and sets him free, that one rejoices in what the Lord has done for him and manifests through his practical sanctification that he is one whom God elected (I Thess. l:3-4). Not until then can anyone know who the elected ones are.
Man fell by sin and not by reprobation. Adam did not sin by reprobation. Conversely, he sinned by disobeying God.
Adam was not reprobated.
If he were, all men would be reprobated in him.
Men became sinners in Adam, but they were not reprobated in him.
God's act of passive reprobation is the negative of election. It does not make man a sinner any more than election makes a man a Christian. Election is not salvation. It is to salvation.
God created man upright (Eccl. 7:29). He cannot be condemned for His selections. Moreover, He cannot be accused for His rejections. No sinner deserves favor. God is obligated to none. God's election is an act of mercy and not of merit. His positive reprobation is an act of justice.
The elect are saved by grace, and the reprobate are lost to justice.
God does not wrong one person by showing mercy to another.
From: God's Eternal Decree,
found in this list: http://sovereigngrace.ddns.net:81/getdir.cgi?W-E-Best
Neither the text nor the context of Isaiah 45:7 justifies the view that God created sin. The word sin does not occur in the text or the context of Isaiah 45:7--"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things."
The Lord creates not the evil of sin but the evil of punishment for sin. Evil in this verse is used for punishment. As darkness is the privation of light, the evil of punishment is the privation of peace. The contrasted word to evil is not good but peace.
This interpretation harmonizes with the text and context. God punishes sin by sending evil to punish sin. Sin is not found among God's creatures in Genesis 1. Nevertheless, the Lord suffers sin and
overrules it for the good of His people and for His own glory.
Job spoke of God sending the evil of punishment: "...shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil..." (Job 2:10).
Amos proclaimed that God brings the evil of punishment on sin as a punishment for sin: "...shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?" (Amos 3:6).
God did not make man to damn him.
He is not the chargeable cause of the loss of the lost.
God is by no means the origin of moral evil: "...God is light, and in him is no darkness at all" (I John 1:5).
As darkness does not come from God who is light, the evil of sin does not come from God who is holy. As night is not due to the presence of the sun, sin is not due to the presence of God. As the stench of a dunghill does not come from the sun, the evil of sin does not proceed from the holy God.
He tempts no man to evil (James 1:13-14). God does not find men wise, good, and tender and make them foolish, wicked, and hard. He takes men as they are in their depravity and excites them as they are.
There are two aspects of reprobation--negative and positive. When God elected some to salvation, He passed by others. Passing by is negative reprobation.
He did not positively condemn those He passed by. In positive reprobation, God condemns a person to punishment for his own sin.
Therefore, sin is taken into account in positively reprobating a person.
Pharaoh illustrates positive reprobation. God's action in hardening Pharaoh's heart was His reaction to Pharaoh's action of self-hardening (Ex. 4:21-14:8).
Every Scripture reference to God hardening an individual is always associated with the sin of mankind.
An illustration is given in Romans 1. God gave people up because of what they had previously done. They had "changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things" (Rom 1:23).
God reacted to their self-hardening and gave them up to follow their wicked ways. Positive reprobation is always associated with committed sin. God did not predestinate men to hell to the exclusion of their association with sin.
To say that God created man to damn him, one would have to ignore the fall, sin, etc.
Therefore, double predestination--in that sense--will not stand the test of Scripture.
Reprobates are ordained to condemnation, but they are ordained thereto because of their sin.
Reprobation is not on the ground of God's foresight that man would be a sinner. If it were, all would be reprobated because God saw all men dead in trespasses and sins. Sin did not enter the world from the act of reprobation.
If sin came only by reprobation, reprobates alone would have been tempted and fallen.
However, Scripture teaches that Adam sinned, and all men sinned in him.
Therefore, all fell in Adam (Rom. 5:12).
The temptation and fall were universal. Since all sinned and fell in Adam, universally, all men are sinners by nature.
However, the act of reprobation was particular. God selected some and
passed by others. Hence, the elect and the reprobate are all under sin.
Every person is by nature a child of wrath until he is rescued by grace. Both elect and reprobate are branded as sinners.
Knowledge of those who are elected and those who are reprobated is bound up in the secret things of the Lord.
Consequently, the gospel must be preached indiscriminately. It should be
preached to sinners as sinners.
When God rescues a person by His grace and sets him free, that one rejoices in what the Lord has done for him and manifests through his practical sanctification that he is one whom God elected (I Thess. l:3-4). Not until then can anyone know who the elected ones are.
Man fell by sin and not by reprobation. Adam did not sin by reprobation. Conversely, he sinned by disobeying God.
Adam was not reprobated.
If he were, all men would be reprobated in him.
Men became sinners in Adam, but they were not reprobated in him.
God's act of passive reprobation is the negative of election. It does not make man a sinner any more than election makes a man a Christian. Election is not salvation. It is to salvation.
God created man upright (Eccl. 7:29). He cannot be condemned for His selections. Moreover, He cannot be accused for His rejections. No sinner deserves favor. God is obligated to none. God's election is an act of mercy and not of merit. His positive reprobation is an act of justice.
The elect are saved by grace, and the reprobate are lost to justice.
God does not wrong one person by showing mercy to another.
From: God's Eternal Decree,
found in this list: http://sovereigngrace.ddns.net:81/getdir.cgi?W-E-Best
Last edited:
