Introduction

A challenging area of concern in the doctrine of persevering grace is temptation. Perhaps the greatest difficulty is the fact that believers sometimes/often succumb to temptation. We then have to wonder how we can maintain perseverance on one hand and grace on the other. The bold fact of temptation and sin seems to question both perseverance and grace; it seems to challenge the reality of God’s grace powerfully enabling our persevering; it seems to challenge persevering grace (our title for the fifth point of Calvinism).

To show that temptation and sin does not lead to the denial of persevering grace is my goal today in a message called, "Facing Temptation with Persevering Grace." It is not temptation against preserving grace but temptation with it. Persevering grace abides through temptation and sin.

A central passage is 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." To get a handle on this passage we will do two things: we will consider a wrong turn and then we will consider a better way.

1A. A wrong turn regarding 1 Corinthians 10:13

To help us get a foothold on this doctrine, we can state and reply to the argument presented by some open theists.

1B. An open theist argument

Recall that open theism is the view that denies God’s sovereignty and foreknowledge of all future events. This denial is based on the doctrine of free will. One of the arguments for this view is based on 1 Corinthians 10:13, an important "temptation" passage. The open theist’s line of thought unfolds in the following manner. The text says that no temptation comes without a way out. Thus people have the power of alternative choice; they have the ability to choose to take the way out or to neglect it. They must have both the ability to choose it or neglect it to be accountable for their actions. God cannot know which way someone will choose or that way would be certain, necessary, and not a free act. It would not be free because the person would only have one course of action truly before him, the one God controls and knows. So, the open theist denies both God’s sovereign providence and His complete foreknowledge.

For the open theist the bottom line is that free will and accountability go together and they are not possible if God is in control of, and knows, all actions before they occur (all choices before they are made). For example, William Craig claims that "the reason people are held accountable is that they have libertarian freedom." He rests this claim on the example of failure when tempted:

Imagine a situation in which one succumbs to temptation. Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 10:13 implies that in such a situation, God had provided a way of escape that one could have taken but that one failed to do so. In other words, in precisely that situation, one had the power either to succumb or to take the way out-that is to say, one had libertarian freedom. It is precisely because one failed to take the divinely provided way of escape that one is held accountable (W. Craig, Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views, IVP, 2001, 202).

Central to his argument is the connection he makes between accountability and libertarian freedom.

2B. Some replies are in order.

1) A distinction is ignored

If we distinguish between the natural man and the Christian, we immediately see that accountability is not based on ability. Craig does not make this distinction. He fails to deal with the passages that show that the natural man cannot but he ought (i.e. Rom. 8:7, the natural man does not submit to God’s authority expressed in His law; indeed, he cannot do so). Being unable is an index of how sinful he is and thus without excuse and worthy of judgment. So something is definitely wrong with making libertarian freedom the basis for accountability (cf. the Kantian free will myth). So we come to the temptation example with some suspicion regarding Craig’s approach. Furthermore, from the perspective of many texts of Scripture on providence and predestination (Eph. 1:11; Rom. 8:28, etc.), we can affirm confidently that this view fails in its treatment of sovereignty and foreknowledge and therefore something must be wrong in the way it approaches 1 Corinthians 10:13.

2) A definition is misconstrued

Ability to do good or not does not define, explain, or clarify the relation of foreknowledge/foreordination relative to human action. Nor does it define sin. An act is wrong if it violates God’s prescriptive will. A person is accountable if they do what they want and are not coerced. Thus the open theist’s view is on the wrong track. By contrast, the reformed view claims that divine plan and providential control necessitate one possible world that will unfold according to God’s decree. Thus all actions are divinely controlled. This doctrine is embraced because Scripture teaches it. At the same time, Scripture teaches that a person’s actions are his own; he chooses them; he wants what he chooses; and he so acts and chooses without being forced.

One failure of Craig is that he does not do justice to the fact of divine control of human actions (including evil actions). That is part of the definition of libertarian freedom. He tries to use accountability to do away with divine control. Is the way out really there if God controls the fact that we decide not to take it (if He knows we will not take it and controls that fact such that it is certain that we will not take it as history unfolds)? How God exercises this control while not forcing the act is very difficult to grasp. Hence we are in the realm of paradox. We know these things are not contradictory but they sure seem to be. Because both are taught in Scripture both must be true without contradiction.

It is partly helpful here to distinguish between the laws of physics and what might be called the laws of the inner man. The laws of both are controlled by God He thus determines whatever comes to pass in time. The laws of the inner man are not simply psychological laws. They include these but involve much more regarding the motives, beliefs, and desires of man at the deepest seat of his existence (from the heart, deep in the inner man of the heart). Controlling human acts in this way as only God can do is very different from the control of someone by physical force or by the barrel of a gun.

Open theism misconstrues the importance of alternative choice (libertarian free will) in relation to divine sovereignty and human sin. It misconstrues threads in the fabric of biblical paradox.

3) A quality is misjudged

Now let’s consider the Christian who has a freed will. He is now able to do good and not sin but he is also able to sin having the remnants of sin remaining with him until his journey on earth is completed. To be sure the Christian (like Adam in the garden) has the power of alternative choice in which he is able to do good or evil. Thus, we know that he cannot perfectly avoid sin. When he sins, it is he that sins and he is responsible for the sin (when I sin, Lord, I know that you decided that I would do so, you decided to permit me to do that act that I chose, wanted to do, and for which I stand accountable). There is a "remnant cannot" that in a real sense remains with the Christian and it does not alter the fact of his responsibility no more than the "cannot" of his former life altered responsibility then.

Therefore, it is wrongheaded to speak of ability to sin as a freedom that is necessary to be accountable. Ability to sin is not freedom; it is an indication that freedom is not yet fully attained by the Christian. Freedom is the ability to do good acts from the heart in love to God. But open theism misjudges in a categorical way when it comes to true human freedom.

2A. A better way to understand 1 Corinthians 10:13

1B. A dynamic model

We want to affirm categorically that God provides the way of escape for all trials such that there is a way out, always. But we are forced to ask: is the way out really there when we do not have the ability to take it at some given moment? The way to approach this question is by means of a dynamic model of the Christian life. The way out can be really and truly made available to us even if we are unable to avail ourselves of it at a particular moment. The way is there not as a simple choice but as a complex that involves effort, study, weighing of consequences, belief about sin, and trust in God. The way out may involve succumbing to temptation, being vexed in conscience, repenting, and learning how to deal with that situation better in the future (cf. the historic confessions quoted below).

In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we should note the interplay between what seems to be an existing ability as a given (not tempted above your ability) and growth in ability (God provides the way that you may be able to endure it). Obviously, if the Christian does not take the way out he is responsible even if it is something he cannot at the time find the moral strength to do. Ability is elastic; it expands with the trials (to see this perhaps we need broad and narrow perspectives on temptation). Being able to take the way out does not mean that we have the power to do so in every isolated specific act (not that narrow). Due to our lack of sanctification the way out may be through failure (the broad perspective). Failure may be the temptation we face (or what intensifies it) and for which the way out is provided (How can we say this? Let’s try this: lack of ability within a temptation is not the same as gaining ability through a temptation that includes for a time a lack of ability). The way out is promised but its time frame has a delayed quality about it because it is dynamic and not static like the Christian life. Surely, the passage is not saying that God promises that a Christian will never sin. It is promising that whatever trial or temptation we face or even fall into there is a way out provided. We are responsible for every sin along the way (for our lack of ability). Consequences follow us from proper use of the means of grace or from the neglect of these means. When we are neglectful in some pronounced ways we leave ourselves vulnerable to greater relapses into sin; we leave ourselves in a state of relative inability and vulnerability to temptation, to failure in the face of temptation. Sometimes the way out will be very painful because though the way out is there we are not yet prepared to take it. This is all a matter of divine nurture on the way to glory.

We can affirm that when we face any temptation we are not compelled to sin by God while He controls our entire existence and even our decisions to sin (it may help us to think of this control as His decision to allow us to decide to sin). We may be unable at a given moment to take the way out provided but God will keep working in us to enable us to find the way that accords with our sanctification at the given point in life that accords with His purpose for us, for history, and the magnification of His glory.

2B. A new Christian

If a Christian is weak because he fails to take up the means of grace or he is new to the faith and has not yet matured in critical ways, and if he is therefore unable to control his anger he is responsible for that inability (even as a baby Christian fresh from the womb of his former total inability). What does 1 Corinthians 10:13 promise this Christian when he faces a trying situation that usually makes him explode in fits of anger? It is not saying that he now (automatically) has the ability or power to take the way out and only on that basis can he be held accountable. Rather, it is saying that God has provided a way for him to grow into the ability to handle his anger by the work of the Spirit convicting him, by learning about consequences, and so forth. Ultimately, he is promised the ability to move forward on the pathway of holiness (through sin, through trial and error, and through many experiences of skinned knees learning to walk as a Christian).

3B. A living hope

What is our basis for hope? Hope is here because the Spirit lusts against the flesh and will keep him in the process until the day of Christ (Gal. 5:17, "^KJV For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would). We have hope because the Spirit leads the children of God in such way that they go where He intends (Rom. 8:14, For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God).

It is an uphill journey to glory. This study reminds us of the fact that we often fall and roll downhill with the feeling that there is no stopping. But we do not free fall or free roll with no stopping. Because of the persevering grace of the Holy Spirit purchased for us by Christ in His death, God will intervene and preserve us, protect us, bind our wounds, get us back on the way, and abide with us all the way to glory.

Concluding remarks

1) 1 Corinthians 10:13 does not prove that libertarian free will is required for responsibility. Christian or not we are responsible for acts we do even when we cannot do otherwise.

2) Craig and the open theists have a philosophical (logical/human reason oriented/analytical philosophy oriented) agenda at work when they come to the text by Paul; they fail to fully and sufficiently delve into Paul’s agenda. This is the prevailing danger coming from Christian philosophy today.

3) Furthermore, we learn about the dynamics of God’s dealing with His people across time. The Lord may allow us to sin being unable at a given point to do the right thing. What He permits (plans and controls) is then the temptation from which there is a way out. But God has ordained and commands the use of means on our part in finding the way and He continues to work in our hearts by the Spirit. The way is there but how we find it may be somewhat messy. By the Spirit’s faithful work, by persevering grace our ability will grow, our freedom will advance, as we grow in the knowledge of God’s will and insight into consequences. Thus our persevering by faith and in faith is the gift of Christ’s priestly sacrifice and intercession ("Father, the hour has come glorify your son…keep them in your name," Jn. 17:1, 11).

4) We are of course responsible for every failure along the way as we find the way of escape. Our ability will grow, our freedom will advance, as we grow in grace, knowledge of God’s will, care, providence, and insight into consequences. All these things and thousands like them determine our ability at a given moment. We are determined in all our actions for which we are fully responsible.

5) Persevering grace through temptation and sin is marvelous grace that calls us to gratitude and praise on one hand and to faith, prayer, and diligence on the other. We must watch and pray let we fall into temptation. But there is always a way out provided for us by the great high priest of our souls. To Him be the glory and praise forever, amen!

Facing Temptation with Persevering Grace