Have you ever prayed for God to save someone? Have you ever shared the gospel with someone and told the person to repent and believe in the person and work of Jesus to be saved? Is it God who intervenes and saves someone from self-destruction, or does the person recognize their own self-destruction and seek salvation?
The answer: Yes. Without being facetious, the mystery of God’s work in salvation and how humans can be held responsible for unbelief is a question as old as God’s displacement of mankind from the garden. While it may be impossible to completely satisfy all lingering questions about an infinite God, we can turn to what He has graciously provided in Scripture to outline a few key truths about this question.
Sin’s Payment Depends on…
Because sin is a subtraction of what is true, good, holy, and just, then sin is not a created thing. God did not create sin, though He ordained that it would occur to serve His ultimate purposes. The responsibility for sin rests on those who have committed sin (all of us). The Bible is clear that sin is the responsibility of the sinner (Rom 2:5), and Scripture addresses the question of fairness (Rom 9:19-20). While not reconciling the “why” question, the Bible is clear that man faces responsibility for rebellion, and that God is merciful to save, through Jesus who suffered the payment of sin for those who would believe.
Salvation’s Glory Depends on…
Salvation is not a “shared responsibility” in the sense that we do some of the work and God makes up the difference. Instead, the responsibility is overlapping. God opens the eyes of the spiritually blind person, and the person responds in faith to the gospel call. The glory of salvation belongs to God who gave it as a gift to undeserving sinners (Rom 6:23). At the same time, the call to unbelievers to repent and believe must be obeyed in order for a sinner to be reconciled to God (Mark 1:15).
If a father decided to forgive his son’s arrogant, disobedient attitude earlier in the day and then took him to the big game later that evening while providing the son with premium concessions and a gift from the team store, one wouldn’t conclude that the son earned back his father’s love to then be counted worthy to be taken to the game. Instead, the father, out of his love for the son, first forgave and then granted undeserved gifts to his son for their mutual enjoyment. The father gets the credit, the son gets the gifts, and both get the joy.
The Paradox of Justice and Mercy Settled at the Cross
The greatest theologians in history have debated the relationship between man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty. The Bible clearly teaches that God is supremely sovereign over all things (Ps 104:14), and the Bible also teaches that man will give an account for his rejection of God (Rom 14:12). Although God ordains sin to occur (Acts 4:27-28), He does not let any sin go unpunished (which maintains His attribute of justice). Some people will see their sin punished at the cross, and some will begin the eternal process of paying for it themselves.
What then can we do? We follow the clear teaching of Scripture. We trust the less clear portions in light of the more clear portions. Functionally, the extent of the relationship between the two ideas does not affect how you relate to God or what God calls you to do. We can be grateful that God is in charge AND that He loves us. We can be grateful that Jesus took our penalty for sin AND that He judges the unrepentant. Praise God, for His mercies are new every morning (Lam 3:22-23)!