Blogging through and answering the questions from G. I. Williamson’s The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes for personal review and comprehension.
WCF. V. Of Providence. Sections 2-7.
1. Name the common objections to the doctrine of absolute sovereignty.
It is argued that if God is absolutely and exhaustively sovereign, then that means that man is not responsible for his sins.
2. Refute same.
Scripture emphatically teaches that man sins precisely because man wills to do so. Man has genuine free will, however, it is not philosophic “libertarian” free will (because there is no such thing). Man’s free will is the free will of a “creature”, we have freedom within the confines of a created-thing’s opportunity and ability. Precisely because of the Creator-creature distinction, the Triune God, who is infinite, eternal, and immutable, allows man to do as he wills, i.e., desires/intends/chooses, as a means for rendering all that God in his providence has predetermined, i.e., “Although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably and infallibly, yet, by the same providence, he ordereth them to fall out according to the nature of second causes, either necessarily, freely, or contingently” (WCF. V. 2.).
3. Why do the elect sometimes sin so grievously?
For a variety of reasons: as chastisement for former sins; to reveal to the elect the fierceness of sin’s power; as illumination contributing to their ongoing sanctification, through revealing and enlightening the elect of deceit hidden in the dark corners of one’s own heart; chiefly–to cultivate humility in them, that they might draw nearer to Jesus as the author and finisher of their faith, the Captain of their salvation. Also, falling into grievous sin teaches the elect to be on their guard, to be more watchful, to ensure that they not give Satan so much as a single wooden peg to perch upon within their hearts (seeing that the enemy oftentimes schemes to migrate sinners from lesser to greater sins). Certainly there is a plethora of “sundry other just and holy ends” (WCF. V. 5), but it would be impossible to denote them. We must be content with God’s Word alone: Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
4. Why do the reprobate sometimes act better than we might expect them to?
“Because God sometimes enables the conscience of the unbeliever to overrule him” (358). The imago Dei was only defaced by the Fall, therefore, even in unbelievers there are “remnants of their old nature” (tracing back to the sinless nature of Adam). “The conscience still retains some recollection of the law of God which was written there in the beginning (Rom. 2:14-15)” (67).
5. Is it correct to speak of a Christian as both an old and new man?
Absolutely not. A Christian was the “old man” but is now the “new man.” There are, however, sinful effects of the nature of the old man that a Christian must be guarded against until his death and consummation of Eternal Life. This is why mortification and quickening of the Spirit is so important for Christian Living.
6. Is a Christian “responsible” for the sin he does under the influence of “the remnants of the old nature”?
Yes. Absolutely. The new man sins, but the source of the sin is not from the new man, but, as said above, the effects of the nature of the old man. “The regenerate man sins, but he cannot give himself to the willful and continual practice of sin: ‘For His [God’s] seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God’ (1 John 3:9)” (66).
8. Explain and harmonize Paul’s statements in Romans 7:20 and 7:24.
Romans 7:20, “Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” Paul traces source of sin to the remnant-effect of former sinful nature.
Romans 7:24, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” Paul clearly believes he himself is responsible for his own sinful actions.
9. Why is the final section of this chapter of the Confession important?
The final section is Section 7: “As the providence of God doth, in general, reach to all creatures; so, after a most special manner, it taketh care of his Church, and disposeth all things to the good thereof.” Here we learn that God’s providence in a special way is concerned with God’s redemptive aims (cf. Rom. 8:28; Eph. 3:11).