Title: 13
Author: JBG
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© 2000  Joe Griffin

00-08-27-A.JSH-363 /

The Inscrutable Question: House Rules; Dillow: The Heresy of Limited Atonement: Theodore Beza & the Development of Supralapsarianism
House Rules for Grace Doctrine Church
I have been pastor of this church for well over 15 years and have tried to accommodate the idiosyncrasies of those who attend as best possible.  Although an environment for learning must be maintained in order to facilitate the spiritual growth of all who attend, there are circumstances that must be recognized and tolerated.
For example, I try never to question the need of any of our ladies to excuse themselves from our services.  However, I have noticed that such necessities are becoming more common and I respectfully request that you make every effort before Bible classes begin to avoid the need to depart after they have begun.  
With this as a recognized exception from time to time, we do have some very simple house rules that I believe need to be reviewed.  These house rules are designed not only to provide an environment for learning but primarily to motivate an attitude of respect for the Word of God.  After all, the righteousness of God constitutes the “house rules” for the love of God.
Therefore, shall we review our house rules:
1.	Bible classes begin on weeknights at 7:30 p.m. and on Sundays at 9:30 a.m.   This has been our schedule for 15 years and it is consistently published in the bulletin.  Please make an effort to arrange your day in order to arrive before these times in order not to disturb the Bible class in session.  To consistently arrive late shows disrespect for the Word of God and reveals a personal inability to manage your day.
Exception: If your work schedule forces you to arrive late, do not hesitate to come.  But, please, enter quietly and sit at the back.  I have a pretty good idea of those who have work schedule problems.
2.	We observe the Eucharist on the Second Sunday each month as a part of the first session which begins at 9:30 a.m.  Once the Eucharist begins it is my request that late arrivals not enter the auditorium until the ceremony is completed.  I begin each Eucharist with an impromptu review of how our most recent studies are related to the Eucharist ritual.  Those who enter during that time often distract me and I lose my train of thought.  To do so shows disrespect for me as your pastor but most especially for the observance of the Lord’s Table.  The Eucharist schedule is noted in the bulletin each month.
3.	It is also a house rule that there be no talking or unnecessary movement during the teaching of the Word of God.  However, over the past several weeks I have observed an increasing tendency of some to do both.  Nothing you have to say is important enough that it cannot wait until after Bible class.  You are not to move around, get up and leave (unless absolutely necessary), or engage in any movement that would be a distraction to others who are trying to learn doctrine.  To talk or move around shows insensitivity to others, a lack of group discipline, and disrespect for the Word of God.  This prohibition is published each month in the bulletin.
4.	Finally, over the period of the past several weeks the Board of Deacons, the Properties Committee, and I have sought to determine the optimum setting for the air conditioning system here in the gymnasium.  There have been complaints that the temperature settings have caused it to be either too hot or too cold.  We have arrived at what we believe is an optimum solution.
The white fans in the ceiling are to remain off and the thermostat is to have a setting of 76 degrees.  Under no circumstances is anyone authorized to turn on the ceiling fans, alter the setting of the thermostat, or shut down the air conditioning system altogether.  The Properties Committee is authorized to maintain these settings and these settings will not change without an act of the Board of Deacons.  If this arrangement results in you being either too hot or too cold you are to resolve the problem by appropriate wardrobe adjustments.
With these things now stated and on the record, let it be known and understood that in the future I will not hesitate to address any violations of these house rules when I believe them to be a disruption to our Bible classes or an obvious display of disrespect for the Word of God.  I will endeavor to have a deacon express my concern to you first.  However, if circumstances dictate I will not hesitate to embarrass you from the pulpit.  That’s not my desire.  But if necessary, I will do it.
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Kendall, R. T.  Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649.  (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), 13-18:
NOTE:	Kendall cites Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion and Commentaries on Isaiah 53:12 and Hebrews 9:28.  In both places Romans 5:15 is referred to and Calvin says “many” = “all.”
Romans 5:15 -	But not as that transgression [ Adam’s original sin producing condemnation ], so also is that gracious gift [ the Incarnation and substitutionary spiritual death of Christ on the cross ]; for if by the transgression of that one [ Adam’s original sin ] the many [ (Calvin, “all”) the human race ] died [ spiritual death at birth ] …
Romans 5:15b - … much more the grace of God and the gift of grace [ the demonstration of the unconditional love of God ] by the one Man, Jesus Christ, who has provided super-abundance [ salvation, invisible assets, & escrow blessings ] for the many [ (Calvin, “all”) the human race with emphasis on those who believe in Him ].
In his commentary on Mark at 14:24 Calvin says, “The word ‘many,’ does not mean a part of the world only, but the whole human race.”  In Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p. 148, he says, it is “incontestable that Christ came for the expiation of the sins of the whole world.”  In his commentary on John 1:29 he observes, “And when he (John the Baptist) says the sin of the world he extends this kindness indiscriminately to the whole human race.”  “For God commends to us the salvation of all men without exception, even as Christ suffered for the sins of the whole world” (Sermons on Isaiah’s Prophecy, p. 141).
(Returning to Dillow) If Christ died for all, Beza argued, then all would be saved.
	NOTE: Beza ignores the Greek verb, pisteÚw / pisteuo /: “to believe,” which confirms the requirement of a positive volitional response by the person who is presented the Gospel in order for the act of salvation to be accomplished by the Holy Spirit.   Christ’s spiritual death successfully paid the ransom for the sin problem of the human race.  It did not result in anyone’s salvation.  Salvation is appropriated only following a person’s positive free-will response to the Gospel expressed through faith alone in Christ alone.  What is the Gospel?  Jesus Christ received the transfer imputation of every human sin upon Himself and was judged for every one of them.  These sins were not imputed to us but to Christ.  Do you believe this?  If so then you are saved!
	PRINCIPLE: In human history, the sovereignty of God and the free will of man must coexist by divine decree.
If Christ died for all, Beza argued, then all would be saved.  He developed a system which became known as supralapsarianism.  In that system the order of elective decrees is:
1.	The decree to elect some to be saved and to reprobate all others.
2.	The decree to create men, both elect and non-elect.
3.	The decree to permit the fall.
4.	The decree to provide salvation for the elect.
5.	The decree to apply salvation to the elect.
The view is to be rejected because it assumes that the decrees of election and preterition have reference to an as yet uncreated entity.
	NOTE: The term “preterition” has a theological definition that was devised by those who developed Five-Point Calvinism.  Here is the definition from:
Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. “preterition”:
2.	The action of passing over without notice; omission, disregard, neglect.
3.	Rhet.  A figure by which summary mention is made of a thing, in professing to omit it.
4.	Theol.  The passing over of the non-elect; non-election to salvation.
1)	The doctrine of Limited Atonement contends that the first elective decree of God determined, even before He decreed to create mankind, those whom He would reprobate.

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