In the Christian faith, how many gods are there? Even with very little knowledge of Scripture, anyone will likely answer "one". However, when we look throughout Scripture, we not only find out that there are gods whom God will judge, but even that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all God. None of this, however, means there are more than one God.
The doctrine of the Trinity is perhaps the most confusing doctrine in the entire Bible, but I think a close competitor is how, exactly, do the sovereignty of God and responsibility of man relate when it comes to salvation? On this issue, there are two "big players": The Calvinists, who emphasise the sovereignty of God to the exclusion of the responsibility of man, and the Arminians, who emphasise the responsibility of man to the exclusion of the sovereignty of God.
Unlike the Trinity, this is not an essential issue. However, much like the Trinity, it is a complex one. Just as Scripture tells us there is one God, it tells us that sinners, in their depravity, cannot come to the Son unless the Father draws them (e.g. John 6:44). However, it is also loaded to the point of bursting with claims that they are without excuse for doing so (e.g. Romans 1:20).
There are more Scriptures on both sides, all of which ultimately tells us that, unless God is double minded, both must be true. It must be true that sinners cannot repent, but it must also be true that they can.
So what do we do with this apparent dilemma? Well, first, we have to do something much like we do with the Trinity. We simply confess that God is more complex than we can be expected to understand, and we may know in the Kingdom what we cannot know here on Earth. At the same time, however, we have been entrusted with His revelations. This is what He desires us to know. Therefore, we must treasure these things in our hearts, but also, of course supplemented with faithful prayer, diligently seek to understand what, exactly, we are treasuring.
Now, we know God cannot deny Himself (2 Timothy 2:13), and so we can immediately rule out contradiction here. However, the three elements of a contradiction are:
- Mutual exclusivity
- Time
- Sense
Mutual exclusivity is required for a contradiction to occur, and we certainly have an example of that here. Can and cannot are polar opposites. Thus, if sinners can repent, yet also cannot repent, there may be a contradiction.
Time is also required. If I was to say "I'm 20 years old", then later on say "I am 40 years old", that may be a contradiction. However, if the latter statement was 20 years after the former, no contradiction has occurred, because sufficient time has passed for my 20 years of age to become 40 years of age. But in this case, time is probably not an issue. It's not a case of sinners used to be able to repent, but later on are not. Neither is it a case of there being a temporary block on sinners repenting, only for that block to be lifted.
What we are therefore left with is sense. The sense in which a statement is made alters exactly how mutually exclusive it is from another. As an example, take the following two sentences:
- In England, you can smoke weed recreationally.
- In England, you cannot smoke weed recreationally.
At first glance, these two sentences appear mutually exclusive. However, when you learn that in the first sentence, I am speaking physically, but in the second, I am speaking legally, things change. It is physically possible to smoke weed recreationally in the UK. However, it is still prohibited by law. Therefore, you both can and cannot smoke weed recreationally here in the UK. The question we are left with, therefore, is what does Scripture mean when it suggests sinners can and cannot repent? The answer, I believe, can be found in Paul.
By "in Paul", I am speaking in two senses. Both in Paul's example, and in his writings, I believe we find what it means that sinners cannot repent. First, note this portion of his personal testimony: "And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief." (1 Timothy 1:12-13).
Human beings have always had a high degree of ignorance, and it can lead to a vast array of sins. Sins we are not aware of. Sins we may even believe are just. And of course, all God needs to do in order for us to commit these sins is not enlighten us. Had God willed for Paul to perish, He wouldn't have needed to do anything at all. Paul would have continued on his path until the day his heart stopped beating. But to save him, i.e. draw him to the Son, God broke him out of his ignorance by revealing Himself.
This explains why Paul says in Romans 10:14-15 "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”"
We see, then, that there is a sense in which one genuinely cannot repent. Their ignorance prevents them. You cannot obey a Gospel you don't know. You cannot believe in a God you've never even heard of. The thought would not even occur to you.
Now, am I saying that ignorance is the only reason some cannot come to God? Certainly not. That would be beyond silly, and far too simplistic. However, we do see throughout Scripture that this is one way in which God prevents people from believing. In Mark 4:10-12, for example, we read "But when He was alone, those around Him with the twelve asked Him about the parable. And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that ‘Seeing they may see and not perceive, And hearing they may hear and not understand; Lest they should turn, And their sins be forgiven them.’ ”"
Now, why would Jesus need parables, preventing those outside from perceiving, if God was in the business of just intentionally blinding people and making it impossible for them to repent of their own free will? This makes it quite clear that if Jesus came speaking plainly, things might have gone very differently.
And we don't even need a text to imply this, we have a text that explicitly says it: "However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." (1 Corinthians 2:6-8). If the rulers of Christ's age knew who He was, they would not have crucified Him! It was their ignorance that lead them to nail Him to that cross! We see, then, that God reveals and conceals things in order to bring about His divine plan. And there's nothing we can do about it. We don't get to choose what we know, or how we learn it. We know it because God wanted us to know it.
And so we see that there is a sense in which sinners can repent, and a sense in which they cannot. When we emphasise either one of them too much, we make a similar mistake to those who say there are three gods, or those who deny the divinity of Christ. By contrast, when we take all Scripture together, in its proper context, we end up trying to understand things too great for us - for now - yet we also understand that God is sovereign in salvation, and man is responsible for receiving it. He has sent out the command to all men, everywhere, to repent (Acts 17:30), and indeed all men must. We have no option. It is a command. But if we don't receive it, because no one preached it? If we remain in ignorance? Well then how can we obey?
Thus, sense solves this apparent dilemma, and we see that we are being far too simplistic when we emphasise "can" or "cannot". We need to abandon these simplistic philosophies, trusting God with what we do not understand, but seeking to understand what He has entrusted to us. We have His word, and "...faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17).