Doctrines of Grace
Categorized Scripture List
provided by Nathan Pitchford
God has recently given us the opportunity to discuss some theological issues with other Christians who believe differently than we do on a number of points, most notably the doctrines of grace. In such a circumstance, given the overwhelming supply of scriptural evidence that comes to bear on the topic, it seemed to me that the best approach would be a simple categorized scripture list: the fact that the entire paper would be scriptures, with the exception of a few brief explanatory notes, would underscore the truth that this is God's own word and teaching; and the fact that it would be categorized would facilitate the ready comparison of scripture with scripture so as to lead one to a full-orbed understanding of the biblical teaching. Although I found a few good scripture lists of that nature available online, none of them was laid out in quite the progression that I was looking for, and so I developed my own....
UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
God is Sovereign
Exo 15:18; 1 Chr 29:11-12; 2 Chr 20:6; Psa 22:28
He exercises that sovereignty in actively ordaining everything
Deu 32:39; 1 Sam 2:6-8; Job 9:12; Job 12:6-10; Psa 33:11; Psa 115:3; Psa 135:6; Isa 14:24; Isa 45:7; Act 15:18; Eph 1:11
Including matters of "chance"
Pro 16:33; 1 Ki 22:20, 34, 37
The wicked actions of men
Gen 45:5; Gen 50:20; Exo 4:21; Jdg 14:1-4; Psa 76:10; Pro 16:4; Isa 44:28; Amos 3:6; Act 2:22-23; Act 4:27-28
The actions of evil spirits
1Sam 16:14-16; 1 Ki 22:19-23; 1 Chr 21:1/2 Sam 24:1
The good actions of men
John 15:16; Eph 2:10; Phil 2:12-13
The actions of good angels
Psa 103:20; Psa 104:4
The actions of animals
Num 22:28; 1 Ki 17:4; Psa 29:9; Jer 8:7; Eze 32:4; Dan 6:22
The operations of all creation
Gen 8:22; Psa 104:5-10; Psa 104:13-14; Psa 104:19-20; Mark 4:39
Man is not permitted to question his sovereign acts
Job 33:12-13; Isa 29:16; Isa 45:9-10; Mat 20:1-16; Rom 9:19-24
God elects [i.e. chooses, predestines, foreordains] :
His angels
1 Tim 5:21
His peculiar people, Israel
Exo 6:7; Deu 7:6-8; Deu 10:14-15; Psa 33:12; Isa 43:20-21
Individuals to salvation
Psa 65:4; Mat 24:24; John 6:37; John 15:16; Act 13:48; Rom 8:28-30; Rom 9:10-24; Rom 11:5-7;
Eph 1:3-6; Eph 1:11-12; 1 Thess 1:4; 1 Thess 5:9; 2 Thess 2:13-14
Individuals to condemnation
Exo 4:21; Rom 9:13; Rom 9:17-18; Rom 9:21-22; 1 Pet 2:8
His motivation in election :
His own good pleasure
Eph 1:5; 2 Tim 1:9
The display of his glory
Isa 43:6-7; Rom 9:22-24; 1 Cor 1:27-31; Eph 2:4-7; Pro 16:4
His special love
Deu 7:6-8; 2 Thess 2:13
His foreknowledge
Rom 8:29; 1 Pet 1:2
Which means his special love
Jer 1:5; Amos 3:2; Mat 7:22-23; 1Cor 8:3; 2 Tim 2:19; 1 Pet 1:20
But not:
Any good [nobility, wisdom, power, choice, seeking] he foresees in anyone
Deu 7:7; Rom 9:11-13; Rom 9:16; Rom 10:20; 1 Cor 1:27-29; 1 Cor 4:7; 2 Tim 1:9
TOTAL DEPRAVITY
Man is constituted a sinner by his relationship with Adam
Psa 51:5; Psa 58:3; Rom 5:18-19
He is therefore unable :
To do anything good
Gen 6:5; Job 15:14-16; Psa 130:3; Psa 143:2; Pro 20:9; Ecc 7:20; Isa 64:6; Jer 13:23; John 3:19;
Rom 3:9-12; Jam 3:8; 1 John 1:8
To believe in God (or come to him)
John 6:44; John 6:65; John 8:43-45; John 10:26; John 12:37-41
To understand the truth
John 14:17; 1Cor 2:14
To seek God
Rom 3:10-11
He is dead in sins
Gen 2:16-17; John 3:5-7; Eph 2:1-3; Col 2:13
He is blinded and corrupt in his heart
Gen 6:5; Gen 8:21; Ecc 9:3; Jer 17:9; Mark 7:21-23; John 3:19-21; Rom 8:7-8; Eph 4:17-19; Eph 5:8
He is captive to sin and Satan
John 8:34; John 8:44; Rom 6:20; 2 Tim 2:25-26; Tit 3:3; 1 John 5:19
He performs actions freely according to his nature, but his nature is wholly evil
Job 14:4; Matt 7:16-18; Mat 12:33; Mark 7:21-23; Jam 1:13-14
LIMITED ATONEMENT
God purposed to redeem a certain people and not others
1 Chr 17:20-21; Mat 22:14; 1 Pet 2:8-9 [see "God elects individuals to salvation / God elects individuals to condemnation"]
It is for these in particular that Christ gave his life
Isa 53:10-11; Mat 1:21; John 6:35-40; John 10:3-4, 11, 14-15; Act 20:28; Eph 5:25 [we are commanded to love our wives in the same way that Christ loved the church and gave himself for it; therefore, if Christ loved and gave himself for all people in the same way, we are commanded to love all women in the same way that we love our wives]; Heb 2:17; Heb 9:15
It is for these in particular that Christ intercedes
John 17:1-2; John 17:6-12; John 17:20-21, 24-26; Rom 8:34
The people for whom Christ intercedes are the same as the people for whom he offered himself up as a sacrifice
Heb 7:24-27; Heb 9:12 [note context, in which entering into the holy place is explicitly for the purpose of intercession], 24-28
[For a fuller understanding of the indissoluble connection between sacrifice and intercession, read Hebrews chapters 7-10]
The atonement of Christ is effective :
To justify
Isa 53:11 [the single effective cause of justification in view here is the bearing of iniquities; all whose iniquities Christ bore must be justified]; Rom 8:34 [the argument here is that the fact of Christ's death, resurrection, and intercession is in itself an incontrovertibly effective reason for non-condemnation; if this verse is true, then no one for whom Christ died and was raised to intercede may be condemned]
To redeem and cleanse from sins
Eph 5:25-27; Tit 2:14
To propitiate the Father
1 John 2:2 ["propitiation" means "the turning away or appeasement of wrath"; therefore, by definition, the Father has no more wrath against those whose sins have been propitiated]; 1John 4:10
To raise to new life
2 Cor 5:14-15 [the argument is a simple "if/then" proposition: "if" Christ died for someone, "then," with no other conditions, that person died with him and was raised again]; 1Pet 3:18
[See also, "Jesus' death purchased for his people a new heart; " faith; " repentance". Jesus died in order to establish the New Covenant (Mat. 26:26-29, etc.); the New Covenant promised faith, repentance and knowledge of God (Jer. 31:33-34, Ez. 36:26-27, etc.); therefore, Jesus died in order to provide faith, repentance, and knowledge of God, as the fulfillment of a unilateral promise. This means that his death had a definite purpose which was intended for some and not others. His death effectively purchased faith; not all have faith; and so his death had an effective intent that was limited to certain persons.]
Those whom God purposed to redeem include all who believe
John 3:16
From every nation
Rev 5:9
From every class
Gal 3:28; 1 Tim 2:1-6 [the first "all men is explicitly tied to all classes of men, which gives warrant for understanding the second "all men" in the same way]
Therefore, Christ's saving work is commonly spoken of in terms of "all," "world," etc.
John 1:29; Tit 2:11-14 [in the context of "all men" is the delimiting concept of a peculiar people, zealous of good works]; Heb 2:9-10 [notice that the many sons whom Christ brings to glory gives a contextual delimiter to the term "every"]; 2 Pet 3:9 [note that this desire is explicitly limited to "us" (Peter was writing to fellow-believers) in the context]; 1 John 2:2 [propitiation means "appeasement of wrath"; either Jesus appeases God's wrath against all, and therefore hell (which is the place where God's wrath resides) is non-existent; or the "whole world" means something different than "every individual who ever lived". See John 11:51-52, and "The word 'world' is often used in the sense of 'many,' or 'all of a set'"]
The word "all" is often used to indicate all of a set, or even many representatives of a set
Mat 10:22; 1 Cor 6:12; 1 Cor 15:22; Mat 2:3; John 4:29; Act 10:39; Act 17:21; Act 21:28; Act 26:4
Or, to indicate all "classes" or "nations," not all individuals
Mat 5:11; Act 2:17; Act 10:12
The word "world" is often used in the sense of "many," or "all of a set"
Luk 2:1-2; John 6:33; John 12:19; Act 19:27; Rom 1:8
Additional reasons that the atonement of Christ is not for all the sins of all people :
God punishes people in hell, which would be unjust if their sins were atoned for
Mark 9:43-44
If one were to say, "their sins are atoned for, but that atonement is not applied because of unbelief,"
he fails to realize that unbelief is likewise a sin
Heb 3:12
[The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for either:
1) All the sins of all men;
2) All the sins of some men; or
3) Some of the sins of all men.
In which case it may be said:
1) If the last be true all men have some sins to answer for, and so none are saved;
2) That if the second be true, then Christ, in their stead suffered for all the sins of the elect in the whole world, and this is the truth;
3) But if the first is the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins? You answer, Because of unbelief. I ask, Is this unbelief a sin, or is it not? If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!
[John Owen, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ]
God bears eternal wrath against people, which by definition means that his wrath against them
has not been propitiated [appeased]
1 Thess 2:16; 2 Thess 1:6-9
Intentions of Christ's death other than atonement :
To make a public display of demons
Col 2:13-15
To rule over everyone
Rom 14:9
To redeem creation
Isa 35:1-4; Rom 8:20-23
To lay the foundation for a genuine gospel call
John 6:39-40; John 7:37-38
To provide temporal mercies for the non-elect
Mat 5:45; 1Tim 4:10
IRRESISTIBLE GRACE
Faith and Repentance (as well as the new heart which is able to produce them) are themselves gifts of God :
A new heart
Deu 30:6; Eze 11:19; Eze 36:26-27
Faith
John 3:27; Phi 1:29; 2Pet 1:1; Act 16:14; Act 18:27; Eph 2:8-10
Repentance
Act 5:3; Act 11:18; 2 Tim 2:25-26; 1 Cor 4:7
The Father writes his own word upon (places the fear of himself in, etc.) his people's hearts
Jer 31:33; Jer 32:40; Mat 16:15-17; Luk 10:21; John 6:45; 2Cor 4:6
The beginning of salvation is the sovereign impartation of spiritual life into a heart which had been dead,
thereby causing it to exercise faith
1John 5:1; Eze 37:3-6, 11-14; John 1:11-13; John 3:3-8; John 5:21; Eph 2:1-5; Jam 1:18; 1 Pet 1:3; 1 John 2:29
True offers of grace in the outward gospel call may be resisted by men who do not have this new heart
Act 17:32-33
In fact, true offers of grace will always be resisted by such men
John 10:24-26; John 12:37-40
But there are some whom God causes to come to him
Psa 65:4; Psa 110:3; John 6:37-40; Rom 9:15
PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
What God begins, he finishes
Psa 138:8; Ecc 3:14; Isa 46:4; Jer 32:40; Rom 11:29; Phi 1:6; 2 Tim 4:18
Of all whom he has called and brought to Christ, none will be lost
John 6:39-40; John 10:27-29; Rom 8:28-31; Rom 8:35-39; Heb 7:25; Heb 10:14
God's preservation of the saints is not irrespective of their continuance in the faith
1Cor 6:9-10; Gal 5:19-21; Eph 5:5; Heb 3:14; Heb 6:4-6; Heb 10:26-27; Heb 12:14; Rev 21:7-8; Rev 22:14-15
However, it is God who sanctifies us and causes us to persevere
John 15:16; 1Cor 1:30-31; 1 Cor 6:11; 1 Cor 12:3; 1 Cor 15:10; Gal 3:1-6; Eph 2:10; Phil 2:12-13;
1 Thess 5:23-24; Heb 13:20-21; 1 John 2:29; Jude :24-25