My dear readers,

Questions Posed at CPBPC’s Annual Church Camp (10-15 June 2019) – part 14

Can you explain the apparent contradiction between the doctrine of election and our free will when it comes to salvation?

Reply – The doctrine of election is a blessed doctrine given by God to His children who are already born again in Christ. They will understand this doctrine only after salvation. The proof text supporting this amazing doctrine is Ephesians 1:3-6 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” [Emphasis added] The word “chosen” is from our English word “election.” 

This doctrine assures the child of God that his salvation is not an accident but carefully chosen by God Himself. This took place before the foundation of the world! This means that the believer’s very existence and salvation was already known to God even before there was time and the universe! Every child of God will face persecution as he lives in holiness witnessing for Christ. Some will even have a sad and hurtful past because of derelict parents in this sin filled world. They might feel angry or upset because their past was a pain filled one. But by knowing that they have been chosen by God who makes no mistakes, they now know and will begin to accept their past with all its pain and hurts that God is always in total control. These hurts and pain were used by God to shape and mould their character to make them to become who they are today in Christ. They will learn to forgive and forget the painful past. 

That is why the doctrine of election is a blessed doctrine as it comforts the believer’s heart of his painful past as well as his future when he suffers for Christ. He is comforted and strengthened in the inner man to know that his heavenly Father has always been in total control of his existence from beginning to end. Hatred and anger against all human beings who hurt him will evaporate because in Christ he can forgive. His salvation from predestination to his calling, resulting in repentance and acceptance of Christ, to his glorification in Christ is because God has chosen him. He cannot lose his salvation because God’s choice is perfect! 

Yet when the sinner is actually saved at that point in his life when the gospel is shared with him, he is convicted by the Holy Spirit to repent and be saved in Christ. The gospel will be used by the Holy Spirit to bring conviction and conversion. When that happens the Lord knows it and will then baptize him with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit will dwell in him forever. Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

The free will of man does not mean he is absolutely free, that he is neutral and is without sin. Man is born in sin and if he dies in his sin he will be punished by God, his Creator. 

Man is conceived and born in sin because of humanity’s representative Adam who sinned (cf. Rom 5:12). Because of his sin, death came upon all mankind, thus all have sinned. Even though sinful man does not have absolute free will and since he is born in sin, he will be held accountable to God for all his actions. If he dies in his sins he will be cast into hell and receive the just punishment for his grievous sins against the thrice holy God. Only through Christ can he be saved and he must be given the gospel according to Holy Scriptures to be saved. He must not reject but accept the gospel that is according to Scriptures to be saved. If he is given the false gospel he cannot be saved.

Do not use and abuse the blessed doctrine of election to not evangelize as some people are prone to do. Their false reasoning is that God will save those whom He has elected anyway whether they evangelize or not. Such sinful reasoning is an abomination. Those who think this way are not obeying God and the great commission given by Christ in Matthew 28:18-20. The Lord commanded all believers to go and preach the gospel to the world. Then the Lord will use the gospel preached to bring sinners (those whom God has chosen) to Christ. Salvation is always the work of God. But God has entrusted to His children the blessed privilege to be the bearer of the gospel of Christ to sinners in order for them to be saved. The knowledge of the doctrine of election means that there are many out there who are waiting to hear the gospel to be saved. Since we do not know who is and is not God’s elect, God alone knows, we must give the gospel in its entirety to all, without distinction. We are to tell all about the love of God in Christ and to believe in Christ to be saved!

If women can’t preach because they are tempted by Satan, shouldn’t men not be allowed to preach too because Satan, a man, committed the first sin?

Reply – The reason a woman is not to be ordained to preach the Word of God is not “because they are tempted by Satan.” That  they are not to preach the Word of God or to be made elders is given by God, not man and not the church. The Bible passage that teaches this truth is 1 Timothy 2:12-14 “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. 13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” The context is the church as Paul wrote this epistle to Timothy teaching him how to be a pastor. This context is with reference to the appointment of elders to look after the church by way of leadership and preaching. The word “teach” is a reference to the office of teaching in the church like that of elders and pastors. It is not that women cannot teach their children at home or in the Sunday school. The reference is the leadership position of the church. The world may have women presidents or prime ministers running countries or multinational companies but that is the way of the world where the god of this world rules, with God’s permission. The church must not employ the ways of the world to do God’s work. 

The two reasons given by God that no man can deny are: 1) Adam was first formed and then Eve. This was decided by God at creation. The woman was made for man to be a helper suitable for man. Genesis 2:18, 21-23 “And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. . . . . . . . .  21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 2) Adam was not deceived by the serpent but the woman was and was in transgression first. For these two reasons God stipulated clearly that the woman will not be permitted to hold office as an elder or pastor in Christ’s church. 

Does the KJV Bible have any mistakes whatsoever?

Reply – The KJV Bible has no mistakes unless one is referring to printing errors. If there are no printing errors, the KJV is the best and most accurate and faithful translation of the perfect Word of God for the English speaking Christians. The translators of the Bible in the 17^thC A.D. used the best Texts (the perfectly inspired and preserved Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek Texts), Translators, and Technique of Translation, resulting in the best Theology where all the doctrines of the Bible are kept intact. The Translators were not only godly men but they were spiritual men who were eminently qualified in training and the languages of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. 

Their understanding of the Word of God in these original languages was not contaminated by Westcott and Hort who lived in the 19^thC A.D. Westcott and Hort's philosophy of the biblical languages which promotes textual criticism has contaminated all who learned these original languages after them. Seminaries and Bible Colleges of the 20^thC promote the biblical studies and assumptions of these godless men who were enemies of Christ and not even believers. Textual criticism originated from German rationalism where the mind is worshipped as god. Whatever the mind cannot understand and grasp is rejected. For example, these godless men could not believe the miracles of the Bible as their minds could not understand how a virgin could conceive and give birth to Christ or how Jesus could walk on water! These miracles of the Bible were rejected. Why would Westcott and Hort, and for that matter any present day pastor or preacher, want to use a godless system to critique the Bible? The KJV translators were raised of God before such a contamination was permitted by Him to surface and prevent all English speaking believers from understanding the Word of God in its entirety. The modern English translations from the 20^thC can never come close to the KJV Bible translated by the godly KJV translators whom God raised. 

These KJV translators also used the best technique to translate. They employed the strict “formal equivalence” as opposed to “dynamic equivalence” adopted to translate the NIV (New International Version). As we all know, no two languages are exactly the same. The KJV translators tried their best to translate word for word and retain the emphasis, syntax and grammar of the original languages, and at the same time produced the best and most readable English translation. That is why the King James is better and more accurately described as Bible English rather than Shakespeare English. An example of a passage in KJV and NIV: 

Genesis 22:3 (KJV) “And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.” [Emphasis added] 

Genesis 22:3 (NIV) “Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.” 

The difference seems minor but it is significant because the omission of the NIV has reduced the actions of Abraham into a normal event. Sacrificing one’s only begotten son as a burnt offering is not a normal event in anyone’s life. The conjunction “and” (seven of them) appears in the Hebrew language for emphasis. This syntactical and grammatical tool is known as polysyndeton (many occurrences of the conjunction). The repeated use of the conjunction is found in both the Old and New Testaments to teach us to slow down and meditate on the words, clauses or phrases in this verse or passage. The actions of Abraham were done with a heavy heart and much contemplation for his faith and trust in the Lord was tested to the core. God promised him that Isaac was the chosen one to continue the messianic line and here God commanded him to offer Isaac up as a burnt offering. How could there be a contradiction in command? To offer a burnt offering was to put someone to death. The only way God could honour the first promise was that Isaac had to be raised from the dead! This was exactly the faith of Abraham (cf. Hebrews 11:17-19). This emphasis is lost by NIV’s method of dynamic equivalence which was to translate the Bible according to the understanding of the translator who then used his own words at times to explain what he believed to be the meaning of the text. This is a translation of the thoughts of the Word of God rather than the meaning of the Word of God! The NIV is a deadly erroneous translation because of this technique. 

The result is that the theology of the KJV is excellent because all the doctrines are kept intact by the faithful and accurate translation. 

Having said the above, it is a known fact that even though the KJV translators did their best, the reality is that no two languages are exactly the same. For example, the biblical languages are able to shift the subject, verb, direct object and the indirect object of a sentence around for emphasis which the English language is not able to do.  The direct object can be placed in front of a sentence for emphasis; whereas the English translation has to place it in its proper position in the sentence, otherwise the meaning of the sentence can be changed. Similar little nuances like these found in the original languages are not possible to capture when translating to another language. The reason is that every language has its own syntax and grammar that must be adhered to. The balance is always between accuracy in translation by retaining the words of the original languages as much as possible and fluidity in reading and understanding a translation. The KJV translators had done that faithfully and accurately by the grace and mercies of God. That is why the KJV is the best translation because of the TEXTS, TRANSLATORS, TECHNIQUE and THEOLOGY. Therefore all English speaking believers can be blessed and read and obey the KJV Bible with confidence. Of course it will never be the same as the original languages in which the Bible was inspired and preserved by God Himself. 

Yours faithfully in the Saviour’s Service

Rev Dr Quek Suan Yew, Pastor