“An opportunity to seek and believe is not “earning” anything.”
When it comes down to it, if one accepts your convoluted view, ultimately the difference between the believer and the unbeliever is in the righteousness of the former in having a “willing” heart of his own to ask for a new heart from the Savior. And as long as they remain in this condition of wanting this new nature, they are saved. At the final evaluation, however, we can only say that they have earned grace by their continued faithfulness.
Of course, you hold that faith is actually a gift, but as a result of someone willing to repent and believe, which is a mere contradiction. You continue:
“Notice that in both of these passages that predestination, that which God determined beforehand, includes the righteous acts of saints after having believed. Are these righteous acts an earning of salvation or are they the work of God accomplished by His grace?”
This is exactly my view, that God determined beforehand the righteous acts of all believers. The difference between us, of course, is that the “choice” (the decision to follow Christ) is determined by Christ, whereas you say the person’s choice is determined by themselves, and acted upon retroactively in predestination. Christ is quite clear that “You have NOT chosen me, I have chosen you.” And so we must hold that the subsequent choosing of the believer for Christ is a direct result of Christ’s initial choice for them, and is ordained with all the other works that result from Christ’s initial choice. But then you veer off from these conclusions from this verse in this following quote, and this sounds very Romanist in actuality. (Are you Roman Catholic? I assumed you were Protestant at first.)
You write: “Yet, believers are called not only to believe but also to labor by God’s grace. Is this “earning” salvation? No. Are we partakers of grace by our participation in good works? Yes.”
This seems to suggest that one partakes of grace through participation in good works. But as the previous verse already shows, those same works are ordained for us from the very beginning that we should do them. They are a result of salvation (Christ’s choice), and therefore cannot be said to be a condition that we must uphold to remain in grace. If one fills a lamp with oil and ignites it, the lamp will shine brightly with the fire. It can’t do anything except burn brightly, and unlike the oil the Holy Spirit is never consumed utterly. And such is the same condition of the Christian who no longer has a heart made of stone, but a fleshy heart that endeavors to do the will of God. Therefore, to say that we remain in grace through participating in works is like saying a lamp has the option of not giving light when ignited.
“And I have already answered your comment on Romans 3:11 about none seeking. I don’t know why you just repeat something when I have already shown several scriptures describing that people do seek God.”
To be honest, the rest of your post is indeed a giant repetition of what has already been dealt with. You did not deal with my comment on Romans 3:11. You simply avoided quoting the scripture which says “none seek,” and then asserting that the existence of those who do seek must mean that Paul was just kidding when he said “none seek’ at all, in all of humanity. My view reconciles the two, by asserting that only those seek who have been regenerated, and these same regenerated souls infallibly know that Jesus is the Savior due to God’s direct revelation and imprinting on that same soul His identity. Your view says silly stuff like “none seek until they do,” ignoring the necessity of God regenerating the soul of the believer so that they do believe.
1Co 2:14-15 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (15) But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
Until the natural man is indeed made into the spiritual man, he cannot believe the Gospel nor even understand what it actually teaches.
“So there is no indication that there is some category of people whom God never gives the ability to believe.”
Yes there is, here’s one example of it:
Joh 6:64-65 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. (65) And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
They do not believe because it was not given to them to believe. No matter how long winded your posts get, they can’t change this fact.
“Which is it? Does God give a new heart or do we get it for ourselves?”
From Gill’s commentary:
“... it [this verse] will not prove that it is in the power of man to make himself such a heart and spirit; since from God’s command, to man’s power, is no argument [In other words, a command from God does not imply a moral ability of the individual to do it. It is merely a prescription of what should be done, but does not imply that it can be done, since other verses declare that it can only be done by God’s doing]; and the design of the exhortation is to convince men of their want of such a heart; of the importance of it: and which, through the efficacious grace of God, may be a means of his people having it, seeing he has in covenant promised it to them. The Targum renders it, “a fearing heart, and a spirit of fear;’’ that is, a heart and spirit to fear, serve, and worship the Lord, and not idols”
A command by God to do this or that does not imply a moral ability, in and of himself, for man to do it, as I’ve gone over before. Unless you believe that to “sin no more” and to “be ye perfect” are possible. But if God does not give us that heart to begin with, it is impossible to desire to have one in the first place. Your reading, actually, would contradict Christ in the Gospels, who declares what I declare, that unless it is given by the Father, it is impossible to believe.
Jer 24:7 And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
1Co_12:3 ... and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.
Mat_16:17 ... for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
“Now, what will? what purpose? I have already answered that earlier also. It is according to His good pleasure and His glory.”
As far as I can tell, you asserted that the “reason” was God foreseeing man’s faithful persevering in grace. If the reason is for God’s own particular purpose and will, and not because of any foreseen merits on our part, then you cannot argue what you have been arguing.
“Did they fail to enter because God chose not to give them His irresistable grace, or because of their choice of disobedience.”
Obviously, it’s the latter. Your false premise here is that because God elects some and not others, that somehow those who are not elected aren’t responsible for their sins. Your post is, honestly, filled with this false assertion which I’ve already addressed previously. While it is true that the man who is elected cannot take credit for his salvation, in the case of the unregenerate they are, by nature, utterly opposed to God despite His oft repeated pleas to turn and convert. When God predestinates a vessel of wrath, He merely passes them by. He does not give them a sin nature that they possess by nature. In the case of the elect, however, it is God actively reforming an individual into a “spiritual man” who is no longer the same person they were before.
I’ll also add that you also continue to assert that I take out the role of human responsibility, to a certain extent, of their actions. I have never said that the elect are made into Robots who only do what is right, because they are suddenly made perfect in understanding. My argument has always been that the elect are remade people, who possess a sin nature in their members and an imperfect knowledge, yet ultimately are new people within whom God works “both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” This is not an argument that states that man does not need instruction from the Word of God for “reproof, correction, to thoroughly furnish them for good works.” It is an argument that states that inside man is a desire to be reproofed, corrected, and thoroughly furnished.
Thus all your long winded arguments pointing to human responsibility in no way touch upon anything I actually disagree with. I simply assert that God’s decision to save a man is infallible, and that it is impossible that anyone not chosen by God can believe, and it is impossible for anyone chosen by God not to believe and desire to “will and to do” by the working of God in their souls.
“Paul answers the question that, yes, people do resist His will:”
You’ve repeated this a number of times, but Paul never said anything of the sort. He is quoting an objection to his view, and replies that “who art thou to reply to God, why hast thou made me thus?” In other words, he is rebuking the idea that God is unjust in electing one person over another. Notice you never quote the entire sentence when you reference it.
Your wresting of the scripture here is just a repetition without any real explanation for what has been said already.
“When it comes down to it, if one accepts your convoluted view, ultimately the difference between the believer and the unbeliever is in the righteousness of the former in having a ‘willing’ heart of his own to ask for a new heart from the Savior.”
A new and willing heart is offered freely to all. The ultimate difference between the lost and saved is the end result, either heaven or hell, either Christ-likeness or remaining in our sins. You are talking about a causal difference. The flaw of your thinking is in comparing people between eachother which is not the measure.
“But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise... But ‘he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’” (2 Corinthians 10:12b,17)
Every person is different. Every person is unique in God’s plan. Jacob and Esau, as we saw earlier, illustrate how that we must accept our lot in life because God will use us to accomplish whatever purpose He has designed us to fulfill. If we resist, He accomplishes His will through our destruction. If we humble ourselves and submit, He blesses us in it and lifts us up. He may, if He so chooses, offer more than one opportunity to surrender to His will. We saw how that Jonah first resisted God’s call but later turned to God in His desperation. When he ran away God brought the fear of his name to those at sea. When he cooperated, God brought salvation to Nineveh. Likewise with the two Pharaohs as we discussed.
“Peter, seeing him [John], said to Jesus, ‘But Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ‘If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.’ (John 21:21-22)
“At the final evaluation, however, we can only say that they have earned grace by their continued faithfulness.”
That’s not it at all. Can’t you see that accepting a gift of your own free will is not earning it? As above, everyone should glory in the Lord for receiving what he or she receives. We cannot boast because we receive it and others did not. Again, that is focussing on our neighbor rather than the Lord.
The church is the bride of Christ. The marriage is the third divinely arranged marriage. Adam and Eve are the first. Isaac and Rebeka are the second. Each picture God’s ways.
“Then they called Rebekah and said to her, ‘Will you go with this man?’ And she said, ‘I will go.’”(Genesis 24:58)
Do you believe coerced marriages are a good pattern to follow? Does Rebekah’s willingness earn her the right to marry, or is it simply a necessary element?
“The difference between us, of course, is that the ‘choice’ (the decision to follow Christ) is determined by Christ, whereas you say the person’s choice is determined by themselves, and acted upon retroactively in predestination.”
And you say my view is “convoluted”? Your explanation defies the very meaning of “choice”. I do not choose what my options are. The sun rises and sets without my choice. On the other hand, I sometimes may decide whether to stand in it or in the shade.
The object lesson in the garden of Eden shows three basic elements of choice: the decision whether or not to obey a positive command, the decision of whether or not to obey a negative command, and areas of personal liberty over which we are freely governed entirely by our own preferences. Adam and Even were created free. By sin they were sold into slavery, and we were born into this slavery. Christ has given a proclamation of liberty so that people are restored to a similar state as Adam and Eve.
Do you think that people go to hell by virtue of the fact their parents are sinners? Aren’t we sinners because we are born sinners? We sin because we are sinners. The only people who were sinners because they sinned are Adam and Eve. Yet God says He doesn’t punish anyone for their parent’s sins.
“But every one shall die for his own iniquity” (Jeremiah 31:30)
People go to hell for only one reason — rejecting God’s free gift of salvation in His Son Jesus Christ. It is a gift. It is free. We do not earn it or work for it. This means people can freely receive. They are no longer in bondage and unable to receive it.
“Therefore, to say that we remain in grace through participating in works is like saying a lamp has the option of not giving light when ignited.”
I am saying that believers have a choice whether to yield to the sin that remains present around us and in us, or to walk by faith in grace. It is the same with an unbeliever presented with the Gospel and who has not yet become hardened to its message. Not only can he or she make a choice, they MUST make one. They do not have a choice as to whether they make a choice. They must yield or be hardened. Sometimes God gives another opportunity. “He gives more grace.” Yet, there comes a time when God decides He will no longer strive with men and allows them to receive the consequence of their hardened hearts.
There are some like Judas of whom Christ says “good were it for that man if he had never been born.” Yet, we have no choice as to whether we are born. God chooses who will be born, where, what time in history, etc.
“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:26-27)
Here we see that people should or otherwise can seek God. We see they “might” meaning it is possible, but not that men “must” do so.
“Christ is quite clear that ‘You have NOT chosen me, I have chosen you.’ And so we must hold that the subsequent choosing of the believer for Christ is a direct result of Christ’s initial choice for them, and is ordained with all the other works that result from Christ’s initial choice.”
It appears you contradicted yourself. You are now saying that there is a subsequent choice by the believer to follow Christ. But your interpretation is literal that they made no choice at all. But again, Christ is using a figure of speech for emphasis. We are not saved because we a smart enough, wise enough, clever enough, righteous enough, or some other enough to CHOOSE. We are saved because He chose to save us. He did not have to. He chose to.
“You simply avoided quoting the scripture which says ‘none seek,’ and then asserting that the existence of those who do seek must mean that Paul was just kidding when he said ‘none seek’ at all, in all of humanity. My view reconciles the two, by asserting that only those seek who have been regenerated, and these same regenerated souls infallibly know that Jesus is the Savior due to God’s direct revelation and imprinting on that same soul His identity. Your view says silly stuff like ‘none seek until they do,’ ignoring the necessity of God regenerating the soul of the believer so that they do believe.”
Not at all. My point is that everyone is in the category of the “none who seek” at some point in time. Yet there are those who do seek at some later point in time. I gave scriptures to support that people do seek, they do choose. Paul is not sayng that none ever seek. He is saying that some find without seeking because God seeks us out when we are not even seeking Him. Who does Christ seek?
“for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10)
“Until the natural man is indeed made into the spiritual man, he cannot believe the Gospel nor even understand what it actually teaches.”
Paul was talking about deeper spiritual truths such as spiritual gifts. He even says that not only can the natural man not receive these doctrines, but neither can immature and carnal believers. Contrarily, there is a natural revelation of spiritual truth because all humans have a living, functioning spirit. In this same passage Paul teaches that humans understand human things because of the human spirit in them. It is possible for even lost people to understand some of the spiritual truths about Christ because Christ is also fully man.
“for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them” (Romans 2:14-15)
“For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20)
“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:19-20)
How many mouths? Every. How much of the world? All.
Who does the Holy Spirit convict of sin? Just the elect? No. The world is convicted. This is a spiritual revelation to the natural realm.
“And when He [the Comforter Who is the Holy Spirit] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:8)
“They do not believe because it was not given to them to believe.”
They could not believe at that time and onward. This is the result of their hardening their hearts to the truth.
“He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, Will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” (Proverbs 29:1)
If you go back and read what I said carefully, I said there was not a category of people who NEVER had the opportunity to believe. The people in the passage who could not believe had rejected Christ in finality. They could not believe because God was done striving with them.
“And the Lord said, ‘My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.’” (Genesis 6:3)
“A command by God to do this or that does not imply a moral ability, in and of himself, for man to do it”
I agree. What God is seeking though is an admission of our failure and inability to do so.
“But if God does not give us that heart to begin with, it is impossible to desire to have one in the first place. “
It is impossible to desire a new heart because we do not already have it? Contrarily, it is impossible to receive a gift unless the desire to receive it already exists. Do not conflate choice with merit. God gives the ability to choose. We are responsible for the choice. This does not give us any credit for salvation, but it does mean we are required to make a choice. However, our choice is like the clay in the potter’s hands. Our choice is not what we are to become or what shape we are to form. Our choice is whether we cooperate or resist.
“Are you Roman Catholic?”
No. And I do not subscribe to salvation by our good works. I do subscribe to salvation by the work of faith. God opens and shuts the door of salvation. We either walk through the door while it is open or get shut out when it is shut. Only God can open and shut the door though. It is open to all until God closes it. He either shuts us in or shuts us out.
“When God predestinates a vessel of wrath, He merely passes them by. He does not give them a sin nature that they possess by nature.”
I do not find a predestination to wrath. This I think is the biggest flaw of Calvinism as it is commonly expressed, or at least as many people understand it. People draw the conclusion that when people go to hell it is because of God. But God has done everything possible to keep people from needing to go to hell. We do not read of hell being prepared for the Devil, his angels, AND the non-elect humans. There is an exact number of places to be occupied in heaven. Hell, on the other hand, is never full. It is unlimited in capacity.
“Hell and Destruction are never full” (Proverbs 27:20a)
“Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.” (Luke 14:23)
Interestingly, in this last verse, those who come are “compelled”. I think this means to beg people to come in rather than coerce. Otherwise, why not just compel the original invitees to come in? The first invitees made excuses and did not come because of their unwillingness.
A predestination to wrath would be like a potter forming clay vessels with the express plan to break them. I suppose we do make skeets for skeet shooting, but do you think God makes some people just so He can destroy them and cast them down to hell? The passage in Romans 9 reflects how God delights in showing mercy but simply tolerates the existence of the vessels that must later be destroyed. He doesn’t create them to be destroyed. He creates vessels. Some do not become what they are meant to become. This is not a fault of the potter. It is a result of uncooperative clay. However, the vessels formed well cannot boast of forming themselves because that is the potter’s work.
“What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” (Romans 9:22-24)
“Prepared” (for destruction) is the accusative neuter plural perfect passive participle form of the verb katartizo, or so I am reading. It means they are destined for destruction but not predestined. We see “prepared beforehand” describes the vessels of mercy using the verb proetoimazo. This is a very important distinction as the preparation of the vessels of mercy is the point or intent of the activity of preparing and fashioning the vessels, whereas the vessels of wrath are the indirect consequence of the planned preparation of the vessels of mercy. In other words, the vessels of wrath are the cost of doing business. The potter forms clay into vessels according to a plan. Some vessels do not conform and are consequently destroyed.
This is consistent with the parable of the wheat and tares which are allowed to grow together, not because the tares were planned but because their coexistence is being tolerated for the sake of the wheat.
“I simply assert that God’s decision to save a man is infallible, and that it is impossible that anyone not chosen by God can believe, and it is impossible for anyone chosen by God not to believe and desire to ‘will and to do’ by the working of God in their souls.”
Unfortunately it is an assertion that only fits some selected passages and not others as far as I can see. I am not intending to set myself up as the final arbitrator of the matter. I am just saying I am unable to see the scriptual basis for the conclusion you are reaching.
“My argument has always been that the elect are remade people, who possess a sin nature in their members and an imperfect knowledge, yet ultimately are new people within whom God works ‘both to will and to do of His good pleasure.’ This is not an argument that states that man does not need instruction from the Word of God for ‘reproof, correction, to thoroughly furnish them for good works.’ It is an argument that states that inside man is a desire to be reproofed, corrected, and thoroughly furnished.”
I can completely accept that statement.
“You’ve repeated this a number of times, but Paul never said anything of the sort. He is quoting an objection to his view, and replies that ‘who art thou to reply to God, why hast thou made me thus?’ In other words, he is rebuking the idea that God is unjust in electing one person over another. Notice you never quote the entire sentence when you reference it.”
I am assuming the familiarity of the passage as I am accustomed to quoting vast amounts of scripture which already consumes an enormous amount of space. I am by no means trying to sweep anything under the rug.
“Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?”(Romans 9:19-20)
Or... “o anthrope, menounge su tis ei o antapokrinomenos to theo”, or so I read. The subsequent statement is in contradiction to the first. Paul is not saying, “yes, but...”, he is rather saying, “no, not at all”.
Now, you did not respond to my question of how Old Testament saints were saved. I have asserted that they were saved by grace through faith just as we are. No one has ever been saved by keeping the law. So, would it be incorrect to assume that the final outcome is the same? Are the intermediary steps the same? Perhaps the saints in heaven received the full benefit of the work of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost along with the New Testament saints. I am speculating here of course. But it seems to me that the process you believe must take place would have to have been happening in secret in the past. For example, we do not read anything about God’s Spirit created in Noah a new heart and then he found grace. We do not see the Holy Spirit giving Abraham new life and then he believed. I am not even trying to be argumentative here. Honestly, I have wondered this myself and am unsure of how this transpired. But it does seem fairly difficult to reconcile the process you describe with Old Testament saints. Whereas, for me, the process might be somewhat mysterious but not inconsistent with the process I see in the New Testament. In other words, the Holy Spirit is now given where He was not before. It seems to me your view demands the Holy Spirit be given first before a person can believe. Yet we see people receive the Holy Spirit after they believe in the New Testament.
I hope I have not come across as rude, arrogant or argumentative. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss this matter and try to understand your and others’ perspectives. Please don’t take offense to my assertiveness, or especially my wordiness. Like the famous letter said, “I am sorry for writing such a long letter as I did not have time to write a short one”. Ironically, more time can sometimes produce less words to make the same point.
I did want to address one further point though. It seems that one distinction between our views may be as to who are the children of the Devil. John says the children of God and the children of the Devil are manifest based upon whether they produce the fruits of righteousness and love.
“In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”(1 John 3:10)
My question is whether all people are either children of God or children of the Devil. That is, are people born as children of the Devil, or are people subsequent to birth born either into God’s family or the Devil’s? I believe it is subsequent and only after rejecting the revealed truth of God’s word.
“Another parable He put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’’... Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.’ He answered and said to them: ‘He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.’” (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-39)
The pattern here seems to indicate that people are not born as children of the Devil but reborn as such only after failing to accept the gospel. No amount of willing from the earth can produce growth unless and until seed lands upon it. However, Christ taught to “take heed how you hear.”
All sin by virtue of our first birth into humanity. All die for the same reason. Yet, hell is not the consequence of our birth as human beings, but it is the consequence of those who receive sufficient natural revelation to produce humility and repentance and yet harden their hearts. Those who harden their hearts will eventually be given over to Satan and receive a false gospel. The final outcome will be for those who do this to be cast into the lake of fire along with the Devil when he is judged.
“Then Jesus said to them, “A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.” (John 12:35)
So I remain convinced that God has given everyone an opportunity to choose beyond what has been chosen for us by being born human. He has freed mankind from the slave market of sin so we all have the opportunity to receive everlasting life. He has given us each the opportunity, responsibility as well as the possibility to choose. If we choose life, it is because God provided life and the ability to choose it. If we choose death, we have only ourselves to blame because God afforded every opportunity. He gave everything for us to live. Those who reject the offer of His Son are treating His sacrifice with contempt and deserve the consequence of so great an offense.
The bottom line is that God and man both make choices when it comes to each instance in which a person is saved or rejects salvation. Those who end up in hell do so because of their own choice. Those who end up in heaven do so because of God’s choice. It may be paradoxical, but I am convinced this is the balance of rightly dividing the word on this issue.
Sometimes I feel that the debate over choice and destiny, over fate and possibility is a matter of perspective. Perhaps, from God’s view it appears as no choice at all because the final outcome and everything leading to it is already known by God. Yet from the human perspective, all of the events are a cumulation of many choices over time. God knows, but we do not know how all things will play out. We only have His promise to accomplish His will and purpose. We can rely on that.
“And He said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.’” (Mark 4:26)
Our job is to find ways to participate in the cultivating, sowing and irrigating needed to preach the gospel to all nations. It is interesting food for thought to consider the process by which germination and growth transpires. But it is not essential to understand how it works as long as we do the job we are assigned to do.