The Doctrines of Grace from the Lips of Our Lord: A Study in the Gospel of John
From Cascade Books (an inprint of Wipf & Stock Publishers)
THE doctrine of
salvation is the watershed doctrine of Scripture. Flowing from that doctrine
will be not only all other doctrine but also personal practice and Christian
ministry. The major controversy concerning salvation is whether it is a result
of the sovereign grace of God alone or a mixture of “God’s part” and “man’s
part.” Addressing that issue is absolutely critical to the very foundations of
Christianity itself. Whichever one of those premises is correct, we should
expect to find it everywhere we look in Scripture, and that is precisely what
we find. There is no truth that permeates the Bible more than the doctrines of
God’s sovereign grace. From Genesis to Revelation, in literally hundreds of
verses, these doctrines call, capture, and command our attention. Of the many
books of the Bible we could choose, the Gospel of John is among the most
compelling because of its foundational nature. It is there we find some of the
most profound teaching on the Doctrines of Grace in all Scripture. Examining
more than one hundred verses in John, this small volume presents these great
biblical and historical doctrines directly from the lips of our Lord. (137
pages)
1 or 2 copies: $15.00;
3+: $14.00 ea. — Also available on Amazon.com or from the publisher,
https://WipfAndStock.com
Contents
Forward (Dr. Allen
Monroe)......................................................................................................... 6
Author’s Preface........................................................................................................................... 7
Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 9
The “Continental
Divide” of Theology •
The Content of John’s Gospel
One – Jesus’ Doctrine
of the Sovereignty of God — John 8:58.................................................... 12
The Proclamation of the
Sovereign Word • The Presentation of the Sovereign God
Two – Jesus’ Doctrine
of Man’s Total Depravity — John 6:65.................................................... 20
Man’s Plight • Man’s
Penalty
Three – Jesus’
Doctrine of Sovereign Election — John 15:16....................................................... 31
Divine Choice •
Discerning Choice • Distinctive Choice • Distinguished Choice
Determined Choice
Four – Jesus’
Doctrine of His Definite Atonement — John 10:11, 14,
15..................................... 38
The Meaning of
Redemption • The Many Who Have Been Redeemed • The Matter of
Jesus’
“Inclusive” Words (“World” and “All”) • The Method of Evangelism
Five – Jesus’
Doctrine of the Spirit’s Effectual Calling — John 10:27........................................... 51
Spiritually
Raised • Sovereignly Drawn • Supernaturally Taught • Strongly Liberated
Specifically
Summoned
Six – Jesus’ Doctrine
of Preserving and Persevering Grace — John 10:27–29.............................. 59
Eternal Salvation •
Eternal Satisfaction • Eternal Safekeeping • Eternal Security
Eternal Steadfastness •
Eternal Sustenance • Eternal Survival • Eternal Sight
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................. 68
Appendix: The “Only
Begotten” Son........................................................................................... 72
Bibliography............................................................................................................................... 77
About the Author........................................................................................................................ 80
Notes......................................................................................................................................... 82
Introduction
“The reason a man is saved is grace, grace, grace; and you
may go as high as you like there.”[i]
Those words were preached on August 1, 1858 by that eminent “Prince of
Preachers,” Charles Spurgeon, in London. Grace is, indeed, our theology.
In a sense, in fact, it sums up all biblical theology. Of all the great
theological words—redemption, reconciliation, justification, sanctification,
glorification, election, and many more—none cuts to the heart of our theology
quite like grace.
Sadly, however, what have been dubbed the Doctrines of Grace
continue to be a major battleground. The controversy has raged for centuries,
and there appears to be no end in sight. While this is most certainly
tragic—anything that divides the Body of Christ is grievous—it is at the same
time practically unavoidable. To introduce our study, let us first examine why
such controversy is inevitable and then briefly present the Gospel of John as
the model of our Lord’s own teaching on salvation.
The “Continental Divide” of Theology
Back in 1997, film maker Ken Burns produced a superb
documentary titled, Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery,
which I enjoy more with each viewing. The goal of the expedition (1803–1806)
was to follow the Missouri River in search of what was believed to be an inland
waterway all the way to the Pacific Ocean that would unite East and West as the
Mississippi River joins North and South. It was, indeed, one of the greatest
and most amazing expeditions in human history.
One climatic moment came in August 1805. Having traveled
upstream over 2,400 miles, the expedition came to Three Forks in what is today
Montana, the spot where three rivers—the Jefferson, Gallatin, and Madison,
named after those government leaders—converge to form the headwaters of the
Missouri. Unsure of which fork to take, Meriwether Lewis and a small party
scouted ahead southwest on the Jefferson and its tributary the Beaverhead. The
river became shallow and swift and it was difficult for the men to drag their
canoes upstream.
It was on August 12 that Lewis ascended the final ridge
toward the great dividing line in North America called the Continental Divide,
which he later described as “the most distant fountain of the waters of the
Mighty Missouri, in search of which we have spent so many toilsome days and
restless nights.” Climbing the rest of the ridge—Lemhi Pass, on the present-day
border between Montana and Idaho—he expected to see from the summit a vast
plain to the west, with a large river flowing to the Pacific, the coveted
Northwest Passage. Instead, all he saw were endless mountains going into the
distance. It was a crushing blow.
The expedition reunited and negotiated with the Shoshone
Indians for the horses needed to make the terribly perilous journey through the
mountains. They were then befriend in late September, in what is now Idaho, by
the remarkable Nez Percé Indians, who helped the starving explorers make new
canoes. For the first time since leaving St. Louis, they now had the river
current at their back and raced west down the Clearwater, Snake, and Columbia
rivers, reaching the Pacific Ocean in November.
Now, that is not just an exciting story; it also serves to
illustrate a key theological truth. Just as the Continental Divide is the high
point of North America, from which streams and rivers flow in opposite
directions, there is also the Continental Divide of Theology, from which all
streams and rivers of thought flow in opposite directions.
So what is this Continental Divide? What is the high point
of theology from which all thoughts and views, depending upon which side of the
divide they are on, flow in opposite directions? It is called soteriology,
that is, the study (or doctrine) of salvation. It is from this high point that
in one direction flow the great streams and rivers of God’s absolute
sovereignty, man’s total depravity, grace alone, sovereign election, Christ’s
definite redemption of the elect, the Holy Spirit’s effectual calling, the
security of the believer, and all other doctrines grounded in Scripture alone.
In stark contrast, in the other direction flow the rivers,
streams, and tributaries of a moderately sovereign God, salvation by works,
human merit, man’s only partially fallen condition and therefore his so-called
free will (which we will examine in chapter 2), and many others founded upon
human thinking.
There is, in fact, no other great divide—this is it. Our
soteriology will dictate everything else in our theology. Just as North
America’s Continental Divide has only two directions away from it, the
Continental Divide of Theology dictates the direction all our theology will
take, including the applications and even methods of ministry we will
draw from it.
On one side of this Continental Divide are the Doctrines of
Grace. Boiled down to their bare essence, the Doctrines of Grace say only one
thing: Salvation is all of God.
Period. It’s just that simple, for as the prophet Jonah declared: “Salvation is
of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). That
one verse summarizes the very essence of the Bible. The Doctrines of Grace
demonstrate that man is a totally helpless sinner whom God alone has
saved by His love and grace, apart from anything man can do in himself
or for himself.
On the other side of the divide, however, is the opposite
idea. While many Christians say they believe that salvation is all of God, they
in reality do not because of the various rivers of thought on which they sail
their little boat. To one extent or another, to one degree or another, they
bring man into the equation and Christianity becomes man-centered. Salvation is
no longer solely of God, rather man cooperates in some way or even contributes
something to the process. But when we introduce even the tiniest notion that
man has anything to do with salvation, we have denied Jonah’s words: “Salvation
is of the Lord.” That is why
Spurgeon observed that when it comes to grace “you may go as high as you like.”
Tragically, many do not go high enough.
These two rivers of thought have been contrasted using
various names. Flowing in one direction, for example, is Augustianism and in
the other direction is Pelagianism. Other names for these rivers include:
Calvinism and Arminianism, Reformed and Catholic, and even predestination and
freewill. But regardless of their labels, each is the precise antithesis of the
other. They could not be more opposite, more contradictory, or (sadly) more
polarizing.
The Content of John’s Gospel
Whichever one of those two rivers of thought is the true
course, therefore, one would expect to find it permeating the Scriptures. If
soteriology is, indeed, the watershed doctrine from which everything else
flows, we would expect that the statement of it is to be found everywhere we
look in Scripture. Well, that is, in fact, exactly what we find. While some
teachers insist that the Doctrines of Grace are “a twisting of Scripture,” or
are a teaching that is simply “based upon a few isolated proof texts,” there is
in reality nothing that permeates the Bible more than these doctrines, doctrines
that proclaim God’s sovereign grace. From Genesis to Revelation, in
literally hundreds of verses, these doctrines call, capture, and command our
attention.
While we could write a massive work covering the entire
Bible, we will instead select just a single book, one that many people would
never think contains these doctrines at all. That book is The Gospel of John.
We select it for four reasons.
First, because of its author. The Apostle John
is referred to as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (13:23; 20:2; 21:7, 20). Of
course, Jesus loved all His followers, past, present, and future, but it’s
clear that John held a place of special affection in the Savior’s heart. Why? I
am convinced that the reason was that John was the most nearly like Jesus in
his basic character. We see in him the same mildness, gentleness, and
amiability as we see in Jesus. On the other hand, just as Jesus was righteously
enraged by the moneychangers in the Temple (the first instance of which John
records in 2:13–16), John also had great zeal, as demonstrated when he wanted
to call down fire from heaven to wipe out a village of Samaritans who rejected
Jesus (Luke 9:51–56). Further, John focuses on the Lord Jesus uniquely.
Everything he wrote pointed people to Jesus so that they “might believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life
through his name” (20:31). Still further, we also see John pick up on the same
themes in his Epistles that he noticed about Jesus and documented in his gospel
record. Finally, it seems significant that it was to John that the Lord Jesus
revealed His final consummation in the book of Revelation.
Second, we choose the Gospel of John because of its theme.
The presentation of the Doctrines of Grace in the Old Testament and the first
three Gospels slowly builds to the Gospel of John, where they then explode
right off the page. Here is the clearest proclamation of Sovereign grace as
yet revealed in Scripture.
Third, we select it because of its foundational
character. This is the first book of the Bible we encourage new converts
to read and study. Many churches even give out copies of the Gospel of John.
What better way is there, then, to introduce the wondrous, foundational
Doctrines of Sovereign Grace than to present them as they are set forth in the
Gospel of John?
Fourth and finally, we choose John because it best
presents these doctrines from the lips of our Lord. It is one thing to
study Paul on these issues, but it is quite another to study our Lord Himself.
Please do not misunderstand; we do not mean to imply that what Paul wrote was
not inspired or even less authoritative. Rather, we mean that our Lord is the
very source of these doctrines, and to misunderstand Him—or worse, to deny what
He says—is serious error to say the least. As we will see, then, with few
exceptions, the verses quoted in this study (over 100 in all) are from the lips
of our Lord.
[i] Spurgeon, The
New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon #207, “Sovereignty Grace and Man’s
Responsibility.”
Endorsements
Watson’s book implicitly
presents the argument that unless we hold to and preach the teaching of our
Lord and Savior in presenting the Doctrines of Grace, we are guilty of
perverting the very gospel message we claim is so precious. . . . It is our
hope that the material is this volume will help to spread the glorious news of
the authentic gospel, and to ascribe to God all the glory for the salvation of
sinners and Him alone.
—From the Foreword by Dr. Allen L. Monroe
Project Director for ELI (Equipping Leaders
International)
Professor Emeritus, Cedarville University;
Cedarville, Ohio
I’ve
read all my favorite theological titans on this most important of Bible themes,
and no one outside the covers of Holy
Writ explains it more convincingly than Dr. J. D. “Doc” Watson.
—JD Wetterling
Author of No one . . . and
No Time to Waste
The Doctrines of Grace from the Lips of our Lord brings light to the
theological landscape. Truly, these doctrines are the Continental Divide of
Theology. They create a distinction as sharp as darkness and light. How God
saves the sinner is what is at stake, and what the Bible says on this subject
is clearly outlined in the Doctrines of Grace. Often, this life-changing teaching
is dismissed as a manmade system, but in this excellent book, Doc Watson has
convincingly demonstrated that God Himself is the source of these truths, that
salvation by grace alone was clearly articulated by the Lord Jesus Christ. Your
careful attention to the words of Christ will result in a newfound appreciation
for the great grace of God and His great salvation.
—Dr. James Bearss
President, On Target Ministry
Teaching Faithful Men through International
Education
In a concise but comprehensive fashion, Doc Watson
demonstrates how the Doctrines of Grace permeate the Gospel of Belief. As I
read this book, I was vividly reminded of how saving grace is sovereign
grace, as set forth right from the lips of our Lord. Your love for John’s
gospel will flourish by seeing the glorious flow of the Doctrines of Grace as
they are carefully presented through each key passage. To grow in grace (2 Pet.
3:18) is to grasp the wonder of saving grace, and this book will help you do
just that.
—Kevin Kottke, MDiv
Pastor, Plainfield Bible Church
Plainfield, Indiana
Don’t
let the size of this book deter you from its value. In a time of shallow
thinking and man-centered reasoning, Doc Watson profoundly expounds the
undeniable, essential truths of the Doctrines of Grace in the Gospel of John.
He approaches these teachings in a fresh and convincing manner, and compares
them with the weak reasoning and practices that pervade most Christian thinking
today. This is what every Christian should know!
—Jim Bryant, MBS
Pastor, Grace Bible Chapel
San Antonio, Texas
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