Estimated reading time: 2 minute(s)
This topic has come up again in recent settings and discussions I have been in…
To our minds, there are limits. For instance… 100%. Means 100 parts per 100. You can not have more. That’s it. 100% is the maximum limit. End of story. So, when Jesus claims to be 100% Man (Heb 2:17) and at the same time 100% God (Col 1:19, 2:9) — well, we know that’s impossible.
Now most of us, being the good little Christians that we are say that we accept that on the surface… but when it comes down to it, we know that it is actually impossible, so we end up taking sides… if not on that issue, then on another mystery of God issue.
The issue of Calvinism vs. Arminianism came up at our membership class the other night. Crosswinds takes the Arminian stand. They say that God gave us all free-will to choose him, and that anyone can be saved. Scripture backs them up.
The Calvinist on the other hand says that God has predestined all who will be saved. That it is God who does the choosing and the saving. Scripture backs them up.
WHAT!? They can’t both be right??? Well, God has given us free-will, that is why we are in the mess we are in. We constantly make bad choices for ourselves and those around us. And, its says all to all who believe he will give the right to be called children of God. That means all. BUT, it also says in many places that God is sovereign, that God has predetermined salvation, that we are elected… all sorts of language like that. I lean more toward the arminian side, but I think there’s something bigger here.
Jesus is 100% man, 100% God. God is 100% Father, 100% Son & 100% Spirit…. and, he’s 100% 1 being. God’s numbering system is not ours. God can predestine and choose us all he wants and still make free-will work – and we don’t have to be able to understand it.
That is the main place we get into trouble… when we start trying to figure out HOW God does stuff, and not just trusting that He does. That is where doctrinal divides occur between Christian brothers. That is where arguments arise and divide.
So… next time you are tempted to ask – or especially to argue about – how God did, does or will do some specific thing… just remember…
Jesus is 100% man and 100% God. Total: 100%.