Even so, this eternal perspective is difficult for temporally quarantined humans to comprehend. This difficulty even appears in translations of the Bible as the translators may change the syntax of Scripture to accommodate our temporal notions and sense. One example of this translational change is found in our Lord’s Prayer in John 17, a portion of which is as follows.
“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; (John 17:20)
In His prayer, Jesus is interceding with His Father on behalf of the disciples gathered around Him, according to the deepest desire of His heart—that these men would be one with Him, as He and His Father are one (John 17:21-22). But in verse 20 Jesus clearly indicates that He is praying for every person who believes in Him through the word that these disciples spread throughout the world. Most translations refer to these believing persons in the future tense since these persons are future to Christ’s prayer according to the temporal perspective, as seen in the following examples from various translations..
. . . for them also which shall believe on me through their word (KJV)
. . . also for those who will believe in me through their message (NIV)
. . . also for all who will ever believe in me because of their testimony (NLT)
. . . also for the future believers who will come to me because of the testimony of these. (TLB)
. . . also in regard to those who shall be believing, through their word, in me (YLT)
. . . for those also who believe in Me through their word (NASB)
. . . also for those who believe in me through their word (RSV)
. . . also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word (NRSV)
Although the New American Standard (NASB) and Revised Standard Version (RSV) translate in the English present tense “believe” they do so in an indefinite sense so that the reader is free to assume that the future is implied. This point is reinforced by the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), which replaces the indefinite present of the RSV with the future tense in the NRSV.
These translations attempt to accommodate Jesus’ syntax from an eternal perspective to a human perspective imprisoned within time. But a translation faithful to the original Greek verb tenses would read like this.
And not concerning these alone am I asking, but also concerning those who are believing(present active participle) in me through their word. (John 17:20, this author’s translation)
The verb, believe, in the original Greek text is a present active participle, which indicates continuous ongoing action in the present. From Christ’s eternal perspective these “future” believers actually are existing, are living and are acting in belief in Him! Such a rendering of the passage is admitted in such scholarly Greek language analysis as Vincent’s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament.
Thus we find that the eternal perspective of God can be identified in the original languages in which the Bible was written, and that sincere Bible interpreters and translators will change the language to fit the familiar “common sense” temporal perspective of their own time. While I do not criticize the translators for “making sense” of the Bible in our modern language and perspective, I think that these observations strongly support my proposition that the Bible should be read by faith and the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit from the eternal perspective as well as the temporal perspective. That is, the Bible should be received in the same fashion that it was written by its Divine Author through His inspired scribes—it must be received as a revelation from the eternal into the temporal. Recognition that the eternal perspective is necessarily translated into a construction of temporal grammar allows the Bible to “make sense” to people quarantined in time, but such a temporal construction does not invalidate the eternal truth of the revelation.
Recognition and acceptance of the eternal perspective fully ascribes to the sovereignty of God and thereby glorifies Him, just as the Westminster confession proclaims, “Man’s Chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever. (Romans. 11:36; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Psalm 73:24-28; John 17:21-23).”
A Final Thought on God’s Sovereignty.
Shall we think of God’s sovereignty the way we think about human sovereigns and sovereign nations that impose their will upon their subjects by brute force and threat of violence? If we do this, then we reduce the great I Am (YHWH, Jehovah) of the Bible to a horrid caricature of petty human tyrants, like the pagan gods of Egypt, Greece and Rome. This is a false notion of sovereignty that too often is unwittingly accepted by those who think they need to defend the sovereignty of the God of the Bible. It is a false notion because it is inconsistent with God’s attribute of Love. He doesn’t have love; He is love. He is just and fair beyond what we can imagine by those characteristics because He is love.
Viewed from the whole counsel of God’s word, the Holy Bible, this is how I understand the sovereignty of God. In love and grace, from His eternal perspective, God is more than able to allow all people, throughout all of time and space, to make their own choices, to obey or disobey His law, to accept or reject His salvation, to receive His desires or follow their own, and still He can make His will and purpose prevail. That is no mean human tyrant! That is the truly sovereign I Am who reveals Himself from eternity, Who is incarnate and steps into the quarantine facility of time in order to redeem from the slave market of sin those who choose Him.
A Final Thought on the Paradox–Divine Predestination vs. Human Freedom to Choose
Where eternity touches time paradoxes arise, because both the eternal and temporal perspectives are valid only as far as they go. To overcome paradox, we need to realize that the eternal perspective encompasses the temporal, and thus modifies it in ways that are extremely difficult for us temporal creatures to comprehend (John 1:5). The Bible tells us that both predestination and human choice are necessary parts of God’s plan of salvation. I remember Comedian Flip Wilson’s famous line, “The Devil made me do it.” People laughed at his witty excuse for selfish behavior. The Calvinist might similarly propose for his righteous behavior, “God made me do it.” Or the Arminian might jest, “I did it myself.”
While some might think this bad joke sacrilegious, it states the dilemma of Calvinism vs. freedom to choose. In the Calvinist interpretation, there is no freedom to choose, and such freedom is a fallen human delusion. But, really, the Devil cannot make us do anything we do not want to do, and God will not make us do what we do not want to do. The Devil can only draw us by temptation, but God draws us by love. Both the Devil and God draw us by fear, the Devil by fear for self and God by reverent awe (fear – phobos) of his divine nature, presence, grace and love. Therefore, let us lay vain argumentation aside and respond to what our hearts desire, for God will give us what we truly desire (Psalm 37:4; Romans 1:21-28).
Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)
For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. (22) Professing to be wise, they became fools, (23) and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. (24) Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. (25) For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (26) For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, (27) and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. (28) And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, . . . (Romans 1:21-28)
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