COMPATIBILISM

“The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD” (Prov 21:31 ESV).

“What is compatibilism?…God is absolutely sovereign, but his sovereignty never functions in Scripture to reduce human responsibility.  Human beings are responsible creatures—that is, they choose, they believe, they disobey, they respond, and there is moral significance in their choices; but human responsibility never functions in Scripture to diminish God’s sovereignty or to make God absolutely contingent” (D.A. Carson) Justin Taylor (ref#295).

FATHER, I desire biblical balance between the SPIRIT’s power and my effort. “…there is both preservation on God’s part and perseverance in holiness on ours, and the former is accomplished by maintaining the latter.  God does not deal with His people as though they were machines, but as rational creatures.  He sets before them weighty considerations and powerful motives, solemn warnings and rich rewards, and by the renewings of His grace and the reviving of His Spirit causes them to respond thereto” A.W. Pink (ref#269, p170).

“Paul said he had learned to be content…He worked at it.  But he knew that he could be content only through the Lord, who gave him strength” Jerry Bridges (ref#192, p133).

 “Each member of God’s people is responsible to lay hold of…grace from the heart to believe the promises, to grow in obeying the commands, and to keep on doing so all their lives long” The ESV Study Bible (ref#125, p937, “Introduction to the Psalms”).

“’To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me’ (Col 1:29)” Jim Cymbala (ref#161, p51).  “He enables me to live a life pleasing to Him” Jerry Bridges (ref#192, p134).