Romans 11:33-36
To the glory of God alone!
Not many people know that at the end of virtually all his musical scores, Johann Sebastian Bach, wrote three letter “SDG”, for Soli Deo Gloria. Bach was acknowledging that though he was himself the human inspiration of this magnificent music, there was one to whom belonged all the glory alone. Hence, ‘SDG’, to the glory of God alone! Bach wanted everyone to know that the praise of this beautiful music of which he was the instrument for belonged to God alone.
Soli Deo gloria is the motto that grew out of the Protestant Reformation, At the heart of the sixteenth-century controversy over salvation was the issue of grace. R.C. Sproul emphasizes, however, that “It was not a question of man’s need for grace. It was a question as to the extent of that need.”
Sproul goes on to note that “The church had already condemned Pelagius, who had taught that grace facilitates salvation but is not absolutely necessary for it. Semi-Pelagianism since that time has always taught that without grace there is no salvation. But the grace that is considered in all semi-Pelagian and Arminian theories of salvation is not an efficacious grace. It is a grace that makes salvation possible, but not a grace that makes salvation certain.”
In the parable of the sower, for instance, we see that regarding salvation, God is the one who takes the initiative to bring salvation to pass. He is the sower. The seed that is sown is His seed, corresponding to His Word, and the harvest that results is His harvest. He harvests what He purposed to harvest when He initiated the whole process (see Matt. 13:1-23). Sproul writes that “God doesn’t leave the harvest up to the vagaries of thorns and stones in the pathway. It is God and God alone who makes certain that a portion of His Word falls upon good ground.”
Further, Sproul highlights a critical error in interpreting this parable. This error he underscores “would be to assume that the good ground is the good disposition of fallen sinners, those sinners who make the right choice, responding positively to God’s prevenient grace.” The classical Reformed understanding of the good ground, however, is that if the ground is receptive to the seed that is sown by God, it is God alone who prepares the ground for the germination of the seed.
“The biggest question any semi-Pelagian or Arminian has to face at the practical level,” writes Sproul, “is this: Why did I choose to believe the gospel and commit my life to Christ when my neighbor, who heard the same gospel, chose to reject it?” Now, that question has been answered in many ways, and you can read Sproul’s article in full here to discover those various ways.
However, Sproul concludes:
“What Reformed theology teaches is that it is true the believer makes the right response and the non-believer makes the wrong response. But the reason the believer makes the good response is because God in His sovereign election changes the disposition of the heart of the elect to effect a good response. I can take no credit for the response that I made for Christ. God not only initiated my salvation, He not only sowed the seed, but He made sure that that seed germinated in my heart by regenerating me by the power of the Holy Ghost. That regeneration is a necessary condition for the seed to take root and to flourish. That’s why at the heart of Reformed theology the axiom resounds, namely, that regeneration precedes faith. It’s that formula, that order of salvation that all semi-Pelagians reject. They hold to the idea that in their fallen condition of spiritual death, they exercise faith, and then are born again. In their view, they respond to the gospel before the Spirit has changed the disposition of their soul to bring them to faith. When that happens, the glory of God is shared. No semi-Pelagian can ever say with authenticity: ‘To God alone be the glory.’”
The apostle Paul, reminding the church at Corinth, from where their blessings come, asked a simple question: “What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Cor. 4:7). Isaac Watts in his hymn ‘How Sweet and Awful is the Place’ underlines this text as he writes:
"Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
And enter while there's room,
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?
"
Truly, we have much for which to be thankful.
To God Alone be the Glory,
Pastor Wayne
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