God's reign

Andy asked me at the Coffee Bible Club if I would say something about God's reign and human freedom. According to the motto "Mistakes are signs of growth" (M. Yaconelli), I will venture to say something:

1a The reality of human responsibility is a big assumption woven into Scripture's stories
1b The reality of God's reign is a big assumption woven into Scripture's stories
1c The expressions of both of these realities have the character of humble confession, and not of dispassionate assertion

2a These realities seem to collide in the context of the persecution of God's people by unbelievers like Pharaoh
2b In such situations of oppression, faith confesses hope in the continuing reign of God
2c This gives birth to the talk of reprobation in some isolated cases (Pharaoh, 1 Pet 2,8)
2d Therefore these isolated cases are best understood as fruit of the confession of the continuing reign of God, and not as an assertion of a general fact of reprobation

3a God's people confess that they have become God's people due to God's grace and work alone
3b The emphasis on the election of God's people by grace is strong and widespread in the stories of Scripture
3c The emphasis on the hopeless inability of God's people to be God's people according to their own strength or willpower is strong and widespread in the stories of Scripture
3d These emphases give birth to the talk of God's choice, because this gives God the glory for all the good work of his Spirit in dark hearts
3e Therefore talk of God's choice is best understood as a confession of faith in the lostness of man and in the love and power of God's Spirit, and not as an assertion of an abstract fact

4a Turning the bible into a book about election and reprobation distorts the bible's story
4b The bible is about the holy creator God whose will is to bless all people in all nations, particularly (although not exclusively) through people who live in special covenant with him.
4c soli deo gloria