βThe father of liesβ always hates the truth, but he does not always oppose it by the same methods. If he fails to succeed as a roaring lion he may appear as an angel of light, suggesting that surely a God of love will not condemn Christ-rejectors forever. Sinners, he will contend, are not responsible for their sins anyway, for does not Eph. 1:11 teach that β[God] worketh all things after the counsel of His own willβ? And thus God Himself is supposed to have conceived the idea of sin as βa gracious means to a glorious end,β and to have caused man to fall into sin so that He might finally save him from it!
Why an almighty, all-wise, all-loving God permitted sin to enter the universe must, for the time being, remain an impenetrable mystery to us, but one thing is certain: He is not the author of sin, and never accepts the responsibility for it β except that in grace and love He bore its penalty for man.
God calls sinners βchildren of disobedienceβ and βchildren of wrathβ (Eph. 2:2,3), explaining in the clearest language that He hates sin and that His anger is kindled against it (Rom. 1:18; Eph. 5:6; John 3:36). But if God meant man to sin and caused him to sin, how was man disobedient and what cause could God have to be angry? Those who would shift the responsibility for sin from themselves to God should remember that He proclaimed His standards of righteousness in the Law βthat every mouth may be stopped and that all the world may be brought in guilty before Godβ (Rom. 3:19).
The contention that all will finally be saved may at first sound like wonderful grace, but actually there is not one particle of grace in it, for it is based on the theory that since God got us into sin it is only just that He save us from its penalty. But grace is Godβs mercy and kindness to the undeserving. In Eph. 2, after calling sinners βchildren of disobedienceβ and therefore βchildren of wrath,β the Apostle Paul goes on to say:
βBUT GOD, who is RICH IN MERCY, for His GREAT LOVE wherewith he loved usβ¦ hath quickened usβ¦ raised us upβ¦ and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come He might show THE EXCEEDING RICHES OF HIS GRACE IN HIS KINDNESS TOWARD US THROUGH CHRIST JESUSβ (Eph. 2:4-7). source
