Attributes of God

INTRODUCTION

Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952) "was born in Great Britain and immigrated to the U.S. to study at Moody Bible Institute. He pastored churches in Colorado, California, Kentucky, and South Carolina before becoming an itinerant Bible teacher in 1919. From 1925-1927 he Pastored in Sydney, Australia then went to visit his hometown of Nottingham, England before returning to the U.S. He returned to his native land in 1934, taking up residence on the Isle of Lewis, Scotland, in 1940, and remained there until his death. Most of his works first appeared as articles in Studies in Scriptures, a monthly magazine concerned solely with the exposition of Scripture.

The book, The Attributes of God, explores attributes such as God's decree, foreknowledge, sovereignty, holiness, grace, and mercy. Pink starts out with the solitariness of God. Which simply means God is self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied and need of nothing.

SUMMARY

In chapter two, Pink discusses that man is a responsible creature and answerable for his actions. The Bible tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad." With this view, we cannot afford to trifle or to sin. Every day should be viewed in the light of the last day, and then we shall live as we should.

Pink goes on to say in chapter 4, that God sat down and decided who would be saved and who would go to hell. It cannot be put any other way. This is what he claims. According to my Bible, this is not so. You cannot deny that these terms are in scripture. We know that Christ is all knowing, and therefore he knows who will accept his free gift and who will not. God uses the foolishness of preaching to bring sinner unto salvation. Romans 10:14; "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?"

There are those who call themselves "Hyper-Calvinist". This is a belief that I cannot conform to. I don't care if they want to call themselves this all they want, as long as they are trying to win people to Christ. The Bible tells us in Matthew 28:19-20, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen." This is our great commission! How can someone say that there are those who God elected certain ones who will be saved and certain ones to spend an eternity in hell?

The term of "elect", refers to us that are saved. We are the elected. We are predestined to spend an eternity