My Test Drive with Prius Theology

When the Toyota Prius hit the market in 2000, the world was introduced to the idea of hybrid technology: gas and electricity both used to power a car. In that same year, a just-as-revolutionary hybrid theology began to take shape in my heart. In my last two posts (here and here), I chronicled by journey from Arminianism to the depths of hyper-Calvinism.

After I began my road to redemption, I tried to avoid the topic. I couldn’t make sense of the issue. It made my brain hurt. When I walked down the road of Calvinism, all I could see was God’s sovereignty in Scripture (see Romans 8:29, Romans 9:15-16, Ephesians 1:4-5). Once I backed away, I began to see man’s choice just as clearly (see Deuteronomy 30:19, Joshua 24:15, 2 Samuel 24:12, Proverbs 8:10, John 7:17, James 4:4).

I asked, “If man doesn’t have a choice, if everything is predestined, then why would God constantly give mankind the option to choose? At best it would be hypocritical, at worst it would be downright cruel for God to dangle choice in front of man when he has no say in the matter.” See? Doesn’t your brain hurt now?

I could point to Scripture that supported both sides. I saw God’s sovereignty and I saw man’s choice. I just couldn’t reconcile them. Whenever someone would debate the issue, they would have to dance around the Scriptures that supported the opposing idea. It was tiring. When asked to do Bible studies, I would intentionally avoid Scriptures that spoke to the debate because I didn’t quite have my personal theology reconciled yet.

Over the next few years, my hybrid theology began to take shape as I read Scriptures that seemed to have both angles side-by-side. In Philippians 2:12-13, Paul tells us, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Paul tells us to work out our salvation (man’s will) while stating that it is God who works in us (God’s sovereignty).

Or how about Jesus himself in John 6:65, “He went on to say, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.‘” We come to God (man’s will), but God has to enable us first (God’s sovereignty). While this would indicate that one precedes the other, it doesn’t deny the existence of the other.

With verses such as these, I began to consider the notion that perhaps both were true. Although the two extremes seemed irreconcilable, they both had support in Scripture. It wasn’t until I came to the most obvious illustration found in the New Testament that I truly had a peace with my hybrid theology.

Want to know what illustration tied everything together for me? Well, I guess you’ll have to come back tomorrow then, won’t you? Tomorrow I’ll finish up my thoughts on Calvinism and the false choice Christians are forced to make.