THE
DOCTRINE OF THE
RESPONSIBILITY OF MAN
“Let us
hear the
conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments:
for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13): “Because that which may be known of God is
manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible
things of
him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things
that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they
are without excuse” (Romans 1:19, 20).
Another
way
to look at this is in considering the Sovereignty of God in the life of
Every
person, whether Christian or not, stands before God as a responsible
individual. It makes no difference who they are, where they were born,
what are
their circumstances or condition, etc., etc. There are no exemptions; “for it is written, as I live, saith the
Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to
God. So then every one of us shall
give account of himself to God” (Romans 14:11, 12). Also, we read
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”. Furthermore, the apostle Peter tells us in his
second
epistle that “the time is come that judgment
must begin at the house of God: and
if it first begins at us, what shall the end be of them
that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely
be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (4:17,
18). Then
we are solemnly reminded in Revelation that “the
dead, small and great, stand before God;
and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the
book of
life: and the dead were judged out of
those things which were
written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up
the
dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in
them: and they were judged every man
according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the
lake of
fire. This is the second death. And whosoever
was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of
fire” (20:12-15).
These Scriptures by
themselves, dear reader, confirms that
we are responsible before God; otherwise, as I said, we could not be
held
accountable for our lives. But let me interject something here that is
very
important to know: The judgments of the true believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ
and of the unbeliever are very distinct, i.e. there is a very definite
difference! You see, the believer will be judged for his life as a Christian; or to put it in another
way, as a child of God. It has nothing to do with whether they will be
saved or
not. They have been “saved in the LORD
with and everlasting salvation” (Isaiah 45:17), and because of it
there’s
absolutely nothing that “shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans
8:39). Yet, as we have noted, the people of God, i.e. true Christians
will be
judged for the way they have lived; “That is, (God) will judge them
when they
deserve it, and punish them if they ought to be punished. The mere fact
that
they are his people will not save them from punishment if they deserve
it, any
more than the fact that one is a beloved child will save him from
correction
when he does wrong” (Barne’s Commentary). On the other hand, the lost
sinner
who has “no hope, and” (is) “without God
in the world” (Ephesians
2:12), and so has no “repentance toward
God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21); and so
therefore
“knows not God, and that obeys not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:8) will be
judged for
all his sins, which none have been forgiven; for which he will have to
pay and
suffer for all eternity in “the lake of
fire” (Revelation 20:15). This, of course, confirms the
Responsibility of
Man before God; whether one is Saved or Unsaved!
Now, with respect to our
doctrine, we would to present two
obvious reasons for its validity; and this will be deducted form our
two text
Scriptures. The first one has to do with Man’s “duty”;
and the second one has to do with Man’s “excuse”.
Although this will not be an
exhaustive presentation of this doctrine, nevertheless, there will be
sufficient proof of it to show us our “duty”
as responsible beings before our blessed Creator, and to prevent us
from
making any kind of “excuse” for our
irresponsibility, which can prove to be fatal to our souls.
Furthermore, we will also
show that God’s grace is involved
in our responsibility to Him. Although it’s true that even apart from
the grace
of God we are still responsible to Him, nevertheless, it is
ONLY by His
grace that we can fulfill our “duty”
and prevent us from making any kind of “excuse”.
But then this can ONLY be true in the Lord Jesus Christ; for it is ONLY
in Him
that we can obey God and respond to His love. So, beloved, may this
study
reveal to us where we stand with respect to our Responsibility to God;
and may
His grace cause us to repent for the lack of our “duty”
and for the many “excuses”
we make for not obeying Him and responding to His Love and Grace.
Amen.
***************************************
In
continuing our study, we will now consider at least two reasons for
Man’s
Responsibility to God, which have to do with his “duty”,
and “excuse”. Our
first text, of course, is
Ecclesiastes 12:13 - “Let us hear the
conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments:
for this is the whole duty of man”. Literally,
“Let us hear the termination, or end, of the whole matter, i.e. that
which was
spoken of. Fear i.e. revere, namely, the Triune God, and guard, i.e.
attend to
His commandments, or Law because this is the whole of man”. In other
words,
after saying all that Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, he comes to this
conclusion, or ends up with this, that fearing God and keeping His
commandments
is, and should be, the all and everything of man’s responsibility and
obligation to do it. Barnes’ Commentary puts it like this: “To revere
God and
to obey Him is the whole man, constitutes man’s whole being; that only
is
conceded to Man…”; John Gill’s Commentary tells us that “obedience to
the whole
will of God, is the fruit, effect, and evidence of the former; and
takes in all
the commands of God, moral and positive, whether under the former or
present
dispensation; and an observance of them in faith, from a principle of
love, and
with a view to the glory of God…, and makes a man a whole man, perfect,
entire,
and wanting nothing; whereas, without this, he is nothing, let him have
ever so
much of the wisdom, wealth, honor, and profits of this world…, the
duty, work,
and business of every man, of every son of Adam, be he what he will,
high or
low, rich or poor, of every age, sex, and condition; or this is the
happiness
of every man, or that leads to it.” Also, we read in Matthew Henry’s
Commentary
that “it is all his business and all his blessedness; our whole duty is
summed
up in this and our whole comfort is bound up in this. It is the concern
of
every man, and ought to be his chief and continual care; it is the
common
concern of all men, of their whole time. It is nothing to a man whether
he be
rich or poor, high or low, but it is the main matter, it is all in all
to a
man, to fear God and do as he bids him”.
Now, our
Responsibility to “fear
God, and keep his commandments” is
due to the following reasons: First,
because He is our Creator God; and as such He is worthy of our fear and
obedience. In creating Adam, He had every right to command him as we
read: “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden
thou mayest
freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not
eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die” (Genesis
2:16, 17). The extent of this right is still with us; for although each
one of
us comes into this world by the process of childbirth, we are still
God’s
creation; “for in him we live,
and move,
and have our being” (Acts
17:28). Secondly,
because He is our Sovereign God, meaning that as such He has every
right to
tell us what to do, or what not to do. Since He “hast created all things, and for (his)
pleasure they are and were
created” (Revelation 4:11), and “whatsoever
the LORD pleased, that, did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas,
and all
deep places” (Psalm 135:6), such
a Glorious and Majestic Being deserves our
fear and obedience; and so we are responsible to do so! Thirdly, because our “God is love”
(1 John 4:8, 16). Because of sin,
man has become “haters of God” (Romans 1:30). Nevertheless, that does not
lessen
his responsibility to God; on the contrary, to despise God’s love
because of
our sin makes us (if we can put it like this), more responsible for
rejecting
it. This is brought out in John 3 where the Lord says, “For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not
perish, but have everlasting life…He that believeth on him is not
condemned:
but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of
God” (vv.16, 18).
Let
us now
consider our second text that has to
do with man’s “excuse”: “Because that
which may be known of God is manifest
in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of
him from
the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the
things that
are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they
are without excuse” (Romans 1:19, 20). We know that sinful
man (which all of us are; “For all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God” [Romans 3:23]), has to
hear the
Word of God, namely the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in order for them to
know who
they are before God and their responsibility to Him. Of course, for one
to live
where they can easily go to hear the Word of God, or have a Bible that
is
accessible to them, augments their responsibility for not doing so. But
our
text refers to those that never hear the Word of God or have a Bible;
nevertheless, “they are without excuse”!
You see, the Natural Revelation of
God is made to every man that comes into this world “because
that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God
hath shewed it unto them”. When man looks around him and up to the
heavens
and sees the natural creation of God, he can understand that there is a
God who
created them, and to whom he is responsible; and that, renders them inexcusable!
Even the pagan jungle savage, from his birth to his death, who never
gets a
glimpse of “the gospel of the grace of
God” (Acts 20:24), will not be able to “excuse”
his responsibility to God
It
follows,
then, that at the Great Day of Giving Accounts, absolutely not one
person will
be able to stand before God and say, “Excuse me, I didn’t know that!”
Even “the fool (that) hath said in his
heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1) will not be
able to “excuse” his ignorance, or
his willfulness, in denying the existence of God; especially as he stands before Him “because that which may
be known of God is
manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them” ALL OF THE
DAYS OF
THEIR LIVES! Barnes Commentary puts it like this: “It is implied here
that in
order that people should be responsible, they should have the means of
knowledge; and that he does not judge them when their ignorance is
involuntary,
and the means of knowing the truth have not been communicated. But
where people
have these means within their reach, and will not avail themselves of
them, all
excuse is taken away”. In other words, simply on the basis of Natural
Revelation, i.e. the natural creation around them, man CANNOT “excuse” his Responsibility to God in
his “duty” and obedience to Him,
including in his Love and Worship of Him. Since, then, God will not
ACCEPT any “excuse” that makes us Responsible
before Him.