The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum What does seeking God mean?

Hi, I was searching for the Puritan doctrine of Seeking God and found this:

http://www.the-highway.com/articleDec97.html

In the middle of the article is the doctrine of Seeking God. How do I reconcile this with Romans 3:11. Thank you for any help. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/scratch1.gif" alt="" />

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We recently had a discussion on this very subject, however, it wasn't "pretty". hehe But here is the thread: Edwards on "Seek the Lord".

I'm assuming your question revolves around this section of the article you read:

7. The Puritans will help us with evangelism that is biblical. Most evangelism today is man-centered, but Puritan evangelism was God-centered. The Puritans had another doctrine which has largely been lost today, and it goes by the name of "seeking," or "preparation for salvation." It was widespread in the English Puritans and the Reformers. It was taught by Jonathan Edwards in his sermon "Pressing Into the Kingdom," and before that by his grandfather Solomon Stoddard. Stoddard wrote A Guide to Christ, which John Gerstner calls the finest manual on Reformed evangelism he knows of. Additionally, you might want to read Thomas Watson's Heaven Taken by Storm.

The doctrine of seeking teaches us that God works through means, and if a man wants to be saved, he ought to avail himself of those means. Let me give you an example. Faith comes by hearing, and men are saved by faith, or more correctly, men are saved by grace through faith. But if I need faith to please God, and I realize that I don't have it in me to believe in God savingly, what should I do?

Here's where "seeking" comes in. If faith comes by hearing, then I ought to hear someone preach an orthodox sermon about Christ. If God is going to save me, His normal means will be through the preaching of the Gospel. God is under no obligation to save me if I hear a sermon, but He is not likely to save me apart from hearing a sermon about God's grace.

The sinner, then, ought to do all in his natural power to soften his heart. He can't earn salvation, but at least he can cooperate with God in this salvation, rather than oppose Him. I'm not making myself pleasing to God by seeking, since I'm doing it out of self-interest, but I am making myself less offensive to God rather than more offensive, and even if God doesn't save me, my punishment in hell will be less. And the Puritans would say, "If you can't go to God with a right heart, then go to God for a right heart." Seek the Lord.

Methinks you are confusing man's natural inability and/or desire to seek God, which Paul is referring to in Romans 3:11, and the natural ability of man, even in his depraved state to make use of the means through which God works to bring them to Christ by making them able and willing. If a person is going to experience snow, living in the Bahamas isn't going to do it. So, it would be expedient that the person travel to where snow is prevalent, right? Likewise, if a person needs God's grace to be saved, then the person needs to avail himself of the means by which God has ordained that salvation comes, e.g., the preaching/teaching of the Word, acquainting oneself with true believers, etc. All are capable of sitting under the preaching/teaching of the Word and/or reading Scripture and comprehending that Word, albeit in an outward manner. And it is this that the Puritans and Reformers and some of us today believe is what sinners are responsible to do and which they are capable of doing.

The outward obedience will not be mixed with a true desire, since that is what the natural man lacks. And this obedience to avail oneself of those outward means is no guarantee that God will extend His mercy and grace. Nor, does making use of the means contribute anything to one's salvation. But nonetheless, if one is to experience the grace of God in Christ, it is by the ordained means that it will come.

In His Grace,