05/20/2026
One of the most controversial, or uncomfortable truths found in Scripture is that God sends sinners to hell. What is even more uncomfortable is the idea of reprobation, which is defined as: “the sovereign decision of God before creation to pass over some persons, in sorrow deciding not to save them, and to punish them for their sins and thereby to manifest His justice.” [1]
The doctrine of reprobation is logically necessary. “If God has chosen some for salvation, and he has not chosen everyone, then it follows that some are not elect.” [2] Just as God chose the nation of Israel to receive the Mosaic Covenant, He also chose for all other nations to miss out on the benefits of the Mosaic Covenant (Eph 2:12–13). We must also remember that God’s holiness will not allow Him to acquit the wicked (Exod 23:7). Therefore, the following must be logically stated. If the Holy Spirit never works in a person for the purpose of regeneration and salvation, then it can be said that God has not chosen that person for salvation. No man can enter the kingdom of God unless he be born again (John 3:3).
This can be demonstrated in Romans 9. God in His sovereign choice decided upon Jacob to be the recipient of the Abrahamic Covenant, even though he did nothing to deserve it. Therefore, Esau was not chosen for the covenant. Thus Paul states, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Rom 9:13). Paul makes an even more blunt statement concerning Pharaoh. “For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I raised you up, to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth.’ So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires” (Rom 9:17–18). Paul is stating that it was part of God’s plan for Pharaoh to receive God’s wrath (cf Exod 4:21).
We can also see that God is selective to whom He gives the message of salvation. When Jesus spoke to crowds, He often spoke in parables. He did this not to illustrate His point, but to conceal the message (Luke 8:9–10). Only to some men does God choose to reveal “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted” (Matt 13:11; cf. Isaiah 6:9–10).
Many of us will reject the idea of reprobation, because we think it is unjust for God to set people up to just receive His wrath.
However, Paul anticipates this rebuttal.
But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory. (Rom 9:20–24 ESV)
Spurgeon once preached in a sermon on conversion:
For what is the end of the gospel ministry? Some will say it is to convert sinners. That is a collateral end. Others will say it is to convert the saints. That is true. But the proper answer to give is—it is to glorify God, and God is glorified even in the damnation of sinners. If I testify to them the truth of God and they reject his gospel; if I faithfully preach his truth, and they scorn it, my ministry is not therefore void. It has not returned to God void, for even in the punishment of those rebels he will be glorified, even in their destruction he will get himself honor; and if he cannot get praise from their songs, he will at last get honor from their condemnation and overthrow, when he shall cast them into the fire for ever. [3]
1. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, 2nd edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Academic, 2020), 834.
2. John M. Frame, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief (Philipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2013) 221.
3. C. H. Spurgeon, “Conversion,” in The New Park Street Pulpit Sermons, vol. 1 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1855), 341.
