Ask Mr. Religion
Flatly Unflappable
MacArthur's 1000+ page systematic theology book, Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Biblical Truth is now available: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MS83T7K/
It looks to be a worthwhile read from its table of contents. Fortunately, Google Books affords ample access to the new book: https://goo.gl/ZmPRpp
I was hoping for an even-handed treatment of eschatology, but given his dispensational leanings, MacArthur's treatment of amillennialism is not unexpected:
On the matter of election and the frequent claim of the anti-Calvinist, that election is corporate, MacArthur is more aligned with the our views:
At the Google Books link above, enter some of your favorite search terms (next to the Go button on the left) and explore what comes up to get a better sense of this new addition to systematic theology.
It looks to be a worthwhile read from its table of contents. Fortunately, Google Books affords ample access to the new book: https://goo.gl/ZmPRpp
I was hoping for an even-handed treatment of eschatology, but given his dispensational leanings, MacArthur's treatment of amillennialism is not unexpected:
Amillennialism has problems that disqualify it. First, it is an overspiritualized position and does not adhere to a consistent use of historical-grammatical interpretation. Without exegetical warrant, it transforms physical and national promises to Israel into spiritual promises for the church and holds that the church has become the new or true Israel. Also, amillennialism does not fit the Bible’s storyline or do justice to what the Scripture says about Jesus’s kingdom. The rule of the last Adam—Jesus (1 Cor. 15:45)—must occur from the same realm over which the first Adam was tasked to rule but failed. God’s plan is for man to reign successfully over the earth (Gen. 1:26-28), which is dramatically improved due to the Messiah’s presence (Isaiah 11). Yet amillennialism offers a spiritual kingdom from heaven with little or no influence on the earth. It posits a millennial kingdom of Jesus with no change on earth and where the enemies of God run rampant in rebellion. This is refuted by Revelation 5:10, which says that the reign of Jesus and the saints will be “on the earth” with God’s enemies defeated (Rev. 19:20-20:3). Jesus’s kingdom will not be a hidden kingdom. When it is in operation, all will know about it and submit to it (Zech. 14:9).
Second, amillennialism’s separation of Revelation 20 from the second-coming events of Revelation 19 is unwarranted. Revelation 19 describes the return of Jesus with the defeat of his enemies, including the kings of the earth, the beast, and the false prophet. Then Revelation 20 describes the incarceration of God’s greatest enemy—Satan. All three enemies are engaged at this time. Also, it is best to view Revelation 20:1-3 as the imprisonment of Satan at the second coming of Jesus. The language of binding, sealing, and shutting in the Abyss indicates a personal imprisonment and a complete cessation of Satan’s activities. The amillennial scenario oddly holds that Revelation 20 takes the reader back to the first coming of Christ and allows Satan to be very active except for one activity—deceiving the nations. And even on this point except for one activity—deceiving the nations. And even on this point there is a problem since Revelation 12 and 13 state that Satan is indeed deceiving the nations of the earth between the two comings of Jesus.
Second, amillennialism’s separation of Revelation 20 from the second-coming events of Revelation 19 is unwarranted. Revelation 19 describes the return of Jesus with the defeat of his enemies, including the kings of the earth, the beast, and the false prophet. Then Revelation 20 describes the incarceration of God’s greatest enemy—Satan. All three enemies are engaged at this time. Also, it is best to view Revelation 20:1-3 as the imprisonment of Satan at the second coming of Jesus. The language of binding, sealing, and shutting in the Abyss indicates a personal imprisonment and a complete cessation of Satan’s activities. The amillennial scenario oddly holds that Revelation 20 takes the reader back to the first coming of Christ and allows Satan to be very active except for one activity—deceiving the nations. And even on this point except for one activity—deceiving the nations. And even on this point there is a problem since Revelation 12 and 13 state that Satan is indeed deceiving the nations of the earth between the two comings of Jesus.
On the matter of election and the frequent claim of the anti-Calvinist, that election is corporate, MacArthur is more aligned with the our views:
Another argument for corporate election is built on Paul’s statement that believers are chosen in Christ. Since Christ is God’s archetypal elect one (Isa. 42:1; Luke 9:35; 1 Pet. 1:20; 2:4, 6), God has chosen only Christ as an individual; believers become part of the elect at the moment of faith by virtue of their union with Christ.295
Several problems arise from this position.
First, it fails to do justice to the fact that Paul says that God “chose us” in Christ (Eph. 1:4); the direct object of God’s electing is “us,” not “him.”
Second, corporate election is foreign to the context, for each of the salvific blessings outlined in Ephesians 1:3-14 is received by individuals. In salvation, individuals receive spiritual blessings (1:3); individuals are made holy and blameless (1:4); individuals are adopted as sons and daughters of God (1:5); individuals receive freely bestowed grace (1:6); and individuals have been redeemed (1:7-8) and sealed with the Spirit (1:13). These final two blessings are unquestionably personal and individual; each individual believer, not merely an undefined group, has been ransomed by Christ and sealed with the Spirit. In the same way, individuals are the proper object of the spiritual blessing of election.
Third, Paul elsewhere teaches that God chose foolish, weak, and base individuals—not merely an unnamed, faceless mass—in order that no individual may boast before him (1 Cor. 1:27-31). God did not elect Christ and leave humanity to unite themselves with Christ by faith. As Boettner says, such a scheme “makes the purposes of Almighty God to be conditioned by the precarious wills of apostate men and makes temporal events to be the cause of His eternal acts.” Yet Paul teaches that God chose us in Christ “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4), not at the moment of our faith. It is by his doing—not ours—that we are in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 1:30).
Therefore, while it is indeed true that God has chosen his people to be a fellowship, the corporate body of the church is made up of individual members, whom God knows personally by name (Ex. 33:12, 17; Isa. 45:4). Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, insisted that he personally knew his sheep (John 10:14)—even those who had not yet existed (John 17:20-21)—who were given to him by the Father (John 10:28; cf. 6:37, 39, 44, 65; 17:2). He even said to the Father of his sheep, “Yours they were, and you gave them to me” (John 17:6). From all eternity, the Father has so chosen particular individuals that they are said to be his, and it is these precious sheep that he entrusts to the Shepherd. Election is so intimately personal that the names of those chosen by the Father have been written in the book of life from before the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8; 17:8; 21:27). Clearly, God has chosen individuals for salvation.
Several problems arise from this position.
First, it fails to do justice to the fact that Paul says that God “chose us” in Christ (Eph. 1:4); the direct object of God’s electing is “us,” not “him.”
Second, corporate election is foreign to the context, for each of the salvific blessings outlined in Ephesians 1:3-14 is received by individuals. In salvation, individuals receive spiritual blessings (1:3); individuals are made holy and blameless (1:4); individuals are adopted as sons and daughters of God (1:5); individuals receive freely bestowed grace (1:6); and individuals have been redeemed (1:7-8) and sealed with the Spirit (1:13). These final two blessings are unquestionably personal and individual; each individual believer, not merely an undefined group, has been ransomed by Christ and sealed with the Spirit. In the same way, individuals are the proper object of the spiritual blessing of election.
Third, Paul elsewhere teaches that God chose foolish, weak, and base individuals—not merely an unnamed, faceless mass—in order that no individual may boast before him (1 Cor. 1:27-31). God did not elect Christ and leave humanity to unite themselves with Christ by faith. As Boettner says, such a scheme “makes the purposes of Almighty God to be conditioned by the precarious wills of apostate men and makes temporal events to be the cause of His eternal acts.” Yet Paul teaches that God chose us in Christ “before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4), not at the moment of our faith. It is by his doing—not ours—that we are in Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 1:30).
Therefore, while it is indeed true that God has chosen his people to be a fellowship, the corporate body of the church is made up of individual members, whom God knows personally by name (Ex. 33:12, 17; Isa. 45:4). Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, insisted that he personally knew his sheep (John 10:14)—even those who had not yet existed (John 17:20-21)—who were given to him by the Father (John 10:28; cf. 6:37, 39, 44, 65; 17:2). He even said to the Father of his sheep, “Yours they were, and you gave them to me” (John 17:6). From all eternity, the Father has so chosen particular individuals that they are said to be his, and it is these precious sheep that he entrusts to the Shepherd. Election is so intimately personal that the names of those chosen by the Father have been written in the book of life from before the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8; 17:8; 21:27). Clearly, God has chosen individuals for salvation.
At the Google Books link above, enter some of your favorite search terms (next to the Go button on the left) and explore what comes up to get a better sense of this new addition to systematic theology.