# Can Unbelievers Ever Please God?



## HaMetumtam (Oct 6, 2012)

The title of this thread is taken from the blog by Dr Michael Heiser who cites examples such as;

" _1. In 1 Cor 7:12 Paul mentions the issue of a believer married to an unbeliever, then notes that if the unbeliever consents to remain married to the believer (as opposed to desertion or divorce) then the believer should not divorce the unbeliever. Are we to conclude that God was displeased when the unbeliever decided to preserve the marriage?

2. Eccl 7:26 says: “And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.” Do only believers resist sexual temptation? Hardly. I have to assume that this verse is broad; that it’s axiomatic – anyone who resists violating their marriage pleases God when they do so.

3. Cyrus the Persian – In Isa 45:1-13 it is clear that Cyrus not a believer (God says more than once that Cyrus doesn’t know Him) and yet he is God’s anointed servant. When Cyrus carried out God’s will, was God displeased? I don’t think so. If we reject the idea that all Cyrus did was predestined—that he could not resist doing God’s will—then how is it that believers can resist the Spirit (Eph 4:30; 1 Thess 5:19)? I’d think that unbelievers could do that if believers can, and so I have to conclude Cyrus could have done some things that would have irritated God while conquering Babylon and letting the Jews return. Had Cyrus changed his mind or not issued the decree to let the Jews return, God would have been angry. So how is it that God wasn’t pleased when Cyrus let them go? Just wondering.

4. How does it make any sense that, if the unbeliever has the law of God written on the heart, and has a God-given conscience to go with that law, that when the unbeliever obeys the conscience and the law of God written on the heart, God isn’t happy? I need an explanation of how that’s at all coherent–excluding the issue of earning saving grace.

5. How about utterly innocuous acts, done with no thought of attention, personal glory, or personal interest—in fact, good things done with literally no thought at all in many cases. By way of some examples (I’m using atheists in the examples, since they wouldn’t be doing things to earn brownie points with God—they don’t believe God is real):

An atheist is in a store and accidentally knocks an item off the shelf. It’s a stuffed animal, so it isn’t broken. She picks it up and puts it back. Is God angry with her? If she did the right thing, is God glad? Did she not do the right thing?
An atheist is taking a walk in the park. He spies a homeless woman. It’s just the two of them. Moved with pity, he reaches into his pocket and gives her the spare change. It’s all he has since he uses plastic 99% of the time. No one notices, he just does something nice. Is God angry with him? Did he do the wrong thing?
An atheist/unbeliever gets angry when he overhears that a Christian he knows tell someone else that he knowingly cheated on his taxes. The atheist believes in being honest. Is God angry with the atheist’s feelings and his standard? Does it make sense that God would be angry with the unbeliever who honors His law when the believer did not?
An atheist provides for her pet because she believes we ought to be kind to animals and not abuse them. Is God angry with her for doing that and thinking that? Is God glad she takes care of her pet? (You can’t say God doesn’t care here, since that would mean God would not be angry with her even if she abused her pet)_"

My view is that his semi palegian/Arminian presuppositions that he brings to this topic are obvious, and in the end who cares if a unbelieving person can and does do good deeds (humanly speaking), in that day those deeds will be burned like wood,hey, stubble and the unbeliever will be sent to hell. To neglect the eternal and focus on the temporal is short sighted and almost irrelevant. I follow this blog as it is very useful with ANE studies and Hebrew studies also. I have had a good bit of back and forth on this topic and am strongly opposed to the very idea that an unbeliever can please God while he is in rebellion to Him....But what say you ?


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## hammondjones (Oct 6, 2012)

Consider Romans 8

6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 
7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 
8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

I also found this useful:
Three Essential Things for a “Good Work” – Justin Taylor


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## Phil D. (Oct 6, 2012)

WCF 16.7 

Works done by unregenerate men, although for the matter of them they may be things which God commands, and of good use both to themselves and others; yet, because they proceed not from a heart purified by faith; nor are done in a right manner, according to the Word; nor to a right end, the glory of God; they are therefore sinful and can not please God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God. And yet their neglect of them is more sinful, and displeasing unto God.


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## HaMetumtam (Oct 6, 2012)

I remember hearing this sermon a while ago and it very fitting here.


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## ChariotsofFire (Oct 6, 2012)

Derek Thomas in his book on Romans 8:
"Calvin taught that fallen human beings still have the capacity for what he called "civic virtue" -- keeping laws and conventions of society, and interacting with others in a way that is not vicious or evil"

and

"The 'goodness' in view in Romans 3:12 [No one does good, not even one] is goodness as God sees it. The Bible is asserting that even acts of civic kindness done by an unbeliever fail to meet the requirement of God's law - namely, that all of our actions must be done with view to glorifying God. In that sense, even the unbeliever's good acts are evil. ... The unbeliever's moral inability to do good -- good that may be credited to his account by way of righteousness -- means that there is only one possible way of salvation: it must come from outside himself."

R.C. Sproul in Truths we must confess:
"The answer is that what fallen man can do on the horizontal plan in his behavior toward other people he cannot do on the vertical plane in his behavior toward God. When Scripture records, "There is none who does good, no, not one," good is more narrowly defined than it usually is."


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