The examination of the motives of God in salvation will continue in this BLOG. But of course we cannot know God’s motives apart from Scripture, which is the revelation of God.
Isaiah 43:25 – I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.
Isaiah 48:9 – For the sake of My name I delay My wrath, And for My praise I restrain it for you, In order not to cut you off. For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.
In Isaiah 43 it is God telling us why He will forgive the sins of Israel. Why does He wipe out their transgressions and sin? He tells us that is for “My own sake.” Why does He delay His wrath and restrain it? “For the sake of My name” and for “My praise.” Why will He act and why does He act that way? It is for His own sake and in order that His name would not be profaned. In all of that it is because He will not give His glory to another. This is a passage that is extremely God-centered and those who are man-centered are likely to choke on it. God did not save them because they were moral, good or religious. He saved them for the sake of His own name. He did not save them because they had a free-will and used it to make a choice by that freedom, but He saved them for His own glory and His own name. He saved them in order to keep His name from being profaned. In other words, God’s motive in what He did was Himself. In acting for His own glory and name He shows us what His motive was.
Ezekiel 20:9 – But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made Myself known to them by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. 14 But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, before whose sight I had brought them out. 22 But I withdrew My hand and acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
Ezekiel 36:22 – Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.”
In the above passages we see the same basic teaching we saw in Isaiah 43. When God acts, He does so for the sake of His name and in order that His name would not be profaned. God delivers from nations for the sake of His name and He turned His people over to other nations for the sake of His name. He specifically tells the people in Ezekiel that He is not going to deliver them for their sake, but rather for His. Now it might be argued that in delivering Israel it was a physical deliverance and not one so great as delivering souls from hell. Surely, it might be argued, that God does not save for His name’s sake when He delivers sinners from hell.
Here is a passage from the New Testament that speaks directly of why God saves sinners. A few BLOGS ago (BLOGS 64-66) we looked at some passages from Ephesians 1:5-14 that showed that God saves according to His good pleasure. Here is another passage:
Romans 3:23-27 – for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed, 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.
Romans 3:23 defines sin for us and it is that which does not glorify God. However, justification is done apart from human cause (as a gift, freely, or apart from cause as in human cause) and so by grace. Grace is only grace when it is shown apart from any cause in the human being. This grace came to human beings through the redemption or purchase of sinners in Christ. This was accomplished by Christ being the propitiation of one who removes the wrath of God from sinners. Why did He remove His own wrath in sending His Son to bear His wrath on the cross? “To demonstrate His righteousness” (v. 25) the text tells us, and then again “the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one how has faith in Jesus” (v. 26). In other words, God saves sinners from His wrath by sending His Son to the cross as a sacrifice in their place. He did this, however, to demonstrate His own righteousness and so that he would be just and the justifier. This is saying the same thing as the Old Testament texts said when God is said to deliver for His name’s sake and to make His power known. The Gospel is about the glory of God who saves according to Himself which is to say that He saves by grace. The Gospel of grace destroys any room for boasting (v. 27). If God saved according to the slightest thing in man (smallest act of a free-will), that would be a reason for boasting. In Romans 3:23-27 we see the motives of God shining. It is to demonstrate and manifest His own glory. The text specifically denies that there is a cause within man and so man has utterly no room to boast. God saves for His own glory and no other reason and that is His motive. He has no need for man to provide Him a motive in an act of a free-will that is free from His grace. That would be something apart from grace and so apart from the Gospel.
God Loves... Himself 
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