The Open Eyes
I came to a knowledge and a faith in Christ at an older age than many, I was not raised in a Christian home nor was I brought up in a church, therefore when people use what I call Christianese (which I will explain next) I don’t always understand. As I was spending time around Christians and hearing these Christianese statements I would often have to ask what was meant by these comments as I often understood them literally and didn’t get the meaning the Christian was trying convey.
An example of Christianese would be “washed by the blood of the lamb.” If we think of actually being washed in a tub of blood, that is not very nice, but this sentence has a different meaning once we know scripture and know that Christ is referred to in the New Testament as our “Passover Lamb”. This title is used to relate Christ’s death to the Old Testament Jewish worship system where the high priest would sacrifice a lamb for the forgiveness of the unrighteous acts of individual people as well as for the whole nation of
There is another saying that is used by Christians which I had heard many times and I even used it myself until I heard it one day and got thinking about the accuracy of this sentence. It was brought to my attention because a Christian friend of mine used this expression as an excuse as to why they did not share their faith with some Mormon friends of theirs and said this sentence as a sort of consolation, “Well they won’t understand (about Christianity) until the Holy Spirit opens their eyes”. In a similar situation another friend said “Unless the Holy Spirit opens their eyes, they aren’t going to understand (and accept Christ’s sacrifice) anyway”. This statement is incorrect biblically and should not be used by Christians.
Does the Holy Spirit Open Eyes to Lead People to Salvation?
It is not one of the jobs of the Holy Spirit to open people’s eyes. The Holy Spirit is God and therefore is all-powerful. If the Holy Spirit was in the business of opening eyes to lead people to salvation then everyone’s eyes would be open and all would accept Christ and become Christians. God would chose all to be saved
2Pe 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us–ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
God wants all people to come to the knowledge of Him and to accept Christ as their savior so that everyone can be in heaven. So if the Holy Spirit is opening people’s eyes so that they will understand and accept Christ, then everyone should have accepted Christ. But that hasn’t happened. So either God is picking and choosing who’s eyes He will open and whose He won’t, thus choosing who goes to heaven and who goes to hell, or the Holy Spirit isn’t opening eyes to lead to salvation. If God is in the business of choosing who is to go to heaven and who isn’t, then those who go to hell have the right to blame God for not taking them to heaven when God could have opened their eyes to do so. This is not the God of the bible; this is the unbiblical god of Calvinism who predestines some to heaven and predestines the rest to hell.
Who’s Job is it?
Paul in Acts 26 is giving the story of his conversion to king Agrippa and meets Jesus Christ on the road to
Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
As these verses state, Christ says directly to Paul that it is his purpose to turn people from darkness to light and to open their eyes so that they may know Christ and accept his sacrifice. It is the duty of you and me to show people the truth, to “open their eyes” the bible says in 1 Pet 3:15 …
and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.
The reason we are to give an answer to every man is because there is logic and reason as to why we are Christians. The bible is true and it stands up to scrutiny. Truth can be questioned from every angle and will be found to be true. When men and women see that the bible isn’t a blind faith, that we worship Christ because He showed himself to be God through rising from the dead by “many infallible proofs” (Acts 1:3) and we give solid reasons why the bible, and Christ are truth, then they will open their eyes and they will choose whether or not they will accept Christ’s sacrifice by faith.
Thomas said to the other disciples “The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” John 20:25
When Thomas questioned the validity of the claim that Christ rose from the dead he did not believe it was true. It could be said that he did not have “blind faith” but Christ answered that with this “
and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.
Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.
And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. John 20:26-28
Christ gave Thomas his request of a reason to believe. We as Christians also need to follow Christ’s example and give people a reason to believe.
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; 2 Corinthians 5:11
There are many reasons we can look at to give people reasons to believe and we shall touch on some of those at the end of this writing.
There is also another way by which people’s eyes are opened unto salvation and that is through the conviction of wrong doing through the conscience. God has given us our conscience to show us right from wrong.
Romans 2:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;
In John 8:9 Jesus is talking to the scribes and Pharisees and he writes on the ground and
being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last:
The Pharisees were convicted by their conscience and today the same is true with every one of us. The non-Christian has their conscience convicting themselves of wrongdoing and this can also lead to the knowledge of the need of the sacrifice of Christ to forgive wrongdoing.
The commandment of the Lord also opens the eyes of people
Psalm The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.
The testimony of creation also shows who God is so that all will be without excuse.
Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
The three that work to open people’s eyes to lead them to the knowledge of Christ are man, conscience and creation, but not the Holy Spirit.
What is the Holy Spirit’s Job?
A person who has not accepted Jesus Christ’s sacrifice must first choose to accept Christ, then the Holy Spirit does His part. After all the reasoning, the thinking, the deciding and the concluding that a person does to decide he needs a savior and chooses to accept Jesus Christ by faith, the moment when he makes that decision, God gives that person the Holy Spirit to live inside of him until the day of his death.
Eph 4:30 - And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Lu 11:13 - If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?
God wants to give each and every one of us the gift of the Holy Spirit to seal us to the day of redemption, to teach us, to live within us but he can’t do that until we ask for it. God made us with a free will and gives us the choice to have a relationship with Him or not.
Once we have the Holy Spirit, He teaches us words to speak
Luke 12:11-12 And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:
For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.
In Ephesians 1:13 Paul lays out the order by which things happen.
In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.
So, for those who trusted Christ, you heard the gospel, believed, then were sealed with the Holy Spirit. So my question to those who say that the holy Spirit opens the eyes of the unsaved person before they are saved is, how does the Holy Spirit open the eyes of a person if He has not yet been given to that person?
To say this again in John 7:38-39
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
After we believe we receive the Holy Spirit.
Is it Man’s Choice to Open His Eyes?
Listen to what Jesus says here in Matthew 13:15-16
For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
It reads very clearly that Jesus is saying that those whose eyes are closed are closed by their own choice. “Their eyes they have closed” is clear. If it is a person’s choice to close his eyes, then it is certainly a person’s choice to open his eyes.
It is Man’s choice to open his eyes, and God gives that man help through the witness of creation, the witness of conscience and the witness of other men. God has given us each free will to look to God or not, to have a relationship with him or not. God asks all men to open their eyes and turn to Him for salvation, but He will not force the decision on anyone.
The bible is clear, see your need of your own sin. You have broken God’s laws, for instance, thou shalt not lie, or thou shalt not steal, and as a result you are deserving of God’s wrath, but God lovingly offers you forgiveness through His Son Jesus Christ. Look to him and you shall be saved. (John 3:14-18) If you have not done so, open your eyes, and look on Him who created you for salvation.
For those of you who are Christians I would urge you not to use the terms of the Holy Spirit opening the eyes of the unsaved, but rather when that thought comes to mind, know that it is your responsibility to help a person hoped his eyes and understand, and then be saved.
God Bless every one of you as you continue to witness and be faithful in the word of God, the Holy Bible.
John 20:31 “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”
David Buck
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