“This is good,
and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a
knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4-5).
He loves me; He
loves me not. Perhaps as a teen or young adult you played that game when you
were head over heels in love with someone but were not sure if they loved you.
The second fundamental teaching of Calvinism is very similar to that childhood
game. As we saw two months ago, “Calvinism and Arminianism are two systems of
theology that attempt to explain the relationship between God’s sovereignty and
man’s responsibility in the matter of salvation. Both systems can be summarized
with five points” known as TULIP (for an overview of this topic please
see http://eugenechristianchurch.blogspot.com/2018/05/theology-201-3-pick-brighter-tulip-part.html).
This month we
will examine the second point: Unconditional Election (Calvinism) vs.
Unfathomable Love (Arminianism). In order to understand this topic, a few
issues need to be addressed. First, the Bible teaches that all people apart
from a saving relationship with Christ are headed to hell; both sides agree
with that. However, the disagreement comes from the following: is it God’s will
for some to go to heaven and for others to go to hell? To answer this question
from the Calvinists side, consider what John Calvin himself said. “Everything
depends on the mere will of God; if some are damned and others saved it is
because God created some for death and others for life...the Lord created those
who He certainly foreknew would fall into destruction, and this was actually so
because He willed it”-(Institutes,
Volume 2:163, 2:169).
How does that
teaching set with you—that some are chosen by God to go to hell regardless of
anything they do? In other words, Calvinists believe that even if a person
follows the Biblical plan of salvation (placing their faith in Christ,
repenting of their sins, confessing Jesus as Lord of their lives and being baptized for the forgiveness of their sins
and gift of the Holy Spirit), that person can still be lost simply because God
did not chose them. So again I ask, how does that set with you? More
importantly, how does that teaching set with the rest of Scripture?
The Bible teaches
that it is not God’s will for anyone to perish (go to hell), but for everyone
to come to repentance to be saved (2 Peter 3:9; see also Ezek. 18:23, 32;
33:11; 2 Cor. 5:17-19; 1 Thess. 2:16; 1 Tim. 2:4-5; Titus 2:11).
The second issue
that needs to be addressed relates to conditions for salvation. Since it is not
God’s will for anyone to go to hell, are there any conditions that the Bible
gives in order for a person to change the course that their life is headed so
that they might be able to go to heaven?
The Lord declares
in Ezekiel 18:32, “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the
Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!” Here we see that not only does God desire all
to be saved, but also He offers conditions for living, namely repentance.
Elsewhere in Scripture we can also see the conditions of placing one’s faith in
Christ, confessing Him as Lord of their lives, and baptism (Mark 16:16; John
3:16; 11:25-26; Acts 2:38; Rom. 10:9-10; Col. 1:23; for more on that topic see http://eugenechristian
church.blogspot.com/search/label/How%20to%20Understand%20the%20Bible).
The Calvinist
will generally at this time in the argument, point to Romans 9:13-15, “Just as
it is written: ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. ‘What then shall we say? Is
God unjust? Not at all! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’” From this
passage, Calvinists will argue that God specifically chose Jacob and rejected
his brother Esau. Thus, the Calvinists teach that this means that Jacob was
chosen for salvation while Esau was chosen to be damned. Yet that is not what
this passage is teaching at all! Romans 9:13 is a quote from Malachi 1:2-3. So
in order to understand what Paul is saying in Romans, we need to first
understand what is being said in Malachi. In Malachi, the name Jacob does NOT
refer to the Patriarch Jacob, rather it refers to the nation that Jacob
founded, Israel. Likewise, in context Esau does not refer to Jacob’s brother,
but rather to the nation that Esau founded, the Edomites.
Alger Fitch said,
“God chose Israel, not for their exclusive salvation, but as the servants to
bring to the world God’s Savior and the message about Him. Regarding human
salvation, God predetermined to send Jesus into the lost world and chose then
that all persons who would accept Christ would be saved. His decision was to
forgive all who would receive the offer. It was not, however, His verdict who
those individuals would be. In other words, the elect are the “whosoever
wills.” The non-elect are the “whosoever wont’s” (Pick the Brighter Tulip,
pg. 30).
Third, where does
the logic of the false doctrine of unconditional election lead? Or, what are
the logical conclusions for those who adhere to unconditional election? In many
senses the Great Commission of making disciples of all nations which is found
throughout Scripture would be completely pointless if there is nothing that
anyone can do about it. Oh, I recognize that many Calvinists will say that the
point of evangelism is to awaken those who are headed to heaven, the elect, so
that they can turn to God in faith, repentance, confession, etc. Yet in reality
that response is completely pointless since they believe that a person is going
to be saved regardless of whether or not they respond to the Gospel. It was for
this reason that the church leaders back in the 1760s opposed William Carey
wanting to go to India as a missionary. They told him, “If God wants to save
the heathen, He will do it Himself.” But, thankfully, Carey would not listen to
such nonsense. He went and saw many come to Christ.
On a side note, I
do know of many Christians and churches who hold to Calvinism that do a
phenomenal job of seeking to fulfill the Great Commission. Likewise, I know of
many in that same group who do a great job of stressing the need to apply
Biblical salvation, and the need for living a holy life. However, if one would
seriously consider the rational of living a holy and God honoring life, and
seeking to fulfill the Great Commission in the light of Calvinism, from that
viewpoint those things seem extremely meaningless since they believe that God
will save or damn individuals regardless of how they respond to the Gospel
message. Thus, I want to encourage those of you who are Calvinists or who
attend Calvinistic churches to consider what you believe in light of God’s
Word.
Another logical
conclusion of unconditional election is that God does NOT love everyone, since
they believe that God has chosen all who will go to hell before they were ever
born. Now the Calvinist will argue that God does love all people, including
non-believers, for God blesses all people with material blessings, and letting
the Gospel go out to them (and electing love is given to those whom God
unconditionally elects). However, are these really ways in which God genuinely
loves all people, especially non-believers? Jesus said, “What good is it for
someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul” (Mark 8:36)? So to
paraphrase this verse, “How is the love of God good for someone even if God
gives them the entire world for material blessings, but doesn’t give them the
grace they need to save their eternal soul?” Material blessings therefore are
trivial in light of eternity in hell. Thus, a Calvinist cannot honestly say
that God loves everyone including non-believers in any sense that counts in the
long run!
However, that is
not what the Bible clearly teaches! The Bible teaches that God does genuinely
love ALL people, believers and non-believers alike. “For God so loved the world
(not just the elect) that He gave His One and only Son that whoever believes in
Him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “But God demonstrates
His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”
(Rom. 5:8).
God’s
unfathomable love does for us what April showers do for a garden. God’s unfathomable
love is a miracle that can work miracles in your life. You may not be able to
travel land and sea to visit one of the wonders of the world, but you dare not
miss traversing the pages of the New Testament to discover the greatest wonder
of heaven. Our holy God has not hung a “No Trespassing” sign on His heart. His
love is not blind—He sees more, not less; yet, seeing our stained lives, He
offers forgiveness (Pick the Brighter Tulip, pg. 39).
In His service,
Matt
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