Is Calvinism's TULIP Biblical? (Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace)
I’m going to examine the next three points of Calvinism in one, because they’re closely tied. In fact, they’re so closely tied that if you disprove one of them, they all fall. (For the whole TULIP post, click here.)
2. Unconditional Election and 3. Limited Atonement and 4. Irresistible Grace
In Calvinism, God has predetermined (before He even made mankind) that certain people (the elect) would be saved, and they would be saved without having to meet any conditions. This is called Unconditional Election. He chose whom to save based on nothing other than His own mysterious, seemingly-arbitrary reasons, because He wanted those specific people in heaven with Him because He loved them, and they didn’t have to do anything (not even make their own choice to believe in Jesus) to get there.
And this sounds great … until you realize that the flip-side is that God then also predetermined that everyone else would be non-elect, that they would go to hell even though they didn’t do anything (not even make their own choice to reject Jesus) to get there. (All the good-sounding parts of Calvinism are only in relation to the elect, and no one else.)
[Calvinists will say that the elect don’t deserve heaven but the non-elect do deserve hell because they wanted/chose to sin and reject Jesus - even though they only did it because that’s all they could choose because Calvi-god made them do it, just like he predestined, and they had no ability to choose anything else. How is that “choice”? How is that “deserving” the punishment?]
If you’re chosen to be non-elect, you can never become one of the elect, which means you can never be saved because Jesus never died for you anyway. Because Calvi-Jesus wouldn’t die for those predestined to reject him. It would be a waste of his blood. (Find me the verse that says this!) Therefore, Calvi-god limited Calvi-Jesus’s atoning blood to the elect only: “Limited Atonement”. (It’s hogwash!)
(I recently heard a Calvinist say that Limited Atonement means that only those who believe will be saved by Jesus's blood. But that's not what it means. That's deceptive, making it sound more biblical, more free-will, than it really is. Limited Atonement means that Jesus didn't even die for the non-elect, but only for the elect, and that's why the elect can believe but the non-elect can't, because their sins weren't paid for and can never be forgiven.)
Calvinists believe that God does not love all people, but only the elect. And that’s why He saves them. They believe God saves those He loves and only loves those He saves. And to make sure the elect are saved, He gives them “Irresistible Grace,” implanting in their hearts a gracious gift of saving faith that irresistibly pulls them to God, causing them to seek Him and to believe in Jesus.
But He withholds this grace from the non-elect. And so if you’re not saved, it’s not that you could have believed in Jesus but chose not to, but it’s because God never loved you, Jesus never died for you, God didn’t give you “Irresistible Grace,” and so salvation was never possible for you. Instead, you got a “non-saving, resistible grace,” a call/offer from Him (a fake offer!) to believe and be saved which He causes you to resist because He predestined you to hell.
So sorry, better luck next time. Oops, there is no next time. Sucks to be you, “salvation lottery” loser.
(HOGWASH! My favorite word to describe Calvinism, at least the word I can use in public.)
Can Calvinists find even one verse that clearly teaches any of this stuff!?! No! They cobble together various verses taken out of context to make it seem like the Bible teaches this.
First, they tell you their Calvinist interpretation of verses/the gospel (calling it “biblical truth" and "what the Bible teaches”), and then they systematically lead you through their twisted, cobbled-together, out-of-context verses and say “See, just like I said!”
And as I said above, they also get you to accept these points by first getting you to agree to their idea of Total Inability/Depravity: “Well, you agree that humans are depraved, right? And depraved people can’t save themselves or do anything to ‘earn’ salvation, right? [*See note below.] And so God has to do it for us, giving us the faith to believe, because depraved people can’t have faith on their own, right? And so since not all people are saved, it means that He picks who gets saved and who doesn’t, and He only gives faith to those He chose to save. And if He knows someone won’t be saved, why would Jesus die for them? Jesus didn’t die for those predestined to reject Him, because that would be a waste of His blood. So He only died for the elect. Blah, blah, blah. Gobble, gobble, gobble.”
[*Note: Calvinists wrongly view “believing in Jesus/accepting God’s offer of salvation” as “works, as trying to earn salvation, trying to save yourself.” And so since we can’t work our way to heaven or save ourselves, then we must not be able to choose to believe in Jesus or to accept the gift of salvation.
But what does God say? God says that “believing in Jesus” is the one work we must do to be saved. "Then they asked him, 'What must we do to do the works God requires?' Jesus answered, 'The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent [Jesus].'" (John 6:28-29)
Contrary to Calvinism, God does not consider believing in Jesus to be “working to try to earn heaven/save yourself”: "'Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.' Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to a man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:" (Romans 4:3-6)
God is saying that believing/trusting in Him is different than the other kinds of "works" people do to try to earn their way with Him. We can't do anything to earn our salvation, to work our way to heaven, but God does require one thing from us to be saved: To willingly, consciously believe in Jesus, to make Him our Lord and Savior.
Question: If Calvinists say that we can't do the one thing God says we need to do to be saved (believe!), then how in the world can anyone be saved the Calvinist way?]
And so when a verse says Jesus died for all or that God loves all, Calvinists reinterpret it to mean “all kinds of people, the elect from all over the world, but not all individual people.” Or they break God’s love up into two different kinds: He has a “save your soul” love for the elect, but only a “gives you food, water, and sunshine” love for the non-elect, a “temporary grace,” a “kindness” kind of love, before sending you to hell, just like He predestined (see the *NOTE below).
Voila! Now they can “honestly” say “We believe God loves all people and gives grace to all people” (while hiding their two completely different kinds of love and grace). (But when it comes to the non-elect, does that really sound like love? Like grace? And what would this mean for Calvinists if we’re supposed to love people like God loves them?)
But what does the Bible say about who God loves, how He loves, who Jesus died for, who God offers salvation to, and what He requires of us?
"For God so loved the world 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 love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). And "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous [Jesus] for the unrighteous [mankind]..." (1 Peter 3:18). [Are only the elect "unrighteous sinners"? Or are we all? "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).]
And if that isn't clear enough: "He is the atoning sacrifice for all sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:2)
"And he died for all ..." (2 Corinthians 5:15)
“… [Jesus] suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:9)
“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world!’” (John 1:29)
"... [God is] not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9, KJV)
“For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32)
"This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men..." (1 Timothy 2:3-5)
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men." (Titus 2:11. Is saving grace only for “the elect”? Or for all people?)
Where is there room for misunderstanding here?
"For God so loved the world … Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for all sins, for the sins of the whole world. … God is not willing that any should perish … He wants all men to be saved … His saving grace has appeared to all men … whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life…"
Does anyone even have to tell you how to read these things... or is it very clear on its own? How could the Bible be any clearer? How could Calvinists get it so wrong?
They get is so wrong because they believe that verses don’t really mean what they plainly say, but that there’s a deeper, hidden, contradictory layer of meaning that God revealed only to them. They say that just because God says He wants all people to be saved doesn't mean He made it possible for all people to be saved, but just the elect. And just because God commands all people to seek Him, to repent, and to believe in Jesus doesn't mean He made it possible for all people to do it, but just the elect.
So what do you think? Does God say what He means and mean what He says, or not? Does He speak clearly and commonsense-ly or deceptively and contradictorily? Does He say one thing but mean another?
If so, then how can we trust anything He says, such as that Jesus is God and His death paid for our sins and that there is a heaven and a hell and that we'll be saved if we believe. Calvi-god could just as easily meant something else, like "Just kidding! It's all just a cosmic joke for my enjoyment. And I can do that because I'm sovereign and can do whatever I want!"
How can Calvi-god be trusted when everything he says is a cover for something else, and when evil and good are both equally caused by him and glorifying to him, and when he says "seek me" even though he made it impossible to seek him, and when he told Adam and Eve to not eat the fruit when he really wanted them to eat the fruit, and when he commands people to repent and believe but then prevents them from repenting and believing and then punishes them for not repenting and believing, and when he commands people to not sin but then causes them to sin for his glory and then punishes them for sinning, etc.?
I could go on, but you get the picture. How can a god like that be trusted? How can "the elect" know for sure that they were predestined to heaven, that Calvi-god isn't just tricking them into thinking they're saved? How?
*NOTE: And for the record, the Bible itself tells us why God shows kindness to the unrighteous (food, water, sunshine, etc.), and it's not just so that He can say that He showed the non-elect some kinda, sorta, pseudo-love/grace before sending them to hell like He predestined, as Calvinists say. It's because of this: "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?" (Romans 2:4, emphasis added)
God intends for His kindness to lead us unrighteous sinners to repentance, not just to show the Calvinist non-elect a little “love and grace” (a very little love and grace!) before He sends them to hell for eternity. God intends His kindness to be what leads stubborn, unrepentant, storing-up-wrath-against-themselves sinners (verse 5) to repentance, to salvation. He never intended to save a few pre-selected people through “Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, and Irresistible Grace,” through some sort of mysterious "prechosen for heaven and then injected with faith to cause you to believe " thing. He intends for unrepentant people to see His kindness and, consequently, to turn to Him, repent, believe in Him, and be saved. That is His intention for all sinners, all unrepentant people. He does not intend for anyone to go to hell. He has not predestined anyone to hell. He desires that we – all of us sinners - see His goodness, seek Him, turn to Him, and be saved. (Oh, does Calvinism make me mad!!!)
"For God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him..." (Acts 17:27)
"But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul." (Deuteronomy 4:29)
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)
For God so loved YOU that Jesus died for YOU, that if YOU believe, you will not perish but have eternal life! He has done everything to make salvation possible for and available to YOU, to all of us. He Himself paid the eternal penalty for all our sins so that we don’t have to. And all He requires from us is one thing: That we believe! The only “condition” we have to meet is to accept His free gift of salvation that He freely offers to all people, by believing in Jesus (and anyone can believe):
"That if you confess with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.... Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:9-13)
"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." (Revelation 3:20)
"But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve ..." (Joshua 24:15)
[It is so easy to be saved in this "age of grace," and that's probably what makes it so hard for most people to do it. But next up is the "age of wrath," the tribulation, and most people who are saved during that time period will be martyred for their faith. Don't wait too long! Accept God's gift of salvation while it's still so easy.]
If we don’t accept God's gift of salvation, if we aren’t saved, it’s not God’s fault. It’s not God’s decision or desire or plan. It’s not because He “predestined” us to hell or because we were unable to accept His gift because He caused us to be unable. It’s because we chose to reject His offer of salvation, to ignore Him, to refuse Jesus’s payment for our sins, His death in our place - which means that we choose to pay the penalty for our sins ourselves with eternal death, eternal separation from God: Hell!
”Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." (John 3:18)
"I [Jesus] told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be [the Son of God, the Messiah], you will indeed die in your sins." (John 8:24)
“yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” [John 5:40. Does God cause non-believers to resist Him, or are we responsible for our decision? Isaiah 65:2-3: “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations – people who continually provoke me to my very face …” And Matthew 23:37: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” What kind of a God would He be if He held out His hands all day to people whom He caused to resist Him, if He longs for those who are “unwilling” to come to Him when He’s the very cause of their unwillingness, because He predestined them to reject Him and go to hell? How bizarre! How schizophrenic!]
"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God…. so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness… Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts...” (Hebrews 3:12-15)
“But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their fathers, who did not trust in the Lord their God. They rejected his decrees and the covenant he made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless…” (2 Kings 17:14-15)
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20)
"But they were broken off because of unbelief ... And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in ..." (Romans 11:20,23)
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” (Mark 16:16)
How could the Bible be any clearer? How could Calvinists get it so wrong? How could so many smart, humble, God-loving, well-meaning Christians get suckered into it? How?
Anyway, there are several big, fundamental problems, among many others, in Calvinist thinking which leads to their errors, to their warped theology and twisted view of Scripture:
1. Misunderstanding what “spiritually dead” means: “As for you, you were dead in your trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). Calvinists believe in Total Inability (which leads to the other petals of the TULIP) because they wrongly equate “spiritual death” with “physical death.”
The Bible says that before believing in Christ, we are “dead in sin,” and so Calvinists say that since a physically-dead body can’t do anything (not even want/seek/believe in God or do anything good) but can only lay there all dead, then it must mean that a spiritually-dead person can’t do those things either but can only lay there all dead until God causes them to believe. (Find me the verse that says this!) Therefore, God picks whom to save, He wakes the elect up spiritually (regenerating their “dead” hearts to make them born-again), and He irresistibly causes them to want/seek/believe in Him. But everyone else stays “dead” and is only able to sin and reject God. (It’s funny – but not “ha ha funny” - how they think being spiritually “dead” means you can’t do anything like want/believe in God or do good, but apparently you can still sin and reject God. Strange!)
But are Calvinists right about what “spiritually dead” means? No! Being “dead in sins” isn’t like being physically dead. It doesn’t mean “Total Inability.” It means that we are separated from God spiritually (and if we die physically in that state, we will remain eternally separated from God), and that we cannot work our way to heaven. And so we needed God to make a way for us, which He did by sending Jesus to the cross for our sins, making salvation available to and possible for us all.
Amos 5:4: "Seek me and live...” If the people want to “live” (spiritually), they have to seek/find God. And so since they’re not “alive” yet, God is telling “dead people” to seek Him.
Calvinists say “dead people can’t seek God until He makes them alive,” but God says that spiritually-dead people must seek Him in order to live. And He can require this of us because He knows that spiritually-dead people are not brain-dead like a dead body. We are separated from God spiritually but still have living brains that can think, reason, desire, make decisions, etc. It’s part of what He built into mankind when He decided to make man in His own image - a free-will (within boundaries), the ability to make decisions. And He expects us to use our free-will, our living brains, to want Him, seek Him, find Him and be saved.
And why does God leave this up to us? Because He is a relational Being who wants to be with people who want to be with Him. None of us would find much joy in being with people who were forced to be with us or with robots programmed to love us, so what makes Calvinists think God would like this?
(You know who else was considered “dead” in the Bible? The prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32. And yet he himself “came to his senses” and choose to return to his father - a father who was waiting eagerly for him with arms outstretched, eyes full of love, and a heart full of forgiveness.)
Another verse to consider: "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life... he has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live." (John 5:24-25). Notice that the people get life after hearing and believing, which means that before hearing/believing they are "dead," which means "dead people" can hear and believe, and then after believing they are brought to life (not before, as Calvinists say).
[And as best I can tell, considering what the concordance says, the first two uses of "hear" in those verses are merely about sensing the words that hit our ears. So "hear and believe" is about sensing the words and then believing them. And "the dead will hear" is about spiritually-dead people sensing the words that hit their ears. Therefore, spiritually-dead people (which we all are, at first) can hear the Word and believe. But, according to the concordance, as best I can tell, the third use of "hear" - "those who hear will live" - is a different kind of "hear." It means to yield obediently to the voice we hear - not just to sense/listen to the words, but to really hear, to take it in, to accept it and abide by it. So taking all this together, these verses don't mean, as Calvinists think, that only certain "elect" people can sense the voice/call of God (after they are brought to life first by the Holy Spirit) and understand the Word and believe in it; it means that all dead people can "hear" the Word, the call of God, but only those who choose to believe in it, to yield obediently to it, will be saved (and only after believing are they brought to life, given eternal life). This contradicts the Calvinist view that dead people can't hear/believe and that only certain preselected people are brought to life before hearing/believing in order to make them hear/believe.]
2. Misunderstanding the role of the Holy Spirit: Calvinists believe it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to make the elect born-again, causing them to want/seek God, giving them faith to believe in Jesus. But that’s not the Spirit’s job.
When it comes to sinners, His job is to convict the world of sin, of their need for Jesus: “When [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me…” (John 16:8-9).
He reveals to all of us that we are sinners who need Jesus, and He draws/invites us all (not just a few, pre-chosen people) to believe in Him.
John 12:32: “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11: “… [God] has also set eternity in the hearts of men…”
We all know deep-down that there is a God, an eternity. And we can see God's fingerprints all over creation, enough to know we need to seek Him and find Him, so there is no excuse for not doing it: "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (Romans 1:20)
Acts 17:27: "For God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him..."
But ... and this is what Calvinists refuse to believe ... we can choose to resist Him. God allows us to choose to either heed/accept/follow His call or to resist/reject/disobey His call. He calls to all and offers salvation to all, but He lets us decide how we will respond to the call. And many people will reject it, refusing His offer of salvation.
Isaiah 63:10: “Yet they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. So he turned and became their enemy and he himself fought against them.”
Acts 7:51: “You stiff-necked people… You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit!”
Hebrews 3:15: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…”
But since Calvinists don't believe we get a choice, they believe that God chooses who will believe and He offers salvation only to them and the Holy Spirit causes them to believe ... but if you weren't chosen then you can never believe.
But biblically, the offer is given to all and the Holy Spirit convicts all (putting in our hearts a deep knowledge that we are sinners in need of a Savior and that God is real) but God lets us choose how to respond, to heed the call or not, to accept the offer of salvation or not.
And when we do choose to heed the call, to put our faith in Jesus, then the Holy Spirit performs the rest of His jobs, according to the Bible. He helps us on our journey as believers by guiding us, comforting us, giving us wisdom and peace and strength and hope, etc., helping us grow in truth and in faith, helping us pray and know what to say, and He seals us for the day of redemption, etc. (John 14:16-17,26, John 16:13, Acts 1:8, Ephesians 1:13-14,17, 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, Romans 8:26-27, etc.).
These are the roles of the Holy Spirit. But nowhere will you find a verse that says His role is to force certain pre-selected people to become believers. (And as we already saw in the last section, believers get the Holy Spirit after they believe, as a result of their belief, not before they believe to cause them to believe, as Calvinists say.)
3. Misunderstanding the Will of God (which we’ve already looked at briefly): Calvinists do not believe God meant what He said the way He said it or that He said what He meant. They believe there are hidden layers (revealed to them) underneath what God said, which actually contradict what He plainly said.
Such as, God says that He doesn't want anyone perishes but that He wants all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). But Calvinists say that God really does want most people in hell because He gets glory for it by being able to display His justice/wrath against sin. He made some people to be elect so that He could show off His love, but He made some (most!) people to be unrepentant sinners so that He could show off His justice. (HOGWASH!)
And how do they rationalize this? By claiming that He has two different Wills that contradict each other, and that it's okay because He is sovereign and can do whatever He wants and we don't have to understand it but we just have to accept it.
You see, they believe He has a revealed Will (what He says) but then He has a secret, secondary Will (what He causes), which contradicts His revealed Will. For example, He says He doesn't want Adam and Eve to eat the fruit (His revealed Will) but then He preplans/causes them to eat the fruit (His hidden Will, contradicting His command to not eat the fruit). They say that God decrees things (revealed Will) but then He decrees people to break His decrees (hidden, contradictory Will). And Calvinists see nothing wrong with this.
And so, in Calvinism, it’s God’s revealed Will that no one perishes, but it's His hidden Will that they do perish so that He can show off His “justice.” And since they're both His Will, it's okay and we shouldn't question it.
(But it doesn't make any sense. And is it really justice anyway to cause our sins but punish us for it? And if He says one thing but means another, can you really trust anything He says or commands? Can't you see the damage Calvinism does to God’s character, Word, and trustworthiness?)
Not only does Calvinism break God's love and grace into two different kinds (one for the elect and one for the non-elect), but now we see that it breaks God's Will about salvation into two different kinds: one for the elect (it's His Will to save them to show off His love) and one for the non-elect (it's His Will to predestine them to hell to show off His justice).
If, in your effort to make the Bible fit your theological ideas, you have to repeatedly break up biblical concepts into unbiblical "two different types of," or create primary and secondary layers that contradict each other, or take verses out of context and twist their meanings (when they can be plainly understood in a commonsense way just by reading it as is) ... then I would go out on a limb and declare that your theology is WRONG!
[If Calvinists can find me one verse - just one! - that says the God predestined people to hell for His justice and glory, and that Jesus did not die for all sins of all people ... if they can find one verse that says any of this clearly, as clearly as the Bible says Jesus DID die for all sins of all people, then maybe I'll start to believe them.]
Biblically, God does have two kinds of Wills - but not a revealed one and a secret contradictory one about the same thing, as Calvinists say. Because that would make God duplicitous, untrustworthy, and schizophrenic. But as Pastor Dr. Tony Evans says (whom I think is one of the most theologically-accurate pastors out there), God has an unconditional Will for some things and a conditional Will for other things. (See the first ten minutes of this sermon: How to get your prayers answered.) There are things He's planned and decided to do, regardless of us, such as create the world, send Jesus to die for our sins, offer salvation to sinners, renew creation in the end, etc. He does these things regardless of what we do or don't do. But then there are things He's planned to do on the condition that we do our part, and this is where we get the "if you ... then ..." verses from. "If you obey, then I will bless you. If you disobey, then I won't bless you and you'll face bad consequences." These kinds of verses only make sense if God gave us the real right to choose to obey or disobey. And He did. Which is why the Bible makes sense.
How God responds to us, what He does in our lives, depends on what we choose. He tells us what He expects of us, and He tells us what the consequences will be based on what we decide, and then He leaves it up to us to choose to either obey or disobey. And so His conditional Will - the blessings and rewards He wants to give us, the paths He wants to take us down, etc. - doesn't always happen, because it hinges on what we choose. We do not affect His unconditional Will, but we do affect His conditional Will in our lives, because He gave us free-will, the option to obey or disobey. And so if we miss out, it's on us, not on Him. If we reap bad consequences for our bad choices, it's our fault, not His, and it's not because He willed it to happen.
(But regardless of what mess we get ourselves into, He's always willing to forgive us, to help us set it right again, to straighten out our lives and help us get back on track, and to create something good out of the bad. So all hope is not lost! Keep picking yourself up when you fall down and turning back to the Lord again. Because He is the God of second chances. And third. And fourth. Etc.)
This is the biblical way to understand God's Will, and it's very different from the schizophrenic, contradictory, unjust Calvinist version of God's Will.
Let's see what the Bible says about God's Will when it comes to saving or damning people?
In Acts 20:27, Paul says "For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God." The whole Will of God! Paul's consistent message was "God wants you to be saved: to repent and believe in Jesus," a message confirmed all throughout Scripture:
1 Timothy 2:3: "This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved..."
2 Peter 3:9: "... [God is] not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
Ezekiel 18:32: “For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32)
Amos 5:4: "Seek me and live...”
And he calls God's desire that men repent, believe, and be saved "the whole Will of God." Where is there room here for a secret, secondary, contradictory Will where God really does want most people to perish so that He can get glory for showing off His justice?
God’s whole Will, desire, is that people repent and be saved. But God will only save us on the condition that we believe in Jesus, as He said we need to do. He made salvation possible for all people by sending Jesus to die for all sins and by offering salvation to all, but He allows us to reject it, to resist His Will, His desire for us. And if we do, we miss out on the eternal blessings He's promised to all who will believe.
Calvinists, however, do not think God allows us to resist His Will, which is another major error in their thinking. They assume that if He wills something, He forces it to happen, and that everything that happens is because He willed it, preplanned it, and caused it, and that nothing can happen that He didn't preplan, will, and cause. (But all of this comes from their own assumptions, their own misunderstanding of what "sovereign" means and of how a sovereign God would act.)
Yes, God has some plans that we cannot resist, such as we all have to appear before the Judgment Seat someday, and someday every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord (if you don’t do it now willingly, you will do it in eternity under compulsion, but by then it will be too late to accept the gift of salvation).
But He has other plans/desires that He does allow us to resist, like His desire that we believe in Jesus and choose obedience. So if we go to hell, it’s not because God caused us to be unrepentant to show off His justice, but it’s because we chose to reject the only way to heaven that God gave us (Acts 4:12: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”)
In fact, I can boldly and emphatically say that God doesn't predestine people to hell to show off His justice because the Bible itself tells us what He did to show His justice. And it isn't predestining people to hell.
“God presented [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- he did it [sent Jesus to the cross for our sins] to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:25-26, emphasis added)
God did not predestine people to hell to demonstrate His justice against sin. According to His own Word, He sent Jesus to die for our sins to demonstrate His justice. God put Himself up on the cross (Jesus is God, part of the Trinity) to pay the penalty that we owe for our sins. So that we could live.
"But God demonstrates his love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:5-6. All throughout His Word, God repeatedly says that Jesus died for all people. What a horrible insult it is for Calvinists to say He didn't!)
God Himself says that He shows His justice by sending Jesus to the cross to pay for our sins (not by predestining people to hell).
And God Himself says that He shows His love by sending Jesus to the cross to pay for our sins (not by choosing a few elect people to save).
And by this demonstration of His justice and love for all, we are now free to be justified, to have our sins wiped away in God’s eyes. If we let Jesus’s sacrificial death pay the penalty we owe. If we place our faith in Him. And this offer is for all people! (If we end up in hell, it's by our choice to reject God's offer of salvation, not because God predestined anyone to go there.)
"For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all." (Romans 11:32)
"Consequently, just as the result of one trespass [Adam’s sin] was condemnation for all men so also the result of one act of righteousness [Jesus’s death] was justification that brings life for all men." (Romans 5:18)
God's holiness and justice demanded payment for our sins. But in His abundant love for us all, He paid the penalty Himself ... so that we could live. God's justice does not predestine people to hell; it offers to spare us from hell because Jesus died in our place. No one has to go to hell. The payment has been paid by Jesus for us all, for all our sins. And all we have to do is believe it, accept it.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son." (John 3:16-18)
"... [God is] not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9, KJV)
I don't know how the Bible could have been any clearer. And I can't understand how Calvinists could be so wrong, so blind, so devoted to their theological errors and deceptions.
Well, actually, I can, because it’s one of the oldest tricks in the book:
Genesis 3:1: ”Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God really say …”
2 Corinthians 11:3,14: “But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ… And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
1 Timothy 4:1: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.”
1 Peter 5:8: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”
To reiterate, Calvinists consider God’s Will (and on a different note, His foreknowledge) essentially synonymous with God pre-planning/causing everything. And so when they say God wills (or foreknows) something, they think it means He preplanned and causes it. They do not understand the idea of a conditional Will that we can resist or disobey. Because they don't think God allows us to choose. And so therefore, they think that "God is not willing that any should perish" must really just mean that God willed that the elect won't perish, because if God really willed that all people be saved then (according to their unbiblical assumptions) all people would have to be saved. Because no one could resist His Will. (Or they'll say that God "wants" - on an emotional level - the non-elect to be saved, but that He still predestines them to hell anyway for His glory, even though it makes Him sad.)
This is why they accuse us of universalism when we say "Jesus died for all" - because they translate it as "all will be saved" because they erroneously think that if Jesus died for you then you must be saved because, according to them, no one could resist the offer of salvation if Jesus died for them.
So many errors because they just won't read the Bible as God wrote it! But if they would just factor in the biblical truth of free-will, most of their theological errors would get resolved. Instead, though, they just keep digging their theological-error holes deeper, trying to fix it by twisting even more verses and breaking even more concepts up into "two contradictory types" and adding more contradictory layers and redefining words, etc., adding error upon error upon error.
I believe that God’s Will isn't about preplanning/causing what happens, but when it comes to what happens in our lives, it's more often about what He wants to have happen, His ideal plan for us (but we have to follow Him in it).
And this is confirmed by the Greek meaning of the word often translated "will," such as in Revelation 4:11 which says that all things were created by God's Will (which, interestingly, is "for His pleasure" in the KJV). The Greek meaning of this "will/pleasure" is essentially a combination of God’s pleasure and what He wills. The concordance says that it’s often about God’s “preferred Will,” about “the result hoped for with the particular desire/wish.”
It’s not about God preplanning everything that happens and then causing it to happen, but it’s about what God prefers to have happen, meaning that what He prefers doesn’t always happen and that things can happen that He doesn’t prefer (yet He can still work it all for good, into His plans – He’s just that wise and powerful and sovereign).
This makes it much less “hard-determinism” than Calvinism’s view of His Will. And it makes much more sense when the Bible talks about things God wills that don't happen, such as that all men are saved. That's what He prefers to have happen, what He made possible, but He leaves the choice up to us.
4. Misunderstanding “predestination/election”: Along with misunderstanding sovereignty, depravity, spiritually death, the role of the Holy Spirit, God's Will, etc., Calvinists also misunderstand the Bible’s use of “predestined” and “elect/election.” Simply put, these are about things that happen after someone chooses to put their faith in Jesus, not about how certain, prechosen people are saved.
Predestination is about believers (those who choose to put their faith in Jesus, and anyone can) being predestined to be conformed to Jesus’s image and to bring God glory and to get an inheritance - not about certain people being predestined to believe in Jesus and about God causing it to happen. And election is about all believers being elected for service, to serve God, chosen for certain roles and responsibilities that God has in store for anyone who believes in Jesus (and anyone can) - not about God choosing who gets saved and who doesn’t.
Simply put, it's not that "the elect" are prechosen/predestined to believe in Jesus and so God causes it happen, as Calvinists say. It's that anyone who chooses to believe in Jesus becomes one of the elect (one of those given the roles and responsibilities of a follower of Christ) and is now on a path that has a predestined end (glorification, to grow to be more like Christ, redemption of our bodies, etc.) Big difference!
1 Peter 1:1-2: “To God’s elect ... who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood.” [Notice that they – the believers - were chosen to be obedient, not to be saved. God’s plan is that all believers become obedient to Jesus. And He foreknows, from the beginning, who will believe and who won’t.]
Ephesians 1:11-12 (RSV): "In him, according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will, we who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory." [This isn’t saying that certain people are predestined to believe, but that all believers are destined to live for God’s glory. Also, Calvinists say this verse proves that God causes all things to happen according to His Will. But it doesn’t say that. It’s about God working all things together – even the things He didn’t cause/want - to accomplish His Will, weaving all things into His plans, for good. See Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…” It’s not that God “causes” all things, but that He works all things together for good.]
Ephesians 1:13: "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promise of the Holy Spirit." [Once again, anyone can be included “in Christ” if, when, and after they believe in Jesus, putting their faith in Him.]
Ephesians 1:4-5: "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love, he predestined us to be adopted as his sons ..."
Does this say that a few lucky people were chosen to be saved? No! It says that those who are “in Him” (and Eph. 1:13 says we become “in Christ” when and after we believe) are chosen to be holy and blameless in God’s sight. Anyone who chooses to believe in Jesus will be "in Christ" and will be seen by God as holy and blameless because Jesus's death takes away our sins. When God looks at those who accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, He doesn’t see our sins anymore; He sees Jesus, that Jesus’s blood took away our sins:
“… as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12)
“For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” (Hebrews 8:12)
“I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like a morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.” (Isaiah 44:22. We’ve all been redeemed by Jesus’s blood. All our sins have been paid for. But only those who accept Jesus’s sacrifice in their place will experience that redemption. The rest reject it and so they won't get it.)
“But if we walk in the light, as [God] is in the light … the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:7-9. Notice that there is a condition here: to walk in the light, to confess our sins, which essentially means to confess that we are sinners who need Jesus, to believe in Jesus and turn to Him as our Lord and Savior, for the forgiveness of our sins.)
[Added Note: In order to truly understand predestination in Ephesians, you must read carefully: Ephesians 1:5,11-12 (KJV): “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself … In him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.”
Does Eph. 1:5 say that certain sinners are predestined to salvation/eternal life?
No. It says we are predestined to be adopted as children. And to know what “adoption of children” means (the NIV words it “adoption as sons”) go to Romans 8:23 (NIV): “… we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
“Predestined for adoption” is not about certain sinners being predestined for salvation/eternal life. It’s about the promise that God will redeem the bodies of all believers, that all believers will eventually acquire the full benefits of being a child of God.
(Also of note is that the concordance says "adoption" is NOT about being brought into God's family by spiritual birth, but about God promising to "adopt" anyone who believes into His family. Anyone who believes in Jesus, who accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior - and this offer is open to all - will become one of His children: "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." (John 1:12) And all His children are predestined to be brought into His family and to experience the dignity/full benefits of being His child, being fully realized at the redemption of their bodies. This is God’s promise, that if you put your faith in Jesus, you will be part of His eternal family!)
And notice also that the second "predestination" (in Eph. 1:11-12) specifies that the "inheritance" believers get is what was predestined, NOT that certain people are predestined for salvation.
Basically, Ephesians predestination is saying that we who are “in Him” (as a result of choosing to believe in Him) are predestined to have our bodies redeemed, to get an inheritance, and to bring God glory. All of this is promised by God to anyone who chooses to put their faith in Jesus. And anyone can.
Even Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV) confirms this when it says that “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.”
Notice that those believers were not included in Christ until after they believed. And after they believed, they were given the Holy Spirit as a promise that they will be redeemed. And they are guaranteed an inheritance. This contradicts Calvinism on at least three points:
First, it confirms that predestination is not about certain sinners being preselected for heaven, but it’s about believers being predestined for redemption and an inheritance. Second, it contradicts Calvinism’s idea that the elect are “in Christ” (essentially “saved”) from the beginning of time, because Scripture shows they were not in Christ until after they believed. And third, it contradicts Calvinism’s view that the elect have to get the Holy Spirit first, that He causes them to believe in Jesus, because it shows that they didn’t get the Holy Spirit until after they believed, as a result of believing.
"Predestination" is not about individual people being pre-chosen for salvation, but it’s about the destiny of anyone who chooses to believe in Jesus. And that's a big difference! Calvinists get this wrong from the very beginning, and it ruins their whole theology.]
Let's look at one example, a verse that Calvinists use to prove Calvinism, to see how incorrectly they read Scripture when it comes to being "chosen":
2 Thessalonians 2:13-14: “But we always ought to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Calvinists use this verse to say that God chooses whom to save. But it doesn’t say that. It says “God chose you to be saved through … the Holy Spirit and through belief in the truth.” And in various translations of the Bible, it doesn’t just say “… God chose you to be saved…”, but it says “God chose you as His first-fruits.” This "first-fruits" adds a whole new meaning and clarifies what Paul means. The particular generation that Paul was writing to was chosen to be the first generation to have Jesus and the Holy Spirit, the first to be able to be saved through belief in Jesus (instead of by devotion to God, as evidenced in adherence to the Law, as it was for previous generations), because their lifetimes coincided with His. This totally changes it from a Calvinist “God chooses which individuals to save” verse to a verse about God choosing the method of salvation, that Paul's generation would be the first (the first-fruits) to be saved through faith in Jesus.
[And to be even more accurate, the word “saved” in this verse - according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible - isn’t even about eternal salvation, heaven and hell. It’s about God promising to save true believers from the wrath He will pour out on the ungodly at the end of this age. This isn’t a Calvinist “predestined for heaven” verse at all. It’s about God choosing to switch the method of salvation at that time to faith in Jesus specifically, and it’s about God choosing to spare true believers from His end times wrath. Big difference!]
There is always a better, more accurate way to read a “predestination, election, chosen” verse than the hogwashy Calvinist way!
And these other interpretations - that God predestined the method of salvation and predestined what happens after people believe (they will be blameless in His sight, be redeemed, live for His glory, be part of the family, get an inheritance, etc.) - keep the Bible's message intact and consistent, uphold God’s character and truth, offer salvation to all, invite all to believe, and just make so much more sense than the Calvinist idea of "predestination" which destroys the Gospel message, contradicts the rest of Scripture, makes God the cause of sin and evil and unbelief, accuses God of punishing people for what He caused, claims that sin and evil is glorifying to God, closes the door of heaven to most people, and destroys Jesus's sacrifice and God's gracious, merciful, loving, just, forgiving character, etc.
God loves all people. Jesus paid the price for all people. Salvation is offered to all people. And all we have to do is accept it in faith.
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
We cannot earn salvation by works. But God does expect/require us to do one thing, to meet one condition, to be saved: to put our faith in Jesus.
[Calvinists wrongly think that “faith,” in that verse, is the gift God gives, that it’s something He injects into the elect to make them believe. And so if faith has to be given to you by God then He decides whom to give it to, and He only gives it to the elect to cause them to believe. But – and this is a BIG BUT – Greek words are gendered. They are either female, male, or neuter. And if a word refers to a noun, it needs to have the same gender as that noun. In this verse, “faith” is female. And therefore, if “gift” was referring to faith (as Calvinists believe) then “gift” must also be female. But it’s not. It’s neuter. Therefore, faith is not the gift (neither is simply “grace,” which is also female). Another major strike against Calvinism! The gift, biblically, is the whole kit-and-caboodle: salvation, the offer of eternal life extended to us by God's grace, acquired through our faith in Him. This is the gift God offers to us. To all of us. But He leaves it up to us to accept or reject it. Faith is not something God injects into certain people; it’s our response to Jesus, to His free gift of eternal life, our decision to believe in Him. And it’s up to us.]
The way I like to explain predestination, very simply, is this:
There are two buses: one destined for heaven and one destined for hell. The path these buses take has already been pre-determined by God, but He leaves it up to us to choose which bus we get on. (However, our default bus is the “hell bus.” So not deciding to board the “heaven bus” automatically puts us on the “hell bus.”) There is a seat for everyone on the “heaven bus,” all our tickets have been paid for by Jesus’s blood, and all we have to do is get on the bus (to put our faith in Jesus). The path a person takes after they believe in Jesus is what’s been predestined, not whether or not they believe.
So based on a plain reading of Scripture, do you think Calvinists are right or wrong about predestination, about “Unconditional Election” and “Limited Atonement” and “Irresistible Grace”?
Does God say what He means and mean what He says … or does He have secret, hidden, contradictory layers under everything He says? Does God offer salvation to all and expect us to decide … or does He choose who goes to heaven and cause them to believe (predestining everyone else to hell)? Is faith our response to Jesus, our decision to believe in Him … or is it something God injects into certain people to cause them to believe? Can we resist what God wants us to do … or are we forced to do whatever He pre-decided for us? Do we decide how to live, what to believe, whom to serve … or does God cause/control our thoughts, sins, and unbelief but hold us accountable for it?
How’s the track-record of Calvinist theology looking so far when compared to the plain teaching of Scripture?
