Why is Calvinism so dangerous? #12 (Predestination, election)

[In this series, I'm breaking the long post "Why is Calvinism so dangerous?" into bite-sized pieces.]


12. (We're getting closer to the end.  It's gonna go faster now.)

Calvinism says ... "Predestination/election/chosen" verses are always about God predestining people for salvation.

No wonder they have so much support for their view.  


But the Bible shows ... "Predestination/election/chosen" verses are about God predetermining other things, such as predestining that believers will grow to be more like Christ, be redeemed, get an inheritance, bring God glory, or about God choosing the generation that would be the first to get salvation through faith in Jesus, or about God choosing people for certain jobs, roles, responsibilities, etc.  It's never about God predestining certain people for heaven.

A sampling of verses Calvinists use to "prove" Calvinist predestination [and what they really mean]:

Ephesians 1:11-12 (KJV): "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined 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." [The inheritance believers get - and I would add the glory believers will bring Christ - is what was predestined, not whether or not we were chosen for salvation.  Anyone who trusts in Christ will get an inheritance and bring God glory.]

Romans 8:29-30 (KJV): “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son … Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”  [God predestines those whom He “foreknows” (true Christ-followers) to be conformed to the image of His Son.  This is not about God predestining certain “elected” sinners to salvation.  It’s about God determining the destination of a believer’s path, the direction our path heads after we choose to believe in Jesus – to grow to be more like Jesus and to eventually be glorified.]

Ephesians 1:4: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight …”  [God determined that those who are “in Him” (who believe in Him) would be "holy and blameless" in His sight, because anyone who puts their faith in Jesus accepts His sacrificial death on their behalf, letting His blood pay for their sins and wipe their slates clean.  Anyone who chooses to be “in Jesus” will be holy and blameless in God’s sight.]

Ephesians 1:5: "he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ."  [Calvinists use this to say that God predestined who would be "adopted," who would be saved.  But the concordance says "adoption" is NOT about being brought into God's family by spiritual birth, but it's about God promising to "adopt" into His family anyone who believes.  Anyone and everyone who chooses to believe in Jesus will be accepted into God's family and will experience the full benefits of being a child of God.  And this "adoption" will be fully realized at the redemption of our bodies: "Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies" (Romans 8:23).  Paul defines "adoption as sons" as being "the redemption of our bodies," not "the salvation of our souls" as Calvinists would claim.  God has not predestined who goes to heaven, but He has predestined that all believers - all His children - will one day experience the fullness of our adoption at the redemption of our bodies.]

2 Thessalonians 2:13: “But we ought always 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.” [The verse does not stop at "God chose you to be saved."  This is not about individual people being chosen for salvation.  It's about God choosing that particular generation to be the first to be saved through belief in Jesus, as opposed to the generations before that who were saved through their devotion to God (as evidenced in their adherence to the Law).  It’s about God choosing the method of salvation, not who gets saved.  And to be even more accurate, the word “saved” in this verse - according to Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Vine's Expository Dictionary - 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!]

John 15:16: "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit..."  [This is not about people being chosen for salvation, but about Jesus choosing His disciples and appointing them the task of taking the Gospel to the world.]

Every verse Calvinists use to support Calvinist predestination/election (that God chooses who goes to heaven and who goes to hell) is actually about something else.  You have to look at each verse in context to see what's really being predestined, who's being "chosen" and what they're being chosen for.  And it's never "predestined to heaven or hell."

So do not let them sucker you into Calvinism when they go "See, the Bible has the word 'predestined' in it.  And 'elect."  So you have to believe in Calvinism."

My ex-pastor once said something like "We tend to have a problem with the idea that God can choose who to save and who not to save.  We don't like it.  But the Bible clearly teaches it.  The Bible calls it 'the doctrine of election, the doctrine of predestination'."  

Really!?!  And which verse would that be?  Which verse uses the phrase "doctrine of election" or "doctrine of predestination"?  

Predestination and election are biblical concepts, but not the way Calvinists define them.  And it makes all the difference!  (Examine the worms.)

(See "Predestined for salvation? Or for something else?" for more on that.)





*Additional note: There are other verses like 2 Thess. 2:13 ("God chose you to be saved") where, according to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible with Vine's Expository Dictionary, "salvation" is not even about our soul's eternal salvation but about God promising to spare believers from the His upcoming, end-times wrath that He will pour out on staunch unbelievers:

1 Thessalonians 5:8-9: "But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.  For God did not appoint us to wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ."  (Both of those "salvations" are about escaping the end-times wrath.)

Romans 13:11: "... because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." [Not only do Calvinists misunderstand "salvation" (making it all about the predestined eternal salvation of our souls), but those who think we can lose our salvation, that we have to maintain it till we die, misunderstand it too, leading to problems in their theology.  They would see a verse like this and say "If our salvation is 'nearer,' it means it's not here yet, that we haven't actually obtained it yet.  Therefore, we need to keep working towards it till we get to the end of our lives, which means that we can still lose it along the way, because we don't actually have it yet.  We can lose our salvation by sinning, and so we have to always ask forgiveness for every sin we commit.  If we die with one unforgiven sin, then we lost our salvation."  I knew a friend like this, who said that you could be a perfect Christian all the way till the end, but if you yelled out a cuss word during a car accident and died right then, without asking forgiveness, you'd go to hell.  Big problems arise when we don't know the correct definition of words.  In this case, "salvation" is not about eternal salvation but about being spared from end-times wrath.  This contradicts both the Calvinist's and Arminianist's theological views.]

Hebrews 1:14, 9:28: "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?" and "... he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him."  

1 Peter 1:5: "who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time."

2 Peter 3:15: "Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation..." 

Some of these could sound like proof for Calvinist predestination ("God chose you to be saved," "appointed to receive salvation," "those who will inherit salvation") ... until you understand it the right way.  It's not that God chooses certain sinners for eternal salvation.  It's that God chooses to spare believers from His end-times wrath.  Big difference.  And it really knocks the legs out from under Calvinism. 



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