Only.me80 #9: MacArthur 4B (Reversing God's Word)
Here is footnote #4B (part 9 of the whole series inspired by Only.me80's comment) on John MacArthur's sermon about Limited Atonement, quoted in part 4. (Also see part 1... part 2... part 3... part 5... part 6... part 7... and part 8 of this series.)
Picking up where we left off...
B. Likewise, Calvinists say that the Calv-elect are counted/included in Christ from before the beginning of the world and that they get the Holy Spirit before they believe, to make them believe... but the Bible says that we are counted/included in Christ and get the Holy Spirit after we believe, as a result of belief.
Eph. 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 promised Holy Spirit."
Acts 2:38: "...'Repent and be baptized ... And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"
John 1:12: "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."
Calvinists base their idea of people being chosen before the beginning of the world, in part, on a mistranslation of Revelation 13:8, which the ESV (a bad translation) words like this: "and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain." This makes it sound like names are written in the Book of Life before the beginning of time. Very Calvinist!
But the KJV (better translation) words it this way: ”And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." This is teaching something very different: either that the Lamb was (destined to be) slain from the beginning (confirmed by 1 Peter 1:19-20 and Acts 2:23), or that names were written from the beginning (that people are included in Christ as each new person comes to faith, confirmed in Rev. 17:8 and Eph. 1:13). Either way, it does not support or teach Calvinism, that the Calv-elect were saved (chosen to be saved by God) before the beginning of the world.
Another verse Calvinists base their misunderstanding on is Ephesians 1:4 (NIV): “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight …” They think it means God chose/determined who would be saved, as if the verse simply said "God chose us before the creation of the world!" But it doesn't say that at all.
What it's actually saying is that God determined that all those who are "in Him" (all who get on the heaven bus) will become holy and blameless in His sight (because they accepted Jesus's sacrifice for their sins, wiping their slate clean). His righteousness covers anyone who is "in Him." And as we saw, Eph. 1:13 tells us how we become "in Him": "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth... Having believed, you were marked in him..." If and when we believe (and anyone can!), we become "in Him" and are now seen as holy and blameless in God's sight (eternally speaking). (See this post for more about these verses and "the foundation of the world".)
Doesn't this make a lot more sense and uphold God's good, righteous, loving, trustworthy character better than thinking that these verses teach that God predetermines who gets saved while predestining everyone else to hell even though He commanded them to believe in Him and will punish them for their unbelief that He ordained?
Sidenote: What a delight to read this today in Billy Graham's book The Reason for My Hope, chapter four: "There are two classes of people in the world: the saved and the lost. Both have the same opportunity to choose Christ or reject Him... Repentance is acknowledging your sin and by faith, accepting Christ's forgiveness, changing our mind about who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for you, then turning from sin and going the way of the cross. When you do this, He empowers you to believe that He will cleanse you from sin and give you a new heart, a renewed mind, and the will to follow Him into His kingdom."
He's saying that everyone has the same choice to make (accept or reject Jesus), the same opportunity to repent from sin and believe in Jesus, and that whenever anyone repents and believes (accepts Jesus by faith), they will be saved and their hearts and minds will be regenerated by the Spirit.
This is the simple and biblical way to view it: regeneration and acquiring eternal life after belief, as a response to belief. Anyone who believes - and anyone can - will be forgiven, saved, and born again.
Whereas Calvinism reverses that by claiming that only those whom Calvi-god first saved and regenerated (the Calv-elect) can and will believe, slamming the door of heaven on most people.
As I said, non-Calvinists say that the gospel is, essentially, "Repent and believe in Jesus to be saved. And anyone can, but it's up to you."
But the Calvi-gospel is that Calvi-god has already chosen who gets saved and he will cause those people to believe when he gives them the Calvi-Holy Spirit who regenerates them. Saved by Calv-election, not by faith in Jesus.
Here are three examples from my Calvinist ex-pastor's sermons where he essentially literally defines the gospel as Calvi-election.
From a September 2023 sermon: 'It means if someone is saved, it is wholly God's doing. It is not a matter of God saving you partly and you partly saving yourself. No! God saves us. We do not and cannot save ourselves. [He means that we cannot choose to believe in Jesus, but that God causes it all.] That is the gospel.' And that is the message of Jonah: Only God elects. Only God sovereignly draws. Only God sovereignly convicts us of sin. Only God sovereignly opens blinded eyes."
From his February 2015 sermon: "The Bible's teaching on our human condition especially outside of Christ [is that we are] hopelessly blinded and in slavery to sin unless God graciously opens human sinful eyes and summons them to Himself as Lord... That's the gospel: That there is a God who seeks [some] hardened sinners, pursues them, turns them around, drags them to Himself, blesses them, pardons them, and justifies them."
From his May 2024 sermon: "... the unsaved, the unregenerate, cannot see spiritual truth, they have no appetite for the things of God, they hate God's authority - that's our natural state - and they are unwilling and unable to commit to God... [and] the only hope is if God in His mercy, just like Jesus with this [blind] guy, chooses to open blinded eyes... Exodus 33:19: 'The Lord God says, 'I have mercy on those I've chosen to have mercy on, and I will have compassion on those on whom I choose to have compassion.' That is the gospel."
To Calvinists, the gospel is Calvinism, and Calvinism is the gospel, the Truth, Christianity itself.
Charles Spurgeon: "It is a nickname to call it Calvinism. Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel...unless we preach the sovereignty of God in his dispensation of grace...nor, I think, can we preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the peculiar redemption which Christ made for his elect and chosen people..." [Spurgeon’s Sermons, vol. I (Baker Books, reprinted 2007), 88-89.]
John Piper ("Saying what you believe is clearer than saying Calvinist"): "We are Christians... In other words, we are Calvinists."
Al Mohler (from The Wartburg Watch's "Church Takeover Success Using Strategies from the Calvinista Playbook"): "If you're a theologically minded, deeply convictional young evangelical, if you're committed to the Gospel... your theology is just gonna end up basically being Reformed, basically being something like this New Calvinism... [pastors] are gonna have to [side with Calvinism] if they're gonna preach and teach the truth."
PJ Tibayan ("Preach the Bible, not Calvinism") "... preach the Bible, not Calvinism. Of course, if Calvinism is true, then as you preach the Bible you will preach Calvinism."
[And so in the eyes of Calvinists, those of us who reject Calvinism are essentially unbelieving heretics... who burden Calvinist pastors with our "biblical and theological illiteracy" (so says PJ Tibayan)... who are "unsuspecting and uneducated...[like the people who] rely on the supermarket tabloids as your reliable source of news" (Steven J. Cole)... who put our trust in ourselves and in "internet hotheads" (David Schrock)... who are "weak in faith" because we supposedly can't handle or accept the tough doctrines (Daniel R. Hyde)... who are arrogant and prideful (John Calvin, John Piper, John MacArthur)... who are "merit-mongers [who] will not allow the supremacy of the divine will" (A.W. Pink)... "atheists" (R.C. Sproul)... "the unconverted living in a deception" (John MacArthur).. and "not entitled to be regarded as Christians." (A.W. Pink, Doctrine of Election). (Yep, no narcissistic spiritual pride there. A bunch of humble Calvinist leaders!😂😕)]
But I have yet to find the verse which says that Calvinism's doctrine of election/predestination is the gospel and that we must believe in Calvinism in order to be a Christian. (But I'll keep looking.)
But what I have found is a gospel like this:
1 Cor. 15:3-4: "For what I received I passed onto you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures,".
Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 3:23-24: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ."
Romans 10:9: "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."
John 3:16: "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."
This is the gospel according to the Bible! That we are all sinners, but Jesus died for our sins and offers us all eternal life, and anyone who believes in Him (that He is God and died for our sins and rose again) will be saved.
Luke 2:10: "But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.'"
John 1:29: “… 'Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the whole world.'”
1 John 2:2: "He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world."
If someone can't even get the simple basic gospel correct, then they have no business being a pastor. And it doesn't really matter whatever else they might get right, or how great their church's programs are, how skilled they are at speaking, how many times they visited Israel, how well they read Greek, or anything else. If they get the gospel, Jesus's sacrifice, the way of salvation, and God's basic character incredibly wrong - the most important part of Christianity - then it doesn't really matter that they get some minor, secondary things right.
Like Paul said, "of first importance." And so since Calvinists cannot understand the "first important" message, they should be disqualified from teaching God's Word.
[I can hear some of you now: "But my Calvinist pastor says that anyone who wants to believe and be saved can believe and be saved, that salvation is available to everyone who wants it and accepts it."
Okay, yeah, sure... but now ask your Calvinist pastor if everyone can want to believe and accept, if anyone and everyone has the opportunity to believe and accept, the ability to want to believe and accept. Ask him who can want God and eternal life, where the "want" comes from, how we get it, and when. And see what he says.
Because saying "Salvation is available to everyone who wants it/who would accept it" is a much different thing than saying "Salvation is available to everyone." Adding qualifiers like "everyone who wants it" or "everyone who would accept it" is not an insignificant addition or innocent slip of the tongue for a Calvinist. It's their way of sounding non-Calvinist, like salvation is truly available to all, while really meaning that salvation is only for the Calv-elect because only the Calv-elect will have the ability to want it and accept it, essentially limiting salvation to only the Calv-elect.
Nothing in Calvinism is as it appears at first.* And so keep in mind that if Calvinism sounds good and "free-will" and "Jesus is for all" and "anyone can be saved," it's because Calvinists are not being fully honest but are sugarcoating their beliefs, speaking on multiple levels and with multiple definitions that we aren't aware of.
So dig deeper, ask enough questions, ask the right questions, and make them explain their views more fully. And when you do, you'll see that what they believe deep-down is often very different from what they first presented, what they want you to think they believe.
Or maybe they'll realize that they aren't even actually aware of what Calvinism really teaches. Maybe their eyes will be open to its terrible inevitable conclusions, unbiblical ideas, contradictory layers, out-of-context verses, and its God-damaging teachings. And then maybe they'll realize that they really don't want to be a Calvinist after all.
Personally, I think Calvinism is spread less by hard-core Calvinists who truly understand and hold to Calvinism's most wretched doctrines, and it's spread more by people who are "Calvinists" in quotes: Christians who just think they are Calvinists but haven't really and seriously examined what Calvinism really teaches, its disturbing inevitable conclusions and disgusting bottom-line beliefs.
They think they are Calvinists simply because they believe "God is sovereign" (yeah, well, so do non-Calvinists; we just define sovereignty differently, more biblically), but they stop there - refusing to look into it too deeply, refusing to put Calvinism to the test, shrugging off its contradictory teachings that would destroy God's character if taken seriously, and chalking all confusing and disturbing teachings up to "mystery" and "just trust God" so that they don't have to examine them closer or admit what it really means.
I think this is the bulk of Calvinists in the church. And the more of these "Calvinists" there are in the Church, the more Calvinism looks like the biblical norm, the truth, because "look how many Christians believe it and accept it as true!"
But if only these "Calvinists" would learn enough about Calvinism to know that they aren't really Calvinists at all, then the less normal and acceptable Calvinism would look, the less of a foothold Calvinism would have, and the less it would spread.
It's sad and ironic that this is what has taken down the evangelical church: Naive Christians - "Calvinists" in quotes - who probably aren't really Calvinists at all but just don't know it.
(*For other ways Calvinists misdefine words and present things deceptively, see "A Not-So-Imaginary Conversation with a Calvinist" and "Calvinism 101: "Free-will choice" is not really "free-will" or "choice" and "The 9 Marks of a Calvinist Cult.")]
