Appointed for the Defense of the Gospel (Part 4b)

Calvinism Predestination Error Ephesians 1:3-12

In our last issue we ended with how the teaching of Predestination is Offensive to the Nature of God. Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). God said, “whoever believes”, thus we must ask the Calvinist, who does God not love? To say God does not love every living soul from creation till now—is blasphemy.

Now, this doctrine is also Hostile to the Nature of Eternal Life: Eternal life is presented to all who suffer for Christ as their, “…reward in heaven…” (Matt. 5:11-12). Eternal life is the promise reward of those who fight the good fight of faith and who run well; it is the crown of righteousness (2 Tim. 4:7-8; Rev. 2:10). Yet, according to the doctrine of predestination, for Christ you can be reviled, persecuted have all kinds of evil spoken against you falsely and rejoice and be exceedingly glad believing you’re saved, and still burn in Hell, because you weren’t one of the chosen ones. It is repugnant to the goodness of God because it teaches that God has willed the greatest possible evil-, “eternal damnation in Hell”, to the greater number of His creatures. Hence, this doctrine is contrary to the revealed nature of God. Yet that is what the Calvinist want you and me to believe.

Another area of concern is this doctrine is Contrary to the God given Nature of Man: Calvinist doctrine of election is contrary to the nature of God, and it is also contrary to the nature of man. Man is presented in the Scriptures with the ability to choose life or death. Consider: Josh. 24:15 “…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…” 1 Kings 18:21 Elijah said, “How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow  him…” Can you see, Calvinism teaches that man cannot of his own volition choose whether or not to be saved. Calvinist say God has made the choice for you. Consider the creation account: Gen. 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, and 25 “It is good” Gen. 5:1 “…In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.” But according to Calvinism, God created Adam and Eve in such a way that they could not keep from sinning. The only conclusion is that He made them sin. Then, when they carried out His will, He turned and punished them and threw them out of the garden. What kind of “god” do Calvinist worship who says “I love you”, then withholds His grace—removing your ability to repent and accept the gospel, then, He condemns you to Hell for being an unrepentant sinner. Contrast this idea with the nature of man presented in the Scriptures. In the Bible, man is presented as having the ability to choose whether or not to be saved. The truth is that anyone can either reject the will of God like the Pharisees did in (Luke 7:30), or accept it like the Psalmist who said, “I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me” (Psa. 119:30). Any view which teaches that man cannot affect whether or not he will be saved is contrary to the nature of God and of man as revealed in God’s Holy breathed word.

It Destroys the Comfort of the Gospel: The gospel is presented as a gospel of comfort in such passages as the following: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30). Is it comforting to tell people that God chose that Jesus die only for an elect group of people and that they might not be one of those for whom Jesus died? Is it comforting to tell people that God arbitrarily elected some to salvation and some to damnation and that the greater likelihood is that they are among those who are elected to damnation? Is it comforting to tell people that if God chose them to damnation that they will be lost even if they devoted all of their life to the service of God? This damnable doctrine destroys the very idea that God is love. If God does not love all sinners and wish that all sinners were going to be saved (1Tim. 2:4), what guarantee do I have that He wishes that I be saved or that He loves me? This abominable doctrine leaves one with no assurance whatsoever that God loves Him enough to wish that He would be saved. Indeed, according to this doctrine, God hates the greater portion of mankind and loves only a select few (Matt. 7:13-14)!

Also, It Destroys Basis for God’s Opposition to Sin: God is presented in the Bible as being altogether opposed to sin. Calvinists say that God is opposed to sin but their doctrine makes that impossible.  According to predestination, God has predetermined everything that is going to come to pass. Where does it end! When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, God had willed that he sin. Furthermore, when a man lies today, he lies because God so willed it; when a man commits adultery, he commits adultery because God so willed it? This view of predestination makes sin the accomplishing of the will of God! How could God punish a man for doing what He willed that he do? Hence, this view of God destroys the basis for God’s opposition to sin.

Our last and I believe the most powerful of all arguments against Calvinism is that it Makes God a Respecter Of Persons, which He is not! The Scriptures clearly present that God is no respecter of persons: “Then Peter opened his mouth and said: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality. 35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (Acts 10:34-35). Paul said, “But in accordance with your hardness and your [a]impenitent heart you are [b]treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the [c]Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.” (Rom. 2:5-11) We store up wrath, we do good to glory, or do not obey the truth leading to indignation and wrath. Glory, honor and peace to “everyone” who works what is good. Let God be true and every man who teaches Calvin’s doctrine, a liar. There’s more: “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe” (Deut. 10:17). Galatians 2:6 “But from those who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me.” Ephesians 6:9 “And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.”

Yet, according to the doctrine of election God arbitrarily chose who would and who would not be saved. He, without any care or concern that a person is trying to live to please, obeying His every command, loving the Lord his God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his strength, and with all his mind, and loving his neighbor as himself (Luke 10:27), yet God will still cast him away from His presence into eternal punishment. And save the sinner that is displeasing to Him, because he was chosen. If God chooses to save one person and condemn another, regardless of their chosen path. That is favoritism: That is being a respecter of persons.

Conclusion: There are insurmountable objections to the Calvinist view of predestination and election. We have touched only a few of them in this study. I hope you will continue to examine this doctrine remembering that Calvinism is a system of man-made theology. One cannot accept one portion of Calvinism without consistently accepting all of it. Those today who are teaching the imputation of the perfect obedience of Christ are logically bound to accept the total Calvinistic package or establish on what basis one can consistently accept part of it and reject the rest of it. By knowing the conclusions to which this system leads, we are better prepared to oppose the first inroads of Calvinism among us.

In Love

Dave Scarpino