Calvinism

Introduction

Complaints about Calvinism.

I have been seeing a lot of complaints about Calvinism and noticed that people always seem to not get something right.

They Don’t correctly understand what Calvinism says.

They explain Calvinism is a way that is blatantly false.

They Come up with ideas of their own.

For instance, Calvinism does say the unregenerate man is unable to respond to God (more on that in a moment) and I saw someone then say that it must mean that the man God does act upon cannot sin. Why? Where does that even come from? Does the fact that people fall down mean they must also fall up? This idea has no basis in anything.

They Quote a single verse in opposition and think they have destroyed Calvinism.

The other thing I see is people take one verse, usually if not always from the New Testament, that they think Calvinism uses and they interpret it in a way they think destroys Calvinism. They never address any other verses and NEVER interact with the Old Testament. There is a reason for that by the way.

Attack the followers of Calvinism

Then there are people that never address what scripture says and just think it is the view from one man and those that believe this view are followers of that one man.

What Calvinist actually Believe.

I believe that there are 3 main points to the view that is Calvinism and from those three points everything else flows. Now, I want to say right now that I am going to go over verses for each of these points, but right now we are just talking about what Calvinist see in the Bible.

1) God is sovereign and he has chosen individuals, the Elect, who will live with him in Heaven.

Notice I did not say he made a method and then rolled the dice to see who would be in heaven with him.

2) The Unregenerate man can in no way please God. Therefore without God changing him he cannot respond to God.

God has to change us before we can even have faith in him.

3) Salvation is by Faith and this Faith is not in man, is not created by man, nor is it activated by man. It is given to the Elect as a gift from God.

The Elect are saved by Faith Alone, without works, but if it is true Faith it will, must, produce works.

TULIP

From these 3 basic ideas we get an acronym that further explains things that you have probably heard of TULIP.

T: Total Depravity

This might be better said as Total Inability. It is the idea that human nature is fallen and due to this fallen nature man is unable to respond to God. Therefore if he is going to be saved it must be because God changes him.

U: Unconditional Election

This is the idea that since fallen man cannot respond to God, God chooses the Elect, without condition. There is nothing the Elect have done or will do to deserve Election.

L: Limited Atonement

Because God chooses certain individuals and it is not an act of an individuals decision making Jesus did not make atonement for every single individual. Every single individual is not going to heaven only the Elect that God has chosen.

I: Irresistible Grace

The person that God chooses to make Elect cannot Escape it. God changes their fallen nature so that they become a new creature and are know able to obey God’s commandment.

P: Perseverance of the Elect (saints)

Since they are God’s chosen Elect, from before time, and since he has made them new creatures they will be saved. They cannot escape it and they cannot be stolen out of God’s hand.

The Questions You want to Ask Scripture

So does the story of scripture speak to a mankind that cannot obey God and requires God’s intervention to serve him?

Does scripture speak to a God that chooses his followers or to a God that equally offers to all and the decision rest alone with the individual?

Does scripture speak to a God, that if he does choose is unable draw and preserve his chosen?

As we look at scripture keep these questions in mind.

Free Will

Before we get to deep into scripture and the proofs for Calvinism I have to take a detour because one of the complaints against this view is that God’s Sovereignty violates man’s Free Will and therefore we must all be robots if Calvinism is true. This is an incorrect understanding of what Free Will is and how God operates with our wills.

Free Will Defined (does it mean choose without constraints)

The people that hold to the view that Calvinism violates Free Will and makes us all robots say it doe so because it means we do not choose. They are actually defining free will as the ability to choose without any constraints.

Go outside and look into the air and see some birds. Start flapping your arms to see if you can fly with them. Of course, despite your desire to fly with the birds, you will not fly. Have you lost Free Will? Are you no longer able to make any choices? Are you now a robot?

Of course not. God, in his sovereignty, has decided to make you different from the birds and constrain your actions in a certain way. This does not eliminate your ability to choose.

God has the ability to be make choices, be sovereign, and control events without violating people’s ability to choose and this is seen throughout scripture.

In Genesis Abraham hides the fact that Sarah is his wife and the King Abimelech takes her into his harem. Look what God says to him in a dream.

Genesis 20:5–6 (NET 2nd ed.) 5 Did Abraham not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience and with innocent hands!” 6 Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience. That is why I have kept you from sinning against me and why I did not allow you to touch her.

Was Abimelech just a robot doing God’s will?

Later in Genesis look what Joseph says to his brothers.

Genesis 45:5–8 (NET 2nd ed.) 5 Now, do not be upset and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life! 6 For these past two years there has been famine in the land and for five more years there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7 God sent me ahead of you to preserve you on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now, it is not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me an adviser to Pharaoh, lord over all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Were Joseph’s brothers and the men of Egypt that put Joseph in power, were they all robots?

Isaiah 10:5–12 (NET 2nd ed.) 5 “Beware, Assyria, the club I use to vent my anger, a cudgel with which I angrily punish. 6 I sent him against a godless nation, I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, to take plunder and to carry away loot, to trample them down like dirt in the streets. 7 But he does not agree with this; his mind does not reason this way, for his goal is to destroy, and to eliminate many nations. 8 Indeed, he says: “Are not my officials all kings? 9 Is not Calneh like Carchemish? Hamath like Arpad? Samaria like Damascus? 10 I overpowered kingdoms ruled by idols, whose carved images were more impressive than Jerusalem’s or Samaria’s. 11 As I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” 12 But when the sovereign master finishes judging Mount Zion and Jerusalem, then he will punish the king of Assyria for what he has proudly planned and for the arrogant attitude he displays.

Here God says that he is using Assyria to punish. Was Assyria full of robots? What is worse for many not only does God say he is using Assyria, but because Assyria’s actions Assyria itself will be judged.

What about Judas and his betrayal of Jesus.

Matthew 26:23–24 (NET 2nd ed.) 23 He answered, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man will go as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for him if he had never been born.”

This was to fulfill

Psalm 41:9 (NET 2nd ed.) 9 Even my close friend whom I trusted, he who shared meals with me, has turned against me.

Was Judas a robot?

In the same manner God, again in his sovereignty, has chosen some to respond to him and others to not respond to him. This does not mean people do not choose and it does not mean God has caused evil or sin.

Sovereignty of God versus Humanity

The problem is people have overvalued humanity. Some outright deny God’s Sovereignty in any way and others acknowledge God’s sovereignty as long as that sovereignty is not over a human. People seem to think that Jesus died to usher in the Democracy of God. It is the Kingdom of God, it is ruled by a king and his reign is absolute. He owns us, he created us after all, and he does with us as he wishes.

Deuteronomy 10:14 (NET 2nd ed.) 14 The heavens—indeed the highest heavens—belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it.

Exodus 19:5 (NET 2nd ed.) 5 And now, if you will diligently listen to me and keep my covenant, then you will be my special possession out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine,

Job 41:11 (NET 2nd ed.) 11 Who has confronted me that I should repay? Everything under heaven belongs to me!

Psalm 24:1 (NET 2nd ed.) 1 The Lord owns the earth and all it contains, the world and all who live in it.

1 Chronicles 29:11–12 (NET 2nd ed.) 11 O Lord, you are great, mighty, majestic, magnificent, glorious, and sovereign over all the sky and earth! You have dominion and exalt yourself as the ruler of all. 12 You are the source of wealth and honor; you rule over all. You possess strength and might to magnify and give strength to all.

Job 15:12–16 (NET 2nd ed.) 12 Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, 13 when you turn your rage against God and allow such words to escape from your mouth? 14 What is man that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? 15 If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, 16 how much less man, who is bominable and corrupt, who drinks in evil like water!

Psalm 33:11 (NET 2nd ed.) 11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever; his plans abide throughout the ages.

Psalm 135:6 (NET 2nd ed.) 6 He does whatever he pleases in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the ocean depths.

Isaiah 43:13 (NET 2nd ed.) 13 From this day forward I am he; no one can deliver from my power; I will act, and who can prevent it?”

Even a Gentile King understood this:

Daniel 4:34–35 (NET 2nd ed.) 34 But at the end of the appointed time I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up toward heaven, and my sanity returned to me. I extolled the Most High, and I praised and glorified the one who lives forever. For his authority is an everlasting authority, and his kingdom extends from one generation to the next. 35 All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he wishes with the army of heaven and with those who inhabit the earth. No one slaps his hand and says to him, “What have you done?”

Remember our Questions

Does the story of scripture speak to a mankind that cannot obey God and requires God’s intervention to serve him?

Does scripture speak to a God that chooses his followers or to a God that equally offers to all?

Does scripture speak to a God, that if he does choose is unable draw and preserve his chosen?

I think we can safely say that God is Sovereign. All the earth is his. If he chooses to draw a person they will obey and he can preserve his chosen.

So then we only have two questions remaining.

Does Scripture:

Speak to a mankind that cannot obey God and requires God’s intervention to serve him?

Speak to a God that chooses those that follow him or does he offer to all equally.

Scripture

Far to many people, when wanting to answer a theological question turn immediately to the New Testament and begin searching. It is true that there are many good verses in the NT, but if it is a true theological statement it will be seen in the OT. I notice many proponents of anti-Calvinist views never approach the OT.

This makes sense considering the OT’s view of God is one of a Sovereign God that is in control and choosing what and whom will serve him while disregarding others.

That said it is interesting to start at John 3. Everyone knows about John 3:16, and being born again, but look at this:

John 3:9–10 (NET 2nd ed.) 9 Nicodemus replied, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand these things?

I start here because I believe John 3 speaks to a Calvinist view and here Nicodemus doesn’t understand what Jesus has said in John 3:3-8.

Look at Jesus’ reply to Nicodemus in verse 10. Is he mocking Nicodemus? No. Jesus is questioning Nicodemus, “How is it that you, someone who teaches, doesn’t understand? In other words, Nicodemus should have understood.

What did Nicodemus teach and why should he have understood?

Why Nicodemus should have understood deals with him being a teacher. Jesus is saying, “As a teacher you should understand these things.” It is tied to him being a teacher. What did Nicodemus teach....the Law, Prophets, and Wisdom writings of course. What we call the OT. So, we should be able to find the meaning of whatever Jesus said in the OT, and we do.

The Beginning

We will start in Genesis where God creates everything and creates Adam and Eve and gives them basically 3 commands.

Genesis 1:28 (NET 2nd ed.)28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.”

Genesis 2:16–17 (NET 2nd ed.)16 Then the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”

Be fruitful and multiply.

Rule over the creatures of earth.

Do not eat of the Tree of Life.

Nature of Adam and Eve

Now before we go any further I need to point some things out.

Did Adam and Eve have a mother? No of course not. They were direct creations of God. There could be a strong argument that they do not have belly buttons.

Were Adam and Eve living in a world full of sin? Again, of course not. Sin and Death had not yet entered into Eden. Adam and Eve were still sinless. Adam and Eve lived in a sinless world.

3. Adam, and Eve, saw, spoke, and walked with God.

Adam and Eve had flesh that was a direct creation of God.

Adam and Eve lived in a sinless world.

Adam and Eve saw and walked with God.

We are Different than Adam and Eve

Here is the point. You and Adam have some MAJOR differences. You are not the same. Yet Adam still sinned.

Your flesh is not a direct creation of God. You have a mother.

You have never known a world, a single moment without sin.

You cannot see or walk with God.

Psalm 51:5 (NET 2nd ed.) 5 Look, I was guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me.

And the Bible says if you see God you will die.

Exodus 33:20 (NET 2nd ed.) 20 But he added, “You cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live.”

Adam’s Sin and Reaction

So consider all the advantages Adam had over you and he still sinned. What is Adam’s Reaction to sin? Adam and Eve immediately started crying out to God for forgiveness and then when God came to the garden they run to him and asked for forgiveness....oh wait, no it doesn’t say that.

Genesis 3:8–12 (NET 2nd ed.) 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 The man replied, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” 11 And the Lord God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.”

So let me get this right. You are not a direct creation of God, you have never seen and walked with God, you have never known a day without sin, and you live in a very sinful world, but you think when God calls you you don’t run and hide, you don’t try to blame others, but instead you answer the call?

Original Sin

Original sin is the doctrine (teaching) that, as a result of Adam’s fall, all mankind are sinners by nature, having a propensity to sin that underlies every actual sin.

There are many people that do not agree with the idea of Original Sin. They misunderstand the idea of Original sin and try to make the claim that we are getting Adam’s guilt. They make Original Sin to be something like an infectious disease or a fault in DNA. This is not a correct view.

They have a false idea that Adam’s sin, literally our father’s sin, does not effect anyone other person than than Adam. They understand, know, and see the effects of Adam’s sin on the world, but they deny any effects. We inherit the effects of Adam’s sin because we can do not better than he did. As I pointed out earlier Adam and Eve had flesh that was a direct creation of God. Adam and Eve lived in a sinless world. Adam and Eve saw and walked with God. No one could ever do better than Adam could and in this way he is our representative.

Adam was the best of us, put in the best situation, yet he still sinned. No other human could ever do any better. This is why he is our representative.

It is interesting that those that dispute Original Sin and Adam being our representative are the same people that look to Jesus and say he died for their sins, as their representative.

If you really listen to the complaints against the idea of Original Sin the complaints really comes down to, “It isn’t fair because I would have done better.”

No you wouldn’t.

More in Genesis

But wait there is more. Look at the Flood.

Genesis 6:5 (NET 2nd ed.) 5 But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time.

Genesis 6:11–12 (NET 2nd ed.) 11 The earth was ruined in the sight of God; the earth was filled with violence. 12 God saw the earth, and indeed it was ruined, for all living creatures on the earth were sinful.

What do you not get about “every inclination?” What do you not get about “only evil?” What do you not get about “all the time.” I guess you could suppose that there are two class of humans. Those prior to the Flood and those after the Flood. But this is not Biblical.

And who is saved out of the Flood?

Well, God went to every individual and told them a Flood was coming and the smart ones responded to God and.....no wait it doesn’t say that.

Genesis 6:8 (NET 2nd ed.) 8 But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.

Genesis 6:13 (NET 2nd ed.) 13 So God said to Noah, “I have decided that all living creatures must die, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Now I am about to destroy them and the earth.

The Dividing of Mankind

Lastly, at least for this video, we get to crucial passage in understanding how God interacts with mankind.

In Genesis 9:1 God instructed Noah and his sons to, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” Yet, what we find is that again the people have rebelled against God and not followed his commandments.

Genesis 11:1–4 (NET 2nd ed.) 1 The whole earth had a common language and a common vocabulary. 2 When the people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” (They had brick instead of stone and tar instead of mortar.) 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that we may make a name for ourselves. Otherwise we will be scattered across the face of the entire earth.”

The people of the earth are again disobeying God and wanting to reach into the heavens without God’s help. Study for yourselves what they were wanting to do. Needless to say they were not obeying God’s commandment.

The result, as everyone knows, Genesis 11:7-9 where God mixes up the languages, divides the people, and they scatter to different lands.

The Rest of the Story

But there is a lot more going on here that is not told in Genesis 11, but revealed in other scripture.

Deuteronomy 32:8 (NET 2nd ed.) 8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided up humankind, he set the boundaries of the peoples, according to the number of the heavenly assembly.

If your Bible version says something different or you do not understand I suggest you do more study, but this video is already to long to delve into the nature of this verse.

Basically, what happened at Babel is God divorced humankind and gave humankind over to other spiritual beings.

Deuteronomy 4:19, Deuteronomy 17:3, 2 Kings 21:3, and Jeremiah 8:2 all speak of a prohibition or of people worshipping the Sun, Moon, and the Stars. However Job 38:7 uses the metaphor that the stars are actually spiritual or heavenly beings.

Israel is God’s Inheritance: The Call of Abraham

While God temporarily divorced humankind he took one man to become a nation, his nation, his inheritance.

Genesis 12:1–3 (NET 2nd ed.) 1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you. 2 Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, so that all the families of the earth may receive blessing through you.”

As Jeremiah 10:6, Isaiah 19:25, and Deuteronomy 32:9 all point out Israel is God’s chosen people his inheritance.

Paul, when speaking on Mars Hill in the book of Acts makes the point:

Acts 17:26–27 (NET 2nd ed.) 26 From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live, 27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

Look again at the questions we need to answer: Does scripture

Speak to a mankind that cannot obey God and requires God’s intervention to serve him?

Speak to a God that chooses those that follow him or does he offer to all equally.

What do we find in just the first several chapters of Genesis. Do we find people unable to obey God?

We find a sinless human, living in a sinless world and he is unable to obey God.

We find a world full of humans that are so evil God sends a flood to wipe them out only saving one man he finds favor in.

We find again mankind rebelling against God and God divorcing humanity.

Do we find a God that is choosing those that serve him, the Elect:

Did God command everyone to build a boat and only Noah did it?

Why did God choose Abraham? Did God call every human and only Abraham answer?

If God really does desire all to be elect then why did God leave the Gentiles to, “search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him,” as Paul puts it in Acts 17:26-27? Why did he only give his covenant and oracles to the Jewish nation?

The Anti-Calvinist, Anti-TULIP view has a real Bible problem.

I had planned on my next video to be a further examination of the Tower of Babel and God divorcing the Gentiles and calling of the Jewish nation. I think this is a vital area to understand God and how he deals with humanity.

However, having listened to even more people attack the Doctrine of Total Depravity I have realized that they are using their own, unnamed doctrine, that I am calling Total Virtue. So my next video is going to be a critique of Total Virtue.