Predestination & Free-Will
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Calvinism and Arminianism share both history and many doctrines, and the history of Christian theology. The distinction is whether God desires to save all yet allows individuals to resist the grace offered (in the Arminian doctrine) or if God desires to save only some and grace is irresistible to those chosen (in the Calvinist doctrine)
Both sides will agree on the total depravity of man and the horrible effects of sin. Both will also agree that salvation only comes through the agency of the Holy Spirit working in the lives of people.
Now, the question is to whom does the Holy Spirit work?
Defining Terms
Defining Terms
Predestination: Pre-establish boundaries before creation
Free-Will: Idea that people have choice independent from God
Calvinism/Reformed Perspectives
5 Pillars of Calvinism: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election; Limited Atonement; Irresistible Grace; Perseverance of the Saints
Terms for Timing of Salvation under Calvinism
Infralapsarianism: (1) God decreed the creation of mankind, (2) God decreed mankind would be allowed to fall into sin through their own self-determination, (3) God decreed to save some of the fallen, and (4) God decreed to provide Jesus Christ as the Redeemer.
Sublapsarianism: (1) God decreed to create human beings, (2) God decreed to permit the fall, (3) God decreed to provide salvation sufficient to all, and (4) God decreed to choose some to receive this salvation.
Supralapsarianism: (1) God decreed the election of some and the eternal condemnation of others, (2) God decreed to create those elected and eternally condemned, (3) God decreed to permit the fall, and (4) God decreed to provide salvation for the elect through Jesus Christ.
Compatibilist Freedom: Agent is free as long as the action is not coerced, so long as the agent does what they want to do, even if they are determined. You do what you want to do, but you have been caused to have the desires you have and want what you want. You can not want/desire anything else.
Arminian/Wesleyan Perspectives
Prevenient Grace: It is divine grace that precedes human decision. In other words, God will start showing love to that individual at a certain point in his lifetime.
Belief that grace enables, but does not ensure, personal acceptance of the gift of salvation.
Foreknowledge: Idea that God knows the future while still allowing human free-will. It is believe that God can know and bless people based upon his future vision.
Libertarian Freedom: A free action is not determined by prior causes or conditions. Free actions are chosen for reasons. Reasons can explain actions but they do not determine them. (ie. Our freedom is in our ability to rationalize).
Support for Reformed Perspective
Support for Reformed Perspective
Do the scriptures teach God’s comprehensive sovereignty?
Do the scriptures teach God’s comprehensive sovereignty?
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
“All things” means all things
making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
"All things” are both things in heaven and earth or everything
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
The days of our individual lives are formed and ordained by God
The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the Lord.
Random/insignificant events occur by God’s will.
The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;
he turns it wherever he will.
The will of kings is turned by God.
At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever,
for his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom endures from generation to generation;
all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth;
and none can stay his hand
or say to him, “What have you done?”
He does not mean that God does not care, but that no human being can object the will of God.
God’s will is accomplished. There are multiple “Spectrum” texts indicating God’s control over all things.
God’s will is accomplished. There are multiple “Spectrum” texts indicating God’s control over all things.
I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the Lord, who does all these things.
God creates both the good things and the calamity/evil things that happen. The Lord makes these things.
“ ‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
We would never attribute killing to God. We would never attribute wounding to God.
Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
We often attribute the good from God, but this verse attributes bad as coming from God as well.
The reason a Calvinist believes in the gospel is not because of individual free-will but because of God’s choice of the individual. They do not deny the responsibility of humanity to choose to believe and repent.
The reason a Calvinist believes in the gospel is not because of individual free-will but because of God’s choice of the individual. They do not deny the responsibility of humanity to choose to believe and repent.
Peter did not preach in Acts 2, “Consider if you are elect.” Instead, he said,
And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Choose for yourself! They will not deny the individuals choice.
The ultimate reason they choose is because of God’s election and choice of us. It is God gracious work in the lives of the elect.
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
It does not say, “All those who believe were appointed for eternal life.” It says, “those who were appointed believed”
First comes the appointment, then the belief.
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
Coming & Believing (v.35) are similar words for believing. Now, v.37 could be expressed this way, “All that the father gives to me believes in me.”
That wouldn’t not be all people! Some do not believe in Jesus.
Therefore, the conclusion would be that only some people are given to Jesus and therefore only some people are predetermined/elected for salvation.
Those that are given to Jesus by the Father come, PERIOD. They come because they were given.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
No one is able to come or has the ability to come.
Those who are dead in trespasses and sins are dead and therefore can not come unless they are drawn, irresistibly, by a persuading will (not against their will) to the Father.
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Those whom are called are justified. All that are called are justified. So, if everyone is called, then everyone is justified … there are some people who are not justified. Calling does not mean invite, but an effectual call.
Calling creates faith within a person.
This calling mentality is seen in the calling of Lazarus to life. Jesus called Lazarus in his death and he became alive.
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
God chose so that no one could boast before God.
v.30 it is because of God that we are in Christ Jesus.
They believe that all the credit to an individual choosing God goes to God. We would not have chosen Him apart from His grace. His glory alone is the reason that people choose him.
Compatibilist Freedom is the Freedom used in the Bible
Compatibilist Freedom is the Freedom used in the Bible
So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Joseph approaches his brothers and gives credit to God. It isn’t that God used what the brothers did, but rather God sent.
v.7, God sent.
v.8, it was not you, but God
Does Joseph really believe that his brothers did what they wanted to do? -YES
Now, Joseph tells that he realizes God was behind all of this.
As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
We see the relationship between man’s actions and God’s will.
Who sent Joseph to Egypt? -The Brothers did and God! (Both / And)
Moral framework shows the Brothers were evil but God was good.
this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
How did Jesus get nailed to the cross? -Wicked Men & God!
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
The wicked action, of crucifying Jesus, that people do is the same action that God does in his love and grace.
Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger;
the staff in their hands is my fury!
Against a godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take spoil and seize plunder,
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
But he does not so intend,
and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
and to cut off nations not a few;
for he says:
“Are not my commanders all kings?
Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?
As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols,
whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols
as I have done to Samaria and her images?”
When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. For he says:
“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
and plunder their treasures;
like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
My hand has found like a nest
the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing
or opened the mouth or chirped.”
Shall the axe boast over him who hews with it,
or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
Therefore the Lord God of hosts
will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be kindled,
like the burning of fire.
The light of Israel will become a fire,
and his Holy One a flame,
and it will burn and devour
his thorns and briers in one day.
The glory of his forest and of his fruitful land
the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
that a child can write them down.
God raised up Assyria to be a tool against his people. As Assyrians tramples people in the streets, they do not see themselves as an instrument of God. Assyria has an arrogant heart and they will be judged.
Now, who brought destruction on Israel? -Assyria & God
God raised up that wicked nation to destroy and they did exactly what he wanted them to do.
knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
If the authors had freedom to write whatever they wanted, then God was fortunate that the authors wrote what He wanted.
Did God predestine them to be the writers or predestine what they would write?
Support for Arminian Perspective
Support for Arminian Perspective
Reformed Perspective is Unfair
Reformed Perspective is Unfair
Calvinism seems “unfair.”
However, this should not be the starting point for Arminian theology.
God is free to dispense grace to whomever he wants.
If God chose to save only one person, sending the rest to hell, this wouldn’t be fair; it would be merciful.
God is under no obligation to dispense grace. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be grace!
If we want fairness, all of us would be judged for our sins!
Therefore, Arminianism begins with a different biblical starting point: God’s character.
God’s Character
God’s Character
God desires all people to be saved
God desires all people to be saved
God desires all people to be saved, not just some.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Paul says God wants ALL people to be saved. Not some.
And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
Jesus will draw ALL people to him.
And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
The Holy Spirit will convict the world … not just the elect.
Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?
God does not want people to be condemned
God allows humans to resist His will
God allows humans to resist His will
Does God permit people to oppose His will?
Luke 7:30 (ESV)
but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)
Ephesians 1:11 (ESV)
In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
1012 boulḗ – properly, a resolved plan, used particularly of the immutable aspect of God's plan – purposefully arranging all physical circumstances, which guarantees every scene of life works to His eternal purpose.
This level of God's plan (1012 /boulḗ) demonstrates He is the Lord of history, i.e. always in charge!
[1012 (boulḗ) is more than God's immutable plan of physical circumstances. It always also includes the Lord's purpose in them – and hence arranging all the physical scenes of history before creation (Ps 139:16; Jn 1:3).]
Luke explains that the Pharisees were capable of rejecting God’s will for them.
2 Peter 3:9 (ESV)
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Since some ultimately do go to hell, this must mean that God’s will is not fulfilled??
Did Jesus experience a battle of God’s will? (not personally speaking but within his teaching/society)
Matthew 23:37 (NIV)
“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, and you were not willing.
Jesus wanted to do something, but this was rejected by the religious leader. Rejected against the will of God
Cognate: 2309 thélō (a primitive verb, NAS dictionary) – to desire (wish, will), wanting what is best (optimal) because someone is ready and willingto act.
2309 /thélō ("to desire, wish") is commonly used of the Lord extending His "best-offer" to the believer – wanting (desiring) to birth His persuasion (faith) in them which also empowers, manifests His presence etc. See 2307 (thelēma).
Think of the parable of the wedding feast in Matt 22:3, the guests were invited but refused the invitation.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Why pray this if God’s will was already destined to happen?
John 7:17 (ESV)
If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
Imply that God allows us to reject his will
Free-Will
Free-Will
I will destine you to the sword,
and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,
because, when I called, you did not answer;
when I spoke, you did not listen,
but you did what was evil in my eyes
and chose what I did not delight in.”
Because I have called and you refused to listen,
have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more they were called,
the more they went away;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals
and burning offerings to idols.
More examples of human free-will: Josh. 24:15; Isa. 50:2; Jer. 1:6; 2:13-14; 7:13; 13:10; 26:2-3; Ex. 3:11; 4:1-13; Hos. 11:1-9; Ps. 78:10; 81:11-13; Jer. 32:33.
God calls on people to obey, choose, and believe in him (Jn. 15:10; Josh. 24:15; Jn. 3:18). These calls would be nonsense, if we are not free moral agents.
The very fact that we can sin implies freedom of the will, unless we are claiming that God is the agent of sin.
God judges us (1 Cor. 3:10-15; Rev. 20:11-15). Humans are rewarded and punished according to their actions. Judgment only makes sense, if we are free to choose and culpable for our choices.
God tests his people, which implies our ability to pass or fail (Gen. 22:1; Jas. 1:12; 1 Pet. 1:6-7; 1 Cor. 10:13).
Prayers are not scripted; they are free expressions of the heart (see the Psalms for good examples of this).
God pleads with sinners to repent, which would only make sense in light of free moral decision (Ezek. 18:23-32; 33:11).
God desires all men to believe in him (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9; Jn. 12:32). Consider this: An omnipotent being “desires” something that clearly is not happening. Something must be stopping God from doing what he wants to do. Freewill is the most likely solution to this problem (Lk. 7:30; Acts 7:51; Mt. 23:3, 37; Mt. 6:10; Jn. 7:17).
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
“What sense does this verse make in light of irresistible grace? Is Jesus saying it is harder for God to save a rich man than a poor one? How could that be? If everyone, without exception, only gets into the kingdom of God by God’s work alone without any required cooperation on his or her part, then Jesus’ saying makes no sense at all.” ~Roger Olson
Principles of Interpretation to Consider
Principles of Interpretation to Consider
“Me” or “We” Principle
“Me” or “We” Principle
In our modern individualistic culture, we usually read the Bible as referring to me, rather than to we.
Often, passages on chosenness or election are referring to the entire church, rather than individual believers (Eph. 1:4).
Therefore, ask yourself if it is referring to the church being saved, rather than a specific individual.
“Chosen for Heaven” or “Chosen for Ministry” principle
“Chosen for Heaven” or “Chosen for Ministry” principle
Often God chooses us for the purpose of ministry, rather than for the purpose of salvation (Gal. 1:15; Jn. 15:16).
Calvinists read most passages on choosing to refer to “going to heaven,” rather than “going to work.”
Therefore, as you read difficult passages, ask yourself if the passage is describing how a person was chosen for a purpose in ministry, or if they were chosen to go to heaven.
“All Believers” or “Those Believers” principle
“All Believers” or “Those Believers” principle
The Bible is written to the original audience, rather than to modern believers.
Therefore, in interpreting difficult passages, ask yourself if this passage is referring to all believers throughout human history, or if it is referring to those specific believers at the time.
Difficult Passages
Difficult Passages
[We will pick this section up next week]
And the Lord said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
CLAIM: God says and claims to harden Pharaoh’s heart. He then holds Pharaoh responsible for his actions. Is this just or fair? Isn’t God determining action?
RESPONSE:
First, foreknowledge does not imply determinism. God predicted what he would do from the beginning, but this does not imply determinism. God did predict that Pharaoh would harden his heart, but Pharaoh is the one who does the hardening.
Second, after Pharaoh hardens his own heart, God strengthens his resolve. God does harden Pharaoh’s heart, but this follows Pharaoh’s original desire. Put another way, God gave Pharaoh the strength to carry out his own desire. Think of how alcohol gives people courage
Third, God’s purpose for hardening Pharaoh was to show mercy on the Jews. His purpose was to show mercy on the Jews and spread his name to the whole world. Pharaoh was a cruel dictator –not a pleasant politician. Egypt had killed the firstborn Jewish babies, and they had placed the Jews under 400 years of slavery. By using Pharaoh like a pawn in his plan to rescue the Jews, God was not simply fair; he was being extraordinarily considerate to the Jewish people.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
CLAIM: Calvinists claim that this passage supports the doctrine of irresistible grace.
RESPONSE: Look to the following verse, Jesus says, “Come to Me, all who are weary” (Mt. 11:28). If verse 27 refers to irresistible grace, then this would imply universalism, because all are weary.
who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
CLAIM: Some Calvinists argue that this passage supports the idea that the human will has no role in coming to Christ.
RESPONSE: I would consider v.11 important to this discussion, “He came to that which was his won, but his own did not receive him.” So, this would refute the idea of irrefutable grace. v.12 says that all you receive him can become children leading to this verse defining how someone can become a child of God.
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—
I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’
And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
CLAIM: Calvinistic interpreters argue that Paul is teaching predestination and irresistible grace in this passage.
RESPONSE:
First, God’s predestination is based on his foreknowledge of who would freely choose him. The order given here is: God chooses the one “whom he foreknew”—not the other way around. His election is based on those who he knew would freely choose him.
Second, this is plural, rather than singular. This is not referring to an individual believer; it is referring to the entire church of believers. This passage is not about me; it is about we. Therefore, it would be mistaken to interpret this passage as referring to individual salvation.
As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”
What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace,
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
CLAIM: Calvinistic interpreters argue that this passage teaches God’s unconditional election of believers.
RESPONSE: Ephesians 1 is one of the “big three” Calvinistic passages, but even this passage, can be faithfully understood from an alternative perspective: Put simply, we are “chosen” because we are in Christ, but we are not chosen to be put into Christ.
There are a number of reasons for adopting this interpretation.
Jesus is the “Chosen One,” and we are chosen “in Him.” God said of Jesus, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!” (Lk. 9:35) Of course, Jesus was not “chosen” from a number of different messiahs (!!). Likewise, there are “chosen angels” (1 Tim. 5:21). But of course, angels are not chosen for salvation either (Heb. 1:14; 2 Pet. 2:4). Therefore, whatever “chosen” means, it does not mean “unconditionally elected for salvation,” as Calvinism teaches.
Paul uses the prepositional phrase “in Christ” ten times in the first thirteen verses of Ephesians 1 (in various forms). We aren’t chosen to be put into Christ, but chosen because we are in Christ. Commentator Klyne Snodgrass writes, “People become elect only in the Elect One—Christ… Individuals are not elected and then put in Christ. They are in Christ and therefore elect.” Forster and Marston write, “We are chosen in Christ. This does not mean that we were chosen to be put into Christ.”
Similarly, Paul is not referring to individuals—but to the entire church. Western people typically read the Bible as referring to me, when they often need to read it as referring to we. Ephesians 1 is a case in point. Paul is not referring to the individual believer, but to the entire church. Paul wrote, “He chose us…” rather than “He chose me…” Paul is not saying that an individual was chosen to be with Christ; he is saying that the entire church was chosen to be with Christ.[4]
he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
Ephesians 2:1–5 (ESV)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins … even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
and
“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
For continues study, I found this website very helpful in my reading. There is also a YouTube video that is helpful.
For continues study, I found this website very helpful in my reading. There is also a YouTube video that is helpful.
https://www.evidenceunseen.com/bible-difficulties-2/nt-difficulties/romans-2/romans-9-an-arminian-interpretation/
https://youtu.be/OUVsBJFyQrE