For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
– John 3:16 KJV
In John 3:16 Jesus loved
the world (all mankind including Jew and Gentile) in such a way that
he redeemed a particular people (Titus 2:14, Heb. 10:14) for himself
that includes all people from all nations and tongues (Rev. 5:9).
John 3:16 does not say "whosoever will", it simply
says whosoever or whoever believes. This "whosoever"
(KJV) is best translated as "whoever believes"
(NKJV, ESV, NASB, et al.) or "the believing ones".
This verse in no way is teaching universal atonement. It is true that
all that believe in Christ will be saved, both Calvinist and Arminian
are in agreement with that. Those of us that are Calvinist in our soteriology truly
believe in the free offer of the Gospel, and are commanded to share
the Gospel with all sinners. Any sinner that repents and turns to
Christ will be saved!
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw
him: and I will raise him up at the last day. – John
6:44 KJV
The question is how do
sinners get to the point of belief? Is it free-will (Arminian) or
sovereign election (Calvinist)? The Bible makes it very clear it is
not the will of man (John 1:13, Rom. 9:16) but the divine choice of
God (Rom. 8:29; 9:15, Eph. 1:4-5; 11) as to who gets saved. Man is
unable to seek God (Rom. 3:10-18), cannot come to Christ (John 6:44,
65), and is dead in sin (Eph. 2:1). Since we are in such a dire
situation the only hope for salvation is God changing our hearts
(Eze. 36:26) and doing all the work of salvation for us. We can not
boast in our own works and even the faith we have is by grace and is
a gift from God (Eph. 2:8-10). We do come to Christ freely, not
forced, but it is God that gives us the ability to come to Christ
freely. Just like how God had to first opened Lydia's heart before
she could believe (Acts 16:14), he must do the same for all of us. As
John 6:37 states, all that the Father gives to Christ will
come to Christ. Verse 39 shows plainly that those given to Christ
will be raised up on the last day, and verse 40 shows it is the
Fathers will that those that believe on Christ get raised up. All
those that receive this changed heart and work of the Spirit will
come to Christ, it is guaranteed (John 6:37).
So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever
he wills – Romans 9:18 ESV
It is only Christ's
"sheep" that can hear his voice and those that are
not of his "flock" do not have the ability to
believe (John 10:26-27). Paul in Romans 9:19-23 explains after
answering an objection, similar to the one Arminians ask, that God
makes one people for "honorable use" and another for
"dishonorable use" (v. 21). He explains that certain
people are "prepared for destruction" (v. 22), and
others "prepared beforehand" for glory (v. 23). This
is how God can hate Esau and love Jacob (Rom. 9:13) even before they
are born or done good or evil (Rom. 9:11). Paul even explains that
this is the case "in order that God's purpose of
election might continue, not because of works but because
of him who calls" (Rom. 9:11). Peter also says that those
that reject Christ do so because they were destined to (1 Peter 2:8).
Jude even mentions people "ordained" to condemnation
(Jude 1:4 KJV), and Acts mentions those "ordained"
to eternal life (Acts 13:48 KJV).
Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none
else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the
beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: –
Isaiah 46:9-10 KJV
I believe the problem
lies in the inability of people to grasp God's sovereignty. Ask any
Christian (Arminian or Calvinist) if they believe in God's sovereignty
and both would agree wholeheartedly. Ask them if they believe that
God knows all events past, present and future and both will still
agree. Ask them if God ordains every event that comes to pass and
they might agree (some Arminians would say yes and all Calvinists would
say yes). Ask them if God ordains the salvation of the elect and the
damnation of the reprobate and you will get a heated debate
(Arminians saying no and Calvinist saying yes). The Bible teaches us
in Isaiah 46:9-11 that God declares the "end from the
beginning" (v. 10) and that he will bring to pass all that
he purposed (v. 11). There is simply no event in time or space that
has come to pass unless the Lord has ordained it and given a purpose
for it. As Romans 9 and others declare that even includes the
reprobate (those going to hell).
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 –
Romans 9:22-23 ESV
You must understand that
even those that believe in an autonomous "free-will"
have a problem with those destined for hell. Since God knows all
things even before one molecule of the universe is created then he
must know who will go to heaven and who will go to hell. Could not
God have only created people that would choose him out of their free
will? Since God created people that he knew would not free-will love
him, then he still created people knowing beforehand they would go to
hell. God could have chosen not to create these people but he did. In
the Calvinist view we see a purpose in the reprobate. God, from
eternity passed, elected some to salvation and others to reprobation.
He actively works faith and salvation in the elect, but passes over
the reprobate so that they will stay in their sins. God is not
producing unbelief in the reprobate, since we all reject Christ by
nature (Eph. 2:3), he is simply leaving them in their sins and
rebellion. God actively works in the elect, passively works in the
reprobate. The elect receive mercy, the reprobate receive justice.
Nobody gets injustice.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance. – 2nd
Peter 3:9 KJV
Alas the problems of
taking a verse out of context! 2nd Peter 3:9 seems to be the go-to
Arminian verse. There are some questions and context that need to be
resolved. First who is Peter talking to? The answer is the "beloved"
(v. 3:1, 8, 14) or "those who have obtained faith"
(1:1) in other words believers. So in 2nd Peter 3:9 when it says God
is not willing that "any" should parish and "all"
come to repentance who is the "any" and "all"?
The answer is quite simple. It is the ones that he is “longsuffering”
for, the "you" or "us-ward" (KJV),
in other words believers. In following the context and seeing who
Peter is talking to it is easy to see that he is addressing believers
here. 2nd Peter chapter 3 is stating that God is willing to wait
millennia (v. 8) until all the elect are brought to faith (v. 9)
before the second coming of Christ (v. 10-13).
In conclusion we Calvinists believe the Gospel message is open to all. We don't know who
the elect are and so we proclaim the Gospel liberally to all sinners
everywhere (Matt. 28:19). God has ordained the method in which people
are drawn to faith and that is through the preaching of the Gospel
(Rom. 10:14-17). We can join our Arminian brothers and sisters in
proclaiming that whoever believes in Christ will be saved (John
3:16)!
To the Glory of God,
Colby Braden
