I mean not to persecute those of the Calvinist faith. As far as I can tell, there is nothing within that compromises any necessary component of Christianity. So I would not categorize them as in opposition to the Bible, nor would I feel any great desire to convince a Calvinist to abandon their beliefs.
Rather, I write this in the interest of moving closer to the truth. There are some theological questions that may remain unanswered, that we can only speculate about or that will always be disputed. But I think it is important that we not dismiss every question as vain. So while the Calvinism ideology may not be detrimental, I think that it is still a question that should be answered, to the end of moving toward the truth.
There are good reasons, both philosophical and theological to believe that Calvinism is not true. Further, there are good reasons, both philosophical, and theological, to think that the negations, or complete opposites, of the five points of Calvinism are true. What are the five points of Calvinism?
(Taken from Wikipedia)
“Total depravity”: This doctrine, also called “total inability”, asserts that as a consequence of the fall of man into sin, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin. People are not by nature inclined to love God with their whole heart, mind, or strength, but rather all are inclined to serve their own interests over those of their neighbor and to reject the rule of God. Thus, all people by their own faculties are morally unable to choose to follow God and be saved because they are unwilling to do so out of the necessity of their own natures. (The term “total” in this context refers to sin affecting every part of a person, not that every person is as evil as possible.) This doctrine is derived from Augustine’s explanation of Original Sin.
“Unconditional election”: This doctrine asserts that God has chosen from eternity those whom he will bring to himself not based on foreseen virtue, merit, or faith in those people; rather, it is unconditionally grounded in God’s mercy alone. God has chosen from eternity to extend mercy to those He has chosen and to withhold mercy from those not chosen. Those chosen receive salvation through Christ alone. Those not chosen receive the just wrath that is warranted for their sins against God.
“Limited atonement”: Also called “particular redemption” or “definite atonement”, this doctrine asserts that Jesus’s substitutionary atonement was definite and certain in its purpose and in what it accomplished. This implies that only the sins of the elect were atoned for by Jesus’s death. Calvinists do not believe, however, that the atonement is limited in its value or power, but rather that the atonement is limited in the sense that it is designed for some and not all. Hence, Calvinists hold that the atonement is sufficient for all and efficient for the elect. The doctrine is driven by the Calvinistic concept of the sovereignty of God in salvation and their understanding of the nature of the atonement.
“Irresistible grace”: This doctrine, also called “efficacious grace”, asserts that the saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom he has determined to save (that is, the elect) and, in God’s timing, overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing them to a saving faith. This means that when God sovereignly purposes to save someone, that individual certainly will be saved. The doctrine holds that this purposeful influence of God’s Holy Spirit cannot be resisted, but that the Holy Spirit, “graciously causes the elect sinner to cooperate, to believe, to repent, to come freely and willingly to Christ.”
“Perseverance of the saints”: Perseverance (or preservation) of the saints (the word “saints” is used to refer to all who are set apart by God, and not of those who are exceptionally holy, canonized, or in heaven). The doctrine asserts that since God is sovereign and his will cannot be frustrated by humans or anything else, those whom God has called into communion with himself will continue in faith until the end. Those who apparently fall away either never had true faith to begin with or will return.
Philosophical Objections
On the face of it, these might seem to be firmly grounded doctrines. But, with this doctrine actually comes several philosophical questions that would defeat the existence of the Christian God.
Why is there suffering and evil in the world? As Christian students of philosophy, we know that a very brief answer to this is that God wanted human beings to come into him freely. We make bad choices, and therefore there is suffering and evil. However, absent that answer of free will, the existence of suffering and evil in the world become inexplicable.
If there is no free will as the Calvinists assure us, then there is no reason for the suffering and evil in the world. If there is no free will, this life and this physical world become inexplicable. God could just call everybody to him. But instead, he does not call everybody, and is to blame for those who suffer and die. In subtracting the answer of our free will, the question, “Why would a loving God allow suffering and evil?” succeeds.
How one Calvinist has replied was in saying that God gave Adam and Eve free will. They then became depraved and therefore, all of humanity maintained a depraved nature. The obvious problem with this is that it does not solve the problem of evil. If after Adam and Eve, God chose to rid us of our free will, then our continued sin becomes inexplicable.
Also, that God gave Adam and Eve the free will to choose and become depraved becomes inexplicable. Unless God wanted everybody to come into grace freely, of their own accord, then there is absolutely no reason that he would give Adam and Eve free will at all. I see no reason that God would change his mind after the first human beings sinned. In fact, I would go as far as to say that this doctrine renders God changing, and therefore imperfect.
So with Reformed Theology comes, inescapably a version of God that is imperfect. It also comes with a loving God that allows evil and suffering to absolutely no morally justifying end. I think this position is overwhelmingly vulnerable to atheist attacks and plausible philosophical objections.
Biblical Objections
Now, if Reformed Theology is an accurate interpretation of theology, then Christians are in a bit of trouble, for they must face the philosophical problems that I mentioned above. Fortunately, however, the Bible does not teach the five points of Calvinism. I will look at each point of Calvinism and reply to the respective verses.
1 – Total Depravity
Mark 7:21-23 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Romans 6:20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
Romans 3:10-12 “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless there is no one who does good not even one.”
1 Corinthians 2:14 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
All of these verses raise a question, namely, “how can man come to God freely if he has such a flawed nature?” The Calvinist response is that they cannot, and therefore God must predestine them.
The obvious problem with this is that these verses do not support that answer. They support the question. They prove that the heart of man is evil, but not that man is predestined to be with God.
However, I concede that without the grace of God, we would be evil. But that grace is available to everybody. God desperately wants everybody to come into his love and his mercy, and there is just nothing in the Bible that says anything in opposition to that. In fact, there are scriptures in absolute support of this doctrine.
In Jeremiah 2, God pleads with the back-sliding Israel. If not that they have the free will to resist God, then this passage is inexplicable. The only answer is that they do have the free will to resist God.
In Revelations 3:20, Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. Should any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him.” Jesus is knocking for every man. To this the Calvinist has replied that Jesus actually means that he is knocking on the church door, not on the heart of the sinner. But that is just not what the verse indicates. I did not take it out of context, and I simply invite anybody to read that passage. It demonstrates exactly what I suggest it does.
Now, I would take a look at some of the verses the Calvinists would say imply predestination. John 1:12-13. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
In contrast with my verse, (Revelations 3:20), this one was actually taken out of context. This verse does not speak of people being predestined. It speaks of them being reborn as children of God. Also, the verses that immediately precede it refute what the Calvinist is attempting to assert.
John 1:9-10 The one who is the true light, the one who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He came to the very world that he created, and they did not recognize him. He came to his own people, and they denied him.
This verse blatantly states that Jesus gives light to everybody, not those who he pre-elected.
2 – Unconditional Election
Ephesians 1:4-8 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.
A verse such as this serves as evidence only under the presupposition of Reformed Theology. That is to say that there are other possible interpretations, aside from what the Calvinists assume. I have maintained that Paul meant that God predestined everybody to be his people. The case that Paul seems to make is that God loves us and therefore he adopts us.
Well, (hopefully) the Calvinist will likely agree that God loves everybody. (I reference you to my article titled Who Does God Love?) So because of God’s love, he adopts everybody. So long as this interpretation is even possible, it follows that this verse is not evidence of unconditional election. But there is absolutely no inconsistency with this interpretation and the Bible.
Romans 9:10-12 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad —in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
I concede that this verse speaks of predestination. However, it does not speak of predestination of who will come into salvation. It predestines one son to serve another. This verse neglects to prove what the Calvinist maintain.
Romans 9:15 “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
Similarly, this verse is not speaking of mercy in an ultimate sense or mercy on the soul. This verse is speaking of physical, worldly mercy. So long as it is even possible that this interpretation is correct, it follows that this is not evidence of the accuracy of Reformed Theology.
3 – Limited Atonement
Matthew 26:28, Isaiah 53:12 and John 10:11 state that Jesus died for “many”. The Calvinist take this to mean that Jesus only died for those who come into his salvation. To this I would reply, well of course, that is true. Many will come into his salvation, and many will not. But this does not demonstrate that Jesus died for a limited amount of people. It instead demonstrates that he died for all who chose to come into his saving grace, which can effectively be described as “many”.
Matthew 25:32-33All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
This also does not prove that the Calvinist wish it to. It proves that some people will be sheep, and follow him. Some will be goats, and follow their own will. Those who followed him will be put on the right, and the others will be put on the left. So this verse is not evidence of limited atonement.
John 17:9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
Jesus was praying for his followers. This does not prove that he only prayed for his followers. That would obviously be absurd. In one instance he prayed for the sinful Jerusalem.
Acts 20:28Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.
Ephesians 5:25-27 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
Well yes, he bought the church of God with his own blood. But this says absolutely nothing about who is able to come into the church of God.
This, I think, is the most biblically unsupported doctrine that Reformed Theology has offered.
4 – Irresistible Grace
Romans 9:16 So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither will it nor work for it.
I would definitely agree with that. We cannot work for God’s mercy, nor can we will it into existence. It is just part of God’s nature. However that does not mean that God unconditionally imposes it upon us. It just means that it is there for all to come in to. So long as it is even possible that this interpretation is accurate, it follows that this verse is not evidence of irresistible grace.
Philippians 2:12-13 where God is said to be the one working salvation in the individual. Well of course he is. We could not have salvation without God. That does not mean that God is unwillfully imposing it upon us.
John 1:12-13. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
I would have the same response to this that I did when it was offered as evidence of predestination.
This verse was actually taken out of context. It does not speak of people being predestined. It speaks of them being reborn as children of God. Also, the verses that immediately precede it refute what the Calvinist is attempting to assert.
John 1:9-10 The one who is the true light, the one who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He came to the very world that he created, and they did not recognize him. He came to his own people, and they denied him.
This verse blatantly states that Jesus gives light to everybody, not those who he pre-elected.
Acts 13:48 speaks of people being chosen for salvation. I yield that much. The Holy Spirit was upon them, however, it was by both their will to accept the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit itself, that they found salvation. This is confirmed by the verse the precedes it.
Acts 13:46 It was necessary that we preach the word of God to the Jews first. But they rejected it; they deemed themselves unworthy of eternal life. So we offer it now to the Gentiles.
5 – Perseverance Of The Saints
This is the fifth and final point of Calvinism. It seems to be a result of the other points, namely, unconditional election and predestination. This point states we cannot lose our salvation. If somebody does appear to lose their salvation, it is because they were never saved.
The problem with this is that is assumes both predestination and unconditional election, which I think I have demonstrated to be extra-biblical. So just upon that, this doctrine collapses. But I would still look at a few of the scriptures that allegedly support this doctrine.
John 10:27-28 where Jesus said His sheep will never perish; John 6:47 where salvation is described as everlasting life; Romans 8:1 where it is said we have passed out of judgment.
All these verses really do is describe the nature of our salvation. It does not say that we cannot lose our salvation, or that once a Christian, we are always a Christian. It only confirmed that if we endure until the end, we will not undergo judgment, and instead, we will receive everlasting life.
Conclusion
I think we have strong philosophical grounds for doubting the Calvinist system. Calvinism submits a version of God that changes, is imperfect, and allows evil and suffering to no end at all. So if the Bible were reflective of Calvinism, it would follow that the Christian God probably would not exist.
Fortunately, the Bible is not reflective of Calvinism. In fact, some and passages, as I pointed out, actually override a few of the points of Calvinism. Further, as I think I have demonstrated beyond any reasonable doubt, the scriptures used in favor of Calvinism do not sufficiently support this system. Most are either taken out of context, or only work when presupposing the Reformed Theology system. But I do not think that any of the points of this system are actually biblically justifiable.
So as non-denominational Christian, who is open to new doctrine and not confined by any tradition, I think that Calvinism is not a defensible doctrine.
Also, here is another article about Calvinism by theologian and philosopher, Doctor William Lane Craig. Click Here
