Why I am not a Calvinist

The question of predestination and free will


For quite some time, I have been nearly consumed by the questions of predestination and free will. I have found myself torn between the two traditional camps, not finding the arguments of either to be altogether successful, but willing to admit that each has some strong points, and some points that fall short. I do not claim objectivity; for I believe that the pure objectivity that is often claimed by thinking people is an illusion or a deception, ignoring the fact that each person analyzes the world through their own worldview. But that you would know where I am writing from, my worldview is a Christian one, one that has every desire to be dictated by the holy word of God and reason, and my analysis here is my feeble attempt to apply to whole word of God and all of my power to reason to this topic.


Why I am not a Calvinist


Calvinists delineate themselves theologically from non-Calvinists by stating five doctrines that clarify their beliefs, known as the Calvinist TULIP. Rather than put words in the mouths of Calvinists, I will let them speak for themselves. To better understand the tenants of Calvinism click here: http://www.calvinistcorner.com/tulip.htm


It seems that one of the most cherished doctrines of the Calvinist, and I think one of their most enduring theological profundities is their insistence on the utter sovereignty of God. I find that the Calvinist tradition uplifts the sovereignty of God in a way that most other Christians fail to. The sovereign will of God is utter and perfect and infinite. God is almighty, and nothing hinders Him from what He wills to do. Furthermore, His perfect sovereignty insists that God has allowed everything that has happened, because it is God’s right and ability, as the only sovereign being, to control anything and everything that happens in the universe. On all of these points I would have to agree with Calvinism. What I cannot agree with is the idea that God exercises this right to control the will of individuals, which is the basis of the Calvinist TULIP.


The impartiality of God


The heart of the question is in the very immutable, infinite, eternal and perfect nature of God. This issue is about the nature of God because the ultimate claim that Calvinists make is that non-Calvinist theology is an affront to the sovereignty of God. To understand my argument we must keep in mind that all of God’s attributes are immutable; that is to say that anything we know God to be is unchanging. God is just as merciful as He always was, and as merciful as He will ever be. God does not ebb and flow from being merciful one minute, and just another minute, but is always consistently just and merciful. God’s attributes are infinite, anything that we can say to be a true attribute of God must be infinitely true, God’s knowledge is infinite, and so is His power. To say that God is all knowing and all powerful is to say that it is impossible for God to know more than He does, or to have more power than He has. These principals apply to any of God’s attributes. It is fundamental to a Biblical understanding of God that we think of God as being as great as He could possibly be. God could not be any more omnipresent than He is because there is nowhere else to be than everywhere. God could not be any more holy than He is, because if there were a measure of holiness that could reach higher than God, God would cease to be God because He would not measure up. God IS the measure of holiness by which every claim to holiness must be gauged, and subsequently falls short. This has not been a tangent, but to understand any attribute of God we must understand the essence of the perfection of all the attributes of God, and as I said, the heart of understanding free will lies in the attributes of God.


Scripture tells us repeatedly that there is no partiality with God (Rom 2:11, Deut 10:17, Acts 10:34-35, Gal 2:6, 1 Pet 1:17). It also tells us that God despises no one (Job 36:5), and that God rebukes those who secretly show partiality (Job 13:10). Can we then say that impartiality is an attribute of God? I would say that Scripture clearly teaches that impartiality is an attribute of God; and that with this assertion we must assert that God’s impartiality is perfect, and infinite and immutable. God is not partial sometimes, and impartial at others; that would contradict God’s immutable nature. God does not favor some over others.


One example will help prove my point. The foundation of the justice system in our country is that any and every judge within our court system acts with impartiality. That is to say that the judge does not hold any bias toward either the plaintiff or defendant of a case, and it is only after all of the evidence has been presented that the ruling can be made. Undeniably, this principal is the bedrock of justice in our world, and to deviate from it in any way is to start a descent into corruption and chaos. No thinking person would deny the importance of the principal of impartiality, and that it is an essential element of justice as a virtue. But where do we get the idea that it so important? Is it conscience? Scripture tells us in the book of 2 Chronicles that the reason that impartiality is so important is that there is no partiality with God (19:7). That God is impartial is the very basis of justice, as we know it.


The Calvinist concept of election is that God chooses, of His own volition, one person for eternal bliss, and one person for eternal condemnation. That it is according to God’s preference that some are saved and some are not. I believe that this cannot be so, if God is impartial as the Scriptures teach. That God does not choose some and leave others arbitrarily because He wills it. Do not misunderstand me, it is not that each of us has a right that God cannot infringe, it is not that God owes us His impartiality, or that there is some standard to which God is held, a set of rules to which He is bound, charging that God be impartiality; far be it from me. But rather our minds are held captive to Scripture, and Scripture tells us that impartiality is an attribute of God’s perfect nature, inseparable from His justice, and from any justice for that matter. Any honest, thinking person will recognize that justice and impartiality are indivisible. This is not a truth that God is above, but a fact that leads us to a greater understanding of who God is. The Calvinist concept of election cannot be true in that it contradicts the impartiality of God.


Free will of humanity


The concept of election cannot be applied universally without contradicting Scripture. Luther, who was not a Calvinist (the movement did not even exist yet), but a staunch predestinarian, claims in his work Bondage of the will that there is no such thing as free will, and that the free will of man cannot coincide with the sovereignty of God. This belief cannot be applied to Scripture without making serious concessions that contradict orthodox Christianity. Let me explain. Orthodox Christianity teaches that God created the world perfectly, and that there was no fault, or sin or death within creation when it was created. Scripture tells is that sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin (Rom 5:12). Sin is an affront to the will of God. All of Christendom teaches this as a fundamental component of our understanding of the world, that through Adam, humanity has offended the will of God. When applied to Adam the Calvinist concept of predestination and the sovereign will of God breaks down. If God willed that Adam fall, orthodox Christianity has failed by proclaiming that sin is an affront to God and His will; but it should claim instead that sin is another aspect of God’s perfect creation. Of course this proposition is ludicrous to Christian thinkers. Even many atheists can see that the world is not right, only they often come to the conclusion that religion is to blame. Due to the presence of sin we must conclude that there is a will outside of the will of God, because we sin, which is an affront to God, and to God’s will.


Through out the Psalms we read of creation praising God. This was a mysterious thing for me for a while, until I began to understand that creation, even in its broken state, corrupted by the sin of humanity, bears witness to the glory of God by simply being what it was created by God to be. When the stars shine they shine the glory of God, and we cannot help but ask, “What is man that You are mindful of him?” (Ps 8:4) Every thing that God created praises God by simply being because He created them perfectly, and they cannot do any other. All creation finds its purpose in praising the Lord; in worship, creation is restored to its perfect state. Within nature we see that this is inevitable; that it is something that can be relied upon like gravity or the rising of the sun. There is no question; creation praises God. It is here that we see the perfect will of God done, and here we can see a stark contrast from the action of Adam and the lives of people. If God’s will were done in the life of Adam, if his fall was due to divine sovereignty, and not due to his free will, no distinction could be made between nature and humanity, God would be praised and glorified all the more by the action of humanity as the crown of His creation. But this is not so. The action of humanity does not glorify God, and we must attribute this to one of two things, the free will of humanity, or imperfection in the creative work of God. Clearly we must admit the existence of free will.


In Scripture, we find several examples of God’s will not being done, and we see God reacting to our wickedness. In Isaiah 63 we see God grieving over the turning away of His people who He willed to save, “For He said, ‘surely they are My people, children who will not lie.’ So He became their Savior…But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He turned Himself against them as an enemy, and He fought against them” (vv. 8, 10). God tells us that He was grieved by the Israelites as they wandered in the desert (Ps 95:10). How can a sovereign God be grieved by His own will being done? Surely we see in these passages that it is because God’s will is not done that He is grieved. As opposed to a God who has predestined those who are perishing to their fate, Scripture depicts a God who longs after the heart of His people, “‘But My people would not heed My voice, and Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over the their stubborn heart, to walk in the own counsels. Oh that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to Him, but their fate would endure forever. He would have fed them with the finest of wheat; and with the honey from the rock I would have satisfied you’” (Ps 81:11-16). In the gospels of Matthew and Luke we see Christ weeping and lamenting over the city of Jerusalem as He rides down into the city, saying that he has wanted to gather them as a hen gathers her chicks, but they were not willing (Matt 23:37-38, Luke 13:34, 19:42). It is not that God is not willing to save as Calvinism suggests, but that God only saves the willing. Scripture tells us that God is not willing that any are lost (Matt 18:14, 1 Tim 2:4, 2 Pet 2:9). Clearly those who are not saved are not damned because God wills it, but because God wills that they have the freedom to choose for themselves.


To some it might seem like I am setting out to disparage the sovereignty of God, but as I began by saying, I hold the Sovereignty of God with the highest regard. I am not arguing that God owes people a right to free will, or that God’s sovereignty and omnipotence is diminished so that God cannot violate the free will of man. I am arguing instead that God has every right and ability to infringe upon the free will of humanity, but that He chooses not to. It is the sovereign will of God to give people free will, and the claim of predestinarians that this is not possible is actually a claim against the sovereignty of God. God takes no pleasure in the demise of the wicked (Lam 3:33, Ezekiel 33:11). This is the testament of Scripture, how can we claim that the death of the wicked is actually the bringing to fruition of God’s predestined will? Such a claim is illogical. How then do we reconcile the sovereignty of God with the free will of man, do not these concepts contradict? Not if we admit that the sovereignty of God is over and above the will of man, and the cause of it. God chose to give humanity free will, and God chooses to let His will be contradicted. Here we find a distinction, God allows for all things that happen, but God has not willed all things that happen.


Here is another way to look at it. Free will, as a gift from God, is conditional upon the grace of God, and not over and above God’s sovereignty. This might seem like a contradiction because, as Luther says, free will that is conditional upon the grace of God is not free. In a very real sense, and we might say in the realest sense, he is right. We are continuously and inextricably bound by the grace of God in that we live by it. We are no freer to live apart from the grace of God than we are to live apart from the atmosphere, because just as we are utterly dependent on air for survival, our will and survival is also dependent upon the grace of God. I will speak more on this in my next post, Why I am not an Arminian.