CALVINISM’S “GOD” 8-15-26
Calvinism claims to exalt the sovereignty of God. And certainly, God is sovereign. He rules. He reigns. Nothing threatens His throne. But the question is not whether God is sovereign. The question is whether the God Calvinism describes is the God revealed in the Bible.
And the answer is no. Calvinism is not the gospel.
The Calvinistic system presents a God who, before the foundation of the world, unconditionally chooses some individuals to be saved. Those He chooses cannot finally resist His grace. Those He does not choose cannot finally come to Him.
Christ, in this system, did not die equally for all people, but specifically and effectively for the elect. Grace is irresistible. Salvation is determined before a person is born, before he believes, before he sins, and apart from anything he will ever do.
But that raises a serious question. What does that do to the character of God?
The God of Scripture does not delight in the destruction of the wicked. He says, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezekiel 18:23). He calls upon all people to repent. He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Jesus wept over Jerusalem because they would not come to Him (Matthew 23:37).
That is not the picture of a God secretly withholding the possibility of salvation from multitudes because He never intended them to have it.
The God revealed in Jesus Christ loves the world (John 3:16). Christ tasted death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9). The gospel is to be preached to every creature (Mark 16:15). The invitation is broad enough for whoever will come. “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17).
Whoever desires.
That sounds very different from a system in which a man may desire Christ but has never been given the ability to desire Him, because God did not elect him.
Calvinism often answers that God’s glory is displayed in both mercy and wrath. There is truth in that statement. God is glorified in judgment. But the bible never asks us to believe that God must first determine a person’s eternal destruction in order to display His glory. God is glorified when sinners repent. He is glorified when prodigals come home. He is glorified when hardened hearts become tender and rebellious people surrender to Christ.
The sovereignty of God does not eliminate the responsibility of man. The Bible can say that God is sovereign and still command men to repent. It can say that salvation is by grace and still say, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:31). It can say that no one can come to Christ apart from God’s drawing and still proclaim an invitation to everyone (John 6:44; John 12:32). Divine sovereignty and human responsibility are both biblical truths. We do not have to destroy one to preserve the other.
Calvinism must be rejected because its system does not reflect the heart of the God revealed in Jesus Christ. God did not create people whom He never intended to save, withheld from them the grace necessary to respond, and then condemned them for failing to receive what He had eternally determined they could never receive.
That is childish. That is not the gospel.
The Gospel shows a God who loves sinners. A God who seeks the lost. A God who calls the rebellious. A God who waits for the prodigal. A God who sent His Son for the world. A God who says, “Come.”
God is sovereign.
God is holy.
God is just.
God is gracious.
And above everything else, God is love (1 John 4:8).
We do not need to make God less loving in order to make Him sovereign. We simply need to let God’s word speak for itself.
BDD
