Monthly Archives: November 2024

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:31)

For centuries, Baptists have been a “people of the Book.” We believe the Bible is: (1) the true Word of God, (2) inspired by God, i.e., it is God-breathed; the very Word of God – every jot, every tittle, (3) inerrant, i.e., it contains no errors, (4) infallible, i.e., it cannot be proven false. In faith and practice, Baptists have traditionally measured all things against the Word of God. If we want to continue as Baptists, we must continue to hold fast to the Word of God. “I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name” (Psalm 138:2, emphasis mine).

There has crept into the Church an unbiblical, and one could argue, an ungodly doctrine or teaching. It comes in the guise of “Reformation Theology.” At the center of Reformation Theology is the Calvinistic doctrine of “election” or “predestination.” This doctrine teaches that God, before Creation, “pre-selected” or “elected” those whom He would save; those that are not elected are condemned to Hell. This doctrine teaches that Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross was sufficient only for the “elect;” Jesus did not die for ALL. Those who teach this doctrine reason: “If Jesus died for all, and not all are saved, then Jesus’ sacrifice was ineffective, and that cannot be.” They continue: “If God loves all and not all are saved, then God’s love is ineffective and that also cannot be. “Therefore,” they conclude, “Jesus did not die for all and God does not love all.” Thus, Jesus died only for the elect and only the elect are saved. The preceding is a quote from John Owen, a seventeenth-century Puritan and comes under the heading of “Unconditional Election,” the second point in the five points of Calvinism. It is the “U” in the acrostic T.U.L.I.P. It goes hand-in-hand with the “L,” which is “Limited Atonement,” i.e., salvation is limited to the “elect” alone. There are gross errors with the other three points, but these two approach the realm of heresy.

As good Baptists, we must also be good Bereans. “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. (11) These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:10-11, emphasis mine). Man’s wisdom must be measured against the plumbline of Scripture. So, what does Scripture say? Does God save only those He pre-selected before time began? Do individuals have anything to do with their salvation? The Calvinist would say, “No.”

Does God grant man moral autonomy and the free will to choose or reject His grace-gift of salvation?  “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Genesis 1:27, emphasis mine). Man is not equal to God. Man does not possess the three omni’s of God (omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence). However, the image of God carries with it many of the attributes of God albeit to a much lesser degree: Intelligence, Reason, Creativity, Emotions, the Ability to love selflessly, Sense of morality, The will to direct one’s own actions, i.e., free will, etc. The ability to exercise free will was tested in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2-3). The Bible offers many examples of God giving man opportunities to exercise his free will to choose

• Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live (emphasis mine).
• Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD (emphasis mine).
• Psalm 34:22 The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate (emphasis mine).
• Psalm 95:6-8 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. (7) For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. Today if ye will hear his voice, (8) Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: (cited in Hebrews 3:7-8, 15, emphasis mine)
• Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (emphasis mine).
• Isaiah 55:6-7 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: (7) Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon (emphasis mine).
• Jeremiah 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart (emphasis mine).
• Ezekiel 3:27 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear: for they are a rebellious house (emphasis mine).
• Ezekiel 18:20-23 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. (21) But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. (22) All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. (23) Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? (emphasis mine)
• Ezekiel 18:27-28 Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. (28) Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die (emphasis mine).
• Ezekiel 18:30 Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin (emphasis mine).
• Ezekiel 33:19 But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby (emphasis mine).
• Joel 2:12-13 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: (13) And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil (emphasis mine).
• Amos 5:4 For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live (emphasis mine).
• Zechariah 1:3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts (emphasis mine).
• Malachi 3:7 Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? (emphasis mine).
• Matthew 10:32-33 (Also: Luke 12:8-9) Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. (33) But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven (emphasis mine).
• Matthew 11:28-29 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls (emphasis mine).
• Mark 16:15-16 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (16) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned (emphasis mine).
• Luke 15:17-19, 24 [The prodigal son] And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! (18) I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, (19) And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants … (24) [The father says:] For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry (emphasis mine).

God is not willing that ANY should perish:

• Deuteronomy 10:17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: (emphasis mine).
• Isaiah 45:22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else (emphasis mine).
• Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (emphasis mine).
• Ezekiel 18:23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? (emphasis mine).
• Ezekiel 33:11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? (emphasis mine).
• Matthew 18:11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost (emphasis mine).
• Matthew 18:14 Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish (emphasis mine).
• Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost (emphasis mine).
• John 3:15-18 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (16) For God so loved the world [κόσμος], that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (17) For God sent not his Son into the world [κόσμος] to condemn the world [κόσμος]; but that the world [κόσμος] through him might be saved. (18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (emphasis mine).
• John 5:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life (emphasis mine).
• John 6:40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day (emphasis mine).
• John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me (emphasis mine).
• John 12:46-48 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. (47) And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. (48) He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day (emphasis mine).
• Acts 17:26-27 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; (27) That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: (emphasis mine).
• Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (emphasis mine).
• Romans 2:11 For there is no respect of persons with God (emphasis mine).
• Romans 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
• Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
• 2 Peter 3:9 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.

There are many, many more. I have a list of 191 verses and passages that contradict the unbiblical doctrine of election.

Do Calvinists support their doctrine with Scripture? Yes, but so do Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, and other cults like those of Jones’ Town and David Koresh. Satan himself used (or misused) Scripture in tempting Jesus (Matthew 4 and Luke 4). Satan’s strategy is as old as Creation: “Yea, hath God said…” (Genesis 3:1). Some of the passages employed by Calvinists fall apart upon close examination.

• Romans 8:28-30 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (29) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (30) Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
  • We have already established that God calls ALL, but not all respond.
  • “His purpose” is that “the called” be “conformed to the image of His Son.”
  • God “foreknew” those who would respond.
  • Leighton Flowers calls attention to the past tense in vv. 29-30 which actually point to O.T. saints who were “previously known” by God are the ones (in this passage) that are predestined.[1]
  • Those who were foreknown were (past tense) predestined, called, justified and glorified.
• Romans 9 is also used in support of the Calvinist election doctrine. In context, Paul is lamenting over Israel’s lost condition.
  • Romans 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
  • Paul here quotes Malachi 1:2-3 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, (3) And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness (emphasis mine).
  • Malichi is referring to Israel (Jacob) and Edom (Esau), the nations, not the individual brothers from whom they descended.
  • Calvinists will use this chapter to demonstrate God’s absolute sovereignty.
  • However, in context, Paul is expressing God’s sovereignty over nations, not individuals.
  • The chapter closes with Romans 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
  • That contradicts what the Calvinist attempted to defend in the preceding verses.
  • Romans 9 is followed by Romans 10 which further contradicts their claim.
  • Romans 10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
  • Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
• Ephesians 1:4-14 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: (5) Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, (6) To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (7) In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; (8) Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; (9) Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: (10) That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (11) [Christ] In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: (12) That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. (13) In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, (14) Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory (emphasis mine).

There are more passages that Calvinists use (but not that many). Some seem to support what Calvinists claim. Often, Calvinists will impose human wisdom on the text to make it say what they want it to say. “Ye shall not surely die” (Genesis 3:4) However, the few passages employed by them DO NOT outweigh the greater amount of Scripture that contradict their view. God is not the Author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14:33). Numbers 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?

The Bible is sufficient on its own. It does not need human support to interpret what God has clearly spoken. God is Love. Christ died for All. All who believe are saved. All who are saved are “elect.” Any teaching or doctrine that contradicts that is anathema.

Notes:

[1]  Leighton Flowers, The Potter’s Promise: A Biblical Defense of Traditional Soteriology, (Trinity Academic Press, 2017), p. 92.