2 Cents

If you're a reader of Christian books and you want to read today's popular authors you're going to run into many Calvinists - those who hold to the teaching of John Calvin, most notably the TULIP doctrines as well as a belief in determinism, which is a way of saying that every single thing that happens was decreed by God to happen before he even created anything.

If you want to listen to popular podcasts of sermons from excellent preachers, many you will find will also hold to this doctrinal system.

Personally I believe these doctrines to be unbiblical and out of touch with reality as we experience it.  God's word never explicitly argues for free will, it simply assumes it, and there are many places we could go in Scripture to see that God has given his creatures freedom to choose what they will do and believe - the most important of which is our ability to either choose Jesus or reject him.  (See Matt. 23:37; Deut. 30:19; etc.)

Now before I go further I need to say I spend a lot of time reading the works of Calvinist authors and listening to them preach and I've benefitted greatly from them.  Many of them are very skilled at what they do and 95% of the time they're preaching and teaching on things I can heartily agree with.  I'm very thankful for their work and consider it a privilege to serve alongside them as brothers in Christ seeking to reach the world with the gospel.

But, having said that, one prevailing theme that occurs time and time again in Calvinist writings, whether explicitly or implicitly, is this: the doctrine of Grace is inherently Calvinistic and opposed to free will or Arminian theology.

Calvinists often characterize believers in free will as anti-grace, saying that they teach salvation by works.  They argue that God chose, in eternity past, who would be saved and who would go to hell, and therefore we do not ultimately decide to believe in Christ or reject him, we just do what God determined long ago that we should do.  To them, this is grace, the fact that those who are saved are chosen arbitrarily.

However in the free will perspective salvation still only comes to human beings through the grace of God - they are not opposed to one another.

Arminians (those believing in free will) still believe that there would be no salvation if God had not graciously punished his Son Jesus for our sins.  That was an act of grace.  We did nothing to deserve it.

Arminians also believe that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves.  God is the one who saves us. We are simply asked by God to respond to the free gift he has already made available by choosing to put our faith in Christ, repent of our sins, claim his as our Lord, and be baptized.

Are those all things we do?  Of course they are.  But does that mean we worked our way to salvation?  Of course not!  We simply met God's conditions for receiving his grace!

It's like if I gave you two free tickets to a UK Basketball game (lucky you!).  But just because I gave you the tickets doesn't mean you automatically get to enjoy the game.  You still have to be in Lexington and go to the arena at the right time on the right day.  You also have to present those tickets to the ushers as you enter.  Otherwise you won't get to experience the gift I offered.

Such is what I believe to be the biblical teaching of salvation.

Another jab Calvinists often take at Arminians is that their view of God diminishes his glory and authority.  They are placing limits on God's sovereignty.

In response we must say, yes, according to free will theology God is limited in that he cannot force someone to choose Christ or reject him.  But this does not diminish God's glory because God himself is the one who put these limits in place!

God, in creating creatures with free will, by his own sovereign and free choice, limited himself by refusing to invade our freedom.  Not that man's freedom to choose is seen as more important than God's sovereignty, but that God himself desires that our love for him and for Jesus be genuine and not forced.  Indeed this is the only way I see that we can biblically rationalize the existence of hell and eternal punishment.  In this way God is still supremely glorious because it all results from his own wisdom and free choice.

No matter what our theological camp, we must all admit that there are things God cannot do.  He cannot sin or be tempted (James 1:13).  He cannot lie (Heb. 6:18).  He cannot deny himself (2 Tim. 2:13).  But the fact that these limits are in place does not make God less glorious.

So it's not fair to characterize those who believe in free will as diminishing the glory of God's grace with their theology.

But let's end by seeing what we have in common.  Both Calvinist and Arminian brothers and sisters in Christ believe everything rests on God's freedom to choose to create whatever kind of world he desires.  Both have an extremely high view of God's glory and his right to create and rule his world in the way he sees fit.  And both see the work of sharing the gospel so that God can save sinners as extraordinarily important.

I almost hesitate to write articles like this because, before we're Calvinists or Arminianists, we're Christians.  We're Protestants... we're Evangelicals... and we should work together.

In that light I'd also like to say I'm excited and blessed to be attending the Together for the Gospel conference next April, of which all 8 plenary speakers are very strong Calvinists, because the conference is all about working together for the gospel.