(01/10/2006)
An occupational hazard of Theology as an academic field of study is that it tends to try and label and categorize qualities of the infinite God into neat little packages that we can wrap our pea-sized brains around. We coin a phrase and then define it as pertaining to such-and-such aspect of the Alpha and Omega. This process often creates divisions between elements that God never intended. I believe such is the case with the terms Calvinism and Arminianism. Is it clear that the Bible teaches predestination of the elect? Yes. Is it clear that the Bible teaches that man has free will to accept or reject God? Yes. There are some aspects of God and His plan which we will never be able to completely reconcile and to put a tag on the part we understand and agree with fragments and compartmentalizes what God intended for us to view as a whole.
I have brothers in Christ whom I admire from both camps on this issue and I have no desire to antagonize or alienate either. And I am familiar with the scripture behind each side’s positions (and I agree with them all)! But it grieves me when I see each side pointing the finger at the other and accusing them of misleading people while refusing to recognize how their own fractured theology is preventing them from reaching people the way God intended.
Extreme Calvinism
If Calvinism is taken to an extreme, then John 3:16 would more accurately read:
"For God so loved a small subset of the world that whether any of the aforementioned subset believe in Him or not they will not perish but have eternal life."
Christ did not die "once for all" but only for some and He does not call "all people everywhere to repentance" but just the ones whom God predestined.
If God has chosen before the foundation of the world who will be saved and who will not be saved and our ability to choose plays no role, then what we choose to do and believe is irrelevant. God’s will cannot be thwarted so if He intends for you to know Him and go to heaven then you cannot avoid it even if you wanted to. Our actions have no meaning and no consequence. There is no personal responsibility for sin. There is no purpose in preaching the Gospel because God has already determined who will be saved and it WILL occur regardless of whether you preach the Gospel or not. However, if you choose to preach the Gospel out of obedience to His command, then in order to be completely truthful with your hearers and to provide the "whole counsel of God" you should start your evangelistic calls with something like this:
"Out of obedience to the Lord, I am here to declare the Gospel of Jesus Christ to you. Most likely this will only apply to a small minority of you because there are only a few whom God has predestined to be saved. For the majority of you, you really should just ignore what I have to say because God has already predestined you to burn in hell for all eternity and you couldn’t accept Christ as Lord if you wanted to."
Extreme Arminianism
If God has not predestined who will be saved, then our evangelical methodologies will tend to degenerate towards the pragmatic. Since God isn’t completely in control of the situation then we have the responsibility to do anything and everything we can in order to get people to make some kind of decision for Christ. If what we are doing isn’t causing people to "make a decision for Christ", then we’re doing something wrong. And if someone has come up with a methodology which is racking up the numbers at the altar, then we need to do what they’re doing. The end result is the integrity of the Gospel is lost and we wind up doing whatever works whether it’s Biblical or not and whether it results in a true conversion or not.
Arminianism taken to an extreme often results in preaching a "positive" version of the Gospel which leaves out any doctrines which may be viewed as "exclusionary" or "offensive" in order to persuade people to make some kind (or any kind) of decision for Christ. The result is emotionally-based decisions to try Christ for a while (sort of like deciding to start taking vitamins) and see if it makes them happy or makes their life easier but not decisions to repent, pick up their cross, and follow Jesus. It leaves out the reality of Hell, personal responsibility for sin, God’s judgment, and the need for denying yourself. "You can’t tell people that! That would drive people away!" People who have only heard about what God can do for them (as opposed to understanding that they have "been bought with a price") will inevitably fall away when confronted with the reality of being "crucified with Christ."
The Bottom Line
To really view the issues of predestination and free will from a holistic view of scripture, we need to drop the labels Calvinism and Arminianism. They are a poor attempt to separate and categorize elements of God’s plan and nature which cannot be fully deconstructed. It creates divisions between aspects of God’s character (as well as between God’s people) that He never intended. Free will is essential to responsibility for sin and predestination is essential to the sovereignty of God. It is one of the paradoxical facets of God’s personality which we will never be able to fully grasp…like fully God and fully man…three in one…holy judgment and mercy…to choose one and exclude the other is to deny the fullness of God and inevitably results in a corrupt theology.
We need to understand that God IS in control and that we need to preach the Gospel of salvation to all men while maintaining the integrity of the message and leaving the results to God. To do otherwise is to miss the mark and to get side-tracked by "controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction" (1 Timothy 6:4,5).
