Theology for the Masses

Conversations in Theology and its interaction with Culture

Objections to Calvinism Part 3 of 5

I am moving ahead full steam in my series on “Objections to Calvinism.” The next three posts in this series will deal with objections that I have personally encountered, mostly at Theology for the Masses. In my previous post, I examined the objection that election is a source for pride. I argued that a person cannot truly understand Unconditional Election as the Bible describes it and yet become prideful and arrogant because of this election of God. It is unbiblical and defeats the reason why God elects unconditionally, namely to destroy human pride and declare the glory of God in Jesus Christ. So I am actually not going to go in the order I originally said I was going to go. I want to spend more time meditating on what I want to say about prayer. Today, I wish to examine the fourth objection that I listed, Predestination and Living a Holy Life.

These next three objections come from two encounters at Theology for the Masses. The first encounter I was not actually apart of. My cousin-in-law, Casey, wrote this as a primary objection to Calvinism,

I would like to ask a question to any and all who can answer. When I think of calvinism, i don’t like it cause I can’t understand it practically. Here is my question: What is the point of praying? If everything has already been set. What is the point of evangelism? If everything is already decided. In fact, what is the point of life? I am begining to see a relatationship between the strong 5-point calviniist and a deist. –Comment: March 10, 2006; Post: Calvinist Verse of the Day

Then in response to my post “Does the God in American Evangelicalism Produce Fear” cross posted at Theology for the Masses, Henry Michael said this,

As a matter of fact, one could say that the Calvinistic framework leads to people not fearing God. After all, the person is not responsible for their own salvation and if God is (actively) as sovereign as you suggest then He is really responsible for everything. One might as well accept it. Going to hell - have fun while you can - why should you respect a God that has done nothing to save you and yet has saved millions of other people. –Comment: June 27, 2007, 10:27 AM

Casey agreed with this position when he said,

Hank, I still do not think you have answered HM’s question about POTS. At least, you have not convinced me of any thing yet. I am trying to be open (as I always try too) to others viewpoints–in hope that I learn and do discover the truth (and I try to be willing to change if I am wrong). But I am still not convinced of anything you have said. I think those practical questions that HM makes are some that I have wrestled with for a long time when it comes to this topic. Why live the life if it is already decided? Why pray, why evangelize, why tithe, why go to church, why not live for fun if everything is already set (the afterlife). The answer of “just because” saints do it is not convincing me. –July 5, 2007, 8:58 AM

The objection that at least Casey raises is not so much a doctrinal objection based upon an historical-grammatical exegesis of Scripture but pragmatic objections. The questions that have been raised, why live a holy life and evangelize and pray and tithe, are important questions that one must answer.

But I want to emphasize a point that I am trying to get at in these series, and I am sure all who read this will agree. It is this, a biblical doctrine is not shown to be biblical because it is or is not practical, it is biblical because a proper exegesis has shown this doctrine to be found in the text of Scripture. Once the doctrine has been exegetically established, then one can turn to these more practical questions. But these practical questions do not determine whether the doctrine in question is biblical, only hard to apply to life. I wanted to get this out early so that even as I answer these questions, or try to at least, we understand that Calvinism and Arminianism is not victorious or defeated on whether or not it is most practical, but which is left standing after a proper exegesis of Holy Writ, Sacred Scripture, God’s Word, the Bible.

Now I want to demonstrate from Scripture that if one is to be a Christian, chosen by God before the foundations of the world to salvation in Christ, he or she must persevere in a pursuit of holiness if he or she is to gain entrance into heaven. This seems to a major sticking point in the quoted comments above. If one is chosen by God unconditionally, then why live a holy life? You are going to heaven anyways so you might as well live the life you want while you can. I see the logic in that. But I also see a misunderstanding of the doctrine in Calvinism called Perseverance of the Saints.

I want to say outright that I reject the notion of “once saved, always saved.” That kind of thinking can lead to what Henry Michael and Casey object to in the comments quoted. I want to show from a biblical perspective that a.) one must pursue holiness if he or she is elect of God; b.) God supplies the grace needed to achieve that holy living. My main focus is going to be on Philippians 2:12-13 and 1 Corinthians 15:9-10. Again, you can go to Studylight.org if you want help on the Greek that I use; just scroll down until you see interlinear Bible in the left margin and click on it.

First I want to look briefly at Hebrews 12:12-17. Here the author writes,

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when

Now in the previous paragraph, the author is talking about his audience being disciplined by God. It is this discipline that confirms that we are God’s children, that he has become our father (Hebrews 12:7-8). Thus in light of this momentary affliction, we must realize that the pain yields the fruit that the Father desires, righteousness (Hebrews 12:11).

So the author begins Hebrews 12:12 with dio, a conjunction that means “for this reason” or “for which cause,” “therefore.” So In light of God’s discipline of his children to train them to yield the fruit of righteousness, the writer exhorts his readers to “lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees.” The verb “lift/strengthen” is one verb anorthwsate which means to erect or build anew. It is an imperative verb, a verb commanding the audience to make erect and repair their drooping hands and weak knees. This is a command from Scripture. Following on in Hebrews 12:13 we see, “make straight paths (trochias orthas poieite) for your feet.” Here the verb “make” is again an imperative verb. But this verb, poieite is a present tense verb so that we are always to be making straight paths for our feet. Anorthwsate is an aorist verb that has no aspect but rather just commands the action to be done, just not in an ongoing sense. Thus the path that we walk is an ongoing walk, but the erecting of our bodies is not something that is done and over with. We don’t keep erecting our bodies over time. Hebrews 12:13 gives us a ina clause to give the purpose to why we erect our bodies and make straight paths for our feet to walk on, “so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.” The reason is so that which is lame (to cholon: maimed) may not be turned aside or put out of joint. The verb here is the present subjunctive of ektrepw which means to dislocate a joint, to turn away from or be turned away from, or shun or avoid. The drooping hands being lifted, the knees being strengthened, the paths being made straight keeps the joints from dislocating and thus turning one aside from the path. As Hebrews 12:13 puts it, “but rather be healed [iathh de mallon].”

Now next in Hebrews 12:14, the audience is told, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” Again an imperative is used for the verb “strive,” diwkete, which means to pursue or to drive away or put to flight or to run after. Paul uses this verb in Romans 9:30-31, “ What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue [diwkonta] righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued [diwkwn] a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.” Again in Philippians 3:12-14 when he says, “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on [diwkw] to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own…I press on [diwkw] toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” This “striving” is not the put to flight an enemy or a persecution, but rather a pursuit after a goal, namely peace with all and “the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews says that his audience must pursue a holiness that if one does not have, that person will not see the Lord. But it is a command to do so. We have no choice but to pursue that goal of holiness, because if we do not pursue, we cannot obtain; if we do not obtain, we do not enter into the presence of Jesus Christ.

Now Hebrews 12:15-17 concludes this passage like this, “15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.” I find this interesting that Hebrews commands us to make sure that no one “fails to obtain the grace of God; that no ‘root of bitterness’ springs up and causes trouble and by it many become defiled.” Without God’s grace, we become bitter and thus cause trouble and defile others. God’s grace has a preserving effect, but we must seek after it and ensure that all within our community obtain that preserving effect. God’s grace keeps us from bitterness, defilement, sexual immorality, and unholiness (Hebrews 12:15-16). The example that is used Esau. He sold his birthright for a single meal (Hebrews 12:16).

But look at what the author says about Esau in Hebrews 12:17, “For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.” After selling his birthright for that meal, he could no longer obtain the inheritance, it was not his. But look at what was said, “when he desired [thelwn] to inherit the blessing, he was rejected.” The verb for rejected is apedokimasthh. It is the same verb in Luke 9:22 and Luke 17:25 that Jesus uses to describe his rejection by the Jews before his crucifixion. It means to be disallowed a claim and to be declared useless. Why was Esau rejected? The text grounds this with gar which usually means because, though can also be used as thus. But here it is used as a ground for why Esau was rejected. The ground clause states, “for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.” Literally it begins metanoias gar topon ouch euren, repentance for place no he found. He did not come to a place to repent. Why? Was it not granted to him or did he not seek after repentance? The “it” (authn) in Hebrews 12:17 is feminine pronoun, but so is “repentance” and “inheritance.” I believe that he did not seek repentance because “inheritance” is a feminine singular accusative noun, thn eulogian, as is authn. He did not find a place to repent because he did not seek the place. His focus was on gaining the inheritance when it suited him. Thus he was rejected, found useless, by God.

Thus if we do not seek holiness, godliness, God’s grace, we too will end up like Esau. We will be so bent on ourselves that we will be rejected by God when the time comes to inherit what he was promised, namely eternal life spent in the beauty of his glory. So I must affirm that we must strive for holiness, there is a call to persevere in a life of holiness.

Now the question I ask is how does this relate to election and the doctrines of grace? First I want to establish a link between election and living a holy life, what is called sanctification. Look first at Ephesians 1:3-4 where Paul says to the Ephesians at the beginning of the sentence that goes from verse 3 all the way down through verse 14, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love” (Because this is part of a large sentence, “in love” can go with either Ephesians 1:4 or 1:5. I have chosen to put it with 1:4, unlike the ESV, because of a parallel in 1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 where Paul writes, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love [perisseusai th agaph] for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless [amemptous] in holiness [agiwsunh] before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.” Jesus makes us abound in love for one another so that he can make us blameless in holiness before the Father). Here in Ephesians 1:3-14 Paul is singing the praise of God for what he has done for us in Christ, namely “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.”

Paul begins Ephesians 1:4 with the Greek conjunction kathws which means as, just as, in the manner that; so that what Paul is saying is that one of the spiritual blessings that we have received from God is our election. Election is a blessing of God, a gift of God, not something that I have earned (see previous post, Objections to Calvinism Part 2 of 5, for the unconditionallity of election).

Now I want to look at verse 4 because the connection is here, “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love.” We can clearly see our election in this text when Paul says “he chose us” (exelexato hmas). We can see that the choice was for us to be chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the world” (pro katablhs kosmou). But now notice what we are chosen to be (einai: active infinitive), holy (agious) and blameless (amwmous). We are chosen by God to be a holy person and a person without moral blemish. That is one thing we are elected to, holiness and blamelessness.

A second text that I want to look at is 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15 where Paul writes, “But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. 14 To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.” Now before I get into this text a note of translation. “Firstfuits” comes from the Greek word aparchhn which comes from two Greek words; the preposition apo which mean from, away from, and the Greek noun archh which means beginning or chief. Some manuscripts read ap’ archh, “from the beginning” and thus translations like NASB and KJV use this reading. The ESV has gone with “firstfriuts.” Of the eleven random translations I surveyed RSV, HCSB, NASB, KJV, NKJV, NIV, and Young’s Literal Translation all went with ap’ archh, “from the beginning.” The other four, TNIV, ESV, NLT, NRSV, all went with aparchh, “first fruits.” So I will side with the majority of translations. In fact, the NASB footnotes that one early manuscript goes with first fruits. So I am going with ap’ archh. Thus I render 2 Thessalonians 2:13, But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.”

This verse comes on the heels of the passage of “the man of lawlessness.” There Paul speaks of at the end Satan’s man of lawlessness will be revealed when the restrainer is removed, though lawlessness is already at work, appearing with all miracles and false signs to lead people astray as a result of their not loving the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:1-10). Therefore Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12, “Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Paul contrasts what happens to these people who “refused to love the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:10) to those who believe in the truth (pistei alhtheias; 2 Thessalonians 2:13). So I must say at first that to believe in the truth of Jesus Christ is to love that truth. It is to be precious to the soul. And this love for the truth is placed alongside sanctification by the Spirit (ageism pneumatos) as the means of salvation. Paul says that they are chosen from the beginning “to be saved, through [sothrian en] sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.” Thus our salvation is by being made holy by the Spirit and our love and faith in the truth of Christ and his cross and resurrection. That is how we are saved. But we are chosen to be saved from the beginning though the process of sanctification. Thus election again includes our living a holy life. We are chosen to live a holy life before God by the power of the Spirit.

Thus Paul exhorts his readers in 2 Thessalonians 2:14-15, “To this he called you through our gospel, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.” So Paul begins the next verse with eis o kai to demonstrate the goal of this election to salvation by the sanctifying work of the Spirit and love for the truth. To this end, for this reason, so that we could be sanctified and love the truth, “he called you.” The verb here is ekalesen; it is a third-person aorist active verb. The aorist nature of the verb tells us that the action of the call has no aspect, continuous or complete. Rather it just says that the action occurred. God has called, but who? Who does the “you” (umas) refer to? Context demands that we see this as the chosen believers in Thessalonika in 2 Thessalonians 2:13 contrasted with the unbelievers in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12. Thus this call again is not a general call at the end of a sermon, it is a call that brings about what it commands, it is an effectual call. This call brings these people into the work of the Spirit and to a love for the truth, unlike those in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12. But notice also in 2 Thessalonians 2:14 that this call is “through the gospel” (dia tou euaggeliou). The effectual call to God’s chosen people is through the gospel (more on this next in an upcoming post, but here we see a clear need for evangelism and the preaching of the gospel for the elect to be called to be saved by God’s effectual call). Thus the result of this salvation by sanctification and the effectual call through the gospel is “so that [eis] you may obtain [peripoihsin] the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ [doxhs tou kuriou hmwn Ihsou Christou].” We are sanctified and made to love the truth through God’s effectual call through the gospel so that we can obtain that which Paul says in Romans 8:29-30 that we were predestined to be conformed to: the image and glory of Christ.

Thus we have this exhortation in 2 Thessalonians 2:15, “So then, brothers stand firm and hold [sthkete kai krateite] to the traditions that were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by letter.” Again two imperative verbs command us to persevere in obedience to the apostolic teachings, the teachings handed down from Christ to the church through the apostles. But this exhortation to stand firm and to hold to the traditions we were taught is preceded by the apa oun, “therefore/so then now.” In light of God’s election and effectual call to salvation, we are to actively stand firm in what we have been taught. God’s unconditional election and effectual calling are the grounds, the foundation, upon which we can be confident to stand firm and to hold onto the teachings and traditions of the apostles.

Let me sum up these three verses. Salvation is by the means of sanctification by the Spirit (being made holy and conformed to Christ’s image) and faith or belief in the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:13c). We are chosen for this salvation from the beginning (2 Thessalonians 2:13b). We are effectually called to this salvation through sanctification and faith, which we were chosen for by God from the beginning, through the gospel of Jesus Christ (the pronoun o in 2 Thessalonians 2:14a is a neuter pronoun referring to the feminine faith and salvation and the masculine sanctification). The end for which the election, salvation, and the effectual call through the gospel is so that we can obtain the glory of Jesus Christ (2 Thessalonians 2:14b). Thus we can stand firm and hold to the teachings and traditions that were passed onto us by the apostles (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

So for one to say since I have been chosen by God to be saved, I can live how I want to is clearly either ignorant of Scripture, election, or isn’t really a Christian.

I turn to two last texts. The first is Philippians 2:12-13 where Paul says, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” This is Paul’s first words after the beautiful hymn of Christ’s humility unto death, becoming a slave to the point that he went to the cross to die, and his exaltation, so that when he returns all will confess that he is kurios and despote. Paul opens verse 12 with wste, or therefore, to connect back to Philippians 2:1-5 which spoke of being humble, and uses Philippians 2:6-11 as our example of humility, Jesus Christ. Thus we are to be humble in our lives–of which I guilty of falling so short many times.

But Paul says, “as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation…” We have a clear command from Paul in “work out” (katergazesthe). This imperative middle verb refers to producing the effect of, bring about the result of one’s savlation by means of fear (fobou) and trembling (tromou). But this katergazesthe is the same as the obedience (uphkousate) mentioned at the beginning of the verse. So again we have the clear command to be obedient to Christ, to live the holy life. We must exert our own effort to obey to achieve that final salvation. There must be a perseverance on our part.

Now Paul begins the Philippians 2:13 in the Greek with theos gar estin o energwn, “God for is the he-who-is-working.” Notice that Paul uses gar to ground Philippians 2:12 with Philippians 2:13. The foundation for verse 12 is verse 13. We can work out our salvation and obey with fear and trembling and humility because of what it is that verse 13 is saying.

What does Paul say? theos gar estin o energwn en umin, “God for is the he-who-is-working in you.” God is described by the participle as the one who is working in the believers at Philippi. This is a present tense participle so the aspect is conituous working, God never stops working in the believers at Philippi (cf. Philippians 1:6). The fear and trembling does not come from a fear of losing that salvation, but rather the obedience and the working out is a work that is done by God in the life of the believer. A believer should fear and tremble because God is in them working out their salvation through them.

What is God working in us? Paul finishes Philippians 2:13 with “both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” God is working in us to do what; will (thelein: present tense, infinitive) and work (energein: present tense, infinitive) on behalf of (ESV translated uper as “for”) his good pleasure, God’s eudokian (meaning good will, kind intent).

Some people take Philippians 2:12 as a text to demonstrate that one can lose his or her salvation if they are not working out their salvation. I would heartily agree if Paul did not ground the command to obey and to work out the salvation with Philippians 2:13 and God’s promise to always be working in the believer to always work and will his good pleasure. God ensures that we will obey his command, and thus we will not fall away. This does not negate the command, but undergirds it with hope and promise that we will not fall away but rather persevere in our quest for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

The final text I wish to examine briefly is 1 Corinthians 15:8-10 where Paul gives this brief autobiography, “Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” In a spirit of humility, Paul has put himself at the end of the list of those who have seen Jesus resurrected from the dead with a physical body. The reason why is found in v.9 where Paul says, “I persecuted the church of God.” In fact, Paul’s use in verse 8 of “one untimely born” (ektrwmati) is a reference to Paul being converted on the Damascus road to persecute believers. His mission to hunt down was aborted and he was born again by Christ. So rather than hunt down the church, he spread the gospel of the church.

But look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:10, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” It was the grace of God that made Paul the former persecutor of the church the apostle to the gentiles. And Paul says that this grace was not in vain (kenh: empty, devoid of truth). Paul says, “On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them [alla perissoteron autwn pantwn ekopiasa].” Again we see here Paul is working, laboring for the sake of the gospel. He says he labored harder than any of the other apostles. Paul worked. But he doesn’t end there, “though it was not I [ouk egw de], but the grace of God that is with me[alla h charin tou theou sun emoi].” Paul says it was not him who was working, but God’s grace in him who worked. Paul was laboring, but it was God’s grace through Paul that was laboring. So again we have a clear need for us to work, but yet it is God’s grace that enables us to work and to persevere in that work.

So I conclude that Election and effectual call does not allow one to throw off any obligation to live a holy life, and instead live a life of worldly and sinful pleasure because one is saved anyways. On the contrary, it is our election and effectual call that grounds and gives assurance to our perseverance in the task of holy living. It gives the believer confidence that he or she can succeed in fighting the war against sin and their struggle to obtain the holiness to see Christ. Election and the call of God is our confidence to be obedient to God, not our free pass to do whatever we want.

cross posted at Think Wink.

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