Ligonier Ministries, which was founded by The late R.C. Sproul said on their facebook page, “Jesus did not die for everyone, but for those whom the Father gave Him.” (Ligonier Ministries, https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10157574349453115&id=7434613114). Sproul gets this idea from Calvinism. Calvinism holds to the idea that “the many are called, but few are chosen,” (Matthew 22:14). Calvinists believe Jesus died for a select few, “the chosen”, and not the world. They believe you are part of a chosen elect (the few) who have been chosen by God’s choosing, and you will never know if you are truly chosen until after death (John Calvin, The Ecclesiastical Exercises, Church History in Plain Language, Bruce Shelley, 4th Edition). This actually has more in common with Jihad Ashgar in the Koran, than The Gospel which promises salvation is open [available, free, attainable, obtainable] to any who confess and believes in Jesus, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved,” (Romans 10:9-10), “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son,” (John 3:16-18), “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith,” (Philippians 3:9), and “The apostles and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”” (Acts 15:6-11). Contrary to Calvinist claims, Christ did die for the whole world, “They said to the woman, "We now believe not only because of your words; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man truly is the Savior of the world,” (John 4:42), “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world,” (1 John 2:1-2), “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world,” (1 John 4:14), “He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them, ” (1 Corinthians 5:15 NLT), “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance,” (2 Peter 3:8-9), and “This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.
This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.” (1 Timothy 2:3-6). The Calvinists confuse two principles that aren’t mutually exclusive: 1) Jesus made propitiation and died for the whole world, 2) but it is those who are in the world who chose to believe in Jesus and His propitiation that are saved (John 3:16, John 6:40, Acts 4:10-12, Acts 15:1-11, Philippians 3:9). Here then is the rub with Calvinism and strict Arminianism which rejects Predestination. The truth is that we all can choose Christ and be saved as the Arminianism says, but we are also are Predestined as Calvinism asserts because God knew we would make the choice to believe in Him because He doesn’t live in time and can see into the future (2 Peter 3:8-9).
The Calvinist Claim is erroneous according to its assertion that you must be chosen, and thus there is no reason to evangelize. This contradicts Christ’s own words, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19) and “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” (Matthew 24:14). Calvinistic Predestination then has no leg to stand on unless it is seen strictly in the prism of eschatology, i.e. that few will remain faithful (keep the faith) to Christ except the Elect (Matthew 24:10-14, Luke 18:8). Predestination if viewed only in a eschatological mindset then could be reconciled with Arminianism which affirms the Biblical free will and option for all to chose Christ at any moment (John 3:16). This would then mean Arminianism is talking about salvation is open to all (John 3:-6, Romans 10:9-10, Acts 15:1-15), while Calvin’s Predestination is talking about the only a remnant in the end times will keep their faith (Matthew 24:10-14), and keep the testimony of Christ (Revelation 14:12) under great duress (Revelation 7, Revelation 13 and 14).
Unfortunately, Calvin and His Predestination compatriots didn’t take an end times approach to Predestination, but in error they insist that only a few can be chosen to be saved at random; that Christ only died for a select random few which the Scriptures disagrees with most vehemently: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world,” (1 John 2:1-2), “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son,” (John 3:16-18), “who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth,” (1 Timothy 2:4), and “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. And remember, our Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved,” (2 Peter 2:9, 15); and those Scriptures are God Breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), unlike Calvin’s theses which are man made tradition (Mark 7:8-11). In fact, Calvin and his crones join the Pharisees who barred the way into heaven, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to,” (Matthew 24:13-14) and made people twice the sons of hell, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” (Matthew 24:15). Calvin was Lawyer just as the Pharisees were religious law makers (Matthew 23:2), and like the Pharisees he has twisted the words of God to fit his tradition, “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” (Mark 7:8-11). In point of fact, Calvin is preaching another christ (Matthew 24:24, 2 Corinthians 11:3-4) and another gospel than the one in the Bible (Galatians 1:8-9, 2 Corinthians 11:3-4, John 3:16-18).
Salvation is open to anyone and everyone at anytime who believes in Jesus Christ as Lord, Son of God, who was Crucified for our sins and Rose from the dead! The Elect are those who choose Christ and believe in Him and endure in their belief forever! Each and every person can respond to God’s Call in the Gospel (John 3:16) or they can choose judgement (John 3:18). The Elect is simply those who believe in Jesus, who can be anyone, and keep believing in Him; they are not some separated out Perfecti who were hand picked! Every person (human, man or woman) alive can choose to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved! The verses about God choosing us first (John 15:16, Ephesians 1:4), pertains to that He died for us while we were His enemies, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:8-11) l, and that He not being in time foreknew you would believe in Him (2 Peter 2:8-9).
Calvinism and Strict Predestination falls apart because if if is heeded to the hilt, there is no need for evangelism, the Church, and existence on earth! If only a select few are chosen like some special race, then why share the gospel? And yet Jesus said preach the gospel to all creation (Mark 16:15) and make disciples of all nations! (Matthew 28:19). Calvinistic Theology and Predestination has too many pitfalls. It cannot hold up to Scripture and the call of Christ to preach the Gospel to Jew and Gentile.
Hold fast and stick to what the Scriptures (Holy Bible, 66 Books, Old and New Testaments) say. They say salvation is a free gift to all who will accept it (John 3:16-18, Romans 10:9-10, 1 John 4:15). Do not listen to John Calvin, R.C. Sproul, Diedrich Bonhoeffer, Jan Hus, or any teacher who contradicts the words in the Holy Bible. Amen.
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