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Where Calvinism Goes Wrong From a Sovereign Grace Perspective

I. One might ask, "Why not do a video blog on where Arminianism goes wrong?" That would be a good topic for another time, but the short answer is: "everywhere".

II. There are seven key points of Calvinism: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints, Reprobation, and Absolute Predestination.

III. Let's briefly look at each of these and see which ones are right and wrong.

IV. Total Depravity - RIGHT

Calvinism rightly teaches that men are totally depraved, and in their natural state they cannot seek, understand, believe in, nor please God.

Rom 3:9 - What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

Rom 3:10 - As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Rom 3:11 - There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

Rom 3:12 - They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Rom 8:7 - Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Rom 8:8 - So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

V. Unconditional Election - RIGHT

Calvinism rightly teaches that God chose to save a portion of mankind based on no condition they did, could, or would fulfill such as faith or other good works.

Rom 9:10 - And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;

Rom 9:11 - (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)

Rom 9:12 - It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

Rom 9:13 - As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Rom 9:14 - What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

Rom 9:15 - For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.

Rom 9:16 - So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

Eph 1:4 - 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:

Eph 1:5 - Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

VI. Limited Atonement - RIGHT

Calvinism rightly teaches that Jesus only died and made atonement for the elect.

Joh 10:15 - As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

Joh 10:26 - But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

Joh 17:2 - As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

VII. Irresistible Grace - WRONG (as Calvinism defines it)

Calvinists should change the name to "Irresistible Gospel" because they believe that all of the elect will irresistibly believe the gospel.

God's elect can and do resist believing the gospel, and some are outright enemies of it.

Rom 11:27 - For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

Rom 11:28 - As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sakes.

Rom 11:29 - For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

It is God's GRACE by which a spiritually dead sinner is regenerated and given eternal life, not the gospel, which is irresistible.

Joh 5:25 - Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

Eph 2:1 - And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

VIII. Perseverance of the Saints - WRONG

Calvinism wrongly teaches that all of the elect will persevere in faith until death, and if a person doesn't, then that means he was never one of the elect.

Not all of the elect persevere faithful until the end of their lives.

Solomon (see verses below), King Saul (1Sa 10:9-11 c/w 1Sa 31:4), and Israel in the wilderness (1Co 10:1-11 c/w Heb 3:17 - 4:2) are all examples of God's elect which didn't persevere faithful until their deaths.

1Ch 28:6 - And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.

Neh 13:26 - Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.

1Ki 11:4 - For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

1Ki 11:40 - Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose, and fled into Egypt, unto Shishak king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

The truth is that God PRESERVES His elect forever and none of them can lose their eternal life, no matter if they persevere faithful to the end or not.

The "P" in Tulip should represent PRESERVATION of the Saints.

Joh 10:27 - My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

Joh 10:28 - And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Joh 10:29 - My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

Psa 37:28 - For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.

IX. Reprobation - WRONG

By "reprobation", Calvinists mean that God chose to damn some men before the foundation of the world, VIEWING THEM AS UNFALLEN.

This is patently false and would make God evil if He chose to damn men in a state in innocence.

It was ADAM, NOT GOD, who fitted men to destruction.

Rom 9:22 - What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

Rom 5:12 - Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

GOD afore prepared the elect for glory.

Rom 9:23 - And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

Rom 8:29 - 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.

Rom 8:30 - 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.

X. Absolute Predestination (Determinism, Fatalism) - WRONG

Calvinists (at least some of them) believe that God has predestinated all things in men's lives and that they have no free will.

God only predestinates what the Bible says He predestinates: the eternal salvation of His elect. The following are the only four verses where the word "predestinate" and its cognates appear in the Bible.

Eph 1:5 - Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Eph 1:11 - 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:

Rom 8:29 - 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.

Rom 8:30 - 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.

To say that God predestinates all things is to say that He predestinates men to sin.

This is patently false and would make God the author of sin.

The idea of making men sin never even comes into God's heart or mind, let alone the act of actually causing men to sin.

Jer 7:31 - And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.

Jer 32:35 - And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

Therefore men dare not say that God caused them to sin.

Jer 7:9 - Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;

Jer 7:10 - And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?