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Free will proves calvinist doctrine to be false
I am amazed at just how devious calvinists can be. And that they claim to base their doctrines on the Bible alone, yet use the Bible far less than their other documents of extra revelation, such as Calvin. I have yet to see even one single calvinist doctrine demonstrated from the Bible alone (Sola Scriptura) without inconsistencies having to be explained away using their excuses that man has no free will and that God’s foreknowledge is not His perfect knowledge of the future.
The Bible says clearly (so clearly, in fact, that Blind Freddie could see it) that Jesus was the propitiation for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). Keep in mind that John wrote this epistle without the chapter and verse breaks. It is clear that 1 John 1:9-10 keeps on going through to 1 John 2:1-2; there is no real break in the narrative just because a chapter break has been added. Note also that 1 John 2:1 and 1 John 2:2 are two parts of the same sentence. In fact, Vs 1 is necessary to define the pronouns (he, our, ours) used in Vs 2.
1 John 1:9-10; 2:1-2 – 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.
“he” in Vs 2 is “Jesus Christ the righteous” in Vs 1;
“our” in Vs 2 is defined in Vs 1 as “we” who “have an advocate with the Father”, and “we” in Vs 1 is also defined as those to whom John is writing.
“we’ also is the same group who are to confess their sins as per 1 John 1:9 & 10.
How can anyone miss the point here: that “the whole world” must include more people than just those defined by “we”, “our” and “ours”. If all Christians claim that we can confess our sins to be cleansed from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9), and that we have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1), then there must be more than just Christians included in “the whole world”. (and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world.) Yet calvinists steadfastly assert that “the whole world” can only include those who believe!
Clearly they do not believe in Sola Scriptura (the Bible alone), or else they have a different Bible with writings from another (false) god.
Thus, in order that they might not look the fools that they seem to be, they have to “invent” doctrines that appear to support the lies that they teach. If Jesus died for all mankind (which the Bible so clearly teaches), making full payment for the sins of all mankind, and if mankind is given the free will choice to accept or reject that full and complete payment (also a Biblical truth), then God’s judgment of man will be based upon man’s free will choice. God has given man free will to choose, and God will honour the choice that every person makes. The full payment has been made in any case; therefore further payment will never be required for any of mankind’s sins. All accounts for sin were settled by Christ on the cross, thus “It is finished” was the cry.
John 19:30 – When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
Those who accept this payment in full by calling upon the name of the Lord to be saved, will, by God’s faithful promise, be saved indeed to the uttermost. Those who reject this payment will remain imprisoned by their sin, not because of any payment required, for that has already been paid in full, but because they refuse to accept such a gift. This is mankind’s free will in action. And God will honour man’s free will choice in this matter. No-one will be forced to be saved, ever. Not even Paul, of whom MacArthur says:
when the call of God came on the life of the apostle Paul, it was a sovereign, divine, gracious, and irresistible summons. He was slammed in to the dirt on the road to Damascus with nothing to do but respond. …..
Paul understood that he was just grabbed by the neck by God and awakened to the glory of Christ and saved and made an apostle. (The Doctrine of God’s Effectual Call)
I challenge anyone to find all this detail written in the Bible! If it isn’t there, then MacArthur has invented extra revelation to support his erroneous teachings.
So what teaching do calvinists invent to explain away their false teaching on limited atonement? Well, they claim that if Jesus died for the sins of all mankind and some still go to hell, then those in hell would be paying for sins that had already been paid for. MacArthur calls it “double jeopardy”. He says that if all sins have been paid for, then no-one would go to hell, and therefore all the world would be saved. He claims that full atonement would merely provide a potential salvation, not an actual one, and that if Jesus died for the whole world without exception, then no-one could really be saved. (For further information on potential vs actual salvation, please read Potential Vs Actual Salvation? What’s the difference?)
MacArthur says:
That Jesus died and paid in full the penalty for the sins of the damned and died and paid in full the penalty for the sins of the glorified, that Jesus did the same thing for the occupants of hell that He did for the occupants of heaven and the only difference hinges on the sinner’s choice? That is to say the death of Jesus Christ then is not an actual atonement, it is only a potential atonement. He really did not purchase salvation for anyone in particular. He only removed some kind of barrier to make it possible for sinners to choose to be saved. ……….
Well the only answer to the question that makes any real sense is that Jesus Christ died and paid in full the penalty for the sins of all who would ever believe so that His atonement is an actual atonement and not a potential one that can be disregarded. If Jesus actually paid in full the penalty for your sins, you’re not going to go to hell, that would be double jeopardy. ……….
God did not intend to save everyone. He is God. He could have intended to save everyone. He could have saved everyone. He would have if that had been His intention. The atonement is limited.
Now we all have to accept that or be universalists. We know not everyone is going to heaven. In fact, it is a little flock, it is the few which if we were to hold on to this sort of evangelical idea means that the vast majority of people for whom Christ died and paid in full the penalty for their sins are going to go to hell. And that’s just something very difficult to believe. So we do believe in a limited atonement. It is limited to those who believe. ………..
You hear people say, “Well, you know, when you say the atonement is limited, people don’t feel very special.” Well, I’ll tell you what. I don’t feel very special if you say to me, “Christ died for you, He loves you just like He died for the millions in hell.” That doesn’t make me feel very special. That’s kind of a hard way to do evangelism. Christ died on the cross for your sins and all the people in hell, too. That’s not special. That’s anything but special. You mean to tell me He paid for my sins and I’m paying for them forever? Then I’ll tell you, whatever His payment was, it was bogus. You see, it’s not biblical to limit the atonement as to its power. It’s not biblical to limit the atonement as to its effectiveness. It’s not biblical to limit the atonement as to its accomplishment. If He paid in full the penalty for your sins, you will receive that salvation. (MacArthur, The Doctrine of Actual Atonement Part 1)
But then I read that Spurgeon makes the same false arguments in Sermon No.694 “Sin Laid on Jesus”. We hold that from the very nature of the satisfaction of Christ it could not have been made for anyone except for his elect; for Christ either did pay the debts of all men or he did not; if he did pay the debts of all men they are paid, and no man can be called to account for them. If Christ was the surety of every man living, then how in the name of common justice is Christ to be punished, and man punished too?
What! Are all these calvinists so blind that they cannot see the truth of the matter? If Christ paid the penalty in full, then no more penalty remains to be paid. Cannot they see that no person goes to hell to pay for his sins? They go to hell because they refuse to accept the gift of payment that has already been made in full for their sins. A gift may be accepted or rejected. In fact, one of the definitions of a gift is that it must be offered free of charge and also must be accepted by the donee (the one who receives a gift). If I pay for a boat cruise and give the ticket to another person, does that person have to go on the cruise? Is that person forced to go? Or has that person the right of free will to refuse to go? Likewise, by paying for everyone’s sins and offering it as a free gift to all mankind, God will not compel any to take it.
Romans 5:15 – But not as the offence, so also [is] the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, [which is] by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Salvation is a gift of God and may be accepted or rejected by the person to whom it is offered. Otherwise it is not a gift but a requirement that it must be received. That is, if God were to require that certain people took His salvation, then it is no longer a gift at all! But, if I offer a prisoner a free pardon for his crimes, he must accept it before it can be his. No prisoner can ever be forced to accept a pardon for the crimes of which he has been convicted. For one thing, acceptance of a free pardon has to include the acceptance of guilt for such crimes in the first place. If a person refuses to accept responsibility for a crime, then they cannot receive a pardon for a crime they claim they never committed. The atonement was for the whole world without exception, and the penalty for all sins was paid in full for all mankind. However, only those who plead guilty may receive the effective pardon for sins. This is a requirement of the gospel, that acknowledgement of personal guilt must be a part of accepting one’s free gift of salvation. That is, if you do not consider yourself guilty of such sins, then it would be pointless to receive a gift that atoned for such sins if you hadn’t allegedly committed any!
So, if mankind has free will to choose (see So you think free will isn’t in the Bible), then those who reject the free salvation offered to them will have also rejected any right to eternal life in heaven. Therefore, those who reject God’s salvation will go to hell for eternity, not to pay for their sins, but because they refused to be rescued from such a fate. For how may a person choose to go to hell? The Bible teaches that you may go to hell by doing absolutely nothing at all. You are already condemned until you choose to do something about it!
John 3:18 – He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
It’s a pity the calvinists have to deny the free will of man in order to present their false doctrines. No man ever goes to hell to pay for his sin. In fact, it’s impossible for anyone to pay for any sin at all in hell. The truth is that not one person will ever pay for even just one sin, even if he were to spend all eternity doing so. For, if a person could pay for just one sin, then, given enough time (and he has an abundance of that!), he could pay for all his sins. And, what would happen if a person went to hell to pay for his sins and actually managed to pay for them all? Could he then be set free from hell? Get real, calvinists! No-one in all eternity can ever pay for even one single sin in hell. No-one goes to hell to pay for their sins! Just find one verse which states this.
You go to hell because of your sin, you can die in your sins and go to hell, but you do not ever go to hell to pay for your sins. Jesus has already done that, and you will go to hell for eternity because you by your free will have rejected that free gift of salvation: payment for all your sins for all time right now. You go to hell because you refused the free gift of salvation offered by God through Jesus Christ.
I have studied many calvinist documents and statements, and have presented Biblical support in refuting their false doctrines. All doctrines stand or fall according to their support from the Bible, and the calvinist doctrines fall harder than many when lined up against the truth of the Bible.
If any calvinist wishes to refute this from the Bible alone (Sola Scriptura), then I invite you to do so. Not one calvinist has ever managed to use the Bible alone to refute my statements; in fact, not one has even tried to refute what I say from the Bible alone. So, here’s the challenge: if you are what you claim to be, then prove your teachings Biblically, or else admit that you cannot do so, and that your doctrines were all lies from start to finish!
If you wish to read further, please try the following links.
List of all my posts on this site.
If you wish to read other documents on the heresies of calvinism, please use this link.
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So you think free will isn’t in the Bible?
Then think again! If God has given man no free will, yet tells man to choose between Him and other gods, or between good and evil blessing and cursing, then God, being righteous, will not break even one of His own divine laws. That is, He will not offer man a choice when there is no choice there in the first place. If He did, then He would be telling less than the whole truth, and that would be tantamount to declaring God to be a liar. So even just one single clear example of God giving man a choice between Him and other gods, or between doing good (obeying God) or doing evil (disobeying God) is sufficient to demonstrate that man has a free will to choose such. Even to acknowledge that a verse can suggest free will means that free will cannot be denied. In order to demonstrate that free will does not exist requires that there be not even a suggestion that free will exists.
Joshua told the people of Israel to choose between God or the gods they previously served in Egypt. Joshua 24:14-16 – 14 Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the Lord. 15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 16 And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods;
Some might say that just because Joshua was offering them a choice does not mean that God was also offering the same choice. However, to deny this as an example of God giving man free will to choose, one would have to deny that Joshua was speaking on behalf of God, and that Joshua was either lying or was incompetent to advise such. Both of these suggestions are seen to be ridiculous when we read God’s charge to Joshua when he took up leadership of Israel.
Joshua 1:5-6 – 5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, [so] I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
This one example alone proves that man has free will to choose between God and false gods. But there’s another clear example, where Moses tells Israel to choose to obey God; if they do good and obey God, then He will bless them; if they do evil and disobey God, then He will curse them. They are told to choose life! Such a choice can only mean that they could also choose death, for choice always means at least two options! (The dictionary defines “choice” as an act of choosing between two or more possibilities.)
Deuteronomy 30:19 – I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
In order for calvinists to “prove” that God has not given man free will to choose between Him and other gods, or to choose between obeying or disobeying Him, they must prove beyond all doubt that the two examples given above cannot in any way support the free will of man to choose to serve God. Of course, God must intervene in a man’s life before he may see the choices available. This intervention is through the gospel which, when preached faithfully, gives light to a man so that he can see the choices open to him: choose salvation and life, or reject salvation and life. The free will of man never negates the necessity for God to intervene with the gospel before man is able to choose. But God’s intervention through the gospel also never negates man’s responsibility to respond to that gospel.
There are occasions when God limits man’s free will; this cannot be used to “prove” that free will doesn’t exist. For example, when God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, He was merely putting limits on Pharaoh’s free will. Until God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, Pharaoh had used his free will to consistently oppose Moses (and therefore to oppose God). Then came the point in time when God decided that if Pharaoh was so set upon opposing Him, then Pharaoh’s free will to change his mind about letting God’s people go would be removed. Pharaoh had wanted to keep the Hebrews so much that he was continually overriding God’s desire that the Hebrews should be set free.
Note how Paul described it in Romans 9:18 when talking about Pharaoh – Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will [have mercy], and whom he will he hardeneth. That word “hardeneth” is translated from the Greek word skleruno which means to make hard; harden; metaphorically: to render obstinate, stubborn; to be hardened; to become obstinate or stubborn. Today we use the word “sclerosis” (derived from skleruno) as a medical term to describe the hardening of a part of the body that had up until then been flexible; for example, arterial sclerosis = the hardening of the arteries, making them more rigid, set in place, effectively their options to move have been reduced or removed.
What this means is that up until that point of being hardened, Pharaoh had free will to either obey God or to oppose God. After that point, Pharaoh no longer had free will to choose on this matter of letting the Hebrews go. Note carefully that there is also no indication at all that the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart applied to anything else other than the matter of letting God’s people go. Pharaoh’s free will was limited by God such that Pharaoh had set his course, and God simply forced Pharaoh to continue on his chosen course toward destruction.
A verse or passage doesn’t have to actually say that God gives man a choice, yet still teach clearly the free will of man. For example, note the two verses John 6:44 and John 12:32. Note the use of the same word “draw” in each verse.
John 6:44 – No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
John 12:32 – And I (Jesus), if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto me.
Calvinists love John 6:44 for, they say, it proves that only those who are drawn by God may come to Jesus. They claim that this is true because there is no free will to choose, so all who are drawn by the Father must come. This, they say, therefore “proves” that those who didn’t come were not drawn by the Father. However, John 6:44 can only be used to demonstrate this if you firstly assume that free will to choose doesn’t exist. However, if free will to choose does exist, then their arguments are false, because they are based on the false premise that free will does not exist.
The meaning of this verse is dependent upon whether or not free will to choose exists! If free-will cannot be proven nonsense, then John 6:44 can simply mean that many are called but few are chosen according to Matthew 22:14!
And further to this, in John 12:32 Jesus says that He will draw all to Himself on the cross. Note that “draw” in this verse is the same as “draw” in John 6:44. Now, unless you can prove that “all” only means those who believe, then Jesus must be drawing all mankind, and thus the Father in John 6:44 also draws all mankind. So, if not all come, then some of mankind must be resisting due to their free-will to choose. If “all” means “all” mankind, then the combination of John 12:32 and John 6:44 can only mean that some are resisting the drawing of the Father through their own free-will.
The calvinists are in a bind here, for according to their teaching, man has no free will to choose. And, if all are drawn, then all must come! They have become universalists; that is, all mankind will be saved! But, they think, “all” cannot be permitted to mean “all”. If “all” can be reinterpreted as “all those who believe”, then the day is saved, or so they think. But, John 12:32 does not allow such an interpretation. Nevertheless, the only way out of their dilemma is to teach that “all” cannot mean “all” under any circumstance, so every time the Bible teaches “all”, it must be changed to “only those who believe”. Therefore, “the whole world” in 1 John 2:2 becomes “the whole world of those who believe” and “the world” in John 3:16 becomes “the world of those who believe”.
But, “all” in 1 Timothy 2:4 is a hard one to get around.
1 Timothy 2:4 – Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
But, not really a problem at all, says calvinist Matt Slick on 26/03/1992.
The question, then, is if God predestines only some to salvation, why are there verses that say God wants all to be saved?
The answer is simple: The “all” are the Christians.
(https://www.calvinistcorner.com/all-men-saved.htm)
Great thinking? Logical reasoning? No, more like a slick effort to “sell” us a bad product by trying to make it seem like the best option on the market! Slick, yes! Sola Scriptura? No!
MacArthur also has a problem with Hebrews 2:9, where it says clearly that Jesus tasted death for everyone. Because MacArthur cannot bear the truth to be known, he has to write in his study Bible words such as the following: “to all who believe, that is.” For the calvinist, not one passage in the Bible teaches that “all” means “all the world” when it comes to salvation.
It is interesting that Calvin did teach (surprisingly) that Jesus gave His life a ransom for the whole human race.
Matthew 20:28 – Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
Calvin’s Commentary on Matthew 20:28 – The word many (pollon) is not put definitely for a fixed number, but for a large number; for he contrasts himself with all others. And in this sense it is used in Romans 5:15, where Paul does not speak of any part of men, but embraces the whole human race.
Calvin taught that Jesus shed His blood for the whole human race.
Matthew 26:28 – For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
Calvin’s Commentary on Matthew 26:28 – Which is shed for many. By the word many he means not a part of the world only, but the whole human race [“Non partem mundi tantum designat, sed totum humanum genus.” (“not a part of the world only, but the whole human race”)]
Yet the calvinists still obstinately try to say that because God limits free will in some passages, then there can be no such thing as free will at all. However, the only way a calvinist may prove that man does not have free will to determine his obedience to God is to demonstrate that no example of such may be found in the Bible. Even then, it may not be sufficient, for what they really need is a statement that God will under no circumstances at all give man free will to decide to serve Him or not. No calvinist anywhere has even tried to demonstrate such; they know that it is a pointless exercise for them! The Bible does demonstrate the free will of man to choose to serve or reject God, and this effectively reduces all calvinist heresies to a useless expenditure of hot air as they try to prove the unproveable. Hot air alone will never prove anything other than who can shout the loudest perhaps. Sola Scriptura – the Bible alone – is what demonstrates the truth!
If you wish to read further, please try the following links.
List of all my posts on this site.
If you wish to read other documents on the heresies of calvinism, please use this link.
Please feel free to comment Comments and contact page
Comments and replies are recorded on the Comments page.