The Conflicting, Perplexing Calvinistic Doctrine of Free Will (Part Two)

 Part One

Calvinists say that other systems limit God's sovereignty or control.  Apparently when those systems assign to man free will, they limit God's sovereignty.  Instead of God being in total charge, man is partly in charge.  Calvinists would also say this means that in salvation, ostensibly man is getting involved to the degree that it's not salvation by grace anymore, but salvation by works.

When I listen to Calvinists, trying to believe them, and they refer to all the passages they use to prove their point, saying them in very earnest, serious tones, getting hearty "Amens" from their adherents, I am not convinced.  They are stretching and reading into the passages, sometimes changing the meaning of the words to get their conclusions.

For most of my adult life, I've said that "God is sovereign over His own sovereignty" (here and here).  Sovereignty isn't more or less than what God says it is.  What we believe about sovereignty must come from all of scripture and not proof texts.  The word sovereignty itself is part of the system, because it's not a word in the Bible.  Our understanding of sovereignty should arise from the Bible.

Because God is in control, possesses all power, He can accomplish what He wants in any way that He wants.  Very often in scripture is the word, "will," and for this doctrine, significantly, "the will of God."  God uses His power to accomplish His will.  That doesn't mean God determines everything.  The Bible doesn't read that way.

I'm not saying that God couldn't determine everything.  He has the power to do anything He wants to do.  Everything can be in His control without His controlling everything.  If God is not controlling everything, that doesn't mean He isn't in control.  God is in total charge.  Many verses teach this.  However, it's also easy to see that He exercises that sovereignty, that charge or control,  by also allowing man free will.

Calvinists divide between natural will and free will, free will only possessed by believers, true Christians, or truly converted people.  They say the unbeliever does not enjoy free will.  There are verses they use to surmise this point, and I see how they get the point if those were the only verses that applied to their view, but there is much more.

I think that I believe on sovereignty as much as it can be believed.  I am attempting to believe exactly what the Bible says, no matter what the cost.  I believe salvation is of the Lord.  I believe that faith is a gift.  God alone keeps me saved.  I can list other beliefs I have that relate to the sovereignty of God.

Many Calvinist debates or heated discussions, I 've witnessed, see the Calvinist accusing the non-Calvinist of not believing his verses of scripture.  He also alleges that his foe does not believe in grace.  He doesn't believe in the sovereignty of God.  He limits God.  Somehow then too, God isn't getting the glory.

One avenue, strategy, or technique -- I don't know which of those it is -- is expressing the peace, the joy, and the strength one derives from a true understanding of the Calvinists view of sovereignty.  During hard times, just think this particular view of God and it will make you feel good.  I think this during those expressions:  "It doesn't make me feel better if it's not true."  I get as much peace as I can get from the truth.

In the extreme, the Calvinist says this person does not have faith. He does not believe in the grace of God.  He is not giving God the glory.  In essence, he also rejects scripture.

A browbeaten person might, usually a professing Christian, because the Calvinist will not do this with an unbeliever, someone who does profess faith in Christ, might finally relent.  He recruits Christians to his position of Calvinism.  When they finally become a Calvinist, they finally have the key that opens the scripture, as if it is inculcating a hermeneutic.

Passages Used to Deny Free Will

Crucial in a right interpretation and even application of scripture is going as far as the text and also not going further than the text.  The Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:11 says that God "worketh all things after the counsel of his own will."  To prove that God determines everything, a Calvinist points to the words, "all things."  Indeed, God determines or controls every single happening of all time.  That's what the verse is telling us.  This is an example of a Calvinist going further than the text to conform to the system.

I think you could look at that verse and say that God has His will and He works all things to accomplish His purpose and will.  That isn't determining everything.  He is in charge and in control, but that isn't controlling everything.  This important verse to Calvinists doesn't say as much as they read into it.

To elaborate on what I see it saying in light of everything else the Bible says, I say that God's will is His end or His purpose.  He makes sure occurs what He wants to occur.  He must have power over everything in every moment to accomplish that.  He must have vast wisdom.  He must be able to be every place at once.  He must know the past, present, and future like it is a kind of eternal present.

God in His sovereignty and power gives free will to man.  He allows men to make choices.  He still works everything to the end that pleases Him, that He wants.  God either allows or causes every single thing that happens, so He is involved with everything.

I am not going to deal with every single verse a Calvinist might use.  He may say there are better ones than what I'm listing.  Another one is Genesis 50:20:

But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

This is a passage where the Calvinist says that the brothers thinking their deeds for evil, God meant unto good.  Apparently, their evil thoughts and deeds were determined or controlled by God.  This is apparently an example of God doing that.

This viewpoint of the Joseph story conflicts and perplexes, when it makes God the author of his brother's evil.  According to the system, the brothers are still responsible for the evil, even though it was predetermined by God.  None of that makes sense.  Everything can still make sense and God still be sovereign.  The truth will not conflict like this or perplex.

Passages that Present a Problem with the Calvinistic Doctrine of Free Will

As I write this section, I think I'm typing what I choose.  I'm not writing in any order.  I'm just putting down what comes into my brain first from years of reading and studying the Bible and thinking some of that time about this doctrine.  Maybe I have free will because I'm indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

I do think that I understand the Calvinist problem with free will for the unbeliever.  He's in bondage to sin.  Even if he does what he wants, what he wants isn't what he wants, but what the prince of the world wants for him, along side the world and the flesh.  Then other thoughts pop into my brain, that is, God is also controlling Satan, so when he orchestrates the world to bring this person into bondage, God controls Satan and the man too.  That perplexes.  What is the real bondage?

Some of those Calvinistic thoughts of free will clash with what I read in the Bible in many places.  A whole reference Bible could be written called The Free Will Reference Bible that would clash with the Calvinistic doctrine of free will.  Why won't someone write that?  I wouldn't want to.  I could call it, the Bible, because it's so plain that men are making choices and doing what they want to do all the way through the Bible.  That's how it is reported too.

I'll give one passage for now and that's Romans 1:18.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.

Paul justifies God's wrath against unbelievers, because they do have free will.  God reveals Himself in many different ways.  God works toward salvation.  Men, however, hold the truth in unrighteousness.

I recognize Calvinists have an answer.  They must.  That's partly how they keep it going.  I know, no one can keep it going, because man can do nothing.

Men know God.  They glorify him not as God.  They know they should be thankful and they are not.  That all looks like human responsibility.  They hold the truth in unrighteousness.

I'm not going to give an in depth exegesis, but "hold" is katecho, which means "hold back" or "suppress."  God is just in his wrath, because man deserves it.  He is definitely under the influence of unrighteousness, but he's still guilty.  He is still responsible.  He has the free will to stop suppressing.

The fact that man suppresses means that God is doing something that requires resistance.  It must be strong resistance, because it is against God.  This does not read like predetermination.  God knows it will happen.  He knows everything, but man is given an opportunity and he freely turns away from it.

The passage also reads like God's wrath would not be justified if man did not have a choice.  He had one.  God could be just, according to His own rules, if man had a choice, had the free will to choose, and he did not take it.  It was more than that, he suppressed something where God was pressing in on him.  Man will not be able to say that he did not have a choice.  He suppressed this good opportunity that God gave Him.

A Calvinist might say that this man could not be saved, because he did not have the will to be saved.  I agree with that, but that discounts the ability that God gives.  I'll talk more about that in the future.

(To Be Continued)