Matthew 13:58
Matthew 13:58 (see also John 5:40)
And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
Mark 6:5
He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.
Arminian, John Wesley: “It being inconsistent with his wisdom to work them there, where it could not promote his great end; and with his goodness, seeing he well knew his countrymen would reject whatever evidence could be given them. And therefore to have given them more evidence, would only have increased their damnation.” (John Wesley’s Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible)
As an illustration, if I said, “I cannot continue this conversion,” I’m not saying that I physically cannot, but that I will not, for my own reasons. Here, Jesus had the power to peform many miracles (because He “upholds all things by the word of His power,” Hebrews 1:3), but says that He could not, for the simple reason that He would not, which was because of their “unbelief.”
1) God’s good will was to perform many miracles.
2) Man’s will was disbelief.
3) The gospel writer is saying that God’s good will to perform many miracles was circumvented by man’s disbelief.
The Lord intends good, wills good, and would do it, except unwilling man would not have God’s good thing carried into effect. Simple enough. Now let’s compare that with what Calvinists say:
Calvinist, Charles Spurgeon: “According to the freewill scheme the Lord intends good, but he must win like a lackey on his own creature to know what his intention is; God willeth good and would do it, but he cannot, because he has an unwilling man who will not have God’s good thing carried into effect. What do ye, sirs, but drag the Eternal from his throne, and lift up into it that fallen creature, man: for man, according to that theory nods, and his nod is destiny.” (God’s Will and Man’s Will, emphasis mine)
What the Calvinist contemptuously derides as a “freewill scheme,” appears to be Scripture itself.
Question: Is the gospel writer saying that Jesus’ lack of “many” miracles, was the consequence of their “unbelief”? Why didn’t Jesus do more miracles? What reason is given?
Answer: Obviously, man’s unbelief. However, Calvinists wish instead to ask what causes faith or the lack thereof? So in other words, according to Calvinists: God caused their disbelief, so that He wouldn’t perform any miracle except what He decreed to perform.
Calvinist paraphrase: Jesus did not perform many miracles there because of their unbelief, and their unbelief was because of God’s unconditional decree of Reprobation.
