Matthew 15:13
Matthew 15:10-14 (see also Matthew 13:28)
After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand, ‘It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.’ Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?” But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Question: According to Calvinism, God predetermined whatsoever comes to pass, including every thought, word and deed, including sin. So if that is the case, then how would there be anything that God “did not plant”?
Answer: It seems clear to me that there are some things that God is not responsible for, and the existence of the pharisaical leadership is a perfect example. Another example is found at Jeremiah 32:35 regarding child sacrifice.
Speaking of the wheat and the tares, Matthew 13:24-30 states: “Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
Notice that God did not plant the tares. An “enemy” did that. There are certain things that God has not done, and has not planted. God is in sovereign control of allowing it, but such sovereignty does not necessarily require that He perform the very thing that He is instead, permitting.
