Exodus 13:2
Exodus 13:2 (see also Luke 2:23)
“Sanctify to Me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and beast; it belongs to Me.”
This is reiterated in the New Testament: “As it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.’” (Luke 2:23)
Calvinists have two defenses to employ: The “of the elect” defense or the Common Grace defense. The former raises the question of whether it is biblically consistent that every firstborn male that was ever born in Israel always ended up saved. The second defense raises the question of what sense in which the firstborn that opens the womb was “holy,” since it qualifies the scope as including “man and beast.” If it means that these are extra special to the Lord, then it raises the question of whether God would call them “holy” while simultaneously creating them as un-holy, if He created them as eternal Reprobates, predestined for Hell. Remember that according to Calvinism, anyone that does go to Hell, goes there intentionally by God’s design and purpose, that is, by being created specifically as “Reprobates.” So if there’s one firstborn male that opens the womb that someday perishes and ends up in Hell, i.e. an eternally predestined Reprobate, then how does God simultaneously call them “holy”?
Question: If Calvinistic Reprobation was true, then how would it make sense to call an unholy Reprobate “holy”?
How is it that the firstborn male that opens the womb, both of man and beast, is “holy to the Lord”? Obviously, it means that it is special to the Lord, and which eliminates the idea that God created it to be un-special, as per the Calvinist doctrine of Reprobation. In other words, God has a holy purpose for every firstborn male that opens the womb, both of man and beast. With Reprobation now swept aside, we can see the verse for what it is. God is a loving heavenly parent, which is quite different than what you get from Calvinism, which teaches that God has birthed the vast majority of creation for Hell so that God can get the maximum glory from it.
