Jonah 2:8
Jonah 2:8
Those who regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness, but I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the LORD.
“They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.” [KJV]
“Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” [NIV]
One member of The Society of Evangelical Arminians: “The basic core of it is covenant blessing, which leads to faithfulness, goodness, mercy, grace, kindness, etc.”
It seems that this passage cannot be referring to either the Calvinistically elect or non-elect, because the Calvinistically elect cannot reject grace, mercy or their faithfulness, and the Calvinistically non-elect have never been shown grace and mercy, to begin with, in order to reject it. So I don’t see who the verse could be referring to, if one is a Calvinist.
Can a person forsake what was never theirs? Can a person reject a Savior that was never theirs to begin with? So the “Reprobate,” according to Calvinism, don’t reject grace, since they were never shown grace. They are, as per the Westminster Confession of Faith, “passed by.” Yet, the Jonah text seems to show that they’ve rejected grace, and so now we’ve got a paradox.
The Calvinistic, Westminster Confession of Faith: “III. By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death.” Additionally, it states: “VII. The rest of mankind, God was pleased, according to the unreachable counsel of his own will, whereby he extendeth or withholdeth mercy, as he pleaseth, for the glory of his sovereign power over his creatures, to pass by; and to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to the praise of his glorious justice.” (Westminster Confession of Faith, III. Of God’s Eternal Decree, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “The Lord in His unmerited election is free and exempt from the necessity of bestowing equally the same grace on all. Rather, He passes by those whom He wills, and chooses whom He wills.” (Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Romans and Thessalonians, p.200, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “When predestination is discussed, it is from the start to be constantly maintained, as I today teach, that all the reprobate are justly left in death, for in Adam they are dead and condemned.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.121, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “But since his purpose is to show how much more powerful in the faithful is the grace of Christ than the curse contracted in Adam, what is there here to shake the election of those whom Christ restores to life, leaving the others to perish?” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.152, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “Those therefore whom God passes by he reprobates, and that for no other cause but because he is pleased to exclude them from the inheritance which he predestines to his children.” (Institutes, Book 3, Chapter 23, Section 1, emphasis mine)
Charles Spurgeon cites the Waldensian creed: “That God saves from corruption and damnation those whom he has chosen from the foundations of the world, not for any disposition, faith, or holiness that he foresaw in them, but of his mere mercy in Christ Jesus his Son, passing by all the rest according to the irreprehensible reason of his own free-will and justice.” (Election, emphasis mine)
Calvinist, James White: “The wonder is not that God passes by rebel sinners and shows His justice in their condemnation; the wonder is that in eternity past He foreknew a people, chosen them in love, and decreed their eternal salvation in their perfect Savior, Jesus Christ.” (Debating Calvinism, p.152, emphasis mine)
The Canons of Dordt: “According to which decree, he graciously softens the hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines them to believe, while he leaves the non-elect in his just judgment to their own wickedness and obduracy.” (The Canons of Dordt, I. Of Divine Predestination, Article 6, emphasis mine)
Calvinist, R.C. Sproul: “God made a choice--he chose some individuals to be saved unto everlasting blessedness in heaven and others he chose to pass over, to allow them to follow the consequences of their sins into eternal torment in hell.” (Chosen By God, p.22, emphasis mine)
R.C. Sproul: “In the Reformed view God from all eternity decrees some to election and positively intervenes in their lives to work regeneration and faith by a monergistic work of grace. To the non-elect God withholds this monergistic work of grace, passing them by and leaving them to themselves.” (Double Predestination, emphasis mine)
Question: So if the Calvinistically non-elect are passed by for grace, then how can they reject or forsake it?
Answer: It’s illogical to say that one rejects (a), if they were passed over for (a), and never had (a) to begin with.
