Proverbs 3:5
Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. [KJV]
Let’s paraphrase this passage in a way that is relevant to the Calvinist vs. Arminian debate:
Lean not on thine own sovereignty speculations,
But in all thy ways acknowledge His word,
And He shall direct thy doctrine.
Let’s put this to practice, especially in relation to Matthew 23:37 when Jesus lamented: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.” (Matthew 23:37) Arminians do not believe that God’s will is always done on earth “as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) God’s ways are not our ways, and He allows people to reject His will for their life.
One Calvinist asks: “Are you agreeing that God loses to Man, that His ultimate will is not accomplished, that God fails to accomplish what He intended to accomplish?”
To the Calvinist, I ask: “Will you allow God such sovereignty?
The Calvinist responds: “Then, yes, you are agreeing that God has failed to accomplish what He intended to accomplish.”
God has condescended to humanity in a way that allows Himself to be rejected, but also freely received. Nonetheless, Calvinists reject that God should be permitted to express His sovereignty in such a manner.
Calvinist, Alan Kurschner: “God desires that his sheep are saved. God desires that his people are saved. He does not desire that every single individual who has ever lived, live in glory with him forever. If that were the case, we have an incompetent, unhappy, and impotent God.” (The Calvinist Gadfly, emphasis mine)
Calvinist, Matthew McMahon: “I reject anything which makes God a cosmic bell-hop tending to the commands and demands of sinful men as another gospel. I reject anything which removes God’s sovereignty to place man as the Sovereign as another gospel. I reject anything which denies the sovereign decrees of God and His electing grace to put salvation into the hands of sinful men as another gospel. I reject anything which denies man’s total depravity and exalts his fictitious free will as another gospel. I reject anything which places the perseverance of man to glory in the incapable hands of a sinful man as another gospel. I reject anything which endeavors to treat God as the great Grandfather in the sky beckoning and pleading with man to be saved as changing the true God into a pitiable wimp.” (Why I am a Calvinist, emphasis mine)
We should also keep in mind that God says: “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD.” (Isaiah 55:8) Thus, we need to have a healthy mistrust of ourselves, and abandon our own feelings, and submit to exactly what God says, because that is truth. However, Calvinists all too often project their own ideals on to God, and then vilify anyone who disagrees with their perspective of how they feel that God should rule and reign.
Question: Can it rightly be said that God has “failed,”
if men reject His free offer of grace?
Answer: Should we also presume that God “failed” in
the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve rebelled, or
are we going to go down the path of Calvinism and
presume that God secretly prearranged their Fall? The
cost of the Calvinist position is laying the sin of
mankind at the door of the door, which the Calvinist
naturally denies, on purely illogical grounds.
The Calvinist has established the measure of success and failure based upon the presumed decrees of Calvinism. However, here is what God really decreed: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) That’s the real, and immutable, decree of God the Father. If men should reject His free offer of grace in His Son, exactly how has the true decree of God in any way failed? God accomplished what it pleased Him to set out to do. On the cross, Jesus said, “It is finished!” (John 19:30) Mission accomplished, and regardless of whether man accepts or rejects Him, His mission was at Calvary was accomplished, as the provision of Calvary was made, much like Jesus’ own analogy at John 3:14 when pointing to Numbers 21:6-9.
