John Calvin's Views On Predestination

What does it mean for God to be “sovereign?” This is the question that has perhaps caused more controversy than any other. For John Calvin, God was completely sovereign. Nothing outside the will of God could take place, because everything that has taken place, is taking place, or will take place has been divinely ordained before time began. God is the source of all good, and evil cannot take place without His permission. According to Calvin, all of humankind are lost in their sins, and so depraved that they are incapable of finding salvation without God performing an inner-miracle within them. This being said, God has elected to Himself a chosen people from the beginning of time, not off of merit, but sola gratia.

Thirdly, Wesley says predestination “tends to destroy the comfort of religion, the happiness of Christianity. This is evident as to all those who believe themselves to be reprobated, or who only suspect or fear it.” He claims that those who hold to the doctrine of predestination do not have the comfort of the assurance of salvation since they can never be sure if they are one of the elect or not. They will at some point and time become doubtful of their salvation, even when they have the witness of the Holy Spirit. Wesley also claims that many people throughout the world who do not hold to predestination “enjoy the uninterrupted witness of his Spirit, the continual light of his

One objection to his doctrine was that it portrayed God as tyrannical, condemning people who, before creation, had done nothing wrong. A second related objection was that if God willed humanity’s fall in Adam—as Calvin maintained —why does he condemn those in the sinful condition he willed? Moreover, are such people justly condemned for sin they could not avoid? Who can resist the will of God?

Since the beginning of documented history there has been a debate on whether mankind was born with the ability to make decisions, or if every action was already decided. For instance, if someone was to decide to go to the grocery store and was in a car accident and died, was it because they decided to go to the grocery store at that exact moment in time or because that was part of a bigger plan the whole time. Humans have always wanted to believe in something bigger than them and that can be seen as far back as the Mesopotamian cultures with the worshipping of gods. Predestination is a concept which most people take the side of free will or fate because people do not want to admit there may be a greater being that has total control and knowledge; however predestination is more that the decisions that are made are all a part of a greater picture and that people are following a path no matter what they choose.

He believes that God's act of creation did not stop after He created man, but continues all throughout the past, present and future. Calvin not only believes that God cares for all of man and animals, but directs the weather and excersises His power over inanimate objects. Calvin even goes so far as to argue that the movement of the sun, moon, stars, and planets is continued by God's power and not by some energy that was given to them at the beginning of creation, which "carnal sense" would tell us (Calvin 197). He does not believe that God sits back and watches or allows things in nature to happen, but actually causes them to happen. For example, if there was a drought one summer it was caused by God, possibly part of His vengeance or wrath. Or, if the crops flourished the next summer it was also His plan. Likewise, let us say per chance (no pun intended) a man is walking along a mountain pass and some rocks fall and kill him. For Calvin this was not an accident, but a determination and the Will of God. Calvin's ideology of God's Providence in nature is summed up in this quote:

A huge debate in theology is the one that is between Calvinists and Arminians. Calvinists believe that there are a select group of people that God determines to go to heaven and nothing that these people do in their lives can change this. They believe that the others in this world are bound to sin and cannot escape their fate to be sent to hell. Personally I feel that this is absurd. I am not a Calvinist and have never been apart of a congregation that portrays Calvinistic ideas. Calvinistic views take away from Jesus Christ 's death on the cross. From when I was little, I have been taught that Jesus died on the cross for every single person. This means that it is impossible to have an elected amount of people that God chooses for heaven. If we limit Christ’s death to simply the elect, then Christ’s death has less of a significant meaning. Christians should understand that on judgment day they will be judged for the way that they conducted their daily lives, how they loved others as

God knows all that will occur because He ordained all things to occur exactly as they do. Nothing can or does act outside of the will of God, and if anything, even the smallest molecule, were to act outside of the will of God, this could lead to the downfall of God’s entire plan. God’s sole purpose in ordaining all is to bring glory to himself. Calvinists believes that God can do no evil, although, in accordance to His will, He does ordain evil events to occur. He ordains people to do evil acts but does it in such a way that humans are morally responsible for their actions and will be judged for them. Across the Spectrum by Boyd and Eddy (2009) explains “Calvinists hold that God’s foreknowledge is based on how God wills the future to unfold” (2009, p.

“Sin is like a jail cell, except it is all nice and comfy and there doesn't seem to be any reason to leave. The door is wide open. Until one day, time runs out, and the cell door slams shut, and suddenly it is too late.” (God’s not

Predestination is one of the most widely debated topics in the Christian world among many denominations today. There are many differing views and it is a harder topic to explain and understand. Often this topic is argued by twisting or taking the bible out of context. On the other hand many people truly don’t understand predestination and what it means or what it is. Others don’t want to understand predestination because of their fear that it might be truth. This paper will be outlining predestination and Calvinism by explaining this view as well as taking a deeper look into how Romans & Galatians fits into this view.

(Calvin, 1982, p.23) Therefore, even if we spend our lives doing good works, there is no guarantee that we will go to heaven as God has already predestined our fate, irrespective of our actions. This is known as God’s majestic will – the law of His own glory, served by the gratitude of the undeserved bliss of the elect and the misery of the damned. The elect are a symbol of God’s mercy, and the damned a sign of His anger. We can never change the fact that God has already decided whether or not we will be saved.

Albert Mohler (2015) said John Calvin affirmed that “The Word goeth out of the mouth of God in such a manner that it likewise goeth out of the mouth of men; for God does not speak openly from heaven, but employs men as His instruments.” Calvin understood that God uses the preachers as His instruments of saying what He ought to speak; He should have driven us away. Let us not deny the fundamental doctrines of faith because if we do we are denying Christ

“Its seems harsh too many to think that God chooses some and rejects others, and doesn’t not consider men’s worth. If it is unreasonable for God to choose one of the two men and reject the other, how can we defend God’s justice in creating a donkey and a man if it needs defense? For the bodies of the donkeys and men come from the same clay.” (Humphries 37).

The concept of predestination perhaps the strongest belief he held to the point where if you supported the idea of free will. “Others endeavor to overthrow God’s eternal purpose of predestination, by which he distinguishes between the reprobate and the elect; others take upon them to defend free will; and forthwith many throw themselves into their ranks, not so much through ignorance as by a perversity of zeal which I know not how to characterize.” With regards to original sin Calvin. In refusal of other ideas Calvin “never touched upon opposite opinions, unless there was reason to fear.” Calvin was certainly set in his beliefs, but not without

Calvin believes that scripture is the lone religious authority which was created before the church, and also stands above the church. This is problematic from a Catholic point of view because Roman Catholics believe that scriptures were in fact created by the church. They also believe that scriptures were selected by the church in order to develop an official list of sacred books. Calvin also supports the concept of predestination. Calvin’s idea of predestination is that every human being is either destined to be damned in Hell or destined to be saved in Heaven; God has the ability to choose who goes to heaven based on arbitrary reasons. Calvin says, “The separation is before the eyes of all:…one people is peculiarly chosen to the rejection of others; no reason for this appears, except that Moses, to deprive their posterity of all occasion of glorifying, teaches them that their exaltation is wholly from God’s gratuitous love…” (Calvin 340). Calvin also believes that those who are

When philosopher John Calvin wrote his work "Institutes", he stated what he believed to be the grand criterion that gave subjects of a governing body the right to resist their rulers. To him, any policy that directly contradicted the laws of God was grounds for active resistance, not merely as a means of change, but as a moral obligation. Calvin based this stance off of the idea that political leaders derive their power from an external body, in this case, God. In 1579, French Calvinists published Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos, a document John Adams credited as being a very significant contribution to America's founding. In the work, the Calvinists set forth the 'Social Contract Theory' stating that every government draws its right to rule from