Grace and Predestination – Calvinism / Arminianism

Grace is a noun meaning in Christian theology “The free and unmerited favor or beneficence of God.” Grace is how the Father draws the lost to Christ Jesus. It is also the method by which the elect are encouraged by God in their walk of faith as they negotiate their way through the
Christian life.

There are at least two different theologies on who gets to be saved and how that happens. Calvinists believe that God predestined those who will be saved from before the foundation of the world. They also believe that the lost are predestined to reprobation and to be punished for their sins by the second death.

Arminians agree with the Calvinists except that they believe that God has made a choice available to all men to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ or to reject it. They believe that this is included in the Grace of God and that Grace makes this choice possible. They also believe that those who would accept the gospel and believe on Jesus Christ were foreseen by God before the foundation of the world and then predestined. So that they differ from the Calvinists in that they see the lost as having chosen to reject the gospel rather than being predestined to reprobation.

You might wonder how this argument about predestination could occur between two groups of Christians reading the same bible. I agree it is hard to understand but I believe it has come about because of a disagreement about the verses that state that Christ Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross is intended for all. Calvinists claim that “all” does not mean everyone while Arminians believe it does mean everyone.

I believe that the scriptures that indicate that the gospel is for all meaning that via grace everyone gets to hear the truth and make their own decision on whether to accept the truth and believe on Jesus Christ. So, I am an Arminian at heart.

To me, we are not seeing the whole picture here. My view of God is that he is simply magnificent. There is no one like Him. His love is boundless. His creative ability is without peer. Yes, His wrath is incomparable, but He is perfect in His justice and His fairness. All are given a chance, and He is the righteous God. 

The biggest driver of my decision about the way that Grace operates is that there are so many scriptures that indicate that the gospel is for all that it skews the interpretation of the bible if you do not acknowledge them. It seems to me that many Calvinists ignore those scriptures to continue to endorse their view of the five points of Calvinism. https://www.openbible.info/topics/jesus_died_for_all

The result of ignoring these scriptures is an austere view of God. He becomes an arrogant, arbitrary, and contrary God. One wonders if such a God would decide to redeem any of fallen humankind. Surely if fallen man has some redeemable features God would seek to redeem all of humanity? Not just a few.

This line of thought tends to contradict the view that God is the Creator of the Universe. Surely a God who can make planets, stars, black holes, devise and enforce the Laws of Physics, create the natural world and man would have no problem reversing the effects of the fall?

Another issue is that the psalmists, Christ Jesus, the twelve apostles and Paul all insist that God is a loving God? Yet, if God is arbitrary and vindictive toward those who at the time had not lived and they were already sentenced to death. Can God claim to be a loving?

Something is wrong with this picture. There seems to be some other factor that is not being considered. Is that factor that because Satan was corrupted and humanity when given the choice chose evil that God wants this life to be a test of a man’s ability to choose to believe in Yahweh Elohim and whether He will follow Him.

Is it possible that choice, belief, and faith in God are the prime drivers in obtaining salvation? Could it be that God wants a people for his own possession, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people who chose to belong to God. Not those who were programmed to love and obey but being sentient eventually fell. Could this be the purpose of Grace to enable man to rise from the depravity of this life and to choose Christ Jesus as his Saviour.