Calvinism: Inconceivable!
The system of Calvinism presents itself as a faithful exposition of biblical truth. It is, in reality, a philosophical framework imposed upon Scripture. At its core lies not a devotion to the Word of God as it stands, but a prior commitment to a concept of God that was inherited not from the apostles but from ancient Greek philosophers.
The foundation of Calvinism is not grace, nor the gospel, nor the cross. Its foundation is the doctrine of divine immutability, not as defined by Scripture, but as defined by Greek metaphysics. This immutability is not the moral constancy of God, nor His faithfulness to His word, but rather the insistence that God cannot change in any respect whatsoever. According to this view, God cannot think new thoughts, He cannot experience sequence, He cannot respond, and He cannot act in time. He must be timeless, impassible, and entirely unresponsive to anything outside Himself. This doctrine is not a biblical one, it is a philosophical commitment.
From this false foundation, the system builds itself logically. If God cannot change, then He cannot be affected by anything outside Himself. If He cannot be affected, then He cannot respond. If He cannot respond, then He cannot genuinely interact with free creatures. Therefore, according to the logic of the system, there cannot be such creatures. There can only be secondary causes operating under a fully determined divine script, thus their doctrines of absolute divine impassibility, simplicity, sovereignty and, by extension, all of the omni-doctrines as well.
This determinism is not presented as a metaphysical speculation, but as a gospel necessity. It is claimed that without it, God's sovereignty is threatened, His plan is uncertain, and His glory is diminished. This is not biblical reasoning, it is fear dressed up as reverence. It is the fear that a responsive God would be a weak God, that a God who waits for man's faith must be subject to man and that a God who genuinely loves all must have failed if all are not saved. None of these fears have any grounding in Scripture whatsoever.
What Scripture teaches is that God is sovereign because He is God, not because He controls every molecule. His sovereignty is not threatened by man's freedom because that freedom is a gift from God. His glory is not diminished by man's response, but displayed in it. The cross does not proclaim God's need to control, but God's willingness to suffer. The gospel is not a decree, it is an invitation!
Calvinism denies all of this. It denies that man has moral freedom in any meaningful sense. It teaches that man cannot respond to God unless he is first regenerated. Even then, the Calvinist does not mean by "respond" what Scripture means or what any normal person means when they use that word. According to Calvinism, man does not choose in the ordinary sense of the word. He only acts according to a nature that has been irresistibly transformed. There is no deliberation nor any real moral decision. There is no personal movement of the will toward truth. Everything is predestined. Every action, every thought, every belief, has been fixed for the entire eternity of God's existence. The language of response and choice remains, but the meaning is gone. And I do mean, gone! The words "respond" and "choice" do not name any identifiable concept that is consistent with the Calvinist system.
Calvinism defines faith not as a genuine response, but as a consequence of an irresistible transformation. It redefines grace from unmerited favor offered to all, into an effectual force applied only to the elect. It redefines love as a selective preference and justice as the glorification of wrath. In fact, it does worse than that. It defines justice as its opposite. Calvinism teaches that God's choosing one person versus another has nothing to do with the person. It is simply an arbitrary, causeless choice. There is no moral dimension to it, it is simply a declaration without a reason. It is called justice, but it defies every rational and biblical notion of what that word means and is, in fact, the opposite of the concept the word normal names.
As for love, it fares no better. Love must be chosen to be meaningful. Love that cannot be chosen is not love at all. If a person cannot do otherwise, then love is not love, it is programming. Calvinism redefines love until it is no longer recognizable. It is no longer the willing desire for the good of another, it is merely the effectual selection of a few. The word remains, but the concept is completely gone.
A system that must redefine nearly every foundational term of the Christian faith in order to preserve its theology has already shown itself to be false. If love does not mean genuine concern for the good of another, if justice does not mean equity and moral consistency, if choice does not involve any real deliberation, if faith is not trust, and if grace is not freely available, then language itself has collapsed. The Bible was written in common terms, meant to be understood by ordinary people. If the words that fill its pages only convey their true meaning to the initiated, then the result is no different from any cloistered cult with its own coded speech. Truth does not hide behind obscure redefinitions, it speaks plainly, because it is light.
Calvinism claims to uphold Sola Scriptura, yet it systematically removes Scripture’s plain language from the people it was meant to reach. If the Bible is to serve as the objective standard of truth, then its words must retain objective meanings. If nearly every central term has been redefined, then the Bible ceases to be a standard and becomes a cipher. Calvinism professes to exalt Scripture, but by altering the meaning of its most essential terms, it renders the text subordinate to the system. The words remain, but their substance is shifted. The book is held aloft, yet its light is dimmed.
Calvinism survives not because it is biblical, but because it has redefined nearly every term the Bible uses. As Inigo Montoya famously says in The Princess Bride, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”, so it is with Calvinism. Words like love, justice, grace, and faith are used often, but they no longer carry their biblical meaning or hardly any meaning at all. When love no longer means willing the good of another, when justice no longer means moral consistency, when grace is no longer freely given, and when faith is not something a person can truly exercise, then we are no longer speaking Christian truth, we are only using Christian vocabulary as camouflage. Calvinism survives not because it is clear, but because it is complex. It redefines every term that matters. It takes the words of Scripture and empties them of their plain meaning. It replaces reason with paradox and accountability with predetermination. It cloaks contradiction in mystery and calls it depth.
None of this is consistent with the message of the New Testament. Paul does not teach that we believe because we were secretly chosen, he teaches that God has chosen to save those who believe. He does not teach that faith is a passive result of regeneration, he teaches that faith is counted for righteousness. He does not teach that the atonement is limited, he teaches that Christ died for all. He does not teach that God shows love only to the elect, he teaches that Christ died for the ungodly.
The final and fatal flaw of Calvinism is that it does not permit the gospel to be believed. According to its logic, no one can believe unless they are regenerated. No one can respond unless God first changes their nature. No one can come unless they were already chosen. Yet Scripture says that those who believe will be saved. That invitation is either true for every hearer or it is a mockery. What kind of gospel tells the lost, you may not be among those Christ died for? What kind of God commands repentance while withholding the capacity to obey? What kind of love selects a few for heaven while ordaining the rest for eternal judgment with no chance of escape? What kind of justice condemns a man for rejecting a salvation that was never truly offered?
If God offers salvation to all, then Calvinism is false. If faith is the condition of salvation, then Calvinism is false. If grace can be resisted, then Calvinism is false. If Christ died for the world, then Calvinism is false. If man is morally accountable, then Calvinism is false. If the gospel is to be preached to every creature as a sincere offer of life, then Calvinism is not Christianity.
The God of Scripture is not a machine, nor is He a frozen will, locked in eternal stasis. He is the living God. He speaks, He calls, He reasons, He grieves, He delights, He loves. His nature is consistent, and it is that unchanging righteous and loving character that assures us He is moved by the prayers of His people. His power is infinite, and His heart is open. His justice is real, and so is His mercy. The God of Scripture does not pre-select worshipers, He seeks them!
This is the God who walked with Adam, who reasoned with Cain, who wept over Jerusalem and who died for the ungodly. He is not limited in understanding, and He is not absent from the world He made. He is not weak because He waits, He is good because He does.
Calvinism does not merely err in logic, it misrepresents the character of God. It removes the power of the gospel, it confuses the mind, hardens the heart, and darkens the counsel of God by words without meaning. It affirms God's glory while denying the goodness that makes glory glorious. It preaches a gospel that cannot be believed, offers a salvation that cannot be chosen, and proclaims a causeless love that is not for all.
Calvinism is not just mistaken, it is a fundamentally different faith.
It must fall.
(June 27, 2025)
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