It was brought to my attention, the other night, from a well-meaning, post-modern Arminian (all by his own admission) that he can't be a Reformed Christian due to the contradictions within that system. The main problem being with free will and sovereignty (and the problem of evil, which I'll deal with later). Two proof texts were used in order to support his position. According to this young gent, the weight of evidence supporting a partially good human heart the ability to accept or reject God's good gift was overwhelming (I added the third just to round it out). These were:
I Tim 2:4 - who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
Heb 2:9 - 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
2 Peter 3:9 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Whenever we have a question about a verse or two or three we must interpret such a verse in light of the entire revelation of the Scriptures. Secondly, we must understand the context of these passages. I often here that we should "just take the Bible at face value - I don't assume anything when I read it". Perhaps the impossibility of such a statement will be dealt with in a later post, but for now, it must be understood that we all come to the scriptures with a preconceived interpretation, and as we grow in Christ, these assumptions that we bring, must be more in more in line with the entirety of the Word. The assumption of Biblical Christians, as they come to the Word, is that it is true. It is true because it came from a Sovereign, Holy, all-powerful God. Any notion contrary to this makes any other interpretation of the Bible impossible.
Now, to the "problematic" scriptures listed above. As the argument goes, we see, they say, that God wants Everyone and All to come to him and therefore it is up to the will of men to respond to such a general call. On the contrary though, we see that these books were written to the Believers - the hearers of these letters. Both Peter, Paul and the writer of Hebrews are writing to the Beloved, the Believers; they are writing to those that have obtained Faith. If they were addressing the entire earth and all the inhabitants, this "proof text" would stand, but that is simply not the case here. Furthermore, if Arminians were consistent and consistently removed any considering of context, they would then have to use the "you", "beloved", "any," "everyone" and "all" to mean every single person in the earth who ever lived in every case of the usage. This is a very large problem because it leads us right to the doorstep of Universalism - a FAR bigger problem than man's inability or "free will".
But what we see, by the entire testimony of the Word, and in these passages, that God loves his people - and it is a Particular Love. God loves his children to such a degree that he guarantees their salvation through Christ his Son. This is not a general love, a love that is scattered on a field in the hopes that some will receive; rather it is a manifest, particular love of such intensity and beauty that we can't help but respond, praise be to Him. So rather than leaving a potentially deadly decision to the fickle and whimsical free-will of a sinful lot of wretched souls - he has sovereignly guaranteed their salvation at Calvary - a gift that was not earned or kept by the will of Men. And finally, remember, that a God who is not sovereign (in every way) is a God who is not God. Only the one true God deserves and demands our loyalty and worship.
As I believe that 3 verses are not enough to provide a full understanding of God, please find this list as helpful to this study as I have. The weight of Scripture in support of a Sovereign, loving and most Holy God:
Genesis 20:6
6 Then God said to him in the
dream, “Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your
heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning w against me. Therefore I
did not let you touch her.
Genesis 50:19-20
19
But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20
As for you, you meant evil against me, but i God meant it for good, to
bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
Psalm 115:3
3 Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.
Psalm 135:6
6 Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.
Proverbs 16:4
4 The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
Proverbs 16:9
9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Proverbs 19:21
21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Proverbs 20:24
24 A man's steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way?
Proverbs 21:1
21 The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
Isaiah 10:5-7
5 Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury! 6 Against a godless nation I send him, and against the people of my wrath I command him, to take spoil and seize plunder, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. But he does not so intend, and his heart does not so think; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off nations not a few;
Isaiah 14:27
27 For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?
Isaiah 43:12-13
12 I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God. 13 Also henceforth I am he; there is none who can deliver from my hand; I work, and who can turn it back?”
Isaiah 46:9-10
9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
Lamentations 3:37
37 Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it?
Daniel 4:34-35
34
At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and
my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and
honored p him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting
dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; 35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
Matthew 1:21
He shall save His people from their sins.
John 6:37
John 10:11
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.
John 10:26
but you do not believe because you are not My sheep.
John 15:13-14
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.
Acts 20:28
the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.
Eph. 5:25, 26
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her...
Acts 4:27-28
27
for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy
servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever
your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.
Romans 9:18-23
18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. 19
You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can
resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?
Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like
this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the
same lump d one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable
use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his
power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for
destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for
vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
