Vanhoozer writes,
“The good news…is that God hates nothing which he created…” (RT, 341)
This is an astounding statement coming from a Reformed Calvinist. Vanhoozer, like all Calvinists, hold to a doctrine of unconditional election or predestination. Recall that Calvin defines predestination as follows,
“We call predestination God’s eternal decree, by which he compacted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is foreordained for some, eternal damnation for others. Therefore, as any man has been created to one or the other of these ends, we speak of him as predestined to life or to death.”[1]
Note carefully that Calvin views persons as “created” to “eternal life” or “eternal damnation.” Vanhoozer has said that “God hates nothing which he created,” yet he created a myriad number of persons for the very purpose of predestinating them to “eternal damnation” and “death.” I don’t know how Vanhoozer could think that God does not hate these non-elect people he predestined to hell, let alone associate this with “the good news!” God certainly does not love them! There is certainly no “good news” for them. God assigns to them to separation from himself and all that is good for all eternity. There is no “good news” for them – ever! So, this statement by Vanhoozer is simply false according to his soteriology and dismissive of the divine hate inherent in the corollary of his doctrine of unconditional election.
Vanhoozer also writes,
“Augustine’s rule for biblical interpretation can be neatly extended to the church’s interpretive performance: when faced with a plethora of possible meanings, choose the interpretation that fosters love of God and love of neighbor. “Correct” interpretation of Scripture means living a life of love and service to God, to the church as the people of God, and to the world. We really understand the story of Jesus when we perform it.” (FT, 333)
Although Vanhoozer is stressing the impact of a life lived in love, we still need a rational basis upon which we can act and incarnate our theological beliefs. We act from what we know and believe. We believe upon the basis of what we are persuaded is true. We cannot produce a life lived in a certain way apart from convictions which come from thoughtful reflection on what is true. One of the problematic elements in Calvinism is this inaccessibility of God’s true disposition towards me and you personally and individually. The doctrine of an eternal decree and unconditional election generate an epistemological void with respect to my standing with God. Augustine would have us believe the “correct” interpretation to be one that fosters love. If this is so then Calvinism is certainly indicted as biblically incorrect, for it cannot provide the epistemological basis for a response of love to God or neighbor. One cannot know whether God loves them or not. And if this is so, how are we to love God in return? And the basis of loving one’s neighbor surely lies in the fact that we know God loves them as he loves us too. Even Luther admits that one’s response to God is based upon what one assuredly knows of God’s love to them. He penned these words of a hymn,
“All this for us thy love hath done; by this to thee our love is won…”[2]
It is in our nature as human being created in the image of God to have a mind to know what is true and also desire a personal knowledge and relationship with God. Vanhoozer says that the correct biblical interpretation is the one that “fosters love of God and love of neighbor.” I submit to you that the Calvinist doctrines cannot foster love of God because they provide no assurance that God loves us, and they cannot foster love of neighbor because we are told by Calvinists that God does not love all people but has predestined many to hell. As such, according to Augustine’s own rule for biblical interpretation, these are misinterpretations of the scriptures.
Vanhoozer states that “The good news…is that God hates nothing which he created.” This statement is false according to Vanhoozer’s Calvinist beliefs, and therefore it leaves us wondering whether Calvinism has any “good news” to proclaim. What would be the content of this “good news” that would be consistent with Vanhoozer’s Calvinist soteriology? Would it be the Calvinist “doctrines of grace” (i.e., soteriological doctrines or TULIP) that tell us that some people are predestined to salvation and others to eternal damnation? Why not? For on Calvinism these doctrines are the full and final explanation of why and how a person becomes saved!
So, what is the story of Jesus? What is the precise content of the gospel that would be in accord with its definition as “good news?” What does it mean that “God is love?” (1 Jn. 4:8) What is this “life of love?” Love for whom? What does scripture say is the scope and expression of God’s love for people? (Jn. 3:16; Rom. 5:8) The Calvinist doctrines are incompatible with the gospel as “good news” and as such cannot find a coherent place in a truly evangelical gospel ministry. On Calvinism, there is a multitude of people whom God has created for the very purpose of eternal torment and separation from himself. Does a theology of unconditional election and limited atonement foster love of God and love of neighbor? Is such a selective, exclusive love that God has only for certain people he has chosen to be saved provide coherent intellectual and emotional support for a reciprocal love for God and love of neighbor? It must be observed that Calvinism lacks the epistemological basis upon which to be assured of God’s love for oneself. How then can it foster love for God in return? It cannot. God’s disposition towards any one of us could be either a “Yes” or a “No.” Contrary to what Karl Barth argued, that God has spoken an unequivocal “Yes” to all of us in Christ, the Reformed Calvinist soteriology leaves this essential knowledge of whether God really loves us all and has provided for our salvation personally and individually in Christ Jesus in abeyance.
Back to “The Vanhoozer Essays”
[1] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 926.
[2] Martin Luther, 1535 (Gelobet seist du Jesu Christ); translated from German to English by an unknown author in the Sabbath Hymn Book (Andover, Massachusetts: 1858).
The Truth of the Gospel 