Back to Chapter 6: What’s at Stake: The Character of God and the Truth of the Gospel
References
Gregory D. Gilbert, What is the Gospel? (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2010), 17.
John MacArthur, The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2007) p. xxv
End Notes
[1] “Peterson and Williams, Not an Arminian, 161. To restate an earlier point, this is a mainstream Calvinist position, not some extreme “hyper-Calvinism.”
Glen Shellrude, “Calvinism and Problematic Readings of New Testament Texts Or, Why I am Not a Calvinist,” Grace for All: The Arminian Dynamics of Salvation, Clark H. Pinnock and John D. Wagner eds., (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2015), 31-32.
[2] Glen Shellrude, Grace for All, 45.
[3] Glen Shellrude, Grace for All, 46.
[4] Edwin Palmer, The Five Points of Calvinism (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1972), 106.
[5] Glen Shellrude, “Calvinism and Problematic Readings of New Testament Texts Or, Why I am Not a Calvinist” in Grace for All: The Arminian Dynamics of Salvation, Clark H. Pinnock and John D. Wagner, eds., (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2015), 46-47.
[6] A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1961), 21.
[7] A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1961), 10..
[8] Austin Fischer, Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed: Black Holes, Love, and a Journey In and Out of Calvinism, (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2014), xi.
[9] A. W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, (San Francisco: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1961), 117-118.
[10] Ibid. 119.
[11] Austin Fischer, Young, Restless, No Longer Reformed: Black Holes, Love, and a Journey In and Out of Calvinism, (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2014), x – xi.
[12] Jerry L. Walls & Joseph R. Dongell, Why I am Not A Calvinist, (IVP: Downers Grove, 2004), 18.
[13] “Atonement for All: 1 Tim. 2:1-6 with David Allen. “Soteriology 101” podcast with Leighton Flowers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9diyt5UVLU (1:05:12 – 1:05:44). Last accessed Oct. 12, 2025.
[14] Ibid. (1:05:44 – 1:06:48).
[15] Ibid. (1:07:04 – 1:07:35).
[16] R. C. Sproul, Knowing Scripture, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press), 39.
[17] D. A. Carson, “Church, Authority in the,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Walter Elwell, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 249.
[18] D. A. Carson, “Church, Authority in the,” Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Walter Elwell, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 251.
[19] Ibid. 251.
[20] John MacArthur, “Social Justice and the Gospel, Part 2,” Sept. 2, 2018. From the “Grace to You” website’s transcript of the sermon, which is incomplete and edited. https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/81-22/social-justice-and-the-gospel-part-2 Last accessed Dec. 7, 2025.
[21] On Calvinism, we must accept that the eternal destiny of each person has already been determined by God. Nothing can alter that eternal decree. As Calvin states,
“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. – John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 926.
[22] Still Sovereign: Contemporary Perspectives on Election, Foreknowledge, and Grace, eds. Thomas R. Schreiner and Bruce A. Ware, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000) pp. 16, 17.
[23] C. H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Sovereign Grace Sermons (Edmonton: Still Waters Revival Books, 1990), 129.
[24] John Piper, Tulip, The Pursuit of God’s Glory in Salvation (Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethlehem Baptist Church, 2000), back cover.
[25] H. Hanko and H. C. Hoeksema and J. Van Baren, The Five Points of Calvinism (Grand Rapids: Mich.: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 1976), 45.
[26] Professor David J. Engelsma, A Defense of Calvinism as the Gospel (South Holland: The Evangelism Committee, Protestant Reformed Church). April 6, 2013, https://www.prca.org/resources/pamphlets/a-defense-of-calvinism-as-the-gospel. Last accessed Dec. 7, 2025.
[27] Arthur C. Custance, The Sovereignty of Grace (Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1979), 302.
[28] George Bryson, The Dark Side of Calvinism: The Calvinist Caste System (Santa Ana, Calvary Chapel Publishing, 2004), 37, 39.
[29] Professor David J. Engelsma, A Defense of Calvinism as the Gospel (South Holland: The Evangelism Committee, Protestant Reformed Church). April 6, 2013, https://www.prca.org/resources/pamphlets/a-defense-of-calvinism-as-the-gospel. Last accessed Dec. 7, 2025.
[30] Professor David J. Engelsma, A Defense of Calvinism as the Gospel (South Holland: The Evangelism Committee, Protestant Reformed Church). April 6, 2013, https://www.prca.org/resources/pamphlets/a-defense-of-calvinism-as-the-gospel. Last accessed Dec. 7, 2025.
[31] J. I. Packer, “Arminianisms,” in Through Christ’s Word: A Festschrift for P. E. Hughes, ed. W. Robert Godfrey and Jesse L. Boyd III (Phillipsburg, N.J.: P & R, 1985), p. 121.
[32] Robert A. Peterson and Michael D. Williams, Why I Am Not An Arminian (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2004), p. 9.
[33] D. A. Carson in the Foreword of Greg D. Gilbert, What is the Gospel? (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 13-14.
[34] Note that Carson does not use the phrase “good news” here. My contention is that the Calvinist “doctrines of grace” are not the gospel and cannot be put in the service of true “evangelism” precisely because there is no news in them to be proclaimed that is distinctively good. Indeed, Calvinists not only default to a non-Calvinist theological perspective in their regular preaching and teaching that is inconsistent with their underlying Calvinist doctrinal position, but they also default to a non-Calvinist gospel message when teaching or preaching directly about the gospel or evangelizing. I submit, therefore, that it is Carson’s own soteriology that cannot accurately reflect the meaning of the term “evangelical.” It is the Calvinist that does not have any legitimate right to be called “evangelical” because it is they who in light of their “doctrines of grace” have no “good news” to give.
[35] “Mohler: Southern Baptists Need ‘Table Manners’ When Discussing Calvinism” by James A. Smith Sr., Southern News, Nov. 15, 2013. https://www.sbts.edu/news/mohler-southern-baptists-need-table-manners-when-discussing-calvinism/. Last accessed Oct. 13, 2025.
[36] Eric Hankins is the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Fairhope, Alabama. He is also the author of “An Introduction to “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation” which outlines the non-Calvinist (Traditionalist) position on salvation in contrast to the Calvinist soteriological doctrines. http://sbctoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/A-Statement-of-Traditional-Southern-Baptist-Soteriology-SBC-Today.pdf Last accessed 12/7/2025.
[37] “Mohler: Southern Baptists Need ‘Table Manners’ When Discussing Calvinism” by James A. Smith Sr., Southern News, Nov. 15, 2013. https://www.sbts.edu/news/mohler-southern-baptists-need-table-manners-when-discussing-calvinism/. Last accessed Oct. 13, 2025.
[38] That is, only if one values consistency between their soteriology and their message. But what of the Calvinist that preaches a non-Calvinist gospel message? Of course the Calvinist would never attempt to justify inconsistency between their soteriology and their gospel message, rather, my observation is that they “explain” away the inconsistency as “mystery” – that the Bible teaches both theistic determinism and human responsibility and proceed to ignore the problem of inconsistency and contradiction.
[39] For instance, while addressing the subject of victimhood in his series of sermons on “Social Justice and the Gospel,” Calvinist pastor and teacher John MacArthur stressed the need for each individual to take responsibility for their own sins and not blame others for the things that happen to them or the life circumstances they find themselves in. They should not look to others as the cause or as an excuse for their own attitudes, desires, thoughts, beliefs and behaviors. But MacArthur’s call to take responsibility for our attitudes, desires, thoughts, beliefs and behaviors or actions is incoherent with his own deterministic definition of God’s sovereignty. All Calvinists like MacArthur believe divine sovereignty amounts to a universal divine causal determinism. Given this type of theistic determinism, God’s will is the only reason a person thinks desires, believes and behaves as they do. That’s just what the Calvinist means by sovereignty. This of course also applies to one’s salvation and hence to the content of the “gospel.” On Calvinism one is saved because God has unconditionally elected them to salvation. All others not elected cannot be saved. But MacArthur insists upon ignoring this fact and presenting life and salvation as if people themselves are responsible for what they do despite the fact that MacArthur believes that God has predetermined every person’s thoughts, desires, attitudes, actions and eternal destiny. He argues that this victim mentality is antithetical to the gospel because the gospel requires that people acknowledge that they are sinners rather than passing their sin off onto someone or something else. He writes,
“So I’m not arguing that people aren’t victims; they are, we all are to one degree or another, because it’s a fallen world. And I’m not arguing that we don’t have a responsibility to be kind, we do; and to give mercy and justice and love and compassion, even sacrificially, doing good to all men. What I’m saying is that while we show sympathy – and even God shows a measure of sympathy – don’t think for a moment that that is going to be transferred over to how God deals with a sinner who doesn’t repent and come to Him for forgiveness. Our message to the sinner is, “I want to do what I can to relieve your suffering, if that’s possible; but I’m much more concerned about the eternal suffering that is awaiting you. And God will not be merciful to you unless you have come to Him to receive forgiveness of sins. That only happens through the gospel through the Lord Jesus Christ.”
So while so many evangelicals are happy to show sympathy and kindness toward those who feel like they are victims, there are many real victims and there are a lot of artificial victims; but while we want to show them kindness we have to remember God will show no [sic] mercy to any sinner who rejects Him and rejects His gospel and rejects His Son. And sooner or later in our acts of mercy we need to address the issue of sin and death and eternal judgment in hell. Whatever your circumstances are, whether you have lived above the fray, whether you have lived in prosperity and wealth, or whether you have lived in poverty and deprivation, the issue is the sins that you commit, the alienation of your entire being from God is going to send you to hell forever, unless you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are forgiven through faith in Him.”
The point here is that MacArthur, although affirming Calvinist soteriology, preaches a non-Calvinist message involving repentance as a contingent matter; he warns that God will not show mercy to any sinner who rejects God, the gospel or Jesus; he expresses being “concerned about the eternal suffering that is awaiting you” if the sinner doesn’t repent; that God will be merciful if the sinner comes to receive forgiveness of sins, and that “God is going to send you to hell forever, unless you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and are forgiven through faith in Him.” The contingent nature of this presentation is more in accord with an Arminian, Traditionalist or Provisionist understanding of the gospel. MacArthur completely ignores his own deterministic soteriological “doctrines of grace” because he knows that they cannot be put into the service of evangelism on the basis of the gospel being “good news.” There is no “good news” in Calvinist soteriology.
– John MacArthur, “Social Justice and the Gospel, Part 4,” Sept. 23, 2018. From the “Grace to You” website transcript which mostly is not a word-for-word transcription of the sermon but seeks to give the substantive content of the message throughout. https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/81-24/social-justice-and-the-gospel-part-4 Last accessed on Dec. 7, 2025.
[40] Josh Moody, No Other Gospel: 31 Reasons from Galatians Why Justification by Faith Alone Is the Only Gospel (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), 218-219.
[41] Ibid. 220.
[42] Ibid. 221.
[43] Ibid. 222. And the incoherence here is that Moody is teaching that the nature of the reality that God uses to accomplish a universal divine causal determinism is contingent, that is, the means by divine determinism is brought about are characterized by real contingency. As such, the means are incoherent with the ends. If in the end all is explained by universal divine causal determinism there is no such thing as contingency. There can be no contingent “means” that bring about an absolute determinism. On Calvinism it is hard to see how it is coherent to say that “there is a judgment for what we teach” when “what we teach” has been determined by God. Moody’s statements only make sense from within a non-Calvinist theological framework. Calvinism is untenable and unliveable, and these are sure signs that it is false.
[44] Clark H. Pinnock, “Introduction,” in Grace Unlimited, ed. Clark H. Pinnock (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1975), 11.
[45] Ibid. 221.
[46] George Bryson, The Dark Side of Calvinism: The Calvinist Caste System (Costa Mesa: Calvary Chapel Publishing, 2004), 23-24.
[47] Ibid. 24.
[48] Phillip Graham Ryken, What is a True Calvinist? Basics of the Reformed Faith Series, (Phillipsburg: Puritan and Reformed Publishing, 2003), 7.
[49] Ibid. 29.
[50] Ibid. 29.
[51] Clark H. Pinnock, “Introduction,” in Grace Unlimited, ed. Clark H. Pinnock (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1975), 12.
[52] William Lane Craig Podcast, “Questions from Facebook, Part 1,” Time: 3:20 – 6:31. https://www.reasonablefaith.org/media/reasonable-faith-podcast/questions-from-facebook-part-one/ Last accessed Dec. 7, 2025.
[53] Os Guinness, Renaissance: The Power of the Gospel However Dark the Times (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 90-91. (Italics mine.)
[54] To hear an example of the intellectual and emotional disequilibration inherent in Calvinism, listen to Leighton Flowers’ critique of John Piper’s teaching on irresistible grace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roafWT-N3yw Last accessed on Dec. 7, 2025. Leighton Flowers’ website provides excellent, studied, fair-minded, and substantive critiques of Calvinism. The strength of many of his critiques lies in hearing Calvinists explain their views in their own words, while Leighton provides detailed comments and teaching on an alternative non-Calvinist position that he calls “Traditionalism,” and more recently “Provisionism.”
[55] See John 1:14; 12:23, 27-32; 13:31-32; 14:6-14; 16:14-15; 17:1-5, 10, 20-24; 21:19; Heb. 1:3.
[56] Heb. 1:1, 2.
[57] William Lane Craig states, “…the Holy Spirit bears witness to the great truths of the Gospel. So how do we find out what those truths are? Well, they are in God’s Word. So God’s Word is the medium by which we learn these truths, and then it is the Spirit that bears witness to that truth. Just like in your experience! You heard this, and I am sure it impressed itself upon you somehow as true, that this is really the Word of God that is speaking to me. The assurance doesn’t come from the Word. It comes from the Holy Spirit who bears witness to that Word. The Word is what gives you the content. It is the medium. But then it is God’s own Spirit that bears testimony to the truth of that. That is why the proclamation of the Gospel and the Word of God is so important because it will be the medium by which we will learn about these truths that the Spirit bears witness to.” – William Lane Craig, Defenders 3, Excursus on Natural Theology, Part 4. https://www.reasonablefaith.org/podcasts/defenders-podcast-series-3/s3-excursus-on-natural-theology/excursus-on-natural-theology-part-4/ Last accessed Nov. 9, 2017.
[58] Kelly M. Kapic, A Little Book for New Theologians: Why and How to Study Theology, (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2012), 58.
[59] The word “evangelical,” after all, comes from the Greek, euangélion, which means “good news.”
[60] G. I. Williamson, The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes, ch. III, sect. 8, (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1978), 37.
[61] A. Berkeley Mickelsen, Interpreting the Bible (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1963), 18-19.
[62] Glen Shellrude, “Calvinism and Problematic Readings of New Testament Texts Or, Why I am Not a Calvinist” in Grace for All: The Arminian Dynamics of Salvation, Clark H. Pinnock and John D. Wagner, eds., (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2015), 44.
[63] C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, (New York: Macmillan, 1962), pp. 37.
Back to Chapter 6: What’s at Stake: The Character of God and the Truth of the Gospel
The Truth of the Gospel 