Back to Chapter 6 – What’s At Stake? The Character of God and the Truth of the Gospel
The more one ponders the issues inherent in the Calvinist/non-Calvinist debate, the more one comes to recognize their profound significance. Jerry L. Walls and Joseph R. Dongell, in their book Why I Am Not A Calvinist, emphasize the important implications of these matters and the indifference many believers have to them.
“There is a lot at stake in this controversy, and it is altogether understandable that its participants express strong feelings. What is at stake is nothing less than the question of how we are saved from our sins and granted eternal life – a question toward which no believer can rationally be indifferent. If we don’t care about this question, we just don’t understand! Indeed, the issue is deeper still, for it concerns the ultimate matter of how God is truly worshipped and glorified. Furthermore, far-reaching practical implications for life and ministry flow from what we believe are the answers to these questions. Earnest discussion is both appropriate and desirable if it helps us get at the truth.
The widespread doctrinal indifference of our times is in part a failure to recognize the important role of argument and even controversy in the church…when the truth concerning matters of great importance is at stake, indifference is hard to understand and defend.”[12]
In a discussion with Dr. Leighton Flowers on the issue of the extent of the atonement, Dr. David Allen states,
“The issue of the extent of the atonement is very near the heart of the gospel…When you get down to the issue of for whose sins did Jesus die, and what 1 Corinthians 15:3 and 4 Paul defines as the gospel, you’re getting very near the heart of the gospel. I mean it’s huge whether Jesus died for the sins of everybody or whether he died for the sins of only some people. That is huge.”[13]
Commenting on the Calvinist doctrine of limited atonement, Dr. Allen states,
“…I believe it is wrong. I believe it’s unbiblical… I do believe limited atonement is a distortion of the gospel. I think it has negative implications for missions, evangelism, preaching…I’m just as interested as anybody else with truth. I want to know what does Scripture say?… It’s not a waste of time to seek truth.”[14]
He continues,
“The extent of the atonement is a huge issue. And it’s worth going to the mat for because it’s very near the heart of the gospel. And of course…if Calvnism’s understanding of election is also wrong, combined with the extent of the atonement being limited, if that’s wrong, then we’ve got a lot of stuff going out that’s false in the churches and beyond and that ought to be countered.”[15]
Yes, on several fronts, Calvinism is unbiblical, with its worst offence being that it destroys the gospel message as “good news.” To this crucial problem, we now turn our attention.
Read the next section – The Gospel is at Stake
Back to Chapter 6 – What’s At Stake? The Character of God and the Truth of the Gospel
Footnotes
[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).
The Truth of the Gospel 