In the final chapters on this website, 14, 15, and 16, I will attempt to expound, from the Scriptures, three key doctrines pertinent to the Calvinist/non-Calvinist controversy. They are grace, faith, and election. As many non-Calvinist scholars have convincingly demonstrated, these key doctrines have been misinterpreted by Calvinists. See the Annotated Bibliography. Therefore, this controversy does not continue due to a lack of biblical clarity regarding these doctrines. Many non-Calvinists have capably interpreted the controversial texts. Rather, the controversy continues due to the Calvinists’ rejection of the hermeneutical principles of non-contradiction, coherence, and consistency, which I argued ultimately amounts to a careless indifference regarding the principle of context. It is this faulty Calvinist hermeneutic that perpetuates this controversy. I will seek to demonstrate that the non-Calvinist interpretations of these key doctrines are supported by the pertinent biblical texts when read coherently within their historical, social, and literary contexts. In that the non-Calvinist interpretations exhibit non-contradiction, coherence, and consistency while the Calvinist interpretations do not, the non-Calvinist interpretations prove their validity.
We have already dealt thoroughly with the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. I have shown that the Calvinist understanding of divine sovereignty as a universal divine causal determinism is incoherent, inconsistent, and in contradiction with the biblical witness to a contingent reality and what it teaches about human freedom and responsibility.
We have also established that divine foreknowledge is not causal; that is, simply because God knows what is to occur does not make what occurs happen necessarily. What God knows is the free will actions of his creatures. God’s foreknowledge tracks the free choices of persons. If persons were to have made different choices than they did, which they are capable of doing, that is what God would have foreknown. What we freely choose to do, God foreknows. God knows what people will do, yet they freely will to do it, and they could have done otherwise. This also eliminates Calvinistic determinism with respect to the free offer of salvation and who can be saved.
The doctrine of grace is also a key doctrine in this controversy. Let’s examine the meaning of “grace” in Scripture in reference to salvation.
Let’s begin by pointing out that there are different nuances to the meaning and activity of divine grace in Scripture. “Grace” can refer to the favorable activity of God on behalf of his people in a particular historical situation (Ezra 9:8,9), the wise or favorable speech of a king (Ps. 45:2), and it can be contrasted to life under the “law” (Jn. 1:17). It can refer to the strength or power provided a person to accomplish a task or mission or endure a struggle (Gal. 2:9; Eph. 3:3-8; Acts 4:33; 6:8; Rom. 1:5; 2 Cor. 12:9). It can refer to the effects of the gospel in the community of believers (Acts 11:23; 13:43), the new life in Christ (Rom. 6:1,14), winsome speech (Col. 4:6), etc. In BDAG’s Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament, one definition of “grace” is the “practical application of goodwill, (a sign of) favor, gracious deed/gift, benefaction.” As for these characteristics as applying to God and Christ, the definition goes on to note that.
“…the context will show whether the emphasis is upon the possession of divine favor as a source of blessing for the believer, or upon a store of favor that is dispensed, or a favored status (i.e., standing in God’s favor) that is brought about, or a gracious deed wrought by God in Christ, or a gracious work that grows fr. more to more (so in contrast to the old covenant…)”[1]
What we learn is that the definition of “grace” is nuanced and dependent upon its context. Yet, we can say that the fundamental meaning of the biblical term in the active sense has to do with the favor or beneficent disposition of God towards man. BDAG goes on to state, “The proclamation of salvation is the message of divine beneficence τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς χάριτος τοῦ θεοῦ [“the gospel of the grace of God”] Acts 20:24 or ὁ λόγος τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ (= τοῦ κυρίου) [“the word of his (“of the Lord’s”) grace”]” 14:3; 20:32. Even the gospel message can be called ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ [“the grace of God”] 13:43; cp. 18:27.” [2]
For our purposes here, I want to examine these meanings and associations of grace as they relate to salvation and the gospel. The biblical writers connect the meaning of grace to both salvation and the gospel as indicated above. More examples can be given. The apostle Peter states, “…we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus…” (Acts 15:11, CSB) Paul talks about the ministry he received from the Lord Jesus, that is, “to testify to the gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24, CSB) Note how Paul defines the gospel in terms of “God’s grace.” Paul also speaks about being “…justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Rom. 3:24, 25, ESV) And he writes, “That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all…” (Rom 4:16, CSB) Also, “For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift which comes through the grace of the one man Jesus Christ overflowed to the many.” (Rom 5:15, CSB) To the churches in Galatia, he writes, “I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” (Gal.1:6,7, CSB) Later, Paul can speak of nullifying or setting aside the grace of God. “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” (Gal. 2:21, CSB)
Whether it is biblically true that God’s grace, with respect to salvation, is given only to those individuals whom God has predestined to eternal life, making this grace limited and irresistible to them as the Calvinist position claims, or, whether it is biblically true that God’s grace, with respect to salvation, is a disposition and intention God maintains towards all sinners and is found in Jesus Christ, and is an essential element in the gospel message as “good news” to them, and yet may be resisted by the sinner, as the non-Calvinist position claims, is the issue before us.
Go to the next section: The Calvinist Understanding of Grace
Chapter 14: The Nature of Grace in Scripture
The Truth of the Gospel 