It has been said that Calvinists and non-Calvinists speak the same language but use different dictionaries. They use the same biblical and theological words, but with very different meanings. This creates confusion for those trying to discern the biblical truth in this controversy. Therefore, it is crucial to know what each side means by their use of certain biblical terms. I contend that due to the Calvinists’ controlling theological paradigm of theistic determinism, certain of their biblical terms, let alone their doctrines, take on meanings not warranted by the scriptures. The word “grace” serves as a prime example.
On Calvinism, God’s grace ultimately serves as a synonym for salvific determinism. It is defined as God having chosen from eternity past certain individuals out of the mass of humanity to be saved. God has the disposition of saving “grace” only towards those specifically chosen or predetermined for salvation. Therefore, “grace” is defined accordingly as God’s decision or choice to save certain persons and not to save, or show “grace,” to any others. God is gracious to his elect or chosen people and those people only. Thus, the Calvinist soteriological doctrines, in toto (TULIP), are referred to as “the doctrines of grace,” and the relationship between grace and salvation is referred to as “sovereign grace.” It is a deterministic, particularistic, and exclusive definition of “grace.” It, of course, includes the sense of “undeserved favor,” but such “grace” has the additional characteristic of the underserved predestination or unconditional election to salvation of a limited number of particularly chosen individuals. It is “grace” given to some and not others. It is a “grace” synonymous with the Calvinists’ deterministic definitions of predestination and election as unconditional.
In contrast to this Calvinist misconception of the nature of grace, the Bible presents “grace” in reference to salvation as unmerited favor and mercy shown by God to all of us who are undeserving sinners. God’s grace is both observed and known in God doing for us what we could not do for ourselves, that is, providing for our salvation. God’s grace is demonstrated in Christ’s death on the cross and the offer of salvation to be received by faith. By his grace, he provided salvation for each one of us. Grace led to salvation being accomplished in the public crucifixion of Jesus. That God has done this is the demonstration of God’s grace, and as such, it comes to each sinner. Each sinner may receive the purpose of this grace, that is, their salvation. Not all will be saved, although God demonstrates his grace in having accomplished salvation for all in the death of Christ. This is no universalism. It is only those who appropriate the salvation God accomplished for them who are saved. They do this by putting their faith and trust in Christ.
Again, in contrast, when Calvinists use the word “grace,” they are primarily referring to a decision God made before the foundation of the world to save some individuals out of all of humanity when not one of them deserved to be saved. This, of course, would be considered an act of grace. But it is a distortion of the biblical definition. For the Calvinist, grace is fundamentally this sovereign divine choice to save a limited number of undeserving sinners. It is not something in God that extends to all undeserving sinners. Again, this is supported by the Calvinists’ use of phrases such as “sovereign grace” and “the doctrines of grace.” By these phrases, they mean God’s decision, made from eternity past, as to who would be saved and who would not. Calvinist James Montgomery Boice put it succinctly when he wrote,
“Without God’s prior election of sinners to salvation, grace is emptied of its meaning.”[3]
Boice presupposes the truth of his own Calvinist doctrine of “unconditional election” here and defines grace accordingly. He presumes that his interpretation of Scripture on the doctrine of election is correct, and therefore, grace gets subsumed under and defined by that deterministic doctrine. But suppose “unconditional election” is unbiblical? That would allow for a different definition of grace that would accord with the data in Scripture. Why couldn’t grace be shown to all sinners? Why isn’t that the very nature of grace?
Calvinists Robert A. Peterson and Michael D. Williams reveal how their deterministic understanding of God’s sovereignty drives their understanding of grace. They state,
“…Calvinism holds that God is sovereign in his grace – that no human being may presume upon grace or assume it as a given or available by right…Calvinism is predicated upon a divine discrimination regarding the recipients of saving grace.”[4]
So, Calvinism is predicated upon “a divine discrimination regarding the recipients of saving grace.” I submit to you that the Calvinists’ a priori theistic determinism distorts the biblical witness and meaning of divine grace regarding salvation.
Therefore, this Calvinist understanding of grace should drive us to the Scripture to see if it is biblical. Perhaps the Calvinist is wrong and God’s “grace” is of the character that it is extended to all sinners without discrimination or exclusion. Perhaps the biblical testimony to God’s grace is that it is non-discriminating, given that salvation is for sinners who are all undeserving of God’s favor. Again, I am not advocating universalism here, that is, that all people will ultimately be saved. God does discriminate as to who will be saved. It is those who believe who will be saved. Those who remain in unbelief will not be saved. Rather, we are inquiring into the matter of to whom God is gracious with respect to salvation. We may ask, as far as God being gracious in providing and offering salvation to sinners, what is there to discriminate between these sinners? (Rom. 3:21-30) Indeed, isn’t it essential to the definition and nature of grace as divine grace that it be inclusive of all sinners since God shows no partiality? (Rom. 2:11; Gal. 2:6; Eph. 6:9; Acts 10:28, 34-35, 43; James 2:1, 9) That is what makes grace, grace. On what basis would God withhold grace from one sinner and yet grant grace to another sinner when both are undeserving sinners in need of grace and salvation? We are left with no answer to this question from the Calvinists except that, based on their interpretations of Ephesians 1:5 and Romans 9:22, they will say God includes or excludes sinners “according to the pleasure of his own will” and “to display his wrath.” But all relevant things being equal (i.e., we are all underserving sinners), can God merely will to be gracious to one person and will to be ungracious to another? That is, does the Bible teach and demonstrate that grace is essential to God’s divine nature and therefore what God wills is always in accord and consistent with his divine nature? Is God’s grace arbitrarily willed to apply to some sinners but not others, or can we assuredly know that God is graciously disposed to all of us as sinners, and most importantly, to each of us individually?
Calvinists are notorious for their nebulous, disingenuous theological statements. They will say that “God loves sinners” and “Christ died for sinners.” Well, of course he did! But by these statements, they mean to say that “God loves particular sinners he has chosen to love” and “that Christ died for the particular individuals God has chosen to save,” but they will not say this in their preaching or evangelism. Some Calvinists now admit the Bible teaches that Christ died for all sinners. But the issue here is not whether God loves sinners,” but whether God loves you? Did Christ die for you? Does God’s saving grace extend to you? On Calvinism, “sinners” here must mean “some sinners.” When the Calvinist talks about what God has done for “sinners” he does not mean all sinners. Beware of this disingenuous verbal “slight-of-hand.”
Whatever “grace” is in the internal character, relational, and emotional life of God, according to the Calvinist, for whatever unknown reason, it has the character of discrimination, limitation, and exclusion. Grace in Calvinism presents itself to us as a mere decision as to whom God will save, that is, as to whom God will be gracious. According to Peterson and Williams, “no human being may presume upon grace or assume it as a given or available by right…” I agree that we cannot “presume upon grace” and that it is certainly not “available by right.” But what if, although “no human being may presume upon grace or assume…it as…available by right,” the Scriptures clearly teach us that God publicly and universally demonstrates his grace to us, offers it to us, and allows us access into it? These would amount to ways of speaking about grace to be without discrimination, limitation, and exclusion. We wouldn’t be presuming upon his grace, but we would certainly be assured of it. We don’t have it as a right, but we would know he himself bestows it upon us. Suppose Scripture abundantly testifies to the fact that God has decided to be gracious to all, and therefore we can know that God’s grace extends to you, me, and every sinner? Granted, that revelation would not allow us to “presume upon grace or assume it as a given or available by right…,” but it would make us confident to know that God has our good, and only good, in mind for us all. We might then be able to appropriately “assume it [grace] as a given,” not because we deserve God’s grace or can persuade God to be gracious to us as if it were our right, but because God himself has revealed to us that he is and always will be gracious in his nature. It would be because God himself cannot but be gracious, and therefore, gracious to us all.
The alternative, on Calvinism, is to say that there is no way by which you or I as individuals may know whether God is disposed to be gracious to us, especially with respect to our eternal destinies as either predestined for salvation or reprobation. Grace is a divine choice about our eternal destiny that we are not privy to. After all, that is the nature of Calvinist determinism. Each of us is predestined to one of these two destinies. This completely transforms grace as described above into an “irresistible grace” based on the “sovereign grace” or the doctrine of “unconditional election” of Calvinism.
The Calvinist understanding of God’s grace is predictably influenced by their definition of God’s sovereignty as theistic determinism. This determinism forces “grace” to be defined in an unbiblical manner and in accord with the dictates of the Calvinist soteriological TULIP schemata. Hence, the concept and definition of grace are shaped by prior Calvinist deterministic theological commitments rather than from the biblical texts themselves. On Calvinism, God by an eternal decree has preordained “whatsoever comes to pass,” therefore some people are predestined to salvation, and others are not. Whatever “grace” may be, therefore, as undeserved favor, it must support this universal divine causal determinism. Since we are all sinners deserving of God’s wrath and condemnation, God’s choice to save anyone is what the Calvinist defines as a gracious act on his part. We agree and understand how that would be so. But that is not the biblical definition of God’s grace. As I have demonstrated in the previous chapters on this website, the whole deterministic premise of Calvinism is biblically untenable. Calvinist determinism is unbiblical. And therefore, a definition of grace that is forced into a deterministic mold is also going to be in error. Granted, we can appreciate the Calvinists’ emphasis on God’s undeserved favor in their definition of grace. Yet, for the Calvinist, the locus of this “favor” to sinners is found in his eternal decision to “grace” a limited, select number of persons with salvation. Grace, which may be something in God that would direct him to be gracious to all, is subservient to and must play a role in support of their deterministic theology and soteriology. Hence, “grace” needs to be defined accordingly, as limited. Calvinists must perceive and define God’s grace as essentially a pre-mundane decision of God to save only a limited number of chosen individuals out of all of humanity. One can understand that if God were to choose to save some out of a world of sinners who could not save themselves and did not deserve salvation, God should be considered gracious towards those he had chosen.[5] But due to this limitation, I submit that grace gets distorted from its biblical definition and expression. On Calvinism, grace is subject to and forced into the mold of the interdependent deterministic Calvinist doctrines of total inability, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance and preservation of the saints (TULIP). Calvinists have different labels for these doctrines, such as the “gospel” message itself or “the gospel of grace.” Others describe their TULIP doctrines as “the doctrines of grace” or “sovereign grace.”
In stark contrast to this Calvinist view, I will show that Scripture gives us good reasons for believing that divine grace with respect to salvation is inclusive, abundant, and universal. God’s grace does not discriminate between sinners and extends to all who are undeserving of God’s favor. I will show that the biblical witness to God’s character and the nature of grace does not allow us to define his grace as arbitrarily excluding certain sinners from his plan of salvation revealed in Christ. Let us seek out what meaning “grace” has in Scripture as to the nature of God and whether the person and work of Christ provides a demonstrable, universal expression of saving grace that applies to every sinner.
Go to the next section: Exodus 32-34: God’s Nature as Gracious
Chapter 14 – The Nature of Grace in Scripture
The Truth of the Gospel 