Before the board was hacked there was a good discussion going on about Predestination, so I thought I’d kick-start it up again. I had a post that was about finished before the board went down, and I finally had an opportunity to finish it - so here I go into the fray!

I would like to begin by saying I believe the Predestination, Free will debate (hereafter referred to as PDFW) is a good in-house debate, one that has raged for centuries, but it is a secondary doctrine not crucial to salvation. Even though it can be contentious among believers, it is always good to be “rightly dividing†God’s Word with fellow believers! I pray that for each and everyone of us that this discussion will produce better understanding of God’s word, regardless of the position we hold in this doctrine.
The PDFW debate is a huge pond to jump in and it is hard to know where to start. I will first state what I believe, then I think I will get my feet wet by looking at the big picture, then provide a few verses that I believe support my POV.
What I Believe
So everyone knows up front where I am coming from, I believe the Bible is clear that works cannot produce salvation, that grace is a gift undeserved and unearned. I also believe man has free will, but the only “choice†he makes in salvation is by accepting God’s free gift (Eph 2:9). He cannot reach that point without the Holy Spirit drawing him (i.e. John 6:44, Romans 3:10-12). I also believe in predestination, but not as defined by Calvinists. For those who are not familiar with the mainstream Calvinist position, here is a website that provides a description of the Calvinist T.U.L.I.P. side-by-side with it's polar opposite, Armenianism (note that there are variants of each, and many doctrines in-between, but this covers the basic tenets of each - I myself lie somewhere inbetween, or perhaps perpendicular!

Big Picture
The PDFW debate, like many doctrines in the Bible, is like piecing together a challenging puzzle. I don’t think either side of this debate can deny that this topic has certain verses that when taken on the surface, defend their position and are difficult for the other side to explain. The Bible has a fair number of these kinds of seemingly contradictory verses on various topics, but when taken as a whole across all scripture there is always a logical solution that allows all the verses to fit together nicely in the puzzle.
So in my exegesis of scripture of the big picture, I am going to boldly offer the following: when all the pieces are put together, the preponderance of verses does not support the Calvinist position. I’ll seek to begin supporting this in this post, then subsequent posts, by looking at a few verses at a time.
Scripture verses that contradict Calvinism
1 Samuel 13:13-15:19 And Samuel said to Saul, You have acted foolishly that you have not kept the command of the LORD your God which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. … Because you have rejected the Word of the LORD, so He has rejected you from being king.
The plain rendering of this text, in my opinion, seems obvious. God had a plan for Saul, and Saul had a choice to do it his way or God’s way. He chose his way. The verse above doesn’t make sense if Saul was predestined to make the wrong choice - it means that God didn’t really mean it when He said “For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever†- the verse has to be considered some sort of allegory.
The problem for Calvinists is that there are many, many verses like this in both the Old and New Testament. Here is an example from the New Testament:
Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!
These verses don’t make sense to me if God predestined some to be saved and many to go to hell. From a Calvinist POV, I am not aware of any way to deal with these types of verses other than to allegorize them. Why this is so troubling for me is because of where I have come from to move from OEC to YEC - the sheer volume of these types of passages that when taken plainly cannot be explained by Calvinism, IMHO.

Scripture verse that is used to support Calvinism
I would like to start with one of the big cannons in the Calvinist arsenal that I think is the easiest to refute, Romans 9. The context of this chapter is Israel messing up and not repenting, where chapter 11 is set up for the Gentiles to be grafted in their place. There are many places to start in this chapter, but one verse I saw mentioned in the prior debate is a good place to start:
Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, "Why have you made me like this?" Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? (Romans 9:20-21)
Paul is initially referring to Isaiah 64:8 and and Isaiah 29:16
“But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.†“Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; For shall the thing made say of him who made it, ‘He did not make me’? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?â€Â
But we get the context from Jeremiah 18:
And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make. Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the LORD. "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!â€Â
From this passage we clearly see God did not make Israel that way, Israel did! Israel marred in God’s hand by their own doing. God then made another vessel from the clay. Subsequent verses in both Jeremiah support this:
[continuing in Jeremiah 18:7-10] The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, 8 if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. 9 And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10 if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.
Why would God proclaim these conditions if this was already predestined?
We get similar context when we return back to Romans 9 through 11:
Rom 11:20-23 Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
Further support that the context is free-will disobedience and not a pre-destined salvation issue comes from 2 Timothy 2:20,21,
“But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.â€Â
A condition is placed on the vessel for honor, and I even believe Calvinists would agree this 2 Timothy 2 passage is not referring to salvation. We know that there are different rewards and “crowns†when we meet our Savior (i.e. see 1 Cor 3). I submit that given this, coupled with the context we get from Jeremiah and Romans 11, that it is a very difficult hurdle for the Calvinist to attribute the Romans 9 passage to pre-destined salvation.
Summary
This is just a foot in the pond, a mere splash,

If Calvinism is true, 1 Samuel and Luke 13 are tenuous fits, requiring allegory, Romans 9 is an awkward but possible fit.
If Calvinism is not true, 1 Samuel and Luke 13 are good fits, and Romans 9 is a good fit.
Even if I granted that Romans 9 was an awkward fit for the non-Calvinist position, it nevertheless fits with 1 Samuel and all those other similar verses throughout OT and NT – so my point is, taken as a whole, these first pieces we looked at the non-Calvinist position is the best fit.
There are of course many other passages to consider. I’ll try to deal with Ephesians 1 and related verses in my next post, or in my reply to rebuttals of this post. It may be several days before I can find the time to do so. Thanks everyone.
Fred Williams
As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. (Proverbs 27:17)
All the words of my mouth are with righteousness; Nothing crooked or perverse is in them. They are all plain to him who understands, And right to those who find knowledge (Proverbs 8:8-9)