If the reason is asked, why God has called us to enjoy the gospel, why he daily bestows upon us so many blessings, why he opens to us the gate of heaven, - the answer will be constantly found in this principle, that he hath chosen us before the foundation of the world … The foundation and first cause, both of our calling and of all the benefits which we receive from God, is here declared to be his eternal election. When the intelligent creation, both angelic and human, sinned, doing not His will but their own, He used the very will of the creature which was working in opposition to the Creator’s will as an instrument for carrying out His will, the supremely Good thus turning to good account even what is evil, to the condemnation of those whom in His justice He has predestined to punishment, and to the salvation of those whom in His mercy He has predestined to grace.Ĭommenting on Ephesians 1:4, John Calvin states:Īccording as he hath chosen us. These we call…the two cities, or two communities of men, of which the one is predestined to reign eternally with God, and the other to suffer eternal punishment with the devil Or, (2) God chooses some people for damnation and others for salvation (Double Predestination)Īugustine of Hippo (354 – 430 AD) states: He chose some individuals to be saved unto everlasting blessedness in heaven and others He chose to pass over, to allow them to follow the consequences of their sins into eternal torment in hell What predestination means, in its most elementary form, is that our final destination, heaven or hell, is decided by God. (1) Appointed the eternal destiny of some to salvation by grace, while leaving the remainder to receive eternal damnation for all their sins, even their original sin.

It has been stressed by Calvinists that Ephesians 1:4 demonstrates that God either: Consider Ephesians 1:4 (KJV):Īccording as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love

I would like to continue in that line of thought and examine a common Calvinistic proof text.

In another article found on, Tim Stratton has argued why “Calvinism is Impossible.” By “impossible” Stratton means logically impossible when held alongside other essential Christian doctrines.

Alvin plantinga the nature of necessity