Jesus Contradicts Calvinism

In this article I will show that Jesus utterly refutes Calvinism and contradicts the doctrines of TULIP entirely. When I use the term Calvinism, I am speaking of monergistic Calvinism, the teaching that human beings play no role at all in salvation but are, as the Westminster Confession states, ‘completely passive’ (WCF 10.2) I will also cite the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel as no responsible theologian could deny that the pre-incarnate Christ directed the prophets or that Jesus would ever contradict them.

Firstly, the doctrine of Total Depravity, also known as Total Inability, which is the foundation of Calvinism. This doctrine states that;

Therefore, all people are conceived in sin and are born children of wrath, unfit for any saving good, inclined to evil, dead in their sins, and slaves to sin. Without the grace of the regenerating Holy Spirit they are neither willing nor able to return to God, to reform their distorted nature, or even to dispose themselves to such reform. 

(Canons of Dort, The Third and Fourth Main Points of Doctrine, Article 3)

This doctrine states that every person is conceived in sin, is guilty of Adam’s sin and under the wrath of God from the moment of conception. As a result, no unregenerate person can exercise faith, nor seek God, or desire God, we are all completely passive and utterly dead to God in sin unless God regenerates us against our will. This doctrine actually rejects the entire idea of regeneration, as that word means someone who was once alive, then died, and was made alive again. In Calvinism, no person, from conception, was ever alive in the first place. 

Did Jesus ever teach that we are conceived ‘dead in sin and slaves to sin’? Consider the parable of the prodigal son from Luke 15. The entire parable gives the story of individual salvation. A young man reaches the age of independence, demands his inheritance, goes into the world and squanders his inheritance on a sinful lifestyle, ends up working as a slave in a pig sty, comes to his senses, returns to his father in humble repentance and total surrender and is saved. The father, who represents the Lord, twice states why he is celebrating, 

‘For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ (Luke 15:24, 32)

Jesus stated that the son was ‘dead and is alive again’ meaning that he was alive prior to his spiritual death through demanding to rule his own life and willful acts of sin. The word translated ‘alive again’ is ‘anezēsen’ (ἀνέζησεν) which means – to revive, to live again, to come to life again. Incidentally, Paul uses a similar phrase from the same root word in Romans 7:9 where he states, ‘once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.’ Jesus taught REAL regeneration, that until we willfully sin we are alive, that we become spiritually dead, and through new birth we are made alive again. 

There is not even a hint of inherited sin/guilt anywhere in Jesus’ teaching, indeed exactly the opposite. Christ used little children as examples of what we must become to enter the kingdom of heaven. For example;

Let the little children come to me… for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 19:14)

And

Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3)

By contrast Calvin claimed:

And the Apostle most distinctly testifies, that "death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned," (Rom 5:12); that is, are involved in original sin, and polluted by its stain. Hence, even infants bringing their condemnation with them from their mother's womb, suffer not for another's, but for their own defect. For although they have not yet produced the fruits of their own unrighteousness, they have the seed implanted in them. Nay, their whole nature is, as it were, a seed-bed of sin, and therefore cannot but be odious and abominable to God. (John Calvin, Institutes, Book 2.8)

Did Jesus Christ ever even hint that children are a ‘seed-bed of sin, odious (repulsive) and an abomination to God’? Calvin’s words show a total ignorance of the heart of Christ and the spiritual state of little children. Furthermore, Romans 5, which Calvin quotes, never teaches inherited sin/guilt as I have argued in my video entitled ‘ Romans 5-7: No Inherited Sin’ https://youtu.be/EojG9MDitok

The entire eighteenth chapter of Ezekiel refutes inherited sin. It begins with people using a proverb to blame their ancestors for their suffering and judgment (v2) and God responding that they will no longer use it (v3). The fundamental principle taught in this chapter is;

The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. (Ezekiel 18:20)

The Hebrew phrase ‘nasa avon’, translated as ‘suffer for the iniquity’ means much more than punishment, but rather to bear sin or guilt. The chapter insists that no person is responsible for or can inherit the sin and guilt of their ancestors, and this includes Adam. Sin is always a willful action, and only the consequences of sin (physical death) was inherited from Adam.

The Calvinist foundation of Total Depravity is refuted by Jesus, and as it is the very foundation of TULIP and built on sand, the entire structure collapses. The absurdity of Calvinism is best exemplified in their various views of faith. Once you decide that people are utterly dead to God as Calvinists claim, then no person can respond to God in any way unless born again. This is exactly what Calvinists teach, as in John MacArthur’s words;

Because of human depravity, there is nothing in a fallen, reprobate sinner that desires God or is capable of responding in faith. (John MacArthur, Faith Works, p.62)

To Calvinists, faith is solely the result of regeneration and never the cause of it. Therefore, unless a person is born again they cannot exercise faith and only the elect are given faith. When one asks how the Old Testament saints were justified by faith, as listed in Hebrews 11, Calvinists insist that these people were regenerated. According to W. Robert Godfrey and Albert Mohler of Ligonier Ministries (The teaching fellowship of R.C Sproul),

Godfrey: He regenerated people in the Old Testament just the same as in the New.

Mohler: As the writer of the book of Hebrews ends chapter eleven, it was meant by God that they not be saved apart from us any other way than we are. Abraham believed, and it was accounted unto him as righteousness. How did Abraham believe? Is it because he had some kind of inherent righteousness? No. We have to believe the Holy Spirit in regeneration is the sole explanation for why Abraham believed, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/qas/did-holy-spirit-regenerate-old-testament-saints/

On the one hand, when these Calvinists claim that the Old Testament saints were regenerated in the same way that they are, I have to agree, because I believe that regenerated Calvinist is an oxymoron. Only a person who has never experienced new birth could claim Abraham and every person listed in Hebrews 11 was born again. By their own testimony Calvinists prove they are not regenerate. I have discussed in detail the difference between old and new covenants many times on this channel and particularly my video entitled ‘The Most Absurd Teaching of Calvinists: Which comes first, regeneration or faith?

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6Hza2L8mdY

But what of the crowds and individuals who followed Jesus and exercised faith, many of whom received healing, but later abandoned Him? Are we to believe that they too were regenerated and then lost their salvation. Jesus commended the men who brought a paralytic to Him for their faith (Matt 9:2), He told the woman who touched His cloak that her faith had healed her (Matt 9:22), He told the Canaanite woman she had 'great faith' and her request to heal her possessed daughter was granted (Matt 15:29); to the Roman Centurion Jesus said he had not found 'such great faith' amongst the people of Israel (Luke 7:9), and the list goes on and on. 

Thousands of people took their sick, crippled, deaf and blind to Him because they had seen His miracles and had faith that He could and would help them, such was the reason the crowd were waiting for Him on the far side of Galilee (John 6). Some Calvinists would argue that these people had a type of faith but not 'saving faith', therefore, God only gave them faith to attain healing, but not salvation!

One might ask why God would do such a thing? If He has not predestined them to salvation (in Calvinist terms), if they cannot have any faith at all without first being born again, then why give them a measure of faith in Christ and then send them to hell? Contradiction and defamation, or simply false doctrine?

And how to explain Jesus’ words to the woman, probably Mary Magdalene, who wept on His feet and dried them with her hair. He told her, ‘your sins are forgiven…your faith has saved you; go in peace’ (Luke7:48-50). Only a fool would claim that this woman was regenerated before she walked into the Pharisee’s home and repented at Jesus’ feet. She didn’t seek out Jesus randomly.

She would have heard others speaking about Him, how He forgives sins, perhaps she hid in the crowd and heard Him preach and wanted to be free of the demons that haunted her. But she did not wake up one morning to discover she was ‘born again’…if that were the case she would have entered the room already forgiven and rejoicing. 

Furthermore, Calvinists claim that God alone gives each person faith according to His will. If this is the case, then when Jesus rebuked Peter and many others for their lack of faith, the Lord was actually criticizing God for not giving them enough. MacArthur claimed that no ‘reprobate sinner can desire God or is capable of responding in faith’. If a person is incapable of responding in faith, then they are not responsible. God can never judge someone for not doing what is impossible for them to do.

Jesus began His ministry with the words ‘repent and believe’, not ‘wait until God regenerates you, then you can believe’. Christ always spoke of repentance and faith as real, moral, responsibilities, and warned many times of the consequences of refusing to repent and believe.

And what of the doctrine of limited atonement, that states that Christ died as a sacrifice only for the elect and salvation is not potentially available to all who believe on Christ. Apart from the fact that Jesus called all people to repent and believe, and healed every person who came to Him in faith, He also stated:

‘Come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest’ (Matthew 11:28, and ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink’ (John 7:37), and ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst’, and ‘whoever believes in me shall not perish but have eternal life, for God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world be saved through him (John 3:16-17) and ‘If I, when I am lifted up, will draw all people to myself’ (John 12:32). 

And what of irresistible grace, the arrogant and self-centered doctrine which claims that in order for a person to be saved, God must extend a special and irresistible call on those He has predetermined to salvation, a call not extended to the non-elect. As we seen, God’s call to salvation is for all people, therefore His grace is extended to all people as He grants us the opportunity to repent and believe, an unmerited favor, and withholds judgment. But Jesus also taught that God’s grace and call can be rejected. Consider these verses;

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life.” (John 5:39–40)

Were the Scriptures not given to Israel to declare God’s grace, show His mercy, love and justice? Yet even with the Scriptures they refused the call of Christ.

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Matthew 23:37)

God’s desire is that they come under His grace and protection and Jesus laments that they were not willing. And what of the Calvinist doctrine of predestination, that God has predetermined people to either heaven or hell prior to creation? In Calvin’s words;

All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death.

(John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 3, Chapter 21)

Those who are preordained to eternal life are the elect, the chosen, and only this chosen few will be spared from an eternal conscious torment in hell, a view of hell Calvinists also teach. No person can change this destiny. If you are one of the chosen you cannot choose to reject God, and if not chosen, no amount of repentance, seeking, or faith will change God’s mind. God rolls the dice, and if you won the lottery, you’re in, and if not, you’re doomed. 

I call this doctrine ‘sola lucktora: by luck alone’.

Jesus also refutes this doctrine in the fact that He calls all to repent and promises salvation to all who believe, but also, consider Jesus’ parable about a fruitless fig tree in Luke 13:6-9.

6 … “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 “ ‘Sir, the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’ ” (Luke 13:6-9)

In this parable Jesus’ shows us the grace and patience of God who, as Paul wrote; 

God our Savior desires all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4) and  do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance. (Romans 2:4)

In Jesus’ parable the man tells the keeper of the vineyard not to cut the tree down, but that He will dig around it, fertilize it and give it more time to produce fruit. If people are predetermined to salvation, then why go to all this trouble. According to Calvinists, God just regenerates whoever He likes. They are not seeking Him, cannot desire Him or respond in faith, He just zaps unbelievers against their will and makes them into Christians. Then, like little puppets they go along to Church and repent and finally exercise faith. 

But in this parable, God gives a fruitless unbeliever special attention in order that they bear fruit, He shows His grace, patience and mercy, not that He is a tyrannical puppet master who rolls a dice in order to determine who He will hate and who He will love. 

And a final thought. I very often see Calvinists claiming that God never speaks to people other than through the Bible. Such people make memes with a Christian on their knees asking the Lord to speak to them, and a hand holding a Bible coming through the clouds. The vast majority of Christians throughout Church history have never had the privilege of owning a Bible, and millions in China, North Korea and other countries have never even seen one. In the underground churches of such countries, the Lord does not leave these people without guidance, but the gifts of the Spirit operate in a very similar way to the early church. 

When I see such memes as I described, I am even more convinced that these people have never come under the convicting presence of the Holy Spirit as Jesus stated in John 16, and have no clue about being led by the Holy Spirit. But Jesus said of Himself as the Good Shepherd;

“The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” (John 10:3–4)

And

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)

And of the Holy Spirit Jesus said.

But when he, the Spirit of Truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you. (John 16:13-15)

Personally, I reject the vast amount of so-called prophets and apostles who claim ‘thus sayeth the Lord’ and spout rubbish which is never fulfilled. However, every Christian can know the voice of the Lord. He convicts us when we sin, we feel the joy of His presence when we are praising Him, He guides us in our decisions when we are willing to do His will, and He gives us the peace and joy which surpasses understanding. And of course the Spirit speaks to those of us who have a Bible, yet Calvinists prove that one can have five Bibles and still not hear the Lord’s voice.

In Summary

In His parable of the prodigal son Jesus refutes the claim that children are conceived having inherited the sin and guilt of Adam, for His teaching is that a person was spiritually alive until they willfully commit sin. Furthermore, there is not a hint of inherited sin in Jesus teaching, and contrary to Calvin’s claim that children are repulsive and an abomination to God, Jesus took them on His knee, blessed them, and used them as examples of what we must become to enter the kingdom of heaven.

The Canons of Dort claim that a person is neither willing nor able to turn to God, therefore, the doctrine that regeneration precedes faith is stating that God forces Himself on the unwilling, a form of salvation by coercion. This doctrine not only utterly contradicts Jesus call for all to repent and believe, but, like so many Calvinist claims, defames the character of God. In my opinion, anyone who holds to this doctrine has never experienced new birth, for by their own testimony Calvinists state that they never chose to repent and follow Christ.

This sad fact is also verified in that Calvinists insist that the Old Testament saints were regenerated in the same way as they are, and none of the OT saints were ever regenerated, born again. 

In the doctrines of limited atonement and irresistible grace, Calvinists claim that Christ only died for the elect, and that God only effectually calls the elect. Jesus contradicts limited atonement, not only in His teaching, but also His actions, and as for irresistible grace, God forcing His will upon the unwilling is not a call to repent. If a person is regenerated against their will, they are then born again and have no need to repent. 

On the topic of faith, Calvinists claim that it is given as a gift according to God’s will. In essence, when Christ rebuked people for their lack of faith, He was rebuking Himself, and when commending them, congratulating Himself. This is pure puppetry and a depiction of a divine tyrant playing games with humanity for its own amusement. And such is the ‘god’ of Calvinists.

This same tyrannical ‘god’ predetermines most of humanity to hell, a doctrine Jesus contradicts in His parable of the vine-dresser who gave the fig tree extra love and care and another year to produce fruit and the fact that He called all people to repent and believe the good news.

And finally, Calvinists once again prove their unregenerate state by claiming that only those who own and read a Bible can know the voice of Christ who claimed ‘my sheep hear my voice and follow me’ and testified of the leading of the Holy Spirit in the life of truly regenerate individuals.

Jesus utterly contradicts monergistic Calvinism on every front. The deeper one looks at this man-made counterfeit of Christianity, the more repulsive it is for those who know and love Jesus Christ. I you are involved in Calvinism then I implore you to watch my video entitled ‘Calvinism: Christian or Cult’ where I examine the official doctrines of Calvinism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTj8tBzR4ao

I pray this video/article has been enlightening for you, and a challenge for any who are involved in Calvinism. My motivation is that you may know and love Jesus Christ, something which is impossible if what you believe about Him is untrue.

God bless