What do Calvinists Believe?

I have heard the statement that Calvinists believe that God loves the elect and hates the non-elect. The trouble with this statement is that it is not true. This is a misrepresentation; Calvinists do not believe that. 

One of the problems is that if we have the understanding that God loves everybody with the same kind of love because the Bible says 'God is Love', then no wonder some people will come to that conclusion that Calvinism believes God loves the elect and hates the non-elect.

There is no argument that God is love. The Bible makes it very clear that God is love, and Calvinism does not teach any different, but they recognize (rightly so)that the Bible teaches that God has different kinds of love; one for the elect and another kind of love for the non-elect. If we interpret 'God is love' to mean that God loves everybody with the same kind of love, then you will find it difficult to explain the clear scriptures that teach on the different kinds of love God has.

If you would like to, please read a previous blog post I did on the different kinds of love, with scripture showing God's love for the believer (elect) and God's love for the unbeliever (non-elect).

Think about this for a moment.  Let me give you an example about different types of love that the Bible teaches that we should have. You and I have different kinds of love. I love God with a love I do not love anybody else with, and the same with every believer. Every believer loves God as God, and we do not love anybody else as God, and we should never love anybody else as God! (Matthew 22:37-38) That type of love is for God alone. I have a love for my wife, but I do not love anybody else as my wife; that type of love is for my wife alone (Eph. 5:25). I have a love for lost as the lost (Matthew 5:43-44 and Mark 16:15), and I another type of love for my brothers and sisters in the Lord (John 13:34-35), and you will have different kinds of love too.

The same with God. The Bible makes it very clear that God has different kinds of love. This is what Calvinist believe. They will say that God has a kind of love for His elect, and another kind of love for the non-elect. One example would be in the prayer of Jesus in John 17, when Jesus prayed specifically for the elect and not for the non-elect. In v. 9, Jesus prayed for the disciples, "I pray for them: I pray not for  the world, but for them which thou hast given me: for they are thine." Then later on in the prayer, Jesus prays for all those who will believe in Him in v. 20. Jesus prayed, "Neither I pray for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." It is very clear in this prayer that Jesus is loving His elect in a way He is not loving the non-elect. This is seen with Peter who denied Jesus, Jesus prayed for him, but Jesus did not pray for Judas when he betrayed Him. Peter went to heaven, and Judas went to hell.


So to say that Calvinist believe that God hates the non-elect with no kind of love towards them would be incorrect because they will teach God does have a kind of love towards the non-elect.  Not the love that the Father has for His own children (Ephesians 1:4; Hebrews 12:6-8; John 17:9, 20, 23; Romans 8:28; Philippians 4:6-7 and other scriptures (Calvinists will include John 3:16), but yet loves them with a different kind of love. God gives those who reject Him air to breathe, food to eat, and receive many blessings from the Lord, even though they do not thank Him for them, but reject Him (Matthew 5:45; Luke 6:35 and other scriptures).

A Quote from Dr. Adrian Rogers

You are not saved by faith and works, but you are saved by faith that works. You are justified by faith alone, but the faith that justifies is never alone, it always has works.

What about the KJV?

My local church uses the KJV, and I preach from the KJV, and I believe the KJV is the Word of God, so this blog is not an attack on the KJV, but a blog on weak arguments I have heard used by man to defend the KJV against other English translations. 

I have heard arguments from people defended the KJV, but when you use the same argument with the KJV, their arguments are not seen to hold water. If people want to defend the KJV, believing it is the Bible to use, they need to be careful not to use double standards. 

For example, in 1Tim 3:16, the KJV says, God was manifested in the flesh, but in the NIV says, He appeared in the flesh, and the ESV says, He was manifested. 

The argument is that the modern translations are attacking the divine nature of the Lord Jesus Christ in this verse. But is that true?

First of all, the reason they translate He and not God is because they are translating from a Greek manuscript which says He, and not God. The KJV using a different Greek manuscript, which says God, and not He.

Secondly, let us use the same argument against the KJV. In John 1:18, the ESV says, No one has ever seen God, the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known. The NIV says, No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. The KJV says, No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

The same argument used for 1Tim 3:16 against the NIV and ESV attacking the divine nature of Jesus can be used against KJV in John 1:18, because the NIV and ESV uses God referring to Jesus, but in the KJV they do not.

Again, the reason the NIV and ESV translate one way, and the KJV another way in John 1:18 is because they use different Greek manuscripts.

This is one argument that doesnt stand, but falls. The NIV and the ESV are not attempting to hide that God manifested in the flesh because in John 1:14, the NIV says, The Word became flesh, and the ESV says, And the Word became flesh. John 1:1 in the NIV and ESV says, and the Word was God. 

The same for the KJV, the KJV is not trying to attack the divine nature of Jesus in John 1:18, because in John 1:1 the KJV says, and the Word was God, and in John 1:14 says, And the Word was made flesh, and in 1Tim 3:16 says, God was manifested in the flesh.

If you want to show the KJV is correctly translated in these verses and other verses, and other issues, be careful you do not use double standards, and do not forgot the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts, because they are important to build up a good case for the KJV, if the KJV is translated correctly in whatever verse(s) you are looking at.

Finally, always remember, if you are a KJV only user, there are many true Christians who use a different Bible translation, like the NIV, ESV and LITV, and Jesus loves them too. 

Atheist and their denial

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: Hebrews 9:27 KJV

An atheist has not faced up to the reality of death and deceive themselves to believe that once you die, that is it, and there is no judgment.

Every person who calls themselves an atheist knows there is a God, but convince themselves there is no God, to deceive themselves to not face up to the reality there is a God, a Holy God they are accountable to for the words they speak, the thoughts they think, and the deeds they work.

An atheist has pleasure in unrighteousness, and to admit they are accountable to God is abhorrent to them, because it means they are accountable to God by His standard (His Law) that opposes their lifestyle, and makes them guilty before their Creator, so they deny God, so they can set their own standard, a standard that allows them and says it is ok to have pleasure in sin, and no God to face in judgment.

But the truth of the matter is they are accountable to God, and simply convincing yourself there is no God, does not take away the reality of the judgment to come. Their atheism cannot and will not change the truth of God and His judgment.

Deconstructionism?

Deconstructionism teaches you can never know the meaning of any written text, but it is whatever it means to you. Obviously, deconstructionism is nonsense.

Deconstructionism can be easily refuted. Take a book written by a deconstructionist, and say that the writer means that the teaching of deconstructionism is wrong, which means deconstructionist are wrong, but the Bible is the infallible and inerrant Word of God, and the only way to heaven is through The Lord Jesus Christ, and without Jesus, the only place a person can go to is hell. If they disagree, they contradict themselves.

Receiving and Rejecting!

Why do some people receive the gift of salvation, and other people do not? You may ask, Why did I receive salvation and why does so and so  reject salvation?

The reason why salvation is received through the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished Work is because of God; For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9kjv) It says in Jonah 1:9, Salvation is of the LORD.

The reason why salvation is rejected through the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished Work is because of man. As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God (Romans 3:10-11kjv). All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; (Isaiah 53:6kjv).

So we can see clearly, 1. A person receives salvation through the Lord Jesus, not because he or she is better than those of reject salvation through the Lord Jesus, but because of God and His Amazing grace! God turns a rebellious sinner into a new man in the Lord Jesus. 2. A person who rejects salvation through the Lord Jesus, rejects Him because it is their nature to do so, having an evil heart (rebellious sinner), rather have pleasure in unrighteousness, than the truth.

If you are saved, remember that before we were saved, we rejected Jesus, just like many do today, but God saved us by His grace, otherwise if God did not save us by His grace, you and I would still be rejecting Christ, heading towards an eternity, where we would be lost forever!

Efficiency of Christ's Death!

In the Bible, there are scriptures that speak of the efficiency of Christ's death.

For example, John 10:11, the Lord Jesus Christ said, I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. It is very clear that Christ gave His life for the sheep. The sheep are everyone who will believe (the believing ones), because in John 10:26, Jesus said to unbelievers, But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 

Another scripture would be Romans 8:32, When in the context of these verses, God speaks of believers (elect), when He says, He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things.

Even in John 3:16, it is the whosoever (the believing ones) who will be saved.

Christ's death is efficient only for the believing ones. Christ secured the salvation for all the believing ones on the cross, because the believing ones are the only ones who will receive salvation by God's grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and trust in Him to save them by His death, burial and resurrection.