Answering an Arminian on God’s Free Will and Choice in Election
A while back, a reader in Georgia asked me to address and answer an Arminian, Dr. Curtis Hutson, on the “Five Points of Calvinism,” of which Hutson disagrees with all five. Today, we will address point two: unconditional election.
(http://www.victorybaptistmg.org/Why%20I%20Disagree%20With%20All%205%20Points%20of%20Calvinism.pdf)
The terms “unconditional election” simply mean “God chooses.” The Bible has many names for God’s chosen people (1 Pet 2:9), but we see this succinctly stated in Romans 11:5, “…a remnant according to God’s gracious choice.” Why do Arminians like Curtis Hutson have such a problem with God’s sovereign election? Simply put, they do not want God to be God.
As with other Arminians, Hutson avoids Romans 9, altogether. This is the missing elephant in the room. Instead, he quotes John Calvin, from the Geneva Reformer’s Institutes Book III, chapter 23, where Calvin is merely restating Romans 9:22–23. Hutson seems unaware of this fact. The Bible text reads, “What if God although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory.”
Hutson refers to the doctrine of election and reprobation as, “a radical heresy not taught anywhere in the Bible.” Calling Romans 9 a heresy is not prudent, but if one does not even reference it, in his argument against God’s sovereign election, then he is either ignorant or deceiving his readers.
Arminians are forced to acknowledge biblical doctrines they disdain, when those doctrines are clearly labeled in Scripture, such as: foreknowledge, predestination, election, etc. Instead of defining these terms in relationship to the whole process of salvation, Hutson argues for sub-points. He suggests that men are predestined to be holy and blameless, but then he denies that predestination has anything to do with glorification of the saints in heaven.
What Hutson is desperately trying to avoid is the God who makes sovereign choices regarding His creatures. The elevation of man, in man-centered theology, demands that men choose whether they go to heaven or hell. Everybody and anybody have that choice…except Almighty God.
Hutson accuses Calvinists of always stopping in the middle of verses to try and make their case for God’s unconditional election like he does when he misinterprets 2 Peter 3:9 in this very section of his article. God is not willing that any (of His beloved!) should perish. He then tries to correlate Peter’s universalism (2 Pet 3:9) with Paul’s universalism, in 1 Timothy 2:4. Were Peter and Paul universalists, regarding all men everywhere and at all times?
Curtis Hutson commits the common error of proof texting passages to support his preferred theological system, without accurately correlating those few proof texts with the entirety of doctrine, built on what the whole Bible says about a subject. To read Pauline or Petrine doctrine as a whole, it is impossible to acknowledge Peter or Paul (or any of the other human Bible authors) as universalists, regarding: election, redemption, regeneration, sanctification or glorification.
Hutson accuses those who exalt God in His sovereign choice, as “misrepresenting God and the Bible.” While we would encourage readers to read Romans 9, there are many other passages to consider in the case for God’s unconditional election besides the two Hutson employs: Ephesians 1:4 and John 15:16 (see also Eph 1:4–5, 11; Rom 8:29–30; 9:11–13; Is 43:20–21; Titus 1:1–2; Ps 65:4; Mt 22:14; etc.)
God has not just chosen to predestine events, He has actually chosen specific people (1 Pet 2:9; Rev 13:8; 17:8; 21:27). God has not just ordained eternal life, He has appointed believers to have eternal life (Acts 13:48). God wrote their names in the Lamb’s book of life before the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8; 17:8; 21:27). He sent His only begotten Son into the world to save His people (Mt 1:21). He sent His Spirit to preach the Gospel through preachers, and to manifest the Gospel in those He baptized and indwelt (Mt 3:11; Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11; Jas 4:5).
The fundamental problem in Arminianism is having a wrong view of God and a wrong view of man. Hutson exemplifies this when he writes, “He (man) can only hope that God elected him for heaven and not for hell.” First, the natural man has no hope (Eph 2:12); and second, yes, for those of us who believe, our hope is in God and not ourselves. We believe, as a manifestation of election, not the cause of it.
Also problematic is the Arminian’s view that God is “trying” to save all people, but He needs man’s acceptance to make it happen. Hutson writes, “And when He (God) offers salvation in the Bible, He does not offer it to those foreordained to be damned.” In this misrepresentation of the Calvinist preacher, Hutson misses the fact that no true Gospel preacher is “offering” salvation to sinners or “inviting” men to make a choice. These are Arminian constructions nowhere found in Scripture. A Christian preacher is a herald of news, not a peddler of salvation.
Hutson concludes this second point of argumentation, “Nobody is predestined to be saved, except as he chooses of his own free will to come to Christ and trust Him for salvation…Nothing could be plainer…” Consistent with Arminian theology, Hutson elevates man’s mythical free will and choice above God’s free will and choice. Ultimately, men must search the Scriptures to learn which position is true. If this were as plain as Hutson suggests, then, he would not remain in error.
Men do not go to hell because they refuse to come to Jesus Christ, as Hutson suggests, they go to hell because they are sinners who sin against God. If there is universalism in the Bible, it is in regard to sin (Rom 3:23; 5:12–21; 6:23). There is no game of chance and choice for men to decide to be saved. There is no uncertainty in the will and work of God, regarding His eternal salvation.
In eternity past, God chose to save a remnant group out of the mass of humanity. He appointed them to eternal life, and He made Himself to be the exclusive way of salvation (Jn 14:6). As the Redeemer of His chosen ones, it is to His glory that these truths be told, to frustrate the wicked and delight His called and adopted children. Our God is sovereign, and we are not ashamed that His choice in election must stand because He always does what is right, for His glory, for our joy, and always to the scorn of skeptics.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
November 17, 2022
