Today one of the chief spokesmen for the Reformed view is Dr. R.C. Sproul and his following statement correctly marks the major difference between Calvinism and other belief systems:
"When someone mentions the term 'Calvinism,' the customary response is, 'Oh, you mean the doctrine of predestination?' This identification of Calvinism with predestination is as strange as it is real and widespread...In summary we may define 'predestination' broadly as follows: From all eternity God decided to save some members of the human race and to let the rest of the human race perish. God made a choice--he chose some individuals to be saved unto everlasting blessedness in heaven, and he chose others to pass over, allowing them to suffer the consequences of their sins, eternal punishment in hell" [emphasis mine] (R.C. Sproul, What is Reformed Theology? [Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005], 141).
Sproul's words "from all eternity" are of course derived from the Apostle Paul's words "before the foundation of the world" in the following verse:
"According 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" (Eph.1:4).
There can be no doubt that the phrase "before the foundation of the world" is speaking about the "eternal state." Here Sproul makes a distinction between God's existence in the eternal state and that of man's exisence as being bound by time and space:
"One of the chief axioms taught by John Calvin was expressed by the Reformer in the Latin phrase 'Finitum non capax,' 'The Finite cannot grasp (or contain) the infinite.' Because God is infinite in his being and eternal, and we are finite and bound by both space and time, our knowledge of him is never comprehensive. We enjoy an apprehensive knowledge of God, but not a comprehenseive knowledge" [emphasis mine] (R.C. Sproul, What is Reformed Theology? 32).
God, being both infinite and eternal, is not bound by either space or time, as we are. This principle has long been understood within Calvinist circles. William Ames (1576-1655) was one of the foremost of Reformed thinkers, often known as "the Learned Doctor Ames" because of his great intellectual stature among Puritans, said:
"Thereis properly only one act of the will in God because in Him all things are simultaneous and there is nothing before or after. So there is only decree about the end and means, but for the manner of understanding we say that, so far as intention is concerned, God wills the end before the means" [emphasis mine](William Ames, The Marrow of Theology, translation and introduction by John, Dystra, Eudsen, [Boston: The Pilgrim Press, 1968], 153-154).
According to Ames all things in the eternal state are "simultaneous and there is nothing before or after." Therefore it could be said that God chose us for salvation before the foundation of the world and it could also be said that God did not choose us for salvation until we believed:
"But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thess.2:13-14).
John Wesley understood that when the Scriptures speak of God doing things in "time" then the "time element" in that verse cannot be taken literally:
"Not that God has any need of counsel, of purpose, or of planning his work beforehand. Far be it from us to impute these to the Most High; to measure him by ourselves! It is merely in compassion to us that he speaks thus of himself, as foreknowing the things in heaven or earth, and as predestinating or fore-ordaining them. But can we possibly imagine that these expressions are to be taken literally?" [emphasis mine] (John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions, 1771, Second Series, On Predestination, Sermon #58; Christian Classics Ethereal Library).
Since all things with God in the eternal state are simultaneous and with Him there is no "before" ot "after" then common sense dictates that the "time element" in any verse that speaks of God doing things BEFORE other things cannot be taken in a literal sense. However, Calvinism is built on the foundation of a literal reading of the "time element" found in the following verse:
"According 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" (Eph.1:4).
It is absolutely essential to distinguish between the "divine, eternal perspective" and the the "mortal, time-bound perspective." It is a grave mistake to take the things in regard to the "eternal" state and apply them directly to the state which is bound by both space and time as if there is no difference.
The Calvinists build their whole theology on a literal reading of verses that should not be taken literally.
Threaded Mode
