Ronnie W. Rogers, “Taking every thought captive…”

I affirm that God predetermined to seek and to save all, and desires every person to be saved.  This is demonstrated by His words, acts, and His provision for everything necessary for a genuine offer of salvation, which can be received or rejected, by enabling and allowing them a real choice as a free moral agent like Adam (Acts 17:30, 2 Peter 3:9, 1John 2:2; Ezekiel 18:21-23 & Ezekiel 18:32); further, that those who by faith accept grace and mercy to trust are saved, and those who spurn His grace go to hell, which is a place created not for men, but for Satan and demons (Matthew 25:41).

I disaffirm that God elected some to go to heaven by regenerating them prior to faith and some to hell without a chance to be regenerated in response to faith;¹ further that Romans 8:29-30, a reference to God’s foreknowing, is satisfactorily handled by making it merely love, and/or synonymous with “predestined.”

Next Topic: Where Did Sin Come From?

1. Calvinists are clear about their understanding of predestination, which either emphatically declares God determined to send some to hell or it happens as a consequence by His determining to only offer real salvation to some; for example, “By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. 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 Christian Religion, translated by Henry Beveridge, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997 reprint), Volume 2, Book 3, Chapter 21, Section 5, page 206. “We say, then, that Scripture clearly proves this much, that God by his eternal and immutable counsel determined once for all those whom it was his pleasure one day to admit to salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, it was his pleasure to doom to destruction. We maintain that this counsel, as regards the elect, is founded on his free mercy, without any respect to human worth, while those whom he dooms to destruction are excluded from access to life by a just and blameless, but at the same time incomprehensible judgment.” Calvin, Institutes of Christian Religion, Volume 2, Book 3, Chapter 21, Section 7, pages 210-211. “We say, then, that the scripture clearly proves this much, that God by his eternal and immutable counsel determined once for all those whom it was his good pleasure one day to admit to salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, it was his good pleasure to doom to destruction.” (Canons of Dordt, First Head of Doctrine, 3:21:7) [↩]

One of the weakest links in Calvinism is the teaching that Christ died only for the elect.  The Scripture seems lucidly clear in proclaiming that Christ died for everyone who is lost–the world, which reality has caused many to wear the label “four point Calvinist”.  Here are my thoughts on what the Bible teaches concerning whom Christ died for. (more…)

I affirm that Christ’s sacrifice paid the price for the sins of the world (John 1:29; 1 John 2:2, 4:14); further, not only is the Atonement of Christ unlimited in its value, but also in its provision; further, the benefit of His atonement is offered to everyone, not merely all people groups or nations, but rather individuals; therefore, the Holy Spirit is presently working to convict the world—all men (John 16:8,9) of sin whereby all men can believe and be saved as is God’s desire (2 Peter 3:9; 1 Tim. 2:4). Hence, the Father desires that every individual repent and be saved, and therefore the Son, whose desire is one with the Father, died for all so that they could be saved according to the Father’s desire; consequently, the Holy Spirit, whose desire is one with the Father and the Son, convicts all of sin thereby allowing every person to have a real chance to be saved by faith in Jesus Christ. Moreover, the mandate to the church to go and take the gospel into the entire world is not merely to provide the means of salvation to a select few and a good faith offer to everyone else,¹ but rather a real offer that can either be accepted or rejected.

I disaffirm that God’s desire for everyone to experience eternal life, knowing that some will not trust Christ, in any way diminishes His sovereignty since He without constraint or coercion chose to grant man that opportunity; further, that people rejecting Christ’s death on the cross for them and His payment for their sin somehow makes Christ’s unused sacrifice wasted; it is not wasted since Christ’s death on the cross accomplished precisely what God desired, which is to provide every person, by mercy, an opportunity to be saved (2 Corinthians 5:14; 1 Timothy 2:6; Hebrews 2:9; 1 John 1:2, 4:14), and to save forever all who believe (John 3:16).

Next Topic: The Love of God

1. As mentioned elsewhere, Calvinists sometimes use this to explain how and why they can in good conscience present the gospel to everyone. In other words, since they do not know who can and cannot believe, it is a good faith offer. However, theirs is still a different message than I think is presented in the Scripture. The Calvinist cannot, if true to Calvinism, look into the eyes of an individual, any individual, and say God loves you and Christ died for you, and God wants you to be saved, and you can be saved, if you will only trust Christ, and you can by the grace of God trust Christ if you will. If one is unwilling to accept that reality, along with a belief in irresistible grace resulting in regeneration prior to faith, he cannot be a Calvinist. [↩]

Here is my article regarding God’s work of salvation and what I consider to be shortcomings of the teachings of Calvinism. (more…)

As a pastor, I am intimately concerned about what is included in preaching of the gospel. I realize that all Christians are concerned, and rightly so; but since I do this week in and week out it is of utmost importance to not only understand the gospel, but to articulate the gospel message in such a way that it clearly reflects what the Scripture teaches and what I believe. I offer this article to elucidate my understanding of the call to preach the gospel. This is my eighth article concerning issues related to salvation. (more…)

Here are my thoughts on the relationship of faith and works with regard to salvation. (more…)

This article summarizes my views about the relationship of faith and regeneration—being born again. Calvinism teaches that regeneration precedes faith and is something that God does for the elect, which will result in faith. I believe the Scripture is ever so clear that faith precedes regeneration. (more…)

With regard to man’s depravity, we mean the corruption, distortion, and death that followed Adam’s choice to sin in the Garden of Eden. This now means that every person is born sinful, with a depraved or corrupted nature, which reality is painfully obvious to anyone but the most blinded materialist—I even suspect that it is overwhelmingly obvious to him if he contemplates life in light of God’s design.

I believe that this corruption is total in extent; thereby, affecting every aspect of the human being. Humans still retain the Image of God (Genesis 1:26-28, 9:6). It is corrupted but not destroyed; therefore, while man does retain the image of God, and with that the ability to choose, that ability to choose is limited to temporal and civil good. Man can only be brought to a place of truly seeking, desiring to know God or being saved by faith in Christ by the gracious mercy of God.

The following is a summary of what I affirm and disaffirm regarding depravity in relationship to salvation and Calvinism. (more…)

Of course the answer to this question not only relates to the issues addressed, but also with the problem of evil, and every evil, harmful act…that is a part of our existence; however I have addressed that particular issue in another blog. This one seeks to explain my belief about the origin of sin as it relates to being a “minor calvinist”.  The following is a summary of what I affirm and disaffirm regarding this issue. (more…)

I believe that God has been, is and will always be ruling over the plans, ideas or rulings of angels or man.  I do not believe that man can ever thwart the plan of God.  I believe that God granting sinners a real choice to accept His gracious provision of salvation ”by grace through faith” is more consistent with God’s sovereignty when considered in light of the totality of the picture presented in scripture and the fullness of the person of God.

Consequently, I do believe and extol the sovereignty of God, but I do not believe that necessitates or is even enhanced by viewing it through the lens of Calvinism. (more…)