The Five Points of Calvinism - 4. Irresistible Grace

The fourth of the so-called "Five Points of Calvinism" is known in theology as irresistible grace or effectual grace.

It is at this point that the theological rubber of total depravity, unconditional election and limited atonement meets the experiential road of the sinner's life in their regeneration and conversion to Christ.

The grace in irresistible grace refers to saving grace—God's attitude and decision to treat sinners not as they deserve, which is punishment in hell, but rather to love and save them. 

Reformed theology teaches that God's saving grace to the elect is irresistible or effectual because it is manifested in a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine means that having chosen (unconditional election) a certain number of sinners (total depravity) for salvation and having sent Christ with the intention of saving those sinners (limited atonement), when the time comes in God's plan for each of those people to be saved, his grace towards them cannot be resisted by mere human free will. Irresistible grace is precisely that: it leads to the salvation of the sinner through regeration, faith in Christ and repentance from sin and is always effectual in its saving purpose.

Arminians oppose this doctrine and teach instead that God shows saving grace to everyone. They call this prevenient grace or enabling grace, but such grace that draws people to Christ and enables them to have saving faith can always be resisted and rejected according to Arminianism. Having been endowed with libertarian free will, the final decision of whether someone is saved or not rests with the sinner themselves.

Sometimes irresistible grace gets caricatured by Arminians as God "saving people against their will" or even worse as God "dragging people, kicking and screaming, into heaven."

This is a total parody of the Reformed position. We do not teach that irresistible grace forces people to believe against their will, or even that people are coerced into faith. Rather the Reformed view is that at the time God chooses, an operation of the Holy Spirit on the person supernaturally changes their will, so that they become spiritually alive previously having been spiritually dead, they will is changed from being hostile to God to being drawn to God. They are, in John's language, born again and thus enabled to repent and believe the gospel. So it is not that they are saved irrespective of their desires or will, but rather that they are given a new heart so that they then want to believe in Christ and turn away from their old life of sin and unbelief.

As the Westminster Confession of Faith says on this subject (Chapter 10.1 "On Effectual Calling"): 

All those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by his Word and Spirit, out of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds, spiritually and savingly, to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good, and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ; yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by his grace.

And as the Canons of Dort also testify (Head III-IV, Art. 11):

Moreover, when God carries out this good pleasure in the elect, or works true conversion in them, God not only sees to it that the gospel is proclaimed to them outwardly, and enlightens their minds powerfully by the Holy Spirit so that they may rightly understand and discern the things of the Spirit of God, but, by the effective operation of the same regenerating Spirit, God also penetrates into the inmost being, opens the closed heart, softens the hard heart, and circumcises the heart that is uncircumcised. God infuses new qualities into the will, making the dead will alive, the evil one good, the unwilling one willing, and the stubborn one compliant. God activates and strengthens the will so that, like a good tree, it may be enabled to produce the fruits of good deeds.

The words of these Reformed confessions, careful and nuanced and deeply biblical, are what Calvinists believe, not the straw men and parodies of those who either misunderstand or deliberate distort what irresistible grace means.

The doctrine of irresistible grace is closely aligned with the doctrines of unconditional election and particular redemption. Let's say John Smith was elected by the Father for salvation in eternity past, and on the cross of Calvary, the Son died to save John Smith, taking upon himself the penalty for all John Smith's sins, how could it then be that the Holy Spirit would be unable to give John Smith the gifts of saving faith and repentance necessary for him to be saved? The very idea is absurd.

The biblical evidence in favour of irresistible grace is therefore formed not only from the verses directly touching on this doctrine, but from every passage we have already looked at in this series touching on the sovereignty of God, unconditional election or limited atonement. Some of the passages specifically supporting the doctrine of irresistible grace as we have outlined it are listed here. We will not comment on every verse, but only on as many as necessary to make the links clear between the verses and the doctrine of irresistible grace outlined in this post.

Deuteronomy 30:6 - "And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live."

This verse in the Pentateuch speaks clearly about God's action on the human heart to bring about a change in the affections and will. It is difficult to reconcile this verse with libertarian free will (the concept of a human will that God cannot sovereignly control).

Jeremiah 31:33-34 - "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbour and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord’, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

Again, this passage speaks clearly of God's sovereign actions on human hearts. The covenant itself is a sovereignly administered bond. The idea of God's covenant as a bilateral "agreement" or "contract" is without biblical support. God is the one who can "put his law" within us, and make us his people.

Ezekiel 36:26-27 - "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules."

This important passage in Ezekiel directly attests to the truth of irresistible grace. It is God who gives a new heart and a new spirit to people and this is clearly not an image meant to be interpreted as something done cooperatively between God and the sinner. It is a sovereign act of God that changes hearts. How then could God have to have the sinner's heart cooperating with him before he can put a new heart in that sinner? That would make no sense of the passage. The verse even goes as far as to state that God "causes" people to obey him. Utterly incompatible with the Arminian view of grace or the human will. 

John 1:12-13 - "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."

This memorable verse in the prologue to John's Gospel speaks directly to the issue in hand. God's children are not born "of the will of the flesh nor the will of man" directly contrary to Arminianism. Opponents of Reformed theology teach that the new birth follows the act of saving faith. Reformed theology recognises that the new birth must precede saving faith. The concept of new birth—a supernatural act of God—preceding anyone coming to faith strongly implies the irresistibility of saving grace.

John 3:3, 5, 8 - "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God...Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God...The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

I cannot see how one can teach that being born again follows coming to faith in light of this passage. According to the Arminian, a person comes to faith, thereby entering the Kingdom of God, and then is born again by the Holy Spirit. According to Jesus, a person cannot even see let alone enter the Kingdom of God until he is born again. This strongly implies that faith follows the new birth. And this in turn then suggests that saving grace is irresistible. God does not consult dead sinners to see if they would consent to being born again. He no more does that than Christ consulted with Lazarus to ensure he consented to coming back from the dead. No, God commands dead sinners to come to life and believe, just as Christ commanded Lazarus from the grave (cf. John 11).

John 5:21 - "For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will."

John 6:37-40, 44 - "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day...No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day."

This passage sets forth a kind of golden chain of salvation in the words of Jesus himself. It is clearly compatible with irresistible grace and incompatible with Arminian resistible grace.

The argument runs as follows. "All that the Father gives me will come to me." This implies that God's grace cannot be resisted by those given to Christ by the Father. "I should lose nothing of all that he has given me." Similarly, none of those given by Father to Son can be lost. How could Jesus claim this if the Father aims at saving everyone, but cannot ensure that anyone would believe? In Jesus' argument, that anyone comes to faith follows from the fact that they have been given to Christ by the Father. This is the exact opposite of the Arminian argument. Verse 44 is also an important verse. It not only teaches human inability, by implication it also teaches irresistible grace, since it implies that it is not everyone who is drawn by the Father here, but those who come to faith. Christ says the same thing about those drawn in verse 44 ("And I will raise him up on the last day") as he has already said about those given to him by the Father and those who believe. They are the one group. And none of them can resist God's saving grace.

Acts 11:18 - "When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, 'Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.'"

The verse teaches that repentance, that is the ability to repent, is something granted to people, not something they can produced in themselves.

Acts 16:14 - "One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul."

This verse speaks of an act of God on the heart on Lydia so that she would "pay atttention" and accept the gospel message.

Romans 8:30 - "And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

In this golden chain of redemption, if there is an unbreakable link between predestination, calling and justification, then this calling must be effectual or irresistible. Otherwise it would be possible for some predestined for glorification to reject God's grace.

1 Corinthians 12:3 - "Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says 'Jesus is accursed!' and no one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except in the Holy Spirit."

This verse teaches that for someone to genuinely believe "Jesus is Lord" requires a work of the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:17 - "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."

This verse is reminiscent of the Ezekiel 36 passage. Someone who is "in Christ" (i.e. a Christian) is a new creation, The process of regeneration or new birth is that radical. 

Ephesians 1:17-19 - "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the working of his great might."

This part of Paul's prayer for the Ephesian church. His prayer only makes sense if God can genuinely change hearts, have spiritual eyes opened, have minds changed, and so forth. It speaks of God's power to achieve these things. Again this is understandable from the point of view of irresistible grace, but not from the alternative where God's is dependent on what the sovereign human will decides. In that kind of world, there is no point in Paul praying as he does here.

Ephesians 2:8-9 - "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Philippians 1:29 - "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake."

Both of these verses teach that faith is not something produced by man, but it is a gift from God. In the Ephesians passage, the "gift" is the whole of salvation by grace through faith, but that includes faith as a gift. The Philippians verse says explicitly that faith is something "granted" or "given" to us, not produced merely from within us.

The Five Points of Calvinism - 3. Limited Atonement

The third of the "Five Points of Calvinism" is known in theology by several different names, including limited atonement, definite atonement or particular redemption.

Warning! This is another long post.

Historical Background, Terminology and the TULIP Acronym

Before we discuss limited atonement, this is probably a good time for a slight digression in to where the five points come form.

The five points of Calvinism are sometimes known by a five-letter acronym: T.U.L.I.P. This is perhaps appropriate as the original five points of Calvinism were formulated in the Netherlands! In the early 17th century, a group of Dutch Reformed ministers and theologians who were followers of Jacob Arminius, attempted to clarify what Reformed teaching should be on five points of doctrine. The group, known as the Remonstrants, put forward the following five articles for discussion in the Reformed churches of the Netherlands:

• Total Depravity - that we are affected by sin in all parts of our being.
  
• Conditional Election - that God's choice of who to save is based on him looking ahead in time, seeing who would have faith in Christ, and then choosing them.
  
• Unlimited or Universal Atonement - that Christ died for everyone without exception to make their salvation possible, but not to effectually save anyone in particular.
  
• Prevenient (but resistible) Grace - that God's grace is necessary but not sufficient for anyone to come to faith. Such faith is given to everyone so that come into a position where they can accept or reject Christ.
  
• Further study on whether it was possible for genuine believers to later fall away from the faith. They group was uncertain as to whether a person who has saving faith in Christ can later lose their salvation and fall away.

In response to this, the Reformed churches held a synod in the Dutch city of Dort (or Dordrecht) from 1618-19. After many discussions, which included representatives from Reformed churches from all over Europe, including Britain, the Synod of Dort produced a credal statement called the Canons of Dort. This document, along with the Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgic Confession, forms "the Three Forms of Unity" the confessional basis of the Dutch Reformed churches (they are akin to the position of the Westminster Confession of Faith for Presbyterians).

The Canons of Dort contains "the five points of Calvinism" in their original form, though the Synod of Dort would not have recognised that term. For them, these are simply biblical truths. The Synod rejected the articles of the Remonstrants and set forth the following doctrines:

• Total Depravity
• Unconditional Election
• Limited Atonement
• Irresistible Grace
• Perseverance (or Preservation) of the Saints.
  

This is by way of some historical background. The TULIP acronym is probably as much of a reason as any that this doctrine is often called limited atonement. The term is probably not the best and many people prefer the alternatives names of definite atonement or particular atonement.

The Differences Between Calvinists and Arminians on the Atonement

Sometimes the argument is presented as if Arminians believe Christ died for everyone and Calvinists believe Christ died for the elect only. That is accurate as far as it goes, but it is  probably not the best way of discussing the matter and is an oversimplification. 

Though any theological school of thought is never completely monolithic, most Calvinists, and certainly this writer, accepts that Christ's atonement is sufficient for all. By this we mean that Christ's death on the cross is sufficient to save everyone without exception. Penal Substitutionary Atonement does not mean that if Christ was going to save six billion people, he needed to suffer for six hours, but if he was going to save twelve billion people, he would need to suffer twice as long or be punished twice as hard. The fact is that what Christ endured would have been required whether he was going to save one single individual or everyone who ever lived universally. So the sufficiency of the atonement is not the issue. We all agree Christ's death is sufficient for everyone to be saved.

Closely related to this, most Calvinists (this writer included) also believe that the gospel call or offer is to be made to every sinner without exception and is genuine, sincere or "well-meant" to every sinner who hears it. The warrant for every sinner to accept God's command to repent and believe lies not in the extent of the atonement, but in the God's promise to all and the sufficiency of the atonement for everyone. The gospel offer to save everyone who believes and the promise that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved is a conditional promise. The promise to true for all who believe, but for none who do not believe. Christ is indeed offered to all sinners in the gospel and he will definitely save anyone who comes to him in faith, but only those who do so will be saved.

With these two points in mind, we can then define precisely what is meant by limited atonement or particular redemption as follows: it was the Triune God's plan and purpose that Christ died with the intention of accomplishing the salvation of the elect only or in other words that Christ should make atonement only for the sins of the elect, not for the sins of the non-elect. 

"Limited Atonement" as a term can sound as if Calvinists are seeking to diminish Christ's atonement, when in fact the very opposite is the case. It is for this reason that many Calvinists prefer the terms "Definite Atonement" or "Particular Redemption" meaning that we believe that Christ did not die for everyone in general, but for particular and definite people who are saved by his death. 

It is an unlimited or universal atonement that diminishes the power and effectiveness of Christ's saving work. If Christ died for everyone head-for-head, then why are all not saved? If Christ died for you and you are not saved, then the final say on salvation must be down to you, not to Christ. If Christ died for those who are lost as well as those who are saved, the cross is robbed of its saving power. The determining factor must lie in those who are saved.

The fact is both sides teach a kind of "limited atonement". Calvinists believe in a powerful atonement "limited" to a definite group of people who are saved by it. Arminians believe in an atonement "limited" in power, which is made on behalf of everyone but saves no one in itself without human free will accepting it.

The Biblical Case for Limited Atonement

As we shall see there are many verses which support viewing the atonement as being made for those who are saved by it (for example made for the elect, made for the Church, etc.). But the most important argument in favour of limited atonement lies not in "gotcha" verses, but in the broader tide of how the New Testament speaks of Christ's saving work. The point is that the New Testament consistently speaks of the cross in terms of it having an intention to achieve certain goals and that Christ completely accomplished those goals. The Arminian has to read in a measure of potentiality and provision, but not achievement or accomplishment, because they teach that the cross in itself does not achieve anything unless the sinner cooperates to "accept" the atonement.

If we accept the penal substitutionary view of the atonement, that Christ died as a substitute, taking the guilt and penalty for sins on himself and the wrath of God due for sin, this in itself implies limited atonement. But the great atonement words of the New Testament also point to a definite, intentional and successful atonement being made, not a mere provisional or potential atonement.

There are three biblical words that explain what happened theologically when Christ died on the cross: redemption, propitiation and reconciliation. Here are some verses which mention these concepts:

Redemption

Psalm 111:9 - "He sent redemption to his people; he has commanded his covenant for ever. Holy and awesome is his name!

Isaiah 43:1 - "But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine."

Romans 3:23-24 - "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

1 Corinthians 1:30 - "And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption."

Ephesians 1:7 - "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace."

Galatians 3:13 - "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree'."

Colossians 1:13-14 - "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

Propitiation

Romans 3:25 - "Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins."

Hebrews 2:17 - "Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."

1 John 4:10 - "In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

Reconciliation

Romans 5:10-11 - "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation."

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 - "All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation."

Colossians 1:21-22 - "And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him."

All these verses speak of Christ actually accomplishing something in his death. To put it bluntly, if Christ redeemed everyone, propitiated the wrath of God for everyone, and reconciled everyone to God, the natural conclusion would be universalism, that everyone without exception is saved. The natural conclusion would not be that these are only provisionally made and are not effective until activated by human faith. This is to change what the New Testament actually claims about Christ's death. It is eisegesis to read every passage through the lens of autonomous human free will being the determining factor for Christ's death achieving what the New Testament simply states is achieved by it.

With this in mind, let us look at the verses that explicitly teach that Christ died for a particular group of people. If Christ's died for everyone, you need to ask yourself why the Bible speaks so often of the atonement being for a group that is obviously less than everyone.

Isaiah 53:5, 8, 11 - "But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed...By oppression and judgement he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?...Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities."

Here the "we," "our" or "us" cannot be everyone without exception otherwise the implication would be universal salvation. What is said is achieved by the suffering Servant's atonement, not merely made available. In verse 8, the text explicitly refers to this being for "my people" not "everyone without exception."

Matthew 1:21 - "She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

The verse is explicit that Jesus came to save his people from their sins, not everyone without exception.

Matthew 20:28 and Mark 10:45 - "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Matthew 26:28 - "For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

These verses are explicit that Christ's death was for "many" which means for a lot of people, but does not mean for everyone without exception.

John 10:11, 14-15, 26-30 - "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep...I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep...But you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

In this passge Christ speaks of laying down his life for his sheep. It is plain from the context that the sheep are not everyone without exception. The sheep are those who trust and follow Christ as Saviour and Lord and are contrasted with those who do not believe. Christ implies he does not lay down his life for them.

John 17:6-9 - "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours."

In this passage, not only does Christ imply that his work is for a particular group of people, "the people whom you have me out of the world" (cf. John 6:37-40) but he explicitly says there are people for whom he will not even pray or intercede, never mind make an ineffectual atonement for.

Acts 20:28 - "Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood."

This verse states that Christ's death was for "the church of God" not everyone. As an aside, this verse also teaches that Christ was God.

Romans 8:32-34 - "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us."

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 - "All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Galatians 1:3-4 - "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father."

Titus 2:14 - "Who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works."

It is important to read passage like this contextually. In Paul's letters "we" or "us" is not everyone, but refers only to Christian believers, the recipients of Paul's letters. When read in that light, it is clear that Paul believes Christ died exclusively for the elect, the Church, the justified. 

Ephesians 5:25 - "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her."

Another verse stating that Christ died to save the Church—the body of Christian believers—and not everyone without exception.

Hebrews 2:17 - "Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."

As with Matthew 1:21 we have already looked at, this verse teaches that Christ's saving work of propitiation was made for the sins of the people, i.e. God's people, not everyone without exception.

Hebrews 9:15, 28 - "Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant...so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him."

Not only does this passage once again speak of Christ dying for "many" rather than everyone, it is also plain that as "mediator of a new covenant" Christ has died for "those who are called" which implies a smaller group than everyone without exception. In fact, it is the same group elsewhere called the Church, his people or the elect.

1 Peter 3:18 - "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit."

Not only does this verse once again speak of "us" (believers) as opposed to everyone, but it also expresses how Christ's death is no mere provision or potentiality, but actually brings people to God.

Revelation 5:9 - "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation."

The very fact that this verse explicitly says that Christ's death was a ransom for people from every part of humanity must mean that the ransom was not for everyone without exception. Otherwise, John should simply have written "you ransomed every tribe and language and people and nation." He didn't write that because Christ didn't do that.

What About the "World", "All" and "Everyone" Verses?

We have focused on the positive case for limited atonement in this post. Some may object, what about the verses that seem to teach that Christ died for everyone, all or the world? For the Calvinist exegesis of these verses please see the recent series of posts called "Dealing with the 'Arminian' texts here, here, here and here.

The general answer is that, in context, all of these verses either refer to some variation of "all without distinction" rather than "all without exception" or that the verses merely tell us that there is a sense in which God loves all and may be said to have a desire towards the salvation of all which does not extend to a saving or electing love for all or a decision to decree the salvation of all. There is a mystery here beyond the scope of human reason or logic, but it seems clear enough that though God loves all and has a desire that all be saved (by heeding the gospel offer to come to Christ in faith and repentance), yet his sovereign decree is to save only the elect and reject the rest of humanity for salvation.

None of these verses, read in context, contradicts the overwhelming case for particular redemption we have presented here.

RC Sproul on Unconditional Election

This video with RC Sproul speaking on unconditional election is one of the clearest explanations of the Reformed doctrine I have come across.

 

The Five Points of Calvinism - 2. Unconditional Election

The second of the so-called "Five Points of Calvinism" is known in theology as unconditional election. 

Warning! This is long post.

Unconditional Election is often thought of as the central and distinctive doctrine of Calvinism. That is arguable, but it is certainly the first distinctive doctrine of the Five Points of Calvinism that clashes with Arminianism and other forms of Christianity.

The word "election" in theology is part of the more general doctrine of predestination and refers to God's choice of who will be saved, made prior to the beginning of creation. Election is plainly taught in Scripture and accepted by all Christians who accept biblical authority.

However, many Christians believe in what is called "conditional election." In simple terms this means that God's choice of who will be saved is based on a condition or action done by those who are saved. It is as if God, prior to creation, uses his foreknowledge to look through time and then those he sees as meeting the condition, he then chooses for salvation. The condition to be met is usually regarded as faith in Jesus Christ. So "conditional election" means God chooses those to be saved whom he foresees or foreknows will have faith in Jesus Christ.

The problem with his view is that it reduces God to choosing to save those he sees will choose him. The basis for the choice is not God, but the human being.

A second non-Calvinist view of election is known as "corporate election". This is the view that God chooses the group which is saved, for example God chooses to save the Christian Church, but whether an individual person is part of the favoured group or is excluded from it is up to the human being, not God's choice. This view is very similar to the conditional election view in practice.

For Calvinists, neither of these views does justice to the Bible's teaching about the sovereignty of God in general, and his sovereignty in salvation in particular.

Calvinists, therefore, believe in unconditional election, which means that the choice of who is saved is made solely by God. 

In negative terms, God's choice is not based on any condition (attitude, thought or action) that those who are chosen must meet or are foreseen as meeting. In particular, election is not based on God foreknowing who would believe, nor does election only relate the choice of a group for salvation, it relates to each individual chosen for salvation.

In positive terms, God's choice is made solely within himself, for his own glory and to display his grace on those chosen for salvation. It is this sovereign choice by God which is the ultimate cause of each person's salvation.

The Calvinist view, unconditional election, means, as theologian R. C. Sproul says: "Election rests on God’s sovereign decision to save whomever He is pleased to save." 

The disputed word between Calvinists and non-Calvinists is obviously "unconditional," but I believe the Bible strongly supports the view that God chooses individuals for salvation yet not based on any condition those chosen must meet. 

Unconditional election does not mean "arbitrary" or "capricious" election, though the opponents of Calvinism frequently paint it in that light. Election is made for good reasons as far as God is concerned; however these reasons are not to do with the fitness, character. actions or even foreseen faith of the elect. The reasons are God's reasons, primarily for his own glory.

Unconditional election also does not mean that God will save people irrespective of faith in Christ or irrespective of a how a person lives out their faith. Unconditional election is the reason some are brought to faith and it is the guarantee of the elect evidencing their saving faith in good works. As Ephesians 2:8-10 says: "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

Unconditional election simply means that God chooses the elect not on the basis of any characteristic or condition in those chosen, but for his own reasons, out of love for those who are chosen and for his own glory and praise.

Let's review the evidence, remembering that the discussion is not whether or not God chooses people for salvation—Scripture plainly teaches that much—but whether God's choice is based on something within those who are chosen (conditional) or based on nothing within those who are chosen (unconditional). Is there something about those who are saved that somehow made them more suitable for being chosen than others? The Arminian has to say "yes"—the elect are those who had more spiritual insight or less hostility because they believed in Christ where others in exactly the same position spiritually did not believe. Only the Calvinist says "no"—there was nothing about the elect that made them any more worthy of salvation than anyone else. When the Calvinist says we are saved by pure grace, he really means it.

The starting point for any discussion of unconditional election has to be the wider subject of the sovereignty of God. God is in control of the universe and does what pleases him without reference to anything outside his own will. 

Job 23:13 - "But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does."

Job 42:2 - "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted."

Psalm 115:3 - "Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Psalm 135:6 - "Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps."

Isaiah 46:9-10 - "Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’."

Daniel 4:35 - "All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, 'What have you done?'"

Ephesians 1:11 - "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will."

Once this point is understood, that God is God and he is the One who does whatever he desires and pleases with his creation, unconditional election is merely the application of this same doctrine of the sovereignty of God to the salvation of human beings.

The Bible is consistent from Genesis to Revelation that God is sovereign and he chooses those whom he wishes, without consultation or limitation, whether the choice is for salvation (which is our main concern) or for service.

Exodus 33:19 - "And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord’. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy."

This verse makes it clear that God is in control of his grace and mercy. He has the sovereign right to show grace and mercy wherever he wishes. He also has the right to withhold grace and mercy when he wishes. Therefore, God is never obligated to save anyone, nor prevented from saving anyone either when he chooses. Paul quotes this verse in Romans 9:15 to show that God was neither obligated to save every ethnic Jew, nor prohibited from extending salvation to the Gentiles.

Deuteronomy 7:6-8 - "For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

This passage makes it clear that God's people, Israel, were not chosen because they met any criteria for being chosen. They were chosen because Yahweh set his love upon them. We can therefore speak of God's sovereign love being the reason he chooses some and not others, whether this be one nation over another or some individuals and not others.

Psalm 65:4 - "Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!"

This verse makes it clear that, contra those advocating for corporate election and not individual election, that God chooses individuals, not only nations or groups.

Matthew 11:25-26 - "At that time Jesus declared, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.^'"

Here Jesus is speaking directly about htose who would accept or reject him. It is remarkable that his reflection on this is not firstly about human free will or autonomy, but about the Father's purpose, will, and choice.

John 6:37-40, 44 - "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day..No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.."

John 10:14-15, 25-30  - "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep...I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one."

These passages from John's Gospel, the direct teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, are among the strongest and clearest teachings on unconditonal election in the whole Bible. Not only is the order of salvation clear in John 6, that the Father chooses first and gives a people to the Son, all of whom he will save, but Christ makes a distinction later in John 10 between those who are his (his flock) and others who are not his flock. Most strikingly he does not say to some "You are not part of my flock because you do not believe" which is what we would maybe expect from an Arminian Jesus, but rather "You do not believe because you are not part of my flock" or in other words, because they were not given to him by the Father. The concept of unconditional election is central to the argument of these passages.

John 15:16 - "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you."

This verse is important in making the point that the choice of the disciples was completely unconditional. Christ chose those whom he wanted. It is quite foreign to the concept of election in the Bible to read into it conditionality. Christ never said, far less implied, that he chose the disciples because he knew in advance they would say "yes". The reverse is true, they would say "yes" because he sovereignly chose them.

Arminians sometimes make much of the fact that the choice here is strictly speaking to be disciples and apostles. They try to drive a wedge between election to salvaiton and election to service. Such a distinction is man-made and not derived from Scripture. In choosing these men to lead the church this was merely an extension of them being chosen for salvation, because the eleven here (Judas had already left the room - John 13:29-30) were all elected for salvation and to serve as church leaders.

Acts 13:48 - "And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed."

This one of the strongest verses on unconditional election or sovereign election in the New Testament. The order of events is the opposite of Arminian claims. It is those who were appointed ("ordained" - KJV) for eternal life who believed, not those who believed who were appointed for eternal life. An Arminian would never write this verse the way Luke wrote it.

Before we move on to look at the apostle Paul's teachings on election, it is perhaps worth noting that some people believe that unconditional election is a peculiarly Pauline concept. It is worth recognising that hitherto we have only examined the writings of Moses, the Psalms, Matthew and John mainly quoting Jesus himself, and Luke in Acts. Unconditional election is clearly established by these and many more non-Pauline texts. Paul only writes more extensively and explicitly but holds to the same teaching as the other biblical writers and the Lord himself.

Romans 8:28-30 - "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

This passage is a wonderful testimony to unconditional election when read properly and in context.

Perhaps in passing we might first note how difficult it is to conceive how God can make all things work together for good to those who love him (v.28) in a world where everyone has libertarian free will outside God's control, but we will let that pass.

The main point is about the "golden chain" of salvation here in verses 29 and 30. The order given by Paul is foreknown > predestined > called > justified > glorified.

In this context "whom he foreknew" cannot refer to pre-knowledge of facts or things about people (i.e. it cannot refer to God foreknowing who would believe) for the simple reason is that since God is omniscient, he knows all things about all people. It would make no sense to talk about "those whom he foreknew" as a distinct group if the Arminian view is correct since God foreknows everything about everyone. No, this has to be referring to "knowing" in the biblical sense of intimacy and love. Those who are foreknown here are "foreloved". This is knowing in the same way as Jesus meant when he said to the damned "I never knew you" (Matthew 7:23).

The rest of the "chain" is clear, from God's choice through to final glory. None are lost along the way (cf. John 6:37). All who are foreknown and predestined are justified and glorified.

All actions are God's. He accomplishes these things. It totally disrupts the nature of the apostle's thoughts, and the beauty of the picture of grace presented, to insert human free will as the determining factor and upon which God's choice is supposedly dependent.

Romans 9:10-13, 15-16 - "And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, 'The older will serve the younger.' As it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'...For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy."

Paul further expands on his teaching on sovereign election in Romans 9. The whole chapter should be carefully read. Paul goes as deep as any human being ever has into the mind and purposes of God (see Romans 9;19-24). The teaching is clear. Paul contrasts God's purpose of election with human actions (v.16). The fact that God's choice of Jacob over Esau was before they were born or had done anything good or evil strongly suggests that election is not conditional on foreseeing who would believe.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 - "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God."

Here again Paul's argument, reminiscent of Jesus' words in Matthew 11:25-26 we looked at already, does not sound like someone who believes God's choice is based on anything in those who are chosen. If that were so, his argument would fall apart. The argument is that God chose those who are least likely to be chosen, precisely to glorify himself and rule out human boasting.

Conditional election does not achieve this. Instead those who are chosen do have something to boast about—that God foresaw they would believe where others would not. It is impossible to avoid the saved in Arminianism seeing that they are somehow better than those who are lost. In Calvinism by contrast, the saved have nothing to boast about whatever as even God's choice was not based on any difference between the saved and the lost.

Ephesians 1:4-5 - "He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will."

Paul is explicit in this great passage in Ephesians 1 that predestination flows from love and that the choice was "according to the purpose of his will" not according to him foreseeing who would believe.

2 Timothy 1:9 - "[God] who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began."

Once again, Paul's thought is fully explicable if election is unconditional, but difficult to explain if God's choice of us is logically preceded by our choice of God. He explicitly says we were saved and called not on the basis of anything in us ("our works") but because of God's sovereign will ("his own purpose and grace"). And all this happened before the ages began!

Unconditional election may be the most hated doctrine of all because it glorifies God and humbles man more than any other doctrine. Unconditional election proclaims that God is indeed God. The Calvinist welcomes this and says "Let God be God". All other views cannot accept this and in one way or another make God's purpose dependent on human free will, a concept of which the Scriptures know nothing.

The Five Points of Calvinism - 1. Total Depravity

We begin a new series looking at the so-called "Five Points of Calvinism," the first of which is known in theology as total depravity.

As with a few of the Five Points, there seems to be a degree of misunderstanding about this term. It does not mean "utter depravity" or "absolute depravity". In other words, it does not mean that human beings are as utterly evil or wicked as they could be. Holding to total depravity does not mean denying that human beings are still able to do good things. Jesus himself said, "If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:11).

The word "total" in total depravity refers to the complete or radical nature of our sinfulness. It means that sin affects every part of human beings—it affects our bodies and souls, it affects our minds and our emotions. It means that there is no part of humanity not severely affected by sin. 

The word "depravity" refers to the fact that we are innately evil by nature, to the extent that we are spiritually dead—cut-off from God and naturally opposed to His ways.

Total deparavity therefore means that human beings are innately evil by nature in every part of their being. There is no part of a human being by nature that is good. Again, as Jesus said, "No one is good except God alone." (Mark 10:18).

It is important to note that this state that humanity is in was not how God created us. Originally we were created good, but when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, their disobedience has had the dire consequence of corrupting human nature.

The doctrine of total depravity is closely related to the doctrine of original sin, which means that every human being is born in this condition (with the one exception, who is Jesus himself) of being completely sin-affected and spiritually dead by nature.

Of all the Five Points, total depravity is the least controversial. In fact in the great debate between Calvinism and Arminianism, total depravity is historically a doctrine held in common by both sides. Only the heretical Pelagians, teaching that human beings have not inherited sinfulness from Adam and Eve, denied total depravity. There may be contemporary versions of this, not least in liberal Christianity. But all evangelicals, whether Calvinist or Arminian, accept total depravity.

Of the many implications of this doctrine of total depravity, the most important concerns humanity's lostness in sin and total inability to save ourselves. Not only can we never hope to earn salvation by works, total depravity teaches the even more radical truth that we can never even accept God's offer of salvation by grace in the gospel unless God acts in a radical way to transform our natures. 

Total depravity is the first of the Five Points of Calvinism and a recognition of the plight of fallen humanity, lost in sin and hostile to God, forms the backdrop to all the other of the Five Points. It explains why election must purely be of grace and unconditional. It shows to power of the cross in particular redemption to save sinners. It accounts for why saving grace has to be irresistible or the deparaved sinner would always resist it. And it explains why God has to ensure his people persevere in their faith, for on our own we would never keep going in faith.

The biblical evidence for total depravity is overwhelming. We cannot look at every relevant verse and passage, but the following verses  make the case very clearly.

1. Humanity is not "basically good" but "basically evil"

Job 25:4-6 - "How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure? Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his eyes; how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!"

Ecclesiastes 9:3 - "This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that the same event happens to all. Also, the hearts of the children of man are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and after that they go to the dead." 

Jeremiah 17:9 - "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"  (KJV)

Mark 7:21-23 - "For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

Romans 5:12, 19 - "Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned...For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners."

Romans 7:18 - "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out."

2. All Human Beings are Sinful

1 Kings 8:46 and 2 Chronicles 6:36 - "For there is no one who does not sin."

Psalm 130:3 - "If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?"

Romans 3:11-12 - "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."

Romans 3:23 - "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

1 John 1:8, 10 - "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us...If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

3. Every Human Faculty is Depraved

Genesis 6:5 - "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."

Genesis 8:21 - "The Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth" 

Psalm 51:5 - "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me."

Proverbs 21:4 - "Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the ploughing of the wicked, are sin."

Ecclesiastes 8:11 - "Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil."

Isaiah 64:6 - "We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment."

Jeremiah 17:9 - "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"  (KJV)

Matthew 15:19 - "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander."

John 3:19 - "And this is the judgement: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil."

John 8:44 - "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies." 

Romans 1:21, 24 - "For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened...Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonouring of their bodies among themselves"

Romans 1:28-32 - "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practise such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practise them."

Romans 8:7-8 - "For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God."

Ephesians 2:1-3 - "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."

Titus 1:15-16 - "To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work."

Titus 3:3 - "For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another."

Hebrews 11:6 - "And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him."

Dealing with the "Arminian" Texts – Part 4

This is the fourth and final part of our series of posts looking at a number of so-called "Arminian" texts—texts often cited by opponents of Reformed theology in the belief that they somehow undermine or refute Calvinism.

1 Timothy 2:3-4

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

This is one of the most frequently cited verses by Arminians against the Reformed doctrines of grace, especially against particular redemption, but also against unconditional election. The Arminian argument is straightforward. The verse says God desires everyone to be saved; Calvinism says that God desires (at least in the sense of the desires he decides to decree to come to pass) the elect to the saved and the non-elect to be damned. Therefore, Calvinism must be incorrect.

There are at least two ways Calvinists have answered the Arminian view.

The first Calvinist view says that we need to look at context to dispel Arminian claims. In verse 1, Paul writes: "First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people." We note again the phrase "all people"—the same words as are found in verse 4. Paul says Timothy's church is to pray for all people. Did he mean that they were to pray for every single person without exception? We they, as it were, supposed to get out the voter's roll for Ephesus and work their way through it in prayer? That seems unlikely. The true interpretation is confirmed by verse which explains the "all people" of verse 1: "for kings and all who are in high positions." 

Paul means that they are not to exclude any type of person in their prayers. They are to pray as much for kings and governors as they are for ordinary people. Therefore, "all people" in context means "all kinds of people". No class or type of person is to be excluded from the congregation's prayers.

So then, in verse 4, Paul means that God desires all kinds of people to be saved. He did not mean that God desires the salvation of everyone without exception. So the Arminian use of this verse simply falls apart. 

A second Calvinist view, accepts that the verse does teach God has a desire to save everyone without exception. It is not controversial in Reformed theology to teach that God has desires for some things that he chooses not to fulfil via his decree. Considered as a thing in itself, it pleases God for sinners to come to faith and be saved. He has this desire towards all his creatures. But this does not contradict the parallel truth that God also desires to save only some and to allow some to bc condemned for his own glory and the display of his justice. This Calvinist view counters the Arminian more fundamentally in some respects by saying "so what?" - we agree God desires all people to be saved and we preach the free offer of salvation on that basis, yet we do not deny God also has a secret or decretive will that purposes only to save the elect and condemn the reprobate.

My own view tends towards the first of these views, but both are valid in Reformed theology. 

1 Timothy 4:10

For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all people, especially of those who believe.

The Arminian interpretation of this verse is normally something along the lines that God has made salvation available to everyone (without exception) but it is effective only especially for those who believe. The problem of course is that this is not what the verse says.

If "Saviour of all people" means Saviour of everyone without exception then the verse proves too much and teaches universalism—that all are saved, especially those who believe. This would conflict with dozens of verses and passages that teach those not everyone is saved.

There are three Calvinist interpretations of this verse. 

Firstly, that "all people" has the same connotation as 1 Timothy 2:4 that we have just looked at and means "all kinds of people". Once we note that the Greek word translated "especially" (malista) could also be translated "namely" or "more specifically" we can see that the verse means "the living God, who is the Saviour of all kinds of people, namely [or more specifically] those who believe." The verse then makes perfect sense and is fully compatible with Calvinism.

Another Calvinist interpretation, notes that the word for "Saviour" (soter) is not always used in the sense of saving from sin. It can also mean a "preserver" or "deliverer" from non-salvation related situations, such as illness or danger. According to this view, the verse is only pointing out that God preserves and delivers everyone, but especially "delivers" in the full salvific sense believers. Personally, I think this view is open to charges of "special pleading" as it requires Paul to be using "Saviour" in a different sense here from is found in almost all occurrences in Paul's writings.

Third, some Calvinists simply acknowledge that Christ has been appointed as the sole Saviour of mankind though he accomplishes salvation only for those who believe (the elect). Many Calvinists accept that though the intention in the cross was to save the elect, this does not preclude Christ being set forth, held out or offered as Saviour to everyone through the gospel. In his revealed will, God sends Christ as Saviour for anyone who will believe in him; in his decretive will, God sends Christ to save the elect. While there may be mystery as to how these two ideas fit together, there is no contradiction.

2 Peter 2:1

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.

In this verse Peter mentions false teachers who "deny the Master who bought them." This, according to Arminian views, conflicts with limited atonement, as we apparaently here have Peter acknowledging that Christ died for false teachers who are not saved.

Clearly, from other places in Scripture, we know that those "bought" (or "redeemed") by Christ are saved, the Arminian view cannot be correct, particularly since these false teachers have brought swift destruction on themselves. So, another interpretation must be possible.

One such interpretation is that Peter was saying that the false teachers were denying the Master who they claimed to believe had bought them. He is, as it were, writing not from the perspective of the truth, but from the perspective of the false teachers' claims. It is almost as if he is putting inverted commas around the words. If this view is right, Peter was saying something like this: "even denying the Master "who bought them," bringing upon themselves swift destruction."

Another Calvinist interpretation, regards Peter as writing of them from the point of view of their having been associated with the body of believers. They are part of the visible church or covenant community, though as non-elect not part of the true invisible church or real covenant people. As Christ died for the church, insofar as the false believers associated with the church, Peter could speak in a sense of them denying the Master who it would appear bought them according to their own (false) profession.

A third view argues that "bought" here does not refer to salvation at all, but to Christ's ownership over them as created people, rather than as redeemed people. This view points out that "bought" could refer to any type of deliverance paid for. It could therefore be referring to outward benefits received by these men by being drawn into the church community (such as deliverance from idolatry or obvious wickedness in their lives) and therefore might not concern the atonement of Christ at all.

These three views have some overlap elements of all three views are present in this ambiguous verse in 2 Peter.

One final point to make that applies to this verse and many of the others claimed by our Arminian friends is that this passage is not about the atonement. The phrase in question is tangential to the main argument of the passage which is about false teachers. It is always dangerous to base a doctrine not on the main passages that deal with the subject, but on isolated words and phrases capable of more than one interpretation.

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

This verse in 2 Peter is one of the most frequently used verses by Arminians. Along with Matthew 23:37 and 1 Timothy 2:4 it forms what James White calls "the Big Three" cited over and over again by Arminian authors. The Arminian takes the phrase "no wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance" and claims this applies universally. God wants to save everyone and so by implication election, predestination and limited atonment must be false.

The Calvinist can respond forthrightly and as we have frequently seen, there are several Calvinist approaches.

The one group of Calvinists maintains that these words should not be viewed as having a universal import, but rather that they apply to the "you" (plural) of the verse. The "you" of the verse are the recipients and addressees of the letter, and that is not everyone without exception, but God's people, the elect. The "you" of the verse is "those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:1).

Peter is really saying "God is patient with you, not wishing that any [of you] should perish. The context bears out that view. The passage is dealing with the timing of the second coming of Christ. Peter is explaining that God delays this cataclysmic event in order that all of the elect would come to faith because he is not willing that any of them should perish.

An alternative Calvinist viewpoint, similar to approaches we have seen already in John 3:16, 1 Timothy 2:4, Matthew 23:37 and other places, acknowledges the Arminian interpretation insofar as 2 Peter 3:9 does teach that God is unwilling that anyone perish (not in the absolute sense of his sovereign or decretive will), but in the sense of his revealed or preceptive will. This to be preached to all because God does in one sense desire all to be saved and that none perish, and the Biblical revelation both includes God's desire towards salvation for all AND his decree to save only the elect and believers must keep both truths in tension without jettisoning either. Both the Arminian and the High/Hyper Calvinist are in danger of overemphasising one to the exclusion of the other truth. Evangelical Calvinists hold to both, even if they cannot rationally explain how they logically cohere.

1 John 2:2

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

I believe we can deal with this verse quite quickly. As with John 3:16, here the Arminian believes this verse teaches that Christ died for everyone without exception. They tend to point to the words, "the whole world" to underline their argument. The Arminian view tends to contrast "not for ours" by which they understand all current Christians at the time John was writing with "the whole world" meaning everyone without exception.

One Calvinist view points out that "whole world" need not mean "everyone without exception". Even within the context of First John this is clear. In 1 John 5:19 John says: "and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." Clearly this does not include the church who are not under Satan's rule, so the addition of "whole" to world does not make it mean "everyone without exception" automatically.

If the whole world meant everyone without exception here then the verse would teach that Christ is the propitiation for all sins of everyone. This would lead to universalism as how could God condemn anyone if Christ has already taken away that person's sins and turned aside God's wrath from them?

In this view, "our sins"—the sins of those already believing—is contrasted with the sins of all the nations—the whole world—everyone who would come to believe from any nation on earth.

As with other verses, a second Calvinist interpretation, accepts that "whole world" means everyone, but argues that John means simply that Christ is sufficient to propitiate the sins of the whole world, even though he efficiently propitiates the sins only of the elect and that both aspects are God's intent. Calvinists taking this view include the likes of W. G. T. Shedd, C. H. Spurgeon and John MacArthur - all pointing to the sufficiency of the atonement for all while also holding that the atonement is effective only for the elect.