Meaningless Freedom in Calvinism

Calvinism says God predetermined only certain men who will be saved and that they cannot desire to reject God’s saving grace, and that the predestined lost cannot desire to repent so as to be saved. The divine cards on human motives have already been dealt. John Calvin, taught that by God’s providence, “[T]he counsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course which he has destined (Institutes of Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 16, Paragraph 8; Book 3, Chapter 23, Paragraph 6).

Yet the Bible undoubtedly presents men as free-willed creatures (Deut. 30:19; Josh. 24:15; Eze. 18; Mark 8:34; John 7:17; Rev. 22:17, etc.), but albeit Calvinists, who often speak of the will as “free,” by necessity of their theology limit it to such an extent as to contradict their ascribed “freedom.” John MacArthur, a popular Calvinist, says,

When you talk about free will, we're talking about the freedom that the sinner has to choose his iniquity. That's what his freedom is, that's the sum and substance of his freedom. The one thing he's not free to do is to choose salvation, or to choose righteousness, or to choose holiness, or to choose God, or to choose Christ unaided and on his own (Answering the Key Questions about the Doctrine of Election, p. 43, www.gty.org, emph. mine - AKR)

Now I believe MacArthur is a smart man, but this is confusion that results from poor theology. The idea simply is that sinners are free but only free to choose to reject God, and the saved are free but only free to believe in Him. Such is a distinction without a difference! It’s akin to a car salesman’s saying, “You’re free to choose any color car you want, but only free to choose black! No, it is not freedom at all but captivity.

Actually, in Calvinism, man is not even free in regard to his sin. God has already determined unchangeably which particular sin that man will desire to commit. Man does not have freedom of will to choose one sin over the other when God has already set such a choice in divine stone!

Remember, Calvinism teaches that God not only pre-ordained the ends of each individual but also the means to get that individual to that ends. On that basis of unconditional election alone there is no allowance for man to be free. Each individual’s life, with all choices and acts therein, can only possibly move towards the result that God chose for it beforehand. This is plainly refuted by numerous passages. One of which is found in Romans 11, where, in light of God’s rejection of those Jews who disbelieved, Paul warns Gentiles (as individuals):

[Y]ou stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off (vv. 20–22).

This warning is meaningless if the “counsels and wills of men” can only navigate towards “the course” God has predestined. Paul continues to say of the Jews (as individuals, note the “some” of vv. 14 & 17) that “if” they do not continue to disbelieve then they will be “grafted in” (v. 23). The whole text speaks for itself. Paul believes in free-will (libertarian).

Also, consider Peter’s second letter. After listing several moral qualities, he writes, “If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful” (1:8), which implies they will certainly be unfruitful if not, and Jesus warned that those branches “in Him” who are unfruitful will be purged and burned (John 15:1ff). Peter further exhorts his readers to “be even more diligent” to make their election “sure,” and says, “If you do these things you will never stumble” (v. 10). Our “election” is unmistakably conditional and must be made “sure” by abounding in the attributes that Peter listed.

No matter how often freedom is asserted, it is not a reality in the Calvinist tradition. Not only does Calvinism oppose scripture, it is inconsistent with itself—free but captive!