“‘Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the evil in his days, but I will bring the evil upon his house in his son’s days.’”
What do Calvinists believe?
Unregenerate sinners do not possess sufficient moral strength to humble their own heart, to the pleasing of God, and therefore God must perform that spiritual work for them.
Our reply:
Do Calvinists mean to say that God caused Ahab to irresistibly humble himself and then God acted amazed by it? Ahab perished rebelling against God, and therefore would not be a fitting candidate for one of Calvinism’s elect. Yet, at one point in Ahab’s life, he did sincerely humble himself before God and it pleased God. So, to what do we attribute this? The only way this makes any real sense is if Ahab could have either chosen to humble himself or not [Editor’s Note: by God’s grace enabling Ahab to choose], and by making the right choice, God received glory and withheld His judgment.
Even as unregenerate sinners, fallen man is capable of performing single acts of goodness [Editor’s Note: with God’s enabling grace]. However, single acts of goodness are insufficient to enter Heaven. Since God is holy, only sinless perfection will do. Thankfully, Christ’s shed blood at Calvary achieves exactly the level of sinless perfection necessary to enter Heaven, and Christ’s atonement is available to anyone, simply at the asking.
[This post has been excerpted with permission from Richard Coords, Calvinism Answered Verse by Verse and Subject by Subject, © 2024.]
