“Yet He sent prophets to them to bring them back to the LORD; though they testified against them, they would not listen.”
This is reminiscent of Matthew 23:37, and in fact, God said of the Pharisees and the lawyers that they had “rejected God’s purpose for themselves” by having not been baptized by John the Baptist (Luke 7:30). Ultimately, Calvinists will need to insist that the subject party does not include Calvinism’s elect, such that the text only addresses the non-elect.
What do Calvinists believe?
The purpose of sending the prophets was to show God’s glory.
Our reply:
The purpose of sending the prophets was to “bring them back.”
Calvinists would say that if God really wanted to bring them back, then He would have effectually regenerated them, which is another way of describing Irresistible Grace. However, Scripture shows that Irresistible Grace is not even something that God considers to be an option. Isaiah 5:3-4 states: “‘And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard. What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?’” Irresistible Grace was not an option on the table, and yet God clearly wanted for them to turn back to Him, and sent His prophets for that very purpose. Ultimately, as with John 5:40, it comes down to God having been willing, while His people were unwilling. Calvinists see an inherent weakness in this, but it also reflects a sense of depth and richness within God that Calvinism simply cannot account for, meaning real relationships. Human experience teaches us that relationships don’t always go our way, and by allowing such relationships, God exposes Himself to being rejected, and of course, also being genuinely loved. Can Irresistible Grace produce genuine relationships?
[This post has been excerpted with permission from Richard Coords, Calvinism Answered Verse by Verse and Subject by Subject, © 2024.]
