For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?” Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?” But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it. See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.
The addition to God’s “command” of “but if” shows that He allows His commands to be thwarted, within this brief space in eternity, of which there are consequences. Moreover, God’s command to follow Him is “not too difficult” and does not require an Irresistible Grace from Heaven. [Editor’s Note: But in light of human depravity, it does require resistible enabling grace from Heaven, which God does provide because he wants people to obey him and to live.] They merely need to “choose life” in order that they may live.
So where do we get our idea of free-will in the Bible? It is all throughout the Bible, including right here in Deuteronomy. God is not saying that He is choosing for them. He is making them decide which it will be.
What do Calvinists believe?
James White: “It is too difficult for those who are spiritually dead.”673
Our reply:
That answer blatantly contradicts Scripture, but attempts to justify it on the grounds that—in light of human depravity—it is a necessary view to hold. Hence, for the logically consistent Calvinist, theology trumps Scripture. [Editor’s Note: To be clear, we would say that it is too difficult for those who are spiritually dead to do on their own but that God gives enabling grace, which is why it is not too difficult for any and that people can choose life.]
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673 NOT TOO DIFFICULT: Deut 30 & Rom 10, 19:21-19:27, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaJGHSxdvW8, emphasis mine.
[This post has been excerpted with permission from Richard Coords, Calvinism Answered Verse by Verse and Subject by Subject, © 2024.]
