So the taskmasters of the people and their foremen went out and spoke to the people, saying, ‘Thus says Pharaoh, “I am not going to give you any straw. You go and get straw for yourselves wherever you can find it, but none of your labor will be reduced.”’ So the people scattered through all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters pressed them, saying, ‘Complete your work quota, your daily amount, just as when you had straw.’ Moreover, the foremen of the sons of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten and were asked, ‘Why have you not completed your required amount either yesterday or today in making brick as previously?’ Then the foremen of the sons of Israel came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, ‘Why do you deal this way with your servants?’
Notice the similarly with Calvinism. In Calvinism, it is said that the non-elect suffers from Total Inability to believe in the gospel, and yet are still commanded to repent and believe anyway [Editorial addition: without God necessarily enabling repentance and faith]. Pharaoh does not feel obligated to provide anyone with straw, just as Calvinists insist that God is not obligated to provide anyone with the grace to believe. So does that make God in Calvinism similar to Pharaoh in Egypt, demanding the impossible, and yet holding people responsible anyway and punishing them accordingly? If Pharaoh was being unjust, how do Calvinists claim that their depiction of God is just, despite essentially doing the same thing? (A just God does not command the impossible.)
[This post has been excerpted with permission from Richard Coords, Calvinism Answered Verse by Verse and Subject by Subject, © 2024.]
