“The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls.”
Similarly, John 9:4 states: “‘We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work.’” If everyone is unconditionally predestined to either Heaven or Hell, then how can a soul be truly won to the Lord? The only people that can be won in Calvinism are those who have already won, that is, won by an eternal, secret election, which many non-Calvinists compare to a lottery or raffle.
In Calvinism, is the soul-winner “wise” for being inescapably predestined to be the means through which an elect person is irresistibly regenerated and who cannot help but believe? (The whole idea of ‘irresistible’ is that it cannot be stopped or resisted.) If certain people are going to be saved, no matter what, then such a concept would seem to impact one’s thinking on evangelism. However, if Calvinism is false, and if someone really was in danger of spending eternity in Hell, and if a Christian shared the gospel with them so that they fell under the conviction of the Holy Spirit and repented of their sins and received Christ, then you could rightly say that such a person was truly won to the Lord. In such a case, the evangelist was truly “wise” for doing so, knowing the divine response: “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20) The non-Calvinist view harmonizes much better with Jesus’ statement: “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
[This post has been excerpted with permission from Richard Coords, Calvinism Answered Verse by Verse and Subject by Subject, © 2024.]
