“‘Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; and you neglected all my counsel and did not want my reproof; I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, when your dread comes like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but they will not find me, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would not accept my counsel, they spurned all my reproof.’”
Similarly, Isaiah 65:2 states: “‘I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts.’” Does that sound like God felt that they had Total Inability? [Editor’s Note: That is Total Inability in the Calvinist sense. Arminianism also holds the doctrine of Total Inability. See the footnote below for explanation.]* God says that He “called” but the people “refused,” though in Calvinism, God called with a mere ineffectual, General Call, which guarantees that all who are non-elect cannot possibly answer. The rebuke loses all weight if God called them with no intention that they respond. In reality, God sincerely loved them but they refused to reciprocate.
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* Editor’s Note: The Calvinist view of Total Inability requires God to regenerate the sinner before the sinner can submit to God, which irresistibly brings the sinner to faith. Arminianism holds to the doctrine of Total Inability (that sinners are unable to respond rightly to God on their own but need his help/enabling (known as prevenient grace) to do so. However, Arminianism holds that God calls all people everywhere to repent and believe the gospel and that he also enables those who hear the gospel to respond to it positively in faith. Yet, God’s enabling grace does not guarantee that sinners will submit to God. His grace is resistible whereas Calvinism holds that God bestows irresistible grace to believe on only certain sinners he unconditionally chose to bring to faith and salvation, leaving most sinners unable to respond rightly to God and to therefore perish in their sin.
[This post has been excerpted with permission from Richard Coords, Calvinism Answered Verse by Verse and Subject by Subject, © 2024.]
