“But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.”
Similarly, Psalms 135:6 states: “Whatever the LORD pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps.” So, what does the Bible tell us that “pleases” God?
1st Corinthians 1:21: “For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.”
Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.”
So it pleased God to save believers in His Son.
What do Calvinists believe?
Calvinists accept the truth of God’s freedom to do whatever He pleases.
Our reply:
Non-Calvinists do as well, except that we don’t believe that it would ever please God to be the “author of sin.” But how would that explain Calvary?
Isaiah 53:10: “But the Lord was pleased to crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.”
Consider an example of a person who took out a knife and was “pleased” to cut his friend’s hand off. That would seem terrible, unless his friend’s hand was stuck under a boulder in a ravine and there was no other way to rescue him. So, it’s not necessarily the mutilation that is pleasing but rather the rescue. Similarly, God wasn’t necessarily pleased to give His Son up to the torture of the Cross but was pleased by the salvation that it would bring to the world.
What do Calvinists believe?
If one ultimately agrees that God does whatever He pleases (Psalms 115:3), then one cannot help but conclude that those who are not included in salvation, are not included by God’s good plan, and therefore ultimately, by His good pleasure. Moreover, how is it possible that a Sovereign God, about whom Scripture plainly says He does what ‘He pleases’ (Psalms 115:3), would fail to save those whom He wants to save?
Our reply:
Jesus wept over those who refused His grace (Matthew 23:37; Luke 19:41-44) and at Ezekiel 18:23, God clearly states that He would rather have it that the wicked turn from theirs and live: “‘Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?’” God has given mankind a choice, and whereas He loves to be able to save people who believe in Him, He conversely hates to see it whenever people misuse their freedom and ultimately land in permanent separation from God.
[This post has been excerpted with permission from Richard Coords, Calvinism Answered Verse by Verse and Subject by Subject, © 2024.]
