Calvin: Perspectives and Cosmologies

           

Election

In Calvin´s cosmology, God has no effective enemies.  It is quite impossible that He should have any.  Satan, the chief adversary of man, is God´s servant (Institutes Bk.1, ch. xiv, section 17).  Elsewhere in the work he is called God´s adversary, but, in this passage, referring  to chapter 1 of the Book of  Job, he appears before God to receive His orders, and in the same incident, he is “impelled by God”.  Again, it is said that God “overrules all the creatures, even the devil himself, who, we see, durst not attempt anything against Job without His permission and command.” Likewise, all the demons obey Him, the instance of I Kings 22:21 being levelled to all that class.  As regards mankind, “all events take place by His sovereign appointment.” (Inst.III,23,6) “Everything done in the world is according to His decree.”(I, 16, 6)  “The counsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course which He has destined.”(I, 16, 8) “The rule of piety is that the hand of God is the ruler and arbiter of the fortunes of all.”(III,7, 10) What may appear to be opposition to God´s will is in fact ordained by Him, according to Calvin.  This is the background to his whole concept of God and the universe, and must be borne in mind when his doctrine of election and reprobation is considered.

            The whole of creation – world, living creatures, angels and men – were all conceived and planned by God before anything existed. Perfectly true, of course, for every true believer.  Eventually, Adam was created, and eventually fell.  Calvin tells us that this was all part of God´s plan.  “God not only foresaw the fall of the first man, and in him the ruin of his posterity, but at His own pleasure arranged it.”(III, 23, 7)  We were told earlier in the work that “Adam, therefore, might have stood if he chose, since it was only by his own will that he fell”(I, 15,8). The therefore indicates that to make his point Calvin has suspended his teaching of predestination, a quite impossible condition; predestination cannot be a go-stop-go procedure, at the author`s own will.

“By the predestination of God, Adam fell.”(III, 23,4) This statement is a total contradiction of the other:

“Adam might have stood if he chose, since it was only by his own will that he fell.” 

 So if Adam had stood, resisted temptation, and remained perfect as he was created, he would have done so against God´s will and purpose; a quite impossible condition.

            The whole of created mankind thus, by Adam´s fall, became sinners, a “corrupt mass.”  Out of this corrupt mass, God picked His elect, those who were to be saved and eventually join Him in heaven.  He had made His decisions as to who they were to be, before the creation of the world, before anything existed. 

But even the elect, before they were regenerated, were lost sinners. “Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin” “There is no difference : all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” But in spite of the Scripture saying “There is no difference: all have sinned”, Calvin insists that the sinners who are to be saved in the future do not live in sin to the same degree as the others who do not have that future to look forward to.  “Those therefore whom He has destined to the inheritance of His kingdom, if He does not immediately regenerate, He through the works of the law preserves in fear.”(II, 7, 11) Calvin further declares that the unsaved, who are destined to be of the elect, “are in some measure trained to bear the yoke of righteousness, so that when they are called they are not like mere novices.”(loc. cit.)
By this system, the elect living on the earth at any one time consists of the number of those actually saved, plus an undefined number being preserved, by fear of the Law of God, from the worst sins until such time as they should accept the Gospel.  These last are, even before their conversion, being trained, and so in reality are already the novices of the Kingdom.  This is a partition of the living population of the earth at any one time, which, certainly, cannot be found in Scripture.
However, the Biblical doctrine of election is most clearly stated in Scripture.  It is there in Eph.1:4ff.:
“For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ.
There are various references to an eternal inheritance, but the other principal statement concerning election is found in I Peter 1:1 & 2:
“To God´s elect…who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.”
The term in Scripture elect is reserved for those who, through the Holy Spirit, have accepted the Gospel message, have been regenerated, and are being kept by the power of God, “into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade – kept in heaven for you.”  This inheritance is the believer´s future life of blessedness in Christ´s presence, which has only two chapters of the book of the Revelation devoted to it.  To describe in any detail that future life would require an endless number of volumes.

Reprobation

            Beside the community of the elect, Calvin´s cosmology includes a much larger community of the reprobates. This refers to all those who reject the invitation of the Gospel during their lifetime, and has to include all who never heard the Gospel, present and past.  

“Those, therefore, whom God passes by He reprobates, and that for no other cause but because He is pleased to exclude them from the inheritance which He predestines for His children.” (Inst. III, 23, 1)

God, according to Calvin´s system, gave Himself this pleasure of the exclusion of a great multitude from grace, in the timeless age before the world existed, so that the reprobates were “before their birth doomed to perpetual destruction.”
It is notable that there are two questions that are asked by Calvin, that in effect are two statements of his doctrine.  They are the following:
“Why did God from the first predestine some to death, when, as they were not yet in existence, they could not have merited sentence of death?” (Inst. III, 23, 3)

            “Should all the sons of Adam come to dispute and contend with their Creator, because by His eternal providence they were before their birth doomed to perpetual destruction?” (loc. cit.) - so that what Calvin is really saying is that God did predestine some to death, when, as they were not yet in existence, they could not have merited sentence of death, and, further, that all the sons of Adam were, by the eternal providence of God, doomed to perpetual destruction.  In this way he shows how certain he is of the correctness of his view.  He goes on insisting on, and emphasizing this element in his teaching, so that no reader can miss perceiving how important it is to him.  He makes in addition the following statements:

            “If all are taken from a corrupt mass, it is not strange that all are subject to condemnation.”(loc. cit.)

            “By the will of God all the sons of Adam fell into that state of wretchedness in which they are now involved.”(III, 23, 4)

            “That calamity, into which, by the predestination of God, Adam fell, and dragged all his posterity  headlong with him.”(loc. cit.)

            “God not only foresaw the fall of the first man, and in him the ruin of his posterity, but also at His own pleasure arranged it,”(III,  23, 7)

“Predestination is manifest in Adam´s posterity.”(III, 23,7)

The word all  rather stands out in these statements

“If all are taken from a corrupt mass, all are subject to condemnation”

“All the sons of Adam”

“All his posterity”

This is an indication that there was a time, before the conversions of some of the elect, when all created mankind were condemned.  Calvin says, in fact, “they all lost salvation by the fault of one parent.”  But he also appears to say, almost in the same breath, that man was created with the object in view that he should fall into condemnation:

“As if the same God, who is declared in Scripture to do whatsoever He pleases, could have made the noblest of His creatures without any special purpose”(III, 23,7)

“As if God had not determined what He wished the condition of the chief of His creatures to be.”

“God not only foresaw the fall of the first man, and in him the ruin of his posterity, but also at His own pleasure arranged it.”(III,23, 7)

So the sum of these declarations has to be, that the special purpose of God in creating Adam was that he should fall into sin.  God had pleasure in fulfilling His wish that the condition of the noblest and chief of His creatures should be that of wretchedness and ruin. And all the posterity of Adam, by the will of God, shared the same condition: that is, of condemnation.

But not all those thus condemned were reprobates.  God had yet to separate His chosen elect and preserve them for salvation.  But the vast numberless majority were passed by. Those He passes by, he reprobates.

Calvin declares in the 4^th. Book of the Institutes:

“We are not enjoined here to distinguish between the elect and the reprobate (this belongs not to us, but to God only).” 

However, he does identify the reprobates in some cases.  Saul, he says, was a reprobate, so was the Pharaoh of the exodus from Egypt; so were the Chaldeans and Sabeans who stripped Job of his property, as also were the Assyrians who carried off Israel into captivity, and so was the Jewish nation in the time of Christ.  Even certain Anabaptists of the 15^th. Century A.D. were reprobates.

Calvin shows an unexpected interest in the reprobates, and speaks about them many times in the Institutes,  He has information to supply on their character, and the extent to which they could understand the Gospel, and how far they could participate in its benefits.  They have a confused sense of grace, and a glimmering of light which is afterwards quenched. But they have no rooted conviction, and would rather have done with God.  However, they are forced to acknowledge the existence of God.

“The names of conversion and prayer are improperly given to that blind torment by  which the reprobate are distracted when they see that they must seek God if they would find a remedy for their calamities, and yet shun to approach Him.”

Their obstinacy drives them to despair, but in their despair, says Calvin, they do utter ejaculatory prayers. They believe God to be propitious to them, although they never have the full assurance of faith.  Even so, he says, “experience shows that the reprobate are sometimes affected in a way so similar to the elect, that…there is no difference between them.”  He further declares, in his next section:

“There is nothing strange in His shedding some rays of grace on the reprobate and afterwards allowing these to be extinguished.”

When at first He shines with the light of His Word on the undeserving, this does not result in the salvation of all, rather, a heavier judgement awaits the reprobate for rejecting the evidence of His love. However, the situation is, that in  Calvin´s system, the reprobate never had access to that love, “Without forgiveness, the reprobate are punished for their iniquity.”

When Calvin says “experience shows that…”  it indicates that he had had dealings with individuals that he reckoned as certain to be reprobate, although he has stated that we cannot distinguish between the elect and the reprobate – this belongs to God only.

A summing up of all that has been said above, and, perhaps, of the Institutes themselves, would be the following:

            All mankind is divided into two;  the elect, and the reprobate.   All the elect were chosen by God before the creation of the world (Ef.1:4).  Before there were any created beings, God in concept and intention, had decided on which of  those future beings He would bestow His favour.  Those thus chosen would constitute the elect.  Those not chosen – all the remainder of mankind – would be “passed by”. “Those He passes by He reprobates.”  So the character and fate of every future individual was fixed and settled once for all.

            God is in total control of every person, of every community of persons, and of every living creature, at every place and at every moment.  He never relaxes His control.  Now, a passage such as  Ephesians 6:12,must be considered in the light of this basic assumption:

            “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Calvin´s incredible comment on this text is as follows: 

            “God arms the devil, as well as the wicked, for conflict, and sits as umpire.”

            The justification for this amoral impartiality on the part of God is, “that He may exercise our patience.” But what does this make of the spiritual warfare so dramatically put before the reader in Ef.6:12?  There in Scripture it is real and deadly.  In Calvin´s comment, it is an exercise, a game.

Pleasing God

Perhaps the simplest statement in all the Scriptural teaching about how to please God is found in I John 3:22:

            “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God, and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands, and do what pleases Him.”

            It is clear in this passage that John is speaking to people  - brothers and sisters in Christ - he thinks are capable of obeying God´s commands, and of pleasing Him.  He does not hedge his exhortation round with negatives, as does Calvin,  for example,

            “We thus see that even saints cannot perform one work which, if judged on its own merits, is not  deserving of condemnation.”

            “The best thing which can be produced by them [mankind, including believers] is always tainted and corrupted by the impurity of the flesh.”

            Paul does not find it necessary, when writing to the new believers in Colosse,  to warn them that their best efforts toward holy living in the power of Christ will be tainted and corrupted, and deserving of condemnation.  He exhorts them simply:

            “We pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord, and may please Him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work…joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”

            The Institutes indicate the pleasure of God in the preservation of His own ordinance, and say that justice and rectitude are a delight to Him. It is also stated, early on in the Institutes:

            “He has been pleased, in order that none might be excluded from the means of obtaining felicity,…so to manifest His perfections in the structure of the Universe, and daily place Himself in our view, that we cannot open our eyes without being compelled to behold Him.”

            But it is also stated that He “foresaw the inefficiency of His image imprinted on the fair form of the Universe”, and so He has provided the Scriptures, and “the testimony which God has been pleased therein to give of Himself.”  As regards the Scriptures, the Institutes state:

            “It was His pleasure that the same oracles which He had deposited with the fathers should be consigned as it were to public records.”

            Further, it is affirmed that

            “God was pleased , ,… to testify in ancient times … that He was a Father,” and  “God is still pleased, in many ways, to manifest His paternal favour toward us.”

            What has been stated so far about the things that please God is comprehensible to the believer, and in conformity to what the believer understands the Scriptures to be teaching.  On the other hand, there is the passage already quoted from the Institutes:

            “God not only foresaw the fall of the first man, and in him the ruin of his posterity, but also at His own pleasure arranged it.”

And, further: 

 “God, of His mere good pleasure, electing some, passes by others.”

            “Those, therefore, whom God passes by, He reprobates, and that for no other cause but because He is pleased to exclude them from the inheritance which He predestines to His children.” (Inst. III, 23,1)

            According to the Institutes, God is not only pleased to make people reprobates by excluding them from the felicity of His inheritance, but He is glorified by their condemnation:

            “He arranges all things by His sovereign counsel, in such a way that individuals are born, who are doomed from the womb to certain death, and are to glorify Him by their destruction.”

Calvin´s Use of the Scriptures

            Calvin´s Institutes of Religion contain over 2.000 citations of the Scriptures, giving the impression of a work solidly based on the Word of God.  This it truly is.  As a systematic theology of the great truths taught in the Bible, it was unique when it was published in the 16^th. Century.  Calvin´s account of the redemption accomplished by Christ cannot be excelled, as also his exposition of the threefold office of Christ as priest, prophet and king.  Both of these expositions occur in the second book of his work.  It is in the third book that he begins to be preoccupied with the reprobate, and to show an unhealthy interest in their character and their fate.

However, it can be seen quite early on in the work that for the particular doctrines which he adopts, and believes to be true, Calvin is capable, consciously or unconsciously, of adjusting the Scriptures. For example, in the story of Job, which he tells in Book I, he describes Satan as appearing before God as a servant to receive His orders, and, later, as being impelled by God.  But the word of Scripture has God saying to Satan: “You incited Me against him (Job).”!  So according to Scripture, the institution  of Job´s great trial was Satan´s initiative, in a desperate challenge to God´s authority.  According to Scripture, Satan incited God (God´s own spoken words). According to Calvin, God incited Satan.

Another  instance of Calvin adjusting Scripture to facilitate his views is that of his quotations of Ezequiel 11:19, and 36:26.  Both these verses say:

“I will take the stony heart  out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh”.

In three places Calvin quotes these verses where their normal meaning fits the context, but in Book III, Chapter 24, Section 16, he has:

“Conversion is undoubtedly in the hand of God, whether He designs to convert all can be learned from Himself,  when He promises that He will give some a heart of flesh, and leave to others a heart of stone.”

And to this he appends the reference, as though it were a quotation, Ezequiel 36:26.  But Ezequiel 36:26 says nothing of the kind.  It says He will take away the stony heart out of the flesh of His people, and give to that same people a heart of flesh.  Calvin has altered the meaning of Scripture to suit his own doctrine: some with a heart of flesh, here means the elect, while “He leaves to others a heart of stone” clearly refers back to the other word, “those He passes by, He reprobates”.

Another Biblical location where Calvin adapts the meaning of Scripture to the need of his argument of the moment is John 6:46:

“Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He which is of God, He hath seen the Father.”

It is clear from I João 4:12 and I Tim.6:16, that no man, saved or unsaved can see God the Father.  According to Matthew Henry, referring to this verse, John 6:46,

“It is the prerogative of Christ to have seen the Father”

but Calvin´s comment opens up this privilege to everyone who is regenerated of God:

            “We hear from the lips of our Master, ‘Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God’(John 6:46).  By these words he intimates that all who are not regenerated by God are amazed at the brightness of His countenance”

So the point that Calvin principally wants to make is that the reprobate are confounded by the brightness of the Father´s countenance. Then the inference is that those who are regenerated by God can look on the Father´s countenance without being amazed by its brightness. 

            We remember again Paul´s awestruck description :

“Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see.”(I Tim.6:16)

The Scope of the Atonement

Calvin more than once assures his readers that he does not select only those Bible references which serve his purpose, and pass by those which are against him.  But he makes it difficult for readers to maintain their confidence in his adherence to this principle.. An outstanding instance is the question of the scope of the atonement:

“He does not adopt promiscuously to the hope of  salvation, but gives to some what He denies to others.”

“Salvation is spontaneously offered to some, while others have no access to it”

“It is evident that the doctrine of salvation, which is said to be set apart for the sons of the Church only, is abused when it is represented as available to all.”

It is clear that in these passages there is the teaching of a limited expiation, that the power of the blood of Jesus, offered to God as a sweet-smelling sacrifice, extends only to the elect, as God  chose them  before the beginning of time.  Redemption is not made available to all the world, as the term world, in reference to humankind, is universally understood. This limited expiation is accepted as true by many prominent leaders in the church, and it is the central point in the “five points” of Calvinism.  In this way, the two communities of which mankind is made up are very distinct:  the elect, of whom none will be lost; and the reprobate, who were never included in the redemption made by the blood of Christ.

Now, the implications of the word of Scripture found in II Peter 2:1 must be considered:

“There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction”.

 Peter is speaking of false teachers, bringing in damnable heresies, and themselves heading for destruction, but who were bought by the Lord “the Lord that bought them” – what was the price? The only possible answer is “His blood.”  So the offer of salvation goes much wider than  Calvin´s conception of it. There can be no mistaking the meaning of the Greek. Ton agorasanta autous Despoten – “them” is autous, and it stands at the centre of ton agorasanta Despoten – “the Lord having bought them.” These teachers had been bought by the blood of Christ, they had been included in the redemption made by the blood of Christ, but they spurned the offer graciously made, and denied the Lord that bought them.  The verse II Peter 2:1 is quoted in the 4^th. Book of the Institutes – but only as far as the word heresies.  How could Calvin remember that half of the verse, and suffer a complete lapse of memory of the other half, which included: 

“Even denying the Lord that bought them”?

Because if he was aware of these words, he surely had a duty to show – if possible – how they could be compatible with his teaching.

There is another half-verse that must be considered.  I John 2:2 is as follows:

“And He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Calvin quotes the first part of the verse, as far as “propitiation  for our sins”;  “and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world,” this passage is omitted, and has no place anywhere in the Institutes, nor is there any reference to it, or to its essential meaning, in that whole work.  So the reader is faced by a serious problem – how could Calvin have read, how could he possibly have read, or remembered, that first clause in the verse, and his mind be blank about the rest, which is not an irrelevant note, but is a continuation and glorious development of the very theme he is dealing with here, Jesus Christ, the righteous, our Advocate?  What is the extent of the meaning of “ours” here?  Would it refer to Jewish believers, as opposed to the Gentile converts? But John`s letters, as is universally recognized, were written quite late, c.90 A.D., when that distinction, within the church, was already forgotten.  No, “ours” here, refers to the church worldwide, and  “the whole world” means just that – ho holos cosmos – the same as is said, a little later (I João 5:19) in the same short letter, to lie  “in wickedness”, that is, in the power of Satan.

“Jesus Christ” John is saying, “is the Offering that turns away God´s wrath not only from those of us recognized as being of the elect, but from all those who lie in the power of the wicked one.”  All who call on the Name of the Lord will be saved. This is not the teaching of universal salvation, but of the universal offer of salvation, as it is stated in Revelation 22:17: “Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.”

An Alternative  Biblical Cosmology

The Word of God is not an authoritarian, dictatorial book of rules.  Continually a choice is placed before mankind.  The first instance is seen in Gên.4:15, when God offers His protection to Cain, but the sinner rejects the offer, preferring his own solution.  This happens again and again, but there are other cases where there is acceptance and reconciliation, as with Zacchaeus, Luc. 19:8.  

A decision is called for on the part of sinners so many times in Scripture. There is the case of Elijah putting the great alternatives before the people:

“How long will you halt between two opinions?  If the Lord is God, follow Him; if Baal is God follow him!” On that immediate occasion, the people made the right decision: “The Lord, He is God!  The Lord He is God!” (I Kings 18:21,39)  But it has to be admitted that the effect of the decision did not appear to be of very long duration.

The choice between good and evil is of course continually presented in the canonical book of Proverbs, and can be summed up in the passage near the beginning:

“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them about your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.

Then you will win favour and a good name in the sight of God and man.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”   (Pr.3:3-6)

The alternatives set before man appear again in the counsel of the prophet Isaiah:

“Stop doing wrong, learn to do right.”

“Seek the Lord while He may be found,, call on Him while he is near.  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the evil man his thoughts.  Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.” (Is.55:6,7)

In the New Testament, Jesus is continually placing the alternatives of good and evil before His disciples.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also..”(Mt.6:19-21)

Chapter 3 of John´s Gospel is full of options placed before mankind:

“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man  must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.”(John 3:14-15)

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”(John 3:16)

“Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of God´s one and only Son.” (John 3:18)

“Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”(John3:21)

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God´s wrath remains on him.” (John 3:36)

The repetition of these options indicates that they are valid, and are accessible to “whoever will”. The message they convey of the two alternatives open to each person is continually  present also in the parables of the synoptic gospels, such as that of the sower, where the responsibility is placed squarely with “the man who hears” (Mat.13:3-9, 19-23).

The alternatives of obedience or disobedience in relation to God´s word continue to be put before men in the apostolic letters:

“…,those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.” (II Tess.2:210)

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.” (Titus 2:11)

“Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech.  He must turn from evil and do good.”(I Pe.3:10,11, citing Ps.34:12-14)

“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” )II Pe.3:8,9)

Finally, the book of the Revelation of John puts the open options before the sinner again:

“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice,, and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me.”(Rev.3:20)

“Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”(Rev.22:17)

The above are samples of the many, many more appeals in Scripture for people to repent. Ezequiel 33:11 forms a summary of these appeals:

“As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways, and live.  Turn, turn from your evil ways.  Why will you die, O house of Israel?”

There are so very, very many appeals of this kind in the Bible.  They are all meaningless, a wasted work of the Spirit of God, if Calvin`s concept of the world is correct, that not one action, or reaction, of a single human being is undertaken except by the secret instigation of God; that each and every human being is at the end of strings of omnipotence, and can move only as those strings are pulled.

God is omnipotent, no one wishes to deny this.  But if He is truly omnipotent, He must be free to limit His own omnipotence, to the extent of leaving room for human beings to exercise their wills, and to make decisions. It was not only Adam, before the fall, who was able to make decisions;  there are people throughout the Bible, not only ones resolving to do wrong, but those who resolve to do right, as, for example, Ruth when she resolved to stay with Naomi.(Ruth 1:16).  This is, in fact, the human experience, people are seen in Bible situations coming to decisions in just the same way that people do today. All are sinners, true, but not all are as depraved as they could be!  The Gospel is preached to all, seeking to make clear to all their condition of lost sinners, in great peril.  One individual hears, but spurns, ignores, or rejects the call and goes on his way.  Another recognizes his need, and holds out his hand for help. There is no question of merit in this;  the sinner cannot save himself, but he can, like a drowning person, ask for help, make a desperate gesture. Chrysostom has the word of truth,

“God saves the one who is willing, and holds out his hand,”

so that the one who was “without hope and without God in the world” becomes at the moment of acceptance a child of God, chosen in Him “before the creation of the world”. This is a miracle, and does not correspond to the principles of human logic,  But it corresponds to actual human experience, and makes more sense than the alternative that Calvin´s cosmology drives him to: that those who are as yet unsaved but are of the future elect are already being trained as “the novices of the Kingdom”!

            If the capacity of man to spurn, ignore or reject the call of God is real, how then did creation come to be in this sorry state?  The Bible does not set out to explain how, but it does provide indications of some calamity that occurred in celestial  history, in the time covered from Genesis 1:1 to 3:1.  In Isaiah 14, the failed aspirations of  the king of Babylon seem to echo some great past revolt against the dominion of God.  And in Ezekiel 28, what is said of the king of Tyre is still more explicit.  Through these two limited but ambitious human rulers, there seems to be indicated a calamity that befell the creation that God had declared to be “Very good”. The preferred angel was  “the model of perfection” until pride filled his heart,  to say: “I will be like the Most High”, and so in chapter 3 of Genesis, within that same creation appears the serpent (Rev.20:2), Satan, the aggressive but subtle enemy of God.

            In Gen.13:17, God tells Abram: “Go walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.” Professor D. J. Wiseman, some years ago, lecturing in London on early Babylonian literature, stated that in this literature this phrase meant “to take possession of”, to make it “one´s stamping ground”. When questioned, he agreed that the same meaning would attach to  Satan´s answer to God  in Job 1:7, and 2:2.  So that, far from being a subservient instrument, the Bible exposes Satan as God´s vigorous and persistent enemy.