Thursday, December 06, 2012

More of Calvin Against God's "Sincere" Desire to Save All Men Without Exception

Calvin clearly says that the Gentiles were excluded from salvation until the coming of Christ:
I will content myself, therefore, with one example only. God willed not that the doctrine of the Gospel should be preached unto the Gentiles, and He withheld it from them even until the coming of Christ. And therefore it is, that the apostle calls the Gospel "the mystery that was hidden from ages;" nay, that was unknown to the angels themselves in heaven (Colossians 1:26; 1 Peter 1:12).  -- John Calvin, Calvin's Calvinism.
Although there are notable exceptions such as Rahab the harlot, the general and normative principle is that salvation in the Old Testament came only through God's covenant of grace with Abraham and through the later nation of Israel.  (Genesis 17:5; Genesis 32:28;  Deuteronomy 9:4-6; Acts 4:10, 12; John 14:6).  God desires to save His elect and no one else.  (Ephesians 1:4-5, 10, 11; Ephesians 2:8-10).

Click here to see the context of the above quote:  Calvin's Calvinism - "A Defence of the Secret Providence of God" - Section II

2 comments:

  1. (Colossians 1:26; 1 Peter 1:12)

    These are such heavy verses, showing God's (comforting) sovereignty.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amen. If not for God's sovereignty we would all despair. Trusting His promises to His people is the only true hope.

    ReplyDelete

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