Calvin's Argument On Predestination

Calvin is prepared to counter this objection, however. He holds on to his claim that predestination is solely due to God’s will and is the only factor that determines our fate, regardless of if we are saved or damned. For Calvin, “those whom God passes over, he condemns; and this he does for no other reason than that he wills to exclude them from the inheritance which he predestines for his own children” (Institutes 947). Here, Calvin doubles down on his belief that predestination is entirely the result of God’s will. By his nature, everything that God does is righteous, and thus there does not have to be a reason behind the decisions that God make. As humans, we cannot necessarily understand God’s will because it has not been revealed to

The people making the objection that those who sin are not to blame for their actions attribute this to the fact that God has foreknowledge. In doing this, however, they gloss over the fact that God “foresees future events only by reason of the fact that he decreed that they take place” (Institutes 954). Calvin’s argument is that if we only look at God’s foreknowledge, we can claim that people are bound to the fate God sees. In reality, however, God predestines people by his will, and his foreknowledge is only a result of that. That foreknowledge does not create the necessity for reprobates to

This begs an obvious question, then: how does God decide who is elect and who is not? Calvin is prepared to answer this question and poses an example of two men who are totally equal in terms of merit to show this. He claims that “the fact that God therefore chooses one man but rejects another arises not out of regard of the man but solely from his mercy, which ought to be free to manifest and express itself where and when he pleases” (Institutes 958-9). For Calvin, God need not provide explanation for any decision. Everything God does is righteous, and thus we must simply trust in his plan. Calvin also makes the point that we are all sinners, and thus any punishment from God is merited. Any salvation we are given is an unmerited benefit that God provides for us. Thus, God is already doing more than he needs to to save some, and nobody has the right to be upset with his will. A final objection that Calvin must face regarding his teaching on predestination follows from the aforementioned idea that our merits do nothing to help us earn salvation. An obvious question that arises after hearing this is that is we are predestined to a certain fate, and our works cannot change anything, then what reason do we have to even try to do good