Repent or Perish - by Mike Ratliff

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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This is a perfect example of the confused thinking required to embrace Calvinism. We have discussed many aspects of Calvinism in our blog, and find the doctrines of Calvin to be false and even pernicious, because they misrepresent God, misrepresent the gospel, and ultimately, make no difference in our obligations or privileges as Christians.

Calvinism forces people into false binary choices (predestined vs. freewill, eternal security vs. losing one's salvation, etc.). However, God is not a binary being. He is sovereign, but that does not mean he must control everything. He is grace-filled, but that does not mean He must dole out grace according to a formula. He saves us by His grace, but that does not mean grace is limited to the saved.

What if God is indeed totally sovereign, and yet in His sovereignty He simply chooses not to always intervene in His creation? Doesn't God get to decide His own sovereignty?

This is the problem endemic to Calvinists specifically, and theology generally: The need to figure out everything and systematize it according to logic and reason. But God is far beyond our logic. We should resist the idea that rational thought is the methodology we should use to figure Him out: 

1Co. 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

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27 And after that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 And he left everything behind, and rose up and began to follow Him.
29 And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:27-32 (LSB)

I had someone ask me not long ago how our salvation could be totally by Grace alone through faith alone, totally God’s work alone if it involved our repentance. My response to him was that the repentance part was our response to our Lord’s call, ἀκολούθει μοι, “Follow me.” However, the washing of regeneration, the gift of faith had been given as part of this effectual call. (Why would repentance be necessary? Because for the Calvinist, the "effectual call" is a codeword for the action of the Holy Spirit which brings a man into salvation. Salvation cannot be resisted [from the Calvinistic TULIP, the fourth petal is "irresistible grace."]

"Salvation by grace through alone" is interpreted to mean we don't participate in any way in our salvation because that would be a "work." So if God does it all, our subsequent repentance must also be "grace alone" since the "effectual call" has already been accomplished.

If you have been given the effectual call, you can't resist your salvation or lose it, and in fact, nothing you can do our say will change the effectual call. [also from TULIP, petal five is "perseverance of the saints"].

Thus repentance is irrelevant.) 

That is why we turned as Levi did, leaving everything, rising, and following our Lord. There are two calls of the gospel, the general call and the effectual call. The general call goes to everyone so there is no excuse. The effectual call, as the one above to Levi, which the Pharisees and the scribes objected to, always leads to repentance (Here we note the author agrees with our assessment, that there is an "effectual call" it must result in repentance, which means repentance is automatic. The subject of the effectual call has no choice.)

and goes only to God’s elect. (The Calvinistic "elect" are those God chooses for salvation, which means everyone else is chosen for hell. This is also part of TULIP; the second petal is "unconditional election," which means the ones God choses to save are the elect.

The author documents none of these claims. His Scripture quoting vanishes. That's because there is no Scripture that describes the effectual call versus the general call. There is no Scripture that tells us the elect have no choice but to be saved.

In fact, none of this discussion has any fruit at all. It's all irrelevant to living a Christian life.)

1 Now at that same time there were some present who were reporting to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered these things? 3 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or do you think that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse offenders than all the men who live in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:1-5 (LSB)

5 οὐχί, λέγω ὑμῖν, ἀλλʼ ἐὰν μὴ μετανοῆτε πάντες ὡσαύτως ἀπολεῖσθε. Luke 13:5 (NA28)

5 I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way. (Luke 13:5 translated from the NA28 Greek text to English)

Think of what our Lord was telling these people. If people cannot μετανοήσητε or repent then they will be lost. Who can repent? No one can do it. (?? No one can do what the Lord insisted they must do?)

No one can keep the Law of God. (True, but that's a different subject.)

In this passage, our Lord makes it very clear that all men are lost in their sins from birth. There are no exceptions. Some Galileans had been captured in the Temple as they were making sacrifices. They were probably wanted for being zealots. In any case, Pilate had them killed. To the Jews, this was blasphemous, but it also marked these men as particularly bad sinners. Jesus’ point is that, yes, they were sinners, but so were the ones telling him the story. They were guilty before God because of their sin. Those people who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them were no worse sinners than them either. All people need a Saviour, an advocate before God (This is all pretty well stated, but then...)

unless they can repent and totally keep the Law of God. (...the author seems to give us a choice, the need for a savior, or repent and totally keep the law. This suggests that repentance is somehow like keeping the law, but there is no Bible verse that even hints at such a thing.)

Who has kept the Law of God? Only one, Jesus Christ perfectly kept the Law of God. (Where does the Bible tell us this? Now, perhaps it does, but the author needs to document his claims.)

This is why He is the perfect sacrifice of God as our propitiation. He took our place as God poured out His wrath on our sin. (Jesus did not take our place, and the Father did not pour out His wrath on Jesus. There is no verse in the Bible that tells us these things. 

We discuss this in detail here.)

Now, this salvation is redemption of God’s elect. Who are they? I do not know. They are the ones that God calls and they believe the gospel and are saved as Levi was. Have you heard the gospel and believed that Jesus died on the Cross for your sins and that there is absolutely nothing you could do to save your self? If this is true then have you turned from trying to save yourself to Christ for salvation?

This last part is that repentance, which is only possible by those being called by God. (Ahhh. Only the elect can repent. Thus repentance is not a true turning away from sin, it is simply part of what the elect were predestined to do. Repentance is an empty gesture, nothing more than an act, a pretense.)

Those who do this are changed forever. (No, we shall not permit the author to deviate from his own Calvinism: God does this in them and God has already changed them forever.)

They are new creations. They are no longer slaves to sin. They are not perfect, but they are now in the Kingdom of God and are in God’s family by His grace through the faith He has given them. (So God does it all without our "work," except for some reason He stopped before our perfection, so that, what? We now work toward perfection?)

When our Lord says. “Repent, follow me,” then be assured, the Holy Spirit is there giving the elect all they need to do what is commanded. (There is no Bible verse that tells us repentance is effected by God towards the elect.)

Those who followed Him before His crucifixion were saved by believing in Him to save them from their sins (Wouldn't "believing" be a "work?")

just as all of us since His crucifixion believe in His finished work. (It almost sounds like the Gospel, but there's always that subtle twist. Calvinists use all the right language to sound utterly conventional in their doctrine, but they mean different things. Salvation, repentance, living a holy life... Human agency, deemed a "work," is not part of the picture. All this is an illusion because we are simply actors on a stage reading our lines that were written out for us from the foundation of the world. 

The Calvinist makes a big deal out of God's sovereign will, to the point that an honest Calvinist would admit that everything good or bad happening must be attributed to God's direct action. They would bristle at such an idea, but that's the inevitable conclusion one must make.)

My Brethren, before my understanding of the sovereignty of God in salvation became more clear as I studied these things, passages such as this one (Which passage? He's quoted a couple.)

seems so out of place in light of the gentle, all loving, kind, Jesus being sold by the churches I was part of. A good friend sent me the following excerpt from Phil Johnson, Executive Director of Grace To You.

My trek from Arminianism to Calvinism took more than ten years. Every time one of my arguments against Calvinist doctrines would fall, I would be forced to embrace some doctrine that I had heretofore been desperately trying to argue against.

But I never had any sense of defeat. It was more like I was resolving nagging conflicts in my own mind. Because I kept discovering that the truths at the heart of Calvinism truly are the doctrines of grace—principles that I had always affirmed: God is sovereign, Christ died for me, God loved me before I loved Him, He sought me and drew me and initiated my reconciliation while I was still His enemy. Those are all biblical truths, and I believed them even when I was a gung-ho Arminian. (So why become a Calvinist if Arminians believe the same truths?)

So embracing Calvinism was natural—and inevitable—because all I was doing was ridding my mind of wrong ideas and faulty assumptions about human free will and other notions like that, which are not even taught in the Bible (It sure would be nice if he told us some of these things, and what he thinks is in the Bible, and where.) 

—so that I could wholeheartedly affirm what I really believed anyway: That God is God, and He does all His good pleasure, and no one can make Him do otherwise, and He is in control and in charge no matter how much noise evildoers try to make.

And not only is He in charge, He is working all things out for my good and His glory.

That’s Calvinism. (Again we note that conventional language is used, things every Christian would agree with, but these words have different meanings for the Calvinist.) 

And if you believe those things, you have affirmed the heart of Calvinist doctrine, even if you call yourself an Arminian. Those are the basic truths of Calvinism, and if you already believe those things, you are functioning with Calvinist presuppositions.

There’s more. If you are an authentic Christian, you know in your heart of hearts that you weren’t born again because you were morally superior to your unbelieving neighbors. (Point agreed.) 

You were worthy of God’s wrath just like them (Ephesians 2:1-3). (Point agreed.) 

According to Ephesians 2:4-6, it was God who quickened you and showed you a special mercy—and that is why you are a believer. (Attempting to lull us to complacency, Mr. Johnson offers two truths then surreptitiously slips in a Calvinist concept. The cited passage contains no statement of "special mercy."

And we note that he has changed from grace to mercy. They are not the same.) 

You already know that in your heart. You don’t really believe you summoned faith and came to Christ in your own power and by your own unaided free will. (A caricature of the opposition point of view.) 

You don’t actually believe you are morally superior to unbelievers. (No Christian of any stripe believes this.) 

You therefore must see, somewhere in your soul, that God has given you special grace that He has not shown everyone. (Now we are in disagreement. Everyone has been given His grace, and if this is true there is no such thing as "special grace." [or maybe it's "special mercy," we're not quite sure]. 

We have all been blessed by the fullness of his grace:

Jn. 1:16 From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 

Grace is offered universally by one Man, just as death came universally via one man:

Ro. 5:16 Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.18 Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.

Grace is before eternal life. Some receive eternal life, but grace is offered to everyone: 

Ro. 5:21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

His grace is expressed via the kindness he showed us:

Ep. 2:7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Grace is a person, and has appeared to everyone: 

Tit. 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.

By God's grace Jesus died for everyone:

He. 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

There is no special grace. There is only grace apportioned:

Ep. 4:7 But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.

 Grace varies in "quantity:"

Ja. 4:6 But he gives us more grace.

Mr. Johnson and the author misunderstand God, misunderstand salvation, and misunderstand grace.)

You also believe God is absolutely sovereign over all things. (Notice the deceptive modifier, "absolutely." What does he mean by "absolutely?") 

I know you do, because you lean on the promise of Romans 8:28. And that promise would mean nothing if God were not in control of every detail of everything that happens. (If "absolutely sovereign' means God controls every detail, Mr. Johnson has committed a Category Mistake, because sovereignty is a matter apart from control.

But more to the point, the verse is not specifically about us. We should not read ourselves into the Bible when not everything is about us. Paul's context for his remarks are to those who received the firstfruits of the Spirit [Ro. 8:23]. The initial outpouring of the Spirit happened 2000 years ago. We were not there, so the Holy Spirit in us is not the firstfuits outpouring.)

 If He is not in control of all things, how could He work all things together for good? (If he is in control of all things, every detail, then "good" is an arbitrary and meaningless word.)

Furthermore, you pray for the lost, which means in your heart, you believe God is sovereign over their salvation. (Just the opposite. Praying for someone's salvation implicitly presumes there is no such thing as the elect.)

If you didn’t really believe He was sovereign in saving sinners, you’d quit praying for the lost and start doing everything you could to buttonhole people into the kingdom by hook or by crook, instead. (No, we would not. Praying for the lost must mean that our prayers make a difference, and that God's sovereignty must mean something different that what Mr. Johnson is suggesting.)

But you know that would be folly.

And you pray about other things, too, don’t you? You pray that God will change this person’s heart, or alter the circumstances of that problem. That’s pure Calvinism. (No, that's the exact opposite of Calvinism. In Calvinism the elect will be saved regardless if we pray for them or not. In Calvinism every circumstance is God's will and God's choice. A real Calvinist would not pray for God to change circumstances which He created.)

When we go to God in prayer, we’re expressing faith in His sovereignty over the circumstances of our lives. (No, when we go to God in prayer, we are asking Him to intervene in a situation or a person's life. This presumes that the intervention is necessary, because nothing would change otherwise. Prayer is intrinsically anti-Calvinist.)

You believe God operates sovereignly in the administration of all His providence. You say things like, “If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that” (James 4:15)—because you believe that God works all things after the counsel of His own will (Eph. 1:11), and nothing happens apart from his will. (Which of course would mean that calamity, disaster, death, disease, sin, and even, the devil himself were directly caused by God.)

Nothing is more biblical than these doctrines that are commonly labeled Calvinism. In a way, it is a shame they have been given an extrabiblical name. Because these truths are the very essence of what Scripture teaches. – Phil Johnson

My Brethren, let’s stop playing games with the gospel. This is not about who is right or who is wrong. (??? The author has spent this entire article promulgating his Calvinism. Mr. Johnson insisted that Calvinism is correct. But now it's not about being wrong or right? What?)

It is not about who has the right proof texts or who is the best debaters or whatever. It is about none of that. Nor is it about religiosity. Go back to the top of this post and reread Luke 5:27-32. Jesus came to a publican, a sinner, named Levi where he was and simply said, “follow me”, ἀκολούθει μοι, and Levi did because the Holy Spirit was right there working in his heart. I could have quoted Ephesians 2:1-10 and Titus 3:5 to back that up, (So it is about being right...)

and if you doubt what I have shared here then I suggest that you do that by clicking those links. In any case, the point is this, God is sovereign over all things and that includes our salvation. (...and if you disagree you don't believe God is sovereign. But remember, it's not about who is right or wrong.)

Soli Deo Gloria!