Calvinism/Extensivism

Salvation begins with God revealing Himself to man. Man cannot find God unless He reveals Himself to man. God’s love for His creation is the reason there is a way for people to be saved from their just desert (John 3:16). Christ came into the world to save mankind, which means He had to pay…

In Part 1, we looked at the Calvinist argument that is supposed to demonstrate that Extensivists (non-Calvinists) have their own form of election since, as they contend, God does not give everyone a chance to hear the gospel and be saved. We saw their argument fails to be convincing. To further clarify and amplify God’s salvific love…

In Part 1 we looked at the Calvinist argument that is supposed to demonstrate that Extensivists (non-Calvinists) have their own form of election since, as they contend, God does not give everyone a chance to hear the gospel and be saved. We saw their argument fails to be convincing. To further clarify and amplify God’s…

In Part 1 we looked at the argument that is supposed to demonstrate Extensivists (non-Calvinists) have their own form of election since, as they contend, God does not give everyone a chance to hear the gospel and be saved. We saw their argument fails to be convincing. Still to further clarify and amplify upon God’s…

This is the first article in a four-part series. In this article, I address the argument given by Calvinists against Extensivists’ (non-Calvinists) claim that God salvationally loves every person, and, therefore, every person can be saved. The second will address this challenge from the Old Testament. The third will address it from the New Testament,…

Calvinists often argue that defending man as possessing libertarian free will (giving a person a true choice between accessible options such as walking with God or not walking with him and, therefore, the outcomes being conditional) not only places man’s salvation in his own hands, but it also creates uncertainties that would mean that God…

Although both Calvinism and Extensivism (the belief that God genuinely wants every person to be saved and has made it possible for them to be saved) fall within the parameters of orthodoxy, and I do love my Calvinist brothers and sisters, we embrace very different ideas of God. Since God’s salvation plan is the most…

I agree with the Calvinist claim that the gospel is simple and clear, but I contend that Calvinism, by its very nature, complicates and obscures the simple and clear gospel.[1] Yes, someone can be saved when anyone says something like, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” but the difference between what a Calvinist and Extensivist…

John Piper writes, “My aim here is to show from Scripture that the simultaneous existence of God’s will for ‘all persons to be saved’ (1 Tim. 2:4) and his will to elect unconditionally those who will actually be saved is not a sign of divine schizophrenia or exegetical confusion. A corresponding aim is to show that unconditional…

When people reject Calvinism and its micro-determinism through compatibilism and decretal theology, some Calvinists retort that we are exalting the free will of man over God’s sovereignty. Of course, that is a straw man. We are exalting God’s Word, thereby exalting God because God’s Word depicts man and woman as having libertarian free will when…