Theological Ramblings

I know, I know… I promised Ephesians 1 and Romans 8… That’s next time. I had a BFO…

Romans 10:13: “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

This is the verse most quoted to me by Evangelical Calvinists as a defeat of Reformed Calvinism. I struggled with it for quite some time, though not like you might think. Most people would assume that the nature of my struggling was an attempt to rationalize my belief in the face of a compelling argument against it - or to find a way to explain it away.

But this is not the nature of my struggling. I simply couldn’t understand why… Why does the Evangelical quote this verse as some sort of silver bullet defeat of my argument? After all, no Reformed Calvinist with whom I have ever interacted would ever deny this Truth. This is the Gospel! God saves those who call on Him and abandon self reliance. this does not defeat Calvinism in any way! The Reformed Calvinist simply says, “Yes, and here’s what’s going on behind the scenes”

But I struggled with this until recently when I think I gained an insight into the Evangelical way of thinking in thgis. It seems to me that the Evangelical makes a wrong assumption about the Reformed belief. It seems that Evangelicals think I believe that if someone comes to God and “calls on Him” as described in this verse, God first check his “election list” and if the person’s name doesn’t appear, God rejects him.

Let me say unequivocally: THIS IS NOT WHAT I BELIEVE! I do not believe that God turns anyone away who comes to Him in repentance and faith. I embrace this verse for it shows me the glory of the saving God who is not so aloof like the God of the Deists as to hold Himself back like a great clock winder. God came down to save the lost!

I simply do not believe that anyone will ever come to God in true repentance and faith unless they are first on the election list and thus are called and drawn by God’s grace through His Holy Spirit. The basis I have for this is simply the doctrines of depravity, enlightenment, irresistible grace and unconditional election.

Salvation is an act of God redeeming us. He comes to where we are and purchase us back. He is the first mover, we are not. Left to ourselves we will always wallow in our sin. Thus there will never be anyone rejected who truly comes to God for they must first have been sought by Him. Romans 3:10ff.

And next time, I’ll go into Ephesians and Romans. I promise!

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