Abstract
Calvin’s doctrine is an exposition of the question whether free will exists. If an all-powerful God can see the future and determine the future, how can free will actually exist? This paper analyses the Calvin doctrine and the Roman Catholic doctrines in regards to free will. Calvin doctrine will be demonstrated to root for the stance that God predestines the people who will have eternal life, or rather picks them. Roman Catholicism on the other hand propounds that free will plays a great role in determining an individual’s spiritual outcome.
The question posed by Calvin is almost paradoxical; how can there be free will if God being all-knowing, all-powerful and ever-present knew it to begin with? Numerous theologians and philosophers have tried to successful resolve this paradox, however, the it seems that the only solution that they can arrive to is that God has contradicted Himself. The solution is a heresy in itself and therefore starting the paradox all over. The primary focus of this paper shall lie in exploring Calvin’s doctrine and his reasoning that God’s attributes (He cannot make a mistake or change his mind) create a reality where the Christian doctrine of free will and salvation being open to all are mere illusions. The paper argues, relying on Calvin’s doctrine that the Christian doctrines of free will cannot exist with due regard to the attribute that God possesses.
In espousing Calvin’s doctrine, the distinction between prescience and predestination becomes paramount. Prescience is God’s ability to see or everything through time. God can see a thing in the past present and future. In this sense, they lack the distinctions that we as humans attach to time such as “the past”, “now” or “the future.” The events are under his direct contemplation and can only be regarded as happening simultaneously in his present. Prescience then translates to mean that God is aware of the futures of every human being along with everything else. Predestination, on the other hand, is how God chooses and determines what the future of a person or even the entire world will be. In the Christian doctrines, God is attributed both the prescience and predestination.
With such powers, it only means that some people are destined for salvation while others are doomed to eternal damnation. In the bible, God demonstrates this frequently. In fact, God does not only predestine the destinies of individual but he also declares to do so for Abraham’s decedents. God assures Abraham’s lot of prosperity and deliverance from their enemies. It is important to realize that there was no particular reason as to why God picked the individuals or the race that he picked. The bible repeatedly assures us that He picked them out of His love for them. They were not chosen for their numbers nor their goodness but simply because God loved them. God informs the chosen people that they are a “rebellious and stiff-necked” people; this only serves to demonstrate that their choosing was on non-merit grounds. They had neither earned the adornments nor did they show their deservingness of the blessings.
It becomes, apparent that God picks his people on a concealed rationale from us. While the chosen people or the Abrahams family might have helped illuminate this, the personal selection of the family members by God complicates the matters even further. God blessed Abraham and assured his lineage of prosperity and his endowment. Nevertheless, various members drop-off over time on the accounts of their mistakes, sin or some unexplainable reasoning. Ismael loses his position after Sarah kicks out his mother; Esau sells his birthright to Jacob then Jacob and Rebecca trick Isaac into blessing Jacob. In the New Testament, there is a compromise between the choosing of a few people and the rejection of the rest of the world. Here the selection of the seed of Abraham is present as a part of a greater plan to save humanity. Paul ever so carefully points out that a distinction exists between the physical Abrahams decedents (of the flesh) and the spiritual sons of Abraham.
In summary, it becomes painfully apparent that God chooses some people to carry his purposes. It is also followed logically that God determines, at least for some people whether they will have eternal life or eternal damnation. At the light of such a determination, can we then call it unjust? Here the omnipotence of God emerges. How can we claim justice when we all exist in Him? Are we any more justified in questioning the granting of special privilege to Abraham and his son while excluding others anymore that an ox can claim injustice that its creation made it inferior to man? Life is then at the behest of God; man enjoys his superiority over the animals not out of any merit but by simple appointment.
One might then argue that some of the individuals granted Gods grace were undeserving of it, however, Calvin then counters this argument by an example of Jesus. God freely gave the great honor to Jesus that he might later allow others to partake in Gods Kingdom. Considering that Jesus was carried in the womb and given birth to in the same was as all men, are his virtues tied to the womb that all men might claim it unfair that he possessed them and they did not? Paul declares that all Christians were chosen in Christ before the beginning of the world. Considering that, all humans are the decedents of Adam God had to appoint his own, Jesus Christ to the task of saving humanity.
If divine grace facilitates the election into the immortal life and the kingdom, then what does God see in us to grant us the same? Paul then suggests that it is the “pleasure of his will” by which he chooses his people. BY this simply utterances Paul overturns any conception that men might have of earning their way into heaven. God predestines the destiny of men according to the pleasure of his will as compared to the efforts or actions of those men. Therefore, good works are not taken into account in determining the bestowing of spiritual gifts by God. God does not purport to pay the chosen ones for their future action but simply elects them out of the good pleasure that he purposes in himself. Jesus Himself explicitly states that he has chosen his followers rather that the members choosing him. Paul then clarifies that all men are indebted to God for his goodness, and no acts can conciliate Him in the past, present or the future.
Paul later faces the challenge of Jew’s who fail to act according to the teaching of Jesus. They are described as “proud and vain-glorying.” These Jews posed a problem to the doctrine of Paul they were the physical decedents of Abraham and therefore are chosen people yet they disregard the Christian teaching. Paul solves this problem by declaring that not all Israel are of Israel. He admits that they are the holy offspring of Abraham but insists that the greater part of them is now strangers to the covenant. Paul the then alludes to Esau and Jacob, claiming that despite having been from the same womb the transfer of the birthright from Esau to Jacob was an attestation of election of Jacob and the reprobation of Esau. Paul argues that the selection of Jacob was on the calling of God rather that any good deed or otherwise that he performed. Paul concludes with a stance that all the actions of men into appease God are excluded from His purpose for them and their election. God shows no discernible rule or approach in his electing of individuals. He rejects Esau for Jacob, Ishmael for Isaac and even Joseph’s sons he elects Ephraim over his brother, Manasseh.
God does not select on merit; Paul points out that He will have mercy on those that he chooses and compassion on those that he chooses. It is clear, therefore, that God finds nothing in humans that can induce him into kindness, and it depends entirely on His mercy.
Is predestination an ethically acceptable doctrine?
Ethics and religions are in most instances complementally but will occasionally differ sharply. The main difference between a religious concept of goodness and the ethical concept of goodness is that religions are governed by God whose word is the law and who is above reproach. Ethics, on the other hand, are simply a set of rules that are universally fair and just. As such, the idea of God arbitrarily deciding whether an individual will have eternal life or damnation is, of course, unethical. It reduces all the efforts that a person might do to attain their spiritual goal of heaven to nothing, as it is God who predestines their lives and what they were going to do in the first place.
Roman Catholic doctrines and Free will
The doctrine of good works in Roman Catholic doctrine is the supposition that one’s good works have an effect and bearing on whether the individual will attain eternal life. In contrast to the reformers, Roman Catholics hold the belief that it requires more than just faith, “sola fides” to achieve eternal life. An individual’s good actions affect their standing with God while their sins push them away from God. The Catholics believe that God will judge and adjudicate them based on their actions.
The difference of the Roman Catholic doctrine of good works and Calvinism regarding free will is immense. For the Roman Catholic, their good actions directly influence their relationship with God. In Catholicism, an exercise of free will is not only acknowledged but also accepted as a means to achieve eternal life. Calvin, on the other hand, proposed a situation where God determines whether an individual achieves eternal life. Furthermore, Calvinism considered that there was nothing a person could do to appease God, but only hope His mercies fell on him.Roman Catholic concept of the sacraments especially the Baptist and Confessions offer an interesting perspective on free will.
Catholicism offers Baptism as a rite necessary for salvation of the individuals to whom the Gospel has been pronounced and who wishes to have the sacrament. However, the Roman Catholic teachings indicate that a person who willfully, knowingly and unrepentantly rejects the Sacrament has no hope of salvation. Confessions, on the other hand, are viewed as a method of absolving one of their sins. Here an individual usually confesses his sin to a priest who operates “in persona Christi.” Catholicism seems to place greater weight on the influence of free will in determining whether an individual will be granted access into heaven. This is in contrast to the Calvinism the states that a person’s efforts are pointless as God predestined that individuals that he chose out of his mercies or good pleasure.
Catholicism also believes in purgatory, an intermediate state that exists between the physical death of an individual and heaven. The purpose on purgatory is to allow the people destined for heaven to undergo a period of purification. The idea of purgatory seems to be in contradiction with the Calvinism doctrine where the main tenement is whether God chooses the individual. Purgatory involves the idea that what will determine whether an individual will attain eternal life is waiting and penance rather than divine choosing.
In conclusion, Calvinism offers a harsh view of the world where God predestines whether an individual attains eternal life or whether he faces eternal damnation. Such a view means that free will is an illusion since God determines predestines everything.
Works Cited
Calvin, John and Beveridge Henry . Christian Classics Ethreal Library. London: Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1536. Online.
Jones, Rick. Understanding Roman Catholicism: 37 Roman Catholic Doctrines Explained. Jacksonville: Chick Publications, 1995. Print.
