Faith is Essential

A Calvinist writes, "If Christ died for all men, why aren't all men saved? Is believing necessary to make the blood of Christ efficacious for redemption? On the contrary, [it is not]."

This is the Calvinistic reasoning: Christ must have died only for the elect; otherwise all would be saved. And the elect don't even need to believe on Christ in order to be born again, for they are sovereignly regenerated by God without any desire or understanding on their part. God simply wills it so. If man has a choice in the matter at all, Calvinism is refuted. They say if the non-Calvinist is right Jesus spilled His own blood and wasted it, because only some are saved. Of course, this theory of the Calvinist is dependent on the idea that their deity causes everything, so if some aren't saved, and he died for everyone then of course some of the blood is wasted. But if God doesn't cause everything and people really do have a choice, then the blood is not wasted but available to any who are willing to receive it. A Calvinist doesn't seem to be able to get it out of his head that God doesn't cause everything.

Piper and his staff argue, "We do not think that faith precedes and causes new birth. Faith is the evidence God has begotten us anew." On the contrary, the Bible always puts faith before salvation-always-so Calvinism has man regenerated before he is saved, an unbiblical concept to which Spurgeon strongly objected, showing you there are different kinds of Calvinism, though all of them false. Whereas osas arminians hold to their five points in perfect accord. Whether there is free will or no free will, for example, in Calvinism there is always total depravity in which nobody chooses the cross prior God sovereignly making some do so and leaving the rest to perish according to His good pleasure.

The Bible repeatedly says that we are "saved, through faith" (Eph. 2.8). Paul told the Philippian jailor, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved..." (Acts 16.31). In the Greek, "believe" is always an active verb-something one does, not something done to him. But the Calvinist insists that, although the natural man can believe anything else, he is totally unable to believe Christ. This is the convenient catch or hook of Calvinism. Therefore, God must regenerate him first and then cause him to believe by giving him the essential faith-something God supposedly does only for the elect, who alone He desires to save.

Verses, including from the lips of Christ Himself, clearly make believing a condition of the new birth and salvation, which can only result from faith. The reason a person believes is because they have faith, and the reason they have faith is because they made a conscious choice to receive the Lord by faith. From choice to have faith, they believe. Or said another way: they choose to believe by faith.

"The power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth" (Rom. 1.16).

"To him give all the prophets witness, that...whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts 10.43).

"For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed" (Rom. 10.11)

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Rom. 10.13).

"Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely" (Rev. 22.17).