LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Brock University

BAUE: THE CURRENT DEBATE ON PREDESTINATION 21
In embracing “grace unlimited” to avoid double predestination, Pinnock falls
off the other side of the horse into a quasi-universalism, failing to see that
election is a doctrine of the Gospel, centred in Christ, and tied to the means
of grace. He discusses predestination but does not see its connection to
Christ. Hence Arminians and Calvinists share the same error—both focus on
the inscrutable decree of God and ignore the cross. Pinnock errs further
when he takes up predestination to salvation:
When the term predestination is used in relation to salvation, it concerns the
believer’s future destiny which is to be conformed to Jesus Christ, not to his
becoming a Christian. We are “predestined” to be conformed to “the image
of his Son” (Rom. 8:29). There is no predestination to salvation or damnation
in the bible. There is only a predestination for those who are already children
of God with respect to certain privileges out ahead of them. 11
Here he fails to note the comfort of this doctrine for the believer now in that
it is a promise that God will help him persevere through all trials and
temptations. If Pinnock is right, there is no practical use of the doctrine. It
merely holds out the vague promise of pie in the sky when you die.
The Calvinists were not about to take this lying down, and fired back
with two volumes of their own in 1995 under the title, The Grace of God, the
Bondage of the Will, edited by Thomas R. Schreiner and Bruce A. Ware. 12
Here they specifically take issue with Pinnock and his 1989 defence of
Arminianism:
The understanding of grace in these works is that grace is distributed equally
to all people, and that is why it is unlimited. The “will of man” chooses
whether to submit to grace given. In this scheme the human will plays the
ultimate and decisive role in personal salvation. Our understanding of God’s
saving grace is very different. We contend that Scripture does not teach that
all people receive grace in equal measure …. God’s saving grace is set only
upon some, namely those whom, in his great love, he elected long ago to
save, and that this grace is necessarily effective in turning them to belief. 13
Here is a clear expression of Calvinist thought. But we must ask, where is
Christ Jesus Where is the cross There is only the attempt to peer into the
mind of God and fathom his eternal decree. The authors must at least be
given credit for adhering to standard Calvinistic double predestination when
they say, “The grace of God is given effectively and savingly only to some.
This is what theologians have meant when they spoke of irresistible grace. 14
But in so doing they repristinate Augustine’s error. They argue from
11 Pinnock, 18.
12 Thomas R. Schreiner and Bruce A. Ware, eds, The Grace of God, the Bondage of the Will
2 vols (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1995).
13 Schreiner, 12.
14 Schreiner, 13.