I have listened to a lot of Calvinist preaching over the last few years - it is all over YouTube. The sermons are loaded with abundant talk of God's grace and glory on one hand and mankind's depravity and wickedness on the other.
But it struck me recently that I have never heard much from the Calvinists about Satan.
All of humanity is depicted as full of wickedness, rebellion, and hatred towards God.
Where is the Calvinist condemnation of Satan?
In Genesis 3, the Lord curses the serpent for his role in deceiving Eve. But He doesn't curse Adam or Eve (although they are warned that their lives are going to be a lot tougher because of their sin).
This clearly implies the serpent is more blameworthy than the humans. He receives greater punishment.
John Wesley argued that Calvinism makes the Devil redundant. What role does the Tempter, the Liar, and the Accuser play when God predestined from the beginning which humans would be elected to salvation and which would be forever damned?
2 Corinthians 4:4 is a good example of the redundancy:
The god of this age (Satan) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
If humans are born totally depraved - entirely blind to God's truth, dead in their sins, and incapable of seeking after God - why does Satan bother to further blind them?
As Dr. Leighton Flowers asks: Why bother to put a blindfold on a blind man?
No comments:
Post a Comment