Does Romans 9 teach Calvinist unconditional election?
Brenda asks whether Romans 9, on God electing the children of promise, teaches the Calvinistic doctrine of unconditional election.
Answer
Yes, that is where Calvin got it, and he misinterpreted it. The Bible can look, in Romans 9 alone, as though we are simply predestined, and then turn around and make clear that it depends on your free will accepting the grace God is giving you. The fatal mistake, which is how Protestant denominations are made, is to seize one set of verses as king over the rest of Scripture. The Catholic Church has the uncanny ability to hold two passages in tension and preserve the truth of each without going to one extreme; that is the Holy Spirit. Calvin's total depravity says fallen man has no free will at all, but of course man is depraved to an extent, that is original sin, yet he still has a marred will to choose for God, or every command God gave Adam afterward would be superfluous. And Paul is quoting Exodus 33:19, 'I will have compassion on whom I have compassion,' from the very chapter after the golden calf, where Moses appeased God and God relented, and where God granted Moses' request to see Him. So the point is the opposite of Calvin: God has compassion because He listens to man, not in spite of him. Luther was actually excommunicated over absolute predestination in his Bondage of the Will, not over indulgences.