Different religions have a different belief system in God. The book of Genesis in the Bible provides evidence of God’s existence and His supremacy through the creation story. God creates everything including the heaven and the earth according to His desires. Human beings encounter both positive and negative events in life and seek for the relevant explanations for these happenings. God allows events to take place in life due to His providence. God’s providence is the belief that every event including the human thoughts, choices and actions occur according to the sovereign will of God 1 .God’s providence is found in the Bible scriptures such as Psalms 104:10 which reads “You make springs flow in the valleys and rivers run between the hills.” God is seen to govern the world and therefore determine all events. The Calvinist and the Arminian views provide conflicting perspectives regarding God’s providence. According to the Calvinists, all occurrences in life are determined by God. On the other hand, the Arminians view occurrences in life as a result of human choices. While both perspectives are valid in their arguments, they fall short in explaining the choices that God allows human beings to make and the human inability to control all the events in life.
Calvinist View
The proponents of Calvinism believed that everything that happens is the will of God. Calvinists believe that God controls everything because He created them. Numerous Bible scriptures support this belief. For instance, Proverbs 16:4 states that “Everything the Lord has made has its destiny; and the destiny of the wicked is destruction,” Revelation 4:11 reads,” Our Lord and God! You are worthy to receive glory, honor, and power. For you created all things, and by your will, they were given existence and life”, Romans 9:18 reads, “So then, God has mercy on anyone He wishes, and He makes stubborn anyone He wishes.” John Calvin was the main proponent of Calvinism during the Protestant Reformation. He was born in 1509 in Noyon,
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France and studied in Paris 2 . He left the Catholic Church and joined the Protestants in 1534. Calvin went into exile in Basil, Switzerland during the time Christians were being persecuted. During this time his teachings sought to encourage the Christians in their sufferings 3 .
Calvin suffered as he had very little sleep and had little to eat but he strongly believed that every event was the will of God 4 . Furthermore, he identified with the sufferings of the Christians as they wrestled with sin, sickness, persecution, exile, hatred, and divisions in family and church; he also faced the same problems. His comments on Hebrews 11:1 encouraged the Christians to persevere in their sufferings and hold on to the faith. He reminded them that there was a reward as promised by God 5 . Calvin was confident that God had a reason for the Christians’ suffering and was still in control despite the circumstances. Calvin’s view is illustrated in the Bible in Matthew 10:28, “It is much harder for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.” Also in Luke 12:5, “I will show you whom to fear: fear God, who, after killing, has the authority to throw into hell. He is the one you must fear!”. Calvin believes that God is the one who protects every person and everybody should have faith in God’s providence.
Calvinism spread across the world even after John Calvin’s death in 1564. Currently, Calvinism is being revived but is still in a minority position 6 . He observed that Calvinism has a bright future as it offers much to people who seek to believe and practice the whole counsel of God. Calvinism aims to do so through strong faith and warm-hearted spirituality 7 . When people have total faith in God and possess warmhearted spirituality, then there occurs vibrant living. within the home, church and everywhere else for the glory of God. This is evident in Romans 11:36 which states,” For all things were created by him, and all things exist through him and for him. To God be the glory forever! Amen” 8 .
Calvinism can be used to sort out the ethical messes in professional disciplines 9 . Calvinism emphasizes the supremacy of God in all things, and therefore God is behind all the occurrences working out His will 10 . In circumstances where human responsibility is faced with moral matters, Calvinists turn to the character of God. He/she prioritizes the sovereignty of God over his/her responsibility. They, therefore, turn to God for the supernatural intervention of His planned salvation. God offers guidance to man through the Holy Spirit which enlightens the mind and offers sufficient clearness to know the way of salvation 11 . Calvinist's stress reliance on the Holy Spirit to achieve any good works, continued dependence on God’s providence and man’s inability to do good when separated from God. These beliefs by the Calvinists may influence deliberations on ethics to ensure morality on all the decisions made.
Arminian View
James Arminius, a Dutch Reformed theologian, challenged the views of John Calvin and Theodore Beza’s formulation of the classic Reformed doctrine of predestination 12 . Arminius held the view that people are called to Christ because through God’s foreknowledge, He knew that they would possess saving faith. This contradicted the Calvinist view that Christ’s followers are chosen based on His sovereign will. Many theologians came out and developed different forms of Arminianism. Louis Berkhof proposed that Arminianism could be lumped together with Semi- Pelagianism. He believed that God created and then departed humanity allowing them to work out their lives on their own 13 . Pelagianism was proposed by Pelagius, a Latin monk initially known as Morgan. He believed that man’s salvation is dependent on something in him/her 14 . God commands man to do good works. Therefore, man must possess the ability to perform them, and the man’s performance must contribute to his/her salvation. Charles Finney developed his evangelical strategy by appealing to the will of man 15 . He disputed the belief that all men are fallen in Adam and needed to be saved by a power outside themselves. Finney believed that men should change their hearts or choices before any volitions to secure any other than a selfish end 16 . Finney has therefore been blamed for progressing semi-Pelagianism in modern evangelism.
Pelagianism has been criticized for the view that man can save himself. Jonah 2:9 reads “But I will sing praises to you; I will offer you sacrifice and do what I have promised. Salvation comes from the Lord!”. Despite the flaws in modern-day evangelism as a result of Pelagianism, Bible teachings must be maintained 17 . Furthermore, the teachings should not seek to appeal nor please man but rather to proclaim Christ. People should depend on God to change them as this cannot be achieved by human beings.
Karl Barth was also a proponent of Arminianism. He developed the Remonstrance in 1610 which solidified his doctrines. These articles stated that God died for all men and therefore whoever believe will be saved 18 . Also, despite the debt being paid, nobody can enjoy forgiveness until they believe. To Barth, outside of Christ man is not capable of doing anything good. He believed that men could resist God’s love and grace. These doctrines drew the attention of the Synod of Dordrecht in the Netherlands resulting into a document that rejected the teachings of Arminius and his followers and essentially declaring their position as heretical 19 .
The Synod of Dort was called to refute Arminianism in 1618. This gave birth to the TULIP acrostic. The remonstrants refuted the proposal by the TULIP which stated that election was not based on God’s foreknowledge but His will 20 . They also refuted that He died only for the elect: Remonstrants also disputed the view that the original sin had corrupted the goodness in all men. The remonstrants were opposed to the belief that God’s love and grace are irresistible 21 . Also, the belief that believers are the elect of God and therefore their faith will be persevered to the end was refuted.
Critique of Calvinist and Arminian Views
John Fletcher criticized both the Calvinist and Arminian views on various grounds. He challenges the understanding of Christian faith and its relationship to the world beyond Christianity. His approach addressed the understanding of election and reprobation on free will and free grace 22 . Fletcher argued that the Calvinist believe that free grace does not visit all men and all those in whom it did not prevail are dead to the things of God. He proposed that divine love opens into the most extensive prospects and the exulting soul will range through the boundless field of grace which is free in all and free for all 23 . Fletcher goes farther to analyze the promises that God made to Abraham that the redeemer would be from his lineage. Fletcher observed that God points out to Abraham that even though the Redeemer was born in his elect family, divine grace and mercy were free to all and could not to be confined within the narrow bounds of a peculiar election 24 . Fletcher goes further to explain his doctrine using the parable of the talents which is found in the book of Matthew 25:14-30. Fletcher criticized the Arminian view on sin. The Arminian proponents denied the original sin and limited the definition of sin. For Fletcher, anything that transgressed the will of God could be categorized as sin 25 . Fletcher believed that human beings have the free will and personal responsibility which enables them to answer to God’s love without boasting with their free will and own merit 26 .
Personal View
The Calvinist and the Arminian views on God’s providence raises the question of how ethical control God exercises over His creation and the reasons for this. It is my observation that God has been exercising His will throughout human history. The book of Habakkuk in the Bible guides the reader to understand that faith eventually triumphs despite the circumstances. In Habakkuk, God proves to Habakkuk that His sovereignty is beyond human understanding and there He could not be reduced to doing things in the same way as the human beings.
The book of Isaiah portrays God as being emotional towards his people. Human beings can be able to appeal to God’s emotions leading to a change in His will. This means that at times things do not go the way God intended them to go. Isaiah 63:10 reads, “but they rebelled against him and made His Holy Spirit sad. So the Lord became their enemy and fought against them”. God had delivered the Israelites from Egypt, and they were bragging about their achievements as opposed to praising God. He did not expect the Israelites to betray him in such a manner and therefore He punished them.
God’ providence is summed up in the book of Romans 11:36,” For all things were created by Him, and all things exist through Him and for Him. To God be the glory forever! Amen”. Here Paul is reflecting on God’s plan for all His creation. Paul can only praise and adore God when he realizes His plans.
God, therefore, exercises complete control over His creation but at times chooses to withhold a portion of the control to allow His people free will. This view combines both the Calvinist and Arminian views. Psalms 135:6 states that, “He does whatever He wishes in heaven and on earth; He makes lightning for the storms, and He brings out the wind from His storeroom”, while Exodus 32:14 states that, “So the Lord changed His mind and did not bring on His people the disaster He had threatened”.
In conclusion, both the Calvinists and the Arminian views try to explain the providence of God but adopt different doctrines. The Calvinists believe that God has total control over all His creation. The Ariminian proponents believe that human beings possess the free will to make a choice and therefore can determine their choices. However, both views have been criticized. The Calvinists have been criticized for overlooking the existence of free will. The Arminian proponents, on the other hand, have been criticized for failing to acknowledge that some things are beyond human control. However, the ideas of the sovereignty of God and human free will can be combined into a single view. This combined view can address the occurrence of events that are beyond human control and those that happen as a result of the choices that people make.
Bibliography
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