Journal: Puritan Reformed Journal
Volume: PRJ 02:2 (Jul 2010)
Article: Calvin On Sovereignty, Providence, And Predestination
Author: Joel R. Beeke

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PRJ 2:2 (July 2010) p. 77

Calvin On Sovereignty, Providence, And Predestination¹

Joel R. Beeke

Understanding Calvin’s teachings on sovereignty and predestination is very important for several reasons. Let me mention three of them.1

First, Calvin’s teachings on sovereignty and predestination offer us unveiling comfort. Imagine for a moment that God is not sovereign. If God is not sovereign and in control of all things, then the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York City on 9/11 was a freak accident beyond God’s control. If God is not sovereign, the powers of evil are stronger than the power of God. If God is not sovereign, all things will not work together for good to those that love God, contrary to what Romans 8:28 tells us. Do you find that comforting? I sure don’t.

For another thing, imagine for a moment that God does not elect sinners to salvation from the masses of mankind. If Romans 3 is right in claiming that man is not basically good but is thoroughly depraved so that he cannot choose good without the grace of God, then no one would ever be saved if God did not elect or choose sinners to salvation. So, election is a friend of sinners—not an enemy!

Second, understanding God’s sovereignty and predestination helps unravel confusion. Calvin’s understanding of these doctrines helps us better understand what life is all about. It unriddles our riddles. It addresses life’s major questions, such as “Is God sovereign over the evil that sometimes befalls me?” or “Do my wrong choices in life override God’s sovereignty?” or “How could God have allowed sin to enter into this world in the first place?”

PRJ 2:2 (July 2010) p. 78

Third, understanding Calvin on sovereignty and predestination undoes caricatures. Many people who know anything at all about Calvin realize that he believed in sovereign predestination. In our world today that tends to be a rather unpopular doctrine. So, as we turn to Calvin and the doctrine of predestination, we need to see things in proper perspective. We need to orient ourselves to the development and historical context of the theology of election and predestination to discover exactly how valuable Calvin’s contribution is to our understanding of this timeless biblical doctrine.

As we go forward, we should bear in mind that the doctrine of election did not originate with Calvin but was regarded by him as a part of the Christian tradition that he received, not only from Paul and other biblical writers, but also from Augustine and many theologians after him.

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