The Deep End

Is the Doctrine of Election Evil?

Question: How can you teach the doctrine of election and say that God chose to save us before the foundation of the world when that is what John Calvin believed? Calvin was an idiot and Calvinism is pure evil and it took Calvin 500 words to say what he could have said in 10 words.

Answer: I can teach that God chose to save us before the foundation of the world because that is what Ephesians 1:4 says. I can refer to it as the doctrine of election because the Greek word translated as “chosen” is eklegomai, which meant “chosen,” or “selected,” or “elected,” and is one of the words from which we get the English word “election.”

I can see that you have a really strong dislike for John Calvin, and I don’t want to be placed in the awkward position of having to defend him or those who take his name for their theological system, because Ephesians 1:4 was in the Bible way before Calvin started teaching or writing about what it means.

I discussed this before when we talked about eternal security, but it is not reasonable to reject a doctrine or a Biblical teaching just because someone you don’t like taught it. I will reluctantly say a few things in defense of Calvin below, because I don’t think it’s appropriate to vilify him without giving some explanation, but for a moment let’s assume that Calvin was an idiot, and that those who follow his teaching are evil, as you’ve asserted. Even evil idiots – like a broken clock – can be right at least a couple of times a day. This is especially true when, despite their alleged evil idiocy, they merely repeat what the Bible says. What you are doing in rejecting election because Calvin believed it, is a form of what is called an ad hominem fallacy. It is when you say that someone’s assertion is wrong based on some alleged defect in, or unrelated wrongdoing on the part of, the person making the assertion. For example, Hitler thought breathing air was great. He did it every day. He even believed that breathing air was necessary for staying alive. I think we can all agree that Hitler was evil, and anybody today who believed in “Hitlerism” would be an idiot. I’m not sure if you personally would classify him as more evil than Calvin, but most people would. Now, if you reject the doctrine of election because Calvin believed and taught it, by the same logic, you need to start holding your breath right away, because, after all, you don’t want anything to do with something that Hitler supported, right?

Now, as I said, I don’t need to cite Calvin, or any other theologian to state authoritatively that the Bible says that God chose to save us before He even created us. Ephesians 1:4 was written (by the infallible Holy Spirit!) around 62 A.D. Whatever Calvin wrote about election was written around 1535-1545 A.D., so if you really hate him, that’s okay, because you can still evaluate Ephesians 1:4 safely secure in the knowledge that when it says, “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,” Calvin had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with it.

Finally, although I do not wish to be identified as a Calvinist, just for the sake of accuracy, I will politely disagree with some of the harsher things said about him in your question. You are free to think that he was an idiot, but the vast majority of Western theological and literary scholars disagree with you. He is generally considered to have been very intelligent, well-educated, well-read, influential, and logical in his writings and sermons. You can hate him without questioning his intelligence, and a fair reading of the Bible proves he was right about a whole lot of the things he wrote about it. Likewise, you are free to label “Calvinism” as an evil system, but again, Calvin’s writings themselves (although admittedly I haven’t read all that many of them) clearly teach that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died for our sins, was buried, and rose again, and that people are saved by God’s grace through faith. He taught that God is sovereign and loving, and many more clearly Biblical truths. If there is something “evil” in his doctrine, you would have to point out specifically what that is. I have provided a link to his most-famous work which you can read by clicking here, and I doubt any of us would agree with EVERYTHING he wrote, but there is big difference between being wrong on some issues, and being “pure evil.”

As to his skill as a writer, I will defer to your expertise. I believe he wrote in 16th century French and in classical Latin, neither of which I am able to read fluently, but it’s possible that out of the 500 words he used to the only 10 that you believe were needed, there is some room for a subjective difference of opinion.