Shea writes:
“The Bible says God may not give some of you saving grace.”
I don’t think that’s something you ever need to say to anyone. Because the Bible doesn’t say it exactly that way to anyone. Paul teaches about predestination to keep us from boasting as if our faith is self-generated and to strengthen our assurance that he who gave us this faith can keep us believing. But he didn’t talk about predestination when he preached to unbelievers in Acts. Just tell people that there’s enough merit in the blood of Christ to save as many worlds of sinners as there are sinners in the world and that if they believe they most certainly will be forgiven. Their faith is the only way we know that God has chosen them (1 Thess 1:4-5).
A kid in Bible school says “Pastor, does God want to save everyone?” A consistent Calvinist says what? “I don’t know?” Or “No, he doesn’t?”
I’ve heard different Calvinists give different answers to this question. I’d say “God desires to save an innumerable multitude of people from every tribe tongue and nation. That’s what ‘all people’ means.” Others would say that God desires all to be saved but decrees otherwise for a greater good. I’m not so interested in this question anymore. The crux (pun intended) is that if anyone believes but worries that they might not be accepted because they aren’t one of the elect, you can tell them that everyone who believes is most certainly one of the elect. The interesting thing is that Lutherans can’t give them this assurance.
