The following article entitled “Calvinism” by Dr. R.D. Noel, Pastor [of] Cleburne Baptist Temple, appeared in the Winter 2012 issue of Trinity Valley Baptist Trumpet, a publication of the Trinity Valley Baptist Seminary and College in Kennedale, Texas. I publish it here to provoke your thinking. Mr. Noel writes:
“If, by what Calvinism believes, the Lord picks and chooses who’s to be saved, where’s God’s love in that; ‘I love you, but I choose you to go to hell anyway’. What sin kept them out of Heaven? We teach and preach that we can’t go to Heaven by our good works, yet the Calvinist, by believing God chooses who’s to be saved, places God in the position of choosing that person because of their good works. Saying God picks and chooses makes Him a respecter of persons. What sin kept that one out of Heaven that God didn’t choose them. What criteria does God use to make His decision, to send one to Heaven and another to hell? What ‘good works’ was the individual lacking that sent them to hell?
“Thank the Lord that, by putting ‘whosoever’ in the equation, God ensured that there could be no respecter of persons on His part. Deut. 1:17 says, ‘Ye shall not respect persons in judgment…’ Can God go against His own Word? By choosing one for Heaven and another for hell, He does just that. He has broken His own Word by respecting persons. After all, Rom. 2:1 teaches that a person who judges someone else does the same things himself, so all people are on a level playing field. By judging someone, we automatically judge ourselves for the same thing according to this verse.
“So, Calvinism places God on the same level as man as far as being a respecter of persons, by teaching that God chooses where a person will spend eternity. Therefore, God has sinned because He is a ‘respecter of persons’ and has broken His own Word.
“Beware! Calvinism is creeping into Baptist churches. If there’s a rebuttal to this, that person will show themselves to be leaning into Calvinism, if not already there. Calvinism is the devil’s work! Dr. R.D. Noel”
Is that not amazing? He seems to be focused only on the doctrine of election, using the word “choose” “chooses” or “choosing” eight times, saying that election’s prerequisite is a person’s good works which makes God a “respecter of persons.” I do not know what he reads, but one thing is certain: “Dr.” R.D. Noel has never read Calvin. I doubt that “Dr.” Noel has read much of anything. There is a lot more to “Calvinism” than God “choosing one for Heaven and another for hell.”
If I were going to attack “Calvinism” I would certainly use a better argument. This argument is favored by the so-called Church of Christ and agnostics alike. The Church of Christ (Southern U.S.A. variety) use it because they believe in Baptismal Regeneration, which is salvation by works. Agnostics accuse the God they don’t believe in of injustices because he doesn’t do things to suit their notion of virtue. The verse “Dr.” Noel refers to, Deuteronomy 1:17, says: “Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; [but] ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment [is] God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring [it] unto me (Moses), and I will hear it.” It says absolutely nothing about God’s choices making Him a respecter of persons. That conclusion is man’s.
If “Dr.” Noel had just looked in his King James Version Scofield Reference Edition Bible, he would have found in Acts 10:34 a record of Simon Peter saying: “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:” referencing Deuteronomy 10:17 (not 1:17): “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons nor taketh reward.” The word Peter used for “respecter of persons” is προσωπολήμπτης (prosōpolēmptēs): one who discriminates. The context concerns Cornelius, a Gentile. Peter is saying that God does not discriminate between Jews and Gentiles in the matter of salvation.
“Dr.” Noel totally ignores the teaching of Paul in Ephesians 1 & 2, which says that all men, dead in trespasses and sins, have no hope whatsoever short of divine intervention , but in God's grace, some were chosen to be quickened (made alive). It even says that in his King James Version Scofield Reference Edition Bible. He obviously does not believe that Adam’s sin was imputed to every person, suggesting that he is Pelagian in belief (that Adam’s sin only applied to himself). The Bible teaches that Adam was created in the image of God and placed in a perfect setting, but he deliberately disobeyed God’s law and therefore became a sinner by his own actions, and the result of Adam’s sin was that every person is born a sinner under a sentence of death.
I think it would be commonly agreed that a respecter of persons is someone who is not just in his dealings. Does the doctrine of election make God unjust? A better question would be: Is God sovereign? Men like “Dr.” Noel believe God is sovereign in every action except salvation. They put up signs that read “Jesus is Lord” while thinking salvation is due to their own actions. They think that any intervention on God’s part makes him a respecter of persons and therefore unjust. A sovereign God does as He pleases. He does not ask “Dr.” Noel’s opinion or permission to save one and leave the other in his sins. He is not only sovereign in doing so, He is also just in doing so, simply because neither person can do anything to be saved, nor does either person deserve to be saved. If God saves one of them, both of them or neither of them, that is God’s business. Because He is sovereign and absolutely just in all that He does.
I'm certain that Dr.” Noel has a Church of Christ or agnostic view point on Romans 9, were Paul used the work of a potter to teach most emphatically that God has power over His own creation to do with it as He pleases; that a sovereign God has every right to rescue one from sin and leave the other person in sin; and that He should have left them both in sin. Paul, in that chapter, also refutes the erroneous idea that God loves every person alike, a question "Dr." Noel raised by putting the words into God's mouth: "I love you, but I choose you to go to hell anyway." God does not love every person alike. He said plainly, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." Does that mean something else? No it means God love Jacob and hated Esau.
"Dr.“ Noel's ended his article: "Beware! Calvinism is creeping into Baptist churches. If there’s a rebuttal to this, that person will show themselves to be leaning into Calvinism, if not already there. Calvinism is the devil’s work! " Creeping in? I came to the doctrines of grace in 1959 and have taught it since my first pastorate in 1962. But I find his next assertion even more amazing - that if any of his readers give a rebuttal, they not only show themselves to be leaning toward Calvinism, but doing the devil's work. I am reminded of Job's friends who not only made enormous assumptions but tried to convince Job of their conjuration.
Read your Bible "Dr." Noel.
If I were going to attack “Calvinism” I would certainly use a better argument. This argument is favored by the so-called Church of Christ and agnostics alike. The Church of Christ (Southern U.S.A. variety) use it because they believe in Baptismal Regeneration, which is salvation by works. Agnostics accuse the God they don’t believe in of injustices because he doesn’t do things to suit their notion of virtue. The verse “Dr.” Noel refers to, Deuteronomy 1:17, says: “Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; [but] ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment [is] God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring [it] unto me (Moses), and I will hear it.” It says absolutely nothing about God’s choices making Him a respecter of persons. That conclusion is man’s.
If “Dr.” Noel had just looked in his King James Version Scofield Reference Edition Bible, he would have found in Acts 10:34 a record of Simon Peter saying: “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:” referencing Deuteronomy 10:17 (not 1:17): “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons nor taketh reward.” The word Peter used for “respecter of persons” is προσωπολήμπτης (prosōpolēmptēs): one who discriminates. The context concerns Cornelius, a Gentile. Peter is saying that God does not discriminate between Jews and Gentiles in the matter of salvation.
“Dr.” Noel totally ignores the teaching of Paul in Ephesians 1 & 2, which says that all men, dead in trespasses and sins, have no hope whatsoever short of divine intervention , but in God's grace, some were chosen to be quickened (made alive). It even says that in his King James Version Scofield Reference Edition Bible. He obviously does not believe that Adam’s sin was imputed to every person, suggesting that he is Pelagian in belief (that Adam’s sin only applied to himself). The Bible teaches that Adam was created in the image of God and placed in a perfect setting, but he deliberately disobeyed God’s law and therefore became a sinner by his own actions, and the result of Adam’s sin was that every person is born a sinner under a sentence of death.
I think it would be commonly agreed that a respecter of persons is someone who is not just in his dealings. Does the doctrine of election make God unjust? A better question would be: Is God sovereign? Men like “Dr.” Noel believe God is sovereign in every action except salvation. They put up signs that read “Jesus is Lord” while thinking salvation is due to their own actions. They think that any intervention on God’s part makes him a respecter of persons and therefore unjust. A sovereign God does as He pleases. He does not ask “Dr.” Noel’s opinion or permission to save one and leave the other in his sins. He is not only sovereign in doing so, He is also just in doing so, simply because neither person can do anything to be saved, nor does either person deserve to be saved. If God saves one of them, both of them or neither of them, that is God’s business. Because He is sovereign and absolutely just in all that He does.
I'm certain that Dr.” Noel has a Church of Christ or agnostic view point on Romans 9, were Paul used the work of a potter to teach most emphatically that God has power over His own creation to do with it as He pleases; that a sovereign God has every right to rescue one from sin and leave the other person in sin; and that He should have left them both in sin. Paul, in that chapter, also refutes the erroneous idea that God loves every person alike, a question "Dr." Noel raised by putting the words into God's mouth: "I love you, but I choose you to go to hell anyway." God does not love every person alike. He said plainly, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." Does that mean something else? No it means God love Jacob and hated Esau.
"Dr.“ Noel's ended his article: "Beware! Calvinism is creeping into Baptist churches. If there’s a rebuttal to this, that person will show themselves to be leaning into Calvinism, if not already there. Calvinism is the devil’s work! " Creeping in? I came to the doctrines of grace in 1959 and have taught it since my first pastorate in 1962. But I find his next assertion even more amazing - that if any of his readers give a rebuttal, they not only show themselves to be leaning toward Calvinism, but doing the devil's work. I am reminded of Job's friends who not only made enormous assumptions but tried to convince Job of their conjuration.
Read your Bible "Dr." Noel.
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