W.S. in Honduras read my article “If God Wants All to Be Saved, Has He Failed?” In that article, I said that Calvinists have a group of verses they assign to what I call a mystery box. W. S. then asked this great question:
Nice article, but it leaves me asking, What are the mystery verses?
Could you give us a list of those verses?
I wrote a book entitled, Is Calvinism Biblical? (see here). In that book, I discuss twelve texts that disprove Calvinism. These verses are all mystery verses according to Calvinism. Those dozen texts are:
John 6:35: “And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.’”
Acts 10:4: “And when he [Cornelius] observed him [the angel], he was afraid, and said, ‘What is it, lord?’ So he said to him, ‘Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God.’”
Acts 13:46: “Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, ‘It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.’”
John 5:39-40: “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”
John 1:29: “The next day John [the Baptist] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, ‘Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!’”
2 Peter 2:1: “But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction.”
John 12:32: “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”
Matthew 23:37-39: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’”
Luke 8:11-12: “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.”
John 4:13-15: “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.’”
Revelation 20:12, 15: “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books…And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
John 11:25-27: “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to Him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.’”
Calvinism can’t handle verses that speak of unbelievers being able to believe and seek God, of all being drawn, of Christ dying for everyone, of grace being resistible, and of eternal security even for those who fail to persevere.
These dozen texts are just the tip of the iceberg. Calvinism has a huge mystery box containing hundreds of verses inconsistent with its theological construct.
