Editing Predestination in Calvinism (section)

===Calvin's writings===

[[John Calvin]] taught double predestination. He wrote the foundational work on this topic, ''[[Institutes of the Christian Religion]]'' (1539), while living in [[Strasbourg]] after his expulsion from [[Geneva]] and consulting regularly with the Reformed theologian [[Martin Bucer]].<ref name="Cambridge" /><ref>Nimmo, Fergusson, p. 45.</ref> Calvin's belief in the uncompromised "[[sovereignty of God]]" spawned his doctrines of providence and predestination. For the world, without providence it would be "unlivable". For individuals, without predestination "no one would be saved".<ref>Susan E. Schreiner, "Predestination and Providence" in ''Ad Fontes. To the Sources: A Primer in Reformed Theology'' (Erdman Center of Continuing Education at Princeton Theological Seminary). {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150918100135/http://www3.ptsem.edu/offices/coned/adfontes/second.aspx?reflect=16&title=2&detail=+Predestination+and+Providence |date=2015-09-18 }}. Accessed April 27, 2014.</ref>

Calvin's doctrine of providence is straightforward. "All events whatsoever are governed by the secret counsel of God." Therefore, "nothing happens but what [God] has knowingly and willingly decreed." This excludes "fortune and chance."<ref>Calvin, ''Institutes of the Christian Religion'', 1.16.2–3, 8.</ref> Calvin applied his doctrine of providence concerning "all events" to individuals and their salvation in his doctrine of predestination.

Calvin opened his exposition of predestination with an "actual fact". The "actual fact" that Calvin observed was that even among those to whom "the covenant of life" is preached, it does not gain the same acceptance.<ref name="ReferenceA">Calvin, ''Institutes of the Christian Religion'', 3.21.1.</ref> Although, "all are called to repentance and faith", in fact, "the spirit of repentance and faith is not given to all".<ref name="ReferenceB">Calvin, ''Institutes of the Christian Religion'', 3.22.10.</ref>

Calvin turned to the teachings of [[Jesus]] for a theological interpretation of the diversity that some people accept the "covenant of life" and some do not. Pointing to the [[Parable of the Sower]], Calvin observed, "it is no new thing for the seed to fall among thorns or in stony places".<ref name="ReferenceB"/> In Jesus' teaching in John 6:65 that "no one can come to me unless it has been granted him by my Father", Calvin found the key to his theological interpretation of the diversity.<ref>Calvin, ''Institutes of the Christian Religion'', 3.22.7.</ref>

For Calvin's biblically-based theology, this diversity reveals the "unsearchable depth of the divine judgment", a judgment "subordinate to God's purpose of eternal election". God offers salvation to some, but not to all. To many this seems a perplexing subject, because they deem it "incongruous that ... some should be predestinated to salvation, and others to destruction". However, Calvin asserted that the incongruity can be resolved by proper views concerning "election and predestination".<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Thus, Calvin based his theological description of people as "predestinated to life or to death" on biblical authority and "actual fact".<ref>Calvin, ''Institutes of the Christian Religion'', 3.21.5.</ref> Calvin noted that Scripture requires that we "consider this great mystery" of predestination, but he also warned against unrestrained "human curiosity" regarding it.<ref>Calvin, ''Institutes of the Christian Religion'', 3.21.1 and 3.23.12.</ref> For believers, knowing that "the cause of our salvation did not proceed from us, but from God alone" evokes gratitude.<ref>{{Cite web |title=John Calvin: Calvin's Commentaries—Complete |url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/commentaries.i.html |access-date=2023-04-27 |website=www.ccel.org |publisher=Christian Classics Ethereal Library}}</ref>