R.C. Sproul: “The
distortion of double predestination looks like this: There is a symmetry that exists between election and reprobation. God WORKS in the same way and same manner with respect to the elect and to the reprobate. That is to say, from all eternity God decreed some to election and by divine initiative works faith in their hearts and brings them actively to salvation. By the same token,
from all eternity God decrees some to sin and damnation (destinare ad peccatum) and actively intervenes to
work sin in their lives, bringing them to damnation by divine initiative. In the case of the elect, regeneration is the monergistic work of God. In the case of the reprobate, sin and degeneration are the monergistic work of God. Stated another way, we can establish a
parallelism of foreordination and predestination by means of a positive symmetry. We can call this a positive-positive view of predestination. This is, God positively and actively intervenes in the lives of the elect to bring them to salvation. In the same way God positively and actively intervenes in the life of the reprobate to bring him to sin. This distortion of positive-positive predestination clearly
makes God the author of sin who punishes a person for doing what God monergistically and irresistibly coerces man to do. Such a view is indeed a
monstrous assault on the integrity of God. This is not the Reformed view of predestination, but a gross and inexcusable caricature of the doctrine. Such a view may be identified with what is often loosely described as
hyper-Calvinism and involves a
radical form of supralapsarianism. Such a view of predestination has been virtually universally and monolithically rejected by Reformed thinkers.” (
Double Predestination, emphasis mine)
According to Sproul, it is undeniable that God is made the author of sin IF, from all eternity, He has decreed anyone to sin and damnation by efficaciously working sin in their lives. Such a thing, he calls a “monstrous assault on the integrity of God.” However, is that not exactly what John Calvin taught, then denied, then affirmed and then declared that curious men are not to peer into the secrets of God, just as we are not to curiously peer into the Sun itself? As Calvin speaks, what you will find is that God is made the author of sin, but is not to be held
guilty of sin because He allegedly brings it about through secondary causes, while He Himself is the proximate cause and Determiner. But first, Calvin will explain the Providence of God from the Deterministic perspective, and then he will address his opponents, and finally he will condemn the curious who seek to examine him too fully.
John Calvin: “We also note that we should consider the creation of the world so that we may realize that everything is subject to God and ruled by his will and that when the world has done what it may,
nothing happens other than what God decrees.” (
Acts: Calvin, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.66, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “First, the eternal predestination of God, by which before the fall of Adam He
decreed what should take place concerning the whole human race and every individual, was
fixed and determined.” (
Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.121, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “God had no doubt
decreed before the foundation of the world
what He would do with every one of us and had
assigned to everyone by His secret counsel his part in life.” (
Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, p.20, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “…the reason why God elects some and rejects others is to be found in His purpose alone. …
before men are born their lot is assigned to each of them by the secret will of God. … the salvation or the destruction of men depends on His free election.” (
Calvin’s New Testament Commentaries: Romans and Thessalonians, p.203, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “When he uses the term
permission, he means that the
will of God is the supreme and
primary cause of everything, because nothing happens without his order of permission.” (
The Institutes of Christian Religion, Book I, Ch. 16, Sect. 8, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “He has plenty of reasons for comfort as he realises that the
devil and all the ungodly are reined in by God, so that they
cannot conceive, plan or carry out any crime,
unless God allows it, indeed
commands it. They are not only
in bondage to him, but are
forced to serve him. It is the Lord’s prerogative to enable the enemy’s rage and to control it at will, and it is in his power to decide how far and how long it may last, so that
wicked men cannot break free and do exactly what they want....” (
The Institutes of Christian Religion, Book I, Ch.17, Sect. 10, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “But where it is a matter of men’s counsels, wills, endeavours, and exertions, there is greater difficulty in seeing how the providence of God rules here too, so that nothing happens but by His assent and that
men can deliberately do nothing unless He inspire it.” (
Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, pp.171-172, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “Indeed, the ungodly pride themselves on being competent to effect their wishes. But the facts show in the end that by them, unconsciously and unwillingly,
what was divinely ordained is implemented.” (
Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.173, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “Does God work in the hearts of men, directing their plans and moving their wills this way and that, so that
they do nothing but what He has ordained?” (
Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.174, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “For the man who honestly and soberly reflects on these things, there can be no doubt that the will of
God is the chief and principal cause of all things.” (
Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.177, emphasis mine)
John Calvin: “But of all the things which happen, the
first cause is to be understood to be
His will, because He so governs the natures created by Him, as to
determine all the counsels and the actions of men to the end decreed by Him.” (
Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.178, emphasis mine)
