But we are predestinarians. I need to go back to fundamentals to explain the difference, because I’ve been asked about this again.
If we don’t embrace the Hebrew assumptions about reality, we cannot understand the Bible. Most theologians and preachers recognize that their beliefs are different from the Hebrew OT beliefs, and they consider theirs superior. It never occurs to them that Jesus believed the same as the ancient Hebrews, but not the same as the Jewish rabbis of His time. Most theologians and preachers don’t know the difference between Judaism and OT religion. They don’t really know much about the ancient Hebrew religion that God revealed on Mount Sinai. They don’t grasp what Paul had to say about the Old Covenant versus the Talmudic nonsense (“the law”) of his day.
The build up of theology over the last two millennia is a long history of increasing departure from what the Hebrews believed. John, as the last genuine Hebrew apostle, saw this coming and lamented it in his Revelation. If you read the Early Church Fathers, you can trace the departure starting almost immediately after John passed. The Hellenistic rational approach overwhelmed the Hebrew mystical outlook so that doctrine drifted quickly into questions that no Hebrew would have asked.
Hellenistic rational assumptions were read back into the biblical text, so that the words ended up meaning something different than they did to Jesus and His followers. For example, we’ve already dealt with the definition of “sin” in a previous post.
In western thinking this refers to something like culpable negligence or malice, in which there is a distinct guilt before the court. This is nothing like the biblical view. In Scripture, sin is contamination or defilement…. Sin was not something you did so much as who you were as a mortal. Flesh is intractably filthy; it must die for you to live. It confines and defiles, entraps you in its foul will. You are in a tough situation needing to seize control, to tamp down its rebellious nature and bring it under discipline. But the only way to do that was to appeal to the God who made you and wants to rescue you from this slavery.
Thus, in Romans 5 Paul talks about how defilement entered the human race and made us all mortal — “death spread to all people”. There’s nothing in that passage about inheriting guilt. Rather, we inherited the defilement inherent in mortal fleshly existence. The flesh makes us property of Satan, under his feudal dominion. God granted him the realm of mortal flesh (“outside the Garden”). Since Adam and Eve chose to accept the Devil’s authority while in the Garden, the only way to place them under his control was to put them in mortal bodies — denying them access to the Tree of Life.
The Sword of Truth kept them from the returning to the Garden. That sword would kill the mortal flesh and reveal their eternal nature. It’s a symbol of how God’s revelation to fallen mortals demands that they reject their mortal nature and embrace their eternal nature. They must repent and build a life according to revelation. That’s what the Old Covenant was all about.
The Hebrews were not confused about this. They understood that their Sin Offerings under the ritual law were not about washing them clean from bad actions, but to sanitize sacred space from their defilement. It granted them covenant access to God’s Presence in sacred space. It gave them hope to claim the advantages of family kinship with Him in this world. They never pretended to understand the afterlife. There was a wealth of symbolic speech about the Eternal Realm, but everything about their eternal destiny was in God’s hands. The only way to escape the Abyss was for the Lord to rescue you. The only thing they could change was their covenant standing with God (“shalom”) under His dominion while in this life.
They knew the difference between individual election and national election.
Did the OT saints go to Heaven? Of course they did. Jesus mentioned this when He spoke about how the Patriarchs were still living in Eternity. God is not the Lord of the Dead; that was the Devil’s assignment. Jesus also said that those who went to be with the Father rested “in the bosom of Abraham” as if at some banquet. That’s the image of reclining around a low table on long cushions in Hebrew fashion, and being able to lean back to speak to whomever is behind you by placing your head near their chest. The Scriptures indicate that many other famous figures were there.
The Old Covenant was not about going to Heaven; only God could work that out. The ancient Hebrew people knew that their sole hope was to claim all the familial privileges in this life through keeping covenant peace with God here. That meant denying the flesh as much as possible. It was their primary duty to their God.
Jesus didn’t change that. People go to Heaven on the same terms before and after the Cross: Divine Election. What Jesus did on the Cross was open the Covenant to all nations, to make them acceptable to God despite their fleshly nature and to be at peace with Him while they lived in this world. They could transcend the limits of national identity and become part of the Eternal Empire of God. That called for acting the role that came with it. All the mentions of “salvation” in the NT are about peace with God here. This concept had been completely lost by Gentile scholars who never understood the Covenant old or new.
So, when Calvin’s disciples and their opponents started debating the implications of Paul’s writing about Divine Election, they were already way off on the wrong track. On the one hand, eternity with God was the issue with that doctrine. On the other hand, theologians had long believed falsely that “salvation” was equivalent to “going to Heaven”. Thus, that business of TULIP confused two entirely different things.
T — Total Depravity misses the point. It’s not a question of guilt, but a matter of the defilement of mortal flesh. The flesh is doomed but eternal spirits are not. Everyone is still accountable to God for embracing the feudal tribal Covenant of His Son.
U — Unconditional Election simply overstates the case in rationalistic terms.
L — Limited Atonement is wrong because it’s applied to the wrong question. Jesus’ blood on the Cross was sufficient to open His Covenant to everyone while they are here in this world. We must make room for some non-elect folk to join us, for whatever motivations that move them, and teach them enough to obey and not spoil it for the Elect in the community.
I — Irresistable Grace also misses the point. Yes, God calls to the Elect, but it’s all about the Covenant, not going to Heaven. Thus, we can easily see plenty of Elect folks will die without ever coming to the Covenant, since the vast majority are confused about what the divine calling in this life is all about.
P — Perseverance of the Saints misses the point yet again. The Elect can most certainly step in and out of the Covenant of Christ, but that has nothing to do with their eternal destiny. It means that, outside of the Covenant, they are embarrassing their Lord and giving too much service to the Devil. Because of this, many of them will die early. Indeed, their lives are scarcely different from random people who have zero interest in faith.
We are not Calvinists.
