The influence of John Calvin has permeated most denominations. Calvin taught that God determines every human act. He believed man is so depraved he would never choose God; thus God, not man, chooses who will go to heaven and who will go to hell. Calvin said, “it depends on nothing else but on God alone, for he of his own free will has chosen us.”¹ Those who respond in faith toward God are, according to Calvin, unconditionally caused to believe by the Holy Spirit. Calvin used 2 Thessalonians 2:13 as a proof text for this doctrine, declaring that “by this passage briefly reminding us that faith itself is produced only by the Spirit.”² This is why many in the religious world wait for a direct operation of the Holy Spirit to cause people to believe instead of preaching the pure gospel so that some may respond in faith. Let us consider what the scriptures say.
Jesus said of the Holy Spirit: “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment” (John 16:9). How does the Holy Spirit do this? In this same context the apostles were promised, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:13). The Holy Spirit guided the apostles into all truth in the first century. The inspired words the Spirit gave to the apostles had convicting power. In Acts 2:14-36, Peter preached a sermon when the power of the Holy Spirit came on the apostles. As a result, some were convicted of their sin. Notice what happened when they heard these Spirit-inspired words: “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37.) The word of God is the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17). The New Testament shows that when the word of God is preached it influences the heart of the one who hears it. The word of God is the medium by which the Holy Spirit influences men to believe and obey the Lord. Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth” (John 17:17). Romans 10:17 concludes, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” In Acts 2, it pricked the consciences of some who ended up obeying the gospel (Acts 2:38, 41, 47). Others were “cut to the heart” by words given by the Holy Spirit and determined to kill the human messenger who delivered those words (Acts 5:33; 7:54).
Now consider the passage Calvin used as a proof text for his doctrine that a direct operation of the Holy Spirit causes people to have faith (2 Thess. 2:13-15):
But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
God had from the beginning chosen the Thessalonians to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit. The footnote in the ASV has “as firstfruits” instead of “from the beginning.” Thus, the meaning would be that the Thessalonians would be the first of many converts to come in Macedonia because of their great example of receiving the word (cf. 1 Thess. 1:6-9).
But if the KJV reading of “from the beginning” is the meaning, it would be the same as passages such as Ephesians 1:3-12: that God had a plan from before the foundation of the world to save those who are in Christ. Paul went on to say, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise” (Eph. 1:13). The Ephesians heard the word of truth, the gospel of their salvation. The record of Paul preaching in Ephesus is found in Acts 18:19: “And he came to Ephesus, and left them there: but he himself entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews.” Paul later came again to Ephesus to teach and preach the gospel:
And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus. And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. (Acts 19:8-10.)
The word of God was preached and people responded in obedience to it. In fact, because the word of God is so integral to the conversion process, the word itself is often described as growing and prevailing when people obey it. Acts 19:20 says, “So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.”
Back to the statement Paul made to the Thessalonians. The “sanctification of the Spirit” is God’s part, but “belief of the truth” is man’s part (2 Thess. 2:13). What immediately follows is Paul’s explanation, “Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 2:14). The record of Paul teaching and preaching the gospel in Thessalonica is found in Acts 17:1-9. It has all the similarities to that of his work in Ephesus. Paul went into the synagogue and reasoned with them out of the scriptures—drawing arguments from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ, by which some were persuaded (Acts 17:2-4). Faith comes when we teach (Matt. 28:18-20) and preach the gospel (Mark 16:15). The word of God, the seed of the kingdom (Luke 8:11), will not produce faith in every heart upon which it falls; but it will produce fruit in those who have a good and honest heart (Luke 8:15). We must teach it so that those who will hear, believe, and keep it can be saved.
This is why Paul went on to exhort the Thessalonians to stand fast in those things which had been handed over to them by words which they had been taught (2 Thess. 2:15). God has determined that those who are obedient to the gospel will be saved (Mark 16:15, 16) and those who do not obey the gospel will be lost (2 Thess. 1:8). The Spirit’s plea and our plea is for men to come of their own free will to receive salvation through the gospel (Rom. 1:16). “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17). Anyone may come “to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13).
¹John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 24–25.
²John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1989), III.i.4.
–Mark Day