The Salvific Will

















Calvinist, D. James Kennedy: “Again and again we see that people are predestined (elected) to salvation--but nowhere do we see that anyone is ever predestined to condemnation of Hell. When we think of God as unfairly, arbitrarily electing people to Heaven or Hell, it is as if we have a mental picture of a row of people sitting on a fence, and God passes down the line and points at each one, ‘It’s Hell for you, Heaven for you, Hell, Hell, Hell, Heaven, Hell...’ Now, that would be unfair--and absolutely capricious! But that’s not the kind of God we love and serve.” (Solving Bible Mysteries, p.29, emphasis mine) 

Many Calvinists will reflect godly sentiments such as this (however logically contradictory that it is), and in so doing, draw the ire of fellow Calvinists.

Calvinist, George Whitefield: “For, without doubt, the doctrine of election and reprobation must stand or fall together.” (Whitefield’s Letter to Wesley, Bethesda in Georgia, Dec. 24, 1740)

George Whitefield: “I believe the doctrine of reprobation, in this view, that God intends to give saving grace, through Jesus Christ, only to a certain number, and that the rest of mankind, after the fall of Adam, being justly left of God to continue in sin, will at last suffer that eternal death which is its proper wages.” (Whitefield’s Letter to Wesley, Bethesda in Georgia, Dec. 24, 1740, emphasis mine)

Calvinist, Alan Kurschner: “God desires that his sheep are saved. God desires that his people are saved. He does not desire that every single individual who has ever lived, live in glory with him forever. If that were the case, we have an incompetent, unhappy, and impotent God.” (The Calvinist Gadfly, emphasis mine)

Here is my take:

Any Calvinist who maintains that God legitimately and genuinely desires the salvation of all men, must also maintain that Jesus died for all men, as per the doctrine of an Unlimited Atonement. Otherwise, if there is such a thing as a Limited Atonement (as per the Doctrines of Limited Grace), then how would God genuinely desire the salvation of something that He intentionally excluded from Calvary?​

Question:  Does God have a universal salvific will? In other words, does Jesus love all men in such a way that He desires that all men come to know Him?

Answer:  Some Calvinists answer yes, and some answer no. Those who answer in the negative, indicate that it would be impossible for God to genuinely desire the salvation that God did not purpose to save.