CALVINISM

Thank you for the article titled “Historian says Calvinism dispute overblown” in the June 6, 2002 edition.

In the fourth paragraph of the article, the writer cites a list of Walter Shurden’s non-Calvinistic passages that includes 2 Peter 3:9:

“The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but … is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (NKJV).

Walter Shurden’s classification of 2 Peter 3:9 as a “non-Calvinistic” text is open to debate.

R.C. Sproul, a noted Christian author, recently dealt with a Calvinistic interpretation of 2 Peter 3:9 in a conference in Birmingham. While this is not a direct quote from Sproul, here is the essence of what I heard as his interpretation:

The phrase “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” should be interpreted in context with the surrounding text. The antecedent of “any” and “all” is “us” (in the preceding clause “longsuffering toward us”). Who is the “us” Peter is speaking to in his letter? If the “us” is the people of God, Christ’s purchased possession, then 2 Peter 3:9 would be in fact a strongly Calvinistic text. In this case, it could be argued that 2 Peter 3:9 teaches that our Lord is patient with His people in the application of their redemption that was purchased by Christ and is not willing that nay of His people should perish in light of Christ’s accomplished atonement. Further, in light of this possible interpretation, if the “willing” is referring to the sovereign will of God (as opposed to His dispositional will), then 2 Peter 3:9 becomes even more strongly Calvinistic.

Whether or not one agrees with such an interpretation, it could be evaluated prior to unconditionally classifying 2 Peter 3:9 as “non-Calvinistic.”

Perhaps in a future article it would be useful to contrast historic Calvinism in Baptist life, which is inherently evangelistic and pro-missions, with hyper Calvinism, which is inherently not evangelistic and anti-missions.

Tim Tuggle

Trussville, Ala.