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Calvinism’s Achilles Heel

Calvinism’s Achilles Heel

Last updated on: October 26, 2026 at 11:34 am by Roger E. Olson

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Calvinism’s Achilles Heel 2026-10-26T11:34:37-05:00 Roger E. Olson

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Actually, I believe traditional, classical Calvinism has several “Achilles Heels.” Here I will expose one of them.

I am talking about true, not revisionist Calvinism as represented by John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, Charles Hodge, Loraine Boettner, R. C. Sproul, and John Piper.

All of those and other classical Calvinist emphasize two points (among others) about God’s sovereignty. First, in the doctrine of providence, they all assert that God foreordains and renders certain everything that happens.

In Institutes of the Christian Religion Calvin gives an illustration. A merchant riding through the woods with his colleagues falls behind them and is captured by thiefs who rob and murder him. Calvin says that, too, like everything, is foreordained by God. It is no accident.

John Piper says that God plans, ordains, and governs whatever happens. He has said that IF a “dirty bomb” fell in downtown Minneapolis that would be God. And he said that a tornado that tore through Indiana was “the fierce finger of God.”

I could go on and on and on. All of those and all classical Calvinists attribute whatever happens, without exception to God’s foreordaining will and say that God renders certain (Hodge’s phrase) everything. Sproul famously said that there cannot be a maverick molecule in the universe if God is God.

So, there is what classical Calvinism says about God’s meticulous providence.

Then, however, at least some of them say, and I am sure all would agree, that those who find themselves in hell will have no complaint and will admit that they are there justly, that they deserve hell.

I hope you see the problem. IF God foreordains everything and renders all things certain, then that has to include sin and even the sinner’s bad intentions and decisions. Adam and Eve’s sin, including the disposition that led them to sin, had to have been from God, however indirectly. Could they have done otherwise than they did? No.

Then how is their suffering in hell for eternity just? Why have they no just claim that their being in hell is unjust? How do they deserve it?

Remember, the Calvinist view of providence MEANS that everything, even evil intentions, have to come from God, be part of God’s plan, be foreordained and rendered certain by God (even if through secondary causes).

Sin and evil, then, are from God. The typical Calvinist “dodge” is that God’s intentions in foreordaining those sinful and evil intentions are good—to manifest all of his attributes. The point here, however, is humans’ guilt. How can anyone be justly punished for doing something he or she could not avoid doing? Why do those who find themselves in hell NOT have valid and just complaint against God and justice?

I have read many Calvinist systematic theologies and other writings and I have noticed how, when the Calvinist theologians come to predestination doctrines they “forget” what they said about God’s meticulous providence there. They say that the reprobate deserve their punishment because of their evil intentions and motives. Where did those come from? Could they have had different ones? No.

R. C. Sproul is famous for claiming that Adam and Eve had free will either to sin or not to sin but after they sinned neither they nor any of their offspring have had free will of that kind (power of contrary choice). That is what Augustine taught. Sproul was just following Augustine. The problem is with Sproul’s doctrine of divine providence. He said he did not believe in determinism but by “determinism” he meant something outside of God determining everything. But he certainly believed in divine determinism—that God determines everything including the movements of all molecules!

How, then, could he say, without contradiction, that Adam’s and Eve’s sin was free? In the sense that they could have done otherwise? The contradiction lies between his and their doctrines of providence and his and their doctrines of predestination, foreordination, specifically with regard to sin.

Calvinists also typically say that God is in no way and by no means the author of sin and evil. Yet, they also say that God withheld the grace Adam and Eve needed not to sin. I often asked my seminary students to imagine this hypothetical scenario: Imagine that I withhold some information from some students, information they would need to pass the course. Then, when they fail the course, I claim that it was their fault and not mine. What was my motive? To uphold academic standards and fight against grade inflation. To make sure not every student passed the class. Would my good motive justify my failing them by rendering it certain that they would fail? No.

Calvinism simply fails the test of logic. To be at all consistent it has to fall into inconsistency, incoherence. The Calvinist theologians I mention above, all notable, leading, influential Calvinists, want to be coherent, logically consistent. None of them embraces logical inconsistency. However, each one, in this sense that I have explained above here, falls into inconsistency.

*Note: If you choose to comment, make sure your comment is relatively brief (no more than 100 words), on topic, addressed to me, civil and respectful (not hostile or argumentative), and devoid of pictures or links.*

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