Gift Principles
Calvinists believe that if someone was to freely receive the “free gift” of eternal life from Christ (Romans 6:23), then the free, voluntary and conscious acceptance of that gift would give credit to the receiver, and thus steal credit from God. To a Calvinist, praise is then owed to the one who believes in Christ as being smarter and wiser than others. But one way to counter this type of confused thinking is with a simple illustration.
Question: Is eternal life presented as a gift, in order to be received or rejected, with Heaven or Hell as the consequence, or is one already born with eternal life?
Answer: Romans 6:23 makes it clear that the former is correct: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Jesus states: “...and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.” (John 5:40) This tells me that eternal life is an offer, to either be received or rejected, like a gift.
Ask the Calvinist: Have you told your wife that you are taking credit for her anniversary gift to you because you freely, voluntarily and consciously chose to accept it?
If a free, voluntary and conscious choice to receive an anniversary gift does not steal credit from one’s wife, then neither should a free, voluntary and conscious choice to receive Christ’s free gift steal credit from Him either.
