1st Corinthians 14:33
1st Corinthians 14:33 (see also James 1:17; 1st John 1:5)
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. [KJV]
Confusion is something, and since God is not the author of it, it logically follows that God must not be the author of everything, in contrast to what the Westminster states:
The Calvinistic, Westminster Confession of Faith, states: “God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet so, as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established.” (Westminster Confession of Faith, III. Of God’s Eternal Decree, emphasis mine)
I cannot help but conclude that Calvinists want it both ways. They want God to be the cause of everything, so that God can be “sovereign,” as they understand sovereignty, and yet many Calvinists simultaneously do not wish to concede that their logic also requires that God be the “author of sin.” So which is it? The answer from Calvinists is Compatibilism.
Laurence Vance writes: “The contradictory and confusing nature of God’s decrees as presented by the Reformed theologians rules out any possibility of God being the source of them. God ‘cannot deny himself’ (2 Tim. 2:13), and neither is he ‘the author of confusion’ (1 Cor. 14:33).” (The Other Side of Calvinism, p.297, emphasis mine)
Sometimes Calvinists will state that God is the primary cause of all things, though He is not necessarily morally responsible for what He causes, since He causes sin through “secondary” means.
Here is an article that deals with that issue.
One Calvinist explains: “God is like the architect who’s signature appears at the bottom of every page of the blueprints because he has personally decided (and signed off) on every detail. But this does not necessitate that people cannot make choices; and to assume that it does, would be a mistake.” (CARM.org) In other words, this infers the Calvinist doctrine of Compatibilism. But what kind of “choices” do they make? Like a character in a book?
