Calvinistic Election Analysis

With a clear view of Calvin’s teachings about election, it will now be shown from select passages in the Thessalonian letters that Calvinistic election is false. There are two aspects to these letters that need to be investigated: historical and immediate context. Historically, the Thessalonian Christians were just beginning their walk with Christ when Paul was forced to leave them amid persecutions (Acts 17:1-10). He admired their endurance, but he still feared for their faith. His fear drove him to write these two letters so that he could comfort and encourage them (1 Thess. 2:14-16; 3:5). Both of these letters must be viewed in light of these purposes. Contextually, each passage in the Thessalonian letters that allude to election are readily clarified by the preceding and succeeding verses. This is first demonstrated in Thessalonians 1:4, where the first and only usage of the term “election” is found in these two letters. A cursory reading of this text may leave the impression that this refers to Calvinistic election. However, the Greek term

In the Greek language, the verb for “call” is kaleo. It is found four different times in the Thessalonian letters and hundreds of times outside of them (1 Thess. 2:12; 4:7; 5:24; 2 Thess. 2:14; Wigram 401-02). As for the definition, Mounce differentiates between the literal and the figurative sense of the word (93). When used literally, it is a vocal call or an invitation to an event. Figuratively, it almost always refers to gospel preaching (Silva 2: 605-06). The latter is the sense in which Paul uses the word in the text under