What is Hyper-Calvinism?
Hyper-Calvinism refers to the view that denies all human responsibilityeven after salvation. By analogy, what if we looked at inspiration this way: "God inspires some, the others are not inspired, and there is nothing you can do about it." This would, of course, raise several questions about the process: (1) Don't the inspired writers use their own personalities in the process, or are they simply stenographers who wrote down what God told them? (2) Weren't they responsible to check their sources and do their homeworkas Luke says he didwhen they reported on historical events? (3) Did God simply foreknow who would write Scripture, or did he have a bigger overall plan which included choosing who would write?
We could continue down this line. When it comes to scripture, though, we of course do not want to say such things. Verbal dictation is not a valid option, nor is total freedom. But there is the sense of freedom on the part of the authorssame as with salvation. (The biblical authors, in fact, were not even aware that they were writing scripture much of the timeand that, too, has parallels with salvation.) And there is responsibility, toosame as with salvation. Thus, on the one hand, for us to argue against God's sovereignty when it comes to salvation because it sounds so unfair, is really to select out how we want to think about God. I, for one, am glad that He has inspired scripture the way he did it!
Another problem raised: is the meaning of foreknowledge. The idea is really "to forelove," to lovingly choose ahead of time. Acts 2:23 is a great illustration: Christ died on the cross according to God's foreknowledge. If God simply knew that he would die, rather than planning it from before the foundation of the world (as scripture plainly teaches), then our salvation looks almost whimsical. Almost as if God said, "Gee, how about if I save some folks? Yeah, that's a good idea." In fact, it would be worse than that: Jesus' death would have no redemptive power, for it would not have been a gift from the Father. Yet scripture is very clear that Jesus' death was done according to God's will and direction.
It's tough thinking about these issues. But it's also good to think about them! I'd recommend reading: Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God by J. I. Packer; Unraveling the Big Questions About God by Ken Boa; and Divine Sovereignty and Human Freedom by Samuel Fisk. These will answer a lot of these questions.
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