Misrepresenting Calvinism
I was recently told that I was misrepresenting Calvinism when I said they interpret Romans 9 to mean God hated Esau before he was born or did anything evil. However, this is exactly what Calvin said: 11. We come now to the reprobate, to whom the Apostle at the same time refers ( Rom. 9:13 ). For as Jacob, who as yet had merited nothing by good works, is assumed into favor; s o Esau, while as yet unpolluted by any crime, is hated . If we turn our view to works, we do injustice to the Apostle, as if he had failed to see the very thing which is clear to us. Moreover, there is complete proof of his not having seen it, since he expressly insists that when as yet they had done neither good nor evil, the one was elected, the other rejected, in order to prove that the foundation of divine predestination is not in works. Then after starting the objection, Is God unjust? instead of employing what would have been the surest and plainest defense of his justice—viz. that God had recomp...