You may have heard it said that there is no silver bullet argument that penetrates the heart of the Calvinistic system of salvation. I used to think the same thing. (Good night, I used to be a Calvinist and felt quite secure in my unsinkable Titanic of logic and Scripture.) Even as I began to question the Reformed views, I still doubted that any one single argument would be able to settle the issue.

I’m not so sure now. There may actually be one. In several years of discussions with various Calvinist sympathizers, I have yet to hear a viable biblical answer to this objection.

There are two simple texts of Scripture that I must have read dozens of times without realizing their implications, as they relate to the fragile inner core of the Reformed Mother Ship. I saw the following words on a sign in front of an oil change shop in SW Ohio, which read:

I didn’t say it was your fault. I said I was blaming you.

I had a chuckle, and thought of the poor schmucks who have had that sort of thing dumped on them by an insecure upper management, a parent who favors a sibling, a corrupt judge, or a reckless news media. I also thought of the Westminster Confession of Faith, where it says that the guilt of Adam’s sin is imputed to his posterity by ordinary generation. (Chapter 6; Section 3) The writers of the Confession are accusing God of blaming Adam’s posterity for a sin they did not actually commit. In the most common Calvinism, (Baptistic and Presbyterian) every new baby is said to be born guilty of Adam’s sin; they deserve eternal punishment by the time they take their first breath. This is included in the Calvinistic understanding of the term “Original Sin.” They find their tenuous support for it in Romans 5 and Psalm 51. Most Calvinists feel they must teach this level of injustice in order to justify their assumption that Esau, and possibly millions of others, are born reprobate, that is, without any actual hope in the gospel. In their view, Jesus did not die for the sins of the reprobate and/or they will never be given the grace needed to repent and believe in Jesus.  They had their chance, as it were, and blew it, in the Garden of Eden, according to their theory (Rom 9). (See Chosen or Not? – Chapter 6)

Two practical implications of their teaching:

In his commentary on Romans 5, Calvinist Matthew Henry teaches that the reason some children are born with handicaps and diseases is because they are already guilty of sin. Likewise, in a message entitled “Method of Grace,” George Whitefield declared that it would be just of God to damn us to hell even if we never actually sinned once in our entire lifetime. This would be because we are, allegedly, culpable for Adam’s sin by the time we are born. Now most people find this troubling, if not bizarre; and this is one reason the majority of professing Calvinists typically dance around this aspect of their system. Clarity, here, can be costly to one’s ministry or church. (I tend to think that the most practical difference between Calvinism and so-called hyper-Calvinism is the willingness to be clear on their doctrine of irresistible reprobation.  One is reluctant to go there – the other is not.)

First, in response, we must note that it would be hard to find an instance where a father commits a crime and a judge sentences his kids, as if they had done the crime. (Especially, if the kids hadn’t been born yet!) Any judge who tries to pull a stunt like that, in some places, better leave town, or get a gun and a big dog. It might be time for some good old-fashioned vigilante justice. To be sure, the man’s crimes may cause his kids to suffer, consequentially, but they are not held accountable for their father’s sins.

Second, we can note the obvious, which would immediately cast a shadow of doubt on the Calvinistic view: The word for impute is never used in Romans 5, or anywhere else in Scripture, in the context of Adam’s sin and its effect on the rest of us. This must be read into the texts. (Scholars call this kind of interpretation: eisegesis). This relegates their teaching into a doctrine of inference at best; it cannot be understood as an explicit teaching of Scripture. (I think someone should have an explicit text of Scripture to back them up when they assert something so bizarre and unjust as to suggest that a newborn baby could be guilty of a sin, which was committed by a distant ancestor. This is not an inference on which we should be building our entire understanding of the biblical salvation upon.) Now “imputation” is all over Romans 4 in the context of God’s imputing righteousness (the “alien” righteousness of Christ) to the account of believing Abraham, and by implication, to all believers in all times. But the guilt of Adam’s sin is never said to be imputed to his descendants. We all suffer the consequences of Adam’s sin – not the culpability. We are born with a sinful nature and in a sinful environment but Scripture never states that we are born guilty. (Well, not until the folks who published the Christian Standard Bible decided to translate Psalm 51:5 contrary to virtually every English translation before them. It is an ugly stain on their work. Don’t buy a CSB until they fix it.) The “condemnation” that Paul mentions in Romans 5 is the fact of physical death to all who sin. Everyone sins – therefore everyone will suffer physical death, at least. Adam did open the door to hell – but he didn’t push anybody in!

Lastly, and this may be the silver bullet that drops most historical Calvinism. There are two texts that make it impossible to infer that Adam’s sin can be imputed to his descendants via ordinary generation (or “Federal Headship”). One is Romans 4:15:

… because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

The second is like it, but clearer still – Romans 5:13:

For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

In other words, we won’t be (can’t be) held accountable to a law we were never given. This makes it biblically impossible that the guilt of Adam’s sin could be imputed to his posterity via ordinary generation (or via “Federal Headship” as other Calvinists theorize). Scripture explicitly insists that sin is not imputed where there is no law. Infants could not be held accountable for knowingly breaking God’s commandments, especially one that was only given to Adam, before they existed. Christ’s righteousness is imputed by faith. Sin is imputed by the law. There is only 1 mediator between God and man, and it is not Adam. For my professing Calvinist readers, who understand the implications here, this could be the beginning of the end of your time as a real Calvinist. We are “made sinners” with sinful natures, thanks to Adam, but we are not born guilty. That would be both absurd and contrary to virtually all translations of Scripture.

The assertion that God holds people eternally accountable for unpreventable sins and irresistible unbelief is a hallmark of real historical Calvinism.

It is better, and more biblical, to understand that when we each knowingly and deliberately break God’s law – we become dead in trespasses and sins. We are guilty before God and unforgiven, like Adam after he ate. He “died” that day. Also, in Romans 7:9, Paul explains that he was alive once without the law. This could only have occurred when Paul was a child. He was a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee. He said when the law came – sin revived (or came to life) and “I died.” He did not say, “I thought I was alive and then I died.” (You can’t “think” if you are dead; and you can’t die if you are already dead.) Paul was alive before his sin was imputed to him, thus, he would have been in a state of grace, during his childhood. He became dead in trespasses and sins when God imputed the guilt of his own sin to his own account. After that, he would have to be restored to life by being forgiven. He needed to be born again, which is to enjoy the washing of regeneration. (Col 2:13; Titus 3:5) This quickening, or washing, does not come through water baptism but through a contrite faith that works by love. It is symbolized by water baptism. The just shall live by their faith. Paul needed to repent and believe the gospel.

Thanks to Adam, no one will ever be able to live without sinning; but thanks to Jesus, everyone can still go to heaven – by faith. By penitent faith – the kind you can’t brag about.

For more on this issue, see Chosen or Not? – Chapter 7