Scripture teaches that faith alone is the condition for salvation. A simple evidence of this is that the explicitly evangelistic gospel of John never once mentions repentance as a condition for salvation, but repeatedly exhorts us to faith (Jn. 1:12, 3:16, 6:47, 7:38, 11:25, 14:1, 20:31). Furthermore, salvation is clearly by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8) and no degree of repentance divorced from faith can be said to save anyone (e.g. Matt. 27:3-5; 2 Cor. 7:9-10)

But true saving faith, while not simply a synonym for repentance, undoubtedly includes the element of repentance. The emphatic teaching of Scripture is that “God now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). Hence, faith and repentance should be viewed as two sides of the same coin, with faith being the “positive” side and repentance being the “negative” side. While repentance departs from unbelief in the gospel, faith is the positive inclination toward trust in the gospel. Repentance is “leaving there,” while faith is “coming here.”

Another way to look at faith and repentance is through the law of non-contradiction. The Bible describes saving faith as “being fully persuaded that what God has promised He is also able to perform” (Rom. 4:21). There are only two relationships a sinner can have in regards to Christ: either the sinner has saving faith in Christ or the sinner does not have saving faith in Christ. And to have saving faith in Christ is not the same as to not have saving faith in Christ.

Therefore, when a sinner exercises saving faith in Christ, he by that very act “repents” of the previous state of not having exercised saving faith in Christ. In other words, God’s call to repentance is the call to faith, and His call to faith is the call to repentance.

Strong Calvinists assert that Christ died only for the sins of the elect, not for the whole world. Several verses are cited in defense of this view, including, but not limited to Matt. 1:21, John 10:15, John 17:9, Acts 20:28, 1 Cor. 15:3, Eph. 5:25. In all the above cited verses, there is an element of exclusivity to the extent of the atoning work of Christ: He died for our sins, Christ gave Himself for the church, He prayed for His own, etc.

Indeed, these verses indicate that Christ died for the elect. What is missing in the entire Bible, however, is any verse that explicitly teaches that Christ died only for the elect. The very opposite, in fact, is true. Scripture teaches that “God so loved the world,” and that Christ is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world” (Jn. 3:16; 1 Jn. 2:2; cf. 1 Jn. 5:19).

Another key passage cited by Strong Calvinists is Romans 5:15-19. Those who hold the limited atonement view point out that “the gift . . . abounded to many,” and that “by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” A careful analysis of the passage, however, reveals unquestionably that Paul is using “many” in contrast to “one,” not in contrast to “all.” The word “many,” is actually used interchangeably with “all” and refers to the same group of people: the whole world. Further, a Strong Calvinist must admit that if Christ died only for some, then Adam’s sin only affected some, for that is the parallel that Scripture reveals in the text.

Finally, the Strong Calvinist can never genuinely tell someone that “Christ died for you.” Since, following the TULIP acronym, Christ died only for the elect and the elect are only known by their perseverance to the end, then it follows then no one can know with certainty this side of heaven that Christ died for him. Yet the Apostle Paul explicitly refers to a specific individual in the church at Rome “for whom Christ died” (Rom. 14:15). 

Strong Calvinists assert that, because mankind is dead in trespasses and sins, that he cannot respond to the gospel in faith. Therefore, the sinner must be regenerated, through irresistible grace on the unwilling, before he can ever believe the gospel. This assertion amounts to the claim that we must be born again that we might believe, but it falls on both logical and biblical grounds.

First, this Strong Calvinist view effectively denies the omnibenevolence of God by claiming that God arbitrarily regenerates some while denying others. If God is all-good, why is He not good to all? Second, irresistible grace on the unwilling is no different from Divine rape, a deplorable view of God’s love. Third, not one verse of Scripture teaches that we must be regenerated prior to exercising faith. The view is simply the result of extreme and faulty anthropological and theistic presuppositions. Rather, Scripture teaches over and again that we must believe in order to be saved (e.g., Mk. 16:16; Jn. 1:12, 3:16, 20:31; Acts 16:31; Rom. 5:1, 10:9-10; Gal. 3:22). Though Scripture consistently teaches that man is sinful and estranged from God, it never intimates that man is therefore incapable of responding to an offer of salvation. It is God’s goodness that draws us to Him (Jn. 6:44; Rom. 2:4), but it is also God’s goodness that prevents Him from raping our souls with irresistible grace and forcing us, against our will, to believe in Him.

Ironically, if regeneration is truly prior to faith as Strong Calvinists claim, then the very principle of the Reformation, sola fide, is undermined. For if regeneration is prior to faith, then in reality there are no conditions for salvation. To be consistent, therefore, the Strong Calvinist must admit that faith is not a condition for salvation, but merely an evidence of it.