Why I Am a Molinist

As I’ve begun my search for my first pastorate, the topic of theology has (rightfully so) come up either on open senior pastorate positions or on questionnaires perspective churches ask that I fill out. I’ve been contemplating writing this for awhile as most people do not know what Molinism is, but they do know what Calvinism and Arminian is.

Molinism is what I would call the middle road between Calvinism and Arminian. In a nutshell, Molinism is the belief that God has middle knowledge and thus knows the outcome of our choices in any situation He could fathom with great attention being paid to situations in which He knows you would come to faith in Christ. To take a line from GotQuestions.org on this topic that beautifully sums up Molinism,

“Using middle knowledge, Molinism attempts to show that all of God’s knowledge is self-contained, but it is ordered so as to allow for the possibility of man’s free will. In other words, man is completely free, but God is also completely sovereign—He is absolutely in control of all that happens, and yet humanity’s choices are not coerced.”

So, why am I a Molinism as opposed to a Calvinist or Arminian?

Molinism allows for greater free will than Calvinism and less free will than Arminian.

This is going to rock a lot of boats! Calvinists believe that mankind has no say in their salvation; that is, God has decided to save some and damn others to hell for all eternity. There is nothing you can do to come to faith if you’re damned or walk away from faith if you’re elected to be saved. While I agree with “once saved, always saved,” I do have a serious issue with the Calvinist belief that God creates people with the sole intent of sending them to hell, which is absolute heresy.

As for Arminian, they allow for too much free will. They believe that you can lose your salvation and that once you lose it, you’re damned to hell. I could not disagree more with this and once again, condemn this as absolute heresy. It contradicts Scripture.

Molinism reconciles free will and God’s sovereignty the most biblically.

I stumbled upon Molinism while in my Hermeneutics class last fall. In the textbook, the authors mentioned that God “changed his mind” about bringing His wrath upon Nineveh in the book of Jonah (Jonah 3:1-10). This took me down a theological rabbit hole that brought me to Molinism and the understanding of God’s middle knowledge. God knew what the outcome could be (and ultimately would be) with Nineveh and “relented,” as the NASB translation states. He changed his mind about bringing His wrath upon Nineveh because they exercised their free will to repent and believe in Yahweh upon hearing the message Jonah brought to them.

God is sovereign over us all, but allows us the free will to make decisions. If He were to force us to believe, we would be nothing more than mindless automatons. However, He does not force us to believe; rather, He desires for all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4), which is why He sent Christ to die for our sins (John 3:16-17).

Molinism better allows for and explains God’s intervention through prayer.

This is something that I find fascinating and that I realized as I’ve been writing. I believe that prayer can and does make a difference and that God can and does intercede on our behalf. When solely thinking of free will, we understand what we can and can’t do. When we think of God’s sovereignty, we understand what God is able to do, but are not always sure of what He will do. This is where prayer comes in! The Christian life void of prayer is to live as a Christian Atheist; one who claims to know God, but lives as though there isn’t one.

When we pray with the understanding that God is able, we allow for God to intervene on our behalf, regardless of whether He does or doesn’t. This is where His sovereignty comes into play. Imagine if you will that you are praying about a decision with the premise of “yes” or “no” being the only two answers you could receive. The answer you want is “yes.” God, in His infinite wisdom and power and with middle knowledge, is able to see that which we cannot see and how each decision will play out if He grants one over the other. A “yes” for you may be the desired outcome, but what kind of domino effect will this create in His sovereignty and plan for you and for others? God can see the possibilities of a so-called “alternative reality” if He grants your prayer request with a “yes” or with a “no,” and thus from that, He can derive what would give the most desired outcome based on His sovereignty. As GotQuestions.org wisely states,

“God has middle knowledge of all feasible worlds, and He chooses to create the world that corresponds to His ultimate desires.”

Having said all of this, do I think those who believe in Arminian or Calvinist theology are bad people? Not at all! One of my closest pastor friends and mentors is a Calvinist and while he and I vehemently disagree on this, we both have the ultimate desire to share Christ with others since, at the end of the day, no one knows who ultimately will or will not come to faith.

Remember this: The Great Commission will always supersede our theological quarreling over doctrines of sovereignty and free will.