Paul and Peter most assuredly did.
Paul said, regarding God's purpose of election,
"...it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy" (Romans 9:16)
And Peter said,
"(God)
has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1 Peter 1:3-5)
And while these are Paul's and Peter's words, this is God's Word breathed into them by the Holy Spirit. We can disregard, if we are so inclined, any words by any mere man, but not so with God Himself.
Sure they did, and I do, too... I would think everybody does. But if one is naturally dead in sin and a slave to unrighteousness ~ in Adam, which Paul is very clear about in Romans 5 regarding man's initial state from birth, death in Adam (which is the result of Adam's fall in Genesis 3) ~ he or she will never use that will to escape from that state because of this state of death and slavery he or she is in... will always be wholly inclined to remain in it and will always choose thusly. Unless he or she is freed from that slavery... So, again, God's election of certain sinners to salvation
depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. That's not to say humans don't have free will, but only ~ only! :) ~ that God's election depends on God and His mercy and not on human will. I understand why that's hard for some to accept, but it is what it is.
That's a big part of it, yes.
Sure. Well, there are a lot of different beliefs out there about God's character and what it really is. It's not really Calvin against the "rest of Christianity," because the "rest of Christianity" as a big plurality of different "understandings." But sure.
By reading His Word, among other things. Prayer would be another, even if coming to know God's character is not immediately in view. God uses a lot of things to form us and to cause us to know Him ~ know Him, rather than just know about Him, although that should not be discounted either.
See, here's the problem, really. This is just about the main thing it always boils down to: love. What so many do ~ inadvertently at best and intentionally at worst ~ is apply a human concept of love to God, who is not a human being... or, put a more appropriate way, vastly underestimate God's love and just how great His love really is. And this is pretty much the main reason for the objection. God's love is an active, pursuing, redeeming love, not a passive, "you have to love me first and then I'll love you" love. As John says (and you pointed out in this very post I'm responding to):
"...whoever loves has been born of God and knows God... In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins... We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:7, 10, 19; emphasis added)
Yes, all the passages you pointed out are great passages. And this one that you pointed out ~ and I'm going to finish out Paul's complete statement here ~ I would exhort you to meditate on it for as long as it takes:
"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ ~ by grace you have been saved ~ and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:4-5; emphasis added)
I most certainly do. And so did John Calvin. And so do all reformed theology folks. Absolutely. But we realize just how big God's love is... or, at least, we don't underestimate it or sell it short like Pelagius and Arminius did and those that have come after them ~ inadvertently ~ do.
Sure does. The problem is the understanding of God's love that Pelagians/Arminians try to foist upon Calvin and his Institutes. And the underestimation of God's love ~ and God Himself and many of His other attributes (i.e. justice) ~ by folks of that persuasion.
Grace and peace to you.
