Is There A Calvinist Conspiracy Against Christmas, Charlie Brown?

Hello ladies and gentlemen, my name is Justin Peters. I hope that this finds you and your family doing well today

I want to thank you so much for joining me for this podcast So is there a big?

Calvinistic conspiracy to change the gospel and and distort the original manuscripts to fit this

Calvinistic theology, especially as it relates to the birth of Christ and to to bring reproach upon the name of Christ, but bring reproach upon God and even to bring reproach upon good old

Charlie Brown well apparently there is According to Brian at the

YouTube channel faith on fire And I want to show you some of this because I saw it he posted it a few days ago

I saw it. I'm like and I just rolled my eyes and but in but I began to think about it,

I thought you know, this is a good example of Confirmation bias in other words beginning

Looking at a situation and in reading it Interpreting the situation through your own preconceived

Confirmation bias your own preconceived Beliefs in this case theology and reading it into it and seeing something in this case that quite frankly just Is not there but I want to show you this

Now confirmation bias is something Against which all of us need to be careful of because we all to one degree or another

Have our own preconceived theologies. And so we've this is why part of the discipline of reading and interpreting scripture

Is just that it is a discipline we are to study to show ourselves approved unto

God look at the text See exactly what it says and exegete from the text bring the meaning out of it

Rather than reading our own preconceived theology or biases into the text, which would be

Isagesis that's a no -no when it comes to interpreting scripture. We want to do exegesis not isagesis but this is a good example of isagesis and confirmation bias, but Brian and presumably many like him think that there is a

Calvinistic conspiracy when it comes to Christmas, so I'll show you a few of these clips and This will set it up.

Here we go Welcome back everyone. I'm Brian. This is faith on fire and in today's video

I'm gonna prove to you without a shadow of a doubt going to the gospel of Luke We're gonna see proof that all the modern

Bibles all the modern translations Distort the good news of the message of Jesus Christ and his birth and what the angels proclaimed to the world at his birth

This is our Lord and Savior the one who came in to redeem the whole world But that's not what modern

Bibles say anymore. They used to but they've been changed. So a couple weeks ago

I'm listening to otherwise a great sermon was wonderful Not not a shred of Calvinism in it and there wouldn't be or I would not be in that church

But the fact is, um, one thing I don't agree with that the church that I go to it's a conservative

Baptist Church I like it a lot. But the fact is one of the things I've never vocalized this to the pastor

I'm not a complainer. All right, but I you know, I don't like the fact that they quote from the ESV On the screen pops up this

Bible passage I will share with you in a moment and we will look at modern Bible versions of it

We'll look at the King James Bible of it and in it I'm really I'm reading it and even though it really was indirectly part of the message it wasn't the main issue of the past of the sermon the pastor was a great sermon and There was many things said in the sermon.

That is the polar opposite of Calvinism and the doctrine of election I mean this is good news for the whole world, but Needless to say when this

ESV quote from the Gospel of Luke was put on the screen. I Doing on the screen and I had to quickly go look at my

King James, but I'm like that's this is what the Bible That's not what the Bible so what is the verse that the pastor of his church put up on the screen that caused

Brian such angst and made him believe that there is this Calvinistic cabal out there that is trying to distort the gospel and distort them the meaning of Christmas Well, it is

Luke chapter 2 verse 14 and his pastor Apparently put it up in the ESV version

English Standard Version and in the ESV. It says this Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased

That is what raised his Calvinistic radar thinking that there's oh, this is not that's not what the

Bible says So he hurriedly looked at his King James version

Which says something slightly different, of course, this is obviously the what the angels said their announcements to the shepherds

Who are keeping watch over their flock by night, right? So Luke chapter 2 verse 14 in the

King James says this glory to God in the highest and on earth peace goodwill toward men

So there is a bit of a difference the English Standard Version says And on earth peace among those with whom he

God is pleased But the King James simply says and on earth peace goodwill toward men nothing about God's pleasure being directed only towards those men with whom he is pleased

Of course with whom he is pleased that is clearly a Calvinistic bent and in support of his

Argument Brian Marshall's none other than Linus from the

Charlie Brown Christmas special. I want to show you that clip many of you are familiar with this in fact

Kathy and I my wife Kathy and I watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special Every single year.

It's like our little tradition that we've been doing ever since we got married 12 years ago Kathy and I love the

Charlie Brown Christmas special In fact just a couple years into our marriage.

I got this for Kathy as a Christmas present This is the Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

It's a little hard to see there with a background of the refrigerator It's kind of dark when you see there's the on the right hanging off one of those spindly little branches is the single red

Ball and down at the base is the Linus's blue blanket wrapped around the base of the tree there

So I got that for Kathy and she puts it up every single year. This is our Christmas tree, by the way

We don't have a bigger one. This is this is the Peters Christmas tree and and and it's got a lot of special meaning to it to us and we watch this every single year

So without any further delay, let's hear from Linus as he tells us about the meaning of Christmas I guess you were right

Linus. I shouldn't have picked this little tree Everything I do turns into a disaster. I guess

I really don't know what Christmas is all about Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?

Sure, Charlie Brown. I can tell you what Christmas is all about lights, please

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night

And lo the angel of the Lord came upon them The glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid and the angel said unto them fear not

For behold, I bring you tidings of great joy Which will be to all people for unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior

Which is Christ the Lord and this shall be a sign unto you You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising

God and Saying glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace Goodwill toward men

Love it. Love it. Love it I'm honestly surprised that they even continue to show the

Charlie Brown Christmas special on television But I guess it's such a beloved favorite that they do so and I'm glad that they do

So, I mean Linus gets this, right? I mean Peace on earth goodwill toward men and he stops right there.

That's the King James Rendering of it. So how dare we add our

Calvinistic biases into the text that is apparently What we are doing

I will let Brian explain Alright, so here we are in the Gospel of Luke chapter 2 and that passage that he read

In the Charlie Brown special was verses 8 through 14 We're gonna focus on verse 14 glory to God in the highest and on earth.

Peace goodwill toward men remember that Goodwill towards men you will see that no matter how you translate this you look at the

Greek and there's mentions of different manuscripts saying different Things but we'll take a look at this a little closer I had to chuckle there because Brian clearly doesn't know

Greek and yes, we we will take a look at those manuscripts But I digress in a moment, but you will see that this is

God's message through the angels glory to God in the highest and on earth. Peace goodwill towards men

This is God's goodwill towards men. This is the announcement of the birth of Jesus Christ The prophets had spoken of the

Messiah that had been prophesied has come in he's born He's in the world Jesus Christ God in the flesh coming to redeem the whole world

This is good news and it is God's will that it be done and that's why it's good will it's

God's good will or as some versions of others using the same Greek word here.

It's his good pleasure All right, that's the way it's tribunal. You'll see that and it's toward men meaning mankind towards everyone not towards some someone comes along and claims to be translating the

Bible and Then they write this about the birth of Jesus Christ, let me put this on the screen

Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased What so suddenly the

Greek word for goodwill or God's good pleasure becomes translated into with whom he is pleased

Give me a break. Let me go back and show you the King James now All right. Remember this says glory to God in the highest and on earth.

Peace goodwill toward men Charlie Brown gets this, right? Funny, but it's true.

I mean it's sad. All right, the Savior is here I mean it doesn't get more better news for the world than to know that if we believe on the

Lord Jesus Christ our sins are forgiven and The grace of God is available to us through Jesus Christ.

Let me Luke 2 14 if you go look at the modern Bibles I don't know. It's just gonna pick on ESV look at them all

With on whom is favor rest NIV NLT with whom God is pleased ESV with whom he is pleased

There's the King James Bible course goodwill toward men NASB with whom he is pleased the

NASB 95 with whom he is pleased This is unbelievable. Matter of fact, let me let me switch over to a better view of this

All right. That's a little better a little cleaner, right? I mean just it just goes on and on in these

You know this this distortion Brian is just apoplectic that all of these modern

Bible translations have this Calvinistic bent to them even shows you some of these examples of that from Bible Hub his website that he's on For example

NIV of which by the way, I'm not a fan. That's a whole other Show a whole other episode.

I'm not a fan of the NIV. It's it's a bit too paraphrastic for me But at any rate glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests

ESV among those with whom he is pleased New American Standard and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased and Friends this this basic rendering goes on indeed with pretty much every at least reputable modern

Bible translation you can throw in there the Holman Christian Standard Bible the the legacy standard

Bible much the same way ASV RSV Which is a revised standard version new revised standard version

New American Bible on and on and on they all have basically the same rendering now

If all of these Bible versions translations have the same rendering of That phrase in Luke 2 14 and It's different from the

King James then the thoughtful person might be wondering. Well, is there something to this and Indeed there is and we're about to look at it.

But before we do real quickly watch this if you go to Find what the word is you find this word is don't ask me to pronounce it

I'm gonna totally brutalize this but it's probably Eudokias, I don't know. That's the Greek any and not too bad, but the correct pronunciation is not

Eudokias, but rather Eudokias and you see that the emphasis there is rightly placed on the last syllable because of the

Accent mark that is there over the Yota that is the ninth letter of the

Greek alphabet Nonetheless that is the word in play here the word in question

So, how is this to be rightly rendered? And so I want to show you Luke 2 14 in the

Greek and we're going to take a look at this and we're going to see why There's not so much of a

Calvinistic conspiracy Going against the Word of God and good old Charlie Brown as we may have been led to believe.

So let's take a look So let's look at this in the Greek Luke chapter 2 verse 14

So if we had been one of the translators of the King James Bible and we had in front of us the

Greek manuscripts from which they Translated and produced the King James Bible. This is what we would have seen

All right. Now, let's let's look at this. I think you'll be able to follow me even though if you don't read

Greek, that's fine You'll be able to follow me. Let's look at this word for word Luke 2 Luke chapter 2 verse 14 says doxa in Hoopsie stoice

Theo those first four words are doxa is the word Greek word for glory and is in hoopsie stoice

That's the plural Form of the singular hoopsie stoice heaven.

So heavens hoopsie stoice Theo that's the dative for a god to God So literally glory in the heavens to God is what that says.

Now, let's look at the next phrase chi and You can see that word right chi and one of the helpful things with Greek is that many of the

Greek letters correspond nicely to our letters in the English alphabet and So it helps and there's a lot of cognates as well.

Some of the words are very similar and I enjoyed Greek more than I did

Hebrew. My Hebrew is almost gone. But but Greek I try to keep up with so This is chi happy.

Yes Irene Literally says and on earth that yes

You see the funny -looking why that's actually kind of the G but it's a soft G and then you see what looks like and it looks like an end to us with that Half moon over it.

Well, that's it's pronounced. Yes Irene literally says and on earth peace and Here we go.

Here's the last phrase In anthropoise Udokia So there's the there's the the crucial phrase there and on earth peace to men

Anthropoise, that's that's the plural for for man men Udokia goodwill

So that's where we that's the phrase there. That's that's the crucial phrase This is what the

King James translators would have seen now. I want to show you for comparison Luke chapter 2 verse 14 from the

Greek Manuscripts from which are derived The New American Standard the

English Standard Version RSV all these other translations Holman Christian standard all of them the exact same phrase the exact same word exact same verse in Everything exactly the same except you might notice right there the very last word the word in question here

Udokia you see that that has a Sigma that's the Greek letter that corresponds to our s in the

English alphabet So the difference is all of this hinges on that one little letter it is missing in the

King James Udokia However in every other modern English translation we see

Udokia or at least in the in the Greek manuscripts and we see Udokia and It all hinges on that.

So what's going on? Why does just one little letter make such a big difference?

So it turns out that the addition of that one single letter that Sigma does make a big difference

Because it changes the form of that word into the genitive form

Now, I know that that just warms your heart and blesses your soul But what that means is the genitive form indicates that instead of rendering that word

Simply as goodwill the sense is is that it is of? Goodwill or possessing goodwill and of course the context

The goodwill comes from and originates with God that he gives to Other people in this case the men so the sense is in the right sense of the

Greek is That these are men upon whom God's favor rests or among men with whom he is

Pleased in fact, I want to show this to you. This is a resource that will be helpful

To many of you if you don't have it, which I guess probably most of you don't but if if you have just a little bit of knowledge of Greek Or even even if you don't this is still a good resource the new linguistic and exegetical key to the

Greek New Testament there and So obviously this is my copy and so I pulled it off the shelf and open it up to Luke chapter 2 verse 14 goes through every single verse in the

New Testament and I took a Screenshot of it here or rather a photo with my iPhone then

I imported in PowerPoint and highlighted it here. So That's how we make the sausage here in my office so Luke chapter 2 verse 14, there's the word

Buddha kiss Good pleasure. It refers to God's good pleasure those upon whom

God's favor rests That's why every single modern

English translation reputable English translation has this phrasing among men with whom he is pleased that is the sense of the

Greek and That's why you see it in all of these modern English translations. So there is no

Calvinistic conspiracy here at all. It's simply the best reading of The Greek so now you may be maybe wondering well

Which Greek is correct? Is it the Greek of the

King James Version that does not have the genitive form or is it the Greek? Used by all of the other modern

English translations that does have that added letter that Sigma So which is to be trusted now that gets into a whole other discussion entire books have been written about you know, which

Set of manuscripts is to be preferred those used by the King James or those that are used by more modern

English translations, there's a whole lot. I mean We could do programs on that I know where I stand on that and we're most people stand on that So instead of doing a deep dive, let me give you just kind of a cursory

Understanding of this and I will defer for just a moment to my esteemed colleague

Inigo Montoya Are we enemies why am

I on this war? Where's buttercup? Let me explain No, there is too much.

Let me sum up So let me sum up without getting overly technical here

The King James Bible is based upon what is referred to as the textus receptus

That is the Latin word for received text, which is technically it's a series of 16th century

Printed texts that were based upon mostly late dated

Greek manuscripts and the wording here in Luke 2 14 Reflected by the

King James reflects that of the textus receptus it reflects that of some later manuscripts 6th century 8th century 9th century manuscripts and most all of the medieval

Manuscripts now, these are these are later dated however in contrast to the manuscripts upon which the

New American Standard and Legacy Standard and most of the modern

English translations are based upon these are based upon earlier Manuscripts these go back to the 4th and 5th century

BC so they're older and therefore closer to the events that Are described and recorded by these manuscripts and when you think about it logically

It makes sense that the older the manuscript generally speaking the more preferred that it is

Because the older it is the closer it is to the events that it describes and there is less time for scribal errors and you know drop words drop letters transposed words or letters that kind of thing those kind of scribal errors to Work their way into the text and then be copied and copied and copied again.

So That's an oversimplified oversimplified Understanding of that but that is the nuts and bolts of it.

So This is not some Calvinistic conspiracy. It's simply that After the

King James was written We discovered these older and therefore more

Reliable manuscripts now the manuscripts are almost completely identical

But the older the better the older the fewer mistakes Few less opportunity there is for mistakes to enter in and so generally speaking the older manuscripts are

To be referred and that's why the modern English translations the reputable ones Use that family of manuscripts.

So dear friends No conspiracy here. No Calvinistic conspiracy at all

That's just a fallacious argument now one other question that we could ask

Where else in the New Testament do we see? this construction of Words and these these two words put together

Well, the short answer is that there is actually nowhere else in the New Testament where you see these two words conjoined side -by -side

Anthropoies and Eudokias, it's the only place that you see these two words put together

However, there is some help that we can get from what is called the Septuagint or the

Septuagint depending upon how you like to Pronounce that the the Septuagint is the

Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament Septuagint gets its name from the

Latin word for 70 because the Tradition is is that it was translated by 70 scholars.

And so you'll see the abbreviation of the Septuagint as LXX Roman numerals

L 50 XX 10, you know double 10 there. So 50 and 10 and 10 is 70.

So that's that's the meaning behind LXX So let us look at Psalm chapter 5 verse 13 in the

Septuagint It says this and they shall boast in you those who love your name

Because you bless the righteous one. Oh Lord you have crowned him with a shield of favor

Same word here. You see it highlighted in blue same word Eudokias and it is the one

Upon whom God has given his favor crowned him with a shield of favor

It is the one who is righteous in Psalm 5 13 that God gives to him

Crown of favor. So it's the same. It's the same thought in Luke chapter 2 verse 14

God's favor is given to those men with whom he is pleased.

That is the sense of the Greek yet listen to this from Brian and I'm going to show you that no, there's a choice here and these these interpreters not translators interpreters

Decided to go with something that was Calvinistic rather than what manuscripts said Friends that is just factually not true.

He says the man who produced these modern translations were just interpreters and not translators that that is objectively not

True Brian shows his complete ignorance in making a statement like that It's just if if it weren't so sad, it would be comical listen to this

That Brian said this really caught my ear listened carefully to this But out of the mainstream

Bibles that most churches use today, you got King James Bible You got the NIV was probably the most widely used if I'm not mistaken about that I believe it's the number one selling

Bible still the NIV even though Others have become very popular like the ESV in in recent years, but you look at NASB the

NLT ESV I mean there's a whole bunch but these are like more of your mainstream modern

Bibles that people will Proudly hold and read and say this is the inerrant

Word of God It's the inerrant Word of God Provided you invited the Holy Spirit in to teach you in wisdom and truth

Whoa, let's hear that again It's the inerrant Word of God Provided you invited the

Holy Spirit in to teach you in wisdom and truth Friends the Word of God is the Word of God Regardless of whether or not you invited the

Holy Spirit in to teach you that is a that is a I mean I had to do a double take on that the

Word of God is God's Word Period regardless of what you and I do with it now.

I'll let Brian finish his thought because if someone Translates something wrong that changes the message of Jesus Christ.

That's not the inerrant Word of God at all. That is a false Translation. It's a inaccurate interpretation and it changes the

Word of God But nothing of the sort has happened This is what the text says

It is the meaning of the text The problem is is that Brian just doesn't like it a lot of people don't like it

Obviously that the Bible says that but it says what it says so friends some folks need to just take their

Paranoid Calvinistic tinfoil hats off and let the Bible speak for itself

But as long as I have access to a King James Bible, I'm going with that Because I do see a very strong Calvinistic distortion or an interpretation

To uphold Calvinistic doctrines that diminish who Jesus is and who he came to save So who exactly did

Jesus come to save? That's a very good point. Very good question So let's let Jesus himself answer

That very question. Who did he come to save? Well, let's go to John chapter 6 37 through 39

Jesus speaking all that the Father gives me will come to me

All that the Father gives to Christ will come to Christ Not some of those

That the Father gives to Christ will come not most but all all that the

Father gives to Christ Not may come to him not might come to him not will come to him if they're smart enough to make that decision all that the

Father gives to Christ will come to Christ and The one who comes to me

I will never cast out For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me

Now, this is the will of him who sent me that of all that he has given me.

I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day of All that the

Father has given to Christ all of those people all of his elect He will lose not one of them

He will raise every single one of those people up on the last day

Dear friends. There is just no amount of hermeneutical gymnastics

You can go through no amount of hermeneutical hoops You can jump through to get away from the very clear teaching in the scriptures that God has his elect now some erroneously believe that if you are a

Calvinist or you hold to the To the doctrines of grace a high view of God's sovereignty and salvation that then that means that you don't believe in man's responsibility

That's not true. That would only be true of hyper Calvinist and quite honestly

Hyper Calvinists are about as rare as Bigfoot I mean, I I have traveled all over the world and I have met very few maybe a handful

Maybe two or three people that are true. Hyper Calvinists I to use the term

I don't go around calling myself a Calvinist because it's such a loaded term and people don't really even understand what that means and Brian himself does not understand what it means, but it's a kind of a term that is

Widely used by a lot of folks. Do I believe in a high view of God's sovereignty and salvation?

Absolutely, do I believe that God has his elect? Yes. Absolutely. I do.

Do I also believe that man is responsible and accountable to Come to Christ Yes, I do.

Yes, I do in any Any true Calvinist would affirm that?

We believe that God is sovereign in salvation That he has his elect his people that he has chosen from before the foundation of the world per Ephesians chapter 1 and he has given these people as A gift from the

Father to the Son when did that happen from before the foundation of the world? John chapter 6 read

John chapter 17 the high priestly prayer. We affirm all of these things and we also believe

That man is responsible that he is accountable before God Both of these truths are taught in Scripture.

Let me teach you a little term. It's called an antinomy an antinomy a n t i n o m

Y an antinomy an antinomy that is a word used to refer to or to denote two seemingly mutually exclusive Truths two truths that seem to our finite minds to be mutually exclusive that they cannot cannot possibly

Both be true at the same time and yet Scripture teaches them to be true and there's a number of antinomies in the

Bible For example, who wrote the book of Romans did Paul write the book of Romans or did

God write the book of Romans? Yes. Yes, Paul wrote the book of Romans and the book of Romans is also written and inspired by God So there's an antinomy the

Trinity the triune nature of God is an antinomy is God one

God. Yes Is he one in three? Yes Yes, both of those are true.

Now. They seem to be mutually exclusive Our finite minds cannot comprehend that that God is one

God and yet he exists in Three co -equal persons each of whom is also

God himself Our finite minds can't wrap around that Do I believe it?

Absolutely. I believe it because the Word of God teaches it Who crucified

Christ? Here's yet another Antinomy, in fact, let me read to you from Peter's sermon in Acts chapter 2

Acts chapter 2 verses 22 through 23 Peter says Men of Israel listen to these words

Jesus the Nazarene a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which

God did through him in your midst Just as you yourselves know this man

Delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God You nailed to a cross by the hands of lawless men and put him to death so Who crucified

Christ was or why was Christ crucified was he crucified because he was Because this was the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God.

Yes Was he crucified at the hands of godless men who put him to death?

Yes, both of these things are true and we see this in the doctrine of salvation

In scripture as well Old and New Testament, by the way, but let me point to you this text

Matthew chapter 11 verses 27 through 28 We see both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man.

Look at this Jesus speaking all things have been handed over to me by my father and no one knows the son except the father nor does anyone know the father except the son and Anyone to whom the son wills to reveal him now

There's God's sovereignty There's election right there. No one knows the son except the father no one knows the father except the son and anyone to whom the son wills to reveal him and Yet look at the very next verse almost in in the exact same breath even

Jesus says come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest

There's the responsibility and accountability of man So who knows the son?

Who knows the father the only those to whom the son wills to reveal him and yet the invitation goes out?

to all Jesus says come to me Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest the sovereignty of God and the responsibility the accountability of man both are true both are taught in Scripture and Anyone who is honest to the text will teach both as do

I in any honest Calvinist to use that term does as well.

So in conclusion Who did Jesus save? Well? Let's look at Matthew chapter 1.

This is the angel speaking to Joseph Matthew chapter 1 verses 20 through 21

But when he had considered this behold an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream saying

Joseph Son of David do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife for the one who has been conceived in her is of the

Holy Spirit and She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus For he will save his people from their sins

You'll call his name Jesus why because he will save whom his people from their sins

You see dear friends Jesus came to seek and to save not just to make salvation possible

He came to actually Save he will save his people from their sin

And that's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown Merry Christmas to you and yours dear ones until our next time together