The Tower that Fell Over and Killed Calvinism

When the tower at Siloam fell over, it killed more than 18 people. It killed Calvinism, too!

Let's start with Luk 13:1. "There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices."

First, we're told that “There were present at that season…” What season are we in? Wintertime. The Lord was actually in Jerusalem to observe Hanukkah.

Then he writes that some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. I’m sure a lot of people brought up things like this to the Lord to get His reaction, to perhaps get His opinion, or to get Him to make a public statement condemning bad things bad people did. The Lord generally avoided statements of public condemnation about things of this nature probably because those statements would become a distraction from the purpose of His ministry.

Even though He won't condemn Pilate, He will say this did not come from God.

Consider again Luk 13:2-3. "And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

The assumption by Jews at the time was that if something bad happened to a person, that must mean they’ve sinned, and God punished them.

The Lord challenges that thought. He basically says, “Do you think those bad things happened to the Galileans because God was punishing them for sins? No, He wasn’t."

God was NOT carrying out judgment. Therefore, God did NOT cause that tragedy.

Thus, they shouldn't be worrying so much about injustices to their fellow Jews caused by a corrupt man, because God will be judging him. They should worry about getting saved, because if they didn't get saved, then they're going to suffer a far worse fate.

What is the worse fate the Lord was talking about? Judgment to come after Pentecost and in the Tribulation followed by death and eternal suffering. They should worry about those events more than the injustices done by Pilate.

The Tower at Siloam

Then He uses another example I love because of its theological implications.

The Lord says, “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:4-5).

Here’s the location of Siloam. Remember the pool of Siloam? A blind man was healed there in John 9. Siloam was about as far south as you could go in the old city. I’m guessing that whole area in the lower city was called “Siloam.” I read that the word means “Sent.” Apparently, the pool was viewed as a gift sent from God. It’s also called “Shiloah.”

Thus, in this area called Siloam, there was a tower. We’re not told why. Some books speculate that this tower may have existed to guard the aqueduct. Perhaps the tower was under construction. The tower fell over and crushed 18 people.

The general reaction by the Israeli public was, “Well, those 18 people died because they must’ve been under judgment from God for having sinned egregiously.”

But the Lord again challenges that thought. “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?” In other words, “Do you think those eighteen people who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell were worse sinners than all the others living in Jerusalem?”

It’s not a question of whether they were sinners. They’re all sinners. But the question was whether they were worse sinners than the others. Did these people commit sins for which there were no sacrifices under the law and God killed them in judgment?

The Lord says, “I tell you, Nay.”

God was NOT carrying out judgment. Therefore, God did NOT cause that tragedy.

Not everything is caused by God.

Chance happens. Free will happens. And tragedies happen.

Tragedies can happen because of human error, bad design, bad construction, or sometimes just plain bad luck. God allows for people to reap what they sow (Gal. 6:7). The Calvinists will argue that God causes or engineers everything that happens, which is a view no Calvinist can actually defend from Word of God even on their best day.

Consider Eccl. 9:11. “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.”

Notice that the wisest man ever did not write that “time and chance” happens on rare occasions or happens only to a select few but that “time and chance” happens to everyone.

Some argue that Solomon didn’t mean “chance.” He meant “time and occurrences.”

Do you know what “chance” means in the Hebrew? It means “chance.”

A chance occurrence.

Do you know what chance means? The Calvinist, Noah Webster, defines chance as, “An event that happens, falls out or takes place, without being contrived, intended, expected or foreseen; the effect of an unknown cause, or the unusual or unexpected effect of a known cause; accident; casualty; fortuitous event; as, time and chance happen to all.”

Even Noah Webster admits that Eccl. 9:11 means what it says.

Did you know that Moses spoke of the chance occurrence of a bird’s nest in Deut. 22:6? Did you know that the young man who told David about Saul’s death in 2 Sam. 1:6 spoke of how he “happened by chance upon mount Gilboa”? Did you know that the Lord Himself spoke of chance in the story of the Good Samaritan? In Luke 10:31, He spoke of how “by chance there came down a certain priest that way…” Did you know Paul also spoke of chance in 1 Cor. 15:37? He wrote, “And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain…”

Chance happens.

Free will happens, too.

In fact, mankind in his spiritually bankrupt state is still capable in his free will of making a choice about God. As Joshua told his brethren in the wilderness, “if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Jos. 24:15). As Moses told the people of Israel, “choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deut. 30:19). As Solomon said of the wicked, “…they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD” (Prov. 1:29). As Isaiah said to his idolatrous nation, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isa. 1:18). As Jesus told His people, “Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Or as Jesus said in Luke 13:34 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!”

God does not betray man’s free will and force a man to become saved or lost. As we just read in Luke 13:34, the Lord lamented that His desires were thwarted again and again simply because His children refused to heed His callings.

We would suggest that the Biblical view of God’s sovereignty is that He not only possesses supreme authority over all things but that He also leaves room for chance and free will in His creation while still upholding His supreme sovereignty over all things.

This is a far higher view of His sovereignty than our Calvinists friends.

God leaves room for chance and the free will of man, and all the while, He still upholds His supreme sovereignty over everything.

John MacArthur, the Calvinist, in his study notes, said of the tower at Siloam, “Jesus did not deny the connection between catastrophe and human evil, for all such afflictions ultimately stem from the curse of humanity's fallenness (Gen 3:17-19).”

He was dodging the very point of this story about the tower. The point was that the Lord denied ANY connection between sin and this tragedy.

He said, “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luk 13:5). The Lord says, “Do you think they were worse sinners than everyone else and provoked God to kill them in judgment? I TELL YOU NO.”

To look at these verses and say, “Well, the Lord doesn’t deny a connection between human evil and a catastrophe” is to completely ignore what the Lord said. Sure, tragedies happen because we live in a sin-cursed world, but the point the Lord makes is that in the case of the tower at Siloam God did not kill those people in judgment because of sin.

If it was not judgment, then God did not cause it to happen.

If God didn’t cause this one tragedy to happen, then that means that there are a whole lot of other tragedies God also didn’t cause to happen.

Therefore, God does not cause everything that happens.

And the tower at Siloam exposes Calvinism as the heresy it is.

Chance happens. Free will happens. And tragedies happen.

Yet, God is still sovereign over all.

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P.S. If you're a Calvinist, I also beg you to consider that Paul is your apostle for today and that Paul tells us God is not punishing anyone at all today in 2 Cor. 5:19. He says God is not "imputing their trespasses unto them." In other words, He isn't charging people for their sins. He isn't carrying out judgments upon people today. Why? Because God is in the business of "reconciling the world unto Himself" through the gospel about His Son being shared by His ambassadors to whom was committed the word of reconciliation.