Roger Olson includes in his recent post this quote from Vernon Grounds:
Here is what recently deceased evangelical theologian, seminary president and statesman Vernon Grounds wrote about Calvinist exegesis: “It takes an exegetical ingenuity which is something other than a learned virtuosity to evacuate these texts [viz., John 1:29, John 3:16, Romans 5:17-21, Romans 11:32, 1 Timothy 2:6, Hebrews 2:9, 2 Peter 3:9, 1 John 2:2] of their obvious meaning: it takes an exegetical ingenuity verging on sophistry to deny their explicit universality.” (Grace Unlimited [Bethany House Publishers, 1975], p. 27) (Vernon Grounds served as president of Denver Conservative Baptist Seminary [now Denver Seminary] for many years.)
Olson refers to the quote by John Wesley that has stayed with me over these last few years in reference to Romans 9. Whatever it means it “cannot mean that”—with “that” referring to the typical Calvinist interpretation of double predestination.
