The most common objection to Calvinism and the idea that God has an elect people and has chosen who will be saved rather than leaving it up to men to save themselves is the reference to John chapter 3 verse 16 which states: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." People love to stress the "Whoever" phrase and claim that this teaches that anyone and everyone has the ability to believe in Christ and therefore receive eternal life. The problem with this is that they insert several assumptions into this text which allows them to come to such a conclusion. We will examine these assumptions and see if they are valid or not.

The first assumption is that the word "world" in john 3:16 is in reference to humanity, and more specifically each and every individual ever born. This is found nowhere in the text. In fact it can easily be interpreted that God loves the world referring to His general creation. It must also be pointed out that there is actually particularity in John 3:16. As we read "whoever believes in him shall not perish," we must recognize that not everyone has believed, believes or will believe in Jesus Christ. Therefore, John 3:16 is telling us that God gave his son for a particular people, namely "the believing ones" or "those that would believe" and not for every single individual person.

The next and most important assumption that is inserted into this verse is the idea that all humans have the ability to believe in Jesus Christ. Many claim that the phrase "whosoever" in the verse implies that everyone has such an ability. This is easily refuted, however. For example, if I were to say that "Whoever becomes a bird will fly through the air," does this imply in any way that anyone has the ability to become a bird? Certainly not. Does it then make the statement false? No, this is a true statement.

Perhaps a better example statement would be: "Whoever walks 10 miles will receive 10 dollars." Does this statement imply that every single person has the ability to walk 10 miles? What about infants or people in wheelchairs? They certainly can not walk 10 miles. This does not take away from the validity of the offer, though. In the same way we understand that God is the one who grants saving faith to people and gives them the ability to believe in Jesus Christ. Such belief does not come from ourselves. It is only when you read your own traditions into the Bible that you would see John 3:16 as a refutation of Calvinism and the idea of election.