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October 8, 2017 |
| Calvinism | ||
Calvinism is a belief system within Christianity. It is especially known for its belief in predestination but it's thinking is primarily focused on the means of salvation - how salvation happens and to whom it is available.
Recently some Calvinists have stated that Calvinism is being adopted by many churches. Their desire and expectation is that Calvinism will be adopted by all churches. Therefore it's necessary for us to understand Calvinism and why it is becoming popular.
Calvinism is named after John Calvin (born Jehan Cauvin, 1509 - 1564). He arrived a little late in the wave of the Protestant Reformation attributed to Martin Luther. He was a contributor to that movement but is best known for his ideas which led to what is now called Calvinism.
Because the Protestant Reformation was still in progress at the time, his accusers were mainly Catholics. Calvin's ideas were also not accepted by many of the other reformers. Luther in particular did not agree with him.
"Calvin was a tireless polemic and apologetic writer."1 He was also a hard worker. These traits, as much as anything else, made it possible for his ideas to spread.
Calvinistic beliefs continued on in the Congregational, Reformed, and Presbyterian churches. As mentioned above, Calvinism or parts of it are being more widely adopted now.
In the Calvinist view, Calvinism is about "God's Sovereignty." This is a key phrase in Calvinism. Other Christians would say that a focus on God's Sovereignty sounds like a good thing. But Calvinists mean more by it than other Christians realize.
"[5 Point] Calvinism is known by an acronym: T.U.L.I.P.
T - Despite the claim that Calvinism is about God's Sovereignty, the truth is that Calvinism is about the fallenness of man. "In Calvin's view, sin began with the fall of Adam and propagated to all of humanity. The domination of sin is complete to the point that people are driven to evil."3
Calvinists interpret some Bible verses as supporting this. Therefore they ask the question, "In light of the scriptures that declare man's true nature as being utterly lost and incapable, how is it possible for anyone to choose or desire God?" The answer is, "He cannot. Therefore God must predestine."4
U - God does not choose his people (the elect) based on any quality of the individuals nor by looking into the future to see who would pick him.
L - "Jesus died only for the elect. Though Jesus' sacrifice was sufficient for all, it was not efficacious for all. Jesus only bore the sins of the elect"5
I - "God offers to all people the gospel message. This is called the external call. But to the elect, God extends an internal call and it cannot be resisted."6
P - "Because the Father has elected, the Son has redeemed, and the Holy Spirit has applied salvation, those thus saved are eternally secure in Christ"7 and cannot lose their salvation.
Calvinism has variants within it, mostly views that temper its absoluteness. For example, 4 point Calvinism differs from the 5 point Calvinism above in that it denies the third point, limited atonement and accepts unlimited atonement.
This is a distinction without a difference though. Even if you say that Jesus died for everyone, it means nothing if God chooses who are his and people are unable to choose it.
The opposing view was put into writing by Arminius (Jacobus Arminius 1560 - 1609)8. This thinking influenced Baptists, Anabaptists, Methodists [through John Wesley], the Seventh-day Adventist Church and others.
It can also be expressed like Calvinism's 5 points
There is another point of view called Molinism. It can really be thought of as the details about God that make Arminianism work.
One of the problems with most of Protestant Christianity today is the idea that salvation is a possession - something you have. This was covered in the previous study "Got Saved"11. The idea of having salvation leads to the idea of losing salvation. Both are wrong. Salvation is not a present possession but a future promise. Even that promise is not given to us but to those who are believers at death or at his coming - to those who endure until the end.
Therefore we do not have salvation at this time and not even a promise of salvation. Therefore it's not possible to lose those - to lose what we do not have.
The phrase "lose your salvation" is especially bad as it pictures salvation like a coin in a pocket with a hole in it, "Oh-oh, I lost my salvation." The faith that sets us on the path to salvation cannot be lost trivially or accidentally. It can only be lost by intentionally rejecting God's will. Or it could be thought that intentionally rejecting God's will is the proof that faith has been lost. Though it might not be recognized as such, this act of intentional rejection says there is no faith in God, he is no longer king and the covenant no longer applies.
This loss of faith and obedience can be rectified though. Repentance from the heart, which recognizes the error and accepts God as king, restores the relationship.
A better word to use than salvation is conversion. Some people use the phrases "became a believer" or "became a follower of Jesus". Throughout all Christianity, however, "salvation" is used. As we see here, that leads to misunderstandings and bad teachings.
Christians focus too much on this conversion event. Yes, it is a great thing but it is just the beginning, like a birth. After that comes learning to walk and talk and live.
A consequence of Calvinism is the loss of free will in salvation (conversion), if not in all aspects of life (hyper-Calvinism). Instead of hearing God's word, considering and accepting, conversion becomes hearing God's word (without considering and accepting). At some point God decides to convert the person. The connection between hearing the word and conversion is broken.
Though Calvinists insist that sharing the gospel is still needed, it's easy to see that there would be no purpose in doing so. Truly hearing the word of God requires consideration and therefore the person is involved, where Calvinism says he cannot be.
This is a recognized problem in Calvinism. "In Calvinism, it's a paradox. God absolutely chooses whether a person can be saved, but a person is also responsible for his choice to serve and obey God."12 It is often dealt with by allowing man to have a small amount of free will, which is like being a little pregnant.
Calvin argued that God converted those who had not made the choice (or could not), but that this was not coercion (by force) because it came from inside a man. One of his opponents, "Pighius, retorted with common sense that if our acts are necessary and thus unable to be changed, then they are not free"13 and are therefore coerced. The point is that, Calvinist conversion is not different from conscription (forced service). It might be for a good purpose and it might benefit the person but it is a loss of free will.
The foundational tenet of Christianity is that we recognize God as king over us. God doesn't draft us into the kingdom. Instead he wants people to choose him. Living a life of obedience to him is meaningless if it is forced; but if by choice it has great meaning.
Calvinism also believes that the unbeliever cannot choose good but only evil. That, however, means a man cannot be held responsible for his sins because he was unable to choose otherwise. In turn that makes God the author of sin because he rejects people, leaving them with only the ability to choose evil.
Calvinistic Predestination also means that some people are destined for eternal damnation. They were born that way and will go that way and there is nothing that can be done for them. They could hear the gospel message over and over and those who brought the message to them would have wasted their time.
This is the first principle of Calvinism and also it's first problem. The Bible is clear that God has implanted within us a conscience that shows us, if we will pay attention, the difference between good and evil. A conscience would be pointless if we had no ability to choose good.
Our own experience tells us that people are not totally depraved. Even unbelievers sometimes show great acts of self-sacrifice and love.
Calvin makes very few references to the Old Testament. This is likely because Calvin see a changed heart and the Holy Spirit as the source of our ability to choose good. Those are New Testament features.
The Old Testament covenant and the one before it both offer challenges for Calvin's ideas. There are examples of people choosing good and God is the one who says it is good. The first one comes from Noah and his family, whom God said were the only righteous people left on the earth. Another one like him is Abraham. Another one comes when God boasts to Satan about the righteousness of Job. God said all these men chose good, when Calvin's doctrine of Total Depravity says that should be impossible.
The Old Testament offers another kind of argument against Calvinist Total Depravity. God instructs people to choose good. This would be self-mockery by God if it wasn't possible for mankind to choose to do good. The very first case of this comes from Cain.
Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it." (Genesis 4:6-7)
Imagine God telling Cain he must master something he cannot master.
This is the big draw for Calvinism. We've covered it and its dangers in other lessons. In this lesson it's enough to say that it is not a Biblical concept. Supporters of it need to twist many Bible verses to get it to look like it fits.
It isn't necessary to be a Calvinist to believe in "Once Saved Always Saved." Many Arminian churches now believe in it despite it not fitting with Arminian thinking. They believe in it because they want to believe in it.
And their judgment is set, for they have rejected their former faith (1 Timothy 5:12)
The drive behind "Once Saved Always Saved" is a belief that it is unthinkable that we should not have assurance of salvation. It proponents are certain that we must know we have salvation, no matter what we do.
It's odd though that salvation should come by faith but after that we must have assurance. If salvation is by faith shouldn't it always be by faith? If you have faith, why do you need assurance? As mentioned above, part of the problem comes from treating salvation like a possession. Once you have it, they think, you should be able to know that you have it.
We can't be sure how and why Calvin came up with this idea. Calvinists claim it came about from a recognition of the fullness of God's Sovereignty.
That doesn't seem likely though. Because many churches have adopted the idea of Eternal Security without adopting the Calvinist tulip, it's clear what people want is that faithless assurance. Therefore, it seems more likely that Calvin also wanted that.
To get that, he needed to remove man’s ability to choose. That required:
| Total Depravity |
- The Bible says we have a conscience - Unbelievers show self-sacrifice and love - Unbelievers choose not to lie, steal, cheat, etc. - Old Testament people were said to be righteous by God - Old Testament people were expected to master evil - Not accountable for sin |
| Unconditional Election |
- God foreknew, not predestined - Makes god the author of sin - Makes spreading the gospel useless |
| Limited Atonement | - Makes no difference |
| Irresistible Grace |
- The idea of internal and external sources is not in the Bible - Is coercion (by force) - Deprives God of believers who have accepted him |
| Once Saved Always Saved | - Not Biblical |
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin
2 https://www.calvinistcorner.com/tulip.htm
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Calvin
4 https://www.calvinistcorner.com/tulip.htm
5 https://www.calvinistcorner.com/tulip.htm
6 https://www.calvinistcorner.com/tulip.htm
7 https://www.calvinistcorner.com/tulip.htm
8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arminianism
9 https://www.gotquestions.org/arminianism.html
10 https://www.gotquestions.org/arminianism.html
11 http://skburton.droppages.com/2017-04-29%20GotSaved/GS.html
12 https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/4236/how-does-free-will-fit-with-the-doctrine-of-predestination comment by Screamer
13 https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/4236/how-does-free-will-fit-with-the-doctrine-of-predestination comment by zippy2006