Calvinism
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
INTRODUCTION.
BASIC CALVINISTIC TEACHINGS.
THE BIBLICAL TRUTH.
TO RECAP.
IN CONCLUSION.
INTRODUCTION
From “Wikipedia.” “John Calvin, Middle French: Jehan Cauvin; French: Jean Calvin (10 July 1509 – 27 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism, including its doctrines of predestination and of God’s absolute sovereignty in the salvation of the human soul from death and eternal damnation.” See my Bible Study: “ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED,” which combats this false doctrine.
BASIC CALVINISTIC TEACHINGS
Calvinism can be easily broken down by knowing the five (5) points of Calvinism. Memorized as “TULIP.”
> Total Depravity (Total Inability On The Humans Part).
> Unconditional Election (You Have No Choice).
> Limited Atonement (Only Good For Those Chosen By God).
> Irresistible Grace (You Have No Choice).
> Perseverance Of The Saints (Man Cannot Lose One’s Salvation).
A quick breakdown would be:
1) Man is unable of one’s self to respond to God (Man has no choice).
2) God elects according to His good pleasure (again, Man has no choice).
3) Christ died only for the elect (again, Man has no choice).
4) Irresistible Election (again, Man has no choice).
5) The elect can never lose their Salvation (again, Man has no choice).
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the [WHO?] LORD,” Isaiah 1:18, does not sound like, Man has no choice.
John Calvin introduced Five (5) points of Calvinism. John Calvin didn’t necessarily teach these (for he didn’t even right them down); but his followers later developed them into what they are today. A good way to remember the Five (5) points of Calvinism is to use the word, “TULIP.”
T = Total Depravity.
From the Calvinist writings, “Steele, David N. and Curtis C. Thomas. The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended, Documented. 2nd ed. Philipsburg: P&R 2004. Print pages 5-7, 148-149,” we read: “Because of the fall, man is unable of himself to savingly believe the gospel. Consequently, it takes much more than the Spirit’s assistance to bring a sinner to Christ -- it takes regeneration by which the Spirit makes the sinner alive and gives him a new nature. Faith is not something man contributes to salvation but is itself a part of God’s gift of salvation -- it is God’s gift to the sinner, not the sinner’s gift to God.”
In other words, man doesn’t have the ability to choose. God does it all for him. God has to give it to you. His choice. You cannot choose. Man doesn’t even have the ability to have faith; God must choose who He will give it to. This makes out God out to be a tyrant.
This teaching is that humans are completely messed up by sin through the fall (true; BUT). Because of the Calvinist line of thought, humans can do NO good because they have no chance of being able to think spiritually. Calvinists use Jeremiah 17:9 as an example, that “The heart” of man “is deceitful.” In other words, we cannot come to God on our own (agreed; BUT, we can come to Him by choice).
Consider a proper understanding of our Lord. Joshua 24, “choose you this day whom ye will serve,” Philippians 2:12, “work out your own salvation.” And many others.
This leads us to:
U = Unconditional Election.
From “Westminster Confession,” Chapter 3, paragraphs 3 & 4, we read, “By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life; and others foreordained to everlasting death.
“These angels and men, thus predestinated, and foreordained, are particularly and unchangeably designed, and their number so certain and definite, that it cannot be either increased or diminished.”
From “Steele, David N. and Curtis C. Thomas. The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended, Documented. 2nd Edition. Phillipsburg: P&R 2004. Print page 6,” we read, “God’s choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the foundation of the world rested solely in His Own sovereign [see my note at the bottom] Will. His choice of particular sinners was not based on any foreseen response of obedience on their part, such as faith, repentance, etc. On the contrary, God gives faith and repentance to each individual whom He selected. Thus God’s choice of the sinner, not the sinner’s choice of Christ, is the ultimate cause of salvation.”
This teaching is that, before God created anything, He choose which angels and humans would be saved and which ones would be lost (So False). By contrast, Arminianism teaches the same doctrine, except that God, knowing the future, chose those whom He saw would respond to His Love.
Again, mankind has no choice in the matter.
This leads us to:
L = Limited Atonement.
From “Steele, David N. and Curtis C. Thomas. The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended, Documented. 2nd Edition. Phillipsburg: P&R 2004. Print pages 6-7,” we read, “Christ’s redeeming work was intended to save the elect only and actually secured salvation for them. His death was a substitutionary endurance of the penalty of sin in the place of certain specified sinners.”
From the “Calvinist Corner” we read, “Jesus died only for the elect. Jesus only bore the sins of the elect.”
Breaking that down, all Christians know that “Atonement” means what Christ did for them upon the cross, i.e., paid for our sins. Whereas, Limited Atonement, as Calvinists teach, based upon Unconditional Election, is that Christ only died for Christians; or better, the ones God chooses. In other words, Christ only paid for a particular group of people; the elect; Christians. Calvinist reasoning would argue their point by stating, that if Jesus died for the entire world, then everyone would be saved, using Matthew 26:28 as not all conclusive. Nice try. But the TRUTH is that Christ did die for the entire world, but not all excepted the gift of life. See Second Corinthians 5:14-15 & First Timothy 2:5-6 & First John 2:2.
This leads us to:
I = IRRESISTIBLE GRACE.
From “Steele, David N. and Curtis C. Thomas. The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended, Documented. 2nd Edition. Phillipsburg: P&R 2004. Print page 7,” we read, “In addition to the outward general call to salvation which is made to everyone who hears the Gospel, the Holy Spirit extends to the elect a special inward call that inevitably brings them to salvation [Only the ones chosen by God]. The external call (which is made to all without distinction) can be, and often is, rejected; whereas the internal call (which is made only to the elect [There You Have It] cannot be rejected; it always results in conversion. By means of this special call, the Spirit irresistibly draws sinners to Christ.”
From “Calvinist Corner,” we read, “When God calls His elect into salvation, they cannot resist. 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. This call is by the Holy Spirit.”
This teaching is that when the Holy Spirit (God) finally reaches out to you at some point in your life, He is so irresistible that you have NO choice but to become a Christian. He takes your sin away, you cannot resist Him, nor would you want to resist Him; you are regenerated; you are made new; using Romans 9:16 (Are you then not Perfected at that point also? Hog wash).
I agree that without God calling us we would not have anything at all to respond to; but we still must choose to respond or not. We are not robots. “Come now, and let us reason together, sayeth the LORD,” Isaiah 1:18. This is not a God who gives us NO choice in the mater. He constantly pleads with us to “repent.” Look that word up in your Biblical searches; unless you believe your God to be sadistic, asking you to do something you cannot do. Yet Calvinists still teach that you cannot respond, for you are dead in your sins.
The main point in this IRRESISTIBLE GRACE argument is that you cannot “resist” the “Spirit.” Compare with Acts 7:51. Consider also Nehemiah 9:30 & Acts 9:5.
This leads us to:
P = Perseverance of the Saints.
From “Steele, David N. and Curtis C. Thomas. The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended, Documented. 2nd Edition. Phillipsburg: P&R 2004. Print page 8,” we read, “67. Is perseverance of the saints the same thing as eternal security?
“It is common to hear the term “eternal security” used basically as a synonym for ‘the perseverance of the saints.’ The former term emphasizes that all who are in Christ, that is, all the elect, who have truly been regenerated, are secure in their position forever [Once Saved Always Saved] -- they will never finally fall away. The latter term, on the other hand, emphasizes the manner in which God will infallibly preserve His Own -- by causing their faith to persevere through every trial.”
From “Steele, David N. and Curtis C. Thomas. The Five Points of Calvinism: Defined, Defended, Documented. 2nd Edition. Phillipsburg: P&R 2004. Print pages 148-149,” we read, Whereas we previously emphasized the preservation of the saints, we must also emphasize the perseverance of the si=aints in faith and holiness. Insufficient emphasis is given to God’s requirement that we must persevere to the end in a life that seeks after holiness.
“There was no perseverance, no running of the race to the end, only a mere profession made years earlier. One could almost speak of the six points of Calvinism, the fifth point being the preservation of the saint and the sixth point being the perseverance of the saints.” WHAT? Weren’t we told there was nothing you can do?
According to this doctrine, then, “Eternal Security,” or “Perseverance of the Saints,” basically means that a person who has come to faith in Christ may fall away from that faith and turn aside to a lifestyle of willing sin, and yet he will be saved anyway, because he had faith at one time, and so he is eternally secure, no matter what his subsequent life may look like. In other words, Once Saved Always Saved. You simply MUST SEE my Bible Study upon this subject.
This is a sticky point in the Calvinist mind, for he constantly asks (after understanding the four points above), then how do I know if I am truly saved, if I am truly one of the elect? Their answer is, if you Persevere until the end. They use Philippians 1:6 to show that Sanctification is the work of a lifetime (I agree; BUT). Calvinists still hold at this point however, that you have passed the Irresistible Grace position, and you are then “Once Saved Always Saved” (see my Bible Study upon that teaching). Compare with First Corinthians 3:13.
THE BIBLICAL TRUTH
The first four can be classified together. Therefore, as to Christ only dying for the elect, if “Predestination” (or “Election”) is Biblically (or non-Biblically) true, then there is no sense (Non-Sense) in even having this discussion (or Bible Study in any form; or any discussion of any sort), since you have no choice in the matter. However, since I do not believe this doctrine because of what the Bible teaches, let’s look at Scripture to debunk this crazy doctrine.
According to Joshua 24:14-15: “choose you this day whom ye will serve.” Why would a god who gives you no choice in the matter play with you with such Words? The same is true in First Kings 18:21 & John 6:67.
A little common sense here. Why would a god who gives you no choice in the matter, even give you Commandments to obey, if all of it does not matter anyway?
According to Deuteronomy 29:18, you can “turn away” from God.
According to Ezekiel 18:20 (see verse 4 also), man chooses.
According to Matthew 19:16 (& Luke 10:25), Jesus is asked “what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Jesus does not answer with, “I have to choose you; you have no choice in the matter.”
According to Luke 8:13, you can “fall away” from the faith. And you cannot “fall” from a place you have never been.
According to Luke 13:3, Jesus tells us to “repent.” Why would He do that if we do not have that ability? Calvinism thus makes God out to be a tyrant.
According to Acts 15:30, the Philippians jailor asks, “what must I do to be saved?” Paul did not answer with, “Well God has to choose you.”
According to Acts 18:6, Silas and Timotheus [verse 5] made a choice to not believe. God was not restricting their God given right to choose.
According to First Timothy 2:3-4, “[3] God [4] (wants) all men to be saved.” If it is true that God does the choosing, as Calvinism teaches, then no worries, everyone is saved according to these verses. Compare with Ezekiel 18:32 & 33:11 & Second Peter 3:9.
According to First Timothy 4:1, you can “depart” form the faith. And you cannot “depart” form a place you have never been.
TO RECAP
The FACT that God asks us to “choose,” Deuteronomy 30:19; Joshua 24:15; Job 34:4; Psalm 25:12; Proverbs 1:29 & 3:31; etcetera, means He does not force you, or chooses you without you having a “choice,” nor that He does not let you change your mind. That alone proves you are not forced into salvation.
According to Jesus’ parable in Luke, Chapter 8, and the warning of the Apostle Paul to Timothy, believers CAN “fall away/depart from” salvation. “Aphistemi” is also used in Second Timothy 2:19, in order to describe “depart from iniquity.” Yet, we do not hear of anyone reasoning that a one-time thief, who became a Christian and has victory through Christ, should NOT “depart from [this] iniquity.” Along the same lines, it is impossible when a “dog is turned to his own vomit again,” Second Peter 2:22, for that “dog” to do so unless he had at first left that lifestyle. Also, the same is true for “the sow that was washed to [returned to] her wallowing in the mire,” Second Peter 2:22.
In reality, the Doctrine of “Predestination” began with the doctrine of “Original Sin.” Here is how that transpired. Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A.D.) is usually credited by historians and theologians alike as the architect of the Doctrine of “Original Sin,” which is the theory that, because of Adam’s sin, every human being is a condemned sinner at birth (no freedom of choice; see “Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology,” page 244). It was later adopted by John Calvin (“John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion,” Book III, Chapters xxi & xxii), and as such, both Calvinand Augustine promoted the “Doctrine of Involuntary Sin,” which, by logical contrast, since opposites are almost always generally true, came about, the “Doctrine of Involuntary Salvation.”
The Israelite king Saul, was once endowed with the “Spirit of God,” First Samuel 10:10-12. Yet according to First Chronicles 10:13: “So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the Word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it.” Let us not than say that Saul will be in Heaven ANYWAY, because he was once endowed with the Holy Spirit.
The Biblical fact that we DO have a “CHOICE,” and ARE responsible moral agents, is certain from the following verses: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life,” Deuteronomy 30:19; “Choose you this day whom you will serve,” Joshua 24:15; “How long halt ye between two opinions,” First Kings 18:21; “refuse the evil, and choose the good,” Isaiah 7:15; “Choose the things that please Me,” Isaiah 56:4; “No man can serve two masters,” Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13; “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey,” Romans 6:16. And literally hundreds of other common-sense verses like Luke 13:24: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate,” and First Kings 18:21; Isaiah 55:6-7; Ezekiel 18:32; 33:11; Mark 8:34; Luke 10:42; Revelation 3:20. In God’s Word, nothing is ever said about God “CHOOSING” any one to be lost, only about Jesus dying for ALL (Choosing to have everyone to be saved, but not forcing anyone; see also 1Ti. 2:4 and 2Pe. 3:9).
That we do have something to do in this great drama is clearly seen in these following verses: “work out you own salvation with fear and trembling” Philippians 2:12; “Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand? Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him: but I will maintain mine own ways before Him.” Job 13:14-15; “My soul is continually in my hand:” Psalm 119:109; “they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith [Who] the Lord God.” Ezekiel 14:14.
If God had the “choice,” ALL would be saved. Since this is not the case (exampled by the clear teaching of the “second death,” in the Book of Revelation), it is understood that God “pleads” with man to “CHOOSE” life (see Isa. 1:18). Do these Biblical Words of God pleading with us sound like a god who gives you no choice in the matter, such as: “agonize, always abounding, cease, choose, diligent, keep, effort, endure, hold fast, labor, overcome, pray, remain, stand, stedfast, strive, turn, unmovable, walk, war, watch, work out, wrestle?”
IN CONCLUSION
Of course, as with all religious denominations, not all Calvinists hold to all five points, as there are branches off from the main Calvinist church. The point is, learn your Bible well so you do not get caught up in false arguments such as the Calvinists teach.
In truth, the only ones saved in the end are “all them that obey Him.” Hebrews 5:9. With the understanding that you must have “Christ in you, [which is] the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27.
In a startling fact, the “KJV” does not use the word “sovereign.” Especially if applied to the Godhead. By contrast, the “NIV” translation uses the word 305 times in 296 verses. For an example, see Genesis 15:2. This is propaganda. See my Bible Study: “BIBLE VERSIONS AFTER 1881.”
Again, see my Bible Study: “ONCE SAVED ALWAYS SAVED.”