Post 90 - Calvinism: a Primer

Although I have been writing and speaking out against Reformed theology/Calvinism for a number of years, it occurs to me that I've never really explained what Calvinism is and why I believe it proposes an unbiblical god and an unbiblical gospel.

Today's post is a simple overview of Calvinism. In the five posts that follow, we'll take a critical look at what Scripture has to teach about each of the five Reformed tenets.

A Brief History

Much of what is now referred to as Calvinism was first proposed in the early fifth century AD by a highly-respected theologian named Augustine of Hippo who saw folly in the widely accepted understanding by nearly all the early church fathers that divine election was based on God’s foresight of a person's future free-will decision to believe. In other words, God "elects' those whom he foresees will believe.

Augustine felt that, because such an understanding of divine election makes man the ultimate “decider”, it impinges on the sovereignty of God. He proposed that Scripture teaches that God, from before the foundation of the world, sovereignly chose all who would be saved, and that God's choice was not based on anything in the person, including foreseen faith.

The Augustinian view of divine election was taken up as one of the principal precepts in the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century, led by Martin Luther and later firmly established by John Calvin in his publication of Institutes of the Christian Religion in 1536.

In 1610 the followers of a theologian named Jacobus Arminius rejected Calvin's understanding of election and produced a thesis known as The Five Articles of Remonstrance which rejected the Augustinian/Reformed view of election and supported the early church fathers' belief that the elect were those whom God foresaw would put their faith in Christ.

Eight years later (1618), a group of supporters of Augustinian/Calvinism convened at the Synod of Dort and developed a five-point rebuttal to counter The Five Articles of Remonstrance. This five-point rebuttal is often referenced with the acrostic T-U-L-I-P (see below).

Currently there are approximately 1800 Reformed churches in the United States. The Presbyterian Church (PCA) is the largest Reformed denomination but there are many other churches that adhere to Reformed/Calvinist doctrines.

"The Doctrines of Grace"

Below is a brief overview of the "five points of Calvinism" which has become known in Reformed circles as the "doctrines of grace".

It should be noted that within the Reformed community, there is a wide variety of subtle nuances regarding each of the five points, making it difficult to define each point to the satisfaction of everyone. But here, I hope, is a reasonable attempt to portray their doctrines fairly, quoting from well-respected Reformed/Calvinistic sources.

T - Total Depravity/Total Inability:

“Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being altogether averse from good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto.”

--Westminster Confession of Faith

"This does not mean that man is as evil as he could be. Nor does it mean that the image of God is destroyed or that the will is done away with. Instead, it refers to the all-pervasiveness of the effects of sin, and the fact that man is, outside of Christ, the enemy of God."

--James White

U - Unconditional Election:

"By the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated, or foreordained to eternal life through Jesus Christ, to the praise of His glorious grace; others being left to act in their sin to their just condemnation, to the praise of His glorious justice....

--London Baptist Confession-1689

"The biblical doctrine of election is that before Creation God selected out of the human race, foreseen as fallen, those whom he would redeem, bring to faith, justify, and glorify in and through Jesus Christ. This divine choice is an expression of free and sovereign grace, for it is unconstrained and unconditional, not merited by anything in those who are its subjects. God owes sinners no mercy of any kind, only condemnation; so it is a wonder, and matter for endless praise, that he should choose to save any of us; and doubly so when his choice involved the giving of his own Son to suffer as sin-bearer for the elect."

--J.I. Packer

L - Limited/Definite Atonement:

"Calvinists believe that [the atonement] is limited (or definite) in its extent, but unlimited in its nature of efficacy. Christ's death actually saved the elect... "

--Michael Horton

In a nutshell: the death of Christ was intended to win the salvation of God’s people alone, and not only was it intended to do so, but it will actually achieve it as well.

--Jonathan Gibson

I - Irresistible Grace:

"Irresistible grace refers to the sovereign work of God to overcome the rebellion of our heart and bring us to faith in Christ so that we can be saved. If our doctrine of total depravity is true, there can be no salvation without the reality of irresistible grace. If we are dead in our sins, totally unable to submit to God, then we will never believe in Christ unless God overcomes our rebellion."

--John Piper

P - Perseverance/Preservation of the Saints/Eternal Security:

"This grace [God] placed 'in Christ in whom we have obtained a lot, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things.' And thus, as He worketh that we come to Him, He worketh that we do not depart."

--St. Augustine

"They, whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally, nor finally, fall away from the state of grace: but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved."

--Westminster Confession of Faith

Final Thought

In the posts that follow, we will look at each of the five points, one by one, in some detail, though far from exhaustively. We'll see where these man-made doctrines create unresolvable contradictions which Calvinists often chalk up to "mystery", "tension", or "paradox".

While there are certainly mysteries in God's workings, there can be no contradictions in his word. If we encounter what seems to be a contradiction in the scriptures, we must assume error on our part, not a contradiction on God’s part.

Next Post: Total Depravity/Total Inability-What Sayeth the Scriptures?