Calvinism

Calvinism derives its name from John Calvin (1509-1564). Calvin lived during the time of the Reformation when “Protestant” people, churches and nations rose up against, and threw the shackles off from, the rule and control of the Roman Catholic Church. He is regarded as one of the principal leaders of the Reformation together with Martin Luther.

Calvin wrote a book entitled Institutes of the Christian Religion in which he defined the beliefs and practices for society. He gained notoriety by being asked to assume control of a particular city (Geneva) in Switzerland, which adopted his Institutes as its canon of law. Calvinism became to be a dominant view in other European countries – especially France, England and Scotland – and during the era of colonisation was exported around the globe. Consequently, there are numerous churches/denominations throughout the world that adhere to Calvin’s ideas and often they will have “Reformed” in their title (as well, Presbyterian churches are Calvinist). Calvinism is experiencing a resurgence at present, and crossing into other denominations previously antagonistic towards Calvinism, largely because of the influence of a number of high profile pastors/authors/speakers called the New Calvinists.

See New Calvinists

 

Although claimed by Calvin and now modern day Calvinists that they do not follow the teachings of the Catholic Church, a careful examination of Calvin’s writings demonstrates a direct association between Calvinism and Catholicism. Effectively, Calvinism and Catholicism are branches that derive from the same root. Calvin borrowed the substance of his ideas directly from Augustine (354-430), who is also regarded as a (perhaps better ‘the’) father of Roman Catholicism. All of the major doctrines of Calvinism can be traced directly to Augustine; as can all of the major doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. Calvin wrote:
“Augustine is so wholly with me, that if I wished to write a confession of my faith, I could do so with all fullness and satisfaction to myself out of his writings.”
(A Treatise on the Eternal Predestination of God)
Essentially, Augustine developed a theology which imposed philosophical precepts – mostly derived from the Greek philosopher Plato – upon the scriptures, thereby incorrectly interpreting and corrupting Biblical truth. Augustine’s lifetime quest was to unite Neoplatonism – a grand synthesis of Greek philosophy, literature, myth, and religion – with theology. In this way, he subverted Biblical truth, interpreting the Bible through the lens of an extraneous pagan system of belief; rather than renouncing and forsaking this false belief system as doctrines of demons, and relying upon the Bible alone.
Calvinists are identified by their adherence to a set of five interconnected beliefs which is known by the acronym TULIP:
  • Total Depravity
  • Unconditional Election
  • Limited Atonement
  • Irresistible Grace
  • Perseverance of the Saints

Essentially, Calvinists believe that a person being “Totally Depraved” has absolutely no capacity in and of themselves to be saved. They teach that a person has no free will that they can exercise to receive (or reject) Christ. God who is absolutely sovereign chooses by his own “Unconditional Election” those who will be saved; unilaterally causing them, through his “Irresistible Grace”, to be ‘born again’. (Those who are not so chosen are predestined by God to hell. They have absolutely no hope or means to alter their destiny – their fate is sealed.) Once a person is ‘born again’ according to the Calvinist, they are only then granted the means by which they can believe and so be saved i.e. God gives an elected person who he has caused to be ‘born again’ faith to believe in Christ for salvation. Therefore, Christ’s death paid the price for the sin of only the ‘elect’; Christ’s power to save  was restricted and reserved only for a few and not for the whole world i.e. “Limited Atonement”.

This five-fold set of dogma, is the lens by which Calvinists interpret all scripture. Within this system is a distorted view of the nature of God, the nature of man and the means to salvation, which all deviate from the plain teaching of the scriptures. God becomes a monster dictator, without love; a tyrant who is pernicious and ultimately the author of sin itself! (see footnote 1 below). Every individual becomes an automaton without free will, destined by this God to either spend eternity in heaven or hell. Salvation can never be absolutely certain because no Calvinist can be absolutely sure they really are saved, i.e. one of the ‘elect’; it is all a matter of God’s ‘sovereign’ choice.

Thus, inevitably, Calvinists adopt a form of works salvation (which they deny but in practise…) endeavouring to prove (to themselves) that they really are saved i.e. one of the elect, because (their own) faith is by definition insufficient. Otherwise, they were never really saved and one of the elect to begin with – this is the essence of the last essential belief “Perseverance of the Saints”, i.e. the maintenance of a holy life.

This last dogma is also the Calvinists’ insistence of the guarantee of perpetual salvation i.e. ‘once saved, always saved’. They categorically deny that it is impossible for a believer to fall away and lose their salvation because God will sovereignly keep those whom He has chosen. This teaching is in direct contradiction to key passages in the Bible – Hebrews 6:4-7, 2 Peter 2:20-22, 1 Timothy 4:1-2, 2 Timothy 2:16-18, Hebrews 10:26-31, Titus 1:10-11, 2 John 7-11 – and all that the Bible teaches regarding the need for the believer to work out their own salvation, holding steadfast to faith and truth: 

“Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

2 Peter 1:10-11

 

Contrary to Calvinism, the Bible teaches that God in his loving kindness made a way possible for each and every person to be restored to relationship with him. All people have faith (i.e. the capacity to believe) and all people are commanded to repent (renounce and relinquish sin) by their own volition, to accept as truth the gospel of Jesus Christ turn and be reconciled to God. When they believe on Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour then God grants them the new birth through which they can live a righteous life, and be united with God:

 

Acts 17:30
“…now he [God] commands all people everywhere to repent.”

 

1 Timothy 2:3-6
“God … wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.”

 

Acts 3:19
“Repent , then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out…”

 

John 3:16-18

“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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

 

John 1:12-13
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—  children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

 

Those who reject Jesus and remain in their sin by their own choice, are justly condemned :

 

Romans 2:5-11

“But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgement will be revealed.  God “will give to each person according to what he has done.”  To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, he will give eternal life.  But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.  There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile;  but glory, honour and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.  For God does not show favouritism.“

 

2Thessalonians 1:8-10

“He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.”

 

Romans 1:18-20

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

 

God would not be just if he condemned people without granting them the opportunity to repent! As already noted above (1 Timothy 2:3-6), God has stated that He “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”, and all men have that opportunity through Christ “who gave himself as a ransom for all men”.  Therefore, the wicked are justly condemned for they have rejected Christ by not obeying the gospel.

 

It is a frightening but inescapable thought that Calvinists who

(1) do not know the one true God because they erect a ‘sovereign God’ according to their own man-made philosophical presuppositions, and

(2) change the gospel of Jesus Christ to be something other than the true gospel making adherents believe they are born again (made so unilaterally by God without their will or faith involved i.e. without knowledge) when they are in fact not (a true believer is granted the new birth as a consequence of their faith in Jesus Christ and the submission of their will to God i.e. with full knowledge),

face the judgement of God according to 2Thessalonians 1:8-10, because they “do not know God“ and they “do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ” (c.f. John 3:3-8 “…Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again … no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.”)

Moreover, since Calvinists

(3) distort the truth by redefining Biblical terms and adding/subtracting from the scriptures to make the Bible fit into their framework of understanding, 

they again are shown to stand under condemnation at the judgement of God:

“I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book : If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”

Revelation 22:19

Isaiah 29:13 is true of Calvinists:

“These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”

 

Here are two free to read e-books which expose the heresy of Calvinism. If even just one of their Tulip tenets is shown to be false, like a domino effect the rest all fail as correct interpretations of Biblical truth, because they all are founded upon the absolute ‘sovereignty of God’ as defined in Calvinism’s schema:

A Cultish Side to Calvinism   by Micah Coats  

Basic Reformed Theology Explained and Exposed    by Brenda Nickel  

 What Love is This? Calvinism’s Misrepresentation of God  by Dave Hunt is also another excellent researched and argued book on the falsehoods of Calvinism that highlights in particular the erroneous nature of it’s ‘sovereign God’.

 

Nevertheless, it is reasonable to suppose there are genuine Christians who are members of Calvinist churches. People who seek after God and read their Bible without using the lens of a Calvinist filter can of course come to the truth. In this regard, not all ‘Calvinists’ claim to be 5-point Calvinists – there are those who claim to be 4-point, 3-point, 2-point and even 1-point. (There, of course, is no guarantee that these subset-point Calvinists are indeed saved, but it does indicate some dissatisfaction with, and a shift away from, strict Calvinist doctrine (cf. some refer to a disdain for a “hyper-Calvinist” position as they define it.)

 

Most importantly, a plain reading of the Bible does not support the Calvinist fabrication of this ‘sovereign God’. It is a natural response to be repelled at the thought of such a callous supreme entity.  Only by recourse to a skewed interpretation of a few select passages and the imposition of Calvinist dogma upon the rest of scripture can this erroneous and egregious identity be sustained. The Calvinist ‘sovereign God’ is simply not the God of the Bible. And people in Calvinist churches can discover the true God of love, fall upon his mercy and be genuinely converted and born again.

 

(Note: It is illogical to adhere to any subset of the 5 points because they all require the foundational belief in this ‘sovereign God’ and the denial of individual free-will. If one point is overturned the rest also should be abandoned. The reason why people perhaps cling to any is naturally the desire to sustain relationships founded upon church membership. It is advisable though – even imperative – that people should leave a Calvinist church when they come to the truth, just as a Catholic must leave the Catholic Church when they are truly saved.)

 

Moreover, in this regard, significant historical Calvinist figures (for example Whitefield and Edwards during the Great Awakening that swept through the North American colonies in the 18th century), who have engaged in mass evangelism have done so by acting as if people do have free-will and can respond to a message of salvation. They preached a message of the need to repent of sin and to be born again, and solicited a response from people in their audience as if they had a free choice to do so. William Carey who is generally described as the father of missions, had to go against the advice of the (then Calvinist) Baptist board when he requested leave to travel to India in a missionary endeavour. The renowned Baptist minister and writer of his day, John Ryland, proclaimed to Carey, “Young man, sit down! When God pleases to convert the heathen, he will do without your aid or mine!”  (Carey had been inspired by reading the journal of David Brainerd who was expelled and disenfranchised by Yale, a Calvinist college, and went on to famously preach the gospel to native American Indian tribes.) Charles Spurgeon is another example of someone who was tutored in Calvinism but preached as if he wasn’t a Calvinist (cf. Spurgeon is claimed by both Calvinist and Arminian camps).

Footnotes

1 The conclusion that God is the author of every action of people including sin and all manner of evil, is derived from John Calvin himself who wrote:

“Hence we maintain that, by his providence, not heaven and earth and inanimate creatures only, but also the counsels and wills of men are so governed as to move exactly in the course which he has destined.”

The Institutes 1.16.8

 

“The hand of God rules the interior in affections no less than it supersedes external actions nor will God have affected by the hand of man what he has decreed unless he worked it in their hearts to make them will before they acted.”

Concerning the predestination of God, trans. J.K.S Reid p175

 

“Men do nothing save at the secret instigation of God, and do not discuss and deliberate on anything but what he has previously decreed with himself and brings to pass by his secret direction.”

The Institutes 1.18.1

 

Thus Calvinist theologians/authors expressly admit:

 

  • “God is in the back of everything. He decides and causes all things to happen that do happen … He has foreordained everything … the moving of a finger … the mistake of a typist – even sin.” 

(Edwin H. Palmer The Five Points of Calvinism, 1999)

  • “Plainly it was God’s will that sin should enter this world, otherwise it would not have entered, for nothing happens save as God has eternally decreed. Moreover, there was more than a bare permission, for God only permits that which He has purposed.”

(A.W. Pink  The Sovereignty of God,  1961)

  • “All things including even the wicked actions of wicked men and devils — are brought to pass in accordance with God’s eternal purpose.”

(J. Gresham Machen Christian View of Man, 1965)

  • “God the Son holds each and every aspect of creation, including all of its evil aspects, in his “hands”—that is, within his all-powerful and ever-effectual word—and carries it by that word to where it accomplishes exactly what he wants it to do …  God not merely carries all of the universe’s objects and events to their appointed ends but that he actually brings about all things in accordance with his will. In other words, it isn’t just that God manages to turn the evil aspects of our world to good for those who love him; it is rather that he himself brings about these evil aspects for his glory (see Ex. 9:13-16; John 9:3) and his people’s good (see Heb. 12:3-11; James 1:2-4). This includes—as incredible and as unacceptable as it may currently seem—God’s having even brought about the Nazis’ brutality at Birkenau and Auschwitz as well as the terrible killing of Dennis Rader and even the sexual abuse of a young child.”

( John Piper and Justin Taylor (eds.) Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, 2006) 

 

It is by logical inference that this ‘sovereign God’ must be the author of every action and therefore sin. These Calvinists are being logically consistent only to the extent that their constrained and dogmatic concept of God will permit. Apply also logic to the concept of a good God who is the personification of love – which the Bible emphatically describes – and it is impossible to conclude that he causes people to sin. The Calvinist position is a twisting of scripture that slights the true nature of God. As such, it is an iteration of the lie which Satan presented Eve with in the Garden of Eden at the beginning of time. In his temptation he was implicitly accusing God of being a liar:

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,  but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’“

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman.

Genesis 3:2-5

 

Now according to Calvinism, Satan is no longer the “father of lies”  – the originator and direct cause – as Jesus identified (John 8:44), but this ‘sovereign God’ himself! This is what the Calvinist theologians are expressly attributing to God; he is to them both the father of truth and the father of lies, because absolutely everything has its source in him. The Calvinist definition of their ‘sovereign God’ is effectively, therefore, a blasphemous statement – attributing the works of Satan to God – and those who perpetuate it will not go unpunished.