Calvinism

Written by David Lawrence

Sunday, September 27 2009 05:54

Calvinism is a term describing the systematic theology of the Reformation that was presented especially in John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion. This work has been called the single most influential work of the Reformation and enjoys a position as one of the best systematic theologies ever done, if not the very best. It is a complete account of God’s dealing with man, beginning with creation, continuing through God’s providence and his communication to us through Scripture, into salvation, the Christian life, and the church.

Reformed theology has had many contributors: Augustine, Anselm, Bernard, Peter Lombard, Gregory of Rimini, and to some extent Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus from the middle ages; John Wyclif and John Hus from the fourteenth century, and Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, Martin Bucer, Thomas Cranmer, Philip Melancthon, Wolfgang Capito, and many others from the first generation of Reformers of the sixteenth century. John Calvin was a second generation Reformer who benefited from the work of all his predecessors, and whose God-given talent was not so much originality, but systematization.

It was this systematic theology that inspired the Puritans and led America to the First Great Awakening. Charles Spurgeon preached Reformed theology and claimed that what the world called Calvinism, he called the gospel! Great revivals throughout the world have occurred when the gospel of grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to Scripture alone has been proclaimed. Great scholars such as Jonathan Edwards, John Milton, John Bunyan, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Gordon Clark, John Murray, J. Gresham Machen, and many others have embraced Calvinistic theology.

The Calvinistic system in many ways represented the evangelical approach that came out of the Reformation in reaction to Rome; that is, salvation accomplished through hearing the gospel (the evangel), when God used the gospel to quicken the hearts of his elect people and produce faith. When the person put his faith in Christ, he was justified by that faith alone apart from human works. Thus salvation was not the result of the pronouncement of the church, and sacraments were not considered channels through which the grace of God flowed to the human heart. Priests, who alone could administer sacraments, were now rendered irrelevant to salvation. Popes, relics, prayer to saints, indulgences, and such like were discarded.

Why then is Calvinism not considered equivalent to Evangelicalism? There were some objections and movements that split away from the Reformation and the communities that were formed by its leaders, beginning with the Anabaptists who make subjective inner light their standard of authority rather than the objective Biblical standard insisted upon by the Reformers. Anabaptists formed their own theology based on these subjective standards, and they usually differed doctrinally from Reformed Theology.

But the greatest challenge occurred in the early seventeenth century with Jacob Harmenszoon (Arminius), a theology professor at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands, who stated objections to the doctrines of the Reformed Church of Holland in regard to the extent of human depravity, the basis of God’s election, the extent of Christ’s atonement, and the effectiveness of God’s call on the human heart. His followers later developed five points, including questioning the eternal security of the Christian. They became known as the Remonstrants, and were condemned by the Synod of Dordrecht in 1618-1619. Their affirmation of traditional Reformed positions on these five issues became known as The Five Points of Calvinism, usually represented by the acronym TULIP (Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, and Perseverance of the saints). Although Reformed theologians today use other terms, the fundamental concepts remain the same. John Wesley accepted Arminianism as the theological position of his Methodist movement, although other Methodists like his brother Charles and George Whitefield were Calvinists. Arminianism has been embraced by many new denominations such as the Pentecostal movements, and some Baptists have changed from Reformed to a semi-Arminian position, such as the “Four Point Calvinists” who accept all the distinctives but definite atonement.

A small movement among Calvinists, usually represented by the Primitive Baptists, is called “Hyper-Calvinism” because their adherents deny the need for human action and responsibility and believe that God will bring people to faith without any preaching of the gospel, thus denying the need for evangelism. Charles Spurgeon carefully distanced himself from this group by insisting that the twin aspects of salvation, both human responsibility and divine sovereignty, be taught.

In recent years there has been a resurgence of Calvinism that may partly be explained by the dissatisfaction many Christians have felt with inconsistencies and superficialities in what they perceive being taught in their churches. They find in Reformed theology or Calvinism, a completely Biblical and completely consistent system that accords with the reality of their lives and produces good works. They find substance, hope, joy, grace, assurance, and connectedness in the gospel as presented from Reformed pulpits. In spite of the fact that the term Calvinism continues to carry negative connotations with some people, we at Engedi Ministries consider ourselves blessed to be a part of this resurgence of Biblical Christianity that we consider to be simply the gospel.

(For further study on this subject we recommend that you order the audio series The Doctrines of Grace by Danny Hale from Engedi Ministries. –David Lawrence)