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Calvinism Debate Copyright 2006 by David W The Calvinism Debate Copyright 2006 by David W. Cloud This edition December 2020 ISBN: 1-58318-093-1 Published by Way of Life Literature PO Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061 866-295-4143 (toll free) - [email protected] www.wayoflife.org Canada: Bethel Baptist Church 4212 Campbell St. N., London Ont. N6P 1A6 519-652-2619 (voice) - 519-652-0056 (fax) [email protected] Printed in Canada by Bethel Baptist Print Ministry Contents What We Believe about Salvation ...................................5 Introductory Points ...........................................................9 John Calvin and Process Salvation ...............................21 A Summary of TULIP Teology ...................................25 Calvinism on the March .................................................30 Central Errors of Calvinism ..........................................42 Not all Calvinists the Same ............................................76 Beware of Quick Prayerism ...........................................80 Calvin’s Camels ................................................................83 Calvinism’s Proof Texts Examined .............................114 What about Hyper-Calvinism? ...................................160 A Question for Non-hyper Calvinists ........................164 Hebrews vs. Sovereign Election Teology .................167 Calvinist Standard Version (CSV) ..............................171 “By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death” -- John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, chapter 21 What We Believe about Salvation All men are fallen sinners and are incapable of producing the righteousness required by God for salvation. Mankind fell in Adam. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Ro. 5:12). Man’s awful fallen condition is described in Romans 3:9-18. “As it is written, Tere is none righteous, no, not one: Tere is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh afer God. Tey are all gone out of the way, they are together become unproftable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Teir throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Teir feet are swif to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: Tere is no fear of God before their eyes.” Fallen men are dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1) and by nature the children of wrath (Eph. 2:3), having no hope, and without God in the world (Eph. 2:12). “Te wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies” (Ps. 58:3). Te heart of man is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Je. 17:9). Men are condemned already (Joh. 3:18). Tey abide under the wrath of God and they have no excuse for their sin and unbelief (Ro. 1:18-20). Fallen man bears the image of God (1 Co. 11:7) and has a conscience of good and evil (Ro. 2:14-15) and can do good works (Ac. 10:1-2), but he cannot do the works that are required for salvation. Everything the sinner does is tainted by sin. Even his righteousnesses, the very best he can do, are as flthy rags before God (Isa. 64:6). Tere is absolutely nothing man can do to save himself from his awful condition 6 The Calvinism Debate under God’s wrath. Man cannot be redeemed by any human payment or device (Ps. 49:7-9). God works all things afer the counsel of His own will (Eph. 1:11; Ps. 135:6; Isa. 46:10-11; Da. 4:35) God will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testifed in due time (1 Ti. 2:4-6). God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Pe. 3:9). God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (Joh. 3:16). Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world (1 Jo. 2:1). Salvation is a gif of God’s grace, not of works, lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:8-9). Tere are no works that a man can do to save himself. Salvation is 100% by God’s grace through Christ’s atonement and 0% by man’s work (Ro. 11:6; 2 Ti. 1:9; 1 Pe. 1:18-21). Salvation is through faith (Ro. 3:25, 30, 31; Ga. 3:8, 14; Eph. 2:8; 3:15; Heb. 6:12). Faith is not works. Te Bible contrasts faith with works (Ro. 9:32; Ga. 2:16; 3:2). By the law of works there is boasting, but not by the law of faith. “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith” (Ro. 3:27). Faith is like the hand that receives God’s gif of salvation. Receiving a gif is not a work and is nothing to boast of. All glory goes to the giver. God does the work of drawing sinners to salvation. Sinners don’t seek God on their own; they can’t convict or enlighten or repent themselves. Tey can’t bring themselves out of What We Believe About Salvation 7 darkness into light. Tey can’t regenerate themselves. Christ said He would draw all men to Himself. “And I, if I be lifed up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (Joh. 12:32). Te Spirit of God empowers the gospel preachers (Ac. 1:8), convicts (Joh. 16:7-11) and enlightens (Heb. 6:4) the sinner. When the sinner responds to God’s drawing work and agrees with the Spirit’s conviction and trusts Christ and calls upon Him and receives Him, as God commands him to do, God does the work of salvation. Tat man is redeemed (Eph. 1:7), forgiven (Eph. 1:7), regenerated (Tit. 3:5), raised from the dead spiritually (Eph. 2:1), translated into Christ’s kingdom (Col. 1:13). As many as receive Christ by believing on his name are given power to become the sons of God, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the fesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (Joh. 1:12-13). Since this passage says men can receive Christ by believing, it is obvious that believing on Christ savingly is not “the will of man.” Te sinner cannot be born again by his will, but he can receive Christ and it is Christ who regenerates and saves him. Tose who believe in Christ have eternal life (1 John 5:11-13), are delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of Christ (Col. 1:13), are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, are accepted in the beloved, have redemption through Christ’s blood, the forgiveness of sins (Eph. 1:3-7), are quickened together with Christ and made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 2:5-7). Teir lives are hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3). Tey have a hope which is a strong consolation, an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast (Heb. 6:19-20), are begotten again unto a lively hope, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven, and are kept by the power of God through faith (1 Pe. 1:3-6). 8 The Calvinism Debate Salvation is evidenced by a converted life. “Terefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Co. 5:17). “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 Jo. 2:4). Christ’s sheep hear His voice and follow Him and are given eternal life and will never perish and are safe in His hands (Joh. 10:27-30). Salvation by God’s free grace is unto good works; His grace teaches us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (Eph. 2:10; Tit. 2:11-14). Introductory Points “Calvinism” is founded on the theology of John Calvin. John Calvin (1509-1564) was a French pastor and reformer in Geneva during the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. His most infuential writing is the Institutes of the Christian Religion. He lef the Roman Catholic Church in about 1530 and fed from France to Switzerland, where he published the frst edition of his Institutes in 1536. In 1541, he led in the formation of a church state in Geneva. In theory, Calvin believed in the separation of church and state, but in practice they operated as one. All citizens were required to baptize their children upon pain of persecution, and every baptized person was a member of the “church.” Discipline was meted out by a church council working together with the city council. Musical instruments were banned. Calvin was followed by Teodore Beza as head of the church at Geneva.
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