Theological Definitions

Election - “Louis Berkhof supplies a good concise definition of election: “That internal act of God whereby He, in His sovereign good pleasure, and on account of no foreseen merit in them, chooses a certain number of men to be the recipients of special grace and eternal salvation.”…“Note that it is election to salvation. Election is not salvation itself but the divine plan that prepares salvation for those who are chosen by God. They were chosen in eternity but saved in time.” (Daniel, Curt, The History and Theology of Calvinism, 335). “Spurgeon had a delightful way of thanking God for election:

I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite sure that if God had not chosen me I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; or He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love.” (Daniel, Curt, The History and Theology of Calvinism, 339).

Glory -The Hebrew word for glory is kabod, which means weight or weightiness. This refers to God’s value, like gold’s weightiness…God predestined, created, and guides all things to this great goal...The glory of God is also the beauty of God. Glory and it means to glorify and give glory to God (e.g., Romans 4:20). We ascribe to God what He reveals to us about Himself. Psalm 96:8: “Give to the Lord the glory due His name.”(Daniel, Curt, The History and Theology of Calvinism, 252).

God’s Will

Secret Will of God - “The secret will is God’s sovereign purpose of unconditional predestination. It is His eternal decree that foreordains whatever comes to pass in history. John Owen defined it like this: “The secret will of God is his eternal, unchangeable purpose concerning all things which he hath made, to be brought by certain means to their appointed ends.” It is secret in that God has not revealed to us all the details. We must not pry into what God has not revealed, as Calvin often warned…We often refer to Deuteronomy 29:29: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”… This will is always carried out, for it is enforced and confirmed by divine omnipotence” (Daniel, Curt, The History and Theology of Calvinism, 227).

Revealed Will of God - “What God has told us He wants us to do. “The second half of Deuteronomy 29:29 says that God reveals some things so that we may do them. We call this the revealed will of God. It is the basis for human responsibility, just as the secret will is based on divine sovereignty. It is our standard for holiness...This law is inscribed internally on the consciences of all people and is revealed to them externally in general revelation in creation (Romans 1–2). It is further revealed verbally in special revelation—the Bible. It also can be dichotomized into positive precepts (“Thou shalt”) and negative prohibitions (“Thou shalt not”)” (Daniel, Curt, The History and Theology of Calvinism, 229).

How the Secret and Revealed Will work in Salvation - “As we will see in the discussion on election, God willed to choose only some sinners to be saved. That is the secret will. The revealed will includes the gospel as well as the law, and in this sense, God wills or desires the salvation of all who hear the gospel” (Daniel, Curt, The History and Theology of Calvinism, 230). “There are a number of differences between the two. The secret will is contained in decrees; the revealed will is expressed in commands and promises. One is the counsel of God; the other the command of God. The first is His intention; the second is His approval. The secret is foreordination and foreknowledge; the revealed is faith and practice. Some have said that the first is God’s own rule for what He will do, while the second is His rule for what we should do. One is eternal and internal within God; the other is temporal and external from God. The secret will is unconditional and always fulfilled; the revealed will is conditional and not always obeyed. One is decree; the other is desire” (Daniel, Curt, The History and Theology of Calvinism, 235).

How God ordained Sin without Himself being the author of sin (1689 3:1) - As a creature, Adam was created holy but mutable. God alone is immutable. Therefore, Adam fell by the gravity of his own mutability. In this way Adam became the author of his own sin while God still ordained his sin. God did not force him to fall because he fell by the weight of his own mutability. Nor did God do any evil in permitting Adam to fall when he did not uphold Him by His grace because God bears no responsibility or obligation to uphold the creature. The creature, by definition is obligated to serve and obey God. In this way he ordained Adam’s sin without Himself approving of or being the author of sin. (Adapted from Daniel, Curt, The History and Theology of Calvinism, 268).

Original sin - the sinful nature and predisposition to sin that we all inherit from Adam it’s not just guilt of sin but a verocious and actual predisposition towards sin. We are natural-born sinners.

Providence - God’s sovereign work in the world to bring about and accomplish his sovereign purpose.

God is infinitely wise and good. He never changes His eternal decree for that would mean either he made a mistake or that he would be making one by changing his mind. But God is not a man that he should change his mind (Numbers 23:19) Because that would mean he was not infinitely wise. Nor did he ever consider what might be best or question any one of his decrees it was always the best decree. That means every detail in my life was sovereignly preordained by God’s own infinite wisdom and goodness so according to His sovereign wisdom this is the best possible world for me (and everyone) down to the smallest detail because God perfectly decreed it in eternity past. Therefore what do I possibly have to stress, worry, or grumble about? But what of all the evil in the world? What if someone asks Why? Who are we to question God’s wisdom, government, and goodness he is infinity we are finite. To question God “Why?” Is to assault his own glory and him that he is not infinitely wise and good in his governance of the world.

Total Depravity - “By total depravity we mean the very nature of man has been so thoroughly affected by original sin that every part of his being is under the control of sin. Evil totally affects, infects, and defects man. There is not a single part of him that has not been fatally infested. He is infected with the disease of sin from head to toe (Isaiah 1:6), inside and out, top to bottom” (Daniel, Curt, The History and Theology of Calvinism, 290). ““Is man basically good or bad?” We say he is completely bad with no good whatsoever. He is radically evil, for his radix (source) is evil. From the cesspool of his heart spews forth all manner of vice (Matthew 15:19). If the root is bad, the fruit is bad (Matthew 7:16–19; 12:33). We are evil in thought, word, and deed—and in our very nature. We are “filled with unrighteousness” (Romans 1:29), not just half full or a mixture of good and bad. Calvin said that we are “rotten through and through” and “full of filth and infection.” “While man remains in his natural condition, he is rotten to the core…Sin now affects our bodies so that our members are instruments of unrighteousness (Romans 7:23).” (Daniel, Curt, The History and Theology of Calvinism, 291)...”This does not mean that each person commits every sin, as Edwin Palmer explains: “Man does not commit all the sins possible; and those he does commit are not always as bad as possible’” (Daniel, Curt, The History and Theology of Calvinism, 291).