Topical - Calvinism & Arminianism
Introduction
A. the tulp system of calvinism
1. T-otal Depravity—Two Schools of Thought.
Among Calvinist there are basically two schools of thought with regard to “total depravity” the “Hard View” & “Soft View.” However, the difference between authentic Calvinists (as it related to depravity) is one of degree and not kind.
a) The Soft View: The unregenerate man is sinful in every area of his life, but not necessarily as sinful as he can be. The whole of mans being has been affected by sin, the corruption extends to every part of man, his body and soul: sin has affected all (the totality) of man’s faculties, his mind, will, etc. Another author says that: no matter how much each of us has sinned, we are able to think of worse sins that we could have committed. Even Adolph Hitler refrained from murdering his mother.
b) The Hard View: Other Calvinists see the soft view of Total Depravity as a compromise. Another author says that: man by nature in all his existence, with all his heart and mind and soul and strength, has become a servant of sin, and that he is entirely incapable of doing good and inclined to all evil.
c) The Inoperable Will of Man: What we cannot do because of Total Depravity from a Calvinistic perspective, is of course very important to a Calvinistic definition of Depravity, especially as it relates to a gospel presentation directed at the unregenerate.
(1) Ephesians 2:1: The Unregenerate Are Not Only Unable To Do Good (as well as unable to refrain from doing bad) spiritually in a general sense, but more specifically, they are unable to respond to God or the Gospel (to any degree) while in an unregenerate state or before being born again. The unregenerate man (in so far as responding to God, the Gospel, etc. is concerned) is dead and therefore inoperable.
(2) Spiritually Death to a Calvinists Means: the elimination of all human ability to understand or respond to God, not just a separation from God. According to the Calvinists, the unregenerate man is unable to receive Christ as Lord and Savior, believe in Christ or the Gospel when preached to him, or do anything to accept the free gift of eternal life offered to him and be saved.
(3) The Response To Ephesians 2:1: Death in the Bible is a strong expression meaning that fallen beings are totally separated from God. As Isaiah put it, “But your iniquities have separated you from your God (Is.59:2). Death does not mean a total destruction of all ability to hear and respond to God, but a complete separation of the whole person from God.
(a) The Unsaved Persons Can Perceive the Truth of God (Romans 1:18-23)
(b) Adam and Eve Heard & Understood the Words of God After the Fall (Gen.2:15-17; 3:10).]
(c) The Image of God in Fallen Man is Effected but Not Erased (Genesis 9:6)
I believe that even after the fall of man, even in our sinfulness, we are still made in the image and likeness of God, but that image was effaced by the fall but not erased, the image and likeness of God has definitely been shattered and affected. This is why murder (Gen.9:6) and even cursing (James 3:9) other people are sins. But yet there’s something still residing within man, that’s not the ability to save, or even an ability to say: “oh I get it, now I will receive Christ.” There is still something there that when God brings revelation to a person that he is still able to respond, not on his own but only by the Spirit of God working.
2. U-nconditional Election.
When God elected He did not consider mans will in the process He sovereingly chose to save people, & He Sovereignly chose to condemn or bypass others
· If Total Depravity says that the unregenerate cannot believe the Gospel or receive Christ, or in any way respond positively to God in his unregenerate state, Unconditional Election says that this does not matter (for the unregenerate elect).
· For God has, from all eternity, elected some to be saved unconditionally.
· Calvinistically speaking, faith in Christ is therefore not a condition for the salvation of the lost but a consequence of regeneration for the elect. In other words, faith in Christ is not a requirement for being born again, but a result of being born again.
a) Spiritual Birth Before Saving Faith:
(1) A Man Must Be Born Again First In Order To Believe In Christ: only after spiritual birth can you have and exercise saving faith in Jesus Christ. A certain author says: A Cardinal point 0of Reformed theology is the maxim: “Regeneration precedes faith.”
(2) The Point Is That You Can Go From Death To Life Without Faith In Christ. Faith in Christ from a Calvinistic perspective comes with that life but is neither needed nor possible before that life begins.
R.C. Sproul goes on to say: “Without rebirth we have no desire for Christ. Without a desire for Christ we will never choose Christ. Therefore we conclude that before anyone ever will believe, before anyone can believe, God must first change the disposition of his heart”.
Look at Romans 5:10—the Bible is definitely clear as to the fact that man is spiritually depraved and spiritually dead he has no goodness in him, he doesn’t seek after God he’s actually God’s enemy. We must take a careful look at some other things to consider.
(3) Cornelius Acts 10:1-4,24,44—Cornelius is a Roman Centurion & yet he is searching for God He had come from the Pagan roots of Romanism or from Rome with all of its many gods and has probably been introduced to Judaism to the Idea of One God.
(a) This man knows nothing about Jesus Christ, he’s not saved because Peter is going to come and preach and he is going to get saved later on. So he is definitely not a Christian here.
(b) Now if he is totally depraved then he would not be able to receive anything spiritually from an angel either. So here is a man who seems to be doing some spiritual good but he’s not saved but God receives this as a memorial, God took not of this. God didn’t say “hey your spiritually dead and I wont receive anything from you.”
(c) So here we have an unbeliever doing something that shows something of the image and likeness of God in this man. So there is a possibility for man to do good, not for salvation, but to give indication that his heart is open to the truth of the gospel. And because he did this God sent further revelation to him.
(d) Now, when God gives a man revelation & he closes off to that, God is under no obligation to give him any more detail. Its not a matter of not having enough facts, its closing off to the facts that God is trying to communicate to you. Evidently this guy was bent in the right direction, was he still under God’s wrath at and deserving of eternal death at this point, absolutely. But there is something in him, that God took notice of.
3. L-imited Atonement
This is sometimes referred to as definite or particular atonement. That is to say that Christ died for some (i.e., the elect) and not for others (i.e., the unelect).
· Logically, since Calvinists believe that God only intended to save the elect, only the elect would need Christ to die for them.
· God never intended many in the world (i.e. the unelect) to be saved, they see ho reason or purpose fro Christ to die for them.
· Therefore, what Christ did for the elect—providing the basis for salvation, including the propitiation for and forgiveness of sins—He did not do for the unelect; nor did He ever intend to.
· Refuting Limited Atonement: John 1:29; 3:16; Luke 9:10; 2 Corinthians 5:19; 1 Tim 2:3-4; 2 Peter 3:9; 1 Jn 2:2; 4:14; Acts 17:30; Accountability: Matt 11:20-24
4. I-rresistible Grace.
According to Calvinism, the unregenerate elect cannot respond to the Gospel or appropriate by faith what Christ did for them on the cross. Therefore, God must also make provision for the elect, give them a new and spiritual birth (regeneration), and then give the newly regenerate person the faith to appropriate that provision. In other words, God’s grace is invincible; it never fails to result in the salvation of those to whom it is extended… God makes your will willing.
a) Make Them an Offer They Can’t Accept: Calvinistically speaking with regard to the unelect, we Christians are to “invite the unelect in” but they cannot accept that invitation… The rub is this:
(1) While we are promising “salvation to all who repent and believe,” we are supposed to know that many of them cant and are not supposed to repent and believe.
· It’s like saying to a man without a hand, “Please, reach out with your hand, and take this gift.”
· It is also like saying to the blind, “I promise you eyesight on the condition you can see all the colors of the rainbow first.”
· As a bird with a broken wing is “free” to fly but not able, so the natural man is free to come to God but not able.
· R.C.Sproul Says: The Calvinist view of predestination teaches that God actively intervenes in the life of the elect to make absolutely sure that they are saved… Of course the rest are invited to Christ and given the opportunity to be saved if they want to…
b) Can God’s Grace & Holy Spirit Be Resisted? Yes!
(1) 2 Thessalonians 2:10 says, They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved
(2) John 3:18: We are not condemned because we have no opportunity to be saved, but a person is condemned because he makes a choice not to believe.
(3) In John 5:40 Jesus said, “But you are not willing to come to Me, that you may have life.”
(4) Matthew 23:37; Jesus clearly acknowledges the fact of human resistance and rejection (John 12:46-48)
(5) Clearly, God's grace can either be resisted or received by the exercise of human free will (Acts 7:51; Rom.10:21; Heb.10:26,29).
(6) The unsaved are “without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
c) The Conclusion of Irresistible Grace: God appears to offer salvation to all—i.e., the general and outward call—but only intends to save some (the elect), and insures that the some He intends to save—without regard to the faith or willingness of the elect.
(1) the elect cannot help but believe and be eventually saved &
(2) the unelect cannot help but not believe and be ultimately damned.
5. P-erseverance of the Saints
Those that are elect, God will cause to persevere to the end. A true believer will not fail to persevere because he cannot fail to persevere. The saved will persevere in holiness and faith to the end of their life on earth, thereby proving they are among the elect. Those who do not persevere in faith and holiness until the end have proved they were never saved and therefore not among the elect.
II. five points of arminianism
1. Election Based On Foreknowledge—God chose based on the fact He knew you would respond
2. Unlimited Atonement—Jesus paid the sin debt of the world
3. Natural Inability—This relates to total depravity in Calvinism. Natural inability says, sin has come in and effected mankind but he still made in the image and likeness of God and has the ability as God’s Spirit would work on him to draw men into a relationship with God.
· He cant do it on his own so it’s a natural inability, he cant determine to say, “I am going to seek God” because there is none who seek Him (Rom.3).
· But if God by His Spirit convicts man and draws him, through the grace of God then he has the ability to respond to that. There is still something left in mankind of the image and likeness of God.
4. Prevenient Grace—Grace that goes ahead of grace.
This means that when Jesus died on the cross, there was a grace that was distributed to all of mankind. In one sense it didn’t overturn Adams sin upon us but, it elevated mankind to a point that now when he hears the gospel he actually has a choice. Because it’s a grace that goes ahead of saving grace.
5. Conditional Perseverance—Man could be lost.
There is a possibility that he can lose his salvation. In Arminias’ writing he wasn’t really strong on that he spoke of it as a possibility. This is also where some people get messed up because they say that if you believe there is a possibility of losing your salvation then you must be an Arminianist. But what you have stressed here is mans will the ability to choose.
III. the emphasis of each position
I. ELECTION
A. important passages
a) John 1:12-13
b) John 6:44—God Draws All Men To Himself, But Not All Will Come.
(1) Man’s has the capacity to resist.
(a) The Holy Spirit can be resisted (Acts 7:51; Neh.9:30-31), grieved (Is.63:10; Eph.4:30), and quenched (1Thess.5:19)
(b) It takes both the drawing of God & the responding of man in order to be saved. No man can come unless the father draws him, & no man is saved unless he comes.
(2) Jesus Said He Will Draw All (everyone) To Himself (John 12:32).
(a) He did not mean everybody will be saved because some will be lost (John 5:28-29).
(b) How Does Jesus Draw All To Himself? Jesus puts the emphasis on His redemptive death (John 12:33). His death will draw all men unto Him. Those who believe will be saved. Those who reject Him will be lost.
(c) By His death, He was able to go to the Father & send the Holy Spirit (John 16:5-11).
(3) The love of Christ Compels us (2Cor.5:14). Jesus attracts people, not by force but by His grace and love. Love woos, love wins; it never forces anybody to follow it.
(4) How God Draws A Man Is Clearly Stated—By Teaching (John 6:45).
(a) The teaching may come from the voice of a preacher, the observation of nature, the reading of Scripture or from a countless of other sources. But one thing is always common: the movement of God’s Spirit upon the human heart, teaching the need for God and drawing the heart toward God for salvation.
(5) God Speaks To All Men In A Universal Language Of Nature (Psalm 19:1-4).
(6) Not All Men Listen To The Voice Of God (Romans 1:21-25).
(7) Some Deliberately Close Their Eyes Because They Love Darkness (John 3:19-20).
(8) God commands all men everywhere to repent but not all head the call of God (Act 17:30).
c) John 6:37, 44
d) John 6:65
e) Acts 13:48—The Truth of the Sovereignty of God.
(1) Who appointed or ordained them to eternal life? God. Yet, but though God is sovereign and has elected and chosen that we should be in Christ before the foundation of the earth.
(2) God has also ordained that we must exercise our capacity of choice that he has given to us. So the gospel is to whosoever will! Let him come!
(3) But the coming is up to you. You must come! You must exercise your power of choice in coming to Jesus Christ.
(4) So that mystery of the sovereignty of God and the human responsibility. The choice that God has given a man, remains a mystery, unsolved by all the theologians through their argumentation’s throughout the centuries. Men lining up on one side. Men lining up on the other side when both sides are correct and that’s why the argument keeps going. God is sovereign. As many as were appointed or ordained to eternal life believed. But their belief was a matter of choice as it always is! I choose to believe. I choose not to believe. As many as had been appointed believed.
f) Ephesians 1:4
g) Revelation 13:8 & 17:8; Rev.3:8
II. important terms
A. Foreknowledge
1. Calvin: God sovereignly chose based on His predetermined plan.
2. Arminian: God chose based on the fact He know who would respond.
What Does Foreknowledge Mean? Foreknowledge means all of the knowledge that God possesses. Based on that He has made a decision or choice. Now is there room for including that He knew you were going to make that choice? O.K. there is a possibility, but 1 Peter 1:2 doesn’t limit itself to that. And this is where I believer the weakness of this theology comes in.
a) 1 Peter 1:2—God Knew You Were Going To Get Saved So He Chose You:
(1) See how simple that is. It was His foreknowledge that is why He chose you. The problem of using this passage of Scripture on the term foreknowledge.
(2) The Arminian comes to this passage and says, “God knew you were going to choose Him so He chose you. And that’s limiting the foreknowledge of God to one specific act about your life. I do not think this is what Peter had in mind here. It’s much broader than a specific thing God knew about me that would take place in my life. It is everything that He was wanting to do in this universe throughout all eternity. Instead if saying foreknowledge we could say the knowledge of God, because all of the knowledge of God is foreknowledge.
b) Romans 8:29
B. election
C. predestination
1. The Doctrine Of Predestination Does Not Mean That God Is Unjust.
a) Are some are saved for all eternity and some are damned from all eternity?
(1) I do not believe that God decides that some people will be saved and that others will be lost.
(2) We are not condemned because we have no opportunity to be saved, but a person is condemned because he makes a choice not to believe (John 3:18).
b) What About the Unelect?
(1) Reprobation-Double Predestination-Created For Damnation: If the implication of Depravity for the unregenerate elect (i.e., a dead and inoperable will) is answered by Unconditional Election (i.e., it does not matter), then Unconditional Election for the unelect says, “Tough Luck.”
(2) The Softer View—While God elects to save some, He does not elect to damn the rest.
Charles Spurgeon says: Your damnation is your own election, not God’s. We are lost willfully and willingly, lost perversely and utterly, but still lost of our own accord, which is the worst kind of being lost… From the Word of God I gather that damnation is all of man, from top to bottom…He that perishes chooses to perish…It is the will of God that saves; it is the will of man that damns
R.C. Sproul says: The Reformed View teaches that God positively or actively intervenes in the lives of the elect to insure their salvation. The rest of mankind He leaves to themselves.
(3) The Harder View—God Actively intervenes or elects some for Hell just as He elects some for Heaven.
John Calvin said: Many professing a desire to defend the Deity from an invidious charge admit the doctrine of election, but deny that any one is reprobated… This they do ignorantly and childishly, since there could be no election without is opposite reprobation. God is said to set apart those whom he adopts for salvation. It were most absurd to say, that he admits other fortuitously “happening by accident or chance,” with no implication as to the desirability of the outcome” or that they by their industry acquire what election alone confers on a few. Those therefore whom God passes by he reprobates, and that for no other cause that he is pleased to exclude them from the inheritance which he predestines to his children.
c) Faith – Not A Factor:
(1) God and not man decided who would be reprobated just as He decided who would be elected. And according to Calvinism, He did this without regard to the question of faith in Christ or the sinfulness of man.
(2) Therefore, Calvinistic Election says:
(a) To The Unregenerate Elect, “Don’t Worry, you depravity is no obstacle to salvation,”
(b) To The Unelect, “Too bad, you have not been predestined for salvation but damnation” & I am going to actively work to keep you in that state
Quoting John Calvin Again: By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished would 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 the other of those ends, we say he is predestinated either to life or to death.”
(3) It seems to me that in God judging the world that He’s holding people accountable for something that they should have done, or could have done or had the possibility to do but chose not to.
D. the motive of god
III. what about these verses?
1. 110 verses that use the word “whosoever.” An open invitation exists.
(1) All (Matt.11:28-30; Acts 17:30; Rom.5:18; 8:32; 2Cor.5:14-15; 1Tim2:3-6; 2Pet.3:9)
(2) The World (John 1:29; 3:16-17; 1 Tim.1:15; 1 John 2:2)
(3) Whoever, whosoever (John 3:16; Rom.10:9-13; Rev.22:17)
(4) Everyone (John 11:52; Heb.2:9; 5:7,9; Rev.14:6-7)
(5) Accountability (Matthew 11:20-24)
2. The Final Conclusion.
First of all, we must remember that when an evangelist says once you come to God He will right you name in the book of life, that is incorrect. Revelation says it has been written there before the foundation of the world.