The Five Points of Calvinism

There are two mains camps of theology within Christianity in America today: Arminianism and Calvinism. Calvinism is a system of biblical interpretation taught by John Calvin. Calvin lived in France in the 1500's at the time of Martin Luther who sparked the Reformation. The system of Calvinism adheres to a very high view of scripture and seeks to derive its theological formulations based solely on Gods word. It focuses on Gods sovereignty, stating that God is able and willing by virtue of his omniscience, omnipresence, and omnipotence, to do whatever He desires with His creation. It also maintains that within the Bible are the following teachings: That God, by His sovereign grace predestines people into salvation; that Jesus died only for those predestined; that God regenerates the individual where he is then able and wants to choose God; and that it is impossible for those who are redeemed to lose their salvation. Arminianism, on the other hand, maintains that God predestined, but not in an absolute sense. Rather, He looked into the future to see who would pick him and then He chose them. Jesus died for all peoples' sins who have ever lived and ever will live, not just the Christians. Each person is the one who decides if he wants to be saved or not. And finally, it is possible to lose your salvation (some arminians believe you cannot lose your salvation). Basically, Calvinism is known by an acronym: T.U.L.I.P. Total Depravity (also known as Total Inability and Original Sin) Unconditional Election Limited Atonement (also known as Particular Atonement) Irresistible Grace Perseverance of the Saints (also known as Once Saved Always Saved) These five categories do not comprise Calvinism in totality. They simply represent some of its main points. Total Depravity:

Sin has affected all parts of man. The heart, emotions, will, mind, and body are all affected by sin. We are completely sinful. We are not as sinful as we could be, but we are completely affected by sin.
The doctrine of Total Depravity is derived from scriptures that reveal human character: Mans heart is evil (Mark 7:21-23) and sick Jer. 17:9). Man is a slave of sin (Rom. 6:20). He does not seek for God (Rom. 3:10-12). He cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14). He is at enmity with God (Eph. 2:15). And, is by nature a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3). The Calvinist asks the question, "In light of the scriptures that declare mans true nature as being utterly lost and incapable, how is it possible for anyone to choose or desire God?" The answer is, "He cannot. Therefore God must predestine." Calvinism also maintains that because of our fallen nature we are born again not by our own will but Gods will (John 1:12-13); God grants that we believe (Phil. 1:29); faith is the work

of God (John 6:28-29); God appoints people to believe (Acts 13:48); and God predestines (Eph. 1:1-11; Rom. 8:29; 9:9-23). Unconditional Election: God does not base His election on anything He sees in the individual. He chooses the elect according to the kind intention of His will (Eph. 1:4-8; Rom. 9:11) without any consideration of merit within the individual. Nor does God look into the future to see who would pick Him. Also, as some are elected into salvation, others are not (Rom. 9:15, 21). Limited Atonement: Jesus died only for the elect. Though Jesus sacrifice was sufficient for all, it was not efficacious for all. Jesus only bore the sins of the elect. Support for this position is drawn from such scriptures as Matt. 26:28 where Jesus died for many'; John 10:11, 15 which say that Jesus died for the sheep (not the goats, per Matt. 25:32-33); John 17:9 where Jesus in prayer interceded for the ones given Him, not those of the entire world; Acts 20:28 and Eph. 5:25-27 which state that the Church was purchased by Christ, not all people; and Isaiah 53:12 which is a prophecy of Jesus crucifixion where he would bore the sins of many (not all). Irresistible Grace: When God calls his elect into salvation, they cannot resist. God offers to all people the gospel message. This is called the external call. But to the elect, God extends an internal call and it cannot be resisted. This call is by the Holy Spirit who works in the hearts and minds of the elect to bring them to repentance and regeneration whereby they willingly and freely come to God. Some of the verses used in support of this teaching are Romans 9:16 where it says that "it is not of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of God who has mercy"; Philippians 2:12-13 where God is said to be the one working salvation in the individual; John 6:28-29 where faith is declared to be the work of God; Acts 13:48 where God appoints people to believe; and John 1:12-13 where being born again is not by mans will, but by Gods. Perseverance of the Saints: You cannot lose your salvation. Because the Father has elected, the Son has redeemed, and the Holy Spirit has applied salvation, those thus saved are eternally secure. They are eternally secure in Christ. Some of the verses for this position are John 10:27-28 where Jesus said His sheep will never perish; John 6:47 where salvation is described as everlasting life; Romans 8:1 where it is said we have passed out of judgment; 1 Corinthians 10:13 where God promises to never let us be tempted beyond what we can handle; and Phil. 1:6 where God is the one being faithful to perfect us until the day of Jesus return.

http://calvinistcorner.com/tulip Editorial Divine and Human Freedom by Rev. Andrew Sandlin

The Tyranny of Non-Christian Freedom

The most objectionable tenet of the Reformed Faith to the mind of its detractors is its view of absolute predestination and election.[1] Though it is a doctrine taught plainly in the Bible[2] and by the leading Western church father, Augustine,[3] and expressed forcibly in the writings of John Calvin and in the Canons and Decrees of the Synod of Dort, moderns suckled on heady notions of freedom in our ultra-democratic age find the bare mention of the possibility of divine predestination simply monstrous. To the mind of modern man, if he is to be free, he must be free in the sense that God is freethat is, absolute, unconditioned freedom. Of course, since God and man cannot be absolutely free simultaneously, eventually God is relegated to dependence on the absolute freedom of man. Man becomes the Great Predestinator; and, as Rushdoony has noted on several occasions, soon man in the form of the state begins to predestine every area of mans life in terms of an abstract antinomianism. Men, therefore, do not escape predestination; rather, they simply transfer it from God to man. In Rushdoonys language, predestination is an inescapable concept.[4] The course of this depravity is methodical: first man asserts a measure of freedom from God; then he claims an equal or coordinate freedom with God; subsequently, he asserts that God must respond to mans freedom; and finally God becomes dependent on man and on mans freedom of choice for his very existence. This is the blasphemy of Nietzsche, as well as Marx, both of whom believed that God is the invention of the fertile mind of man. The French Revolution and Pol Pots Cambodia are horrific testimonies to the perverse notion of the freedom of man. The idea of the freedom of man apart from God and his absolute freedom never leads to righteousness or utopia, but always to depravity, dystopia, and hell. Because man in his natural state is a depraved human being, he will always will to do evil. Freedom in the Biblical Sense The Bible does teach that man is a free being, but only in terms of an absolutely free God. Man can be derivatively free as a creature precisely because God is absolutely free as the Creator. Chapter three of the magisterial Westminster Confession of Faith, in addressing the issue of Gods eternal decree, states that "God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass . . . ." It correctly attaches as prooftexts Ephesians 1:11, Hebrews 6:17, and Romans 9:15, 18. It goes on immediately, however, to assert that this Biblical teaching in no way denies "the liberty or contingency of second causes," citing Acts 2:23, Matthew 17:12, Acts 4:27, 28, John 19:11, and Proverbs 26:33. Unfortunately, many professed Calvinists are much more accomplished at affirming Gods absolute freedom than mans derivative freedom. If the great error of Arminians is the notion that if man is to be free, he must be free in the sense that God is free, the error of some Calvinists is that if God is free, man cannot be free in any sense at all. But the God who created man out of his own image determined that man would be free to act within the plan of God. Man exists in a divinely created and covenantally shaped universe. He is, therefore, a conditioned being. He is conditioned by his past, his history, his body, his will, his emotions, his intelligence, his mind every aspect of Gods creation that comes to bear on him. God has at his disposal every aspect of his creation to fulfill his plan in the entire universeincluding in man. But to say that mans life and his choices are not unconditioned is not to say that they are not in any sense free. Man acts

according to his nature. The natural man sins because he wishes to sin. Sin is delightful to him. He is oriented to sin because he was born in sin. The regenerate man is different. He is free from the power (though not the presence) of sin. It is no longer his nature to be sinful, although he will bear within him until his dying day the residue of the sinfulness of what St. Paul calls the "old man." Just as the unregenerate man is born in sin, so the regenerate man is born from above in righteousness. It is his nature to desire adherence to Christ, the Bible, and sanctification. Every time the unregenerate man sins in asserting his supposed freedom from God, he further binds himself to the sin which destroys true human freedom. Genuine human freedom is experienced only in Jesus Christ and in obedience to his Law-Word ( Jn. 8:36 ). Therefore, every assertion of human autonomy is equally an assertion of human bondage. Likewise, every assertion of human submission to the Lord Jesus and his word is equally an assertion of the greatest human freedom possible. The Significance of Freedom for the Christian The man who understands the doctrine of predestination and the proper relationship between divine and human freedom does not worry about them. They are not a source of vexation for him but a source of comfort. The Christian knows that because of absolute divine predestination, with man, all things are not possible. The greatest enemies of mankind are those men who believe that man is absolutely free. If man is absolutely free, then God, if he does exist, is a conditioned being dependent on the absolute predestinating man. The Christian glories in the doctrine of the divine predestination of human freedom, working out his own salvation with fear and trembling, knowing that it is God who works in us to will and do his good pleasure ( Phil. 2:12, 13 ). He sees these doctrines as he sees every other doctrine: in terms of the revelation of the sovereign, covenant-keeping God. In every aspect of his life, a godly man attempts to obey and please God. He works tirelessly to advance Christs kingdom in the earth, beginning with his own life, in his family, church, and wider society, including the state. He does not profess to comprehend every nook and cranny of the Biblical view of Gods predestinating work, nor does he profess to understand all of Gods providential dealings. He simply acknowledges that whatever God does, is good. His responsibility is not to question the plan of God, but to obey the Word of God. He basks in the knowledge of Gods absolute predestination, and works with the knowledge of his own creaturely freedom.
CALVINISM PAST AND PRESENT
Calvinism is a branch of the Protestant church based on the teachings of French reformer, John Calvin (1509-64). The most fundamental tenet of Calvinistic belief is that God is sovereign. In addition to this core belief, there are five tenets of Calvinism, which are sometimes taught using the acronym TULIP:

 Total depravity is the belief that humanity cannot be saved without Gods grace. This is due to
original sin or the fall of man in the Garden of Eden.

Unconditional election is the belief that the few individuals who achieve salvation do so by the
grace of God not by their own good works.

Limited atonement means that Christ died only for those individuals who are predestined for
salvation, not for the world at large.

Irresistible grace dictates that individuals who are predestined for salvation cannot reject
Gods grace.

Perseverance of the Saints is sometimes referred to as once saved always saved, that is, the
elect chosen for salvation cannot lose that privilege.

Calvinists admit that men can are capable of good works without the guiding hand of God but insist that these acts are imperfect. Acts of charity without the influence of God are tarnished and serve only to stroke the givers ego. An additional belief that guides the modern Calvinist church is the regulative principle of worship. This means that all the elements necessary for worship are described in the Bible. Musical instruments were once forbidden in worship services because John Calvin theorized that musical instruments were not used in New Testament churches. Modern churches brush this belief aside and add singing and instruments to their services.

Calvinist belief is experiencing a new popularity in North America according to Time magazine writer David Van Biema. His article on Neo Calvinism is included in the March 12, 2009 article 10 Ideas Changing the World Right Now. The somewhat rigid belief system appears to have a growing appeal to individuals swamped by an anything goes morality. The new spokespeople for Neo Calvinism include John Piper of Minneapolis, Mark Driscoll of Seattle, and Albert Mohler, head of the Southern Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention.

http://www.lgmarshall.org/calvinism/