THE PROFOUND INFLUENCE OF CALVINISM
The Calvinist believes that God predetermined that certain people would be saved and go to heaven, and that He predetermined others for condemnation. It is important that we take some time to consider this system of thought, not only because it terribly distorts the truth of God’s Word, but also because Calvinism has been such a dominant influence in the religious culture of western civilization for so long. The Church today continues to be under the spell of this system.
Something should be made clear from the beginning. I have often heard it said by Bible teachers who are supposedly “in the know” that Calvin himself is not the one to fault regarding the error of this system. No, those who succeeded Calvin, like Theodore Beza, were the radical ones. Without really looking into this I just used to assume that they knew what they were talking about. However, several years ago, I began to do some reading in John Calvin’s monumental "Institutes of the Christian Religion." It became immediately and increasingly clear to me that the source of error in this system, even in the modern variations of Calvinism, was John Calvin himself. Although the five points of Calvinism (all of them false, as we will see) were developed after Calvin lived, all five points were the necessary outcome of Calvin’s unbiblical premise. It was John Calvin himself who wrote:
“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.”[1]
“We say, then, that Scripture clearly proves this much, that God by his eternal and immutable counsel determined once for all those whom it was his pleasure one day to admit to salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, it was his pleasure to doom to destruction.”[2]
Not only was Calvin’s doctrine of predestination serious error, but he also taught infant baptism and that the ritual of water baptism has now been substituted for the ritual of circumcision.[3] It also should be mentioned that he taught baptismal regeneration.[4] All of these things certainly destroy his credibility as a teacher of doctrine. But should we not cut Calvin some slack, bearing in mind the differences in the religious, social and political environment during Calvin’s time? After all, the Reformation was just beginning to take Europe out of some very dark times. Can we not take this into consideration? Absolutely. Yet, in the final analysis, the doctrine which John Calvin set forth (and which still captivates millions) must be judged in the light of the Word of God.
THE HISTORY OF CALVINISM: AUGUSTINE
To trace the history of Calvinism, we must go back to a man known as Augustine of Hippo, born in AD 354. Augustine’s father was apparently an unbeliever, but his mother was a Christian who desired to bring up her son in the teachings and values of Christianity.
Augustine was a problem child. He was lazy and he became what we might today call a “party animal.” From a young age he led a life of immoral degeneracy. When he was 17 he took a mistress and fathered a son. He pursued an education, but drifted aimlessly from one philosophy to another. In 376 he taught grammar, and he later went to Carthage to teach rhetoric. After some time in Rome, he wound up in Milan, studying under Ambrose. Ambrose was a powerful preacher, but Augustine was interested in acquiring Ambrose’s skills as a rhetorician and orator.
Augustine soon came under conviction from the truth of God’s Word, which resulted in a time of great struggle between his conscience and the lusts of the flesh. Torn by this struggle, he tried to find some calm in a garden one day in the summer of 386. He and his friend Alypius entered the garden to pray. Augustine describes something quite dramatic which unfolded:
"I was suddenly asking myself these questions, weeping all the while with the most bitter sorrow in my heart, when all at once I heard a sing-song voice of a child in a nearby house. Whether it was the voice of a boy or girl I cannot say, but again and again it repeated the refrain “Take and read, take and read.”[5]
Augustine took this to be a divine command instructing him to open his book of Scripture and read the first passage upon which his eyes fell. He did so, and the passage was:
Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. (Romans 13:13-14)
This was a profound turning point for Augustine. He writes:
“I had no wish to read more and no need to do so. For in an instant, as I came to the end of the sentence, it was as though the light of confidence flooded into my heart and all the darkness of doubt was dispelled.”[6]
From that point on, Augustine was determined to fully embrace his new faith. He observed rules of discipline, submitted to personal poverty and even performed manual labor. He studied, prayed, and became profoundly aware of the grace of God. His life was turned completely around. He wound up teaching doctrine to a large flock at Hippo Regius, and he produced an enormous volume of written work.
It is important for us to remember that Augustine wrote very early in Church history. The Church had not, prior to Augustine, really classified, nor considered in a systematic way, such doctrines as Adam’s fall, the depravity of man, Christ’s work for salvation, the doctrine of election, etc.
Augustine taught that God has predestinated some to salvation and others to condemnation. He taught that grace is irresistible: that is, that man cannot reject God’s call. He taught that grace only comes to those to whom God chooses to send it, and that Christ did not die on the cross for all members of the human race, only for God’s chosen. Augustine believed that man has been entirely corrupted by the fall to the point where he is unable to exercise his will with regard to salvation.
Augustine’s greatest opposition came from a Celtic monk named Pelagius. One day Pelagius rolled into Rome and was appalled that Christians there were opposed to the rigorous asceticism practiced by him and his followers. Ultimately he attributed Rome’s laxity and moral decay to the doctrine of divine grace which had been developed by Augustine.
Pelagius believed in, and emphasized, the power of human will. He denied the fact of the sin nature inherited from Adam, teaching that only Adam was affected by the fall; that human beings are born neutral and that we all have the ability to cooperate with God in the process of salvation and the attainment of holiness. He was banished from Rome in 418 and officially condemned as a heretic. Unofficially, however, his doctrine has lived on and, in less extreme forms, has been incorporated into various systems of thought within the Church.
JOHN CALVIN
John Calvin (1509-1564) was without question the doctrinal leader of the reformation. Where Martin Luther was the preacher of the reformation, Calvin was its theologian. In 1535, at age 27, Calvin wrote Institutes of the Christian Religion. This proved to be the most influential work of the Protestant Reformation. In it, Calvin was largely reviving and repackaging the teaching of Augustine. He cites and appeals to Augustine throughout. Calvin’s concept of double predestination (of the elect and the condemned) had been advanced by Augustine over a thousand years before Calvin.
THEODORE BEZA
The Swiss city of Geneva became the nerve-center of the reformation, and Calvinism quickly spread throughout Europe. In 1564 Calvin died and his leadership was picked up by Theodore Beza. Some maintain that Beza corrupted Calvin’s pure doctrine with new twists which Calvin would have repudiated. They suggest that “pure” Calvinism has been all but lost because the masses have gone the way of Beza. Others say this is nonsense, that Beza did not significantly add to or alter any of Calvin’s teachings. But, as has been pointed out, the problem with Calvinism clearly has its source in John Calvin; and even in Augustine before Calvin.
It was Beza who developed the system which came to be known as supralapsarianism. (from the Latin supra and lapsum: “before the fall”), the doctrine that God decreed both election and reprobation before the fall. Supralapsarianism teaches that in the logical order of decrees, God decreed to glorify Himself through the election of some and reprobation of others—and then He decreed to create men (both elect and non-elect)—and then He decreed to permit the fall as the means by which His purpose would be carried out. Thus, His mercy is revealed in the election of some, His justice in the reprobation of others.
JAMES ARMINIUS
Strong oppositition to Calvinism eventually came through a Dutch Reformed minister and student of Beza, James Arminius. While a young pastor in Amsterdam, Arminius was asked to write a paper to refute the teachings of Dirck Coornhert, who, in 1576, published some objections to the doctrine of predestination as taught by strict Calvinists. While studying the objections of Coornhert, Arminius became convinced that many of Coornhert’s views were correct. When Arminius was appointed professor of theology at Leiden, tension began to develop as his teachings clashed with those of Franciscus Gomarus, an ardent Calvinist and supralapsarian.
As Arminius continued to develop and set forth his convictions, hostility from Gomarus and his followers intensified. Holland became divided into two camps and the conflict had political and social as well as theological implications. Most of the middle class came to support the Arminian position, and rural classes in the lower areas of Holland adhered to the position of Gomarus. The possibility of civil war was looming. Arminius requested that a national synod be held and he defended his position before the ruling body of the Netherlands, but died in 1609 before the conference ended.
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THE REMONSTRANCE
After Arminius died, his followers put together a formal statement declaring their beliefs. This document, known as The Remonstrance, contained five articles outlining their basic disagreements with strict Calvinism. In summary, the articles stated:
(1) That God determined in Christ Jesus to save out of sinful humanity those who believe on Christ and who shall persevere in faith and obedience; and to leave the "incorrigible and unbelieving in sin and under death."
(2) Jesus Christ died for all men and for every man, and that by his death on the cross, redemption and forgiveness of sins is obtained; "yet that no one actually enjoys this forgiveness of sins except the believer."
(3) Fallen man "has not saving grace of himself" and that apart from the Holy Spirit "can of and by himself neither think, will, nor do anything that is truly good."
(4) That, in light of article three, "all good deeds and movements [in man] must be ascribed to the grace of God in Christ", this grace, however, "...is not irresistible inasmuch as it is written concerning many, that they have resisted the Holy Ghost."
(5) Those who believe in Christ have "full power" to persevere in faith and overcome any and all temptations, but whether or not, through their own negligence or forsaking of the Gospel may become "devoid of grace" required more study of Scriptures.[7]
THE SYNOD OF DORT
In the years 1618-1619 a national conference of the Netherlands Reformed Church was held in Dordrecht (Dort), the Netherlands. The assembly was called to address three problems confronting the Church, one of which was the Arminian position declared in The Remonstrance. The Remonstrants (Arminians) expected this to be an open forum where they could express their views and where these views could be discussed. Instead, it was essentially an ambush. Thirteen of the Arminian theologians suddenly found themselves on trial for heresy before the Synod which was heavily controlled by the Calvinists. Ultimately, more than two hundred Arminian pastors were removed from their posts, and fifteen were arrested.
TULIP BEGINS TO BLOSSOM
At the Synod of Dort a document known as the Canon of Dort directly responded, in five articles, to the five articles which the Arminians had developed. The articles issued in the Canon of Dort have since come to be identified with the acrostic TULIP. The letters of TULIP represent the first letters of these doctrines developed by the Calvinists:
Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints
This, then, has been a very brief history of the system of belief we call Calvinism, but every attempt has been made to not oversimplify it. The five points which came from Dort are erroneous—all of them—as we will show in another article. We will consider what they mean to the Calvinist and why they are wrong. The development of these points derives from a premise which is false: the notion of predestination as viewed by John Calvin and his predecessor Augustine. TULIP is only to be expected from such an unbiblical concept.
Footnotes:
1. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, tr. Henry Beveridge (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1989), III: xxi, 5.
2. Ibid., 7.
3. Ibid., IV: xvi, 4.
4. Ibid. and IV: xv, 3.
5. Augustine, Confessions, VIII, 12.
6. Ibid.
7. Jonathan D. Duttweiler, "The Synod of Dort and Moral Government Theology," http.//www.biblical-theology.com/Calvinism/syndort.htm.
Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. www.lockman.org
This article is a revised excerpt from “Then the Proconsul Believed: A study of the Acts of the Apostles, Volume I—Acts Chapters 1—13,” by Lee Griffith, available free of charge, upon request.
Copyright © 2006 Lee Griffith. All rights reserved.
