Calvinism - "Ism" Or Biblical Christianity?
An 'ism' - from favouritism to feminism or from agnosticism to atheism is any word that shares this ending.
We use it to refer to a distinct activity, but more often to beliefs connected with the word which have a specialised content.
Hence 'Calvinism', and as it's still very misunderstood by Christians who think it is against the gospel of Christ, we must take a closer look.
· RICH AND WONDERFUL This brief overview will focus on John's Gospel.
And while you may think I am a Calvinist, I came to see either similar or the same beliefs as John Calvin, not because I ever read his writings in great detail and followed them, but rather because I have read the same writings that he read - the Christian Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and discovered there rich and wonderful truths.
But first, let's admit some ideas thought to be Calvinism are rather topsy-turvy; such as you must not make a free offer of the gospel to all people, but only to God's elect, or that God drags people into his kingdom against their will, and leaves others who seriously desire to enter, outside.
Let's leave these muddled ideas aside, and instead search the Scriptures.
· LIFE-GIVING In John's Gospel we find that all who believe in the Son of God 'who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God' (Jn.
1:12-13).
Here we find that those who have placed their trust in God's Son become the children of God, and that their life-giving birth into God's family is the Father's will.
Later Jesus teaches Nicodemus, a prominent Jewish teacher, an unsettling truth, that even though he was deeply religious, 'he cannot enter the kingdom of God' (3:5) without a new birth; he 'must be born again' (3:7).
Jesus then explains how the actions and working of the Spirit of God is not at man's whim or call; indeed 'you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit' (3:8).
This is a vital truth - we do not know! · BOUNDLESS LOVE We then see the wide outpouring of the Father's love and as long before, Moses had raised a bronze serpent in the wilderness, when all who looked to it were saved from death, 'so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life' (33:14-16).
Here is the revelation of the amazing love of God for a world fallen into dark moral rebellion, and the freeness of the 'whosoever believes'! One common belief held by people who mistrust what they take to be Calvinism is that God has given to everyone the ability to believe the gospel and be saved, and that God foresees all who choose to put their faith in Christ and because of their choice then predestines them to eternal life.
· FROM DEATH TO LIFE! In chapter 5, we see how Jesus teaches about two resurrections; one is final at the last day, but the other is in the here and now.
He says that 'whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.
He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.
Truly, truly, I say to you, and hour is coming and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live' (5:24-25).
This is vital teaching, and it is explicit.
Now is the time - it has arrived, not referring to people in their graves, but when the spiritually dead now hear and live.
They have been spiritually resurrected and received eternal life when they hear the voice of the Son of God's and believe in him.
But in the condition of death that they were in, they had no natural ability to hear and believe.
So those who 'hear' are also those who pass from death to life.
But if they do not naturally posses the ability to 'hear', from where does it come? Jesus explains this; 'All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out' (6:37), and he reinforces this by 'No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
And I will raise him up on the last day.
It is written in the Prophets, "And they will all be taught by God.
" Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me' (6:44-45).
Now we see that all who hear the voice of God the Father and learn from him come to Christ for salvation.
Did you ever pray 'Lord speak to me through your word'? · RESPONSIBLE BUT UNABLE Here, we begin to see a natural inability to come to Christ and believe in him, but instead, a clear effective drawing by God who enlightens our minds and teaches us, and all such who come, will never be turned away - that's good news! Jesus then explains 'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free' (8:32), and 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin...
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed' (8:34 & 36).
So, we find this inability is part of our natural bondage to sin from which Jesus alone has the power to deliver.
People are certainly responsible to God for their sinful rebellion and slavery to sin, and cannot use fatalism as an excuse even though they have no natural free-will ability to free themselves.
Close to the time of Jesus' death, he prays to his Father, 'I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.
Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word' (17:6).
All who receive eternal life in Christ are the Father's love gift to the Son.
· GLORIOUS GOSPEL At times we hear people say 'it's not fair if God asks people to repent and believe, if they have no ability to do such things.
Surely God will only ask people to do what they have the ability to do.
' But consider that God's law requires that we love and obey him perfectly, but we all have no such natural ability, and in that very discovery we see our wretched bondage to sin and the spiritual deadness of our own hearts.
And it is then that despairing of our own inability we may call upon the Lord, who alone is able to set us free and forgive our sins.
And as we begin to grasp how the Lord is rich in mercy, and abundantly willing and able to save us, we find a new appreciation of the glory of Jesus' finished work upon the cross.
And when we find such a rich and open invitation to enter life in fellowship with God, we may also see we were part of the Father's love gift to the Son, which he purchased by his own precious blood.
Oh, what a great salvation, what a great and glorious gospel that gives all the glory to God and none to our own fallen abilities! Do you see now that salvation is all of God's overflowing grace? So, while at times we must make clear distinctions, it's not always necessary to call these truths 'Calvinism', why not just call them 'biblical Christianity' or 'the gospel of the grace of God'?
We use it to refer to a distinct activity, but more often to beliefs connected with the word which have a specialised content.
Hence 'Calvinism', and as it's still very misunderstood by Christians who think it is against the gospel of Christ, we must take a closer look.
· RICH AND WONDERFUL This brief overview will focus on John's Gospel.
And while you may think I am a Calvinist, I came to see either similar or the same beliefs as John Calvin, not because I ever read his writings in great detail and followed them, but rather because I have read the same writings that he read - the Christian Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments and discovered there rich and wonderful truths.
But first, let's admit some ideas thought to be Calvinism are rather topsy-turvy; such as you must not make a free offer of the gospel to all people, but only to God's elect, or that God drags people into his kingdom against their will, and leaves others who seriously desire to enter, outside.
Let's leave these muddled ideas aside, and instead search the Scriptures.
· LIFE-GIVING In John's Gospel we find that all who believe in the Son of God 'who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God' (Jn.
1:12-13).
Here we find that those who have placed their trust in God's Son become the children of God, and that their life-giving birth into God's family is the Father's will.
Later Jesus teaches Nicodemus, a prominent Jewish teacher, an unsettling truth, that even though he was deeply religious, 'he cannot enter the kingdom of God' (3:5) without a new birth; he 'must be born again' (3:7).
Jesus then explains how the actions and working of the Spirit of God is not at man's whim or call; indeed 'you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.
So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit' (3:8).
This is a vital truth - we do not know! · BOUNDLESS LOVE We then see the wide outpouring of the Father's love and as long before, Moses had raised a bronze serpent in the wilderness, when all who looked to it were saved from death, 'so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life' (33:14-16).
Here is the revelation of the amazing love of God for a world fallen into dark moral rebellion, and the freeness of the 'whosoever believes'! One common belief held by people who mistrust what they take to be Calvinism is that God has given to everyone the ability to believe the gospel and be saved, and that God foresees all who choose to put their faith in Christ and because of their choice then predestines them to eternal life.
· FROM DEATH TO LIFE! In chapter 5, we see how Jesus teaches about two resurrections; one is final at the last day, but the other is in the here and now.
He says that 'whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life.
He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.
Truly, truly, I say to you, and hour is coming and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live' (5:24-25).
This is vital teaching, and it is explicit.
Now is the time - it has arrived, not referring to people in their graves, but when the spiritually dead now hear and live.
They have been spiritually resurrected and received eternal life when they hear the voice of the Son of God's and believe in him.
But in the condition of death that they were in, they had no natural ability to hear and believe.
So those who 'hear' are also those who pass from death to life.
But if they do not naturally posses the ability to 'hear', from where does it come? Jesus explains this; 'All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out' (6:37), and he reinforces this by 'No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.
And I will raise him up on the last day.
It is written in the Prophets, "And they will all be taught by God.
" Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me' (6:44-45).
Now we see that all who hear the voice of God the Father and learn from him come to Christ for salvation.
Did you ever pray 'Lord speak to me through your word'? · RESPONSIBLE BUT UNABLE Here, we begin to see a natural inability to come to Christ and believe in him, but instead, a clear effective drawing by God who enlightens our minds and teaches us, and all such who come, will never be turned away - that's good news! Jesus then explains 'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free' (8:32), and 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin...
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed' (8:34 & 36).
So, we find this inability is part of our natural bondage to sin from which Jesus alone has the power to deliver.
People are certainly responsible to God for their sinful rebellion and slavery to sin, and cannot use fatalism as an excuse even though they have no natural free-will ability to free themselves.
Close to the time of Jesus' death, he prays to his Father, 'I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world.
Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word' (17:6).
All who receive eternal life in Christ are the Father's love gift to the Son.
· GLORIOUS GOSPEL At times we hear people say 'it's not fair if God asks people to repent and believe, if they have no ability to do such things.
Surely God will only ask people to do what they have the ability to do.
' But consider that God's law requires that we love and obey him perfectly, but we all have no such natural ability, and in that very discovery we see our wretched bondage to sin and the spiritual deadness of our own hearts.
And it is then that despairing of our own inability we may call upon the Lord, who alone is able to set us free and forgive our sins.
And as we begin to grasp how the Lord is rich in mercy, and abundantly willing and able to save us, we find a new appreciation of the glory of Jesus' finished work upon the cross.
And when we find such a rich and open invitation to enter life in fellowship with God, we may also see we were part of the Father's love gift to the Son, which he purchased by his own precious blood.
Oh, what a great salvation, what a great and glorious gospel that gives all the glory to God and none to our own fallen abilities! Do you see now that salvation is all of God's overflowing grace? So, while at times we must make clear distinctions, it's not always necessary to call these truths 'Calvinism', why not just call them 'biblical Christianity' or 'the gospel of the grace of God'?
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