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Calvinism. Steve Wolfgang 3 October 2016 ECIC. Matthew 11:28–30.
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Calvinism Steve Wolfgang 3 October 2016 ECIC
Matthew 11:28–30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Calvinism’s “Five Points” Total Hereditary Depravity Unconditional Election Limited Atonement Irresistible Grace Perseverance of Saints This is, of course, an English acronym, not ever written by Calvin (in French) or Remonstrants (in Dutch)
In the (in)famous ranking of “The 100” • Calvin comes in at #57, outranking notables such as • Cyrus the Great • Julius Caesar • Charlemagne • Johannes Kepler • Queen Elizabeth I • Thomas Jefferson • Joseph Stalin • Mao Zedong
Calvinism & Evangelicals • R. Albert Mohler • President, SBTS, 1993 – • SBC “takeover” – ca. 1979 • ETS
What’s the Attraction? • Seems “Biblical” (some texts) • Has intellectual “heft” • God-centered • Comfort (God is in control) • Assurance (certainty in salvation) • Tradition (“larger than me at this moment”)
Addressing “Big Questions” • Does man have free will? • Does God know the future? • Is everyone saved? • Is God responsible for sin? • Can a person “fall away?” • How can I know I am saved? • What about infant baptism?
How Do People Enconter the “New Calvinism?” • Devotional literature • Hymnology • Bible study curricula • “Study” Bible notes • Authors including John Piper, Tim Keller, Mark Driscoll, Al Mohler, R.C. Sproul, others
Calvinism After Calvin • “Was Calvin a Calvinist (implying that the later collection of theological commitments known as ‘Calvinism,’ as forged in late 16th and early 17th century polemics, can be brought into relation with Calvin’s theology as a means of judging fidelity or otherwise to his thinking)?” • Carl R. Trueman (Westminster Theological Seminary), Histories and Fallacies: Problems Faced in the Writing of History (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2010)., p. 161.
Calvinism After Calvin • “Some have seen the development between Calvin and later Reformed theology as one where there is an increasing focus on predestination, to the point where it becomes the logical axiom and organizing principle of the whole of theology. Some have seen it as a regression to an earlier, medieval way of doing theology, particularly as evidenced by the resurgence of in the use of scholastic vocabulary, medieval sources, and the apparent revival of Aristotle as a metaphysical and logical authority.” • Trueman, Histories and Fallacies, p. 121.
Calvinism After Calvin • “Others have seen the development as a move toward Enlightenment rationalism, with an increasing emphasis upon the extent of natural theology (i.e., that theology which can be derived from observing the natural world, as opposed to that which comes from special revelation, such as the Bible). All of these groups have two things in common: they fail to approach the issue in a truly historical way and, in so doing, they end up imposing anachronistic criteria on 17thcentury thought.” • Trueman, Histories and Fallacies, p. 121. Here, Trueman is relying heavily on the work of Richard A. Muller, After Calvin: Studies in the Development of a Theological Tradition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), especially chapters 4 and 5.
Arminian “Issues”Practical, not simply doctrinal • Jacob Harmensz (ca. 1560-1609) • Latinized Harmenszoon (Herman’s son) to Arminius; first name – Jacobus (English translation – James) • Parents killed in Spanish (Catholic) attack on his hometown in 1575, while Arminius a student at Marburg • William of Orange established for the new Dutch republic a university at Leiden • After Leiden, Arminius receives scholarship to Geneva • At Geneva, Arminius encounters Calvin’s successor, Theodore Beza, who had gone beyond Calvin at some points, particularly regarding predestination.
Arminian “Issues”Practical, not simply doctrinal • Preaching in Amsterdam, where three of his children died in infancy, Arminius encountered other “issues” • Challenged to defend Beza’s views, he writes mostly about what his disagreement with his teacher • Thus, his writings probably obscure the points on which he agreed with “Calvinistic” doctrines • Whether his views changed, or he never truly accepted Beza’s more extreme views, is a question many have disputed
Arminian “Issues”Practical, not simply doctrinal • The real crisis arose with the plague of 1602 • Questions regarding assurance (Latin, desperatio) – lack of hope, hopelessness • Calvinistic (Calvin’s?) concept of “temporary faith” of reprobates (not actual salvation, but the appearance) • Greater problem: False security • Why so concerned, Jake? If elect, NBD! • Saved if you do, saved if you don’t • Lowered expectations for sanctification – Romans 7 • Latin: securitas – seen as “false security” – Worse than desperation (at least acknowledges a problem!)
Arminianism • “There are many streams of theology and political ideology called Arminian that lead far afield from Arminius’ teaching.” • Mildred Bangs Wynkoop, Foundations of Wesleyan-Arminian Theology (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1967), p. 60
“Lutheran and Calvinist theologies… • …shared more than an antipathy to Roman Catholicism. They shared ideas, reinforced each other, and offered up an assortment of theological building blocks to other leaders who customized their own Protestant viewpoints in acts of borrowing as much as theological invention… They also challenged each other to be more precise…as they claimed an increasingly broad and committed following…[of] various Anabaptists, English and Scottish innovators, and others.” • John Corrigan and Winthrop S. Hudson, Religion in America(7th ed., Pearson/Prentice-Hall, 2004), p. 24.
Imagine my bewilderment at • the “American Dutch Reformed Chinese,” • or, attempting to sort through the disquieting spectrum of semi-Calvinistic-to-Arminian aptist denominations: • General, Regular, Particular, Separate, • “Hardshell”/Primitive/“Old School,” • Freewill, Landmark, Southern, Northern, • Fundamentalist, Independent, etc.
What Might We Learn Profitably from Calvinism? • Larger vision of God and His glory, majesty, beauty, truth (vs. “Big Buddy upstairs”) • Theological depth (vs. stylistic shallowness; ignorance is not a “Christian virtue”) • Relationship of divine grace and human autonomy (vs. divine determinism or human self-determination)
Biblical Foreknowledge 1 Peter 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
Foreordination “God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.” Westminster Confession
Foreordination “God’s decrees are the wise, free, and holy acts of the counsel of his will, whereby, from all eternity, he hath, for his own glory, unchangeably fore-ordained whatsoever comes to pass, especially concerning angels and men.” Larger Catechism, Q12
John Piper on Sovreignty • “So every spin of the roulette wheel ... every roll of the dice in your family board game, every reaching of the hand for the scramble of the letter, is determined by God” • From a seminar, “The Pleasures of God,” organized by the Desiring God ministry and held at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN, where he has served as pastor for over three decades. • http://www.christianpost.com/news/john-piper-on-mans-sin-and-gods-sovereignty-80617/#qerbhDIl2Fhs9bJb.99
Thou Shalt Not Kill, Steal, Lie… • Did God foreordain what he forbids? • If God foreordains all man does, will God punish man for doing evil? • Does God foreordain evil? • Psalm 145:9,17
David Bentley Hart “One should consider the price at which that comfort [viz., that of the Calvinist preacher who said, “God killed my son”] is purchased: it requires us to believe in and love a God whose good ends will be achieved not only in spite of – but entirely by way of – every cruelty, every fortuitous misery, every catastrophe, every sin the world has ever known”
David Bentley Hart “It requires us to believe in the eternal spiritual necessity of a child dying an agonizing death from diphtheria, of a young mother ravaged by cancer, of thousands of Asians swallowed in an instant by the sea, of millions in death camps… It is a strange thing indeed to seek peace in a universe rendered morally intelligible at the cost of God rendered morally loathesome.”
David Bentley Hart • “If indeed there were a God whose true nature – whose justice or sovereignty – were revealed in the death of a child or the dereliction of a soul or a pre-destined hell, then it would be no great transgression to think of him as a kind of malevolent or contemptible demiurge, and to hate, and deny him worship, and to seek a better God than he.” • The Doors of the Sea: Where was God in the Tsunami? (Eerdmans, 2011)
Imputation Theories • Adam’s “original sin” imputed to us • Our sins imputed to Christ • Christ’s personal righteousness imputed to us • “The Great Exchange” • Or, “The Cosmic Swap-Out”
Imputation Theories • “The bald argument is that if God by his love and grace, saved us from sin by imputing to us a righteousness in which we had no merit, He must also have cursed and damned us by inflicting upon us a crime for which we were not to blame.” • William T. Bruner, Children of the Devil: A Fresh Investigation of the Fall of Man and Original Sin (New York: Philosophical Library, 1966), p. 137. • Debate on original sin with Clinton D. Hamilton took place at the Expressway church in Louisville, May 23-28, 1966. • Dr. Bruner taught at several Baptist colleges during his career, and was Chairman of the New Testament Department of the Graduate School of Religion at Bob Jones University
“Dressed in His Righteousness Alone:”Imputed Righteousness and Imputed SinEdward Mote, “The Solid Rock” (1836), #412 in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs The idea is that justification is impossible except by perfect obedience of law. This a legalistic concept! … They think Romans 5:10 teaches it…. Notice that we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son. If we are reconciled to God by the death of Christ, then ‘much more, being reconciled [Christ has already died], we shall be saved by His life.’ Which life? The resurrected life, not his life before death.” RFT
Perfect Life of Christ • The perfect life and obedience of Christ are critically important to for our salvation • But not because they are somehow magically “imputed” or transferred to us • Jesus’ sinless life made him the perfect sacrifice for sin – 1 Peter 1:18-19 • echoing Mosaic texts such as Leviticus 22:18-22 regarding the necessity of unblemished sacrifice
Jesus’ Perfect Life • Just as in verse 10, Jesus’ “life” referred to here is not his sinless life before death, but more powerfully (Romans 1:4) his resurrected life – life after death. • Jesus died, and “the life that he lives” is his resurrected life – Romans 6:9-10
Jesus’ Perfect Life • Nowhere does Paul say that the perfect life of Christ, or his personal righteousness, is imputed to anyone else. • If it did, the parallelism would demand the imputation of Adam’s sin to others as well – inherited depravity.
MacArthur Study Bible • MacArthur defines “justification” as • “a legal or forensic term” producing “the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to the believer’s account.” • God not only “declares a sinner righteous solely on the merits of Christ’s righteousness” – in addition, “He imputes a believer’s sin to Christ’s account.” • The sinner “receives this gift of God’s grace by faith alone.”
MacArthur Study Bible • Commenting on the text of Romans 5, MacArthur asserts dogmatically that • “justification is a one-time legal declaration with continuing results” – • “not an ongoing process” by which “the sinner’s war with God is ended forever” • as a result of “the permanent, secure position believers enjoy in God’s grace.”
Perfect Life of Christ • Furthermore, his sinless life makes Him the only possible mediator and priest between man and God, who alone can both empathize with human temptation and weakness and yet is undefiled and separate from sinners – Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:8-9, 7:25-27; 1 Timothy 2:5-6 • Not only that, but “much more,” Jesus’ sinless life provides us a perfect example to follow –1 Peter 2:21-22 • He is powerful to save us – not by living a sinless life in our place, but by suffering the punishment of sin for us. • His life is not a substitution for our life; but His death as a punishment for sin freed us from punishment
Albert Barnes • “What Adam did must be held as done by us, and the imputation of his guilt would seem to follow as a necessary consequence.” • Romans, p. 120 210
D.A. Carson • “for many Protestants today, the doctrine of imputation has become the crucial touchstone for orthodoxy with respect to justification” • “in both exegesis and theology, imputation has been tied not only to what Christ accomplished on the cross, but also to the relation of Adam’s sin to our sin.” 211
