by Jacob Ninan
What Calvinism teaches
Calvinism is a popular interpretation of the Bible named after John Calvin (1509-1564), who was a French theologian in the initial days of the Protestant Reformation initiated by Martin Luther. Calvin brought out his teachings in a lengthy book called Institutes of the Christian Religion (institutes here meaning instructions). After his time, there were hot arguments among people about his teachings and interpretations of the Bible. Even now there are many variations in the way Calvinists look at Calvin's teachings, ranging from soft to hard positions. Therefore we are not able to look at Calvinism in general without someone saying that their view is different. However, Calvinistic theology has come to be represented as five points described through an acronym, TULIP, making it easier to address that theology.TULIP as an acronym was coined at the Synod of Dort (1618-1619) by 'Reformed' theologians to describe the five most important beliefs of Calvinism. (The term 'Reformed' is generally used by Calvinists to refer to themselves, even though technically it can also refer to anyone who joins with the Protestant Reformation.) Some Calvinists do not accept all five of these positions, while some others would add some more items to this list. T stands for 'Total depravity'. Expanding on the term 'dead in sin', this means that the natural condition of all people, until God intervenes and regenerates us, is such that we are entirely separated from God, we cannot have any desire or inclination towards God, and we have no ability to take any step for our salvation. In such a situation, it is only when God takes the initiative to supernaturally regenerate us spiritually that we become able to have an interest in God or to seek Him. U stands for 'Unconditional election'. Since people are unable to seek God, God elects some people to be saved, without any condition as to their merit, their seeking Him, or even God's foreknowledge of how they will respond to Him later. These alone will get saved because He saves only them, and all the others will be damned subsequently. This election is purely according to God's sovereign will and is not conditioned by anything on man's side. L stands for 'Limited atonement'. Believing that if Jesus makes atonement for someone, that person will be saved, this teaching is that Jesus died actually only for those whom God has elected. I stands for 'Irresistible grace'. When God elects someone for salvation, that person will be saved through God's grace, without any choice from his part. In effect, when God gives His unmerited favour to someone, that person will not be able to resist it. P stands for 'Perseverance of the saints'. This says that since God is the One who saves, once He has saved someone, that person will eternally be safe with God.
Looking at Calvinism
Looking over what Calvinism stands for, or offers to people as its interpretation of the Bible, it seems that there are two outstanding features that form its foundations. These are the sovereignty of God and His grace. Both these are used by Calvinists with certain special emphases that give them a Calvinistic meaning. In the sovereignty of God, God does whatever He wants and He is fully in control of all that happens. But the implication from Calvinism is that everyone ultimately does what God decides. Grace is generally understood as an undeserved or unmerited favour that God shows us by offering us salvation, even though what we deserve is judgment. But Calvinists talk about 'the doctrines of grace' in such a way that salvation is 100% a work of God and where there is absolutely nothing we are expected do from our side. These two aspects of God are meant to exalt Him in such a way that we can acknowledge how He alone deserves worship and praise.But if we accept these implications of Calvinism and proceed to think in the same direction, things become contradictory and confusing when we look at the rest of God's attributes and character and also at what He has revealed in the Bible. However, many Calvinistic teachers have found different ways of redefining the meanings of what we find in the Bible and reinterpreting verses in order to force them to fit in with the above two foundational precepts. What happens then is that the common man gets impressed by the rhetoric and finds himself unable to argue back. Without going into a detailed theological examination of the explanations of verses that Calvinists use, let us look at how they contradict the simple understanding of God that the Bible gives us.
Problems with Calvinism
An easy way to understand the meaning of the sovereignty of God is from Psa.115:3. "But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases." God is almighty, and He can do whatever He wants. No one can dictate to Him, control Him or force Him to do anything. He is the Lord God Almighty. He is the ultimate authority. But at the same time, we must remember that He will do only what pleases Him. In other words, He cannot do anything contrary to His own character or nature. His integrity will prevent Him from contradicting Himself. For example, God is good, and He cannot do any evil. He is like perfect light without any darkness (1Jn.1:5). If someone tries to extend the sovereignty of God in such a way as to say that everything that happens is from God, it might look as if this is another way of saying that God is fully in control of everything. But the implication is that then we will have to attribute all the evil in the world also to God! Clearly, that is impossible. So, this way of understanding the sovereignty of God is in critical error.When Calvinism uses the word 'grace', combining it with the idea of sovereignty as an absolute, the result is another error. It starts from the point of recognising that there is no way we can earn our salvation, but it goes on to say that there is nothing we need to do from our side. Of course, we cannot do anything to earn our salvation or qualify for it. But from a Calvinistic point of view, all of salvation is from God and to say that we have to do something will be an error. They say that if we say man has to do something, that will amount to his contributing to his salvation, and then it will be something he can boast about. But they do not differentiate between what a man can try to do in order to earn salvation, and what he must do in response to God's offer of grace. Accordingly, we do not have to repent from our sins or choose Jesus as our Saviour and Lord in order to accept this salvation from God. They say that repentance and faith will be granted to those whom God has elected for salvation, through the work of God's irresistible grace! Some people even go on to say that our putting our faith in Jesus is not something we do from our side, but God supernaturally granting that faith to us!
One part of God's character is His justice. That is a part of His nature and therefore it is unthinkable that He will ever do anything unjust. Yet Calvinists see no injustice in God unconditionally electing some people for salvation and discarding the others. They simply attribute it to the mysterious and inscrutable wisdom of God. But we can see how the concept of unconditional election contradicts clear statements about God's character such as, "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1Tim.2:3,4), "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (2Pet.3:9), and "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (Jn.3:16).
If we were totally depraved and incapable of seeking God or responding to Him from our side, what will be the meaning of all the exhortations and warnings God tells us through His word? For example, Jesus Himself started His ministry by telling everyone to repent (Matt.4:17). Why did He ask people to repent, if they could not do it from their side?
The word of God is very clear in stating that the death of Jesus was to pay for the sins of the whole world (1Jn.2:2;Jn.1:29). But then Calvinists try to find some way of circumventing such clear statements using twisted rhetoric. They are compelled to take that position because otherwise they cannot be consistent in themselves as those who believe in God electing only a few for salvation. But when they come across clear statements in the Bible and the knowledge of God's character, why don't they instead see that their doctrine needs to be changed?
Even many non-Calvinists believe the idea that once they are saved, God will preserve them through eternity. They say, "Once saved, always saved." But what they forget to note is that while God can preserve us on His part, we can still reject God after we have become His children. Some say that once we are born again and have become children of God, we cannot be 'unborn'. But this new birth is not physical, but a relationship based on our faith. If we give up that faith at any time, we will lose this relationship with God too. See how God warns the Gentiles how they should fear lest they should lose their faith (Rom.11:19-21). Indeed, we can see the sad fact all around us, of people leaving their Christian faith because of some disappointment with God for not answering some prayer, or an inability to find intellectual explanations for some personal calamity, philosophical questions, etc. God knows that Satan is also actively attacking Christians to deceive and draw them back to him (1Pet.5:8). He gives us many warnings for us in the Bible. For example, "Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God" (Heb.3:12). What would be the meaning of all such warnings, especially to 'brothers', if there was no such possibility at all of them falling away?
Where Calvinism went wrong
When we see all the evil that is in the world, Calvinists cannot explain it with their doctrinal position on the sovereignty of God except by conceding that God must be ultimately responsible for it. Then they try to explain it by referring to His sovereign wisdom, and His mysterious ways that are beyond our understanding! Remember, their understanding of God's sovereignty does not allow anything other than God's will to get done! Everyone else can see immediately that this is blasphemy, to attribute evil to a perfectly good and loving God. The simple truth is that it is not God who is responsible for this evil, but Satan and his demons and we people whom God created.When God created us in His image, a part of that image was our sovereignty (Ge.1:27)! What this means is that we have been created with a freedom and ability to choose what we want to do. It was this ability that enabled Lucifer to rebel against God and Adam and Eve to disobey God in the Garden of Eden. It is because of our free will that we all have been able to sin against God. This is the reality. When we understand and accept this, things become clear for us, and we will not end up with accusing God of evil. Of course, like every other part of God's image in us, this free will is also very much limited in scope compared to God. God is almighty, and we are somewhat mighty! He knows everything, we know some things. He is present everywhere at the same time, and we have some ability to move from place to place. When God created us, He wanted people with an ability to choose to love Him, and that was why He created us with sufficient ability to do that. When God told Adam and Eve about the two trees in the Garden, they had the ability to choose either one of them. God knew at the same time that man might misuse that ability to do evil. That was why God had made plans, even before He created the world, for His Son Jesus to come and make atonement for us.
If we imagine God's sovereignty like an infinite circle where He can choose to do what He wants, the ability that He has given us to choose what we want is like a tiny circle within His circle. We can only operate within our permitted circle, and within that small circle God allows us to operate freely. But the law that applies within that circle is that what we do brings in consequences and those consequences cannot be avoided (Gal.6:7). The Calvinistic error comes from focusing so fully on God's sovereignty that they cannot think of anyone else having a free will that could oppose God's. But we have the ability to oppose God, not to believe what He says, and also to go against His known will. It is because we have a free will that God holds us accountable for our choices and actions, and why we have to bear the consequences of our choices. The angels who joined with Lucifer in his rebellion are now demons, and all evil that we see and suffer from now in this world is because of the work of demons and man. God is not to be blamed.
Comparing the Calvinistic way of salvation with God's
According to Calvinism, God has already chosen in His mind who He is going to save. When someone's time for salvation comes according to God's calendar, God will supernaturally regenerate that man, and overcome that man's depravity. Now God's irresistible grace begins to work in that man's heart and mind and makes him respond to the Gospel, repent from his sins and to put his faith in Jesus as his Saviour. From then onwards, God works in that man's life and transforms him into God's nature more and more. Irrespective of how the man actually lives, God's grace will make sure that he will successfully enter into eternity in God's kingdom. This is all supposed to be a work of grace in this man's life, for which he has nothing to boast about. So God gets the entire glory. The unfortunate multitude of people who were not included in the number of the elect will find themselves in hell, eternally bearing the punishment for their sins, even when they had no opportunity to turn away from sin to God.Here is God rewarding people who never voluntarily chose to follow Him, and punishing others who never stood a chance to become right with God! Any normal person will see this as partiality, arbitrary behaviour, total absence of justice, etc. You can see that picturing God as arbitrary, unjust and evil is simply blasphemy! But the Calvinists attribute it all to the mysterious, sovereign wisdom of God. But then they cannot confidently tell anyone that God loves them, or that there is a way that God has made for them to get back to Him. Evangelism loses its integrity if we have to share the Gospel with them, wondering at the same time if any of them comes under the group of the elect! Some people also wonder what the real point of sharing the Gospel with others is, including with their children, if the elect will get saved anyway without that effort! Many Calvinists themselves struggle with uncertainty about whether they are really among the elect or not. They have no way of knowing if their children belong to the Lord.
But what we learn from the Bible is very different. We are all born in sin. But we are not totally depraved, because we have the law of God written into our hearts in the form of our conscience (Rom.2:15). Because of this many times we know, when we are about to do something, that it would be displeasing to God. In that condition, unregenerate people sometimes refrain from doing wrong, and sometimes they give in to the temptation. The more they overrule their conscience and choose to do wrong, they get hardened in their conscience in those parts till the time comes when it does not prick them any more. But then they hear the good news that Jesus has come to forgive their sins and to set them free from the power of sin. Some people respond by acknowledging their sins, wanting not to sin again, and then giving themselves over to Jesus to save them. Then God then forgives them by washing all their past sins with the blood of Jesus. He regenerates them by giving them a new heart that hates sin. He adopts them as His children. Then He begins to teach them His ways and helps them to choose to obey Him more and more. But the majority of people who hear the Gospel reject it because they are unwilling to acknowledge or give up their sins. Now we can see the place for God's rewards and judgment.
A very important aspect of salvation is to enable us to stop sinning. Remember, Adam and Eve sinned when they chose to disobey God. The goal of our salvation is to strengthen us in the inner man so that we will learn to choose to obey Him instead. This involves an exercise of our will to choose God above our own desires from our old nature. "...if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live" (Rom.8:13). As God works in us, He trains us to respond to Him in this way. You can see immediately that the Calvinistic view assumes a passive, non-participating response from man, but the truth is that there is a proper response that God expects from us when He presents salvation to us.
Conclusion
I believe you have seen enough to understand how the true and loving God has prepared the way of salvation for us through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is simple, understandable, logical, reasonable and it makes overall sense. It glorifies God as a loving, just, holy and righteous God who cares for everyone whom He has created, and who does not wish for anyone to perish but for all to come to salvation. Why would you want to tie yourself up in knots of arguments, while at the same time misrepresenting God, twisting His word and blaspheming?