THE FIVE POINTS OF CALVINISM

We will now get started into the five points of Calvinism, although we will look at one of the 5 points of Arminianism to show the scripture they use - or abuse - to prove their point - that in reality although the scriptures they use may seem at first casual glance to support them, but when looked at in light of all scripture they mean something quite different.

FREE WILL:  Is their first point and rallying ground. It is also the last and hardest idea to get out of one's mind after being saved even. Man just does not want to give up the idea he has to do some thing in order to either qualify for heaven or at least make his lot more sure with God by his own goodness.

FREE WILL:  Their definition is this: Man's depravity as a result of the fall, is not total, but partial. Man has not lost the faculty of self determination, nor the ability to freely will that which is good in the sight of God.

As a result of this they contend that man is the author of repentance and faith unto salvation since the human will is viewed by the Arminian as one of the causes of regeneration if a man freely wills to co-operate with the Holy spirit. It's all up to the decision of each individual.

Scripture they use to back up their belief: The first and foremost of course is that very familiar verse:

JOHN 3:16 -- For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish. But have everlasting life.

There are two points here that the Arminians grab hold unto like a drowning man a straw:

1) the expression "God so loved the WORLD." Of course they take this literally and contend that this means everyone in the world without exception. But as I said before we cannot just interpret words as they first appear - they must be taken in context of surrounding verses as well as take into account of other uses of that word.

The word world is used in a number of different ways. It can be used as the planet we stand on, and is used in that way in different places in the Bible. Is that the way it is used here? No it isn't - that is obvious from the text. Other uses of the word world is - "the world of the Godly" and - "the world of the Ungodly"

Is either of these uses the way it is meant in John 3:16. It could - possibly talking about the world of the Godly. But I don't think so. I do think it is talking about the world population - but only in a general sense - not the world population without exception.

Consider this. In Old Testament days salvation was for the most part strictly open to the children of Israel - the Jews. Gentiles were left out of the salvation plan with very few exceptions. And even among the Jews just because one was a Jew did not mean they were saved and going to heaven. In other words salvation was open to the Jews only in a general sense - not without exception. In Old Testament writings it was promised that when the Messiah came that salvation would become open to the Gentiles. As Jesus (the Messiah) walked about this world He did make it clear that salvation was now open to all nations, creeds and tongues throughout - what? THE WORLD!! So now people throughout the world can be saved - but not everyone without exception any more than Jews without exception were saved and went to heaven. No It does not say all this in that one verse John 3:16 - but if we read the Bible from cover to cover that is the conclusion one comes to when ALL scripture is taken into account.

2) Another point the Arminian grabs onto in John 3:16 is - "whosoever believeth" in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. The problem is they change the meaning to - "whosoever wills to believe in him" shall not perish etc. They imply that as the meaning even if they do not point blank state that. But that is not what it says. It says "whosoever believes" - and I or any other Calvinist do not have any quarrel with that. Any person "who believes" shall not perish but have everlasting life. It is not a question of if we believe - it's how we come to believe.

That's the big question - where does the "stirring up" to believe come from? Ourselves - or from an outside source - like the Holy Spirit that John 3:3 clearly states needs to be born within us that enables us to believe? Isaiah 64:7 clearly answers that question.

ISAIAH 64:6-7  -- But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteusnesses are as filthy rags: and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. There is none that calleth upon thy name, that STIRRETH up himself to take hold of thee: for thou has hid thy face from us, and has consumed us because of our iniquities. But now O Lord, thou are our father: we are the CLAY, and thou our POTTER; and we all ARE THE WORK OF THY HANDS.

We are the clay - and God is the potter forming out of that clay the kind of vessel that fits His fancy - including a believer or a none believer in God.

Now let's go on with more scriptures the Arminian uses to prove their point:

ACTS 3:38 -- Repent and be baptized, every one of you, In the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins.

ACTS 16:31 -- Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy household.

ROMANS 10:9 -- If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

1 JOHN 3:23 -- This is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ.

As you note each one of these verses gives a command to do something AS IF we could carry them out on our own. But can we? According to the scriptures we just read and many scattered throughout the Bible it is clear that we can not fulfill these demands made by God on the strength of our human nature. That is why Jesus said in John 3:3 that we have to be born with a new nature - the Holy Spirit to be able to carry out even the most simple demand of God - believe in God. This capability or inability is what divides a Calvinist from an Arminian - a Calvinist from a person who doesn't believe in the doctrines of Grace - and I could go even further and say - a religious person who has not been born again from a person who is truly born of the spirit of God.

At first glance - just taking these verses into consideration it does look as if the Arminians do have a point. But as we look deeper into scripture and grow in grace and knowledge we begin to realize that there is a real big problem - these are not the only scripture verses that deal with salvation and when we see and compare these other scriptures that give a completely opposing view of what is taught in the others we must pause and rethink what we learned from just scriptures like we read above.

I will give an illustration - you have probably heard this before - it's been around for many a year - maybe even many a century. I will talk in the personal just for ease of talking. Suppose I was walking down this pathway I had never been on before. I was getting tired and needed a rest so when I came to this gate that led into a park I was quite interested in going in for rest. I could not see into the park but I did note an inscription on an archway over the gate that gave an invitation something like this: "Welcome - Come, all you that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

So I went in - and once in I realized the beauty of this park. None of which I was able to see until I stepped through the gate of the park. I then looked behind me at the gate and on the inside of the arch over the gate there was this inscription: "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory."

And other inscriptions like it. This all made me realize that this trip past this very park was no accident. It was a work of God that had set up the circumstances that brought me here. Even the weariness I felt as I approached the gate that made a rest spot so attractive was circumstances set up by God to bring me into this place. I did not see any of this until I stepped inside the gate of the park. Outside I only saw the invitation. Then as I walked about the park I saw other inscriptions. Things like: "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is not power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God." And: "Blessed is the man whom thou hast chosen and caused to come unto me." Or: " I form the light, and create darkness: I make the peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things."

This all made me realize there is more to life and death than I thought - that this life is not just a series of happenings that occur by hapiskance - but is all a plan laid out by God, to the minutest detail, and that I am just a player in this plan of His.

But to a casual observer just passing "the park" they will never see any of this. The invitation tells nothing - it only invites "as if" we could make all the choices. But on closer observation, once inside the "Park" we soon realize that that just could not be so. It is all of God - the ruler of this "Park" as well as the universe about us.

What do we do - disregard one portion of scripture - the parts we don't like and just hold unto the parts we do like? That's not what the scriptures teach us to do. The Bible tells us that ALL scripture is God's word - or inspired by God - God breathed. This means that God put into the mind of His Holy men His own thoughts - and in return that man spoke and/or put into writing the words that God had put into his mind. That is clear from:

2 PETER 1:20-21 -- nowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man : but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

2 TIMOTHY 3:16 -- All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

We cannot disregard any scripture just because we don't like something about it. We must consider all scripture - comparing scripture with scripture. When we do we come up with a much different conclusion than if we just use the parts that suit our intellectual fancy.

This brings us to this big question: Do these scriptures that support Arminianism and the others that strongly support Calvinism contradict each other? If they do, then we have a real problem with our Bible and our belief in the God that it teaches.

Of course the Bible does not contradict itself. It is not wrong - it is how man interprets it that is wrong.

The question - and answer to this dilemma is this - does these scriptures that the Arminians use to support their doctrine really teach FREE WILL - OR something quite different such as - HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY & ACCOUNTABILITY.

I think a close observer would have to agree that it teaches - our responsibility and our accountability if we do not live up to those responsibilities. God will punish us if we don't.

There are 2 reasons for this observation -

(1) There is absolutely no scriptures that mentions man's free will - that expression is just a figment of the Arminianism's imagination.

(2) Arminians reason (contrary to scripture) that God has no right to hold man accountable to believe, nor condemn him for unbelief if his will is not free to believe or reject God.

Wow - A person is really stepping on dangerous ground to say God does not have a right to do what He pleases with His creation. It shows their lack of fear of God over the consequences of their beliefs.

Of course that is totally wrong. They should get a strong dose of what Romans 9 says. How one can read that chapter and say God does not have a right is beyond me. God takes the right whether we like it or not. It would be to our benefit if we accepted (resign ourselves to) that.

But this just shows the foolish thinking of the natural man. It shows his hatred of the sovereignty of God. That is that God does with his creation things that we may not like.

For us to believe that God has no right to hold us accountable for our sins would be like saying it is ok for a kleptomaniac to steal - he should not be held responsible when caught or punished for his deeds because he could not help himself. Of course there are some do gooders who do believe that! That's why our world is getting in such a state because there are so many who think like that getting into a position of power who will not let people like that receive their just reward - be punished for their wrong doing. Mankind of all ages need discipline - and if they don't exercise self discipline then our society must exercise it on them and punish wrong doers. If we don't - or our society doesn't - then eventually God will step in - and if He does - watch out!!!

This demonstrates how perverted the natural mind has gotten. The natural man may think like that - but God does not. Each one of us will give account of himself to God, and those who reject God's word will be eternally punished in the lake of fire, burning with brimstone.

What is human responsibility and accountability? First I want to make it clear it is not the general meaning most of the pastors of our day give it. It is generally taught that God has done most of the work of salvation, yet He has left CERTAIN responsibilities up to us. And if we don't live up to them - What? We lose our salvation? That is going right back under the law - that man has to do something for himself to qualify or at least make his salvation more certain by his own good works. Giving depraved man who CAN'T do good in God's eyes any kind of responsibility of being good??? That's like giving a common man without any doctor's training the job of giving a man a heart transplant. It just does not work!! That's what depraved means - Man can't be good enough for God. Why? Because there is NO GOOD in man. If there is no good in man how can he do good?

No - I believe that we are responsible for keeping EVERY jot and title of the law or whatever God tells us to do or not to do, not just certain ones. And if we don't measure up to those responsibilities we can expectsome sort of retribution. But as we have learned in previous lessons we CAN NOT measure up to those responsibilities due to our depraved human nature - that is what the law was designed to teach us - that we can not keep the law to God's satisfaction. This would mean we would have to keep every single one of them from the moment we were born until we died. We just can not do that. But it is clear from scripture that we will be held accountable for where we fail.

UNLESS:

God steps in and regenerates us. This means that God puts His own Holy spirit in us and lives in our heart as a new nature. This process is called being saved - and also being born again. This new nature in us causes us to turn to the one who already has kept the law to God's satisfaction. The Lord Jesus Christ. He has done EVERYTHING to God's satisfaction and is willing to impute His righteousness to you if you are made willing to accept His righteousness in place of any of your own works (righteousness). He has kept the law totally to God's satisfaction and died on the cross and bore our retribution (punishment) for us if we have been made willing to accept His punishment for us by this new nature from God working in us.

Before leaving this subject of Free will I would like to make this observation. You can not mix "The Free Will of man" and "the Sovereignty of God" together. It has to be one or the other. Either God is Sovereign and controls everything in His creation including man - or - man has his "free will" which God cannot touch or interfere with unless given the permission to do so by the individual. Note this:

1) If God is sovereign and does to His creation whatever He wills without asking man's permission to do anything or taking into consideration his likes or dislikes then man does not have a "free will" to do anything outside the abilities of his sinful nature - which is held captive by the god of this world - Satan. So this leaves man with one ability - and that ability is only to sin - fall short of the demands of God - never able to meet the standard God has laid down in His book - The Bible. His will is limited - not free at all!

On the other hand:

2) If man has a "Free Will" then God has to wait on man to make up his mind to whether he will allow God do anything for him. If that is the case then God is not sovereign - is not in charge with Him the one in control of things - man is.

Surely even the least spiritually minded person can see that that is just not right. I pray that God will work in your heart and lead you to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.