John Calvin's 5 Points For Research Paper
Calvinism’s five points.
I. The first is total inability. Man has sunk so far through the fall that he is no longer capable of believing the gospel. He can no more repent and believe than a dead man can rise up and walk. This is all the result of the sin of Adam, who communicated this absolute inability, this loss of free will, to all his posterity.
II. The second is unconditional election. God has, before the creation of the world, selected a portion of humanity to be saved. This election is irrespective of any foreseen merits or faith. It is only according to the good pleasure of His will.
III. The third is particular redemption. Jesus on Calvary took on the full punishment due his elect, ensuring their final salvation. He did not …show more content…
die for the non-elect. I do not totally agree with this. I believe He died for ALL not just for the selected ones.
IV. The fourth is efficacious grace. God moves upon the helpless sinner before he has a single thought of responding to the good news. Grace renews the spiritually dead will, imparts a new nature and infallibly draws the sinner to Christ. Regeneration, or the new birth, occurs before belief in Christ. Faith, in fact, is a gift given to the sinner, who is entirely passive in this act.
V. Lastly, is final perseverance. Everyone regenerated by God's grace will persevere and be finally saved. No one who truly begins the life of faith will ever fall away and perish.
Total Inability is said to arise out of man's sinful state, his complete spiritual fall in Eden.
It has left him incapable of doing anything good, or even desiring it. Therefore, he is disabled and can neither will nor obey any spiritual command (even the invitation to receive Christ). John Calvin sums this up saying, "Let it stand, therefore, as an in doubtable truth, which no engines can shake, that the mind of man is so entirely alienated from the righteousness of God, that he cannot conceive, desire, or design anything but what is wicked, distorted, foul, impure and iniquitous; that his heart is so thoroughly envenomed by sin, that it can breathe out nothing but corruption and rottenness; that if some men occasionally make a show of goodness, their mind is ever interwoven with hypocrisy and deceit, their soul inwardly bound with fetters of …show more content…
wickedness."
As for the source of this total corruption of man, there was but one incident in Calvin’s mind, “the corruption by which we are held bound as with chains originated in the first man's revolt against his Maker." Every man, therefore, is born unable to respond to God. Calvinist theologian Augustus Strong says, "Man's present inability is natural, in the sense of being inborn, it is not acquired by our personal act, but is congenital." As with our race or eye color, our inability is a state over which we have no control.
There are several passages of Scripture Calvinists employ to support total inability. One of the prominent verses are Romans 3:10-12 which says, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."
Also, 1 Corinthians 2:14: "For the man without the Spirit (or 'natural man') does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. Based on this text, the unregenerate cannot even grasp biblical truths.
And John 6:44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." In this case, man is in a state of inability, one that only a miracle can overcome. The "drawing" here is the work of efficacious grace renewing the sinner so he can, and ultimately will, believe the gospel.
Now, for efficacious grace. Man has no ability at all to cry out to God for His mercy. God has decided, before the beginning of time, whom He will save with this "effectual call" and whom He will leave to suffer ruin. There are many texts which speak of God's choice of His people. God chose Israel, irrespective of merit or status Deut. 7:7-8. He chose Jacob over Esau before either "had done anything good or bad" Rom. 9:11-13. When the apostles preached to the Gentiles,"all who were appointed for eternal life believed" Acts 13:48. Paul said that God "chose us in him before the creation of the world" and "predestined us to be adopted as his sons" Eph. 1:4-5. In the garden, Jesus did not pray for the world, "but for those the Father have given him" John 17:9.
Thirdly, limited atonement. If Jesus died for you, you will be saved. There is no chance that you will not be saved. The atonement meritoriously secured the application of the work of redemption to those for whom it was intended and this rendered their complete salvation certain." Peter wrote of false teachers who were "even denying that sovereign Lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves" 2 Pet. 2:1-4. Here were men "bought" who, nevertheless, had made shipwreck of their faith. Jesus made a vicarious atonement for the elect and the elect only.
Fourthly, efficacious grace.
Efficacious grace is an immediate, miraculous transformation of a man's nature. In an instant, the totally depraved sinner , who has been unable and unwilling to make the slightest move toward God, is given a new nature. He is born again unto a life he never sought and never desired. Man cannot believe; therefore, God must act upon him and bestow a new capacity. God must regenerate the passive, spiritually oblivious man before he can even accept the gospel. The Westminster Confession defines it: "All those whom God has predestined unto life, and those only, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly, to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of stone and giving them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by His almighty power determining them to that which is good; and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ, yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace" (Chapter X, Section
1,2).
Few Christians would deny the work of the Holy Spirit in conversion. The sweet influences of God upon sinners are sometimes sudden. A text of Scripture, a gospel sermon, an act of kindness can come alive at once to melt the heart with supernatural force. We read in Scripture of God giving people new hearts to serve Him, or turning people to Himself. He opens eyes and ears. Lydia had her heart "opened" by the Lord to give heed to Paul's message (Acts 16:14).
However, the Calvinistic doctrine of Efficacious Grace stretches far beyond the figures of speech in Scripture. Efficacious Grace, we are told, is an immediate, miraculous transformation of a man's nature. In an instant, the totally depraved sinner - who has been unable and unwilling to make the slightest move toward God - is given a new nature. He is born again unto a life he never sought and never desired.
This is a logical necessity of Total Inability. Man cannot believe; therefore, God must act upon him and bestow a new capacity. God must regenerate the passive, spiritually oblivious man before he can even accept the gospel. The Westminster Confession defines it:
"All those whom God has predestined unto life, and those only, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly, to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of stone and giving them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by His almighty power determining them to that which is good; and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ, yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace" (Chapter X, Section 1,2).
Boettner believes the "inner call" is so swift that the sinner is not even aware of this miraculous change. "It is an instantaneous change from spiritual death to spiritual life. It is not even a thing of which we are conscious at the moment it occurs, but rather something which lies lower than consciousness.
Lastly, final perseverance. Once quickened by efficacious grace, the believer can never fall away. The change effected on the sinner is permanent. The Westminster Confession says, "They whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved"
"Through faith you are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" 1 Peter 1:5.
The apostles expected to pass through a judgment according to works before they would fully enjoy salvation (Rom. 2:6). Paul did not see himself as already having attained it (Phil. 3:10-12) and so he pressed forward. In the meantime, he recognized that he was to keep control of his body, lest he himself should be disqualified (1 Cor. 9:27).
Final salvation is conditioned upon continuing in the way of faith and bringing forth the "fruit" of Christian living. Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit" (John 15:5). Those unfruitful ones who do not remain in Christ are "picked up, thrown into the fire and burned" (15:6).
I. The first is total inability. Man has sunk so far through the fall that he is no longer capable of believing the gospel. He can no more repent and believe than a dead man can rise up and walk. This is all the result of the sin of Adam, who communicated this absolute inability, this loss of free will, to all his posterity.
II. The second is unconditional election. God has, before the creation of the world, selected a portion of humanity to be saved. This election is irrespective of any foreseen merits or faith. It is only according to the good pleasure of His will.
III. The third is particular redemption. Jesus on Calvary took on the full punishment due his elect, ensuring their final salvation. He did not …show more content…
die for the non-elect. I do not totally agree with this. I believe He died for ALL not just for the selected ones.
IV. The fourth is efficacious grace. God moves upon the helpless sinner before he has a single thought of responding to the good news. Grace renews the spiritually dead will, imparts a new nature and infallibly draws the sinner to Christ. Regeneration, or the new birth, occurs before belief in Christ. Faith, in fact, is a gift given to the sinner, who is entirely passive in this act.
V. Lastly, is final perseverance. Everyone regenerated by God's grace will persevere and be finally saved. No one who truly begins the life of faith will ever fall away and perish.
Total Inability is said to arise out of man's sinful state, his complete spiritual fall in Eden.
It has left him incapable of doing anything good, or even desiring it. Therefore, he is disabled and can neither will nor obey any spiritual command (even the invitation to receive Christ). John Calvin sums this up saying, "Let it stand, therefore, as an in doubtable truth, which no engines can shake, that the mind of man is so entirely alienated from the righteousness of God, that he cannot conceive, desire, or design anything but what is wicked, distorted, foul, impure and iniquitous; that his heart is so thoroughly envenomed by sin, that it can breathe out nothing but corruption and rottenness; that if some men occasionally make a show of goodness, their mind is ever interwoven with hypocrisy and deceit, their soul inwardly bound with fetters of …show more content…
wickedness."
As for the source of this total corruption of man, there was but one incident in Calvin’s mind, “the corruption by which we are held bound as with chains originated in the first man's revolt against his Maker." Every man, therefore, is born unable to respond to God. Calvinist theologian Augustus Strong says, "Man's present inability is natural, in the sense of being inborn, it is not acquired by our personal act, but is congenital." As with our race or eye color, our inability is a state over which we have no control.
There are several passages of Scripture Calvinists employ to support total inability. One of the prominent verses are Romans 3:10-12 which says, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."
Also, 1 Corinthians 2:14: "For the man without the Spirit (or 'natural man') does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. Based on this text, the unregenerate cannot even grasp biblical truths.
And John 6:44 "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him." In this case, man is in a state of inability, one that only a miracle can overcome. The "drawing" here is the work of efficacious grace renewing the sinner so he can, and ultimately will, believe the gospel.
Now, for efficacious grace. Man has no ability at all to cry out to God for His mercy. God has decided, before the beginning of time, whom He will save with this "effectual call" and whom He will leave to suffer ruin. There are many texts which speak of God's choice of His people. God chose Israel, irrespective of merit or status Deut. 7:7-8. He chose Jacob over Esau before either "had done anything good or bad" Rom. 9:11-13. When the apostles preached to the Gentiles,"all who were appointed for eternal life believed" Acts 13:48. Paul said that God "chose us in him before the creation of the world" and "predestined us to be adopted as his sons" Eph. 1:4-5. In the garden, Jesus did not pray for the world, "but for those the Father have given him" John 17:9.
Thirdly, limited atonement. If Jesus died for you, you will be saved. There is no chance that you will not be saved. The atonement meritoriously secured the application of the work of redemption to those for whom it was intended and this rendered their complete salvation certain." Peter wrote of false teachers who were "even denying that sovereign Lord who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves" 2 Pet. 2:1-4. Here were men "bought" who, nevertheless, had made shipwreck of their faith. Jesus made a vicarious atonement for the elect and the elect only.
Fourthly, efficacious grace.
Efficacious grace is an immediate, miraculous transformation of a man's nature. In an instant, the totally depraved sinner , who has been unable and unwilling to make the slightest move toward God, is given a new nature. He is born again unto a life he never sought and never desired. Man cannot believe; therefore, God must act upon him and bestow a new capacity. God must regenerate the passive, spiritually oblivious man before he can even accept the gospel. The Westminster Confession defines it: "All those whom God has predestined unto life, and those only, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly, to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of stone and giving them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by His almighty power determining them to that which is good; and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ, yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace" (Chapter X, Section
1,2).
Few Christians would deny the work of the Holy Spirit in conversion. The sweet influences of God upon sinners are sometimes sudden. A text of Scripture, a gospel sermon, an act of kindness can come alive at once to melt the heart with supernatural force. We read in Scripture of God giving people new hearts to serve Him, or turning people to Himself. He opens eyes and ears. Lydia had her heart "opened" by the Lord to give heed to Paul's message (Acts 16:14).
However, the Calvinistic doctrine of Efficacious Grace stretches far beyond the figures of speech in Scripture. Efficacious Grace, we are told, is an immediate, miraculous transformation of a man's nature. In an instant, the totally depraved sinner - who has been unable and unwilling to make the slightest move toward God - is given a new nature. He is born again unto a life he never sought and never desired.
This is a logical necessity of Total Inability. Man cannot believe; therefore, God must act upon him and bestow a new capacity. God must regenerate the passive, spiritually oblivious man before he can even accept the gospel. The Westminster Confession defines it:
"All those whom God has predestined unto life, and those only, He is pleased in His appointed and accepted time, effectually to call, by His Word and Spirit, out of that state of death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly, to understand the things of God; taking away their heart of stone and giving them a heart of flesh; renewing their wills, and by His almighty power determining them to that which is good; and effectually drawing them to Jesus Christ, yet so as they come most freely, being made willing by His grace" (Chapter X, Section 1,2).
Boettner believes the "inner call" is so swift that the sinner is not even aware of this miraculous change. "It is an instantaneous change from spiritual death to spiritual life. It is not even a thing of which we are conscious at the moment it occurs, but rather something which lies lower than consciousness.
Lastly, final perseverance. Once quickened by efficacious grace, the believer can never fall away. The change effected on the sinner is permanent. The Westminster Confession says, "They whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved"
"Through faith you are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" 1 Peter 1:5.
The apostles expected to pass through a judgment according to works before they would fully enjoy salvation (Rom. 2:6). Paul did not see himself as already having attained it (Phil. 3:10-12) and so he pressed forward. In the meantime, he recognized that he was to keep control of his body, lest he himself should be disqualified (1 Cor. 9:27).
Final salvation is conditioned upon continuing in the way of faith and bringing forth the "fruit" of Christian living. Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit" (John 15:5). Those unfruitful ones who do not remain in Christ are "picked up, thrown into the fire and burned" (15:6).