THEOLOGY-CALVINISM
I
am afraid there are Calvinists, who, while they account it a proof of their
humility that they are willing in words to debase the creature, and to give all
the glory of salvation to the Lord, yet know not what manner of spirit they are
of. Whatever it be that makes us trust in ourselves that we are comparatively
wise or good, so as to treat those with contempt who do not subscribe to our
doctrines, or follow our party, is a proof and fruit of a self-righteous
spirit. Self-righteousness can feed upon doctrines, as well as upon good works;
and a man may have the heart of a Pharisee, while his head is stored with
orthodox notions of the unworthiness of the creature and the riches of free
grace.
I am a
Calvinist; I believe in election and predestination; but I would not dream of
putting it under the heading of essential. I put it under the heading of
non-essential… You are not saved by your precise understanding of how this
great salvation comes to you. What you must be clear about is that you are lost
and damned, hopeless and helpless, and that nothing can save you but the grace
of God in Jesus Christ and only Him crucified, bearing the punishment of your
sins, dying, rising again, ascending, sending the
Spirit, regeneration. Those are the essentials… While I myself hold very
definite and strong views on the subject, I will not separate from a man who
cannot accept and believe the doctrines of election and predestination, and is
Arminian, as long as he tells me that we are all saved by grace, and as long as
the Calvinist agrees, as he must, that God calls all men everywhere to
repentance. As long as both are prepared to agree about these things I say we
must not break fellowship. So I put election into the category of
non-essentials.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones
What is an Evangelical? The Banner of Truth
Trust, 1992, p. 87-88.
Of
all people who engage in controversy, we, who are called Calvinists, are most
expressly bound by our own principles to the exercise of gentleness and
moderation.
John Newton
We
believe in the five great points commonly known as Calvinistic; but we do not
regard these five points as being barbed shafts which we are to thrust between
the ribs of our fellow-Christians. We look upon them as being five great lamps
which help to irradiate the cross; or, rather, five bright emanations springing
from the glorious covenant of our Triune God, and illustrating the great
doctrines of Jesus crucified.
C.H. Spurgeon
There
are certain doctrines called Calvinistic, which I think commend themselves to
the minds of all thoughtful persons for this reason mainly – they ascribe to
God everything.
C.H. Spurgeon
10.308.
George
Whitfield said, “We are all born Arminians.” It is grace that turns us into
Calvinists.
C.H. Spurgeon
2.124.
I
will defy any man who has held a deep experience of his own odious depravity to
believe any other doctrines but those which are commonly called Calvinism.
C.H. Spurgeon
49.257.
When
my spirit gets depressed, nothing will sustain it but the good old-fashioned
Calvinistic doctrine.
C.H. Spurgeon
58.380.
I
love the pure doctrine of unadulterated Calvinism. But if that be wrong – if
there be anything in it which is false – I for one say, “Let that perish too,
and let Christ’s name last forever. Jesus!
Jesus! Jesus! Crown Him Lord of
all!”
C.H. Spurgeon
1.212.
They
believe the doctrine of election, but they have not the faith of God’s elect.
They swear by final perseverance, but persevere in unbelief. They confess all
the five points of Calvinism, but they have not come to the one most needful
point of looking unto Jesus, that they may be saved.
C.H. Spurgeon
17.531.
If
anyone should ask me what I mean by a Calvinist, I should reply, “He is one who
says, Salvation is of the Lord.” I cannot find in Scripture any other doctrine
than this. It is the essence of the Bible.
C.H. Spurgeon
Sermon, A Defense of
Calvinism.
There
is no soul living who holds more firmly to the doctrines of grace than I do,
and if any man asks me whether I am ashamed to be called a Calvinist, I answer
– I wish to be called nothing but a Christian; but if you ask me, do I hold the
doctrinal views which were held by John Calvin, I reply, I do in the main hold
them, and rejoice to avow it. But far be it from me even to imagine that Zion
contains none but Calvinistic Christians within her walls, or that there are
none saved who do not hold our views.
C.H. Spurgeon
Sermon, A Defense of
Calvinism.
I have my own
private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified,
unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it
Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can
preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works;
nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor
unless we exalt the electing, unchanging, eternal, immutable, conquering love
of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the
special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ
wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints
fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned
in the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus. Such a gospel I
abhor.
C.H. Spurgeon
Sermon, A Defense of
Calvinism.
The doctrines
of original sin, election, and effectual calling, final perseverance, and all
those great truths which are called Calvinism – though Calvin was not the
author of them, but simply an able writer and preacher upon the subject – are,
I believe, the essential doctrines of the gospel that is in Jesus Christ. Now,
I do not ask you whether you believe all this – it is possible you may not; but
I believe you will before you enter heaven.
C.H. Spurgeon
I do not
believe that we can preach the gospel if we do not preach justification by
faith, without works. Nor unless we preach the sovereignty of
God in the dispensation of grace. Nor unless we exalt
the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah.
Nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the particular
redemption which Christ made for His elect and chosen people. Nor can I
comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called.
C.H. Spurgeon
I normally
prefer to avoid using the term Calvinism because it often provokes too much
emotion and too many misconceptions to be useful if the goal is real
understanding rather than merely vigorous debate. Besides, my preference has always been to
deal with the doctrines of election, free will, predestination, and related
ideas from the standpoint of the Bible, rather than all together as a
theological system with a man’s name attached to it.
John MacArthur
Grace to You, Newsletter: Aug. 14, 2007.
It is most
misleading to call this soteriology “Calvinism” at
all, for it is not a peculiarity of John Calvin and the divines of Dort, but a
part of the revealed truth of God and the catholic (universal) Christian faith.
“Calvinism” is one of the “odious names” by which down the centuries prejudice
has been raised against it. But the
thing itself is just the biblical gospel.
J.I. Packer
Often the person [wrongly] defines “Calvinism” as a
rigid, fatalistic system of theology, devoid of life and joy, in which God is
portrayed as a celestial bully who takes sadistic glee in sending people to
hell whether they deserve it or not. “If that is what you mean by
‘Calvinist’, then I most assuredly am not one!”
Sam Storms
What is Election? November 6, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com.
Used by Permission.
Thus the Calvinist says that God elects unbelievers and
predestines them to become believers. The Arminian, on the other hand, says
that God elects believers and predestines them to become His children… The
question…is this: Are faith and
repentance produced by free will and thus the cause of election, or are they
produced by the Holy Spirit and thus the effect of election? According
to Arminianism, election is that act of God whereby He foreordains to eternal
life those whom He foresees will respond in faith to the gospel. According to
Calvinism, election is that act of God whereby He foreordains to eternal life
those who, because of sin, cannot respond in faith to the gospel.
Sam Storms
What is Election? November 6, 2006, www.enjoyinggodministries.com.
Used by Permission.
Reformed
theologians say that God deems His own glory more important than saving everyone, and that (according to Romans 9) God’s glory is
also furthered by the fact that some are not saved. Arminian theologians also
say that something else is more important to God than the salvation of all people,
namely, the preservation of man’s free will. So in a Reformed system God’s
highest value is His own glory, and in an Arminian system God’s highest value
is the free will of man.
Wayne Grudem and Jeff
Purswell
Bible Doctrine: essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, Zondervan, 1999, p.
291, www.zondervan.com.
For Calvinism
is just religion in its purity… Calvinism is, therefore, that type of thought
in which there comes to its rights the truly religious attitude of utter
dependence on God and humble trust in His mercy alone for salvation… This is
why those who have caught a glimpse of these things, love with passion what men
call “Calvinism,” sometimes with an air of contempt; and why they cling to it
with enthusiasm.
B.B. Warfield
What is Calvinism?
There is a
softening of attitudes. This accounts in large measure for soft teaching.
Rather than glorying in the grandeur of God’s eternal plan of gracious redemption
before Arminian friends, [Calvinists] hem and haw about it, trying above all
else to “get along.” Assuming that their consciences are not yet seared, they
harbor a sense of guilt, knowing that they should defend truth against weak,
unscriptural teaching that exalts man by lowering God. Yet, for the sake of
“peace” they never speak out.