Category: Calvinism

Discussions and defense of Calvinism and Covenant Theology

"Only Your Mercy" by Scott Wesley Brown

~ fundyreformed ~ 6 Comments

We sang a wonderful song Sunday that I wanted to share with you all. It took me a while to find the lyrics, which I eventually found via Google’s Blog Search on someone else’s blog here. I would have obtained them from asking my church music department eventually, but I am glad they were available somewhere else on the web.

Anyway, this song emphasizes God’s role in our salvation. The song captures Biblical truth that I believe all believers can share alike, Calvinist or not. And for Calvinist’s especially, the song captures the wonder of our personal election. Why me? Truly, whether you are Calvinist or not, there is a definite “why me?” which applies to you. Think about it. Why weren’t you born into an orthodox Muslim home? Why were you not one of the 2 or 3 billion people (probably more) stuck in a 3rd World country with very little access to the gospel. For that matter, why weren’t you born in the  Mayan empire  before Christ? If you were you would have had basically nill chance of coming to faith in the One True God.

The proper response to such reflections is to be more in awe over our “so great salvation”! Oh, might God impress the reality of the wonder of His great grace upon our souls daily with such conviction that we would be strengthened in the very depths of our soul to commit ourselves completely to Him, daily. This song can help further that noble end.

 

Only Your Mercy

by Scott Wesley Brown

Only Your mercy, only Your grace,
Only Your Spirit brings us to faith.
O what a wonder that You chose us first,
Not by our merit but Your perfect work!

Only Your goodness, only Your love,
Only Your pardon poured out in blood–
Your righteousnes exchanged for our sin.
Oh what a Savior, oh what a friend!

Jesus, we long to worship You,
And give You all glory and praise!
All that You are,
All that You have,
We have received by faith.

 

For a sample of the melody click here (mp3). You can also learn about the author here  and check out his other songs on his website. Sheet music for “Only Your Mercy” can also be purchased here, among other places.

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

The Danger of Dispensationalism

~ fundyreformed ~ 4 Comments

As my faithful readers know, I am getting ready to leave for a two week vacation. Therefore, my blogging will be limited to non-existent after this post (until around June 23).

That said, I wanted to point you all to another helpful article by my friend Nathan Pitchford. He has posted an article over at Reformation Theology Blog entitled “Dispensationalism and the Eclipse of Christ (An Open Correspondence)”. In the article he defends his claim that dispensationalism is dangerous. It is a very thoughtful critique of dispensationalism and worth your time. In the comments, he links to an earlier post over on his own blog which deals with some of the main points in Scripture which dispensationalists see as demanding their system of interpretation. I’d encourage you to read that post, entitled “Land, Seed, and Blessing in the Abrahamic Covenant” as well.

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

Regeneration, Reception, and Faith

~ fundyreformed ~ 47 Comments

Calvinists and non-Calvinists alike agree that unregenerate man is dead in his sins. He is lost and blind–even captive. In short, he needs help! And Christ provides the help. So far, so good, yet a fork in the road lies just ahead. One group (Calvinists) insists such a man needs regeneration before he can receive the word and believe. The other group sees the desperate sinner as hopeless apart from the gospel. Yet with the gospel’s proclamation, this dead man can receive the truth of the gospel and believe. Arguments over the interpretation of the death metaphor aside, a few Scriptural passages seem to plainly contradict the second view.

Both sides affirm that sinful man needs regeneration. Rom. 8:8 states, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Both sides also agree that faith and regeneration are intimately connected. Either faith immediately results in regeneration, or regeneration is seen as producing faith (and most would say this happens almost immediately after regeneration).

Now, I ask, how can non-Calvinists affirm that unregenerate men cannot please God, and also affirm that unregenerate men can become regenerated by believing in God–thereby pleasing Him (Heb. 11:6)? Can they just decide to believe and please God? Remember, they are in the flesh when they are unsaved. Not being in the flesh would indicate that they had been born again–regenerated. So just prior to their exercising faith (which pleases God), they are actually still “in the flesh”, and thus they cannot please God!

A solution is offered by some. Since God regenerates us with the Word of Truth (James 1:18), and since “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17), then with the preached word the sinful, unregenerate man is enabled to accept or reject the gospel message. The Spirit imparts life through the Word (John 6:63), so the argument goes, and thus the dead sinner becomes able to receive the gospel and believe.

Taking a step back, that last sentence sounds an awful lot like the Calvinist view which argues that the Spirit regenerates us, using the Word of Truth, before we are enabled to believe. And there is much in the non-Calvinist view which might attract people to its position. It offers a harmonization of passages which seem to imply unsaved man can respond to God’s message with those that teach he cannot. God is seen as extremely nice–giving all a supposedly equal chance. It saves face for mankind by proving that he is not a mere puppet.

Yet this view–that men are enabled to receive the gospel and believe through the preaching of the gospel and the interaction of the Spiritual Word upon their hearts–flies in the face of several key passages. 1 Cor. 2:14 seems very decisive: “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” So this verse says that when the Word of God and the preaching of the gospel message interact with the unregenerate, these lost people do not accept the gospel because they think it foolish and further, they cannot understand it, since it is spiritually discerned! Far from enabling them, the preached word is trampled under foot like pearls given to swine. Paul explains this further in 2 Cor. 4:3-6: “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Here the lost are said to be blind to the message of the Gospel. Further, there appears to be no in-between-stage half way from sight and blindness. There is no period where the lost is enabled to believe, considers the message of the Gospel for a while, and later makes his verdict. Rather, they cannot see or even understand the message as an unregenerated person–but in a moment God shines in their hearts giving them the light of the Gospel of the glory of God in Christ. (Keep in mind that God’s word is describing what actually happens inside a person–we cannot use our experience to correct the word. It may appear to us that some are in an in-between-stage, yet Scripture interprets that experience differently.)

Now, I have encountered several people who claim to reject Calvinism yet affirm that repentance and faith are gifts of God. They claim God gives them to those who begin to respond to the Gospel, having been enabled by the life-giving words of the Spirit. I have yet to understand how this idea can fit in with verses like 2 Tim. 2:24-26: “And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.” Here repentance is God’s gift to those who are captured by the devil. Notice, that God “may perhaps grant”. Now how exactly is repentance a gift? If all who hear the Gospel are enabled to repent and receive/believe, then the gift of repentance is not merely the opportunity to repent. And if before you have the gift you are captured by the devil and possess no repentance, it seems to me that when you receive the gift of repentance, you are set free and enabled to repent for the first time. One moment you have no repentance, the next moment you have it–as a gift of God!

More could be said, for sure! But this is to say that regeneration, reception, and belief happen in this specific sequential order. Regeneration happens internally resulting in a heart that receives the word and then believes in Christ. All of this is a gift of grace from a merciful and loving God to a totally undeserving criminal of a sinner.

∼striving for the unity of the faith for the glory of God∼ Eph. 4:3,13 “¢ Rom. 15:5-7

Redemptive Historical Interpretation Compared to the Dispensational Hermeneutic

~ fundyreformed ~ 2 Comments

I came across an excellent article on Triablogue by Evan May entitled “The Redemptive-Historical Hermeneutic vs. The Foreign-Eschatological Hermeneutic” (HT: Doxoblogy). The article does a good job explaining redemptive historical hermeneutics to a dispensational commentor. I will quote a few points he makes here, and then refer you to read the article–it will help you understand reformed hermeneutics and will be well worth your time (it is not that long of a read, actually).

1. The Pendulum swings both ways. The Covenantal hermeneutic interprets the Old Testament in light of the New testament. The Dispensational hermeneutic interprets the New in light of the Old. Both camps must defend their hermeneutical methods. We don’t simply assume a Dispensational hermeneutic until we find something better….

3. Much of the Covenantal hermeneutic isn’t so much “the way NT authors used the OT,” but simply being fair to a text in its own context. Dispensationalists habitually rip OT prophecies from their redemptive-historical context and force them into a foreign eschatological context. It’s almost as if Dispensationalists believe that the prophets couldn’t find a topic to speak about: one moment they’re talking about restoration from the exile; the next moment they’re talking about folks disappearing out of their clothes on an airplane….

5. But, it must be noted that the Covenantal hermeneutic is not some knee-jerk, arbitrary dogma of “spiritualize any Old Testament prophecy whatsoever.” Rather, we deal with texts on their own merit. We want to be fair to what the text itself states, and we exegete them on a case-by-case basis (and for this reason, I am glad that Bobby posed a text rather than simply speaking generically)…. [Read the whole article.]

"Whosoever Will" and Calvinism

~ fundyreformed ~ 15 Comments

Recently in a forum I read, this question was posed:

QUESTION:
Acts 10:13 states For whosover shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Rev. 22:17 whosover will let him take the water of life freely
Acts 2:21 states whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be savedThe Bible states several times that it is a whosoever will salvation. How can calvinism be true without updating the definition of the word whosoever?

If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved. The only two conditions are belief and confession. There is no you must be elected first. It is whosoever will May Come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I posted a response which I felt I should share here too. This is a common objection, and perhaps some of my readers will be benefited by my brief and I think helpful response.

RESPONSE:
Good question. This is a real argument in many people’s minds. Let me try to explain.

The above verses along with John 3:16 and others use the term “whosoever”. Do Calvinists have to redefine that term in order for their position to be true? Not at all. First let us notice what these verses say, and then look at what Calvinism says.

These verses say who so ever calls (Acts 10:13 and 2:21), wills (Rev. 22:17), or believes (John 3:16) will be saved/drink of water of life freely/receive everlasting life. In other words they say who ever wants to be saved may do so, or who ever believes/repents/chooses to receive salvation can. In fact Jesus said in John 6:37b “him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” So these verses are affirming that anyone who comes to Jesus, anyone who truly wants to come to Jesus will be received and thus will be saved.

Calvinists have absolutely no problem with that at all. What Calvinism addresses is the “behind the scenes” root cause in all of this. In other words, Calvinism seeks to answer this question, “why do some people want to come or want to believe and others do not?” The only reason Calvinism is interested in that question, actually, is because many passages of Scripture speak to that very issue. For instance John 6:37 (a & b) says, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” The Calvinist sees this verse as teaching that anyone who comes to Jesus was first given to Jesus by the Father. They also were first drawn by the Father (Jn. 6:44). And further they were enabled to come by the Father (Jn. 6:65).

This is why Calvinism does not at all have to squelch evangelism. In fact, historically, many of the great revivals and great evangelistic endeavors of the Church have been initiated by diehard Calvinists. Calvinists see no incongruity between “whosoever will may come” and “all who come were chosen before the foundation of the world”. Calvinists simply preach the gospel to everyone, since God’s word assures us that people will come to salvation from every people group (Rev. 5). They preach and when people respond, Calvinists see those people as evidencing the fact that they were first elect and then given a new heart by God’s Holy Spirit. Calvinists see that while all are invited to come, no one will come (or even want to come) apart from the work of God (see Rom. 3:10-12; Rom. 8:7-8; 2 Tim. 2:24-26; 2 Cor. 4:1-6; etc.). But Calvinists are greatly convinced that God is at work in the world and thus can have confidence in His Sovereign ability to give increase to the seed of the gospel in every situation where we are called to labor (1 Cor. 3:5-7). This actually gives added strength for ministry endeavors in hard areas where fruit is not quickly evident. (For instance, a Calvinist, Adoniram Judson, labored for seven years in Burma before seeing his first convert.)

So I affirm that Calvinism in no way needs to redefine “whosoever” in order for its claims to be true.

If you are interested in following the discussion (if one develops), you can see the thread here. Update: the same question was posed as the beginning of another thread which has had some discussion–you can see that here.