Tag: Reformed

My Explanation of “The Five Points of Calvinism”

~ Bob Hayton ~ 19 Comments

For a while now, I’ve wanted to do a series on the five points of Calvinism, or at least, in my own words, answer the question: “What is Calvinism?” The wait is over, and my brief (for me) explanation of Calvinism is ready. You can check it out at my Calvinism page, but I want to share it here for your benefit as well.

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This is my own work on the five points here. I recommend John Piper’s clear and concise booklet as the best explanation of Calvinism to those who are ignorant of what Calvinism is and what it teaches. His treatment is respectful and very Biblical, it is available online here.

When it comes to Calvinism I think of it as a description of what happens “behind the scenes” with respect to our salvation. We are confronted with the gospel and asked to believe, we feel conviction and then relief when we trust Christ. Biblically, however, what happened in our heart was more than us independently deciding what we would do with the gospel. I have found that the more we know of what Scripture teaches about the inner workings of salvation, the greater will be our respect and regard for the One who saved us. All of this should tend toward a greater degree of personal worship, a sincere humility, and more glory to God, not a higher degree of pride or party spirit.

T – stands for Total Depravity. This means that every aspect of man is tainted by sin. No one is as evil as they can be, but evil affects every part of our being – mind, will, heart, etc. We do not seek after God, naturally. And apart from God’s initiative, we cannot please God. In fact, we are enslaved by the devil and are lost, blinded to the truth of the gospel and in need of God to mercifully reach down and intervene. (Rom. 3:10-18, 8:7-8; 1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 4:3-6; 2 Tim. 2:24-26)

U – stands for Unconditional Election. Since we are helpless and totally depraved, we need God to intervene. God doesn’t sit on the sidelines and see who is worthy of being chosen, God chooses. And because of His choice, the “elect” live lives worthy of their calling. Scripture is quite emphatic that neither our belief nor our works fit us for being elected but rather, flow from our election. (Acts 13:48; John 6:44, 6:64-65; 10:26; Eph. 1:3-6; 1 Thess. 1:4-5; 2 Thess. 2:13)

L – stands for Limited Atonement. The choice of “limited atonement” to fit with the TULIP acronym is unfortunate. Actually TULIP doesn’t date back before 1900, and “limited atonement” wasn’t widely used much before then. “Particular redemption” or “definite atonement” give the sense better. Jesus’ death is of infinite value and is sufficient for all but efficient for the elect only. Jesus didn’t just make salvation possible (if “activated” by one’s own contribution of faith). He actually redeemed and saved a people through His death. These are the sheep for whom He died and the church whom He purchased with His blood and the bride whom He died for. He died in some different sense for these than He did for those He knew would reject His atoning sacrifice. He actually bore their real punishment and substituted on their behalf in a real way — He made true propitiation for these. (John 10:11 compared to 10:26; Acts 20:28; Eph. 5:25-27; Titus 2:14; 2 Tim. 1:9; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Jn. 4:9-11)

*It should also be noted that there have historically been varying positions regarding this point among Calvinists. All Calvinists hold that Christ died for everyone in a general sense and for the elect in a specific sense (1 Tim. 4:10). Some take this to mean the typical understanding of “L” must be flawed and so they call themselves 4 point Calvinists, others take this as a “multiple intentions” view that in the atonement, God had more than one purpose. The majority today hold that God’s purpose in the atonement was the saving of the elect, other benefits such as common grace extend to all as an extension of what Jesus did on the cross, but the cross-work was not performed on the behalf of all, but only for the elect. (This does not mean we should not preach to all, since we have no way of knowing who the elect are. Hyper-Calvinists are the ones who do not preach the gospel indiscriminately to all, and they do not speak for Calvinists in this extreme and errant practice.)

I – stands for Irresistible Grace. This point does not mean no one can resist God’s grace. People do resist. But for all who have been elected, God will overcome their resistance and graciously save them. This captures the idea of regeneration preceding faith. Calvinists believe faith flows from a heart that has been regenerated. A dead heart can’t believe. Faith is the sign of what happened behind the scenes in the internal workings of the heart. So while it may look like faith causes the new birth from our perspective, it actually is the new birth which evidences itself in faith. (John 1:13, 3:3-8; 1 Cor. 2:14; 1 John 4:7, 5:1 [note Greek tense on both of these = “has been born of God”]; Deut. 30:6; Ez. 36:25-27; Heb. 10:15-16; James 1:18; Phil. 2:13)

P – stands for Perseverance of the Saints. This means more than the common understanding of the eternal security of the believer. God preserves all the elect so that not one of them is finally lost, but He also so works in them that they persevere in their faith. When they fall, they aren’t utterly destroyed, they get back up. They bear fruit and have good works which testify to the genuineness of their professed faith. For those who fail to persevere, we are not the ultimate judge God is. But we should exhort one another daily to “fight the good fight of faith”. When understood properly, this point allows believers to take seriously the many warning passages and “if” statements in Scripture. It also gives us confidence to trust that “He who began a good work in [us], will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ”. (Phil. 1:6; 1 Cor. 15:2; John 10:28; 1 Pet. 1:3-5; Heb. 3:12-14, 6:11-12, 10:23-25, 12:14; Col. 1:21-23; Matt. 3:8-10, 7:15-23;)

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I’m open to critique and feedback on this; so please use the comments to let me know what you think. We can have a charitable debate on the topic too, if you’d like.

News Flash: Tune in to an Interview of Bob Hayton on the Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Broadcast with Chris Arnzen

~ Bob Hayton ~ 9 Comments

Interview Details: Live
call-in radio broadcast
Date: Monday 3/8/10
Time: 6-7pm EST / 5-6pm CST
Host: Chris Arnzen
Interviewee: Bob Hayton
Subject: Reforming
Fundamentalism through
Reformed Theology
Station: WNYG-1440 AM
On-Line: www.rcnam.com
& click “Long Island 1440 AM”

 

I’ll be LIVE on the air with Chris Arnzen, host of Iron Sharpens Iron radio, on Monday 3/8 at 6pm EST / 5pm CST. Here is the teaser that Chris is sending out about the interview. Please tune in and feel free to call in with your questions or comments.

Bob Hayton, founder of Fundamentally Reformed (see www.FundamentallyReformed.com), will address the theme: “Reforming Fundamentalism Through Reformed Theology”.

Bob is a former Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB), who now embraces Reformed Theology. He blogs to: 1) spread a passion for Jesus Christ, 2) help people harmed by extreme fundamentalism, 3) encite wider reform in fundamentalism & beyond, and 4) defend his theological positions. Bob also operates the “King James Only?” blog spot, the King James Only Research Center web site and other helpful blog spots and web sites.

According to our guest, Bob Hayton, “Often in fundamentalism, doctrine and Biblical exegesis are downplayed, ignored, or avoided. Topical or shallow messages prevail. Church members learn their do’s & don’ts but not what the Bible actually says (the arguments Biblical authors use, the context of favorite proof texts, or Bible doctrines in general). While fundamentalists claim to be standing on the Bible alone, rare is the church that actually opens itself up to Biblical scrutiny. For instance, it is an assumed thing that the Bible will not actually be shown to teach Calvinism, post-tribulational rapture, or covenant theology. So anyone who would espouse one of these positions or another similar position is immediately identified as a heretic and the church never actually carefully reviews what the Bible says on the matter…

“Fundamentalists assume that their practices, standards, and positions are Biblical to the point of reading into the Bible what is not there to support their traditions and viewpoints… while fundamentalists claim to be the stalwart defenders of true doctrine, they are in fact the defenders of old-fashioned (actually late 1800’s early 1900’s) tradition…”

Tune or log into this live, controversial, call-in broadcast and learn how Bob Hayton discovered and made the journey to embrace Reformed Theology, the *truly* old “Old Time Religion”.

To call in with questions, dial 631-482-8300. You can listen live to the broadcast at www.rcnam.com [you will have to click “Long Island 1440 AM”]. And the audio file will be freely available soon at sharpens.org.

“James (Reformed Expository Commentary)” by Daniel Doriani

~ Bob Hayton ~ 1 Comment

Author: Daniel Doriani
Publisher: P & R Publishing
Format: hardcover
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 220
ISBN: 9780875527857
Stars: 5 of 5

It’s hard to keep up with all of the new commentary series available these days. Critical, expository, application, practical, scholar’s, layman’s, preacher’s, everyman’s — commentaries come in all shapes and sizes. They also run the whole gamut of theological positions. One can find a commentary to fit almost anyone’s personal taste. This is actually a good thing, as non-English speaking people could certainly attest. Availability of good resources (along with some less useful ones) is a blessing we must not take for granted.

When I picked up a volume from P&R’s Reformed Expository Commentary series, I wasn’t sure quite what to expect. As it turned out, I was totally unprepared for how truly excellent a commentary actually can be.

James, by Daniel Doriani, is a joy to read — and use. I’ve been putting it to use in a men’s Bible study on the book of James. And the book serves well to that end. Not only is it an able study tool, but it would serve as excellent devotional reading material. It has the right balance of practical theology and careful scholarship.

The Reformed Expository Commentary series purposely aims to keep the volumes more pastoral and accessible to lay leaders within the church. The authors of each book in the series are pastors committed to the Reformed understanding of Bible doctrine as embodied in the Westminster Confession of Faith. Don’t let that scare you. Even if you are not reformed or Calvinist-leaning, you should be thankful for the Westminster Confession of Faith. People who ascribe to it are likely to be conservative Bible-believing scholars. They are chained to the text of Scripture, which the WCF does a good job of handling (albeit as a Baptist, I differ in at least one point).

As a pastor-scholar, Doriani is able to bring an exposition of the text to us in his commentary. He doesn’t merely break down the text, but he applies it and is free to connect the text to parallel passages in Scripture that develop the same theme. While the book goes out of its way to apply the sense of Scripture, it doesn’t become merely a written sermon. Doriani traces the flow of the text well, and seeks to cover all the questions laymen and scholars alike would have. Still, this is not a critical commentary that might delve deeply into the Greek; and so it will not be the only resource one should consult for study.

The tone of the commentary allows for more of the author’s personality to come through. We see this in Doriani’s treatment of James’ teaching on the elders praying over the sick and anointing them with oil. He shares how his study of the book of James led him to encourage his church to follow James chapter 5 in their practice. He relates two touching stories of God’s healing in answer to the prayer of the elders (and the simple faith of following God’s teaching in this matter). The personal story however, does not turn into a soap-box in any sense. Doriani is careful to cover how faith is not something obligating God to heal in every case, nor is sin behind every illness. His treatment of this passage alone, is worth the price of the book.

The most transformational passage I encountered in my own study of James (with Doriani’s help) has been chapter 1:12-17. Doriani confronts the confusing nature of verses 13 and 14 which seem to say God would never “tempt” anyone. Doriani brings out that God does “tempt” Abraham and also Moses and the Israelites, etc. Of course “tempt” can mean “test” , or “trial” , and context is king here. But Doriani helped me to really get the sense of of the overall teaching of that passage. Here is an excerpt that is especially helpful.

So there are two potential paths in any test. Testing met with endurance makes us mature and complete; it leads to life (1:3-4, 12). Or testing met with selfish desire leads to sin and death (1:14-15). “Death” is more than the death of the body, tragic as that is. Rather, just as faith and endurance lead to eternal life (1:12; cf. Matt. 10:22), so selfish desire and sin lead to eternal death (Rev. 20:14-15).

This is the worst possible result of testing, and a idea we might prefer to avoid. Therefore, James commands, “Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers” (1:16 ESV). James warns his readers against blaming temptation and sin on God. He hopes his readers see the truth. Sin begins in our hearts which are all too willing to follow evil desires. How foolish it is to succumb to temptation, then blame the results on God.

Because of our sin, tests can lead to spiritual death, but God designed them to bring us good. Tests stand among God’s gifts, not his curses. But if our sinfulness leads us to fail life’s tests, how can we escape our failures? The final two verses [17-18] offer an answer. (pg. 39)

This insight is going to stick with me my whole life, Tests offer two alternative responses: endurance & faith or selfish desire/doubt/blaming God. Our choice is important, we must not be deceived. But this topic (covered in verses 12-16) flows right into verse 17 which says every good gift comes from God. Tests, in the context of James chapter 1, then, are God’s gifts to us!

The extended quote above also serves to illustrate Doriani’s style in two ways. Notice first, the end of the first paragraph, where he looks beyond the focus of the text in James to the teaching of other Scripture as well. Second, the last paragraph above shows how Doriani is always looking for the gospel. We do fail life’s tests, what then?

This gospel focus serves readers well as they encounter James through this book. James can be seen as merely a book of practical advice or a collection of commands, yet sprinkled throughout the book are elements of Gospel. And it is the gospel which makes sense of James. Doriani shows us how to see James as complementary to Paul, and warns against a legalistic approach to the book.

I cannot more highly recommend this resource. If other titles in the series are as well put together, and as helpful as this book, I am going to want to collect them all. I suspect you will too.

My thanks go out to Presbyterian and Reformed Publishers for providing me with a review copy of this book.

Daniel M. Doriani (M.Div., Ph.D., Westminster Theological Seminary; S.T.M., Yale Divinity School) is senior pastor of Central Presbyterian Church, Clayton, Missouri. He previously was dean of faculty and professor of New Testament at Covenant Theological Seminary. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars, and the author of Getting the Message: A Plan for Interpreting and Applying the Bible, Putting the Truth to Work: The Theory and Practice of Biblical Application, and The Sermon on the Mount: The Character of a Disciple.

Disclaimer: this book was provided by the publisher for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to provide a positive review.

This book is available for purchase at the following sites: Westminster Bookstore, Amazon.com, or direct from P & R Publishing.

Reforming Fundamentalism, Bob Bixby and Blogging

~ Bob Hayton

If you have followed fundamentalist blogging at all, or if you consider yourself a bit of a reformed (or former) fundamentalist, in the IFB sense, listen up. Bob Bixby has a phenomenal post detailing the history and motivations behind his 7 years of blogging. He is hanging up the towel on Pensees, but this last post is well worth a hearing.

Along the way he explains his concept of an “emerging middle”, a coming together of the younger and more careful (in my estimation) wing of fundamentalism and the more conservative wing of evangelicalism (e.g., MacArthur, Piper, Mohler, Dever and others). He goes on to show how he has long advocated that young fundamentalists work for change withing the fundamentalist system, and he sees some evidence of a “refreshed fundamentalism”. His post still details many remaining fundamentalist warts, and also includes a good bit of introspection and self-critique.

Bixby models how a serious minded leader should view blogging. He lets you into his thought process on the advantages and disadvantages of blogging, and I for one was blessed by it. He points out the obvious in fundamentalist blogging — its a battlefield out there. Blogwars never end, and so a day comes when that emphasis has to be left behind. In my own blogging I’ve made drastic changes in the focus of my blog. And I can see one day hanging it up as well.

All in all, whether you’re identified with IFB fundamentalism or not, this is an interesting and important read. It won’t be available for long, so check it out.

Calvinism by Fives

~ Bob Hayton ~ 10 Comments

Calvinism seems to spread by fives: five points, five solas, and I bet we could think of other groups of five. Five Reformation countries (Germany, France, Switzerland, The Netherlands, England). Five key Reformers (Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Huss, Wycliffe). Okay, I know Huss and Wycliffe came earlier….

As most good Calvinists, I know my fives. My TULIP and my Solas. Or do I? I’m starting to read a new book by Joel Beeke entitled Living for God’s Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism. I should mention that my copy is a review copy provided by Reformation Trust Publishing. (Click here for details on how to blog your way to a free Reformation Trust book).

As Beeke works through the history of Calvinism, I’ve learned quite a bit: even though I’m a Calvinist blogger! I learned that the five solas are best understood in light of their Roman Catholic counterparts, and that the five points of Calvinism were actually four. The points were the Synod of Dort’s response to 5 Arminian points, and were actually given in 4 groupings, with 2 of the points treated under one heading (since they were inseparably joined in the minds of the Calvinists).

To help all of you learn your fives, let me provide some excerpts from Beeke’s book that will explain more about these two groups of Calvinist High Fives.

The Protestant response to Roman Catholic abuses gradually settled into
five Reformation watchwords or battle cries, centered on the Latin word solus,
meaning “alone.” These battle cries, expounded in chapter 10, served to contrast
Protestant teaching with Roman Catholic tenets as follows:

Protestant Roman Catholic
Scripture alone (sola Scriptura) Scripture and tradition
Faith alone (sola fide) Faith and works
Grace alone (sola gratia) Grace and merit
Christ alone (solus Christus) Christ, Mary, and intercession of saints
Glory to God alone (soli Deo gloria) God, saints, and church hierarchy

[from Chapter 1: Calvinism in History: The Origins of Calvinism, pg. 5.]

Though these points do not represent all of Calvinism and are better regarded as Calvinism’s five answers to the five errors of Arminianism, they certainly lie at the heart of the Reformed faith, for they flow out of the principle of absolute divine sovereignty in the salvation of sinners. They may be summarized as follows:
1. Unconditional election and saving faith are sovereign gifts of God.
2. While the death of Christ is sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world, its saving efficacy is limited to the elect.
3–4. All people are so totally depraved and corrupted by sin that they cannot exercise free will toward, or effect any part of, salvation. In sovereign grace, God irresistibly calls and regenerates the elect to newness of life.
5. God graciously preserves the redeemed so that they persevere until the end, even though they may be troubled by many infirmities as they seek to make their calling and election sure.
Although the canons have only four sections, we speak of five points or heads of doctrine because the canons were structured to correspond with the five articles of the 1610 Remonstrance. The third and fourth sections were combined into one because the Dortian divines considered them to be inseparable and hence designed them as “Head of Doctrine III/IV”.

[from Chapter 2: Calvinism in History: Confessing the Faith, pg. 25-26]