The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his073/isue03c.arj/ISUE03C.TXT

Text File | 1988-05-10 | 54KB | 889 lines

                          THE REFORMED FAITH
                         by Loranine Boettner


1. The Sovereignty of God

.    The purpose of this article is to set forth, in plain language
and in terms easily understood, the basic differences between the
Calvinistic and the Arminian system to theology, and to show what the
Bible teaches concerning these subjects.  The harmony that exists
between the various doctrines of the Christian faith is such that
error in regard to any one of them produces more or less distortion in
all of the others.
.    There are in reality only two types of religious thought.  There
is the religion of faith, and there is the religion of works.  We
believe that what has been known in Church History as Calvinism is the
purest and most consistent embodiment of the religion of faith, while
that which has been known as Arminianism has been diluted to a
dangerous degree by the religion of works and that it is therefore an
inconsistent and unstable form of Christianity.  In other words, we
believe that Christianity comes to its fullest and purest expression
in Reformed Faith.
.    In the early part of the fifth century these two types of
religious thought came into direct conflict in a remarkably clear
contrast as embodied in two fifth-century theologians, Augustine and
Pelagius.  Augustine pointed men to God as the source of all true
spiritual wisdom and strength, while Pelagius threw men back on
themselves and said that they were able in their own strength to do
all that God commanded, otherwise God would not command it.  We
believe that Arminianism represents a compromise between these two
systems, but that while in its more evangelical form, as in early
Wesleyanism, it approaches the religion of faith, it nevertheless does
contain serious elements of error.
.    We are living in a day in which practically all of the historic
churches are being attacked from within by unbelief.  Many of them
have already succumbed.  And almost invariably the line of descent has
been from Calvinism to Arminianism, from Arminianism to Liberalism,
and then to Unitarianism.  And the history of Liberalism and
Unitarianism shows that they deteriorate into a social gospel that is
too weak to sustain itself.  We are convinced that the future of
Christianity is bound up with that system of theology historically
called "Calvinism.'  Where the God centered principles of Calvinism
have been abandoned, there has been a strong tendency downward into
the depths of man centered naturalism or secularism.  Some have
declared - rightly, we believe - that there is no consistent stopping
place between Calvinism and atheism.
.    The basic principle of Calvinism is the sovereignty of God.  This
represents the purpose of the Triune God as absolute and
unconditional, independent of the whole finite creation, and
originating solely in the eternal counsel of His will.  He appoints
the course of nature and directs the course of history down to the
minutest details.  His decrees therefore are eternal, unchangeable,
holy, wise and sovereign.  They are represented in the Bible as being
the basis of the divine foreknowledge of all future events, and not
conditioned by that foreknowledge or by anything originating in the
events themselves.
.    Every thinking person readily sees that some sovereignty rules
his life.  He was not asked whether or not he would have existence,
when or what or where he would be born, whether in the twentieth
century or before the Flood, whether male or female, whether white or
black, whether in the United States, or China, or Africa.  All of
those things were sovereignly decided for him before he had any
existence.  It has been recognized by Christians in all ages that God
is the Creator and Ruler of the world, and that as such He is the
ultimate source of all power that is found in the world.  Hence
nothing can come to pass apart from His sovereign will.  Otherwise He
would not be truly GOD.  And when we dwell on this truth we find that
it involves considerations which establish the Calvinistic and
disprove the Arminian position.
.    By virtue of the fact that God has created everything that
exists, He is the absolute Owner and final Disposer of all that He has
made.  He exerts not merely a general influence, but actually rules in
the affairs of men (Acts 4:24-28).  Even the nations are as the small
dust of the balance when compared with His greatness (Is. 40:12-17).
Amid all the apparent defeats and inconsistencies of our human lives,
God is actually controlling all things in undisturbed majesty.  Even
the sinful actions of men can occur only by His permission and with
the strength that he gives the creature.  And since He permits not
unwillingly but willingly, then all that comes to pass - including
even the sinful actions and ultimate destiny of men - must be, in some
sense, in accordance with what He has eternally purposed and decreed.
Just in proportion as this is denied, God is excluded from the
government of the world, and we have only a finite God.  Naturally,
some problems arise which in our present state of knowledge we are not
able fully to explain.  But that is not a sufficient reason for
rejecting what the Scriptures and the plain dictates of reason affirm
to be true.
.    And shall we not believe that God can convert a sinner when He
pleases?  Cannot the Almighty, the omnipotent Ruler of heaven and
earth, change the character of the creatures He has made?  He changed
the water into wine at Cana and converted Saul on the road to
Damascus.  The leper said, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me
clean" (Matt. 8:2).  And at a word his leprosy was cleansed.  Let us
not believe, as do the Arminians, that God cannot control the human
will, or that He cannot regenerate a soul when He pleases.  He is as
able to cleanse the soul as the body.  If He chose He could raise up
such a flood of Christian ministers, missionaries and workers of
various kinds, and could so work through His Holy Spirit, that the
entire world would be converted in a very short time.  If He had
purposed to save all men He could have sent hosts of angels to
instruct them and to do supernatural works on the earth.  He could
have worked marvelously in the heart of every person so that no one
would have been lost.
.    Since evil exists only by His permission, He could, if He chose,
blot it out of existence.  His power in this respect was shown, for
instance, in the work of the destroying angel who in one night slew
all of the first-born of the Egyptians (Ex. 12:29), and in another
night slew 185,000 of the Assyrian army (II Kings 19:35).  It was
shown when the earth opened and swallowed Korah and his rebellious
allies (Nu. 16.31-35).  King Herod was smitten and died a horrible
death (Acts 12:23).  In Daniel 4:34-35 we read that the Most High
God's "dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from
generation to generation; and all the inhabitants of the earth are
reputed as nothing; and he doeth according to his will in the armies
of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stay
his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?"
.    All of this brings out the basic principle of the Reformed Faith
- the sovereignty of God.  God created this world in which we find
ourselves, He owns it, and He is running it according to His own
sovereign good pleasure.  God has lost none of His power, and it is
highly dishonoring to Him to suppose that He is struggling along with
the human race, doing the best He can to persuade men to do right, but
unable to accomplish His eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise, and
sovereign purpose.
.    Any system which teaches that the serious intentions of God can
in some cases be defeated, and that man, who is not only a creature
but a sinful creature, can exercise veto power over the plans of
Almighty God, is in striking contrast to the biblical idea of his
immeasurable exaltation by which He is removed from all weaknesses of
humanity.  That the plans of men are not always executed is due to a
lack of power, or a lack of wisdom, or both.  But since God is
unlimited in these and in all other resources, no unforeseen
emergencies can arise.  To Him the causes for change have no
existence.  To assume that His plan fails and that he strives to no
effect is to reduce Him to the level of His creatures and make Him no
God at all.

2. Man's Totally Helpless Condition

.    As we read the works of various Arminian writers, it seems that
their first and perhaps most serious error is that they do not give
sufficient importance to the sinful rebellion and spiritual separation
of the human race from God that occurred in the fall of Adam.  Some
neglect it altogether, while for others it seems to be a far away
event that has little influence in the lives of people today.  But
unless we insist on the reality of that spiritual separation from God,
and the totally disastrous effect that it had on the entire human
race, we shall never be able properly to appreciate our real condition
or our desperate need of a Redeemer.
.    Perhaps it will help us to realize more clearly what fallen man's
condition really is if we compare it with that of the fallen angels.
Angels were created before man, and each angel was placed on test as
an individual, personal, moral being.  This apparently was a pure test
of obedience, as was that of Adam.  Some of the angles stood their
test, for reasons only fully known to God, and, as a result, were then
confirmed in a state of perfect angelic holiness, and are now the
elect angels in heaven (I Tim. 5:21).  But others fell and are now the
demons that we read of in the Scriptures, the devil apparently being
the one of highest rank among those who fell.
.    In Jude we read of "angels that kept not their own principality
but left their proper habitation, he [God] hath kept in everlasting
bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (v.6).  And
in II Peter we read that "God spared not angels when they sinned, but
cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be
reserved unto judgment" (2:4).  The devil and the demons are totally
alienated from God, totally given offer to sin, and without any hope
of redemption.  Their fate is described by Christ as that of being
cast into "the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his
angels: (Matt. 25:41).
.    There is no redemption for fallen angles.  The writer of the
Epistle to the Hebrews says, "For verily not to angels doth he give
help, but he giveth help to the seed of Abraham" (2:16).  Their fate
is fixed and certain.  For men and for angels endless punishment is
the penalty for endless sinning against God.  Some would try to make
God appear unjust as though He inflicts endless punishment for sins
committed only in this life.  But lost men and lost angels or demons
are endlessly in rebellion against God, and they endlessly receive
punishment for that rebellion.
.    But when God created man a moral creature, He proceeded on a
different plan than He did with the angelic order.  Instead of
creating all men at one time and placing them on test individually, He
created one man, with a physical body, from whom the entire human race
would descend, and who, because of his union with all of those who
would come after him, could be appointed as the legal or federal head
and representative of the entire human race.  If he stood the test, he
and all of his descendants, his children, would be confirmed in
holiness and established in a state of perpetual creaturely bliss as
were the holy angels.  But if he fell, as did the other angels, he and
all his posterity would be subject to eternal punishment.  It was as
if God said, "This time, if sin is to enter, let it enter by one man,
so that redemption also can be provided by one man."
.    Therefore Adam in his representative capacity was placed on a
test of pure human obedience.  The penalty of disobedience was clearly
set before him:  "And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every
tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it:  for in the day
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:16-17).
.    Hence, the clearly declared penalty for sin was death - exactly
the same penalty that had been inflicted on the angels who fell.  As
with angels, it was purely a test of whether or not man would be an
obedient and appreciative subject in the kingdom of heaven.  It was a
perfectly fair, simple test, clearly set forth, very much in Adam's
favor, for which he would have no excuse if he disobeyed.
.    But, tragedy of tragedies, Adam fell.  And the entire human race
fell representatively in him. The consequences of his sin are all
comprehended under the term death, in its widest sense.  It was
primarily spiritual death, or separation from God, that had been
threatened.  Adam did not die physically until 930 years after he
fell.  But he was spiritually estranged from God and died spiritually
the very instant that he sinned.  And from that instant his life
became an unceasing march to the grave.  Man in this life has not gone
as far in the ways of sin as have the devil and the demons, for he
still receives many blessings through common grace, such as health,
wealth, family and friends, the beauties of nature, and he still is
surrounded with many restraining influences.  But he is on his way.
And if not checked, man would eventually become as totally evil as are
the demons.  In his fallen state he fears God, tries to flee from Him,
and literally hates Him, as do the demons.  If left to himself he
would remain forever in that condition, because as it is written,
"There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none that
understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God" (Rom. 3:10-11).
Nothing, absolutely nothing, but a mighty supernatural act on the part
of God can rescue him from that condition.  Hence if he is to be
rescued, God must take the initiative, must pay the penalty for him,
must cleanse him from his guilt, and so reinstate him in holiness and
righteousness.
.    And that is precisely what God does.  He sovereignly picks a man
up out of the kingdom of Satan, and places him in the kingdom of
heaven.  Those are the elect that are referred to some 25 times in the
Scriptures:  Matt. 24:22:  "For the elect's sake, whom he chose, he
shortened those days" (at the destruction of Jerusalem).  I Thess.
1:4:  "Knowing, brethren, beloved of God, your election."  Rom. 11:7:
"The election obtained it, and the rest were hardened."  Rom. 8:33:
"Who shall lay anything to charge of God's elect"; and many more.
.    The Bible tells us that God has rescued a multitude of the human
race from the penalty of their sins.  In order to perform that work,
Christ, the second Person of the Trinity, took upon Himself human
nature through the miracle of the virgin birth, and was born into the
human race as any normal child is born.  God thus became incarnate,
became one of us.  Jesus then lived a perfectly sinless life among men
as the representative of His people, placed Himself before His own
law, and suffered in His own Person the penalty that God had
prescribed for sin.  In His sinless life He kept perfectly the law of
God that Adam had broken, and so earned perfect righteousness for His
people and thereby earned for them the right to enter heaven.  What He
suffered, as a Person of infinite value and dignity, was a just
equivalent of what His people would have suffered in an eternity in
hell.  In this manner He freed His people from the law of sin and
death.  And as the fruits of that redemptive work are applied to those
who have been given to the Son by the Father, they are said to be
regenerated by the Holy Spirit, that is, to be made alive spiritually,
to be born again.
.    Paul expresses this broad truth when in the Epistle to the Romans
he says:

.    "Therefore, as through one man sin entered into the world, and
death through sin, and so death passed unto all men, for that all
sinned ... But no as the trespass, so also is the free gift.  For if
by the trespass of the one many died, much more did the grace of God,
and the gift of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto the many ... so
then as through one trespass the judgment came unto all men to
condemnation, even so through the one act of righteousness the free
gift came unto all men to justification to life.  For as through the
one's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the
obedience of the one shall the many be made righteous" (Rom. 5:12-19).

.    Unless one sees that contrast between the first and the second
Adam, he will never understand the Christian system.
.    And writing to the saints that were at Ephesus, Paul said, "And
you did he make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and
sins."  And he goes on to say that we:

.    "...were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest, but God,
being rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even
when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with
Christ (by grace have ye been saved), and raised us up with him, and
made us to sit with him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus:  that
in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus:  for by grace have ye been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not
of works, that no man should glory.  For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which god afore prepared that
we should walk in them." (Eph. 2:1-10)

.    In Christian theology there are three separate and distinct acts
of imputation.  In the first place Adam's sin is imputed to all of us,
his children, that is, judicially set to our account so that we are
held responsible for it and suffer the consequences of it.  This is
commonly known as the doctrine of Original Sin.  In the second place,
and in precisely the same manner, our sin is imputed to Christ so that
He suffers the consequences of it.  And in the third place, Christ's
righteousness is imputed to us and secures for us entrance into
heaven.  We are, of course, no more personally guilty of Adam's sin
than Christ is personally guilty of our sin, or than we are personally
meritorious because of His righteousness.  In each case it is a
judicial transaction.  We receive salvation from Christ in precisely
the same way that we receive condemnation and ruin from Adam.  In each
case the result follows because of the close official union which
exists between the persons involved.  To reject any one of these three
steps is to reject an essential part of the Christian system.
.    Thus we see the strict parallel between Adam and Christ in the
matter of salvation.  In the above passages Paul piles one phrase upon
another stressing the fact that we were not merely sick, or
spiritually disinclined, but spiritually dead.  Christ Himself said,
"Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John
3:3).  And again He said, "Why do ye not understand my speech:  even
because ye cannot hear my words" (John 8:43).  The unregenerate man
cannot see the kingdom of God, nor hear in any spiritually discerning
way the words spoken concerning it, much less can he get into it.  Had
we been left to ourselves we, like the fallen angels, would never have
turned to God.
.    A spiritually dead person can no more give himself spiritual life
that a physically dead person can give himself physical live.  That
requires a supernatural act on the part of God.  We get into the
family of God in precisely the same way that we get into our human
family, by being born into it.  By that supernatural act God Himself,
through His Holy Spirit, sovereignly takes us out of the kingdom of
Satan and places us in His spiritual kingdom by a spiritual rebirth.
.    And having once been born onto the kingdom of God, we can never
become unborn.  Since it took a supernatural act to bring us into a
state of spiritual life, it would take another such act to take us out
of that state.  Hence the absolute certainty that those who have been
regenerated and who therefore have become truly Christian will never
lose their salvation, but will providentially be kept by the power of
God through all the trials and difficulties of this life and will be
brought into the heavenly kingdom.  "He that heareth my word, and
believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into
judgment, but hath passed out of death into life" (John 5:24).  "If
any man is in Christ, he is a new creature" (II Cor. 5:17).  "My sheep
hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:  and I give unto
them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall
snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who gave them unto me, is
greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the
Father's hand" (John 10:27-29).  This is known as the doctrine of
eternal security or the perseverance of the saints.
.    This gift of eternal live is not conferred upon all men, but only
upon those whom God chooses.  This does not mean that any who want to
be saved are excluded, for the invitation is "He that will [KJV,
whosoever will], let him take the water of life freely" (Rev. 22:17).
The fact is that a spiritually dead person cannot will to come.  "No
man can come unto me except the Father that sent me draw [literally,
drags] him" (John 6:44).  Only those who are quickened (make
spiritually alive) by the Holy Spirit ever have that will or that
desire.  These in Scripture are called the elect.  But in contrast
with these, there is another group that we may call the non-elect.
And concerning them Professor Floyd Hamilton has very appropriately
written:

.    "All that God does is to let them alone and allow them to go
their own way without interference.  It is their nature to be evil,
and God simply has foreordained to leave that nature unchanged.  The
picture often painted by opponents of Calvinism, of a cruel God
refusing to save all who want to be saved, is a gross caricature.  God
saves all who want to be saved, but no one whose nature has not been
changed wants to be saved."

3. Christ's Atonement

.    We are not told why God does not save all mankind when all were
equally undeserving, and when the sacrifice on Calvary was that of a
Person of infinite value, amply sufficient to save all men had God so
desired it.  But the Scriptures do tell us that no all will be saved.
However, we can say that the atonement, which was worked out at an
enormous cost to God Himself, is His own property, and that He is at
liberty to make whatever use of it He chooses.  No man has any claim
to any part of it.  We are told repeatedly that salvation is by grace.
And grace is favor shown to the undeserving, even to the ill-
deserving.  If any part of man's salvation were due to his own good
works, then indeed there would be a difference in men, and those who
had responded to the gracious offer could justly point the finger of
scorn at the lost and say, "You had the same chance that I had.  I
accepted, but you refused.  Therefore you have no excuse."  But no.
God has so arranged this system that those who are saved can only be
eternally grateful that God has saved them.
.    It is not for us to ask why God does as He does, for the
Scripture declares:

.    "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?  Shall
the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou make me
thus?  Or hath no the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump
to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?  What
if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known,
endured with much long-suffering vessels fitted unto destruction:  and
that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy
which he afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he also called."
(Rom. 9:20-24)

.    Only the Calvinist seems to take the fall of man seriously.  A
proper evaluation of the fall and of man's present hopeless condition
is the missing element in so much of today's thinking, teaching and
preaching.  Arminianism seriously errs in assuming that man has
sufficient ability to turn to God if only he will.  The Calvinist
insists that man is not merely sick or indisposed or just needs the
right incentive, but that he is spiritually dead, and that the
atonement of Christ does not merely make salvation an abstract
possibility such that all men can turn to God if they will.  The
Calvinist holds that the atonement was an objective work accomplished
in history which removed all legal barriers against those to whom it
was to be applied, and that it would be followed by the work of the
Holy Spirit subjectively applying the merits of that atonement to the
hearts of those for whom it was divinely intended.
.    We call attention again to one of the most important verses in
Scripture concerning the matter of salvation:  "No man can come to me,
except the Father that sent me draw him" (John 6:44).  Another like it
is;  "All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and he that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37).  And to the
Christians in Corinth, Paul wrote:  "The natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God:  for they are foolishness to him; and he
cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged" (I Cor. 2:14).
.    And how does God cause the elect to exercise faith?  The answer
is:  In regeneration the Holy Spirit subdues man's heart to Himself,
and imparts to man a new nature which loves righteousness and hates
sin.  He does not force man against his will, but makes him lovingly
and spontaneously obedient to His will.  When the Lord Jesus appeared
to the hardened persecutor Saul as he was on the way to Damascus, he
immediately became obedient to the Lord's will.  "Thy people offer
themselves willingly in the day of thy power," said the Psalmist
(110:3).  Thus God gives His people the will to come.  That act on
God's part, in the sub-conscious nature of the person, is known as
regeneration, or as a new birth, or being born again.  When a man is
thus given a new nature, he reacts according to that nature, as do all
of God's creatures.  He then exercises faith and does good works
characteristic of repentance as naturally as the grape vine produces
grapes.  Whereas sin was his natural element, now holiness becomes his
natural element - not all at once, for he still has remnants of the
old nature clinging to him, and as long as he remains in this world he
still is in a sinful environment.  But as his new nature is free to
express itself he grows in righteousness; he enjoys reading God's
Word, praying, and having fellowship with other Christians.
.    We therefore have to choose between an atonement of high
efficiency which is perfectly accomplished, and an atonement of wide
extension which is imperfectly accomplished.  We cannot have both.  If
we had both we would have universal salvation.  But the Arminian
extends the atonement so widely that so far as its actual effect is
concerned, it has practically no value other than as an example of
unselfish service.  Dr. B. B. Warfield used a very simple illustration
to present this truth.  He said that the atonement is like pie dough -
the wider you roll it the thinner it becomes.  And the Arminian, in
making it apply to all men, reduces its effectiveness to such an
extent that it becomes practically no atonement at all.
.    Furthermore, for God to have laid the sins of all men on Christ
would mean that as regards the lost He would be punishing their sins
twice, once in Christ, and then again in them.  Certainly that would
be unjust.  If Christ paid their debt, they are free, and the Holy
Spirit would invariably bring them to faith and repentance.  If the
atonement was truly unlimited, it would mean that Christ died for
multitudes whose fate already had been determined, who already were in
hell at the time He suffered.  If the atonement merely nullified the
sentence that was against man so as to give him a new chance if he
would exercise faith and obedience, it would mean that God was placing
him on test again as was his ancestor Adam.  But that kind of a test
was tried and had its outcome long ago, even in a far more favorable
environment.  Carried to its logical conclusion, the theory of
unlimited atonement leads to absurdity.
.    We should remember that Christ's suffering in His human nature,
as He hung on the cross those six hours, was not primarily physical,
but mental and spiritual.  When He cried out, "My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me," He was literally suffering the pangs of hell.
For that is essentially what hell is, separation from God, separation
from everything that is good and desirable.  Such suffering is beyond
our comprehension.  But since He suffered as a divine-human person,
His suffering was a just equivalent for all that His people would have
suffered in an eternity in hell.
.    As a matter of fact, the redeemed man gains more through
redemption in Christ than he lost through the fall of Adam.  For in
the incarnation God literally came into the human race and took human
nature upon Himself, which nature Christ in His glorified body will
retain forever, and evidently He will be the only visible God that we
will see in heaven.  Peter tells us that we now are "partakers of the
divine nature" (II Peter 1:4); and Paul says that we are "heirs of
God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17).  Think of that!
Partakers of the divine nature, and joint-heirs with Christ!  What
greater blessing could God possibly confer upon us?  As such we are
superior to the angels, for they are designated in Scripture only as
God's messengers, His servants.
.    Ultimately the Arminian is faced with precisely the same problem
as is the Calvinist - that broader problem as to why a God of infinite
holiness and power permits sin at all.  In our present state of
knowledge we can give only a partial answer.  But the Calvinist faces
up to that problem, acknowledges the Scriptural doctrine that all men
had their fair and favorable chance in Adam, that God now graciously
saves some of the fallen race  while leaving others to go their own
chosen sinful way and manifests His justice in their punishment.  But
having  admitted foreknowledge, the Arminianism has no explanation as
to why God purposefully and deliberately creates those who He knows
will be lost and who will spend eternity in hell.
.    However, as regards the problem of evil, we can say that God
created this world as a theater in which He would display His glory,
His marvelous attributes for all of His creatures to see and admire -
His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.
Here we are concerned primarily with His justice.
.    God's justice demands that goodness must be rewarded and that sin
must be punished.  And it is just as necessary that sin be punished as
it is that goodness be rewarded.  God would be unjust if He failed to
do either.  Therefore He created men and angels not as robots who
would automatically produce good works as a machine produces bolts or
tin cans but who would deserve no rewards, but as free moral agents,
in His own image, capable, in Adam before the fall, of choosing
between good and evil.  He manifests His justice toward those whom He
has purposed in grace to save by rewarding them for the good works
that are found in Christ their Savior and credited to them,
confirming them in holiness, and admitting them into heaven.  And He
manifests His justice toward those whom He has purposed to by-pass for
their willing continuance in sin.
.    Likewise, if sin had been excluded, there could have been no
adequate revelation God's most glorious attributes, grace, mercy, love
and holiness, as is displayed in His redemption of sinners.  Let us
remember that the angels in heaven earned salvation through a covenant
of works, by keeping God's law.  As in the Case of Adam, they had been
promised certain rewards if they obeyed.  They did obey, and were
confirmed in holiness.  They have not experienced salvation by grace.
There is an old hymn which says, "When I sing redemption's story, the
angels will fold their wings and listen."  And so it will be in the
ultimate contrast between men and angels.
.    Hence the explanation of sin is that God permits it, but controls
and overrules it for His own glory.  If sin had been excluded from the
creation those glorious attributes could never have been adequately
displayed before His intelligent universe of men and angels, but for
the most part would have remained forever hidden in the depths of the
divine nature.

4. God's Foreknowledge

.    The evangelical Arminian acknowledges that God has foreknowledge,
and that He therefore is able to predict future events.  But if God
foreknows any future event, then that event is as fixed and certain as
if foreordained.  For foreknowledge implies certainty, and certainly
implies foreordination.  The evangelical Arminian does not deny that
there is such a thing as election to salvation, for he cannot get rid
of the words "elect" and "election," which occur some twenty-five
times in the New Testament.  But he tries to destroy the force of
these words by saying that election is based on foreknowledge, that
God looks down the broad avenue of the future and sees those who will
respond to His gracious offer, and so elects them.
.    But in acknowledging foreknowledge, the Arminian makes a fatal
concession.  Figuratively speaking, he cuts his own throat, for the
simple reason that as God foresees those who will be saved, He also
sees those who will be lost!  Why, then, does He create those who will
be lost?  Certainly, He is not under any obligation to create them.
There is no power outside Himself forcing Him to do so.  If He wants
all men to be saved and is earnestly trying to save all men, He could
at least refrain from creating those who, if created, certainly will
be lost.
.    The Arminian cannot consistently hold to the foreknowledge of God
and yet deny the doctrines of election and predestination.  The
question persists:  Why does God create those who He knows will go to
hell?  It would be mere foolishness for Him to wish to save or try to
save those who He knows will be lost.  That would be for Him to work
at cross purposes with Himself.  Even a man has better sense than to
try to do what he knows he will not do or cannot do.  The Arminian has
no alternative but to deny the foreknowledge of God - and then he has
only a limited, ignorant, finite God who in reality is not God at all
in the true sense of that word.  If election is based on
foreknowledge, that makes it so meaningless that it becomes more
confusing than enlightening.  For even as regards the elect, what
sense is there for God to elect those who He knows are going to elect
themselves?  That would be just plain nonsense.

5. The Universalistic Passages

.    Probably the most plausible defense for Arminianism is found in
the universalistic passages in Scripture.  Three of the most quoted
are:  II Peter 3:9, "Not wishing [or, KJV, not willing] that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance"; I Tim. 2:4,
[God our Savior] "who would have all men to be saved, and come to the
knowledge of the truth"; and I Tim. 2:5,6, "...Christ Jesus, who gave
himself a ransom for all."
.    In regard to these verses we must keep in mind that, as we have
said earlier, God is the absolute sovereign Ruler of heaven and earth,
and we are never to think of Him as wishing or striving to do what He
knows He will not do.  For Him to do otherwise would be for Him to act
foolishly.  Since Scripture tells us that some men are going to be
lost, II Peter 3:9 cannot mean that God is earnestly wishing or
striving to save all individual men.  For if it were His will that
every individual of mankind should be saved, then not one soul could
be lost.  "For who hath resisted his will?" (Rom. 9:19).
.    These verses simply teach that God is benevolent, and that He
does not delight in the sufferings of His creatures any more than a
human father delights in the punishment that he sometimes must inflict
upon his son.  The word "will" is used in different senses in
Scripture as in our everyday conversation.  It is sometimes used in
the sense of "desire" or "purpose."  A righteous judge does not will
(desire) that anyone should be hanged or sentenced to prison, yet he
wills (pronounces sentence) that the guilty person shall be punished.
In the same sense and for sufficient reasons a man may will to have a
limb removed, or an eye taken out, even though he certainly does not
desire it.
.    Arminians insist that in II Peter 3:9 the words "any" and "all"
refer to all mankind without exception.  But it is important first of
all to see to whom those words were addressed.  In the first verse of
chapter 1, we find that the epistle is addressed not to mankind at
large, but to Christians:  "...to them that have obtained a like
precious faith with us."  And in a preceding verse (3:1), Peter had
addressed those to whom he was writing as "beloved."  And when we look
at the verse as a whole, and not merely at the last half, we find that
it is not primarily a salvation verse at all, but a second coming
verse!  It begins by saying that "The Lord is not slacking concerning
his promise" [singular].  What promise?  Verse 4 tells us:  "the
promise of his coming."  The reference is to His second coming, when
He will come for judgment, and the wicked will perish in the lake of
fire.  The verse has reference to a limited group.  It says that the
Lord is "long-suffering to us-ward," His elect, many of whom had not
yet been regenerated, and who therefore had not yet come to repentance.
Hence we may quite properly read verse 9 as follows:  "The Lord is not
slack concerning his promise as some count slackness, but is
long-suffering to usward, not willing that any of us should perish, but
that all of us should come to repentance."
.    In regard to I Tim. 2:4,6 "Who would have all men to be saved,
and to come to the knowledge of the truth ... who gave himself a
ransom for all," is used in various senses.  Oftentimes it means, not
all men without exception, but all men without distinction - Jews and
Gentiles, bond and free, men  and women, rich and poor.  And in I Tim.
2:4-6 it clearly is used in that sense.  Through many centuries the
Jews had been, with few exceptions, the exclusive recipients of God's
saving grace.  They had become the most intensely nationalistic and
intolerant people in the world.  Instead of recognizing their position
as that of God's representatives to all the people of the world, they
had taken those blessings to themselves.  Even the early Christians
for a time were inclined to appropriate the mission of the Messiah
only to themselves.  The salvation of the Gentiles was a mystery that
had not been known in other ages (Eph. 4:6; Col. 1:27).  So rigid was
the pharisaic exclusivism that the Gentiles were called unclean,
common, sinners of the Gentiles, even dogs; and it was not lawful for
a Jew to keep company with or have any deals with a Gentile (John 4:9,
Acts 10:28, 11:3).  After an orthodox Jew had been out in the
marketplace where he had come in contact with Gentiles he was regarded
as unclean (Mark 7:4).  After Peter had preached to the Roman
Centurion Cornelius and the others who were gathered at his house, he
was severely taken to task by the Church in Jerusalem, and we can
almost hear the gasp of wonder when, after Peter told them what had
happened, they said, "Then to the Gentiles also hath God granted
repentance to life" (Acts 22:15), that is, not to every individual in
the world, but to Jews and Gentiles alike.  Used in this sense the
word "all" has no reference to individuals, but simply to mankind in
general.
.    When it was said of John the Baptist that "There went out unto
him all the country of Judea, and all they of Jerusalem; and they were
baptized of him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins" (Mark
1:5), we know that not every individual did so respond.  We read that
after Peter and John had healed the lame man at the door of the
temple, "all men glorified God for that which was done" (Acts 4:21).
Jesus told his disciples that they would be "hated of all men" for His
name's sake (Luke 21:17).  And when Jesus said, "And I, if I be lifted
up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself" (John 12:32), He
certainly did not mean that every individual of mankind would be so
drawn.  What He did mean was that Jews and Gentiles, men of all
nations and races, would be drawn to Him.  And that is what we see is
actually happening.
.    In I Cor. 15:22 we read, "For as in Adam all die, so also in
Christ shall all be make alive."  This verse is often quoted by
Arminians to prove unlimited or universal atonement.  This verse is
from Paul's famous resurrection chapter, and the context makes it
clear that he is not talking about life in this age, whether physical
or spiritual, but about the resurrection life.  Christ is the first to
enter the resurrection life, then, when He comes, His people also
enter into their resurrection life.  And what Paul says is that at
that time a glorious resurrection life will become a reality, not for
all mankind, but for all those who are in Christ.  And this point is
illustrated by the well known fact that the race fell in Adam, who
acted as its federal head and representative.  What Paul says in
effect this:  "For as all born in Adam die, so also all born again in
Christ shall be make alive."  Verse 22, therefore, refers not to
something past, nor to something present, but to something future; and
it has no special bearing at all on the Calvinistic-Arminian
controversy.
.    Two other verses that also are often quoted in defense of
Arminianism are "Behold, I stand at the door, I will come in to him
and will sup with him, and he with me" (Rev. 3:20); and "...he that
will [KJV, whosoever will], let him take the water of life freely"
(Rev. 22:17).  This general invitation is extended to all men.  It may
be, and often is, the means that the Holy Spirit uses to arouse in
certain individuals the desire for salvation as He puts forth His
supernatural power to regenerate them.  But these verses, taken by
themselves, fail to take into consideration the truth that already has
been stressed in this article, that fallen man is spiritually dead,
and that as such he is as totally unable to respond to the invitation
as are the fallen angels or demons.  Fallen man is as dead spiritually
as Lazarus was dead physically until Jesus cried with a loud voice,
"Lazarus, come forth," and the Pharisee Nicodemus, "Except one be born
anew [or, from above], he cannot see the kingdom of God"(John 3:3).
And again, He said to the Pharisees, "why do ye not understand my
speech?  Even because ye cannot hear my word" (John 8:43).  Apart from
that divine assistance no one can hear the invitation or put forth the
will to come to Christ.
.    The declaration that Christ died for "all" is made clearer by the
song that the redeemed sing before the throne of the Lamb:  "Thou wast
slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe,
and tongue, and people, and nation" (Rev. 5:9).  Oftentimes the word
"all" must be understood to mean all the elect, all His Church, all
those whom the Father has given to the Son, as when Christ says, "All
that which the Father giveth me shall come to me" (John 6:37), but not
all men universally and every man individually.  The redeemed host
will be make up of men from all classes and conditions of life, of
princes and peasants, of rich and poor, bond and free, male and
female, Jews and Gentiles, men of all nations and races.  That is the
true universalism of Scripture.

6. The Two systems Contrasted

.    We have said that Christianity comes to its fullest expression in
the Reformed Faith.  The great advantage of the Reformed Faith is that
in the framework of the Five Points of Calvinism it sets forth clearly
what the Bible teaches concerning the way of salvation.  Only when
these truths are seen as a unit an in relation to each other can one
really understand or appreciate the Christian system in all of its
strength and beauty.
.    The reason that so many Christians have only a weak faith, and
that so many churches present only a rather superficial form of
Christianity, is that they never really see the system in its logical
consistency.  It is not enough for the professing Christian to know
that God loves him and that his sins have been forgiven.  He should
know how and why his redemption has been accomplished and how it has
been made effective.  And that is set forth systematically in the Five
Points of Calvinism.
.    Historically, the Five Points of Calvinism have been held by the
Presbyterian and Reformed churches and by many Baptists, while the
substance of the Five Points of Arminianism has been held by the
Methodist and Lutheran churches and also by many Baptists.

.    The Five Points of Calvinism may be more easily remembered if
they are associated with the word T-U-L-I-P:

     T - Total Inability
     U - Unconditional Election
     L - Limited Atonement
     I - Irresistible (Efficacious) Grace
     P - Perseverance of the Saints

.    The following material, taken from Romans:  an Interpretive
Outline, by David N. Steele and Curtis Thomas, Baptist ministers in
Little Rock, Arkansas, contrasts the Five Points of Calvinism with the
Five Points of Arminianism in the clearest and most concise form that
we have found anywhere.  It is also included as an Appendix in The
Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, by the present writer.  Each of
these books is published by the Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing
Co., Phillipsburg, N.J.

                   THE "FIVE POINTS" OF ARMINIANISM

1. Free-Will or Human Ability

.    Although human nature was seriously affected by the fall, man has
not been left in a state of total spiritual helplessness.  God
graciously enables every sinner to repent and believe, but He does not
interfere with man's freedom.  Each sinner posses a free will, and his
eternal destiny depends on how he uses it.  Man's freedom consists of
his ability to choose good over evil in spiritual matters; his will is
not enslaved to his sinful nature.  The sinner has the power to either
cooperate with God's Spirit and be regenerated or resist God's grace
and perish.  The lost sinner needs the Spirit's assistance, but he
does not have to be regenerated by the Spirit before he can believe,
for faith is man's act and precedes the new birth.  Faith is the
sinner's gift to God; it is man's contribution to salvation.

2.  Conditional Election

.    God's choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the
foundation of the world was based upon His foreseeing that they would
respond to His call.  He selected only those whom He knew would of
themselves freely believe the gospel.  Election therefore was
determined by or conditioned upon what man would do.  The faith which
God foresaw and upon which He based His choice was not given to the
sinner by God (it was not created by the regenerating power of the
Holy Spirit) but resulted solely from man's will.  It was left
entirely up to man as to who would believe and therefore as to who
would be elected unto salvation.  God chose those whom He knew would,
of their own free will, choose Christ.  Thus the sinner's choice of
Christ, not God's choice of the sinner, is the ultimate cause of
salvation.

3.  Universal Redemption or General Atonement

.    Christ's redeeming work made it possible for everyone to be saved
but did not actually secure the salvation of anyone.  Although Christ
died for all men and for every man, only those who believe on Him are
saved.  His death enabled God to pardon sinners on the condition that
they believe, but it did not actually put away anyone's sins.
Christ's redemption becomes effective only if man chooses to accept
it.

4.  The Holy Spirit Can Be Effectually Resisted

.    The Spirit calls inwardly all those who are called outwardly by
the gospel invitation; He does all that He can to bring every sinner
to salvation.  But inasmuch as man is free, he can successfully resist
the Spirit's call.  The Spirit cannot regenerate the sinner until he
believes; faith (which is man's contribution) proceeds and makes
possible the new birth.  Thus, man's free will limits the Spirit in
the application of Christ's saving work.  The Holy Spirit can only
draw to Christ those who allow Him to have His way with them.  Until
the sinner responds, the Spirit cannot give life.  God's grace,
therefore, is not invincible; it can be, and often is, resisted and
thwarted by man.

5.  Falling from Grace

.    Those who believe and are truly saved can lose their salvation by
failing to keep up their faith, etc.
.    All Arminians have not been agreed on this point; some have held
that believers are eternally secure in Christ - that once a sinner is
regenerated, he can never be lost.

According to Arminianism:

.    Salvation is accomplished through the combined efforts of God
(who takes the initiative) and man (who must respond) - man's response
being the determining factor.  God has provided salvation for
everyone, but His provision becomes effective only for those who, of
their own free will, "choose" to cooperate with Him and accept His
offer of grace.  At the crucial point, man's will plays a decisive
role; thus man, not God, determines who will be recipients of the gift
of salvation.

                    THE "FIVE POINTS" OF CALVINISM

1.  Total Inability or Total Depravity

.    Because of the fall, man is unable of himself to savingly believe
the gospel.  The sinner is dead, blind, and deaf to the things of God;
his heart is deceitful and desperately corrupt.  His will is not free,
it is in bondage to his evil nature, therefore, he will not - indeed
he cannot - choose good over evil in the spiritual realm.
Consequently, it takes much more than the Spirit's assistance to bring
a sinner to Christ - it takes regeneration by which the Spirit makes
the sinner alive and gives him a new nature.  Faith is not something
man contributes to salvation but is itself a port of God's gift of
salvation - it is God's gift to the sinner, not the sinner's gift to
God.

2.  Unconditional Election

.    God's choice of certain individuals unto salvation before the
foundation of the world rested solely in His own sovereign will.  His
choice of particular sinners was not based on any foreseen response of
obedience on their part, such as faith, repentance, etc.  On the
contrary, God gives faith and repentance to each individual whom He
selected.  These acts are the result, not the cause of God's choice.
Election therefore was not determined by or conditioned upon any
virtuous quality or act foreseen in man.  Those whom God sovereignly
elected He brings through the power of the Spirit to a willing
acceptance of Christ.  Thus God's choice of the sinner, not the
sinner's choice of Christ, is the ultimate cause of salvation.

3.  Particular Redemption or Limited Atonement

.    Christ's redeeming work was intended to save the elect only and
actually secured salvation for them.  His death was substitutionary
endurance of the penalty of sin in the place of certain specified
sinners.  In addition to putting away the sins of His people, Christ's
redemption secured everything necessary for their salvation, including
faith which unites them to Him.  The gift of faith is infallibly
applied by the Spirit to all for whom Christ died, therefore
guaranteeing their salvation.

4.  The Efficacious Call of the Spirit or Irresistible Grace

.    In addition to the outward general call to salvation which is
made to everyone who hears the gospel, the Holy Spirit extends to the
elect a special inward call that inevitably brings them to salvation.
The external call (which is made only to the elect) cannot be
rejected; it always results in conversion.  By means of this special
call the Spirit irresistibly draws sinners to Christ.  He is not
limited in His work of applying salvation by man's will, nor is He
dependent upon man's cooperation for success.  The Spirit graciously
causes the elect sinner to cooperate, to believe, to repent, to come
freely and willingly to Christ.  God's grace, therefore, is
invincible; it never fails to result in the salvation of those to whom
it is extended.

5.  Perseverance of the Saints

.    All who are chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and given faith by
the Spirit are eternally saved.  They are kept in faith by the power
of Almighty God and thus persevere to the end.

According to Calvinism:

.    Salvation is accomplished by the almighty power of the Triune
God.  The Father chose a people, the Son died for them, the Holy
Spirit makes Christ's death effective by bringing the elect to faith
and repentance, thereby causing them to willingly obey the gospel.
The entire process (election, redemption, regeneration) is the work of
God and is by grace alone.  Thus God, not man, determines who will be
the recipients of the gift of salvation.

Keyed in by Steve Kacen