Reformed
Theology
Selections
from the writings of Loraine Boettner
Contents:
What is the Gospel?
The Gospel is the good news
about the great salvation
purchased by
Jesus Christ, by which He reconciled sinful men to a holy God. The
purpose of this booklet is to set forth, in plain language and in terms
easily understood, the basic differences between the Calvinistic
(Reformed) and Arminian understanding of the Gospel, and to show what
the Bible teaches concerning these subjects. An accurate understanding
is crucial; 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 the others.
There are in reality only two types of religious thought: the religion
of faith, and the religion of works. The author is convinced 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 is therefore an inconsistent and unstable form of
Christianity. In other words, Christianity comes to its fullest and
purest expression in the 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 in the
teaching of two 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). Arminianism is a compromise between these two
systems; while in its more evangelical form (as in early Wesleyanism)
it approaches the religion of faith, it nevertheless does contain
serious elements of error.
At present, practically all 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.
The history of liberalism and Unitarianism shows that they deteriorate
into a social gospel that is too weak to sustain itself. The author is
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 argued convincingly that there is no consistent
stopping place between Calvinism and atheism.
1. The sovereignty of
God
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, white or black, whether in
the United States, or China, or Africa. All 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.
Hence, nothing can come to pass apart from His sovereign will;
otherwise, He would not be truly God. When the thoughtful person dwells
on this truth, he finds 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 (Ac. 4:24-28). Even the nations are as the small dust of the
balance when compared with His greatness (Isa. 40:12-17). Amid all the
apparent defeats and inconsistencies found in human society, 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. Since His permission is not unwilling but
willing, 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. To the proportion that this
is denied, God is excluded from the government of the world, and man is
left with only a finite God. Naturally some problems arise, which in
man’s present state of knowledge are not able fully to be explained.
But that is not a sufficient reason for rejecting what the Scriptures
and the plain dictates of reason affirm to be true.
Is God not able to 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” (Mt. 8:2)—and at a word
his leprosy was cleansed! Do not believe that God cannot control the
human will or 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 the
firstborn of the Egyptians (Ex. 12:29) and in another night slew
185,000 of the Assyrian army (2 Kgs. 19:35). It was shown when the
earth opened and swallowed up Korah and his rebellious allies (Num.
16:31-35), and when King Herod was smitten and died a horrible death
(Ac. 12:23). The Most High God’s dominion is “an everlasting dominion,
and his kingdom is from generation to generation: And all the
inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according
to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the
earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?”
(Dan. 4:34-35).
All of this brings out the basic principle of the Reformed faith: the
sovereignty of God. God created this world in which man dwells. He owns
it and 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 the weaknesses of humanity.
That the plans of men are not always executed is due to a lack of
power, or 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
The first and perhaps most serious error of the Arminian writers 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 faraway event that has little influence in the lives of people
today. But unless the Bible-believing Christian insists on the reality
of that spiritual separation from God, and the totally disastrous
effect that it had on the entire human race, he shall never be able
properly to appreciate his real condition or desperate need of a
redeemer.
Perhaps it will help to realize more clearly what fallen man’s
condition really is, if it is compared 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 angels stood their test
(for reasons fully known only to God) and as a result were then
confirmed in a state of perfect angelic holiness; these are now the
elect angels in heaven (1 Tim. 5:21). But others fell and are now the
demons mentioned in the Scriptures (the devil apparently being the one
of highest rank among those who fell). Jude wrote that the “angels
which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, [God]
hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of
the great day” (v. 6). Furthermore, “God spared not the angels that
sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of
darkness, to be reserved unto judgment” (2 Pet. 2:4). The devil and the
demons are totally alienated from God, totally given over to sin,
without any hope of redemption. Their fate is described by Christ as
that of being cast into “everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels” (Mt. 25:41).
There is no redemption for fallen angels. 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.
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 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 his descendants 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
fallen 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 the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree
of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the 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 he sinned; 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—health, wealth, family and friends, the beauties
of nature—and he still is surrounded with many restraining influences.
But he is on his way. If not checked, man would eventually become as
totally evil as 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, “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 man is to be rescued, God must take
the initiative; He must pay the penalty for him, must cleanse him from
his guilt, and so reinstate him in holiness and righteousness.
That is precisely what God does! He sovereignly picks up a man out of
the kingdom of Satan and places him in the kingdom of heaven. These are
the elect that are referred to some 25 times in Scripture: “But for the
elect’s sake those days shall be shortened” (Mt. 24:22); “Knowing,
brethren beloved, your election of God” (1 Thess. 1:4); “The election
hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded” (Rom. 11:7); “Who shall
lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?” (Rom. 8:33). There are
many more such references.
The Bible teaches 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 lived a perfectly sinless life among men as the
representative of His people, placed Himself under His own law, and
suffered in His own Person the penalty that God had prescribed for sin.
In His sinless life He perfectly kept the law of God that Adam had
broken and so earned perfect righteousness for His people and the right
for them 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. 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, made alive
spiritually, or born again.
Paul expresses this broad truth in the epistle to the Romans when he
says, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death
by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned....
But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the
offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift
by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto
many.... Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men
to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came
upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
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. Writing to the saints that
were at Ephesus, Paul said, “And you hath he quickened [made alive],
who were dead in trespasses and sins.” The Ephesian Christians “...were
by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich
in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are
saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show
the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through
Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should
boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath before ordained 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 his
descendants (that is, judicially set to their account, so that they 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) the believer’s sin is imputed to
Christ, so that the innocent Savior suffers the consequences of it. And
in the third place, Christ’s righteousness is imputed to the believer
and secures for him entrance into heaven. Adam’s descendants, of
course, are no more personally guilty of Adam’s sin than Christ is
personally guilty of His people’s sin, or that His people are
personally meritorious because of His righteousness. In each case it is
a judicial transaction. The sinner receives salvation from Christ in
precisely the same way that he receives 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 there is a 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 mankind is not merely sick or spiritually
disinclined but spiritually dead. Christ emphatically taught, “Except a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3). Again
He said, “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot
hear my word” (Jn. 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 the righteous been
left to themselves, they, like the fallen angels, would never have
turned to God.
A spiritually dead person can no more give himself spiritual life than
a physically dead person can give himself physical life; that requires
a supernatural act on the part of God. The sinner gets into the family
of God in precisely the same way that he gets into his human family: by
being born into it. By that supernatural act, God Himself (through His
Holy Spirit) sovereignly takes him out of the kingdom of Satan and
places him in His spiritual kingdom by a spiritual rebirth.
Having once been born into the kingdom of God, the redeemed sinner can
never become unborn. Since it took a supernatural act to bring him into
a state of spiritual life, it would take another such act to take him
out of that state. Hence the absolute certainty that those who have
been regenerated (and therefore have become truly Christian) will never
lose their salvation but will be providentially kept by the power of
God through all the trials and difficulties of this life and brought
into the heavenly kingdom. “He that heareth my word, and believeth on
him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (Jn. 5:24). “If any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away;
behold, all things are become new” (2 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, neither shall any man pluck
them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than
all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand” (Jn.
10:27-29). This is known as the doctrine of eternal security, or the
perseverance of the saints.
This gift of eternal life 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, “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 to me,
except the Father which hath sent me draw [literally, drag] him” (Jn.
6:44). Only those who are quickened (made spiritually alive) by the
Holy Spirit ever have that will or desire; these are the elect. But in
contrast with these, there is another group that may be called the
non-elect. Concerning them, Floyd Hamilton very appropriately wrote:
“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
It is not revealed 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. The Scriptures do show that not all will be saved; however,
it must be remembered that the atonement, which was worked out at an
enormous cost to God Himself, is God’s own property; He is at liberty
to make whatever use of it He chooses. No man has any claim to any part
of it. The Bible teaches repeatedly that salvation is by grace. 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 man 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
made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump
to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if
God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured
with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And
that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of
mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath
called...” (Rom. 9:20-24).
Only the Calvinist seems to take the fall of man seriously. A proper
evaluation of the fall and 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 needing the right incentive; he is
spiritually dead. 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. It is 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.
Here, again, is one of the most important verses in Scripture
concerning the matter of salvation: “No man can come to me, except the
Father which hath sent me draw him” (Jn. 6:44). Another like it is,
“All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to
me I will in no wise cast out” (Jn. 6:37). The Apostle Paul wrote, “The
natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are
spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14).
How does God cause the elect to exercise faith? The answer is that in
regeneration the Holy Spirit subdues man’s heart to Himself and imparts
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 God’s will. When the Lord appeared to the hardened persecutor Saul
as he was on the way to Damascus, he immediately became obedient to
God’s will. “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power” (Ps.
110:3). God gives His people the will to come! That act on God’s part,
in the subconscious nature of the person, is known as regeneration, the
new birth, or being born again. When a man is given a new nature, he
reacts according to that nature. He exercises faith and does good works
characteristic of repentance as naturally as the grape vine produces
grapes. Whereas sin was previously his natural element, now holiness
becomes his natural element (though 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.
One must choose between an atonement of high efficiency which is
perfectly accomplished, and an atonement of wide extension which is
imperfectly accomplished; one cannot have both. If one had both one
would have universal salvation. 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. 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 themselves. Certainly that would be
unjust! If Christ paid their debt, they are free, and the Holy Spirit
will invariably bring them to faith and repentance. If the atonement
were truly unlimited, it would mean that Christ died for multitudes
whose fate had already been determined, who were already in hell at the
time Christ 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 his ancestor Adam. But that kind of 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.
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?” (Mt. 27:46), He
was literally suffering the pangs of hell. For that is essentially what
hell is: separation from the comfortable presence of God, separation
from everything that is good and desirable. Such suffering is beyond
man’s comprehension. But since Christ 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.
Evidently He will be the only Person of the Godhead that the redeemed
will see in heaven. Peter says that those who have obtained like
precious faith now are “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4);
Paul says that believers are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ” (Rom. 8:17). Think of that: partakers of the divine nature,
joint-heirs with Christ! What greater blessing could God possibly
confer upon sinful men? As such redeemed men are superior to the
angels, for angels are designated in Scripture only as God’s
messengers, His servants.
Ultimately the Arminian is faced with precisely the same problem as the
Calvinist: that broader problem as to why a God of infinite holiness
and power permits sin at all. In his present state of knowledge the
theologian can give only a partial answer. But the Calvinist faces up
to that problem and acknowledges the scriptural doctrine that all men
had their fair and favorable chance in Adam. God now graciously saves
some of the fallen race while leaving others to go their own chosen
sinful way, manifesting His justice in their punishment. But having
admitted foreknowledge, the Arminianism has no explanation as to why
God purposefully and deliberately creates those He knows will be lost,
those who will spend eternity in hell.
As regards the problem of evil, the Calvinist can say that God created
this world as a theater in which He would display His glory, His
marvelous attributes for all His creatures to see and admire: His
being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth. How does
God manifest His justice?
God’s justice demands that goodness must be rewarded and sin punished.
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. He created men
and angels not as robots who would automatically produce good works as
a machine produces bolts or tin cans (but deserves 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 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. He
manifests His justice toward those whom He purposed to bypass because
of their willing continuance in sin.
Likewise, if sin had been excluded, there could have been no adequate
revelation of God’s most glorious attributes—grace, mercy, love and
holiness—displayed in His redemption of sinners. The angels in heaven
earned salvation through a covenant of works by keeping God’s law. Like
Adam, they had been promised certain rewards if they obeyed. They did
obey and were confirmed in holiness. They do not experience salvation
by grace. There is an old hymn which says, “When I sing redemption’s
story, the angels will fold their wings and listen.” 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 is
able to predict future events. But if God foreknows any future event,
that event is as fixed and certain as if foreordained. Foreknowledge
implies certainty, and certainty 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. Why? 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 He knows will go to
hell? It would be mere foolishness for Him to wish to save or try to
save those He knows will be lost! That would be for Him to work at
cross-purposes with Himself. Even 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 is left
with 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, it is so meaningless that it is more confusing than
enlightening. For even as regards the elect, what sense is there for
God to elect those whom 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:
“...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to
repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). “Who will have all men to be saved, and to
come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). “...Christ Jesus;
Who gave himself a ransom for all...” (1 Tim. 2:5-6). In regard to
these verses it must be borne in mind that (as we have said earlier)
God is the absolute sovereign Ruler of heaven and earth, and man is
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 teaches that some men are going to be lost (e.g., Mt.
25:46), Peter 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. As Paul
said, “For who hath resisted his will?” (Rom. 9:19).
These verses simply teach that God is benevolent and 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 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, for
sufficient reason 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 2 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. The epistle is addressed not to
mankind at large but to Christians: “...to them that have obtained like
precious faith with us” (2 Pet. 1:1). At the beginning of this very
chapter Peter addressed those to whom he was writing as “beloved”
(3:1). An examination of the verse as a whole, and not merely at the
last half, reveals that it is not primarily a salvation verse at all
but a second-coming verse! It begins by saying, “The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise [singular].” What promise? “The promise of his
coming” (v. 4). The reference is to Christ’s 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
“longsuffering to us-ward”; that is, to His elect, many of whom had not
yet been regenerated and who therefore had not yet come to repentance.
Hence verse 9 may quite properly be read as follows: “The Lord is not
slack concerning his promise as some count slackness, but is
longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any of us should perish, but
that all of us should come to repentance.”
What about 1 Timothy 2:4-6, “Who will have all men to be saved, and to
come unto the knowledge of the truth... Who gave himself a ransom for
all”? It must be noted that “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. In this
context it is clearly 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 kept those blessings to themselves. Even the early Christians for a
time were inclined to appropriate the mission of the Messiah only for
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 regarded as “unclean,”
“common,” “sinners of the Gentiles”—even “dogs.” It was not lawful for
a Jew to keep company with or have any dealings with a Gentile (Jn.
4:9, Ac. 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 (Mk. 7:4). After Peter 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. One can almost hear
the gasp of wonder when, after Peter told them what had happened, they
said, “Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life”
(Ac. 11:18)—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 land of Judaea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him
in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins” (Mk. 1:5), it is obvious
that not every individual did so respond. After Peter and John had
healed the lame man at the door of the temple it is said that “all men
glorified God for that which was done” (Ac. 4:21). Jesus told his
disciples that they would be “hated of all men” for His name’s sake
(Lk. 21:17). Thus, when Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men unto me” (Jn. 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 it is evident that this is what is actually happening.
In 1 Corinthians 15:22 it says, “For as in Adam all die, so also in
Christ shall all be made 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. 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. 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, is this: “For as
all born in Adam die, so also all born again in Christ shall be made
alive.” This verse, therefore, refers not to something past, nor to
something present, but to something future; it has no special bearing
at all on the Calvinist-Arminian controversy.
Two other verses that also are often quoted in defense of Arminianism
are: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice,
and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he
with me” (Rev. 3:20); and “...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 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, are silent about the truth that fallen man is spiritually
dead and 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!”
He is as dead spiritually as the Pharisee Nicodemus, to whom Jesus
said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”
(Jn. 3:3). Christ said to the Pharisees, “Why do ye not understand my
speech? even because ye cannot hear my word” (Jn. 8:43). Apart from
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 hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, 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
the Father giveth me shall come to me” [Jn. 6:37]), but not all men
universally and every man individually. The redeemed host will be made
up of men from all classes and conditions of life: princes and
peasants, 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.
The Five Points Of
Calvinism
It is the author’s conviction 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 and in relation to each other
can one really understand or appreciate the Christian system in all 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. This 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