Everything about Calvinism totally explained
Calvinism is a
theological system and an approach to the
Christian life that emphasizes the rule of God over all things. Named after
French reformer John Calvin, this variety of
Protestant Christianity is sometimes called the
Reformed tradition, the
Reformed faith, or
Reformed theology.
The Reformed tradition was advanced by theologians such as
Martin Bucer,
Heinrich Bullinger,
Peter Martyr Vermigli, and
Huldrych Zwingli and also influenced
English reformers such as
Thomas Cranmer and
John Jewel. Yet due to John Calvin's great influence and role in the confessional and ecclesiastical debates throughout the
17th century, the tradition generally became known as Calvinism. Today, this term also refers to the doctrines and practices of the
Reformed churches, of which Calvin was an early leader, and the system is best known for its doctrines of
predestination and
total depravity.
Historical background
John Calvin's international influence on the development of the doctrines of the
Protestant Reformation began at
the age of 25, when he started work on his first edition of the
Institutes of the Christian Religion in
1534 (published
1536). This work underwent a number of revisions in his lifetime, including an impressive French vernacular translation. The
Institutes together with Calvin's polemical and pastoral works, his contributions to
confessional documents for use in churches, and his massive out-pouring of
commentary on the Bible, Calvin had a direct personal influence on Protestantism. He is only one of many to influence the doctrines of the Reformed churches, though he eventually became the most prominent.
The rising importance of the Reformed churches yes, and of Calvin, belongs to the second phase of the
Protestant Reformation, when evangelical churches began to form after
Martin Luther was excommunicated from the
Catholic Church. Calvin was a French exile in
Geneva. He had signed the Lutheran
Augsburg Confession as it was revised by
Melancthon in
1540, but his influence was first felt in the
Swiss Reformation, which wasn't
Lutheran, but rather followed
Huldrych Zwingli. It became evident early on that doctrine in the
Reformed churches was developing in a direction independent of
Luther's, under the influence of numerous writers and reformers, among whom Calvin eventually became pre-eminent. Much later, when his fame was attached to the Reformed churches, their whole body of doctrine came to be called "Calvinism".
Spread
Although much of Calvin's practice was in Geneva, his publications spread his ideas of a correctly reformed church to many parts of Europe. Calvinism became the theological system of the majority in
Scotland (see
John Knox), the
Netherlands, and parts of
Germany (especially those adjacent to the Netherlands) and was influential in
France,
Hungary, then-independent
Transylvania, and
Poland. Calvinism gained some popularity in
Scandinavia, especially
Sweden, but was rejected in favor of
Lutheranism after the synod of
Uppsala in
1593.
Most settlers in the
American Mid-Atlantic and
New England were Calvinists, including the
Puritans and French
Huguenot and Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam (New York). Dutch Calvinist settlers were also the first successful European colonizers of
South Africa, beginning in the
17th century, who became known as
Boers or
Afrikaners.
Sierra Leone was largely colonized by Calvinist settlers from
Nova Scotia, who were largely
Black Loyalists, blacks who had fought for the
British during the
American War of Independence.
John Marrant had organized a congregation there under the auspices of the
Huntingdon Connection.
Some of the largest Calvinist communions were started by
19th and
20th century missionaries; especially large are those in
Indonesia,
Korea and
Nigeria.
Traditional
Anglicanism (as expressed in the
Thirty-Nine Articles) is Calvinistic in doctrine but eschews the
Regulative Principle.
General description
Given that its present form has multiple main tributaries, the name "Calvinism" is somewhat misleading if taken to imply that every major feature of the doctrine of the "Calvinist churches", or of all Calvinist movements, can be found in the writings of Calvin. Others are often credited with as much of a final formative influence on what is now called "Calvinism" as Calvin himself is – for example Calvin's successor
Theodore Beza, the Dutch theologian
Franciscus Gomarus, the founder of the
Presbyterian church,
John Knox, and any number of later figures such as the English Baptist
John Bunyan and the American preacher
Jonathan Edwards.
Despite the various contributing streams of thought, a distinctive issue in Calvinist theology that's often used to represent the whole is the system's particular
soteriology (doctrine of
salvation), which emphasizes that humans are incapable of adding anything to obtain salvation and that God alone is the initiator at every stage of salvation, including the formation of faith and every decision to follow Christ. This doctrine was definitively formulated and codified during the
Synod of Dort (1618-1619), which rejected an alternative system known as
Arminianism.
Calvinism is sometimes identified with "Augustinianism" because the central issues of Calvinistic soteriology were articulated by
St. Augustine in his dispute with the
British monk Pelagius. In contrast to the free-will position advocated by
Charles Finney and other dissenters (often labeled
Pelagians or
Semipelagians), Calvinism places strong emphasis, not only on the abiding goodness of the original creation, but also on the total ruin of human accomplishments and the frustration of the whole creation caused by sin, and it therefore views salvation as a new work of
creation by God rather than an achievement of those who are saved from sin and death.
More broadly, "Calvinism" is virtually synonymous with "Reformed Protestantism", encompassing the whole body of doctrine taught by
Reformed churches. The Reformers didn't dwell on predestination as if it were a central dogma, but advocated the preaching of "the whole counsel of the Word of God." In addition to maintaining a Calvinist soteriology,
covenant theology is the architectural structure of the whole system incorporating all loci of doctrine. In piety and practice, a primary distinction is the
regulative principle of worship, which rejects any form of worship not instituted for the church in the
Bible and which sets Reformed theology apart from
Lutheranism, which holds to the
normative principle of worship.
Distinctives
The distinctives of Calvinist theology may be stated in a number of ways. Perhaps the best known summary is contained in the five points of Calvinism, though these points identify some differences with other Christians on the doctrines of salvation rather than summarizing the system as a whole. Broadly speaking, Calvinism stresses the sovereignty or rule of God in all things — in salvation but also in all of life.
Sovereign grace
Calvinism stresses the
complete ruin of humanity’s ethical nature against a backdrop of the sovereign
grace of God in
salvation. It teaches that
fallen humanity is morally and spiritually unable to follow God or escape their condemnation before him and that only by divine intervention in which God must change their unwilling
hearts can people be turned from rebellion to willing obedience.
In this view, all people are entirely at the mercy of God, who would be just in condemning all people for their
sins but who has chosen to be merciful to some. One person is saved while another is condemned, not because of a foreseen willingness, faith, or any other virtue in the first person, but because God sovereignly chose to have mercy on them. Although the person must believe the gospel and respond to be saved, this obedience of faith is God's gift, and thus God completely and sovereignly accomplishes the salvation of sinners. Views of predestination to
damnation (the doctrine of
reprobation) are less uniform than is the view of predestination to
salvation (the doctrine of
election) among self-described Calvinists (see
Supralapsarianism and Infralapsarianism).
In practice, Calvinists teach sovereign grace primarily for the encouragement of the church because they believe the doctrine demonstrate the extent of God's love in saving those who couldn't and wouldn't follow him, as well as squelching pride and self-reliance and emphasizing the Christian's total dependence on the grace of God. In the same way,
sanctification in the Calvinist view requires a continual reliance on God to purge the Christian's depraved heart from the power of sin and to further the Christian's joy.
Five points of Calvinism
Calvinist theology is sometimes identified with the five points of Calvinism, also called the doctrines of grace, which are a point-by-point response to the five points of the
Arminian Remonstrance (see
History of Calvinist-Arminian debate) and which serve as a summation of the judgments rendered by the
Synod of Dort in
1619. Calvin himself never used such a model and never combated Arminianism directly.
The points therefore function as a summary of the differences between Calvinism and Arminianism but not as a complete summation of Calvin's writings or of the theology of the Reformed churches in general. In
English, the points are sometimes referred to by the
acronym TULIP (see below), though this puts the points in a different order than the
Canons of Dort.
The central assertion of these canons is that God is able to save every person upon whom he's mercy and that his efforts are not frustrated by the unrighteousness or the inability of humans.
Total depravity
The doctrine of total depravity (also called "total inability") asserts that, as a consequence of the
fall of humanity into sin, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of
sin. People are not by nature inclined to love God with their whole heart, mind, or strength, but rather all are inclined to serve their own interests over those of their neighbor and to reject the rule of God. Thus, all people by their own faculties are morally unable to choose to follow God and be saved because they're unwilling to do so out of the necessity of their own natures. (The term "total" in this context refers to sin affecting every part of a person, not that every person is as evil as possible.)
Jacob Arminius himself and some of his later followers, such as
John Wesley, also affirmed total depravity. Even so, the Remonstrants whose views were rejected at Dort opposed it.
Unconditional election
The doctrine of unconditional election asserts that God's choice from
eternity of those whom he'll bring to himself isn't based on foreseen virtue, merit, or faith in those people. Rather, it's unconditionally grounded in God's mercy alone.
The doctrine of unconditional election is sometimes made to stand for all Reformed doctrine, sometimes even by its adherents, as the chief article of Reformed Christianity. However, according to the doctrinal statements of these churches, it isn't a balanced view to single out this doctrine to stand on its own as representative of all that's taught. Unconditional election, and its corollary in the doctrine of
predestination are never properly taught, according to Calvinists, except as an assurance to those who seek forgiveness and salvation through Christ, that their faith isn't in vain, because God is able to bring to completion all whom He intends to save. Nevertheless, non-Calvinists object that these doctrines discourage the world from seeking salvation.
Limited atonement
Also called "particular redemption" or "definite atonement", the doctrine of limited atonement is the teaching that
Jesus'
substitutionary atonement was definite and certain in its design and accomplishment. The doctrine is driven by the concept of the sovereignty of God in salvation and the Calvinistic understanding of the nature of the atonement. Namely, Calvinists view the atonement as a
penal substitution (that is, Jesus was punished in the place of sinners), and since, Calvinists argue, it would be unjust for God to pay the penalty for some people's sins and then still condemn them for those sins, all those whose sins were atoned for must necessarily be saved.
Moreover, since in this scheme God knows precisely who the elect are and since only the elect will be saved, there's no requirement that Christ atone for sins in general, only for those of the elect. Calvinists don't believe, however, that the atonement is limited in its value or power (in other words, God could have elected everyone and used it to atone for them all), but rather that the atonement is limited in the sense that it's designed for some and not all.
Irresistible grace
The doctrine of irresistible grace (also called "efficacious grace") asserts that the saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom he's determined to save (that is, the elect) and, in God's timing, overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing them to a saving faith.
The doctrine doesn't hold that every influence of God's
Holy Spirit can't be resisted but that the Holy Spirit is able to overcome all resistance and make his influence irresistible and effective. Thus, when God sovereignly purposes to save someone, that individual certainly will be saved.
Perseverance of the saints
Perseverance (or preservation) of the saints is also known as "eternal security." The word
saints is used in the Biblical sense to refer to all who are set apart by God, not in the technical sense of one who is exceptionally
holy,
canonized, or in
heaven (see
Saint). The doctrine asserts that, since God is sovereign and his will can't be frustrated by humans or anything else, those whom God has called into communion with himself will continue in faith until the end. Those who apparently fall away either never had true faith to begin with or will return.
This doctrine is slightly different from the
Free Grace or "once saved, always saved" view advocated by some
evangelicals in which, despite apostasy or unrepentant and habitual sin, the individual is truly saved if they accepted Christ at any point in the past; in traditional Calvinist teaching, apostasy by such a person may prove that they were never saved.
The five points and the nature of the atonement
An additional point of disagreement with Arminianism implicit in the five points is the Calvinist understanding of the doctrine of Jesus'
substitutionary atonement as a punishment for the sins of the elect, which was developed by
St. Augustine and especially
St. Anselm and Calvin himself. Calvinists argue that if Christ takes the punishment in the place of a particular sinner, that person must be saved since it would be unjust for him then to be condemned for the same sins. The definitive and binding nature of this
satisfaction model has strong implications for each of the five points, and it has led Arminians to subscribe instead to the
governmental theory of the atonement in which no particular sins or sinners are in view.
Covenant theology
Although the doctrines of grace have generally received the greater focus in contemporary Calvinism, covenant theology is the historic superstructure that unifies the entire system of doctrine.
Calvinists take God's
transcendence to mean that the relationship between God and his creation must be by voluntary condescension on God's part. This relationship he establishes is
covenantal: the terms of the relationship are unchangeably decreed by God alone.
Reformed writings commonly refer to an intra-
Trinitarian covenant of redemption. The greater focus is the relationship between God and man, which in historic Calvinism is seen as bi-covenantal, reflecting the early
Reformation distinction between
Law and Gospel. The covenant of works encompasses the moral and
natural law, dictating the terms of creation. By its terms, man would earn eternal life and blessedness based on his personal and perfect righteousness. With the
fall of man, this covenant continues to operate, but only to condemn sinful man. The covenant of grace is instituted at the fall, and administered through successive historic
covenants seen in Scripture for the purpose of redemption. By its terms, salvation comes not by any personal performance, but by promise. Peace with God comes only through a mediator, the fulfillment of which is found in the person and work of
Jesus Christ. Christ is seen as the
federal head of his elect people, and thus the covenant is the basis of the doctrines of the
substitutionary atonement and the
imputation of the
active obedience of Christ.
Life is religion
The practical theories of church, family, and political life, all ambiguously called "Calvinism," are the outgrowth of a religious consciousness convinced of the sovereignty of God in both his creational and salvific covenants. Thus the goodness and power of God have a free, unlimited range of activity, and this works out as a conviction that God is at work in all realms of
existence, including the
spiritual,
physical, and
intellectual realms, whether
secular or
sacred, public or private, on
earth or in
heaven.
According to this viewpoint, the plan of God is worked out in every event. God as Creator sovereignly rules over all things, and as Redeemer over those he's saved. The utter dependence on Christ isn't limited to the sacred (merely in the
church or explicit acts of piety such as
prayer), but also to every mundane task and secular vocation. For the Calvinist, while Christ's redemptive kingdom in the church remains distinct from areas of common activity with those who are not Christian, no part of life is truly autonomous from the lordship of Christ.
Worship regulated by God
The regulative principle regarding worship, which distinguishes the Calvinist approach to the public
worship of God from other views, is that only those elements that are instituted or appointed by command or example in the
New Testament are permissible in worship. In other words, the regulative principle maintains that God institutes in the scriptures what he requires for worship in the church, and everything else is prohibited. As the regulative principle is reflected in Calvin's own thought, it's driven by his evident antipathy toward the Roman Catholic Church and her worship, and it associates musical instruments with
icons, which he considered violations of the
Ten Commandments' prohibition of graven images.
On this basis, many early Calvinists also eschewed
musical instruments and advocated
exclusive psalmody in worship, though Calvin himself allowed other scriptural songs as well as psalms,
Variants
Many efforts have been undertaken to reform or expand on Calvinism, and these variations appear to a greater or lesser degree throughout the history of Calvinism.
Lapsarianism
scholastic Calvinist theology, there are two schools of thought over
when and
whom God predestined:
supralapsarianism (from the
Latin:
supra, "before" +
lapsare, "to fall") and
infralapsarianism (from the Latin:
infra, "after"). The former view, sometimes called "high Calvinism," argues that
the Fall occurred partly to facilitate God's purpose to choose some individuals for salvation and some for damnation. Infralapsarianism, sometimes called "low Calvinism," is the position that, while the Fall was indeed planned, it wasn't planned with reference to who would be saved.
Supralapsarians believe that God chose which individuals to save before he decided to allow the race to fall and that the Fall serves as the means of realization of that prior decision to send some individuals to
hell and others to
heaven (that is, it provides the grounds of condemnation in the
reprobate and the need for
salvation in the elect). In contrast, infralapsarians hold that God planned the race to fall logically prior to the decision to save or damn any individuals because, it's argued, in order to be "saved," one must first need to be saved from something and therefore the decree of the Fall must precede predestination to salvation or damnation.
These two views vied with each other at the Synod of Dort (1618), an international body representing Calvinist Christian churches from around
Europe, and the judgments that came out of that council sided with infralapsarianism (
Canons of Dort, First Point of Doctrine, Article 7). The influential
Westminster Confession of Faith also teaches the infralapsarian view but is sensitive to those holding to supralapsarianism. The Lapsarian controversy has a few vocal proponents on each side today, but overall it doesn't receive much attention among modern Calvinists.
Arminianism
A theological and political movement which grew in opposition to Calvinism, now called "
Arminianism", was founded by Dutch theologian
Jacob Arminius and revised and pursued by the
Remonstrants. Arminius rejected several tenets of the Calvinist doctrines of salvation — namely, the latter four of what would later be known as the five points of Calvinism — while the Remonstrants also rejected one other point, namely, total depravity. The term "Arminianism" today often serves as an umbrella term for both Arminius's doctrine and the Remonstrants', but Arminius's followers sometimes distinguish themselves as "Reformed Arminians."
The Remonstrants' doctrine was condemned at the Protestant
Synod of Dort held in
Dordrecht,
Holland, in
1618/
1619, and followers of either Arminius or the Remonstrants are not generally considered "Reformed" by most Calvinists. Many
Evangelical Christians adopted the position advocated by the Remonstrants, and Arminius's system was revived by evangelist
John Wesley and is common today, particularly in
Methodism.
Four-point Calvinism
Amyraldism", "hypothetical
universalism", or "four-point Calvinism", which drops the limited atonement in favor of an
unlimited atonement saying that God has provided Christ's atonement for all alike, but seeing that none would believe on their own, he then elects those whom he'll bring to faith in Christ, thereby preserving the Calvinist doctrine of
unconditional election.
This doctrine was most thoroughly systematized by the French Reformed theologian at the University of
Saumur,
Moses Amyraut, for whom it's named. His formulation was an attempt to bring Calvinism more nearly alongside the Lutheran view. It was popularized in England by the Reformed pastor
Richard Baxter and gained strong adherence among the
Congregationalists and some
Presbyterians in the
American colonies, during the
17th and
18th centuries.
Amyraldism can be found among various
evangelical groups in the
United States and within the
Anglican Diocese of Sydney. "Five point" Calvinism is prevalent in conservative and moderate groups among
Presbyterian churches,
Reformed churches,
Reformed Baptists and some
non-denominational churches.
Hyper-Calvinism
Hyper-Calvinism first referred to an eccentric view that appeared among the early
English Particular Baptists in the
1700s. Their system denied that the call of the gospel to "
repent and believe" is directed to every single person and that it's the duty of every person to trust in Christ for salvation. While this doctrine has always been a minority view, it hasn't been relegated to the past and may still be found in some small denominations and church communities today. The term also occasionally appears in both
theological and
secular controversial contexts, where it usually connotes a negative opinion about some variety of
theological determinism,
predestination, or a version of Evangelical Christianity or Calvinism that's deemed by the critic to be unenlightened, harsh, or extreme.
Neo-orthodoxy
In the mainline Reformed churches, Calvinism has undergone expansion and revision through the influence of
Karl Barth and
neo-orthodox theology. Barth was an important Swiss Reformed theologian who began writing early in the 20th century, whose chief accomplishment was to counter-act the influence of
the Enlightenment in the churches, especially as this had led to the toleration of
Nazism in Germany. The
Barmen declaration is an expression of the Barthian reform of Calvinism. Conservative Calvinists (as well as some liberal reformers) regard it as confusing to use the name "Calvinism" to refer to neo-orthodoxy or other liberal revisions stemming from Calvinist churches due to their differing theological views.
Neo-Calvinism
Besides the traditional movements within the conservative Reformed churches, several trends have arisen through the attempt to provide a contemporary, but theologically conservative approach to the world.
A version of Calvinism that has been adopted by both theological conservatives and liberals gained influence in the
Dutch Reformed churches, late in the
19th century, dubbed "neo-Calvinism", which developed along lines of the theories of Dutch theologian, statesman and
journalist,
Abraham Kuyper. More traditional Calvinist critics of the movement characterize it as a revision of Calvinism, although a conservative one in comparison to modernist Christianity or neo-orthodoxy. Neo-Calvinism, "calvinianism", or the "reformational movement", is a response to the influences of
the Enlightenment, but generally speaking it doesn't touch directly on the articles of salvation. Neo-Calvinists intend their work to be understood as an update of the Calvinist
worldview in response to modern circumstances, which is an extension of the Calvinist understanding of salvation to
scientific,
social and
political issues. To show their consistency with the historic Reformed movement, supporters may cite Calvin's
Institutes, book 1, chapters 1-3, and other works. In the United States, Kuyperian neo-Calvinism is represented among others, by the
Center for Public Justice, a faith-based political
think-tank headquartered in
Washington, D.C.
Neo-Calvinism branched off in more theologically conservative movements in the United States. The first of these to rise to prominence became apparent through the writings of
Francis Schaeffer, who had gathered around himself a group of scholars, and propagated their ideas in writing and through
L'Abri, a Calvinist study center in Switzerland. This movement generated a reawakened social consciousness among
Evangelicals.
Christian Reconstructionism
A neo-Calvinist movement called "
Christian Reconstructionism" is much smaller, more radical, and
theocratic, but by some believed to be widely influential in American family and political life. Reconstructionism is a distinct revision of Kuyper's approach, which sharply departs from that root influence through the complete rejection of
pluralism, and by formulating suggested applications of the sanctions of Biblical Law for modern civil governments. These distinctives are the least influential aspects of the movement. Its intellectual founder, the late
Rousas J. Rushdoony, based much of his understanding on the
apologetical insights of
Cornelius Van Til, father of
presuppositionalism and
professor at
Westminster Theological Seminary (although Van Til himself didn't hold to such a view). It has some influence in the conservative Reformed churches in which it was born, and in Calvinistic Baptist and
Charismatic churches mostly in the United States, Canada, and to a lesser extent in the UK
Reconstructionism aims toward the complete rebuilding of the structures of society on Christian and Biblical presuppositions, not, according to its promoters, in terms of "top down" structural changes, but through the steady advance of the Gospel of Christ as men and women are converted, who then live out their obedience to God in the areas for which they're responsible. In keeping with the
Theonomic Principle, it seeks to establish laws and structures that will best instantiate the ethical principles of the
Bible, including the
Old Testament as expounded in the case laws and summarized in the
Decalogue. Not a political movement, strictly speaking, Reconstructionism has nonetheless been influential in the development of aspects of the
Christian Right that some critics have called "
Dominionism." Reconstructionism assumes that God institutes in the Scriptures everything he requires for the ordering of self and society, extending the
regulative principle of worship to all areas of life.
Usury and capitalism
One school of thought attributes Calvinism with setting the stage for the later development of
capitalism in northern Europe. In this view, elements of Calvinism represented a revolt against the medieval condemnation of
usury and, implicitly, of profit in general. Such a connection was advanced in influential works by
R. H. Tawney (1880 - 1962) and by
Max Weber (1864–1920).
Calvin expressed himself on usury in a letter to a friend,
Oecolampadius, in which he criticized the use of certain passages of scripture invoked by people opposed to the charging of interest. He reinterpreted some of these passages, and suggested that others of them had been rendered irrelevant by changed conditions. He also dismissed the argument (based upon the writings of
Aristotle) that it's wrong to charge interest for money because money itself is barren. He said that the walls and the roof of a house are barren, too, but it's permissible to charge someone for allowing him to use them. In the same way, money can be made fruitful.
He qualified his view, however, by saying that money should be lent to people in dire need without hope of interest.
People
The
World Alliance of Reformed Churches has 75 million believers.
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