October is known to some protestants as the Reformation month. On Oct 31, 1517, Martin Luther, Nailed a copy of his 95 theses on a churchs door. No doubt martin luther revealed the falsehood of catholicism, and many would follow in Luthers footsteps, to include a john calvin.
Hundreds of years later, we still look back to teachings from those men who God used to reach others.
In 1862, William Cunningham, a presbyterian, wrote about calvin’s effect on Theology.
“We believe that it is impossible to bring out accurately, fully, and definitely, the sum and substance of what is taught in Scripture concerning the place which the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost hold in the salvation of sinners, without taking up Calvinistic ground, — without being in a manner necessitated to assert the fundamental principles of the Calvinistic system of theology. It is, we believe, impossible otherwise to do full justice, and to give full effect, to what Scripture teaches, concerning the sovereign supremacy of the Father in determining the everlasting destiny of His creatures, — concerning the death and righteousness of Christ, as of infinite worth and value, and as infallibly efficacious for securing all the great objects to which they are directed, — and concerning the agency of the Holy Spirit in certainly and infallibly uniting to Christ through faith all whom the Father had given to Him, and preserving them in safety unto His eternal kingdom.
Those who reject or put aside the peculiar doctrines of Calvinism can, we think, be shown to be practically, and by fair construction, withholding from God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, more or less of the place and influence which the Scripture assigns to them in the salvation of sinners; and to be giving to men themselves, or at least to creatures, a share in effecting their salvation which the Scripture does not sanction. And when Calvinistic principles are rejected or thrown into the background, not only is something, more or less, of necessity taken from the Creator and assigned to the creature, but an opening is made, — an opportunity is left, — for carrying on this process of transferring to man what belongs to God to almost any extent, until the scriptural method of salvation is wholly set aside or overturned.”
William Cunningham, ‘John Calvin’ in The Reformers and the Theology of the Reformation, eds James Buchanan and James Bannerman (Edinburgh: T.&T. Clark, 1862), pp 337-39.
Hundreds of years later, we still look back to teachings from those men who God used to reach others.
In 1862, William Cunningham, a presbyterian, wrote about calvin’s effect on Theology.
“We believe that it is impossible to bring out accurately, fully, and definitely, the sum and substance of what is taught in Scripture concerning the place which the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost hold in the salvation of sinners, without taking up Calvinistic ground, — without being in a manner necessitated to assert the fundamental principles of the Calvinistic system of theology. It is, we believe, impossible otherwise to do full justice, and to give full effect, to what Scripture teaches, concerning the sovereign supremacy of the Father in determining the everlasting destiny of His creatures, — concerning the death and righteousness of Christ, as of infinite worth and value, and as infallibly efficacious for securing all the great objects to which they are directed, — and concerning the agency of the Holy Spirit in certainly and infallibly uniting to Christ through faith all whom the Father had given to Him, and preserving them in safety unto His eternal kingdom.
Those who reject or put aside the peculiar doctrines of Calvinism can, we think, be shown to be practically, and by fair construction, withholding from God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, more or less of the place and influence which the Scripture assigns to them in the salvation of sinners; and to be giving to men themselves, or at least to creatures, a share in effecting their salvation which the Scripture does not sanction. And when Calvinistic principles are rejected or thrown into the background, not only is something, more or less, of necessity taken from the Creator and assigned to the creature, but an opening is made, — an opportunity is left, — for carrying on this process of transferring to man what belongs to God to almost any extent, until the scriptural method of salvation is wholly set aside or overturned.”
William Cunningham, ‘John Calvin’ in The Reformers and the Theology of the Reformation, eds James Buchanan and James Bannerman (Edinburgh: T.&T. Clark, 1862), pp 337-39.
Last edited:
