I will go through my understanding of the five points of Calvinism in this post.
T - Total Depravity: Calvinism teaches that man is totally depraved and cannot make a decision to receive Christ unless he has already been born again of the Holy Spirit.
I would teach that there is a middle ground between total depravity and being born again...being drawn by the Holy Spirit...in which a man, who is not yet regenerated or born again, is enabled to either receive or reject Christ in that window of opportunity in which the Holy Spirit is drawing him. If he then receives Christ rather than rejecting Him, he becomes born again of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ.
Verses that substantiate this are Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 5:1-2.
U - Unconditional Election: Calvinism teaches that God arbitrarily chooses out some people for heaven and others for hell based on His choice alone.
I would teach that the Lord predestinates according to foreknowledge.
It is like the following parable.
You see a door in front of you with a sign on it that says, "Whosoever will, let him come." Upon entering, you find a table set with a nametag with your name on it at a place that was specifically set for you. You look back at the door and see a sign that says, "Predestined from before the foundations of the world."
Predestination according to foreknowledge means that the Lord knows who, when faced with the door with the sign on the outside, will choose to walk through that door; and before you walked through it He set a place for you knowing that you would be a guest at the dinner table. In this, He chose you and you did not choose Him; because eternity is a greater thing than time; and God from eternity looked down into time and saw you making the decision to receive Him; and then, by His predetermined counsel and will, chose you and did everything in his Omnipotent power to bring you into the kingdom.
But He still bases His decision on the fact that He looked down from eternity and saw that you received Him.
Verses that substantiate this are Romans 8:29-30 and 1 Peter 1:2.
L - Limited Atonement: hyper-Calvinism teaches that Jesus only died for the elect and that therefore, if you are of the non-elect, you cannot be saved even if you were to do what it takes to enter into salvation (such as the prescriptions in Romans 10:8-13 and Acts of the Apostles 2:38-39).
I would teach that this is not a biblical doctrine. For in John 6:37, it becomes clear that whoever comes to Jesus, He will in no wise cast out.
It should also be clear that scripture teaches that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2, 1 Timothy 2:4, 1 Timothy 2:6, 2 Peter 3:9) and that therefore Limited Atonement is a fallacy.
The reality therefore is Unlimited Atonement but Limited Salvation; because Universalism is not the reality. Atonement is based on the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross for the sins of all men; salvation is based on whether a man receives Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour.
I - Irresistible Grace: Calvinism teaches that if someone is of the elect, absolutely nothing can prevent him from being saved. He will be irresistibly drawn to Christ and cannot make any other decision than to receive Christ within his lifetime.
I would respond to this by saying that the Lord is not a mafia boss and He does not give us "an offer that we can't refuse". Jesus and the Holy Spirit are a gentleman.
Also, I once so wanted to believe in this that I found verses that seemed to substantiate it. In 1 Corinthians 13:8, "Love never fails" and in Revelation 19:6 we have the idea that the Lord is Omnipotent. Who then can resist salvation if He wants you saved?
The problem with this is that it leads incontrovertibly to the idea of either Limited Atonement or Universalism. We have seen above that Limited Atonement is a fallacy.
And Universalism is a fallacy because Jesus spoke of a literal hell that people go to (Matthew 13:41-42, Matthew 13:49-50, Matthew 25:46) and therefore not everyone gets saved.
So then, if neither Universalism nor Limited Atonement are the reality, then neither is Irresistible Grace.
What then does "Love never fail" to do, in all of God's Omnipotence?
It doesn't fail to give man a degree of sovereignty by which he can choose whether to receive Jesus as his Lord and Saviour and be saved; or else to reject Jesus as Lord and Saviour and be damned.
Finally, the idea that grace is irresistible is refuted by Acts of the Apostles 7:51.
P - Perseverance of the Saints: Calvinism teaches that if once a man is truly born again, he will never depart from the faith but will endure to the end and cannot lose his salvation.
There is a deplorable offshoot of this idea, Once Saved Always Saved, that teaches that if you go forward at a Crusade or church service, you are saved and cannot lose your salvation no matter how you live your life after that.
I believe that the Bible refutes such an idea in Romans 11:20-22.
Rom 11:20, Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
Rom 11:21, For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Rom 11:22, Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
And I would also respond to this concept by pointing the believer to Luke 8:12-13.
Luk 8:12, Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
Here is the context of Luke 8:13. It teaches that if anyone believes, they will be saved. This is important in our exegesis of the next verse.
Luk 8:13, They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
Here a person believes and is saved, not from hell, but from sin (Matthew 1:21, Titus 2:14); if only for a season. From the perspective of eternity he is not one of the elect; but from the perspective of time he is saved for a season. He falls away in a time of temptation, tribulation, or persecution (see also Matthew 13:20-21).
Now, in order for Once Saved Always Saved to still be a reality, falling away from faith would have to be no big deal; it would have to be true that you do not lose your salvation if you fall away. But that is a heretical doctrine of devils. The devil loves to promote that idea because it lends to the prospect of believers thinking there are no consequences to falling away and therefore if someone is inclined to fall away they might just go down that path if they think that this false doctrine is a reality; that there are no eternal consequences for falling away.
Some try to promote this heresy by quoting 2 Timothy 2:13; not realizing that 2 Timothy 2:12 (its immediate context) refutes what they would be trying to say by that verse. It tells us that if we deny Him, He also will deny us.
And the fact that we can deny Him by our behaviour is evident in Titus 1:16.
That, if you fall away from faith, you do not continue to have salvation is evident in Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 5:1-2.
The teaching there is that we are saved by grace through faith and that we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.
Therefore faith is the conduit by which we receive grace; and since we are saved by grace, if we do not have grace we do not have salvation.
Thus, if I do not have access to grace, I do not have access to salvation.
Thus, since I have access to grace by my faith, if I do not have faith I also do not have salvation.
Now, Luke 8:13 is the one who has a nominal, lukewarm, or shallow faith.
If I have a heart faith that is unto righteousness (Romans 10:10) and enduring to the end (Matthew 10:22, Hebrews 3:6, Hebrews 3:14), then I am sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 4:30, 2 Corinthians 1:22, 2 Corinthians 5:5) unto an everlasting faith (Galatians 5:22-23, 1 Corinthians 12:9) and thus I will have everlasting life (John 6:47)...life that can never come to an end...otherwise it would have been defined as temporal.
The exhortation here is to abide by the following.
Phl 2:12, Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
which means:
2Pe 1:10, Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
It is possible to have the following apply in your life.
Phl 1:6, Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
T - Total Depravity: Calvinism teaches that man is totally depraved and cannot make a decision to receive Christ unless he has already been born again of the Holy Spirit.
I would teach that there is a middle ground between total depravity and being born again...being drawn by the Holy Spirit...in which a man, who is not yet regenerated or born again, is enabled to either receive or reject Christ in that window of opportunity in which the Holy Spirit is drawing him. If he then receives Christ rather than rejecting Him, he becomes born again of the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ.
Verses that substantiate this are Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 5:1-2.
U - Unconditional Election: Calvinism teaches that God arbitrarily chooses out some people for heaven and others for hell based on His choice alone.
I would teach that the Lord predestinates according to foreknowledge.
It is like the following parable.
You see a door in front of you with a sign on it that says, "Whosoever will, let him come." Upon entering, you find a table set with a nametag with your name on it at a place that was specifically set for you. You look back at the door and see a sign that says, "Predestined from before the foundations of the world."
Predestination according to foreknowledge means that the Lord knows who, when faced with the door with the sign on the outside, will choose to walk through that door; and before you walked through it He set a place for you knowing that you would be a guest at the dinner table. In this, He chose you and you did not choose Him; because eternity is a greater thing than time; and God from eternity looked down into time and saw you making the decision to receive Him; and then, by His predetermined counsel and will, chose you and did everything in his Omnipotent power to bring you into the kingdom.
But He still bases His decision on the fact that He looked down from eternity and saw that you received Him.
Verses that substantiate this are Romans 8:29-30 and 1 Peter 1:2.
L - Limited Atonement: hyper-Calvinism teaches that Jesus only died for the elect and that therefore, if you are of the non-elect, you cannot be saved even if you were to do what it takes to enter into salvation (such as the prescriptions in Romans 10:8-13 and Acts of the Apostles 2:38-39).
I would teach that this is not a biblical doctrine. For in John 6:37, it becomes clear that whoever comes to Jesus, He will in no wise cast out.
It should also be clear that scripture teaches that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2, 1 Timothy 2:4, 1 Timothy 2:6, 2 Peter 3:9) and that therefore Limited Atonement is a fallacy.
The reality therefore is Unlimited Atonement but Limited Salvation; because Universalism is not the reality. Atonement is based on the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross for the sins of all men; salvation is based on whether a man receives Jesus Christ as his Lord and Saviour.
I - Irresistible Grace: Calvinism teaches that if someone is of the elect, absolutely nothing can prevent him from being saved. He will be irresistibly drawn to Christ and cannot make any other decision than to receive Christ within his lifetime.
I would respond to this by saying that the Lord is not a mafia boss and He does not give us "an offer that we can't refuse". Jesus and the Holy Spirit are a gentleman.
Also, I once so wanted to believe in this that I found verses that seemed to substantiate it. In 1 Corinthians 13:8, "Love never fails" and in Revelation 19:6 we have the idea that the Lord is Omnipotent. Who then can resist salvation if He wants you saved?
The problem with this is that it leads incontrovertibly to the idea of either Limited Atonement or Universalism. We have seen above that Limited Atonement is a fallacy.
And Universalism is a fallacy because Jesus spoke of a literal hell that people go to (Matthew 13:41-42, Matthew 13:49-50, Matthew 25:46) and therefore not everyone gets saved.
So then, if neither Universalism nor Limited Atonement are the reality, then neither is Irresistible Grace.
What then does "Love never fail" to do, in all of God's Omnipotence?
It doesn't fail to give man a degree of sovereignty by which he can choose whether to receive Jesus as his Lord and Saviour and be saved; or else to reject Jesus as Lord and Saviour and be damned.
Finally, the idea that grace is irresistible is refuted by Acts of the Apostles 7:51.
P - Perseverance of the Saints: Calvinism teaches that if once a man is truly born again, he will never depart from the faith but will endure to the end and cannot lose his salvation.
There is a deplorable offshoot of this idea, Once Saved Always Saved, that teaches that if you go forward at a Crusade or church service, you are saved and cannot lose your salvation no matter how you live your life after that.
I believe that the Bible refutes such an idea in Romans 11:20-22.
Rom 11:20, Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
Rom 11:21, For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
Rom 11:22, Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
And I would also respond to this concept by pointing the believer to Luke 8:12-13.
Luk 8:12, Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
Here is the context of Luke 8:13. It teaches that if anyone believes, they will be saved. This is important in our exegesis of the next verse.
Luk 8:13, They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
Here a person believes and is saved, not from hell, but from sin (Matthew 1:21, Titus 2:14); if only for a season. From the perspective of eternity he is not one of the elect; but from the perspective of time he is saved for a season. He falls away in a time of temptation, tribulation, or persecution (see also Matthew 13:20-21).
Now, in order for Once Saved Always Saved to still be a reality, falling away from faith would have to be no big deal; it would have to be true that you do not lose your salvation if you fall away. But that is a heretical doctrine of devils. The devil loves to promote that idea because it lends to the prospect of believers thinking there are no consequences to falling away and therefore if someone is inclined to fall away they might just go down that path if they think that this false doctrine is a reality; that there are no eternal consequences for falling away.
Some try to promote this heresy by quoting 2 Timothy 2:13; not realizing that 2 Timothy 2:12 (its immediate context) refutes what they would be trying to say by that verse. It tells us that if we deny Him, He also will deny us.
And the fact that we can deny Him by our behaviour is evident in Titus 1:16.
That, if you fall away from faith, you do not continue to have salvation is evident in Ephesians 2:8-9 and Romans 5:1-2.
The teaching there is that we are saved by grace through faith and that we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.
Therefore faith is the conduit by which we receive grace; and since we are saved by grace, if we do not have grace we do not have salvation.
Thus, if I do not have access to grace, I do not have access to salvation.
Thus, since I have access to grace by my faith, if I do not have faith I also do not have salvation.
Now, Luke 8:13 is the one who has a nominal, lukewarm, or shallow faith.
If I have a heart faith that is unto righteousness (Romans 10:10) and enduring to the end (Matthew 10:22, Hebrews 3:6, Hebrews 3:14), then I am sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 4:30, 2 Corinthians 1:22, 2 Corinthians 5:5) unto an everlasting faith (Galatians 5:22-23, 1 Corinthians 12:9) and thus I will have everlasting life (John 6:47)...life that can never come to an end...otherwise it would have been defined as temporal.
The exhortation here is to abide by the following.
Phl 2:12, Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
which means:
2Pe 1:10, Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
It is possible to have the following apply in your life.
Phl 1:6, Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:
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