By Neil Earle
John Calvin’s 500th birthday is on July 10, 2009. Calvin (1509-1564) began life as a French law student greatly attracted to the ideas of Martin Luther. Forced to flee the University of Paris because of persecution, Calvin ended up in Basel, Switzerland where he penned the first edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion at the age of 27. His 23 Old Testament commentaries secured his title as “the prince of expositors.”
Called to Geneva to help organize the Protestant movement there in 1541, Calvin tried to turn the city into a model Christian state. He was not as rigid as some of his later disciples, believing that there was a mystery about the Sovereign God and the Scriptures that was only known through “the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit.” Thus “the Bible is authoritative in all matters with which it deals but does not deal with everything, e.g. astronomy.” This mystery applies even to his familiar doctrine of Predestination.
For Calvin, predestination for both the saved and the damned is the only way for the Elect to endure and the only explanation for God’s perfect Sovereignty which for him is the key to everything. Thus, even the free actions of men fit in with God’s design from all eternity. History is under God’s guidance and the Elect are the pioneers of His purpose. Like Elijah’s 7000, “God miraculously keeps his church as in hiding places,” he taught. God’s plan cannot be defeated! This was encouraging in a time of religious wars and an idea eagerly embraced by the Pilgrims on the Mayflower who cherished their “Geneva Bibles.”
Calvinism was hardened into a religious system by Calvin’s later defenders and disciples. Every initiative in salvation rests with God, it says. When a Dutch theologian named Jacob Arminius (1560-1609) protested against Calvinist skepticism about human will and effort and the need for human decision to enter the equation (e.g. “bearing fruits for repentance”), Calvinists declared him a heretic at the Synod of Dort (1618). Out of this came the Calvinist TULIP – Total Depravity, Unconditional Election (God calls with no regard for human merit), Limited Atonement (Christ’s sacrifice only for the elect), Irresistible Grace (e.g. Paul’s conversion) and Perseverance as evidenced in good works.
Arminians believe “you can do something.” The Wesleys, most Baptists, Methodists, Billy Graham, Herbert Armstrong and Joel Osteen are Arminian as opposed to Presbyterians (R.C. Sproul), Dutch Reformed, Reformed Baptists and many Anglicans such as J.I. Packer. The mystery remains and that is probably for the best!