Why I Am A Calvinist

 

The most amazing thing about God that I have discovered thus far in my Christian life is that He is sovereign.  Some people call it another conversion experience; I’ll just call it a revelation. 

 

This revelation has so deeply changed my worldview that I am forced to just stand in awe of my Creator.  Jesus, through the doctrine of sovereignty, has become my ultimate treasure.  I have found Him to be the ultimate satisfaction, the ultimate meaning, and the ultimate being there ever was, is, and will be. 

 

Grant it, I have a long way to go.  Christ is still becoming more to me each day.  I have not yet attained that which I seek.  What is it that I seek?  Perfection.  Completion.  In this world we are left incomplete and imperfect.  There must be something more, we think to ourselves. And the utter reality is that there is something more out there.  And we, as Christians, will attain that goal. 

 

What does this have to do with Calvinism?  It has everything to do with it.  See, Calvinism, or, rather, Reformed Theology offers man assurance of the completion and perfection to come.  Reformed theology, at its core, presumes that there is a God who completes that which he has started.  What He wills to happen will indeed happen. This marvelous truth is found tucked away within the doctrines of grace.  

 

Why Reformed Theology?

 

I am reformed because I believe in the testimony of scripture.  However, that is not to say that those who are not reformed do not believe in the truth of scripture. I believe full well that Arminians believe that the scriptures were divinely breathed into existence.  The departure, however, comes in that I believe that the reformed view is the only worldview that makes sense of all scripture, not just bits and pieces. 

 

 Reformed theology, to me, is like a gigantic puzzle that has all been put together to form a beautiful picture.  At first, we may be confused as to how all the pieces fit, but when we finally figure it out, the result is aesthetically incomprehensible.  We try to fit man’s free will with the sovereignty of God and we ask, “How could this be?”  Yet, when we use the scriptures to unlock the mystery, we inevitably discover that the two are compatible in the most beautiful way. 

 

The Heart of Reformed Theology

 

At the heart of this worldview is the idea that man is totally depraved.  Yet, one might ask, what does that mean?  We talk of morally ill people as being depraved, but we never consider ourselves to fall into this category. 

 

When we say that a person is morally depraved, we are not saying the person is as bad as they could be.  What we mean is that evil and sin has so corrupted man that at the core of his being, he has been infected with sin.  Every part of man has been affected.  The mind, the passions, the intellect, the body, and the will have all been caused to go corrupt by Adam’s and our sin. 

 

The main difference between the reformed and the typical non-reformed Christian is that the former believes that the will itself has been corrupted by sin, while the latter does not.  The reformed Christian believes that man’s will has been trapped by sin.  The will has not been left untouched by the deceitfulness of sin.  The will of man, in short, is not righteous or good that it might want God or the things of God.  It is, at the very core, corrupt and at enmity with Christ. 

 

Man does indeed have a moral will.  We use it everyday.  But the point that reformed Christians want to make is that sinful man will always use their free will to not choose God.  So, in one sense, man is free; yet, in another sense, he is not.  Man is a prisoner, if you will.

 

(See Romans 8:7; John 6:44, 65)

 

How, Then, Are People Saved?

 

 

You may be wondering, If sinful man cannot choose Christ, then how is anyone ever saved?

 

That is a good question.  The answer is that it takes the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit to work in the individual’s life.  Without the working of the Holy Spirit, nobody can be saved (John 6:44, 65).  The Spirit must draw the sinner to repentance, or else he will never come. 

 

The Holy Spirit is Irresistible

 

As reformed Christians, we hold to irresistible grace.  When God calls out to one of His elect, the chosen person will respond positively to the call.  My critics may point out that there are instances in the Bible when God has called out to someone and they resisted.  They point to passages like this and say, “See!  This proves that there is no such thing as irresistible grace.” 

 

To put it politely, I would have to say that that is faulty logic.  Just because you find several verses in the scripture that shows grace being resisted doesn’t necessarily mean that all grace is resistible.  It just means that some grace is resistible. 

 

Calvinists hold to two types of grace:  common grace and effectual grace.  Likewise, we hold to two different types of callings: a general calling and an effectual calling.  The former being the calling that goes out to the whole world, and the latter goes only to the elect. 

 

Just like there are instances in the Bible when grace is resisted, there are also instances when grace is irresistible (please see John 6:37 for an example).  Notice in verse 37 that all that the Father gives to Christ will come to Him.  There is no possibility about it… there is only a surety.  There is a full assurance that all that the Father calls to salvation will indeed come to Him.

 

Christ is so beautiful that, once enlightened, cannot be resisted.  One way to put it is like this.  Would anybody in their right mind resist Christ?  The answer would be no. Christ is to supremely valuable that He will not be resisted.  It follows, then, that if there were ever a case when a person did resist Christ, that said person would not have been in a right mind. 

 

John 6:44 is clear that nobody can approach Christ unless, of course, the Spirit draws him. Likewise, once that drawing takes place, it is irresistible (John 6:37). 

 

Why Doesn’t God Draw Everybody, Then?

 

 If salvation depends solely upon the Spirit’s work in the individuals life, then why doesn’t He just draw everyone?  The answer is simple: He doesn’t have to.  The questions presumes that man is owed salvation.  But the truth is that man is not owed salvation.  Salvation is called a “gift” in the scriptures.  What man deserves, however, is hell.  We all deserve that punishment.  It is wonder that He should save even one person from that place of torment.

 

The question, then, should be, “Why would God save me? Why would God decide to show me mercy even though I deserve hell?”  The answer is once again simple: love.

 

See, election is not about some despot randomly picking whom He may save and whom He may damn.  No, it is about a God of love who graciously rescues some from the fiery pits of hell.  It is about a God who cares enough to rescue a remnant from their own sin.

 

Therefore, in sum, those who are elected are so chosen because of grace… not because of any merit of their own.  Those who are not elected are not robbed of anything.  They are getting what they deserve: hell.

 

This should make us all fear.  For we could have been one of those tossed into the flames.  Yet, God was gracious enough to send His own Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins.  We should fall onto our knees, praising God for His infinite wisdom and grace, and thank Him for choosing us. 

 

The question should not be, “God, why didn’t you choose everybody.”  The question, rather, should be, “God, why did you choose me?”

 

We should all put the emphasis back on the right question if we are to view God and man in the right light.