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This is a brief summary of my position regarding 5-point Calvinism.Because it is a brief summary, please note that I include no Bible textsin it. My titles for the 5 points, and my understanding of them, are basedon a summary of the Synod of Dordrecht in Holland (in 1618), which wasresponding to the threat posed by James Arminius--and as discussed in theEvangelicalDictionary of Theology, edited by Walter A. Elwell and published byBaker Book House in 1984.
Point 1: Total Depravity of Man
In Augustine, this teaching is at least partly based on the doctrineof original sin. Although I have trouble with part of Augustine's understandingof original sin (the part about extreme, and therefore sinful, sexual desireat the moment of conception being responsible for passing original sinonto offspring), I do understand that the guilt of Adam's sin isimputed to everyone born into this world except Jesus. [I'm not comfortablewith speaking of "inherited" guilt because, strictly speaking, guilt isnot inherited; but the Biblical term of "imputed" sin, or guilt, certainlyseems to be the meaning of Romans 5.] In other words, I believe the Bibleteaches that we are sinners first, and that then we commit acts of sin.I am not, therefore, Arminian in my theology.
Furthermore, I would also agree that because of original sin, man'snature is totally depraved. This I understand to mean that (1) he is bornincapable of doing anything meritorious because (2) his entire nature ispolluted with sin (ie., he is born with a sinful nature, with its tendencytoward evil). This means that man's will is born out of harmony with God'swill and is captive to Satan. Without the grace of God, he is in completespiritual darkness and in a state of utter lostness.
Point 2: Unconditional Divine Election
In Augustine and 5-point Calvinism, the answer to man's sin predicamentis unconditional divine election. In Scripture, election by God is spokenof in two major ways: (1) God elects (ie., chooses) a person or group ofpeople to fulfill a special mission for Him; and (2) God's elect are thosewho possess the grace of salvation. I certainly agree that, in both usesof the term, divine election is unconditional in the sense that God's electnever deserve their election. Indeed, their total depravity means thatwithout God's work of grace--called prevenient grace by theologians--noneof them would ever have responded positively to His call in the first place.It is relatively uncontroversial to state that for the first sense of election(see above), God has to choose someone or some group to fulfilla specific mission; thus, His choice does not necessarily mean that everyoneelse is rejected in a salvation sense by God. Concerning the election forsalvation, however, the issue is more complicated: (1) Does God arbitrarilydetermine upon whom He will bestow prevenient grace and election; or (2)Does God only choose those who, in His foreknowledge, He knew would respondto Him; or (3) Does God give sufficient prevenient grace to all peopleso they can make a free will choice to accept God's offer of salvation(and other divine help), which He offers to all people?
Augustine and 5-point Calvinism declare that God arbitrarily choosescertain people to receive His grace and election for salvation--and thatno one can question God's basis for doing so since His ways are beyondour human ability to comprehend and He is God anyway. The result is thatsalvation is entirely by grace, and no one can add anything else to it.I certainly applaud the desire to see and portray salvation as entirelyby grace because I have no doubt that the Bible teaches that fact. However,in the effort to place all the emphasis on God's sovereignty and grace,this theology goes too far--and unnecessarily so. Virtually everythingin Scripture about salvation and God's relation to mankind speaks about(1) God's desire to save all people and His unwillingness (ie., does notdesire, even though it will happen) that any should be lost eternally;and (2) how people can be saved if they will turn from their wicked waysand turn toward God. None of these Biblical statements would have any realmeaning if God did not desire to save all people, but He chose only certainones to give the grace of responding to Him; in fact, it would make Godout to be a liar! This is the greatest reason I cannot accept this teaching.It's one thing to declare that no one can question God; I understand that.But it's quite another to say, in effect, that God's Word doesn't reallymean what it says about God's desire for all people, and His pleas to turnto Him actually constitute God asking many people to do what it is impossiblefor them to do (and since God knows all things, He'd have to know thatHis Word was flat misleading about His own character). That's the heartof my problem with it: it gives God a character which is completely contraryto what His Word says it is! God's character must be consistent with HisWord, or else we cannot trust anything the Bible says!
My interpretation of Scripture is based on this premise that His Wordmust be consistent with His character as revealed in that Word. Therefore,while aware of certain texts which superficially seem to teach an arbitraryact of God as far as who He elects for salvation, my conscience compelsme to look for a Biblical principle which reconciles all the evidence.And it is my present understanding that the key to the resolution of thisproblem is found in the Biblical statements that Jesus Christ is theElect, and that all the promises of Scripture meet their ultimate fulfillmentin Him! With this Biblical principle, the following conclusions seem mostsatisfactorily warranted: (1) God desires that all people be saved; (2)His Holy Spirit pleads with all people, and bestows sufficient prevenientgrace for each person to be capable of exercising just enough will to askfor Divine help and more grace to seek Christ and do His will; (3) eachperson must exercise the small gift of grace they receive toward Christ(realizing, of course, that God Himself has taken the first step, and necessarilyso); and (4) that since Jesus Christ is the ultimate Elect Himself,all who choose to accept Him as Savior and Lord are also part of the electof God.
Thus, it is appropriate to state that God has eternally predestinedthose who ally themselves with Jesus Christ to be saved, justified, sanctified,and glorified. Therefore, the doctrine of predestination is a Biblicaland Christ-centered doctrine--not based on God's power and authorityto be as arbitrary as He desires, but based on the fact that He has alreadytold us in His Word what His will is concerning mankind and salvation--thatHe has predestined Jesus Christ to be His ultimate Elect, and that allwho feebly accept His outstretched hand to save them will find themselvespart of that predestined Elect (ie., Jesus).
Point 3: Christ's Atonement Limited to the Elect
The conclusion I draw regarding Point 2 (see above) leads me to rejectthis Point 3 also. There are too many statements in the New Testament especiallythat Jesus Christ bore the sins of the whole world at Calvary and thatHe died a substitutionary death for all people. Of course, the Bible doesnot teach cheap grace or universalism; not all will be saved. Only thosewho respond favorably to that small measure of divine prevenient gracewill have the death of Christ applied to them personally. In part, thatis the message of the sanctuary motif in Scripture--the Lamb of God mustdie, but then His blood (ie., righteousness of Christ) must be appliedby His mediation on behalf of all who come to the Father through Jesusthe Son. This is Christ's most important work as our High Priest. Thus,Christ's atonement provided the basis for all mankind's salvation;but only those who respond to Him will have the merits of His atonementapplied to them individually, and thereby be saved.
Point 4: Divine Grace is Irresistible
If Divine grace were irresistible, then one of two things must be true:(1) God's Word accurately portrays God's will that all people be saved,and thus He offers His grace to all people, who will be saved in the end(ie., universalism); or (2) God's Word falsely portrays God's will aboutwho he wants to save, and He offers His grace only to those whom He hasarbitrarily and mysteriously chosen to be saved.
Under Point 2 I already discussed my view that God's Word must accuratelyportray God's will concerning who He wants to save (namely, all people);otherwise, the Bible cannot be trusted on any subject--for surely the characterand consistency of God is most basic of all! The Bible clearly does notteach universalism, that all people will be saved. From these two principles,then, logic compels me to reject the view that God's grace is irresistible.It may indeed be a mystery why anyone would reject His grace, but sin isindeed called the "mystery of iniquity."
Point 5: The Elect are given the Gift of Perseverance
It is my understanding that all things of God which people possess aregifts given to them by God. This includes grace, faith, salvation, justification,sanctification, glorification, etc.--all things! Therefore, the abilityof His people to persevere must also be a gift from God. But God's gracerestores man's free will ability to cooperate with Him or not, as he chooses.I certainly do not believe that any cooperation that man exercises withGod means that he deserves or somehow partially earns any blessing fromGod; furthermore, the ability to cooperate with God is itself a gift fromGod. And although Scripture teaches that no one else can take Christ'speople out of His hand, an individual Christian may do so freely by choosingto abandon Christ. After all, a gift can always be returned to the giver;a loving gift-giver would not force you to accept it in the first placeor force you to keep it afterwards, if you didn't want it. So, like God'sgrace, His gift of perseverence is not, by definition, irresistible either.
This Point 5 is, in actuality, the teaching of "once saved, always saved." This means that since the elect will always be the elect, they will ultimately choose to persevere and respond to Christ in obedience to His will. But the practical effect of this doctrine among many is, not to persevere because you believe you are of the elect, but to live however you please--oh, not necessarily to become a bad moral person, but perhaps to live a good moral life, but not be so concerned about studying God's will from His Word (or to be certain you have the correct interpretation of that Word, or to worry about Satanic deceptions); after all, you are automatically saved! If Christians who believed this doctrine were fully confident in its "truthfulness," and consistent in that belief, many would abandon the whole idea of church and fellowship, as well as Bible study, because all these things would not be necessary; the church might be attended, but primarily as a social club--which is what most Protestant churches today have become anyway--social club or a political organization!
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