One Layman's View on Calvinism
by Clonnie Yearout Vol. XXIV, No. 2, February 2011
I have enjoyed reading the recent series of Banner articles on biblical election. While I have no formal religious training like the authors of the previous articles, I was raised in a solidly Christian home, and I've been a Christian for 45 years. During the last 30 of those years, I've spent a lot of time reading the Bible and studying about the history of the church. Interestingly enough, I've found that the disagreement between the two views of salvation now generally know as Calvinism and Arminianism is not a new phenomenon. Apparently, Christians have been disagreeing about the extent of man's depravity and the abilities of his free will for a very long time.
When I was a younger Christian, the word "Calvinism" evoked negative feelings in me. When the subject was mentioned, leaders in my denomination presented the argument in a very biased way, essentially that man became a Christian solely because of his own decision. The Calvinist position was erroneously presented as God forcing certain people to be Christians, supposedly against their free will when necessary. I naturally assumed that Calvinists were misled, mistaken, and probably not even Christians.
Calvinism (aka Reformed Theology) probably has negative connotations for most Protestants today, and that's a shame, because John Calvin did not create the doctrine that bears his name. He simply systematized what had already been taught by many great Christians before him. Augustine, for instance, gave voice to the doctrine before Calvin. Martin Luther held essentially the same view and he wrote far more about the subject than Calvin.
By most accounts, Calvin was one of the greatest Christians who ever lived. Historians paint him as a meek and humble soul, devout, extremely charitable, dedicated to God, and devoid of fleshly ambition. But most Christians have never heard these good things about Calvin. Instead, he's perceived today in many groups as an interloper who attempted to introduce an errant doctrine of salvation upon Christianity.
I've also noticed that those who oppose Calvinism often fail to note the historical record of other great Christian leaders of the past who also believed that the Bible teaches the absolute sovereignty of God and the helpless depravity of man. Many of those whom today's Christians consider heroes of the faith were Calvinists.
Calvinist reformers preached the reformed doctrine all across western and northern Europe. The great Scottish reformer, John Knox, was a Calvinist. The French Huguenots and the English Puritans were Calvinists and suffered great persecution which drove them out of France and England to America. In a very real sense, it can be said that Calvinists had a great hand in the founding of America.
The two greatest preachers of the Great Awakening, George Whitefield and Jonathan Edwards, were Calvinists. John Eliot, Adoniran Judson, David Brainerd, and William Carey, four of the greatest missionaries of the modern era, were Calvinists. John Bunyan, author of that great Christian allegory, The Pilgrim's Progress, was a Calvinist. Great hymn writers John Newton (Amazing Grace), William Cowper (There is a Fountain Filled With Blood), and Augustus Toplady (Rock of Ages) were Calvinists.
One of the most notable writers of biblical commentaries, Matthew Henry, was a Calvinist, as was Charles Hadden Spurgeon, that great 19th century English preacher who is quoted as having said, "Free will carried many a soul to Hell, but never a soul to Heaven."
The first Baptist association in America, the Philadelphia association, was founded by Calvinists, as were most of the Baptist associations that followed it. It's also true that the founders of the Southern Baptist Convention were Calvinists. Most of America's first colleges, the Ivy League schools, were founded by Calvinists. Even Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the flagship seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention, was founded by James P. Boyce who was -- yes -- a Calvinist.
Although he does not label himself as a Calvinist, today's well-know Bible expositor and preacher, John MacArthur, also teaches Reformed Theology. Like Spurgeon, he says he teaches it simply because the Bible teaches it, and he doesn't see what all the fuss is about. Holding to the doctrine does not deter him from preaching the gospel at every opportunity to all who will hear it. The list of great preachers who have held this view is long indeed, so I think we should be very careful not to dismiss it as some sort of weird, radical, fringe element.
As a not-so-bright, ordinary layman, I confess that I do not want to be forced to choose a side about which doctrine of salvation is correct. Learned Christians from both sides can make strong arguments for their position, and I would like to see them be allowed to do so. If forced to choose, I'd probably come down on the Calvinist side, simply because I believe it gives more glory to God and His sovereign grace, but at the same time, I'll allow for the possibility that I could be wrong.
It seems to me that salvation can be seen from two viewpoints. From our view, it appears as if we who are saved went through a mental process of evaluation and surrendering our life to Jesus after we came to the realization that He is our only hope. That view is true, but it's not the complete truth. From God's view, He knows that we were dead in trespasses and sin, in rebellion against Him, and using our free will only to resist and run from Him. Without His loving and miraculous drawing us to Himself, without His revelation of Himself to us, we would never use our free will to follow Him.
Free will means only that a person always does the thing that he wants to do most at the time he does it. God changed me and made me want Him more than I wanted the things of the world. Since my will must always follow my strongest want, I used my free will to respond to His matchless love and surrendered myself to Him. As I consider the process in retrospect, I find that I can say only that I am saved, and I can take absolutely no credit for that fact, not even the exercising of my free will. Once I wanted Jesus (and He led me, convinced me to want Him), of necessity my free will then chose to follow Him. If believing that means that I must be labeled a Calvinist, so be it. I'm in pretty good company.
Clonnie Yearout
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