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CALVINISM, ITS EFFECTS ON RELIGIOUS THOUGHT

In the early 16th century, soon after Luther challenged the Catholic Church in Germany, John Calvin led a similar protestant revolt in Geneva, Switzerland, which was to have a profound influence on religious thought for centuries to come. He did several very good things. One of these was to free the Bible from the clergy and make it available to all people. But some things he believed turned out to be seeds of serious mistakes later. 

“Comparing Calvin himself with the popular conception of ‘Calvinism’ might prove an eye opening experience for many,” wrote Terry W. Glaspey

The Calvinism that exists today is not quite accurate to what Calvin believed. In 1618, which was 54 years after Calvin died, the Synod of Dort ( Holland) convened and drafted a response to Armenianism. They produced a slightly modified version. It is this version of Calvinism that we know today. The Synod formulated “The five points of Calvinism” symbolized with the “T.U.L.I.P” acronym. The “T” is for total depravity, that man has no good capabilities in himself. The “U” is for unconditional election, that God’s electing purpose is not conditioned by anything in man. The “L” is for limited atonement, that Christ’s death was sufficient to save all men, but efficient only for the elect. The “I” is for irresistable grace, that the sovreignty of the Holy Spirit cannot be resisted by the elect, and the ”P” is for the perseverance of the saints, that those who are regenerated and justified will persevere in the faith.

The line of thought in Calvinsm is pretty easy to track. When they realized that man cannot save himself, they reasoned that therefore salvation is entirely something God does, that man cannot do anything that will impact it. This is faulty reasoning but it has been accepted by most of the protestant world. It does not allow that God, in His sovreignty, has authority to put conditions before man and to attach rewards to be received when the conditions are met. But God does that. For example, God’s prophet said to Naaman the leper, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan river and your leprosy will be healed.” (2 Kings 5:10) Naaman could not heal his leprosy any more than men can save themselves. But when he finally met the condition God stipulated, the reward was given, the leprosy was gone. Calvinism misses this fact. 

Building further on this faulty concept, Calvinism sees salvation as a matter of God taking a completely helpless piece of material and changing it into a finished product, something like a piece of lumber might be changed into a chair. From there it was easy to reason that once this is done the person cannot change back into what he was anymore than a chair can change back into a piece of lumber. Hence the doctrine “Once saved, always saved.” There are many scripture passages which clarify these points and explain what God requires of man and what God will do for man, but they are not consulted. The mistaken logic that causes this is a basic part of Satan’s method of operation. He credits the Spirit with this concept.

This is the error that makes Calvinism so dangerous, misunderstanding the role of the Holy Spirit. Calvin had a good mind and was, in most respects, a good Bible student. But evidently he did not catch the image of the infant church and the adult church, as Paul articulated it to the Ephesians and to the Corinthians. He seemed to reason as though there was no difference between the two time periods and no change in what the Holy Spirit would be doing. In Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 13 Paul explained that the supernatural gifts to the apostles and to some in the early church, would cease to be given when maturity was reached, “when that which is perfect (mature) has come.” 

Calvinists do not realize it but this very mistake is the key to Satan’s deceptive work in the last days. Here is how it works. In Hebews 2 we read about the “signs and wonders” with which God “confirmed” the word spoken by Jesus and by the apostles. In 2 Thessalonians 2 we read that in later times Satan would bring forth “pseudo signs and wonders,” counterfeits, to deceive people into practicing “lawlessness.” Lawlessness and the false signs and wonders are tied together in Jesus’ description of what will happen at the judgment. He said that many will say to Him in that day, “Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you, Depart from me you who practice lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7:22-23)

The impact of Calvinism is far reaching in doctrinal damage. Many people have laid aside their concern for distinguishing between truth and error because they think that is the Spirit’s job and the person is not capable of doing it anyway. Instead of saying “I do this because the Bible says so,” they say, “I felt led of the Lord to do this.” Their worship of God is distracted because the focus has shifted from Biblically appointed acts of worship and their God given meanings, to engage in emotional release of various kinds. Bible directives are lost in a sea of confusion.

Calvinism is being poured into the stream of religious thought world wide. At most seminaries a standard course of study for preacher students is Calvin’s “Institutes of the Chrstian religion.”  In this way the fundamentals of Calvinism continue to permeate the leaders of churches. A key to better understanding of the whole matter is to learn from scripture the actual role of the Holy Spirit in the church today, for this is the basic key to the whole puzzle. Accordingly we have  a treatment of this subject for your consideration elsewhere on this web site. On the subject list the title is “The Holy Spirit in our relationship with God.”