So this is the first in a series of what I’m expecting will be 5 posts, maybe more. There’s two reasons for me taking time to investigate / discuss / ramble on these five topics; firstly the issues covered in this acronym are fundamental for my understanding of some of my previous posts and is something that I’ve come to accept largely through my upbringing and a few ‘key’ verses, rather than an in-depth study of the issues. Secondly, I’ve been ‘challenged’ to blog about a specific question: “How can we reconcile an acceptance of the Total Depravity of man, with the fact that non-Christians do objectively good things?” – thanks Mr. Spear. However, rather than simply addressing one specific question I’d like to take some time to cover the whole ‘flower’ and try and understand Mr. Calvin a bit better.
Thought I should do a bit of research first*…
So Calvin never actually wrote “the 5 points of Calvinism”, this is how they came about… There was a Dutch theologian guy called Jacobus Arminius, after his death in 1610 a group of his Dutch protestant supporters called the Remonstrants put forward 5 articles explaining how they were distancing themselves from Calvinism. So then in 1618 at the Synod of Dort, members of the Dutch Reformed church met and responded to the Remonstrants with TULIP. Rather than being an overview of Calvin’s theology it was simply a point-by-point response to the Arminians, but obviously the response comes explicitly or at least implicitly from Calvin’s writings, and with support from Scripture – apparently Calvin wrote a commentary on every book of the Bible, except Revelation, saying it was too difficult – you’ have thought he might have had a go at writing something…
Arminianism
- that the divine decree of predestination is conditional, not absolute;
- that the Atonement is in intention universal;
- that man cannot of himself exercise a saving faith;
- that though the grace of God is a necessary condition of human effort it does not act irresistibly in man
- that believers are able to resist sin but are not beyond the possibility of falling from grace.
Calvinism
- Total Depravity
- Unconditional Election
- Limited Atonement
- Irresistible Grace
- Perseverance of the Saints
If I decide that I still agree with TULIP, I may then have to consider the implications, right or wrong of choosing an Arminian understanding instead. People generally say (except for uber-reformed people) that it’s a good thing that Calvinists and Arminianists can still unite around the core truths of the gospel – I may also want to examine this. Anyway… this seems like quite a long introductory post – I suspect the next 5/6 will be longer!
* this research is based on the premise that Wikipedia really is infallible
