The five points of Calvinism
There is no word, in the theological field, like the word calvinismo that arouses more skepticism and controversy. Yet it is only a question of prejudice against Calvinist theology, many do not approach it and criticize it without knowing its meaning, without knowing what Calvinism says, at the basis of which we find the doctrine of election or predestination, it is widely present in the Bible and in the history of humanity and does nothing but exalt the sovereignty of God, as it is.
To understand Calvinism, we must turn our gaze to the Netherlands of 1610, when a professor, James Arminius, which we call in Italian Arminio, before dying he spread his doctrines, which were then reworked by his followers, said Arminians, in Five Points. At that time the Dutch Protestant Church had joined the Belgian and Heidelberg Confessions of Faith, both based on Reformed doctrines. The Arminians wanted to change their position and presented their five points in the Dutch Parliament as a protest against Calvinism.
The five points of Arminianism can be summarized as follows:
- Free will or human capacity. It teaches that man, following the Fall, he is not totally unable to choose the spiritual good and is capable of exercising faith in God and receiving the gospel on his own, without divine help, and lead alone to salvation.
- Conditional Election. It teaches that God places his hands on individuals who respond to the gospel. God originally elected those who knew they would believe Him.
- Universal Redemption. It teaches that Christ died for all men without distinction. Christ's death made it possible for God to forgive sinners, but only on condition that they believed.
- The work of the Holy Spirit is limited by human capacity. Teach that the Holy Spirit, since he begins to work in a person to bring him to salvation and open his heart to faith, it can be rejected by man. It cannot lead to salvation if man, with free will, does not respond positively.
- The fall from Grace. It teaches that the saved person can lose his salvation. It depends on how it works in life, if he continues to have faith. If it has the potential to save itself, therefore he also has the final responsibility for his salvation.
The five points of Arminanism were presented at the National Synod of the church which was called to Dort in 1618 to examine Arminius' teachings in the light of Scripture. The Synod of Dort extended for 154 sessions over a period of seven months, but at the end of it no biblical basis was found for Arminius's findings. Thus the positions of the Reformation were reaffirmed and the Five Points of Calvinism formulated, on the teachings of the French theologian Giovanni Calvin.
These can be summarized with the acronym TULIP.
- T Total Depravity (Total Depravity)
- The Unconditional Election (Unconditional election)
- L Limited Atonement (Limited Redemption)
- I Irresistible Calling (Irresistible call)
- P Perseverance of the Saints (Perseverance of the Saints o Preservation of Salvation)
As can be seen, these five points of the TULIP are in competition with the five points of Arminius. Man is totally unable to save himself due to his Fall in the Garden of Eden. If he is unable to save himself, it is necessarily God who must save him. If it is god who saves, then there is no Free Will. If God has decreed to save those he has chosen, then it is only for them that Christ died. If Christ died for them, the Holy Spirit will effect the call to salvation. If the salvation of some has been foreseen by God from the beginning, he is not totally unable to choose the spiritual good and is capable of exercising faith in God and receiving the gospel on his own.
These are, therefore, the Five Points of Calvinism. Now we will proceed to analyze them in more detail, also reporting the biblical passages that support them.
Total Depravity
Sin has affected all parts of man. The heart, emotions, the will, mind and body, they are all affected by sin. We are completely in sin. We are not sinners as we might think, that is, in a limited way, we just need to try to behave well, but we are completely immersed and affected by sin. This is why we have it right in our DNA. We are always inclined to act badly, to think badly, and this because of the Fall of Adam. So the situation is much more serious than you think. Who among us has never committed a sin? Although harmless in our opinion? We are not pure and never has been any human being who has set foot on this earth.
The doctrine of total depravity comes from the Scriptures which reveal human character.
The heart of man is evil:
Because it is from within, from the hearts of men, bad thoughts come out, fornications, thefts, murders, adultery, cupidigie, evil, frode, playfulness, envious look, slander, pride, stoltezza. All these bad things come from within and contaminate man ". Marco 7:21-23
He is sick from sin:
The heart is more deceptive than anything else, and insanely evil; who will know him? Geremia 17:9
Man is a slave to sin:
Because when you were slaves of sin, you were free about justice. Romans 6:20
He does not seek God:
As it is written: "There is no one who is just, not even one. There is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. Everyone has gone astray, all of them have become corrupted. There is no one who practices goodness, no, not even one ". Romans 3:10-12
He cannot understand spiritual things:
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, because they are madness for him; and cannot know them, because they must be spiritually judged. 1Corinthians 2:14
He is in enmity with God:
The law made up of commandments in the form of precepts, to create in itself, of two, one new man making peace. Ephesians 2:15
IS, by its nature, a son of wrath:
In the number of which we too all once lived, according to the desires of our flesh, obeying the desires of the flesh and our thoughts; and we were by nature children of wrath, like the others. Ephesians 2:3
The Calvinist asks the question: “In the light of the Scriptures which declare the true nature of man as completely lost and incapable, how is it possible for man to choose or desire a relationship with God?” The answer is: “It is not possible. Therefore God must predestinate”.
Calvinism further argues that, because of our fallen nature we are not born again of our will, but God's will:
But to all those who received him he gave the right to become children of God: to those, that is, who believe in his name; who are not born of blood, nor by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but they were born of God. Giovanni 1:12-13
God grants us faith, which is his gift:
Because you have been granted the grace, respect to Christ, not just to believe in Him, but also to suffer for him Philippians 1:29
For by grace you have been saved, by fede; and that not of yourselves:; it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8
Faith is the work of God:
They therefore said to him: “What must we do to do the works of God?Jesus answered them: "This is God's work: believe in him whom he sent ". Giovanni 6:28-29
God's people are appointed to believe:
Foreigners, hearing these things, they rejoiced and glorified the Word of God; and all who were ordained to eternal life, they believed. proceedings 13:48
And it is predestined by God:
In him we have also been made heirs, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who does everything according to the decision of his own will. Ephesians 1:11
Now we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, which are named according to his design. Because those he foreknew, he also predestined them to conform to the image of his Son, that he may be the firstborn among many brothers; and those whom he predestined he also called; and those he called he also justified; and those he justified he also glorified. Romans 8:28-30
Unconditional election
God does not base his election on what he foresees in the choices of individuals. He chooses the elect according to his will and design:
In him he elected us before the creation of the world so that we might be holy and blameless before him, having predestined us in his love to be adopted through Jesus Christ as his children, according to the benevolent design of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he granted us in his beloved Son. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, which he poured out abundantly upon us, giving us all sorts of wisdom and intelligence (Ephesians 1:4-8)
as, before the twins were born and they did good or bad (so that God's purpose would remain firm, second election, which depends not on works, but from him who calls (Romans 9:11-12)
As those whom he foreknew, he also predestined them to conform to the image of his Son so that he may be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he even called them, those he called, he also justified them and those he justified, li has absolutely honored. (Romans 8:29,30)
God has chosen you from the beginning to save you, through the sanctification of the Spirit and faith in the truth. (2 Tessalonicesi 2:13)
When it pleased God, who had set apart me from my mother's womb and called me for her grace, to reveal his Son in me, that he might proclaim it among the Gentiles (Galati 1:15,16).
Without any consideration of individual merit. Neither God, looks to the future to see who would choose it. Furthermore, as some are chosen for salvation, others are not:
For he saith to Moses: «I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion». So then neither by those who want or exertion, but of God who shows mercy.
The Scripture in fact tells the pharaoh: «Precisely for this reason I have aroused you: to show my power in you and so that my name may be proclaimed throughout the earth ". So then he gives mercy to whomever he wills and hardens whomever he wills: «Because he still reproaches? Because who can resist his will?»
Rather, or man, who are you who replies to God? The thing shaped will perhaps tell him who shaped it: "Why did you make me like that?"The potter is perhaps not the master of the clay to make a vase for noble use and another for ignoble use from the same dough? (Romans 9:15-21)
The word elected recurs, in Scripture, 10 times, the word elected 28 times, the word election 4 times.
God chooses and elects, as it has always done from the beginning, when he chose Abel over Cain, Noah; he then chose, a Jafet e Cam, Shem from whose descendants the Messiah would be born, he chose the people of Israel by manifesting himself to Abraham, then Moses, Jacob and so on up to the New Testament, which teaches that He elected the saved from the beginning and led them to Christ by the Holy Ghost. There is no reason to believe anything else, because it is logically, both in history, and in the New Testament we find teachings regarding the election of believers.
As Charles H wrote. Spurgeon: “If in Scripture there are people called 'the elect', there must be an election” (Election, Vol. II, Mem. Library).
Who will accuse God's elect? God is the one who justifies them (Romans 8:33)
God will not avenge his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night. Perhaps he will be slow to intervene on their behalf? (Luca 18:7)
Paolo, servant of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth which is according to piety (Tt. 1:1)
knowing, brothers loved by God, your election ... (1 Tessalonicesi 1:4).
Limited Atonement
Jesus died only for the elect. Even if the sacrifice of Jesus was enough for everyone, it was not effective for everyone. Jesus only carried the sins of the elect. Support for this position is drawn from scriptures, come Matt. 26:28 where Jesus died for many:
because this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matteo 26:28
I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The mercenary, who is not a shepherd, to which the sheep do not belong, sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away, and the wolf kidnaps and scatters them. The mercenary [he escapes because he is a mercenary e] he doesn't care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine, and mine know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. Giovanni 10:11-15
which says that Jesus died for his sheep (not for goats!):
And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Matteo 25:32-33
Jesus in prayer intercede for those who have been given to him by the Father, not for those of the whole world:
I pray for them; I don't pray for the world, but for those you gave me, because they are yours; Giovanni 17:9
The Church was bought by Christ, not all people:
Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in the midst of which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops, to shepherd the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. proceedings 20:28
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her, to sanctify it after having purified it by washing it with the water of the word, to make it appear before him, glorious, unblemished, without wrinkle or other similar defects, but holy and blameless. Ephesians 5:25-27
Jesus bore the sins of many (not everybody):
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the great, he will share the spoils with the mighty, because he gave himself up to death and was counted among the evildoers; because he bore the sins of many and interceded for the guilty. Isaiah 53:12
Irresistible grace
When God calls his elect into salvation, it cannot be resisted, because it is his final decision. God offers everyone the message of the Gospel, of course, the outward message through the preaching to which we are exposed. This is called external call and it can be resisted. But for the elect, God goes further and comes to inner call which cannot be resisted. If God has decided to give us faith and open our eyes, once the truth is known, how can it be rejected? It is a path of no return, and it is Grace. This call comes from the Holy Spirit working in the hearts and minds of the elect to bring them to repentance and regeneration to reach God.
Some of the verses used to support this teaching:
So then neither by those who want or exertion, but of God who shows mercy. Romans 9:16
So, my dear, you who were always obedient, not just like when I was present, but much more now that I am absent, work towards the accomplishment of your salvation with fear and trembling; indeed it is God who produces will and action in you, according to his benevolent design. Philippians 2:12-13
Faith is the work of the Holy Spirit:
They therefore said to him: “What must we do to do the works of God?Jesus answered them: "This is God's work: believe in him whom he sent ". Giovanni 6:28-29
God's people are called to believe:
Foreigners, hearing these things, they rejoiced and glorified the Word of God; and all who were ordained to eternal life, they believed. proceedings 13:48
Who is born again is not from the will of man, but from God:
but to all who received it he gave the right to become children of God: to those, that is, who believe in his name; who are not born of blood, nor by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but they were born of God. Giovanni 1:12-13
Perseverance of the saints
Salvation cannot be lost. Because the Father has elected, the Son has redeemed, and the Holy Spirit asked for salvation, therefore those saved are eternally sure of their salvation.
They are eternally secure in Christ:
My sheep listen to my voice and I know them and they follow me; and I give them eternal life and they will never perish and no one will snatch them from my hand. Giovanni 10:27-28
Jesus said his sheep will not perish:
In truth, I tell you: whoever believes in me has eternal life. Giovanni 6:47
They will not pass to judgment:
There is therefore no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:1
In truth, I tell you: whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me, He has everlasting life; and cometh not into judgment, but he passed from death to life. Giovanni 5:24
God promises not to cause his sheep to fall into temptation:
No temptation has caught you, that it was not human; however, God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength; but with temptation he will also give you the way out, so that you can endure it. 1Corinthians 10:13
God is faithful a perfect being to us until the day of Jesus' return:
And I have this confidence: than the one who began a good work in you, will bring it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
