Why The Consternation Over Reformed Theology?

There have been many Christians writers who have made it their mission to undermine Reformed thinking and to destroy whatever vestige of the truth they feel bitter about and want to avenge themselves, as it were, by convincing Calvinists they are wrong, and enjoying their argumentative writings.  Sectarianism is sin according to Paul in 1 Corinthians and we are not to look down on our brother just because we disagree with him. We are all in Christ!  Most Calvinists were Arminians at one time and understand their "ignorance."   They aim their guns at doctrines such as eternal security and predestination, denying their having biblical basis.

But there is much outcry in some churches over Calvinistic excess and the consequent prejudice and stereotype of them as having an ax to grind and having a one-track mind and being expert on minor points like splitting hairs or nitpicking doctrine that is just a doctrine that divides (the correct nomenclature should be doctrines of grace, not the five points of Calvinism known from the acrostic TULIP).  They seem to major on the minors according to Arminians, but they are wrong.

It is alright to be on a mission, but not to divide and conquer like the strategy of the devil.  Seek the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace according to Ephesians 4:3. Most Calvinists are not divisive, contentious, argumentative, nor judgmental as people think and John Calvin never made these points himself but wrote on hundreds of topics.  People don't know that Martin Luther agreed with the doctrines of grace even though today's Lutherans have strayed from his teachings.

But the time does arise when one must take a stand and say his piece and let people know his position so that there is no confusion or prejudice. In the meantime, Calvinists need to be wise not to push it and try to "convert" people to the truth.  Their motivation should be to enlighten people to grace-orientation and to set them free from legalism and self-sovereignty and trust in the Lord's providence--let God be God.

What amazes me is that there really are no Arminians in fact, only in theory, because they live, talk, and pray just like Calvinists most of the time!  ("O God, make this person see!)  They acknowledge God's sovereignty and control over all in their prayer and just don't know it!  The really insecure ones are the ones on a mission to prove they are right no matter what and to have a one-track mind majoring in one doctrine, for instance. We should never be preoccupied with a doctrine that we become unbalanced and think it is our mission to straighten everybody out.  God wants us to learn the whole counsel of Scripture not just our favorite doctrines.  We can readily diffuse a quarrel by admitting we could be wrong and not seeming like we know it all--no matter what our position. This is only a matter of personal humility and realizing that we are all part of the story and need each other as fellow body parts.

No one has a monopoly on the truth or has cornered the market and knowledge in itself as an end and not a means to an end leads to arrogance and spiritual pride--that one side is a cut above others or the others are poor specimens.  There are some Arminians who are great men of God and live holy lives and are faithful and some Calvinists who are carnal and worldly.  In conclusion:  At the Bema Seat, Jesus isn't ever going to ask us what school of thought we subscribed to but did we know Him and learn to love and obey Him.  Soli Deo Gloria!

How Free Is Free Will?

NB:  There are two kinds of will:  mundane and spiritual.  My premise is that we cannot choose Jesus apart from the grace of God completely on our own--it is a divine work in us to change our nature.

Martin Luther wrote one of the most influential books of the Reformation, The Bondage of the Will, to refute the Catholic scholar Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (In Praise of Folly). The Roman Catholic Church, in the Council of Trent (the Counter-Reformation), 1545-63, pronounced this doctrine anathema and aimed their guns at it.  However, the debate has its origin with the bishop Aurelius Augustine of Hippo and the British monk Pelagius during the fifth century.  Much of the controversy lies in a problem of semantics, nevertheless, the debate rages on and is considered by some a doctrine that divides, since there are sincere believers (Arminians) who believe otherwise.

Verses to ponder by way of introduction:  Isaiah 63:17 says, "O LORD, why do you make us wander from your ways and harden our heart so that we fear you not?" (where is the free will [a term, by the way, not in Scripture except freewill offerings to mean voluntary and not compulsive] in that?).  The anticipatory question of Paul:  "...Why does he still find fault, for who can resist his will?" (Rom. 9:19b, ESV).  We are born into slavery in a hopeless situation [it couldn't be worse!]:  "Wretched man that I am.  Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. 7:24, ESV).

Augustine is famous for saying that we are "free but not freed."  Martin Luther said that to call it "free will" is too "grandiose" a term.  Actually, granted we have so-called "free will," the Bible makes it clear that we are "in Adam" before our salvation, and he, therefore, represented the race of mankind and chose evil when he was given this free will.  Our wills are also depraved and spoiled by the sin nature in us.  We are enslaved to sin prior to salvation and must be set free as prisoners of ourselves, sin, and Satan.  We are not born free, as some think, but must be set free.  "For you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free"  (John 8:32).  Adam chose the devil's way and ever since we do the same "in Adam" and are no different.  God granted us free will, as it were, but we chose Satan. Yes, we certainly make our choices willingly, they are not made for us--we only have ourselves to blame for our failures, not God.

What is God to do, but elect and choose to save some unconditionally and not by any merit of their own "according to the good pleasure of His will."  Remember that Jesus said, "You did not choose me, but I chose you" in John 15:16.  If there were any reason in ourselves such as a tendency or bias toward good (we are inclined toward evil and sin), then the choice would not be by grace but by merit. We do not deserve salvation and nothing makes us worthy: Some people don't just desire to be saved and others don't--it's not that simple (that would be a basis of merit).  God didn't choose us because He foresaw that we would believe (the prescient view, would be according to our works --cf. Titus 3:4-5)--that would be the beginning of merit and we'd have something to brag about in God's presence.  God made believers out of us and quickened faith within us, even making the unwilling willing and turning hearts of stone into hearts of flesh.

We are still responsible for our decisions and the road we take, and can't claim to "be on the wrong" list" because we all have adequate light to be culpable and make a decision for or against God--I do not believe in coercion or determinism, where we have our decisions made for us, like robots, or are made to do something we don't want to do.  The limit of our will is the ability to make decisions of the one available to us:  If I throw a ball, you have the choice to catch it or let it pass by.  But I decided which ball and when to throw it, etc.  We are free to "choose our own poison" in other words. The freedom of the will is a curse in other words because it has worked against us.  The problem with most theologians is that they jump to the conclusion that just because we can make decisions and are not robots, therefore we are free in the absolute sense and have "free will."  For example, this line of reasoning is like an animal acting according to its will, if you will,  and not doing anything it doesn't want to do; therefore, this means it has "free will."

Our Freedom is like a felon in prison believing he didn't act according to his free will and his rights are being violated in prison--he has the free will to make life decisions they give him (like what to eat, what TV channel to watch, what God to worship, etc.), but not the freedom to get out of prison.  Or it is like a man with a ticket on a train that thinks he has free will but doesn't even know where the train is going--that's up to God, as it were (our destiny is ultimately in God's hands).  Our freedom cannot say, for instance, "Henceforth, I will only do good."  Paul says, "I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do"  (Rom 7:15).  We are natural slaves to sin before salvation, and afterward, we are slaves to righteousness! The locus of our default inability is our nature we are born with (old nature vs. nurture debate).

But God thought it "worth the risk" as Paul Little says, decided we would be in the image and likeness of Him. Is God "free" because He cannot sin?  Are we free in heaven where we cannot sin? We are "voluntary slaves" and enjoy our slavery to sin. Some say that if we cannot choose of our own volition for God then we don't have free will--Jonah 2:9 says, "Salvation is of the Lord."  It is not a joint venture, but God gets all the credit.  (Soli Deo Gloria! or to God alone be the glory!)   We don't cooperate in our salvation, to merit it in any way--we don't add merit to grace as Catholics do.  Now, sanctification is another matter, whereby we cooperate with God to increase in godliness and holiness and in our personal fellowship and walk with the Lord.

"Know that the LORD, he is God!  It is he who made us, and we are his..."  (Psalm 100:3, ESV). "But now, O LORD, you are our Father, we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand" (Isaiah 64:8, ESV).  We are not self-made men but should look to the rock from which we were hewn and the quarry from which we were dug (cf. Isaiah 51:1).  We act according to our nature, (e.g, temperamental, impetuous, impulsive, sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, garrulous, introverted, demonstrative, reserved, melancholy, etc.) and God decides our nature (like the difference between a dove and a vulture desiring different food by nature); we are hot-wired to divine spec!  God is our maker and we cannot ask Him why He made us the way we are.

So little of our decisions is because of the will that God can manipulate circumstances and use Providence to get His will done through anyone He chooses. Some people are vessels of honor, some of the dishonor.   We didn't decide where we were born, who our parents were, what schools we went to, what our heritage is, et alia. (There are many variables and control factors to take into account in the equation.)   God is free to act according to His divine nature and we are free to act according to our God-given tainted and fallen human nature.

Our wills have limits according to Scripture ("No man can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them..." according to John 6:44) and no man can do nothing apart from Christ's grace ("Apart from Me you can do nothing" according to John 15:5).  We have a will, but not the ability to choose or will Christ apart from the grace of God.  The condition for coming to Christ is recognizing our inability and of being unqualified.

The sum total of our circumstances and resultant life decisions are laid out before we are born and written in God's book (the eternal decree) as certain to happen (Psalm 139:16).  "My times [future] are in your hands" (Psalm 31:15).  "I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps" (Jer. 10:23, ESV). "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps"  (Prov. 16:9, ESV).  "A man's steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way?" (Prov. 20:24, ESV).  To sum up:  We have a destiny, but not a fate, which is impersonal and needs no input from us to achieve--in a destiny, we cooperate with God, fate leaves us no choice at all and will happen regardless.

The bottom line is that we don't need free will to get saved, we need wills made free, as you will see if you are grace-oriented.  We don't come to Christ of our own free will--He draws us (It says, compelle intrare or force them in.)  Furthermore, Romans  9:16 says it is "not of him who wills...." We can't reform ourselves or prepare ourselves for salvation.  John 1:11 says that we are "born not of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh" We cannot change our nature or in any way prepare ourselves for salvation: "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots?  Then neither can you do good who are accustomed to evil" (Jer. 13:23).

However, we are, nevertheless, "free moral agents" and this means we are culpable and God gives us a choice to make.  Plato was wrong when he thought man would only choose the good because man is depraved and willingly chooses evil.   We are not "basically good" but inherently evil through and through. Martin Luther says, "We have not ceased to be man, but ceased to be good!"

 [Appropriate history lesson:  The Roman Catholic Council of Trent (1545-63) declared that anyone who doesn't affirm that we cooperate with God by our own free will is anathema (cursed)!  This Arminian position was condemned at the Synod of Dort in 1618.]

Jesus said, "You will not come to Me ..." (John 5:40).  God is "no man's debtor"(He will authenticate Himself!) and God "no respecter of persons" and makes us willing and able to respond to the gospel; however, He gets all the glory. We do not have the inherent ability to equally choose between good and evil--we are biased toward evil (not inclined to good anymore after Adam's sin) and need grace! This is one of the so-called  5 Onlys:  Soli Deo Gloria!  We simply would never have believed apart from grace:  We are those "...who through grace [have] believed" (cf. Acts 18:27, ESV).  Soli Deo Gloria!

Is Doctrine That Important?

Everyone has a doctrine, it is just a matter of how accurate it is. Jesus' doctrine was right but the Pharisees hated His doctrine, though they loved doctrine per se.  Doctrine separates Christians when they make it the end and not the means. The purpose of all doctrine is to lead us to a fuller understanding and relationship with God--not a reason to feel puffed up with knowledge. One can know very little doctrine and be very good at applying what he knows and be a very good Christian.

The disciples were "dedicated to the apostle's teaching [or doctrine]" (Acts 2:42). In other words, knowing doctrine is a means to an end, and not the objective itself (what we apply is more important than what we believe in theory). Some people like to divide Christians into two camps, for instance: Arminian vs. Calvinist. Both can be very fundamental, evangelical and conservative in their beliefs. In fact, there are some Arminians that know their God far better than some Calvinists.

It is not a good thing to get into the habit of labeling fellow believers, which can lead to judging. You can say, "I am a Calvinist!" But I can retort, "I am a Christian!" In summary, God isn't going to ask you what party you were a member of or how you interpreted the atonement--but of your love for and trust in Christ.   Soli Deo Gloria!