1. The Bible.
2. Loraine Boettner's - The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination.
3. The Grand Demonstration - Jay Adams
Calvinism vs. Arminianism
Men are by nature glory thieves, always trying to take what belongs to God.
Arminians:
Of or relating to the theology of Jacobus Arminius and his followers, who rejected the Calvinist doctrines of predestination and election and who believed that human free will is compatible with God's sovereignty.
Calvinists:
Of or relating to the theology of John Calvin, distinguished by belief in the Bible as the rule of faith, denial of human freedom since the Fall, and particular emphasis on the predestination of some to salvation and others to damnation.
Synod of Dort:
Was held in order to settle a serious controversy in the Dutch churches initiated by the rise of Arminianism. Jacob Arminius, a theological professor at Leiden University, questioned the teaching of Calvin and his followers on a number of important points. After Arminius's death, his own followers presented their views on five of these points in the Remonstrance of 1610. In this document or in later more explicit writings, the Arminians taught election based on foreseen faith, universal atonement, partial depravity, resistible grace, and the possibility of a lapse from grace. In the Canons the Synod of Dort rejected these views and set forth the Reformed doctrine on these points, namely, unconditional election, limited atonement, total depravity, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of saints.
Loraine Boettner's - The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination
Predestination and free agency are the twin pillars of a great temple, and they meet above the clouds where the human gaze cannot penetrate. Or again, we may say that Predestination and free agency are parallel lines; and while the Calvinist may not be able to make them unite, the Arminian cannot make them cross each other.
Great table found on wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism
Topic | Lutheranism | Calvinism | Arminianism |
Human Will | Total Depravity without free will until spiritual regeneration | Total Depravity without free will permanently due to the nature of divine sovereignty | Total depravity, withprevenient grace, does not preclude free will |
Election | Unconditional election to salvation only | Unconditional election to salvation and damnation (double-predestination) | Conditional election on the basis of foreseen faith or unbelief |
Justification | Justification of all people completed at Christ's death | Justification is limited to those predestined to salvation, completed at Christ's death | Justification made possible for all through Christ's death, but only completed upon placing faith in Jesus (hypothetical universalism) |
Conversion | Monergistic, through the means of grace, resistible | Monergistic, through the inner calling of the Holy Spirit, irresistible | Synergistic, resistible due to the common, sufficient grace of free will |
Preservation and Apostasy | Falling away is possible, but reflection on one's faith provides assurance of preservation | Perseverance of the saints: the eternally elect in Christ will necessarily persevere in faith and subsequent holiness until the end | Preservation is conditional upon continued faith in Christ; reflection on one's faith provides assurance |
Basic Presuppositions:
1. Do you submit to the word of God as your final authority, even if you don't understand it.
WSC #2 - "The word of God which is contained in the scriptures of the old and new testaments is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him."
2. Do you understand the difference between compression and apprehension? Can anyone understand anything truly and really?
Apprehend - to HAVE the answer.
Comprehend - to not only have, but to UNDERSTAND the answer.
We may apprehend God truly, but never fully comprehend him. It is the same with his ways.
However, Jesus Christ understands everything truly and fully. He came in our stead and did and knew and lived as man should have.
John 1:1-5
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:18
18 No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
Deuteronomy 29:29 - the deep things belong to God
In Christ we can know and be known, but only as we understand and know through his revelation...the Bible.
3. Who is the ultimate arbiter/judge of meaning and truth?
How do you know what you know and how do you know it is true? Who decides what meaning is? Who decides what truth is and how do you relate to it?
Colossians 1:15-20
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
John 14:6
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus Christ is! He is the arbiter of meaning and he is truth.
4. What is the point of this earth? Who gets the praise?
The point of this world is to give God all praise, glory and honor. Praise is to exclaim in many ways that God is worthy of our recognizing him as amazing, phenomenal and absolutely glorious. Glory is giving God the fullness of his weight, and spreading his fame. Honor is putting him in the proper place, respecting him as we should.
WSC #2 - Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.
Colossians 1:16
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.
5. Who gets the glory, the giver of the gift, or the one giving the gift? Is it more glorious to give a gift to someone who doesn't deserve it, or to someone who does?
The one who gives the gift gets the glory. The less worthy someone is to receive a gift, the more wonderful is the one who gives the gift.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Romans 3:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 4:2-10
4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Salvation is a gift, no one can boast.
6. God loves because he loves. He gives mercy because he is merciful. If you chose God, then who gets the glory? If God chose you who gets the glory?
Exodus 33:18-19
18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” 19 And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
God's mercy and compassion are poured out upon whoever he wills. This topic even of mercy is enough to show that it is all of mercy and grace.
Deuteronomy 7:6-8
6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. 7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
There is no reason for the love and mercy that we have been given, other than the fact that it just is. God set his affection on us because he just chose to do so. This should produce in us a response of pure worship. God gets the glory because he is the giver of grace.
7. If Christ died for all, then was his death ineffectual then?
If Christ died for everybody, wouldn't that mean that some people for whom he died that didn't choose will end up in hell. In that case, wouldn't Jesus blood have been wasted.
John 17:6-12
6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
We all limit the atonement, either in its power, or its scope.
8. What does the scripture say about God's sovereignty and Man's freedom?
Divine sovereignty and human freedom co-operate in perfect harmony. While God is the sovereign Ruler and primary cause, man is free within the limits of his nature and is the secondary cause.
Genesis 45:5, 8; 50:20
Joseph's brothers followed the evil inclinations of their natures, yet their act was a link in the chain of events through which God fulfilled his purpose. Their guilt was not diminished by the fact that their intended evil was overruled by good.
Romans 9:17; Exodus 9:16; Exodus 10:1-2
Pharaoh acted very unjustly toward his subject people, the Children of Israel; yet he simply fulfilled the purpose of God.
Ezra 1:1-3
God put it into the heart of Cyrus, the heathen king of Persia, to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem.
Isaiah 10:5-15
The king of Assyria, a proud and ungodly man, was but an instrument in the hands of God, just as the axe, the saw, or the rod in the hands of a man, to execute his purposes upon the Jews; and that God had perfect control of him. The free agency of the king was not destroyed or impaired by this control, but that he was perfectly free to form his own plans and to be governed by his own desires. He did not design to execute God's purposes, but to promote his own ambitious projects. The king was justly held responsible for his pride, and wickedness, although God so overruled him that he fulfilled his wise purposes.
God can and does so control men, even wicked men, as to bring to pass his wise purposes without interfering with their free agency.
Acts 4:27-28
The crucifixion of Christ, the most sinful event in history, as foreordained.
Psalm 22:18; John 19:24; Psalm 69:21; Matthew 27:34; John 19:29; Psalm 22:6-8; Matthew 27:39; Isaiah 53:12; Matthew 27:38; Psalm 34:20; John 19:36; Zecharaiah 12:10; John 19:34-37
Parting his garments, casting lots, giving of gall and vinegar, mockery, associated him with thieves, no bones were broken, spear thrust into side, etc.
These events could not have been predicted by the old testament prophets centuries before, unless they had been absolutely certain in the foreordained plan of God. Though they were foreordained by God, they were carried out by agents who we ignorant of who Christ really was, and who were also ignorant of the fact that they were fulfilling the divine decrees.
Proverbs 16:9; Jeremiah 10:23; Exodus 13:36; Ezra 6:22; Ezra 7:6; Isaiah 44:28; Revelation 17:17; 1 Samuel 2:25; 1 Kings 12:11,15; 2 Samuel 17:14
Objections answered from Loraine Boettner's - The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination:
- It is fatalism - the only agreement is the absolute certainty of all events. Predestination holds that all things come to pass because an infinitely wise, holy and powerful God has appointed them. Fatalism says they come to pass by a blind, non-moral, impersonal force. All things are designed for the glory of God and the good of his people. The freedom and responsibility of man are preserved. A warm, loving heavenly Father, who loved us and gave his son to die for us on the cross. Not a cold, harsh fate.
- It contradicts free agency and moral responsibility (How can a person be a free and responsible agent if his actions have been foreordained from all eternity?) - a person's acts must be without compulsion and in accordance with his own desires and inclinations, or he cannot be said to be responsible for them. The same God who has ordained all events has ordained human liberty in the midst of these events, and this liberty is as surely fixed as is anything else. God has ordained at human beings will retain their liberty in his sovereignty. Our limited human knowledge is not able fully to solve the problem. God's will for the course of events is the primary cause and Man's will is e secondary cause; and the two work together in perfect harmony. Often we have the power and opportunity to do what is absolutely certain that we won't do, and refrain from doing that which is absolutely certain we will do. In the fallen state, man only has the "freedom of slavery." He does not have the ability or incentive to follow God. Not free-will, but self-will since the fall. A loss which he brought upon himself does not free him from responsibility. The will of man is by nature enslaved to evil only, and that because it is fond of that slavery it is said to be free. Self-imposed inability in the moral sphere does not free him from obligation. Without destroying or impairing the free agency of men, God can exercise over them a particular providence and work in them through his Holy Spirit so that they will come to Christ and persevere in his service. None have this will and desire except those whom God has previously made willing and desirous; and that he gives this will and desire to none but his own elect. Unless God governs the minds of men, he would be constantly engaged in devising new ways to offset the effects of the influences produced by millions of his creatures. If God is surprised by his creatures, then he would be receiving new knowledge day by day. Free will tears the reigns of government out of God's hands and robs him of his power. It essentially gives man veto power over God's will and purpose. "A man cannot prefer against his preferences or choose against his choice." Man always acts in the way in which the strongest inclinations or motives lead. A man is free so long as his volitions are the conscious expression of his mind; or so long as his activity is determined and controlled by his reason and feelings. Matthew 7:16-20. The human will is both the product and revelation of a person's nature. A person who really had a free will would be a scary thing, because we wouldn't know what they would do or be like, and their actions would be irrational. If the theory of free will were true, then there would be the possibility of repentance after death. At any moment we are pretty much what our past has made us. Man is as free as God. He is capable of acting in accordance with his nature.Freedom is not the freedom to be something you are not or to become something you cannot. Most desire a freedom from God that amounts to autonomy. But man is free because he is free yo act according to his own nature. But that nature is not self-determined. The freedom that man has is his, and it is perfect freedom. But it is not a freedom from God or from his God-given nature. We don't feel coerced into making choices. We do bear the responsibility for our choices. We make choices for which God holds us responsible, because that is part of what God made us to be. We are held accountable for our decisions, attitudes and actions because he freely thinks, feels and acts according to his nature. God doesn't force anyone to sin, man sins because he wants to, because it is in his nature to do so. God gave us our natures, natures that would act freely, accountably, in furthering his purposes. Because they are such, we feel no compulsion, coercion, or force. We choose freely according to our natures and thus fulfill his will.
- It makes God the author of sin - the existence of sin in a world that was created by a God who is infinite, eternal and unchangeable in his being; wisdom, holiness, justice and truth is an inscrutable, impossible to understand or interpret, mystery which we in our current state of knowledge cannot fully explain. Sin can never be explained on the grounds of logic or reason, because it is illogical and unreasonable. While God permits sin, his connection with it is purely negative and it is an abominable thing which he hates with a perfect hatred. Sin, in its entrance into the world and its continuation, was involved in the divine plan. It is completely under his control and he overrules it for a higher manifestation of his glory. Freedom of will is necessary to virtue, God suffers from sin more than the sinner, with it's permission he provided a redemption, and he eventually overrules it for good. Why did God create a being capable of sin? Only in so doing could there be a creature capable of obeying. The ability to do good implies the ability to do evil. A creature without this double capacity would be a machine, but not a child. Moral perfection can be attained, but not created. God can make a being capable of moral action, but not a being with all the fruits of moral action garnered within him. All evil is the result of Adam's fall is true, but the ultimate question: how could the devil exist in a sovereign, good God's world? Arminians erode God's omnipotence and/or omniscience, either he knew about evil's future existence, when creating the world, and though desiring otherwise was powerless to prevent it, or he was a God who didn't know what he was doing when he created the universe. So God took evasive action and sent Christ, rather than Christ being the grand climax of the world. Isaiah 46:10 - he declares the end from the beginning. Ephesians 1:11 - works all thongs after the counsel of his own will. If God did not plan evil, then the world is out of control. Romans 9:22-23 - God, for demonstration purposes... God's actions are the result of a grand, eternal plan.people do not like to hear this because they are lowered to their proper place and God is raised to his proper place. These verses show the ultimate meaning of the universe. Endures vessels of wrath to show his wrath. In order to show the wealth of his glory by showing his mercy. Divine judgment serves God's own interests. Isaiah 43:21 - formed for myself. God acts in his own interest. Wrath is deserved (fitted for), grace or glory is not. By decreeing evil, both objects could be attained. God's wrath and power against evil could not be shown in any other way. Also, the riches of his grace and mercy could not be shown except on undeserving, miserable creatures. God chose this speck in the universe to demonstrate his wrath and power, and grace and glory. Ephesians 2:7 - the death of Jesus demonstrates the wrath and mercy of God.
- It discourages all motives to exertion
- It represents God as a respecter of persons, or as unjustly partial
- It is unfavorable to good morality
- It precludes a sincere offer of the gospel to the non-elect
- It contradicts the universalistic scripture passages
Sovereignty, Grace and Glory.
Daniel 4:34-35 - He does as he pleases
Romans 9 - The potter has power over the clay, God chooses to love who he loves
Deuteronomy 29:29 - deep things belong to God
Our peace is never based upon our ability to figure everything out based upon Scripture even, no, our peace is in the presence, power and character of the Lord.
Men are glory thieves. Always trying to take what belongs to God.
Romans 11:36, Colossians 1:15-18
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