Thread: Calvinism, Arminianism, and the Biblical Balance - PART 1 - History of the debate
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Calvinism, Arminianism, and the Biblical Balance - PART 1 - History of the debate
Posted : 24 Sep, 2013 09:15 PM
This series is a result of my commitment to respond to a thread that was started by Mcubed. The original thread can be found here: http://www.christiandatingforfree.com/cdff/CDFF_generic/forum/forum_details.php?topic_id=18342&forum_sub_cat_id=14
For you M., May it please the Lord to grant you understanding.
Calvinism, Arminianism, and the "Biblical Balance" - History of the debate between Calvinism and Arminianism
LAYING SOME HISTORICAL FOUNDATION
The five points of Calvinism are actually a rebuke to the Remonstrants� five points which were derived from James (Jacobus) Arminius' challenge to Calvin and Beza. The five articles of the Remonstrants became the focus of the Synod of Dordtrecht (Dort) in the Netherlands, and occasioned The Canons of Dort, a document of the Dutch Reformed Church that rejected the teachings of Arminius and the Remonstrants and essentially declared their position to be heretical.
THE CANONS OF DORT: Overview
Ratified in the National Synod of the Reformed Church held at Dordrecht in the years 1618 and 1619
The Decision of the Synod of Dort on the Five Main Points of Doctrine in Dispute in the Netherlands is popularly known as the Canons of Dort (or the Five Articles Against the Remonstrants). It consists of statements of doctrine adopted by the great Synod of Dort which met in the city of Dordrecht in 1618-1619. Although this was a national Synod of the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands, it had an international character, since it was composed not only of sixty-two Dutch delegates, but also of twenty-seven foreign delegates representing eight countries.
The Synod of Dort was held in order to settle a serious controversy in the Dutch churches initiated by the rise of Arminianism. Jacob Arminius (1560-1609), a theological professor at Leiden University, departed from the Reformed faith on a number of important points. After Arminius�s death, forty-three of his ministerial followers drafted and presented their heretical views to the States General of the Netherlands on five of these points in the Remonstrance of 1610. In this document and even more explicitly in later writings, the Arminians, who came to be called �Remonstrants,� taught:
1. Election based on foreseen faith
2. the universal merits of Christ
3. the free will of man due to only partial depravity
4. the resistability of grace, and
5. the possibility of a lapse from grace.
They desired the Reformed church�s doctrinal standards to be revised and their own minority views to be protected by the government. The Arminian-Calvinism conflict became so severe that it led the Netherlands to the brink of civil war. Finally in 1617 the States General voted four to three to call a national Synod to address Arminianism.
The Synod held 154 formal sessions over a period of seven months (November 1618 to May 1619). Thirteen Remonstrant theologians, led by Simon Episcopius, used various tactics to delay the work of Synod and to divide the delegates tactics which proved to be unsuccessful. Under the leadership of Johannes Bogerman, the Remonstrants were dismissed. The Synod then developed the Canons which thoroughly rejected the Remonstrance of 1610 and scripturally set forth the Reformed doctrine on these debated points, now popularly called �the five points of Calvinism�: unconditional election, limited atonement, total depravity, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of saints.
Though these points do not embrace the full scope of Calvinism and are better regarded as Calvinism�s five answers to the five errors of Arminianism, they certainly lie at the heart of the Reformed faith, particularly Reformed soteriology, for they flow out of the principle of absolute divine sovereignty. They may be summarized as follows:
1. Unconditional election and faith are sovereign gifts of God.
2. While the death of Christ is abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world, its saving efficacy is limited to the elect.
3,4. All are so totally depraved and corrupted by sin that they cannot effect any part of their salvation; in sovereign grace God irresistibly calls and regenerates the elect to newness of life.
5. Those thus saved God graciously preserves so they persevere until the end, even though they may be troubled by many infirmities as they seek to make their calling and election sure.
Simply stated, we may say that the subject matter of the Canons is: sovereign grace conceived, sovereign grace merited, sovereign grace needed and applied, and sovereign grace preserved. ** This has become known as the doctrines of grace.
Although in form the Canons have only four sections, we speak properly of five points or heads of doctrine because the Canons were structured to correspond to the five articles of the 1610 Remonstrance. The third and fourth sections were purposely combined into one since the Dortian divines considered them inseparable, and hence are designated as �Head of Doctrine 3/4.�
The Canons have a special character because of their original purpose as a judicial decision on the doctrinal points in dispute during the Arminian controversy. The original preface called them a �judgment, in which both the true view, agreeing with God�s Word, concerning the aforesaid five points of doctrine is explained, and the false view, disagreeing with God�s Word, is rejected.� The Canons also have a limited character in that they do not cover the whole range of doctrine, but focus on the five points of doctrine in dispute. Each of the main heads consists of a positive and a negative part, the former being an exposition of the Reformed doctrine on the subject, the latter a repudiation of corresponding Arminian errors. In all, the Canons contain fifty-nine articles of exposition and thirty-four repudiations of error.
The Canons form a remarkably scriptural and balanced document on the specific doctrines expounded. They are unique in being the sole Form of Unity composed by an ecclesiastical assembly and in representing a consensus of all the Reformed churches of their day. Both Dutch and foreign delegates without exception affixed their signatures to the Canons, whether of supralapsarian or infralapsarian persuasion. A service of thanksgiving was held upon the Canons� completion to acknowledge the Lord for preserving the doctrine of sovereign grace among the Reformed churches.
PARTICIPANTS IN THE SYNOD OF DORT
Official participation in the Synod of Dort, held in 1618�9 in Dordrecht in the Netherlands, consisted of different groups: Dutch ministers, church elders, and theologians; representatives of churches outside the Dutch Republic; and Dutch lay politicians. There were 14 Remonstrants who were summoned, in effect as defendants. There were also some observers, who had no voting status.
Dutch Theologians: 5
Dutch Pastors and Elders: 57
Delegates who attended from outside the Dutch provinces including 8 other countries: 27
Remonstrants: 14
Other Observers: 5
SUMMARY:
The five points (T.U.L.I.P) of doctrine that today goes by the name of "Calvinism" came about as a response to heresy that was being spread by a group known as the Remonstrants. The Remonstrants followed the teaching of Jacob Arminius.
There were dozens of theologians, pastors, elders that participated in the drafting of the Canons of Dort in response to the Arminian/Remonstrant heresy. It was not the work of one man.
The Synod held 154 formal sessions over a period of seven months.
John Calvin was not there at all and had nothing to do with any of it. Calvin died in 1564.
Calvinism, Arminianism, and the Biblical Balance - PART 1 - History of the debate
Posted : 27 Sep, 2013 05:30 AM
I completely don't understand your conclusion. And about the free will, of course do we have a free will. But God also predestinates. Ephesians 1:11 "In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will" So free will <-> predestination seems a contradiction. But God's Word will never contradict Itself. So this is one of the mysteries of God. Don't forget: God is infinite.
Calvinism, Arminianism, and the Biblical Balance - PART 1 - History of the debate
Posted : 27 Sep, 2013 08:08 AM
It's only a contradiction if you leave out the character of God. As Christians, it's basically our job to worship God for what and who He is. Justice, mercy, love, etc. When God proclaims His holiness, that is how He describes it. So when you take everything God has done, and everything God is, "foreseen faith" is really the only answer that lines up with the "will of God". I've heard some arguments that if faith is foreseen by God, then it has to take place, which I believe is correct. However, they continue that if it has to take place, then it's not "really" a free choice, but if someone observes 2 cars entering opposite ends of a one lane tunnel at 100 mph, it doesn't follow that the observer made the car crash happen. So while it may have been a fixed event because it was observed, the choices were still freely made by the "actors" involved.
Concerning the role of faith, Paul struggles with the idea that his countrymen were given the "promises and the adoption", but would not be saved because they were not "children of the promise". Israel was cut off because the Jews did not believe, but Paul still had hope that they would believe. This is not the way one would think if they believed there was no role of faith, and no free will. Paul even implies that the blindness and deafness of the Pharisees was used by God to provoke them to jealousy, to cause them to "stumble", but not necessarily to "fall", with the hope that they could be grafted back in again if they believed.
Galatians 3
6 Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.
9 So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;
Romans 9
9 I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
Romans 10
10 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.
Romans 11
11I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. 12Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? 13For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office: 14If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. 15For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? 16For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
17And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 18Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. 19Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 20Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. 23And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. 24For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
Galatians 3
22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
Calvinism, Arminianism, and the Biblical Balance - PART 1 - History of the debate
Posted : 27 Sep, 2013 01:31 PM
Foreseen faith is possible, but is nowhere in the Bible explicitly stated. And the whole point of predestination becomes redundant. Because then you say this: Because of foreseen faith, God has chosen, and because God has chosen, you believe. We have to bear in mind that God is not tied to "time". I think that when we will be in the eternal, we will understand the predestination.
Calvinism, Arminianism, and the Biblical Balance - PART 1 - History of the debate
Posted : 27 Sep, 2013 06:28 PM
" Because then you say this: Because of foreseen faith, God has chosen, and because God has chosen, you believe. "
I do not say that. Here's the long version: I say that because God has said that Christ was crucified from the foundation of the world, then I believe God has chosen to create a plan of salvation from the beginning with very specific timing that He made known to us by prophecy, and because God has chosen to do that, history has largely become a fixed point. God determined His will from the beginning, and everything that happens was planned and foreseen. That does not mean that God steps in and flicks us all off or on like switches, but it does mean that God's will is supreme. He has foreseen and determined the conditions and circumstances and variables, and we all naturally act and react and follow thru the "script" that He has set in motion, BUT because we cannot read the "script" ourselves, it is still free will. Does that make sense? And I'm not even implying that free will is an illusion, I hope you can see that.
And also, I hope you can see how much wisdom and genius and glory that it all attributes to God. He's not a mere puppeteer, He's conducting a timeless living orchestra without betraying the trust/faith of His special creation. When we get to heaven and sit in judgment and see the books opened, when we see the "script", we will proclaim the might and wisdom and justice of God, and it won't be a recording thru the mouth of robots, it will be the faithful redeemed praising His holy character and righteous works. If an earthly tyrannical leader tries to dictate and control and manipulate every action of the people under his power, we lash out against him because we understand the moral depravity of those actions, so why would we think that a righteous and loving God would resort to even lowlier methods of forcing people into doing what He wants?
"Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?"
"And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years."
Calvinism, Arminianism, and the Biblical Balance - PART 1 - History of the debate
Posted : 30 Sep, 2013 12:19 AM
I can fully agree with you that man has free will. I understand your points, but still I think that foreseen faith is possible, but that it also can be something different.
One thing I know for sure: one reason Paul wrote about predestination is because it gives the believers sureness about being saved.
