CALVIN'S T.U.L.I.P. ACRONYM
“… the Bible contains an abundance of material for the development of each of these [five] doctrines [the form the TULIP acronym]. Furthermore, these are not isolated and independent doctrines but are so inter-related that they form a simple, harmonious, self-consistent system; and the way in which they fit together as component parts of a well-ordered whole has won the admiration of thinking men of all creeds. Prove any one of them true and all the others will follow as logical and necessary parts of the system. Prove any one of them false and the whole system must be abandoned. They are found to dovetail perfectly one into the other. They are so many links in the great chain of causes, and not one of them can be taken away without marring and subverting the whole Gospel plan of salvation through Christ. We cannot conceive of this agreement arising merely by accident, nor even being possible, unless these doctrines are true.” [Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, Loraine Boettner, online e-book, 84].
I. TOTAL DEPRAVITY or TOTAL INABILITY
The entire human race lost in sin from the beginning (original sin). [Original sin involves either: Adam is our representative and his sin is imputed to us, or, the entire human race actually is present in Adam seminally, so we did in fact sin when he did].
Sense: People are unable to respond to any offer of grace of themselves while in this state. Man's depravity, or total inability to deliver himself from bondage to sin, is grounded in the fact that his human spirit is dead from birth.
This deserved condition involves moral corruption and liability to guilt. It is all-pervasive (Titus 1:15-16; Rom. 7:18ff).
No aspect of man is untouched by sin:
= intellect (Can't think rightly about God).
= sensibilities (all man's loves and desires are tainted by sin),
= will (man is in flight from God rather than in quest for God).
Thus, man has no spiritual good in him. He may not be as depraved as he can be, but he has no conscience to correctly evaluate good and evil.
Arminianism maintains that God is not just if He condemns man after the Fall without giving him a chance to be saved. They would say, "How can God hold someone responsible for repenting and believing the Gospel unless he is morally able to do so?" But God would thus be under obligation to sinners, and makes the gospel "justice due" and not "grace given.”
Imputation of Adam's Guilt
Some theologians reject the imputation of Adam's guilt to mankind. They argue that there was no law in the garden, and therefore no imputation of a transgression of the law. The Law was not not established until Sinai. (How then did Joseph know that adultery was sin? Gen. 39:9).
The Reformed position is that man is morally incapable of making a virtuous choice.
(Westminster Confession of Faith IV, 4: "From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to evil, do proceed all transgressions.")
SO: How bad is man really?
— man is completely unable to cope with his sinful state in order to gain, or contribute to, his own salvation.
— total depravity does not mean absolute depravity this would suggest that one expresses the evil of the signature as much as possible at all times.
— total depravity does not mean that man is in capable of human good.
— in Reformed theology, total depravity meant that man was as bad off as man could be.
— from the divine viewpoint, man is under condemnation because he loves sin, for sin is disobedience to the word of God, and falling short of giving God all of the glory.
— man is totally depraved in the sense that everything about his nature is in rebellion against God. Man is loyal to the god of darkness and loves darkness rather than the light. His will is, therefore, not at all ‘free.’ It is bound by the flesh to the Prince of darkness grim. Total depravity means that man of his own ‘free will,’ will never make a decision for Christ. He cannot will to have eternal life.
— total depravity means that the natural man is completely incapable of discerning truth. In fact unregenerate man thinks of the things of God as being ridiculous.
— total depravity declares that lost man's only hope is in an election based on the purpose or plan of God. Only those who are of God hear the voice of God calling them to come forth to salvation.
Biblical Evidence of Total Inability:
This is the effect of corruption on man's spiritual powers (1 Cor. 2:14: "man does not welcome, receive" (because he has made a judgment), and "man is unable.” He cannot convert himself (Eph. 2:1-3; Jn. 6:44; Rom. 3:1-23).
- Bible never attributes to men the power to change their own lives (Jer. 13:23).
- The Holy Spirit is necessary to salvation (John 3:3-7: Zech. 4:6).
- Direct statements of Scripture (John 6:44, 65: 15:4-5: Rom. 9:16; 1 Cor. 2:14).
[Assorted verses: Eph. 2:2-3, 4-5, 8-9; Gen. 6:5; Jer. 17:9; Romans 3:10-11; John 3:19, 5:40, 8:43-44, 47,10:26-28; 2 Tim. 2:26; 1 Cor. 2:14; John 3:3; Prov. 20:12; Phil. 2:13].
II. UNCONDITIONAL PREDESTINATION OR ELECTION
God is sovereign in all things because He is Creator and Lord, and He is free to do just as He chooses. He answers to no one, nor can He be judged by men for what He does (see Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, Mt. 20:13-15; Rom. 9:20-21).
Divine sovereignty and human inability are basic to the Calvinistic doctrine of election.
Election
God chooses (doubly: saved and damned) apart from our choices regarding salvation. Election is God's choice of certain persons for His special favor, particularly eternal life with Him.
— an electing God mightily offends our rational nature, that God should, of his own mere unbiased will, leave some men to themselves, harden them, and then condemn them … but biblically, this is the sole cause why some are saved and others perish.
— were it not for the Divine choosing's and the election of some to salvation, none would ever believe. Only those who are ‘ordained unto salvation’ believe, for the word of God never returns empty-handed, frustrated, and defeated. It always, and without exception, accomplishes the pleasure of the sovereign God because He has decreed that his divine plan shall prosper in each single detail.
[See Eph. 1:4-5; John 15:16; Jn, 6:37; 44, 65; Isa. 55:11; Rom. 9:18; Acts 13:48].
God's choice or selection of individuals for salvation is absolute or unconditional. (See selection of Jacob, rejection of Esau Rom. 9. These choices are totally of God and are not dependent upon the people chosen [Rom. 9:15-161).
“Predestination we call the eternal decree of God, by which he has determined himself, what he would have to become of every individual of mankind. For they are not all created with a similar destiny; but eternal life is foreordained for some and eternal death for others. Every man, therefore, being created for one or the other of these ends, we say he is predestined either to life or did death.” — Institutes, III.21.5.
“All things turn out according to Divine Predestination; not only the works we do outwardly, but even the thoughts we think inwardly … there is no such thing as chance, or fortune; Nor is there a readier way to gain the fear of God, and to put our whole trust in Him, than to be thoroughly versed in the doctrine of predestination.” — Philip Melanchthon
Election is a predestination of some corpses to life and a foreordination of some corpses to remain dead. He decrees to leave some to their own wickedness by which they damn themselves. God permissively reprobates some wicked, and positively elects.
The Arminian view of Unconditional Election differs from the Calvinist view.
In the Calvinist view, God does not "foresee" that the sinner will repent or believe. God does not foresee any faith in the depraved sinner except as He Himself bestows it on those whom He unconditionally elects. The sinner's election is the cause, not the result, of their faith.
Therefore, the decree of God to elect or choose some for eternal life (while passing over others), is logically prior to God's foreknowledge of the elect person's exercise of faith.
[The "predestined" of Rom. 8:29 being “to predetermine, decide beforehand; (Revised Version to foreordain): in the N. T. of God decreeing from eternity, … to foreordain, appoint beforehand, Ro. 8:29]. Thayer's Greek Lexicon, 1889, 541
True, the voice of the gospel addresses all. But faith is a special gift. John 1:12-13. And election is "the mother of faith.” Election must come first. Faith is not general therefore, because election is special!
The blessings we have in Eph. 1:3-4, are not common to all, for God has chosen whom He has willed. This is why faith is commended only to the elect (Titus 1:1). Faith is not acquired by effort, but is given freely by God to those whom He has previously chosen.
= Who are the "them" in Matt. 13:11? Those whom He has foreknown and predestined to be the image of His Son. 2 Tim. 2:19.
= If God willed all to be saved, He would have engrafted them into His body by faith. But no man makes himself a sheep but is made one by heavenly grace. John 10:26 concludes that unbelievers are not of His sheep. They are not of the number of those who God has promised were to become disciples.
= Election to salvation means spiritually dead persons are unconditionally elected to repentance, faith, and Christ's salvation which was specifically purchased for them.
= The totally depraved man will choose evil only (because he finds only evil "good"), and he is thus a free captive of Satan. Acts 26:18
= Election is not God's free "temporal" choice. It is an eternal decree. God has always purposed to save the elect, and He cannot change His mind.
= God chooses specific individuals to salvation. He wills that it be so, then brings it about. [Read TULIP. 31-32].
= Those whom God has chosen will certainly come in faith and must persevere.
The response to God comes only when He comes in His special grace to those He has chosen. The elect see clearly their sin and the great glory of God, and they assuredly and infallibly turn to Him.
III. LIMITED ATONEMENT
Jesus is truly perfectly, and wholly God, and He is truly, perfectly. and wholly man. At the Incarnation, a human nature was inseparably united forever with the divine nature in the one person Jesus Christ, yet the two natures remain distinct, whole and unchanged, without mixture or confusion, so that one person is truly God and truly man (theanthropos).
This term does not refer to the value of the Atonement. Christ's death and resurrection accomplished salvation. "Limited" refers only to those for whom He died.
THE MEANING OF THE DEATH OF CHRIST
I. Christ's Death Procured Actual Remission of Sins
- Unity
There is a unity to the work of Christ as the Redeemer. He was prophet, priest and king simultaneously, not successively. There is no break between His earthly death and His heavenly intercession. Calvin saw Christ's death as an intercession with God ("having appeased God's wrath"). Christs's heavenly intercession reflects and represents the earthly intercession, the atonement. The "atonement' is not additional to His death.
- Mystery
Christ redeemed us by satisfying divine justice. This is mysterious and not fully comprehensible. "The God whose justice Christ satisfies, is the God whose love is expressed in Christ's mission."
Calvin also wrote, "God embraced with His favor those He loved before the foundation of the world in and only in His love when He was reconciled to us by Christ's blood." !Institutes, 506-507j.
- Redemption
There is a consistent idea of "satisfaction" for sins: transference, the paying of a penalty, suffering, purging, expiating. The concept for Calvin, is NOT: His death made redemption possible for some or all.
It is RATHER: Christ effected redemption by His death. He suffered punishment and God's wrath was appeased for those whom the death of Christ benefits. Salvation is personally appropriated by faith alone. Faith in Christ's merit excludes human merit.
Calvinist view: The Call is as Limited as the
Design of the Atonement
= Inability to respond does not limit responsibility. The unregenerate cannot believe, yet they are worthy of eternal condemnation nonetheless.
= The evangelical call is only to the regenerate. Christ did not call the unregenerate into the kingdom (John 3:3). The call is to whom ever will (the regenerate), and not to whom ever will not (the unregenerate).
= The call is to sinners, not the self-righteous (Mt. 9:13). Many unregenerate hear the call, and know that they have heard it, but also know that it was not addressed to them. THEY WOULD BE INSULTED IF IT WERE. They are the righteous, not sinners. They know what the call is, and know that it is not addressed to those who consider themselves as not needing it at all.
= The offer is to the penitent, not the impenitent (Acts 11:18). Only the elect become regenerate (Jn. 6:44). The call is not even to the unregenerate (who are as yet elect), but only to the elect when regenerate. (Or election first, regeneration second, calling third).
= The elect are the ones for whom Christ died and who are regenerated at the appointed time when they hear Christ calling them by the gospel.
= He did not die for all men "with a view to securing only the elect" (Louis Sperry Chafer). In other words. Christ did not die to make all men savable. Christ could not have died to save those He had no intention of saving, while aiming at saving those He intended to save.
How then do we justify being commanded to call all men everywhere to repentance? (Acts 17:30).
= It is the duty of all human beings to repent and believe the gospel. The sin of unbelief is the only unforgivable sin! However no one is invited to come as impenitent, unbelieving, unwilling, unconverted sinners. Rather they are to come as believing in the atoning work of Christ.
II. Salvation for the Elect Alone
Only the elect have their sins actually remitted by Christ's death. His death atones for a definite number of people (Limited Atonement). Grace rescues (from the world's destination of destruction to wrath and God's curse), a limited number of elect who would otherwise perish.
— Christ claims that right to choose: John 13:18
— Believers given by God to Christ: John 6:37, 39, 44-45; 17:6
— Christ claims they were chosen out of the world: John 15:19
(In light of the rest of Calvin's theology, this must be a particular group not distinguished by their virtue but by heavenly decree).
= Christ excludes world from His prayers: John 17:9
= No one once for all grafted into the body perishes: John 10:28
= By preserving them, Christ shows forth God's power which is "greater than all": John 10:29.
[Calvin footnotes that, "the perseverance of the elect rests upon the sovereign power of God exercised by Christ on their behalf." (3:23:8. note).
Interestingly, Calvin did not commit to Limited Atonement in writing, merely by inference.
- All for whom Christ died are saved
- Not all men are saved
- Therefore, Christ did not die for all men
This was not written in Institutes, because at the time of its writing, the extent of the Atonement was not a theological issue. Even if Calvin had made no noise on the subject at all, the logic of his theological position is utterly undebatable.
III. For Whom Did Christ Intend To Die?
Christ is the Redeemer and Judge of men. Judgment was given to Him by the Father (John 5:22). Christ's ultimate care comes in being the Redeemer of the elect. He is not just a redeemer:
1 His people choose to be His
2 They are elected to salvation
3 Whatever is entrusted to Him will be safe
(John 10:28-29).
We are the sheep to whom the Shepherd gives eternal life. Christ was ordained Savior of the world, when He laid down His body for the elect, to save those given to Him by the Father, to be the Eternal Life of those over whom He is head.
Christ's virtue and benefits are extended to none but the children of God. Christ's death provided life, virtue and redemption. How could He die for the whole world if the purpose of His death (the provision of eternal salvation and life with Christ) is confined to the elect?
Calvin's Theology of Election from John 6:37:
- All who come unto Christ were before given to Him by the Father. [There are therefore none who come unto Christ who are not given to Him by the Father. Everyone who does not come unto Christ was not given to Him by the Father, for if he were given, he would come].
- All those who come were delivered from God's hand to the Son’s hand to be His.[Those who do not come were never delivered to the Son, else they would come].
- Christ is the sure keeper of all those the Father has given to Him--not one will perish.
If Christ keeps securely only those delivered to Him by the Father, and the only ones who come to Christ are the ones the Father has given Him, did Christ not therefore die for the elect only?
Some Arminian Problems With Limited Atonement
For whom did Christ die?
For many Arminians, the question is simply: "Is there anything inconsistent with God making all men savable by the Atonement and actually saving only the elect by effectual calling?"
This is totally inconsistent with Calvinism. Calvinism says that the totally depraved are not savable apart from effectual calling. Dead corpses are not made alive by external acts (like Christ's death on the cross). The question then turns to this:
"How can we then invite men to receive Jesus when they don’t know if Christ died for them or not?"[This issue also affects our assurance, or the Arminian argument against limited Atonement.
In other words, "how can we have true assurance unless we believe that Christ died for every man?"
Lenski quote. "How do I ever really know He died for me?"
= Charles Ryrie: "Christ is not defeated in having died for all even though all are not ultimately saved because personal faith is as necessary for salvation as the death of Christ”.
= William Evans: "The Atonement is limited only by man's unbelief.” Yet if this were true, no one would ever have been saved by the Atonement! Men are dead in sin and unbelief. If ‘unbelief’ could limit the Atonement—it would be limited by all and none could have benefitted by it.
THE ATONEMENT OVERCOMES UNBELIEF, UNBELIEF DOES NOT OVERCOME THE ATONEMENT. Only toward those to whom the Atonement was offered does God's Holy Spirit overcome unbelief.
Unbelief continues in those for whom the Atonement was not made. As long as men remain unbelieving, they cannot be saved by Christ's Atonement. It is not so much that unbelief limits the Atonement.
IT IS THE LIMITED DESIGN AND APPLICATION or THE ATONEMENT ITSELF THAT LIMITS THE UNBELIEF AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.
Disproving Arminian Proof texts:
Robert Lightner: "Christ actually died for each and every man, and obtained redemption and forgiveness for all men." Are then all men forgiven and redeemed? Are then all men saved? Lightner goes on to say, "men must exercise faith to make this redemption and forgiveness theirs."
JOHN 10:11,15
Lightner also says that in John 10:11, 15, Christ never says He laid down His life ONLY for His sheep! The passage says He did die for His sheep, but it does not explicitly deny that He died for those who are not His sheep. But plainly He is implying in the passage that He died only for His sheep.
1) Before Christ's mind are His sheep and His non-sheep (in the context) when He says He died for His sheep.
2) He is surely suggesting that His death for His sheep is not for His non-sheep.
3) Only His sheep hear His voice and come to Him. The non-sheep do not hear His voice. He is plainly inferring that He died only for His sheep.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:14-15
2 Corinthians 5 (a proof text allegedly for universal atonement), teaches also that Christ died for the elect. In verses 14-15, "if one died for all, then were all dead: And that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves."
1) Those for whom Christ died are those who live for Christ.
2) Those who become alive in Christ are the elect of God.
3) Therefore, in 2 Corinthians 5:11-15, Christ died for the elect and only the elect (the alive) and not for the non-elect (those who do not come alive).
4) In v. 19, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them." To whom are their sins not reckoned EXCEPT the justified elect? So God is in Christ reconciling the elect In the world.
1 JOHN 1:22
"He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
1) ”Our” clearly refers to believers.
2) Is the Atonement extended to the whole world in the next sentence? This refers to those for whom propitiation was made in the whole world. All the believers in the world.
What does the word "world" mean?
Biblically, it can mean only what the context says it means:
All that God created, the earth where we dwell, all of mankind; Palestinian contemporaries of Jesus; Jews, evil forces in rebellion to God, persons selected from every tribe and nation in the world.
a) John 12:19 = those who were enthusiastically following the Lord (after hearing of Lazarus' resurrection from the dead).
3) If it were true that God was propitiated, and no longer angry, but now at peace with the whole world, there’s no need for divine wrath anytime in the future (John 3:36, where wrath is clearly upon all who do not believe).
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
- Did God so love everyone that He provided them an opportunity to be saved by faith? This "love" would be cruelty only! Does God offer the gift of life to a spiritual corpse, a brilliant sunset to a blind man? Does He offer a reward to a legless cripple if only he will walk over and get it? This is not the Calvinist view of total depravity, but the Arminian view.
- This verse states that the Atonement was made for believers only! He gave His Son that believers should have eternal life.
- God gave His Son that the elect (whoever believes) "should not perish but have everlasting life."
IV. IRRESISTIBLE GRACE
If there is no limited atonement, there can be no irresistible grace. The doctrine of Irresistible Grace teaches that the elect person, while totally depraved, is efficaciously regenerated by the activity the Holy Spirit and is irresistibly drawn to Christ. Being dead in trespasses and sins, he is made alive and comes forth believing.
It is the grace bestowed toward the elect that enables them to believe. They cannot believe on their own because they are spiritually dead. [Read TULIP, 44-451.
Irresistible grace cannot be ultimately rejected. The regenerating work of God in the believing heart, precisely because it is God’s work, cannot be rejected or resisted, any more than it can come to nothing.
It is not man's faith which brings the new birth. If man’s
faith comes first, and his belief regenerates him, then that person who exercises faith is not dead in trespasses and sins. He is able to save himself by throwing himself upon the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
Man is not able to resist Satan because his will is inferior to the will of the devil. Paul says that the unregenerate, who "oppose" God's servants who teach the Word, "are taken captive by [the devil] at his will"
(2 Tim. 2:24-26).
Arminian Problems With Irresistible Grace
Look at the extent to which modern Arminians have misinterpreted this doctrine:
Billy Graham:
="the new birth is something that God does for man when man is willing to yield to God."
="Any person who is willing to trust Jesus Christ as his personal Savior can receive the new birth now."
= Elsewhere, he writes, "a person cannot turn to God to repent or even to believe without God’s help. God must do the turning.” In other words, only divine "help" is needed? Not divine regeneration? He cannot be regenerated without believing first? The M.O. here seems to suggest - divine help, human faith, then
regeneration. If man is, in the Calvinistic system, as dead as a corpse, he needs more than help.
= Graham elsewhere wrote, "The Holy Spirit will do everything possible to disturb you, draw you and love you, but finally it is your personal decision. Make it happen now."
This is along the same line of thinking as Louis Sperry Chafer and Walvoord:
“Regeneration is entirely a supernatural act of God in response to the faith of man."
Walvoord wrote, "The fact that we need a work of grace before we can believe should make us recognize all the more the inability of the natural man, and should make men cast themselves on God for the work which He alone can do."
How can an unregenerate man cast himself on God for the work which God alone can do? What is this casting upon God but the exercise of faith? This certainly suggests that faith, or the casting of oneself upon God, must precede, or form the basis of regeneration.
Can the dead live of themselves? Can they spontaneously generate new life? Such thought denies irreststible grace. If a person can produce faith of himself before regeneration, then that person is able to understand the gospel savingly and to convert himself. This person is not then TOTALLY DEPRAVED.
Read TULIP 47-49.
Some Say Faith and Regeneration Are Simultaneous
This does not solve the problem though. The real question is whether faith is based on regeneration or whether regeneration is based on faith. Is it because a person is regenerated that he believes, or is it because he believes that he is regenerated? If the latter is true. then man produces faith out of himself while he is still a spiritual corpse. The person that exercises faith of himself is not dead in trespasses and sins. He does not need irresistible grace to throw himself upon the saving grace of Jesus Christ. He can do that all by himself.
V. PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
This is defined as "The new life that is bestowed by irresistible grace is lived out the rest of the regenerate person's life."
Arminian Problems With Perseverance of the Sajnts.
Arminians would substitute the doctrine of eternal security of the believer here. Some would say that “the new life bestowed by regeneration IN RESPONSE TO FAITH may or may not be lived out without affecting the
security of the believer."
Those who hold this view would say that a true believer may not persevere in holiness [esp. those opposed to Lordship Salvation. The Reformed view is that only those who persevere to the end are saved.
The "Carnal Christian" Theology
Many Dispensationalists view "the carnal Christian" as a regular, if not, normal state of affairs. This has become a serious issue in theology for these reasons:
The concept of the carnal Christian has become a plague to Christian thought. There has crept into much of Christianity the concept that there is no distinction between justification and sanctification. [Justification is by faith. Here, God attributes to the believer, at the moment he receives Christ, the very righteousness of Christ and sees him from that point on as having died, been buried, and raised again in newness of life, in Christ.
[Justification is a once-for-all change in one's legal status before God.j
[Sanctification is a progressive process which proceeds in the life of the regenerated sinner on a moment-by-moment basis.]
The "spiritual" Christian is one who is controlled by the indwelling divine nature. The "carnal" Christian is one controlled by the old nature.
There is no reason why a Christian should not continue to be carnal all his life when he is controlled by the old nature of the flesh.
Unfortunately, there are countless writings in Christianity that say men may remain Christians, yet never forsake sin! Men may go on lying, blaspheming, fornicating, and murdering for a lifetime with no threat to one's salvation!
= Scofield wrote, "Disobedience does not affect the Christian's salvation, but [only his] fellowship, peace, and growth.”
= Louis Sperry Chafer and Walvoord wrote, "A carnal Christian is as perfectly saved as a spiritual Christian; for no experience or merit or service can form any part of the grounds of salvation. Though but a baby, he is, nevertheless, in Christ.”
(Read here A. W. Tozer's quote in Wrongly dividing the Word_ of Truth. 230.
For more examples of this thought. see Wrongty
biyiding_the Word .cif Truth, pp. 213-230. This is very much at the heart of the Lordship Salvation Issue.
How did Calvin put these two theological issues of justification and sanctification into perspective?
Calvin never for one minute ever granted that faith which justifies could be sterile! His statement was "Faith alone justifies, but faith is not alone."
Read Institutes. 592-593: 798: 811-812: 8131.
Calvin insisted on the inseparability of faith and works, and of justification and sanctification because all of salvation is to be found through union with Jesus Christ,
THUS, GOOD WORKS MAY BE SAID TO BE A CONDITION FOR OBTAINING SALVATION IN THAT THEY INEVITABLY ACCOMPANY GENUINE FAITH.
This is exactly what MacArthur was saying in The Gospel According To Jesus. 1Read Foreword p. xi ff1.
Good works are never the meritorious grounds of
justification or acceptance before God. No sinner in himself can merit salvation. Yet what has happened in this "carnal Christian" theology is that many have drawn the conclusion that good works need not even accompany faith in the saint.
The question is: "IN WHAT WAY ARE THEY NECESSARY?"
As the inevitable outworking of saving faith, they are necessary for salvation. As the ground of merit for justification, they are neither necessary or acceptable.
Another part of the issue and problem here is that Calvin and the Reformed position saw that God, in His saving work, instills the principles or "habits" of sanctified life which then become truly part of that person's being. Good works, for the Reformed theologian, are the result of divine grace, yet are truly HUMAN actions.[Institutes, 811-12.
For those espousing much of Dispensational thought and opposition to Lordship Salvation, good works are divine actions, the direct action of God within the human person.
The problem progresses to this: Those opposed to the Reformed position would say God does not really change human nature for the better therefore the actual conduct of the Christian is of little importance. This is why "carnal Christians" are saved regardless of what they do! It is the presence and direct action of the uncreated deity within a person that renders him essentially "positionally" perfect--no matter how he actually behaves.
The rest of the problem relates to regeneration. The dispensational view would hold that a new self, a part of the divine nature, is implanted in the soul, resulting in two distinct natures in the Christian. The old nature remains, but there is a new nature beside it. Nothing actually happens to the old nature at all, except that a new nature is placed alongside it. This new nature is the actual indwelling divine nature of God. But this nature cannot be justifed, because it is the very nature of God Himself, and could not possibly need justification.
The Reformed view is that a new disposition is implanted in the old ego, a new foundation for action, and the Christian is one person with two struggling principles: the new is destined to conquer the old. This is the heart of Romans chapter 6. That chapter explains that we can live lives of holiness because in principle Christ killed the "old man."
This other dispensational view totally separates sanctification and justification. One may exercise faith in Christ but never show fruit! A person can be justified but not sanctified. Chafer wrote that the experience of sanctification is absolutely unrelated to position in Christ.” This is why certain dispensationalists can buy into the carnal Christian mumbo-jumbo.
The Assurance of the Believer
Is our only assurance of salvation to be based on Christ's dying for us? Is it in no way connected with our own life? Scofield wrote, "His own works can never be to the believer his own ground of assurance."
[Scofield Ref. Bible, 1083]. There is hardly a single dispensationalist who will deny that lack of a changed life is positive evidence that one is not a Christian.
If faith = union with Christ, and union with Christ communicates both justification and sanctification, insistence that one's justification alone provides assurance is not Much to hang a hat on.
Are assurance and experience Biblically related?
The Reformed view is “the only way I can know I am saved is by knowing that I am being saved" (or sanctified). Reformed theology places a strong emphasis on sanctification as evidence of the reality of one's faith.
- Romans 8:16:= Witness of the Holy Spirit to the Christian.
Are we to assume that, if every Christian IS indwelt by the Holy Spirit, there can be NO evidence of holiness or spirituality for his entire life? Or can the Holy Spirit indwell, yet have no Influence whatsoever on our Christian life? The Holy spirit does not insure to any degree that the Christian will be a spiritual person? Indwelling does not imply outworking? What about Phil. 2:23? The Christian can have Jesus as Savior without Him being Lord?
2) 1 John 2:3= Believer's behavior provides an indicator of the presence or absence of God's grace. Read TULIP. 54.
VI. Calvin's View of Faith and Assurance
FAITH = a firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence toward us (believers), founded upon the truth of the freely given promise in Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our hearts by the Holy Spirit, [Read Institutes, 545],
Faith is supernatural, not instinctual. It is imparted to the believer by the Holy Spirit, relying on the promises of God. It presupposes divine revelation, and reason is necessary to understand divine revelation.
ALL WHO BELIEVE MUST HAVE ASSURANCE ABOUT THEMSELVES IN THEIR RELATIONSHIP TO GOD. If they don't have this, according to Calvin, they cannot be true believers. Faith is a firm and certain knowledge to believers.
It is believing that the promises of God are addressed to us, not only applied to us. A true believer cannot lack the conviction that he is saved by Christ, Knowledge of what Christ has done on our behalf it critical to faith for Calvin.
YET: unbelief is deeply rooted in out hearts! There is struggle to know God is faithful! [Institutes:560-561].
MAN'S REGENERATED HEART
— recognizes divine goodness
— rests on the Gospel promises
— rejoices in life
Yet:
— recognizes it’s own calamity
— trembles at the evidence of its own iniquity
— shudders in death
You are never cured in your life of some stain of unbelief and entirely filled and possessed by faith. There is always some doubt in perpetual conflict with your unbelief.
So Calvin qualifies “knowledge”:
—the degree of confidence fluctuates
— having and retaining faith is part of the struggle
— while faith ought to be assured faith, there is no such thing as "perfect total assurance.”
DO WE HAVE A MAJOR CONTRADICTION HERE? NOT REALLY! Don't ever be satisfied therefore with a degree of faith that is without assurance. There can be faith without assurances but seek faith with assurance.
