The Essential Calvinism

J. Selden Strong

• Publisher: GLH Publishing
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781648630347
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Teología y religión
• Subtopic: Denominaciones cristianas

The author tells what conclusions he has come to regarding the real nature of Calvin's contribution to modern thought and progress, while the remaining chapters are given to a treatment of the present and future development of the principles of Calvinism and the Reformation.

The

Essential

Calvinism

J. Selden Strong

GLH Publishing

Louisville, KY

Originally published in 1909 by The Pilgrim Press.

Public domain.

Republished by GLH Publishing, 2020.

ISBN:

Paperback 978-1-64863-033-0

Epub 978-1-64863-034-7

Contents

Preface

I. Traditional Calvinism

II. The Calvinism Of The Institutes

III. The Theological Sources Of The Institutes

IV. The Personal Equation

V. Applied Calvinism

VI. The Calvinistic Principle Of Authority

VII. The Elements Of Theocracy

VIII. The Dynamics Of Protestantism

Preface

It was the great good fortune of the author of this book to hear a very able lecture delivered by Dr. Abraham Kuyper of Holland while he was making a tour of America in 1898. This lecture treated of the political aspect of Calvinism, and called attention to the service which it had rendered to modern society in setting forth a governmental philosophy based on the conception of a personal, sovereign God.

The suggestion thus afforded, that Calvinism was something more than a system of theology, led to an investigation which has been carried on at intervals for a period of ten years. It would seem to be an opportune time to give to the public the results of this investigation, since this year is the four hundreth anniversary of the reformer’s birth, and attention and interest are directed toward him and his work as never before.

In the first five chapters the author tells what conclusions he has come to regarding the real nature of Calvin’s contribution to modern thought and progress, while the remaining chapters are given to a treatment of the present and future development of the principles of Calvinism and the Reformation.

J. S. S.

August 14, 1909.

I. Traditional Calvinism

The word “Calvinism” stands in the popular mind for a certain scheme of doctrine, rigid in outline, Puritanic in spirit, dogmatic in statement.

There is not lacking a cause for this impression. In the doctrinal history of the Calvinistic churches is found abundant evidence to justify such a conclusion. The attempt is made in creedal form to reduce the whole body of Christian truth into hard-set theological formulas, definite, exclusive. Undue emphasis is put upon certain phases of Biblical teaching with the result of minimizing some very important facts. An assumption of absolute certainty forbids freedom in belief and progress in thought; and reacts very disagreeably upon character and life. Then, too, many of the followers of Calvin exaggerated the naturally prominent features of his theology, thereby throwing the system out of balance, and in application calling attention to the formal rather than the vital elements of the Reformation. What is far worse, in this way they gave the world the impression that Calvin was a mere dogmatist, though a very masterful one, and obscured the fact that he was above all the servant of God and of man, who exerted upon his own generation a transcendent influence in behalf of progress and reform.

Owing to this misplaced emphasis there came in later times to the churches of Genevan origin an inert, lifeless orthodoxy, when the ideas of love and liberty were lost amid the fogs of speculative theology, and Christianity was considered a matter of correct belief rather than a way to live.

How very one-sided Christian thought had become, one may easily realize by referring to that extremely condensed statement of belief known as the “Five Points of Calvinism,” which became widely current and was received as conveying an adequate idea of Calvin’s important teachings. That this statement was purely a negative one, and was composed merely to offset the five points of the Arminian Remonstrants was a fact apparently lost sight of, or else unheeded in the earnestness of theological partisanship.

The five points of this brief creed were, by name, Particular Predestination; Limited Atonement; Natural Inability; Irresistible Grace; Perseverance of the Saints. A glance will show that these “points” are all subjects of speculative theology and philosophy, and largely outside the field of practical religion and morals.

It is extremely unfortunate for Calvinism that such an easily remembered formula was ever given to the world, seeing that in its origin it was a negation, and in its scope limited to the subjects of a certain theological controversy. Not only did it present a very limited view of Calvinism, but it also tended to perpetuate its peculiarities in an exaggerated form in the minds of those who sympathized with the Dutch Calvinists as over against the Arminians.

Moreover, the fact that today the Arminian statement of the five points finds general acceptance among Protestant churches, apparently justifies the conclusion that Arminianism was an altogether separate movement from Calvinism, and as such, took the field successfully against it; whereas the plain truth of the matter is that Arminianism was only Calvinism modified in certain particulars of speculative belief. And as historic perspective lengthens, we see Calvinist and Arminian representing the same great cause, differing from one another for awhile over the formal statement of truth. For even a brief perusal of the articles of the Arminian Remonstrants will show that there is very little variation therein from the teachings of Calvin. Indeed, it is a question if Arminius does not more truly represent Calvin than does Gomarus, for while Arminius may modify some of Calvin’s positions, Gomarus throws Calvinism out of balance by emphasizing a tendency towards fatalism.

Far more representative of traditional Calvinism than the “Five Points,” is the Confession of the Westminster Assembly. This is an orderly and well-proportioned statement of belief and the most complete and authoritative representation of Calvinistic theology outside of the “Institutes.” This document furnishes the traditional Calvinism of the Presbyterians of Scotland, the Puritans of England and the early churches of New England. Its influence on thought and life within these limits has been wonderful. It took new form in sermons and creeds, in religious conversation, in theological teaching, in home instruction, even to a large extent in law and statute. In the thinking of the older men of the present day it is still a force to be reckoned with. And very often when men recast their religious thought and reject the old formula they take traditional Calvinism as a point of departure, a measure of comparison.

But the Westminster Confession is not pure Calvinism. It represents a development. The men who composed it were of a later generation and of a different race from Calvin and were not, even then, always in agreement among themselves. It is worthy of note in this regard that the Five Points of the Dutch Calvinists form an integral part of the Westminster Confession, and are all treated more or less extensively by the authors.

Particular Predestination is carefully treated in Chapter III, “Of God’s Eternal Decree.” God from all eternity decreed whatsoever comes to pass, though not so as to be the author of sin. Some are ordained to everlasting life and some to everlasting death to the praise of God’s grace and the praise of his justice,—the number is certain and definite.

The doctrine of Limited Atonement is presented under other names but comes by very certain implications. In Chapter VIII, “Of Christ the Mediator,” we read that Christ purchased an everlasting inheritance for himself and all that the Father had given him. In Chapter X, “Of Effectual Calling,” we find the statement that while all are called by the ministry of the Word only those effectually called, the elect of God, are saved; others never truly come to Christ and cannot be saved.

Natural Inability finds treatment in Chapter IX, “Of Free Will,” where we are told that by the Fall man lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation. Chapter XVI, “Of Good Works,” carries the thought still further by saying that works done by unregenerate men, though in accordance with the commands of God, are yet sinful; even the effort to be good on the part of one of the non-elect is made to bear evidence in favor of inherent and complete moral weakness.

The doctrine of Irresistible Grace we do not find treated specifically under that name. But something of nearly the same moment is presented in Chapter X, “Of Effectual Calling,” where it is stated that only those predestined to salvation are effectually called, and that man is altogether passive therein till quickened by the Holy Spirit. It is wholly of God’s grace. If we add to this the teaching both as to the Divine Decree and as to Moral Inability, we easily reach the conclusion of Irresistible Grace, for a spiritually impotent man, determined to salvation by the eternal decree of God, and effectually called thereto, can scarcely be thought of as capable of resisting divine grace when bestowed.

A separate though brief chapter (XVII) is given to the subject of the Perseverance of the Saints. Here it is stated that all whom God has accepted in Christ are to persevere to the end and be saved. This perseverance depends on the immutable decree of election; but this assurance of final grace does not free the subject from temporal judgment for further sins.

Having, then, found these five specific doctrines expressed in the Westminster Confession, the question naturally arises, Are they more than other subjects the gist of traditional Calvinism as exemplified in this standard?

If we were to reckon merely from the impression made upon the popular mind perhaps our question would have a ready answer in the affirmative, for these subjects have ever been the material of controversy, and so the more effectively kept before the mind. But in actual creed and teachings we shall find it otherwise. The “Five Points” do not figure largely in the Westminster Confession as a system of doctrine. They are really, except perchance the doctrine of Inability, only derivatives of one of the subjects treated in the Confession, and that not the main subject, i.e., the Divine Decree. The heavier and bulkier parts of the Confession are given to entirely different subjects.

In the general plan of doctrine in this Confession the first and foremost thing is the objective principle of the Reformation, the authority or infallibility of the Scriptures. This is the starting-point; it is the main assumption upon which all other teachings are based and out of which they attain their reality. They purport to derive their origin and proof from the Scriptures, and the rest of the Confession is intended merely to be a setting forth of that truth which God has revealed through prophet and Christ as there recorded. Particular Predestination and its historic partners must take their chances with other teachings supposed to be founded upon the Scriptures.

The first thing which the authors of the Westminster Confession seek to establish on the witness of the Scriptures is the doctrine of the Trinity. They present a strictly Athanasian teaching. There is but one true and living God who is the foundation of all being, exercising a “sovereign dominion” over all creation. He exists in the form of a trinity of persons, Father, Son and Spirit, of the same substance, and equal in power and glory.

The whole teaching in regard to the Divine Decree which follows in the next chapter devolves upon the idea of “sovereign dominion,” and is really only an attempt to explain the method under which that dominion operates. The supposed importance of this doctrine as being the central thought of Calvinism finds a limitation in the chapter upon Providence, where God is described as exercising a fatherly discipline upon men as his children. The decree is after all a father’s decree, however much men may overlook this fact in the heat of religious controversy. Still the position of this statement in the Confession and its relative place in the system give it a prominent place among the leading ideas of Calvinism.

Another notable feature of the Westminster Confession, and so of traditional Calvinism, is the federal idea of the atonement; wherein Adam acts as the head of the race, and, having sinned, passes on his guilt to his posterity; wherein also Christ acts as a second head of the race and by his perfect righteousness and sacrifice purchases redemption for the elect; wherefore God pardons sin and imputes to the sinner the righteousness of Christ.

The Confession also sets forth at length the subjective principle of the Reformation, of which Luther was the chief exponent, Justification by Faith. This doctrine is set over against the Roman idea of good works, which are here regarded as of no avail, since no good works are possible without the help of the Holy Spirit. The Confession avoids the extreme form of Luther’s statement; in which it is said that the sinner is justified by faith alone, and makes it clear that faith is simply the human condition for the divine bestowal of justification and that true faith must necessarily find expression in good works.

The Westminster Confession also gives the Reformation teaching as to the sacraments of the Church. Of the seven sacraments of the medieval era the Reformers suffer but two to remain, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and the objects of these are duly set forth as the seal of redemption and the symbol of divine communion. But it is worthy of note, that with however much consistency the Reformed creeds limit the number of sacraments to two, they with equal consistency give to marriage a real sacramental value, in that while it is regarded as a civil contract, it is based on the law of God and has not only social but “religious purposes.”

We also find in the Confession characteristic Calvinistic teaching as to the strict observance of the Sabbath as a day of rest and worsh...

Table of contents

• Preface