Calvin and the Reformation
In Part One of this series, we looked at the doctrines of John Calvin, the famous Protestant Reformer. His book The Institutes of the Christian Religion is a very large book (over 900 pages) and contains long and often contradictory arguments on the theology of salvation. All scholars have agreed upon the TULIP summary of his doctrines: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and the Perseverance of the Saints.
Virtually all scholars agree on the summary our first instalment gave regarding Calvin’s doctrine of the sovereignty of God. However, to make a long story short, the heart of his theology is the concept that humanity has no free will. All of Calvin’s additional arguments are built on that premise.
For a time only two competing theological views affected Protestant thought—those of Martin Luther and John Calvin. Both still followed the Augustinian concept of original sin. While Luther taught predestination the same as Calvin, he differed from Calvin on the sovereignty of God.
Luther’s belief in predestination was the fruit of experience rather than the results of speculation. This is made clear, for an instance, by the fact that while he frequently speaks of the absolute bondage of the human will, and declares that all of our deeds are caused by God, he yet recognizes man’s freedom in matters which do not concern salvation [1].
Shortly before Calvin's death in 1564, one Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609) was born and went on to publish material refuting both Luther's and Calvin's teachings. The heart of his arguments against both were centered on this issue of free will. [2] [3] Thereafter, major Protestant bodies split on this issue and most would identify either as Calvinist or Arminian, depending on their perspective relative to this question.
Notwithstanding his grave error in denying human free will, there was much in Calvin's writings regarding practical piety which was valuable to the Protestant movement. He even advocated that the "elect" would experience regeneration.
Ezekiel promises that a new spirit will be given to the elect, not merely that they may be able to walk in his precepts, but that they may really walk in them (Ezek. 11:19; 36:27) [4]
For many years, Calvinism offered much that was positive so far as Christian piety was concerned, notwithstanding attendant errors.
Calvin and Modern Protestantism
However, Calvin’s rejection of free will was too big a "handle" for Satan not to grasp and corrupt the Calvinist churches over time. Inevitably, his hyper-Augustinian gospel was going to lead to antinomianism, [5] which means literally, ignoring the demands of God’s law. While Calvin himself was not antinomian, as such, the no-free-will premise of his doctrines made it inevitable that antinomianism would in time occur in those Christian communities that embraced his theology. The antinomian aspect of Calvin's teachings have now totally permeated most of modern Protestantism.
Modern Calvinism
Predestination (that is, only the "elect" can be saved) led to confusion regarding mission. Taken to its logical conclusion. Calvinist churches should not exist, for they have no purpose. Nonetheless they do exist, and do undertake mission. As outlined in Part One, they do this as they see themselves as having a role to "collect" the "elect" from the world and bring them into mutual fellowship and worship. [6] [7]
While Calvin saw the "sign" of being among the "elect" as showing regeneration (i.e. a pious life), Calvinist leaders—like leaders of all denominations—confront the problem of so few professed believers being regenerated and thus not accepting that as being the "sign.” No congregation likes being told it is unconverted. All congregations in every age, from the time of Korah to today, suffer from the Laodicean condition: "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing" (Rev. 3:17). As a result, over time leading Calvinists downplayed what he said about regeneration and emphasised the bad side of his theology—predestination.
In succumbing to this temptation to please the church’s unconverted majority, they began to look for other "signs" of being among the elect, such as: God will make you materially rich. These distortions to Calvin's original teachings were brought in by false Baptist (Calvinist) ministers in America during the mid-19th Century.
Some Protestants so identified Christianity with America’s good fortune that they flocked to those who would explain the gospel as immanent to the fits and starts of capitalism. Russell H. Conwell (1843–1925), Baptist minister and lawyer, became a prophet of the Gospel of Wealth with his famous sermon, “Acres of Diamonds.” The sermon, preached some 6,000 times, promised listeners that wealth lay within any American’s grasp, if they would only accept their Christian duty to work hard and see God’s hand through the workings of capitalism. Conwell re-interpreted [emphasis mine] his Calvinist inheritance for this new corporate age, equating poverty with sin and riches with dutiful virtue. “I say you ought to be rich; you have no right to be poor,” he concluded sharply. [8]
This is the foundation of what today is often called the "prosperity gospel” [9].
Traditionally, Pentecostals and Calvinists have been deadly enemies.
The Pentecostal/charismatic movement is proved heretical by the simple fact that it is the fruit of the theology of Wesley, and Wesley's theology was the false gospel of salvation by the will and work of the sinner himself (Arminianism). (Statement by Calvinist theology Professor - David J. Engelsma) [10]
However, in recent times there has been a blending of Pentecostalism and Calvinism.
There is a generation in their 20s and 30s, wide-eyed to a Calvinistic worldview, a Reformed theology proper, Christology, pneumatology, soteriology, etc. However, with this resurgence, there has come a strange merging of two streams into one river. One stream is historical biblical Calvinism, and the other is an unexpected tributary: Charismatic theology, spiritual experience, and worship style. And so, there is a strange hybrid called “the Charismatic Calvinist.” This one surging river has a swift current that has pulled in an entire generation of those who are Reformed, but who are also “speaking in tongues,” having “prophetic utterances,” claiming new revelations, having supposedly words of knowledge, and miraculous healings [11].
While Calvin saw the sign of being in the "elect" as regeneration or the living of a pious life, those seeking spurious signs sought, beside material wealth as mentioned above, some visible sign that they had the Holy Spirit. Calvin indicated the Holy Spirit would be given only to the "elect" [11], so the charismatic Calvinists began looking for a sign of having the Holy Spirit such as supernatural speaking in tongues, often called glossolalia.
Because of confusion over the role of evangelism, Calvinists tend to focus more on the "worship experience" of their congregations than Christians being the salt of the earth or needing to be fed from the Word of God. Hence the growing uncharitable attitudes in certain circles toward the poor, immigrants, and minorities. In addition, since they see material wealth as being a sign of the "elect," and the poor as being the "un-elect" or reprobates, they are against any form of charity to the poor, particularly by civil government—actions they often deride as socialist (which to them is evil) or even communist. As pointed out above, this disdain for the poor and disadvantaged came not from Calvin's original works but from certain popular Protestant preachers in mid-19th Century America, such as Russell H. Conwell.
Spiritual Narcissism
In addition, the concept of the "elect" being chosen of God leads to a spiritual narcissism; tragically, modern Calvinist churches are known for their narcissistic approach to worship [13]. That is, the church is to be worshiper-centered rather than truth-centered. Their concept of the "elect" leads them to believe they are "real special" and actually becomes a form of "sanctified narcissism.” Also, it leads them to see themselves as a "holy people," and that their every thought comes from God. As a result, they have literally turned their "moral logic circuits" off. They pay little attention to Scripture, but assume every thought to be holy, thus becoming capable of the basest evils. In effect, there is no one more dangerous than the person who thinks God approves of everything they do.
Their concept of the total sovereignty of God leads to distorted views of God's character. As mentioned in Part One, this effectively rolls the devil and God into one. Thus the followers become like the "god" they have built and worship. Whereas most Christians would view, say, Donald Trump, as an evil man because of his behaviour and attitudes and would see his appointment as something God has permitted as part of allowing freedom of will to be played out against the background of the Great Controversy, modern Calvinists see him as appointed of God Himself to carry out the divine will. Thus their "god" becomes characterless in order to fulfil some mysterious "divine plan.” Naturally, such persons become as morally bankrupt as the "god" they invent.
The no-free-will doctrine of Calvinism causes them to see nothing wrong with the establishment of "Christian" dictatorships. This notion is pervasive throughout the history of Calvinism—first in Calvin himself, who founded a theocratic dictatorship in Geneva and became known as the "Pope of Geneva” [14]. Also in the Pilgrim Fathers of America, who founded a theocratic dictatorship in New England [15]
What with the modern Calvinists’ "devil/god" and their narcissism, we can see why modern Calvinists suffer from a moral "short circuit." You will notice that certain "sins" to them are major, while others don't even appear on their radar—mainly the "sins" which purportedly don't occur in their midst (e.g. homosexuality, abortion) but do occur outside, receive major focus as allegedly serious sin. On the other hand, such "sins" as unfair profits and dishonesty in business (which often occur openly in their midst) are regarded as less important. Their narcissism makes them as much "me, me, me" oriented as the pagan culture they condemn around them, and the moral ambivalence of their “devil/god” makes them as morally relativistic as the pagan culture they condemn around them. Modern Calvinism has indeed become a very dark force in human affairs.
In the final and third of these articles on Calvinism, we will look further at modern Calvinism and its effects on Protestantism and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
REFERENCES
[1] https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/comparison-and-evaluation-theology-luther-calvin
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Calvinist%E2%80%93Arminian_debate#Jacobus_Arminius_and_the_Synod_of_Dort
[3] Picirilli, Robert Grace, Faith, and Free Will: Contrasting Views of Salvation - Calvinism and Arminianism (Nashville: Randall House, 2002) pp. 10–11, ISBN 978-0-89265-648-6.
[4] The Institutes of the Christian Religion. Author(s): Calvin, John (1509-1564). Beveridge, Henry (Translator). Publisher: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, Grand Rapids, MI. 31 Aug 2002. Page 188
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antinomianism
[6] http://advindicate.com/articles/2020/6/12/costa-draft-1-327gd-mpree-hegrg-g6bp4-sbnpn-8c4bj-d6cc8
[7] https://soteriology101.com/2020/03/09/if-calvinism-is-true-then-why-evangelize/
[8] Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel, Catherine Bowler Graduate Program in Religion Duke University, 2010.
[9] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosperity_theology
[10] http://www.prca.org/pamphlets/pamphlet_91d.html
[11] https://thecripplegate.com/strange-fire-calvins-critique-of-charismatic-calvinists-steve-lawson/
[12] The Institutes of the Christian Religion. Author(s): Calvin, John (1509-1564). Beveridge, Henry (Translator). Publisher: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, Grand Rapids, MI. 31 Aug 2002. Page 122
[13] https://virtueonline.org/narcissism-goes-church-encountering-evangelical-worship
[14] Chapter "From Augustine to Calvin". Hunt, Dave. John Calvin's Tyrannical Kingdom: Geneva's Experiment in Christian Dominionism . The Berean Call. Kindle Edition.
[15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Colony#Religion
Tony Rigden, a former atheist/deist, came into the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1980 as the result of a miraculous conversion and the reading of the book The Great Controversy by Ellen G White. He has since been a regular Sabbath School teacher, very part-time lay preacher, elder and briefly head elder. Formerly an electronics technician and computer programmer, Tony is currently still part-time programming but mostly retired. Former hobbies included diving and private flying. Currently he is a volunteer guard (train conductor) for one of New Zealand's leading vintage railways.