I do not agree with all points of Calvinism (despite my favorite teachers) or Arminianism (no matter what church I attend).
But there is only one point I can always defend and agree upon. That…
God Saves Sinners
“God – the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father’s will by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of Father and Son by renewing.
“Saves – does everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory: plans, achieves and communicates redemption, calls and keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies.
“Sinners – men as God finds them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, unable to lift a finger to do God’s will or better their spiritual lot. God saves sinners – and the force of this confession may not be weakened by disrupting the unity of the work of the Trinity, or by dividing the achievement of salvation between God and man and making the decisive part man’s own, or by soft-pedaling the sinner’s inability so as to allow him to share the praise of his salvation with his Saviour. This is the one point of Calvinistic soteriology which the “five points” are concerned to establish and Arminianism in all its forms to deny: namely, that sinners do not save themselves in any sense at all, but that salvation, first and last, whole and entire, past, present and future, is of the Lord, to whom be glory for ever; amen.”
- J.I. Packer, “Introductory Essage,” in The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, by John Owen (London: Banner of Truth, 1959) 4-5.
I don’t agree with election as though we, Christians, are something special and as if we are not sinners ourselves and that we weren’t stuck in the pit of despair and death when God set out to rescue us. I see too many Calvinists who take the title “elected” and elevate to a level of douchebaggery that set us above and apart from the non-believers. That is the equivalent of a Christian saying that his or her own salvation was based on the fact they recited the Sinner’s Prayer. God exists outside of time so to say that God knew you were going to be saved is only scratching the surface. Just because God knew ahead of time does not mean you knew ahead of time. We cannot even comprehend the mind of God. God can act like He knew. You have no business doing so.
I don’t like to even put the words “limited” and “God” in the same sentence. It is as though you have just completed the mathematical formula that calculated the precise amount of atonement needed for the x amount of people that were saved by God. God knows that number. You do not.
Irresistible grace? Yes, this I can get with. Seriously. I think of that as you are a little kid in the middle of the street and all of sudden, you realize there is a truck heading in your direction. In less than a nanosecond, you know that you can be saved because your Saviour shows you that only He can. What are you going to choose? Getting smashed right into the grill of a speeding freight truck or for God to pull you out of certain death. Once you know, you don’t have much of a choice, do you?
Once saved, always saved. Seriously, if you think you are saved then go against the will of God, you were not saved in the first place. God just can’t be your Saviour. He must be your Lord. Christ did not pull you out of the way of a speeding truck just for you to jump right back in front of it. I don’t think Christians go into making pornography for a living.
I can go on and on.
But there is one thing I know for certain. I wasn’t smart enough, good enough, wise enough, strong enough or did enough for me to be saved. I had nothing to do with my salvation. My salvation is based solely on Christ Jesus alone and for the glory of God alone.
Truth be told. Even if I couldn’t backup this point by Scripture, I certainly don’t want to take credit because I didn’t do anything.
How can I be responsible for how:
God loved me.
God created me
Jesus came down to earth and became human.
Jesus took on the temptations but never sinned.
Jesus knew all that I was going to work in pornography, divorce my wife and not raise my son right among the least of my sins. He knew all my sins. He knew He was the only one worthy to take my place to absorb the wrath of God for my sins.
God knew your sins too. He knows everything you did.
Jesus knows all of that so He nailed Himself upon a tree, bleed to death and struck dead by God just so we wouldn’t have to die for our sins.
Jesus taken down and was wrapped like a mummy. Despite that, He rose from death because He is above creation. He is completely control over this earth. He is sovereign over all that He sees.
Jesus ascended back into heaven.
Jesus promised us peace and the comfort of His Spirit.
This same Spirit of God gave me His wisdom so that I would know of God and of His love.
Because of Christ, it was enough grace and wisdom to just to have the sense to believe on Him and call Jesus Christ my Sovereign Lord and Gracious Saviour everyday for the rest of my life.
It is only by Christ alone.
All for the glory of God alone.
God saved me, a sinner.
ht: One Point Calvinism by Scott Thomas, Acts 29 Director
