July 29, 2003

• Calvinism
  
  Calvinism, Christian theology of the French church reformer John Calvin. Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion (1536-59; trans. 1561) was the most influential work in the development of the Protestant churches of the Reformed tradition. Calvinist doctrine lies within the Pauline and Augustinian theological tradition. Its central tenets include belief in the absolute sovereignty of God and the doctrine of justification by faith alone. As did the German religious reformer Martin Luther, Calvin denied that human beings were capable of free will after the Fall of Adam, but he went farther than Luther in elaborating a doctrine of predestination—that certain persons are elected by God to salvation, while others are rejected by him and consigned to eternal damnation. Calvin also shared Luther's belief in the Bible as the unique rule for the life of faith, but differed from his fellow reformer in defending the subjugation of the state to the church and in his interpretation of the Eucharist. Many of the tenets of Calvinism have had profound social implications—in particular, that thrift, industry, and hard work are forms of moral virtue and that business success is an evidence of God's grace. Because these views helped to create a climate favorable to commerce, Calvinism played a role in the overthrow of feudalism and the establishment of capitalism. By the early 17th century, Calvinism had been adopted by Protestant groups in many lands. The Synod of Dort (1618-19) in Holland fixed this form of belief as Dutch orthodoxy (Arminianism). French Calvinists founded the Huguenot movement, which was suppressed by the Roman Catholic church. In England, Puritanism developed and briefly achieved ascendancy during the period when the monarchy was suspended under Oliver Cromwell. The Westminster Confession (1646) represents the systematic expression of Puritan theology. It was adopted by the Church of Scotland in 1648 and has become the basic creed of Presbyterian groups in Britain and throughout the world. Many English Puritans, dissatisfied with the policies of the Church of England, immigrated to America during the colonial period. Settling in New England, they contributed greatly to shaping the religious character of the United States, especially through the preaching of Jonathan Edwards and other leaders during the Great Awakening. Calvinism remains an important strain within Protestant thought. In the 20th century, the influential Swiss theologian Karl Barth placed great emphasis on the Calvinist doctrine of God's supremacy, beside which all human activity is seen as worthless.
  
  
  Mortal Sin
  
  The concept of mortal sin has been an integral part of the Christian message since the very beginning. Literally dozens of passages in the New Testament proclaim it a fearful reality, and these biblical teachings were fully accepted by, and indeed expounded upon, by the early Church.
  
  It was not until the time of John Calvin that anyone would claim that it was impossible for a true Christian to lose his salvation. That teaching, which was not even shared by Martin Luther and his followers, was a theological novelty of the mid-sixteenth century, a teaching which would have been condemned as a dangerous heresy by all previous generations of Christians. It would drive people to the despair of thinking that, if they had committed grave sins, they had never been true Christians. Further, they would suffer similar anxiety over any subsequent conversion, since their first would not have been genuine, according to this teaching. Or it would drive them into thinking that their grave sins were really not grave at all, for no true Christian could have committed such sins.
  
  In time the "once saved, always saved" teaching even degenerated in many Evangelical circles to the point that some would claim that a Christian could commit grave sins and still remain saved: sin did not injure his relationship with God at all.
  
  Most Christians today reject Calvin's error, acknowledging that there are at least some mortal sins—sins which kill the spiritual life of the soul and deprive a person of salvation, unless he repents. Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Lutherans, Anglicans, Methodists, Pentecostals—all acknowledge the possibility of mortal sin at least in some form. Only Presbyterians, Baptists, and those who have been influenced by these two sects reject the reality of mortal sin.
  
  The early Church, of course, were unanimous in teaching the reality of mortal sin. They had to embrace the doctrine of mortal sin precisely because they recognized not only the salvific power of baptism but also the damning power of certain serious sins. The Bible taught that "baptism . . . now saves you." However, since during the persecutions some baptized people denied Christ, and since Christ taught that "whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 10:33), the early Christians recognized that it was possible to lose the grace of salvation after baptism.
  
  The idea that one could never lose salvation would have been unimaginable to them, since it was evident from the Bible that baptism saves, that the baptized can deny Christ, and that those who deny Christ will not be saved unless they repent, as did Peter.
  
  It was equally unthinkable to predestinarian thinkers, such as Augustine, who, just two years before he died, taught in his book The Gift of Perseverance that not all who were predestined to come to God's grace were predestined to remain with him until glory. This was, in fact, the teaching of all the high predestinarians (Augustine, Fulgentius, Aquinas, Luther)—until the time of Calvin. Another thing that Calvin taught was the doctrine of private judgment, which claims that each individual is to interpret Scripture for himself. This idea is rejected in 2 Peter 1:20, where we are told the first rule of Bible interpretation: "First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation."
  
  There are many parts of Calvin's thinking that is right one the money, so to speak, but there are simply too many areas that are not with Scripture, that I simply can not justify following his teachings, or his theories.
  
  His theory on predestination is likened to modern systems of the
  Unconscious, or of physical predetermination, wherein all effects lie folded up, as it were, in one First Cause, and their development in time is necessitated. Effects are thus mere manifestations, not fresh acts, or in any way due to free will choosing its own course. Nature, grace, revelation, Heaven, and Hell do but show us different aspects of the eternal energy which works in all things. There is no free will outside the Supreme. Calvin denies freedom to creatures, fallen or unfallen, God does not compel man to act by brute force, yet he determines irresistibly all we do, whether good or evil. The Supreme is indeed self-conscious; it is by "decree" of the sovereign Lawgiver that events come to pass. But for such decrees no reason can be rendered. There is not any cause of the Divine will save Itself. If we ask why has the Almighty acted thus and thus, we are told, it is His good pleasure. Beyond this, an explanation would be impossible. From the human angle of sight, therefore God works as though without a reason. And here we come upon the primal mystery to which in his argument Calvin recurs again and again. This Supreme Will fixes an absolute order, physical, ethical, religious, never to be modified by anything we can attempt. For we cannot act upon God, else He would cease to be the First Cause. At no time did Calvin grant that Adam's transgression was due to his own free will. He does not believe that God permits evil deeds, but believes that God is their author. Calvin's theory is that God chose some to glory and others to shame everlasting as He willed, not upon foreknowledge how they would act.
  
  A genuine Calvinist ought to be a supralapsarian; in other terms, the Fall was decreed as means to an end; it did not first appear in God's sight to be the sufficient cause why, if He chose, He might select some from the "damned masses," leaving others to their decreed doom.
  
  This is not the God I know.  He has the foreknowledge of how we all will act, but He does not choose for people to be damned. One of Calvin's sermons that I read in college was of the idea of each person is on a string dangling from God over the fire, and God simply waiting for one mistake to happen, and then He would let go of the string. It was a horrible sermon. I unfortunately can not find it again, since I do not know the name of it.
  
  

  • 6:10 am
  • 1 Comment