While I like, and respect, most of the Calvinists I’ve been privileged to get to know in various ways, I have profound disagreements and very serious reservations with Calvinism. I hope that is a distinction not lost on anyone. I regard Calvinism not as part of the church’s reformation, but as actually contributing toward its deformation. And here is why I believe this. This is a collection of several blog posts.
I don’t know about you, but nothing says to me, “Christmas is near”
more uniquely than the stories that appear in local papers this time of
year about people having their Jesus stolen from their yard manger scenes.
But it set me to thinking. I have to review a lot of Christian books
and other products. I read a lot about them. It’s kind of an
occupational hazard, I guess you could say. Well, it never ceases to
amaze me how often I come away from reviewing a book from a Christian
publisher, be it for adults or children, with the question, “Where’s
Jesus?” Oh, yes, there may be a lot of talk about God and about the
Christian life and all manner of issues, but….where is Jesus? Where
is the actual Gospel? You know the “I delivered to you what I received
as of first importance…the cross, the resurrection, forgiveness of
sins” You know…the Gospel. Where is the Gospel?
And lately I’ve been noticing this as a frequent characteristic of
Calvinist blog sites and theological discussions. Here’s an example of
it from a self-described Calvinist gadfly I’ve come to know. Alan
writes about himself and then concludes…
I am a sinner saved by God’s grace alone. He didn’t save me by
trying somehow to “woo” me by whispering in my ear hoping that I would
cooperate. He saved me when I was spitting in his face. God took my
creaturely rebel heart and sovereignly penetrated my will and performed
the miracle of regeneration by raising me up to spiritual life. It was,
and is, amazing grace. Cheers, Alan
Compare what our friend Alan has to say to how St. Paul talks in
Gal. 2:21. I trust you will notice a striking difference. I’m not
saying we have to mention Jesus with every other word, but….please
let me hear about Jesus, not just about the sovereign will of God. The
lofty grandeur of the God high in the heavens is a wonder indeed. But
that does me no good. No, talk to me of God who lies in the manger, for
me, as a baby. Let me hear more about God who lived perfectly in my
place, who walked this earth, in the same flesh and blood I have. Speak
to me of God who fed the crowds, healed the sick, raised the dead and
calmed the storms. Put my eyes on Jesus, God in the flesh, who took my
sins on his shoulders, who suffered and bled for me, as the
all-sufficient atoning sacrifice for my sins, and the sins of the whole
world. That’s the God I want to hear about more. You see, God has come
down in the flesh and now to all eternity, He is the only way I know
the Father, no other way. I can ponder the “sovereign will” of the
grand Creator, but I prefer to ponder God in the face of Jesus Christ,
who is, my Lord and my God. Let me hear of Jesus.He is the One who
shows us the Father. Please put Jesus back where He belongs.
In the process of trying to get to the bottom of
Calvinism, I’ve learned that Calvinism is somewhat hard to define, but
there does seem to be fairly universal consensus that the Canons of Dordt are the most commonly held principles of Calvinism…but….then you talk to other Calvinists who point you more toward the Westminster Confession. And then you have the Belgic Confession, and various other attending documents
that go along with Westminster Confession which are apparently of some
authority in various Calvinist churches. Of course, one could try to
fathom a rather complex chart explaining Calvinism’s view of how a person is saved.
I just feel sometimes that I’m trying to pick up
jello with my hands, or herd cats when I try to pin down precisely what
is the Calvinist confession of faith. I wish Calvinists could, like we
Lutherans, point to a single book and say, “Here is our definitive and
authoritative and normative confession of faith.” I appreciate the fact
that Lutheranism, though jello-like in its own unique ways, at least
brings to the table a single book, called The Book of Concord.
No, I’m not saying all Lutherans actually adhere to the Lutheran
Confessions, just as I would not suggest that the Presbyterian Church
USA is a paragon of Calvinist confession. We have our liberals.
Calvinists have their’s. I’m not concerned about either right now.
In my opinion, based on my observation and reading of
Calvinist materials now for many years, and most recently of course my
exchanges with several ardent Calvinists, I am all the more firmly
convinced that Calvinism simply does not put Jesus at the absolute
center of their “system.”
Am I suggesting that Calvinists don’t believe in
Jesus? No. That they don’t love Jesus? No. I’m simply saying that in
the Calvinist system of theology the “warm beating heart” is not to be
found, first and foremost, in Christ Jesus and the love and mercy of
the Gospel, the good news of forgiveness and new life and hope in Him.
For Calvinists it is my opinion that what “centers” them is not the
Gospel, so much as God’s eternal sovereign decrees. Am I saying God is
not sovereign? No. Am I saying God does not act sovereignly toward His
creation? No.
The concern I have with Calvinism is that the fuel
driving is train is not the dynamite of the Gospel of Jesus, the love
of God, the kindness shown by God to us in Christ, but….in God’s
essence and glory, which Calvinists see most clearly in His
“sovereignty” but not actually in His grace, love and mercy in Christ.
Of course, they protest this assertion. They say, “But that’s what we
mean when we talk about sovereignty.” Well, I say, “Then let’s hear
more about Jesus and the Gospel and God’s life-giving love and kindness
and mercy in Christ.”
I believe that the New Testament clearly indicates
that we can not, and must not, look any farther than Jesus Christ when
we talk about God. All talk of God that drifts free of Christ and Him
crucified leads in a wrong direction. Jesus Christ is the only way we
know God as He wants to be known. We are not to try to peer past, or
around, or above Jesus and try to look into the hidden counsels of God.
And his is precisely where I think Calvinism as a system is highly
problematic.
Is referring to Calvinism as a system unfair? I’m sure it could be so
in some senses, but, as one Calvinist web site puts it succinctly:
Calvinism is the name applied to the system of thought which has come
down to us from John Calvin. He is recognized as the chief exponent of
that system, although he is not the originator of the ideas set forth
in it. The theological views of Calvin, together with those of the
other great leaders of the Protestant Reformation, are known to be a
revival of Augustinianism, which in its turn was only a revival of the
teachings of St. Paul centuries previous. But it was Calvin who, for
modern times, first gave the presentation of these views in systematic
form and with the specific application which since his day has become
known to us as Calvinism.
It
is this “system” that has me worried for my Calvinist brethren, for it
seems to me that this “system” is quite a bit more concerned first with
an articulation of the eternal decrees and hidden counsels of God than
with putting Christ Jesus at the heart and center. Please let me
explain.
Calvinism concerns itself first with God’s glory and
making sure God gets what God deserves: glory. A noble goal! But, is
this truly the New Testament presentation of what is at the heart of
Christianity? It would, to me, seem to be working things from the wrong
direction. We are not given, first, to know and contemplate God in
Himself, but rather as He has chosen finally to reveal Himself to us,
and that He has done through His Son, Jesus Christ. This is not a
“system” this is a Person, the God-Man, Christ Jesus our Lord.
Beginning with God’s glory is stepping off on the wrong foot.
Consider this explanation of Calvinism’s “beating heart”
The
central thought of Calvinism is, therefore, the great thought of
God. Someone has remarked: Just as the Methodist places in the
foreground the idea of the salvation of sinners, the Baptist the
mystery of regeneration, the Lutheran justification by faith, the
Moravian the wounds of Christ, the Greek Catholic the mysticism of
the Holy Spirit, and the Romanist the catholicity of the church, so
the Calvinist is always placing in the foreground the thought of God.
The Calvinist does not start out with some interest of man; for
example, his conversion or his justification, but has as his informing
thought always: How will God come to His rights! He seeks to realize as
his ruling concept in life the truth of Scripture: Of Him , and
through Him, and to Him are all things. To whom be glory forever.
Here’s an example of what concerns me, from a self-described Calvinist gadfly I’ve come to know. Alan
is an earnest and sincere Christian young man who writes this about himself:
I am a sinner saved by God’s grace alone. He didn’t save me by
trying somehow to “woo” me by whispering in my ear hoping that I would
cooperate. He saved me when I was spitting in his face. God took my
creaturely rebel heart and sovereignly penetrated my will and performed
the miracle of regeneration by raising me up to spiritual life. It was,
and is, amazing grace.
Compare what our Calvinist friend Alan has to say to how St. Paul talks in
Gal. 2:20.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
I trust you will notice a striking difference. I’m not
saying we have to mention Jesus with every other word, but….please
let me hear about Jesus, not just about the sovereign will of God. The
lofty grandeur of the God high in the heavens is a wonder indeed. But
that does me no good. No, talk to me of God who lies in the manger, for
me, as a baby. Let me hear more about God who lived perfectly in my
place, who walked this earth, in the same flesh and blood I have. Speak
to me of God who fed the crowds, healed the sick, raised the dead and
calmed the storms. Put my eyes on Jesus, God in the flesh, who took my
sins on his shoulders, who suffered and bled for me, as the
all-sufficient atoning sacrifice for my sins, and the sins of the whole
world. That’s the God I want to hear about more. You see, God has come
down in the flesh and now to all eternity, He is the only way I know
the Father, no other way. I can ponder the “sovereign will” of the
grand Creator, but I prefer to ponder God in the face of Jesus Christ,
who is, my Lord and my God. Let me hear of Jesus. He is the One who
shows us the Father. Please put Jesus back where He belongs.
The quotations in this post are from an essay based on the book The Basic Ideas of Calvinism, Chapter I, pp. 29-40 (Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1939).
It has come clear to me that for Calvinism, starting from the
premise that the chief characteristic of God is his “Sovereignty,” it
makes perfect sense that the Sovereign God would lay down hard and fast
rules and laws for all eternity but then turn right around and order
his people to break them by putting, for example images in the house
constructed for His worship. After all, in their system, this same God
is the one who, despite telling everyone through His Son that He loves
the whole world and that the atoning sacrifice of His Son was for the
sins of the whole world, turns right around and decides to create some
people just so He can send them off to roast in Hell, while others, He
determines to be in Heaven. You don’t really need the atoning sacrifice
of Christ in this system. You see the Sovereign God simply is
Sovereign. That settles it. I’m not really sure what point there was
for Him to send His Son anyway, but I guess that too is just to be
chalked up to the Sovereign God.
And this Sovereign God is also so remote and “other” from His
creation, that we can not possibly suggest that this infinite God is
capable of associating Himself with the finite. In fact, it is an
affront to this Sovereign Other in Calvinistic thinking to suggest that
the actual humanity of a human being is so closely united to Divinity
that He is now truly, actually present in, with and under bread and
wine of the Holy Supper, even as he was in, with and under the assumed
humanity from the God-bearer, the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin.
Jesus is God, in the flesh, in the womb of the Virgin Mother. Christ,
is God, in the flesh, on the cross, crucified, died and buried, risen
again for our salvation.
And so it then is necessary for Calvinists to speak of a “spiritual
presence” of Christ, but in such a way as to avoid at all costs
actually regarding him as truly present where He promised to locate
Himself: under bread and wine, with His actual body and blood, given
from the hand of the pastor, into the mouth of the communicant. His
Glory dwelt between the Seraphim, but it seems for Calvinism, that
can’t be truly said of the Man Jesus Christ, now and into all eternity
as our Ascended Lord and King.
All this has come very clear to me and frankly the way my Calvinist
friends over at Dave and Tim’s place are handling images, is perfectly,
rationally consistent with their theology. Rather than starting in the
Mercy and Grace of God, made flesh in Christ Jesus, Calvinism proceeds
first from speculations about the Sovereign Lord and then works itself
out from there.
In this Advent season, I rejoice in God my Savior, who has blessed
us all through the humble Virgin Mother of God, through whom He took on
human flesh and blood and now, and for all eternity, is united with our
humanity in such a way that truly we look at the man Jesus and say, “My
Lord and My God” and receive the body and blood of this God-Man as the
atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, into our mouths, for
the blessing of both body and soul.
But I find myself concerned when I survey Lutheranism. How many
Lutherans in this country believe that the best way best to reach out
to people is by using methods and techniques that embody and rely on
essential characteristics of Evangelicalism, Non-Denominationalism,
Pentecostalism and the like.
These revialistic measures are reactions to Calvinism! They are not
compatible with Lutheranism. When there is such a rich, warm, glowing
treasure of truth at the hearth on which the fire of Biblical
Lutheranism blazes, why do we feel such a need to run outside and pick
up a few Calvinistic Reformed/Evangelical or Revivalistic sticks to rub
together for light? Do we not realize that American Evangelicalism and
Revivalism is the natural reaction to Calvinism’s dreary
double-predestination and lack of certainty about the presence of
Christ in His Word and Sacraments, its distortion and confusion of Law
and Gospel, its emphasis on the Sovereignty of God at the expense of
the mercy and love of God in Christ?
When a theological tradition holds out the message that there is
finally no way to know if one is saved, or damned, other than to throw
oneself into the arms of a Sovereign God’s whims, is it any wonder that
the response to this will be emotionalism and revivalism, trying
desperately to work up in the human psyche some assurance of salvation?
When Calvinism holds out empty sacraments that are mere legal
requirements to be obeyed, rather than actual saving actions of a
merciful, loving Christ, present among His people as He has promised to
be, is it any wonder people run from such “Sacraments” and the
“Sovereign God” and throw themselves down at the feet of false prophets
like Joel Osteen and other wolves in sheep’s clothing like him? ?But
why would we Lutherans want to mimic sterile worship spaces, and
revialistic practices? Why would we want to have among us practices and
techniques that mirror revivalism and emotionalism and then expect
anyone to bother much with what Lutheranism is all about? This has
given me much to think about indeed.
Let this point be clear and may God grant it for Jesus sake . . .
The differences between Lutheranism and Calvinism, and all those
churches that are spiritual heirs of Zwingli and Calvin, or reactions
against it: Reformed, Presbyterian, Episcopalianism, Methodism,
Baptist, Pentecostal, Non-Denominational, and all the rest – these
differences are every bit as harmful, serious and threatening to the
truth of God’s Word as the differences between Lutheranism and Roman
Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. One person I know suggested that
Roman Catholicism added to God’s Word while the Reformed removed things
from it. Simply affirming an inerrant Bible is no reason to assume that
the theological differences are either relatively minor or of no great
consequence. Affirming an inerrant Bible, which I do, is no guarantee
of fidelity to what the Inerrant Word of God teaches.
Am I with these remarks suggesting that Lutherans are perfect
people? No, quite the opposite. We are poor, miserable sinners who
deserving nothing but God’s temporal and eternal punishment. We daily
sin much and deserve nothing but His wrath and condemnation. We flee
for mercy to our Lord Jesus Christ, seeking and imploring God’s mercy
for His sake. Lutheranism has many failings and faults and
imperfections. Some of my Lutheran friends find these so disturbing
that they think the “escape hatch” is to be found in Eastern Orthodoxy.
But they are just deceiving themselves with the allure of grass that
seems greener on the other side of the ecclesiastical fence.
This blog discussion and debate over images and commandments has
really helped me realize what a stark contrast there is between
Biblical Christianity, and Calvinism and all derivations, or reactions,
to it. To whatever extent Calvinism does teach and cling to the
revealed Gospel in Sacred Scripture, I thank God, but to the extent
that it does not, I, with Luther must say, “They have a different
spirit. They can expect no fellowship from me.” And by this, I mean formal church fellowship, not the fellowship of friendship, but the fellowship of communion in holy things at altar and pulpit.
Calvinism represents not Reformation, but deformation. And I want Reformation.