‘God casts His vote; Satan casts his, but you must cast the deciding ballot’? The touchstone question in the running debate between Jesus and the Pharisees, Paul and the Judaizers, Augustine and Pelagius, the Dominicans and the Franciscans, the Reformers and the medieval Roman Catholic church, and the Calvinists and Arminians is this: Who saves [...]
Five Points of Calvinism
We believe in the five great points commonly known as Calvinistic; but we do not regard these five points as being barbed shafts which we are to thrust between the ribs of our fellow-Christians. We look upon them as being five great lamps which help to irradiate the cross; or, rather, five bright emanations springing from the glorious covenant of our Triune God, and illustrating the great doctrines of Jesus crucified. ~ C.H. Spurgeon
Does the Doctrine of Election Mean that God Plays Favorites?
When discussing the issue of God’s sovereignty in the salvation of sinners, the topic of Unconditional Election will typically turn to a false notion of “fairness” that says God “doesn’t play favorites” or to put it biblically, that God is “no respecter of persons.” Having heard this numerous times from folks when talking about Calvinism, [...]
What is the Gospel? by Loraine Boettner
Edited by Stephen Pribble The Gospel is the good news about the great salvation purchased by Jesus Christ, by which He reconciled sinful men to a holy God. The purpose of this booklet is to set forth, in plain language and in terms easily understood, the basic differences between the Calvinistic (Reformed) and Arminian understanding [...]
Calvinism vs Arminianism – Comparison Chart
The following material from Romans: An Interpretative Outline (pp.144-147). by David N. Steele and Curtis C. Thomas, contrasts the Five Points of Arminianism with the Five Points of Calvinism in the clearest and most concise form that we have seen anywhere. It is also found in their smaller book, The Five Points of Calvinism (pp. [...]
The Five Points of Grace & of Predestination: Defined and Defended Against an Arminian Remonstrant by William Twisse
Consideration: When the Apostle saith that election is not of works, and proveth it by this: that before Esau and Jacob were born, &c., it was said of them the elder shall serve the younger; Let every sober Reader judge, whether it be not more agreeable to the Apostle, to profess, that election proceeds rather [...]
Calvinism: The Meaning and Uses of the Term by Benjamin B. Warfield
This essay originally appeared in The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, edited by Samuel Macauley Jackson, D.D., LL.D., ii. pp. 359-364 (Funk and Wagnalls Company, New York, 1908). This edition, however, was derived from volume five of The Works of Benjamin B. Warfield (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1991, pp. 353-366). The electronic [...]
What Is Calvinism? by Benjamin B. Warfield
It is very odd how difficult it seems for some persons to understand just what Calvinism is. And yet the matter itself presents no difficulty whatever. It is capable of being put into a single sentence; and that, on level to every religious man’s comprehension. For Calvinism is just religion in its purity. We have [...]
The Meaning of ‘KOSMOS’ in John 3:16 by Arthur W. Pink
It may appear to some of our readers that the exposition we have given of John 3:16 in the chapter on ‘Difficulties and Objections’ is a forced and unnatural one, inasmuch as our definition of the term ‘world’ seems to be out of harmony with the meaning and scope of this word in other passages, [...]
The Doctrines of Election and Final Perseverance – Excerpts from a letter by John Newton
…Permit me to remind you in the first place, of that important aphorism, John 3:27 (which by the by seems to speak strongly in favor of the doctrines in question) ‘ A man can receive nothing, unless it be given him from heaven.’ If you should accede to my opinions upon my persuasion only, you [...]
The Choice: Man’s or God’s? by Unknown
“According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will.” — Eph. 1:4, 11 One day several years ago, the surveyor was working on our street, checking the property lines of vacant [...]
The “World” of John 3:16 Does Not Mean “All Men Without Exception” by David J. Engelsma
It is now common among Reformed people that, when one confesses God’s election of some persons to salvation, God’s particular love for the elect, and God’s exclusive desire to save the elect, his confession is immediately contested by an appeal to John 3:16: ‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten [...]
Practical Implications of Calvinism by Albert Martin
The Experience of God B. B. Warfield describes Calvinism as ‘that sight of the majesty of God that pervades all of life and all of experience’. In particular as it relates to the doctrine of salvation its glad confession is summarized in those three pregnant words, God saves sinners. Now whenever we are confronted with [...]
Introduction to John Owen’s Death of Death by J. I. Packer
J. I. Packer’s introduction to a 1958 reprint of John Owen’s The Death of Death in the Death of Christ The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (Owen Works, X:139:148) is a polemical piece, designed to show among other things, that the doctrine of universal redemption is unscriptural and destructive of the gospel. [...]
God’s Sovereignty In Salvation by Steven Houck
PREFACE The apostle Paul exhorts us, ‘He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.’ (I Cor. 1:31). This is the fundamental duty of every man. We are to glory in God, not in ourselves. Man is prone by nature to boast of his power and ability, and of his works and will; but he [...]
God So Loved the World… by Homer C. Hoeksema
Preface John 3:16 is probably the most frequently misinterpreted and misused verse in all of Holy Scripture. I refer to the fact, of course, that so often it is explained as meaning that God loves all men and that he gave his Son for all men. Nothing could be farther from the truth! The sad [...]
Who was Arminius? by Robert Godfrey
President & Church History Professor of Westminster Theological Seminary James Arminius (Jacob Harmenszoon) is undoubtedly the most famous theologian ever produced by the Dutch Reformed Church. His fame is a great irony since the Dutch Reformed Church historically was a bastion of strict Calvinism and Arminius has given his name to a movement very much [...]
A Sketch of Calvinism by David P. Henreckson
Through the apostolic age… through the medieval age… through the Reformation… and through modernism there has stood one group of Christians who have always been a thorn and menace to the ruling rebels of this world. One group which, by the grace of God, has always been able to endure much tragedy and travail and [...]
A Defense of Calvinism by Charles H. Spurgeon
The old truth that Calvin preached, that Augustine preached, that Paul preached, is the truth that I must preach to-day, or else be false to my conscience and my God. I cannot shape the truth; I know of no such thing as paring off the rough edges of a doctrine. John Knox’s gospel is my [...]
The Five Points of Calvinism – Part 5 by R. L. Dabney
V. Perserverence of the Saints. Our Confession, in Chapter XVII., Sections i and ii., states this doctrine thus: ‘They whom God hath accepted in his beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be [...]
An Examination of the Five Points of Calvinism – Part VI: Footnotes by Brian Schwertley
FOOTNOTES: 1 The word Arminianism is used somewhat loosely today. What is commonly referred to as Arminianism today is more often semi-Pelagian. Most modern Arminians do not believe in total depravity but merely that man is spiritually sick. Man still has spiritual ability and thus will choose Christ if the right techniques are brought to [...]
An Examination of the Five Points of Calvinism – Part V: Perseverance of the Saints by Brian Schwertley
One of the doctrines of sovereign grace is the perseverance of the saints. This doctrine refers to the biblical teaching which says that those whom God loved before the foundation of the world and chose in Christ, who are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and truly believe in Jesus Christ as He is presented in [...]
The Five Points of Calvinism – Part 2 by R. L. Dabney
II. The Nature and Agency of the Moral Revolution, Named Effectual Calling or Regeneration. This change must be more than an outer reformation of conduct, an inward revolution of first principles which regulate conduct. It must go deeper than a change of purpose as to sin and godliness; it must be a reversal of the [...]
An Examination of the Five Points of Calvinism – Part IV: Irrestible Grace by Brian Schwertley
A doctrine crucial to understanding the biblical doctrine of salvation is efficacious grace. Efficacious grace means that men who are dead spiritually are regenerated and effectually called by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works immediately upon the soul infusing a new spiritual life into it, thus changing it in such a way that it [...]
The Five Points of Calvinism – Part 4 by R. L. Dabney
IV. Particular Redemption. ‘Did Christ die for the elect only, or for all men?’ The answer has been much prejudiced by ambiguous terms, such as particular atonement, limited atonement; or general atonement, unlimited atonement, indefinite atonement. What do they mean by atonement? The word (at-one-ment) is used but once in the New Testament (Rom. v. [...]
An Examination of the Five Points of Calvinism – Part III: Limited Atonement by Brian Schwertley
A doctrinal issue which is crucial to our understanding of God’s nature (i.e., His sovereignty) and the gospel is the extent of Christ’s atoning death on the cross.55 There are three different views current among professing Christians today: universalism, inconsistent universalism, and particularism. Universalists believe that Christ died for every individual (without exception) who ever [...]
