Calvin Synod Herald, 1998 (98. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)

1998-11-01 / 6. szám

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD- 5 -Do You Know Your Faith?

By Rev. Steven Geczy

Pastor of First Hungarian Reformed Church Walton Hills, OH

(Reprinted from June 1998 Issue of the "Christian Observer)

In the teachings of our Christian faith perhaps no issue is as important or as potentially divisive as the doctrine of salvation, reflected in the debate between followers of John Calvin (1509- 1564) and those of Jacob Hermann (1560-1609), best known by the Latin form of his last name, Arminius.

Since the Protestant Reformation in the 16th Century, Christian churches and leaders have disagreed over such issues as depravity, God' sovereignty, human responsibility, election, predestination, eternal security and the nature and extent of the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Although trained in the reformed tradition, Arminius had serious doubts about the doctrine of "sovereign grace" as taught by the followers of John Calvin. He was a pastor of the Reformed congregation in Amsterdam (1588), but during his 15 years of ministry there he began to question many of the conclusions of Calvinism. He left the pastorate and became professor of theology at the University of Lyden. It was his series of lecture on election and predestination that led to a violent and tragic controversy.

After his death in 1609, his followers developed the Remonstrance of 1610 which outlined the "Five Points of Arminianism." This document was a protest against the doctrines of the Calvinists, and was submitted to the State of Holland.

In 1618, a National Synod of the Church was convened in Dort to examine the teachings of Arminius in the light of Scripture. After 154 sessions, lasting seven months, the Five Points of Arminianism were declared to be heretical. Following the synod, many of the disciples of Arminius, such as Hugo Grotius, were imprisoned or banished. When John Wesley took up some of the teachings of Arminianism, the movement began to grow, and it affected the Methodist tradition as well as the beliefs of most Pentecostal and Charismatic churches.

Let us examine the basics of Arminianism. The "Five Points of Arminianism" included the following:

Free Will: Arminius believed that the fall of man was not total, maintaining that there was enough good left in man for him to will to accept Jesus Christ unto salvation.

Conditional Election: Arminius believed that election was based on the foreknowledge of God as to who would believe. Man's "act of faith" was seen as the "condition" of his being elected to eternal life, since God foresaw him exercising his free will in response to Jesus Christ.

Universal Atonement: Arminius held that redemption was based on the fact that God loves everybody, that Christ died for everyone, and that the Father is not willing that any should perish. The death of Christ provided the grounds for God to save all men, but each must exercise his own "free will" in order to be saved.

Obstructable Grace: Arminius believed that since God wanted all men to be saved, He sent the Holy Spirit to "woo" all men to Christ, but since man has absolute "free will", he is able to resist God's will for his life. He believed that God's will to save all men can be frustrated by the finite will of man. He also taught that man exercises his own will first, and then is born again.

Falling From Grace: If man cannot be saved by God unless it is man's will to be saved, then man cannot continue in salvation unless he continues to will to be saved.

We in the Hungarian reformed Church are followers of Christ in the Reformed tradition, sometimes called Calvinism. Calvinism has been known for outstanding scholars, theologians, preachers, and reformers, men such as

AMERIKAI MAGYAR REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA

John Calvin first of all, then in Hungary Dévai, Szegedi-Kis, our greatest bishop László Ravasz, then Jenő Sebestyen; then some of the most outstanding English and Dutch names are: George Whitefield, William Wilberforce, Abraham Kuyper, Charles Hodge, B.B. Warfield, J. Gresham Machen, and Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Interestingly, John Calvin, the French Reformer, did not formulate what today we know as the Five Points of Calvinism. This came out of the Cannons of the Council of Dort (1618), and subsequent statements among the many Reformed Confessions have expanded upon these matters.

Those in the Reformed tradition who answered the teachings of Arminius chose the word TULIP as an acrostic to summarize their answer to the Five Point of Arminianism:

T -- Total Depravity - The Calvinists believed that man is in absolute bondage to sin and Satan, unable to exercise his own will to trust in Jesus Christ without the help of God.

U - Unconditional Election - The Calvinists believed that foreknowledge is based upon the plan and purpose of God, and that election is not based upon the decision of man, but the "free will" of the Creator alone.

L - Limited Atonement - The Calvinists believed that Jesus Christ died to save those who were given to Him by the Father in eternity past. In their view, all for whom Jesus died (the elect) will be saved, and all for whom He did not die (the non-elect) will be lost.

I - Irresistible Grace -The Calvinists believed that the Lord possesses irresistible grace that cannot be obstructed. They taught that the free will of man is so far removed from salvation, that the elect are regenerated (made spiritually alive) by God even before expressing faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. If a totally depraved person wasn't made alive by the Holy Spirit, such a calling on God would be impossible.

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