WHAT'S WRONG WITH
FIVE-POINT CALVINISM?
By PAUL L. FREEMAN
There is a system of teaching abroad today which is
infecting our
It appears that the proponents of Neo-Evangelicalism, with
their criticism of Fundamentalists with their supposed "lack of
scholarship toward the Word of God", have had a great influence. As this system of false doctrines spreads into
the last strongholds of Biblical Christianity, there is a silence when there
should be a resounding reply from the Word of God by Pastors and Teachers. The intellectualism of this system of teaching
seems to have cast a spell over our leaders and the will to resist is stifled
for fear of saying something non-intellectual. In that which follows I urge you to compare
the Five-Points of Calvinism with the Word of God and ask the Holy Spirit to
guide you into all truth.
Concerning the Five-Points of Calvinism, Loraine Boettner
has stated on page 59 of his book, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination,
"Prove any one of them true and all the others will follow as logical and
necessary parts of the system. Prove any
one of them false and the whole system must be abandoned". Since Mr. Boettner is considered an authority
on the subject I would encourage you to follow his advice and abandon the
system when you find one of the Five Points to be wrong. The Five-Points of Calvinism are as
follows:
1. TOTAL INABILITY
2. UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
3. LIMITED ATONEMENT
4. IRRESISTIBLE GRACE
5. PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
It is not the purpose of this paper to present an
exhaustive study of these points and to examine the Scriptures used by
Calvinists to prove their system of teaching. Rather, this study is set forth for the
Christian believer who wants to know, very simply stated, what these Five
Points are and whether they are in agreement with all the Scriptures.
TOTAL INABILITY
The teaching of
Five-Point Calvinism is that man is totally unable to do anything to obtain
salvation. They state very emphatically
that he cannot repent or believe the Gospel. Their teaching is that man cannot believe
until he is born-again. This new birth
is brought about by God who chooses certain individuals and regenerates them. Those whom He regenerates are then capable of
believing by virtue of their new birth. Man
does not have a free will by which he is able to come to Christ for
salvation.
Concerning the statement that man cannot repent we find
the word of God stating the exact opposite. In Acts 17:30
we find that God commands all men everywhere to repent, and that having so
commanded, He expects they can and will.
“Therefore having
overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all
everywhere should repent,”
In II Peter 3:9 we
find that God is not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
“The Lord is not slow
about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not
wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
If they should come, then they can come. God does not mock men by asking them to do
what they cannot do.
In Acts
11:18 we are told that
God hath granted to the Gentiles
repentance unto life. Notice that
the repentance comes first and it results in life.
“And when they heard
this, they quieted down, and glorified God, saying, "Well then, God has
granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.”
Concerning the statement that man cannot believe the
Gospel, and that man cannot believe until he is born-again, let the following
Scriptures be studied:
John 1:12; “But as many as received
Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who
believe in His name,”
John
3:15-16; “that whoever believes may
in Him have eternal life. For God so
loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:36; “He who believes in the Son
has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abides on him.”
John 5:24; “Truly, truly, I say to
you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and
does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”
John 6:40; “For this is the will of My
Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal
life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
John 7:39; “But this He spoke of the
Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not
yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
John
12:36; “While you have the light, believe in the
light, in order that you may become sons of light.”
John
20:31; “but these have been written that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may
have life in His name.”
These
Scriptures all show that spiritual life follows
upon the sinner's believing in Jesus Christ. The Apostle John gave as his reason for
writing his gospel, "that ye might
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: and that believing ye might
have life through His name".
It is very clear that believing comes first and the new
birth follows. The verses that I have
cited from the Gospel
of John by no means
exhaust the Scriptures which prove life through believing. If you will take Strong's Concordance
and study the words "believe, believed, and believeth", you will find
much more.
A notable example is Acts 16:3 where Paul said, "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved". The
Calvinist would twist it to read, "when thou art saved by the Lord Jesus
Christ thou shalt believe". What
utter disregard for the plain teaching of the Word of God.
Concerning the statement that man does not have a free
will by which he is able to come to Christ, please note what Jesus said in John 7:17.
“If any man
is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God,
or whether I speak from Myself.”
Here He said that a man may will to do God's will. Again in John 5:40 Jesus rebuked the Jews.
“and you are unwilling to
come to Me, that you may have life.”
It was not that they could not come, but that they would
not come. In Revelation 22:17 the Word of God declares:
“And the Spirit and the
bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come."
And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of
life without cost.”
Here God makes a real offer of the water of life to "ONE
WHO WISHES".
Beloved, God has been pleased by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe (1 Corinthians 1:21).
“For since in the wisdom
of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was
well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who
believe.”
Salvation is by believing, and if we tell the lost man
that he cannot believe, we shut the gates of heaven against him and find
ourselves in the hideous company of him who "has
blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the
gospel of the glory of Christ" (II Corinthians 4:4b).
UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION
The teaching of Five Point Calvinism is that God has
determined and decreed that some are to be saved without any conditions to be
met on their part. This is called
Unconditional Election and is the choosing of some to salvation in Christ,
while at the same time leaving the rest in their lost condition by not choosing
them. This election is not based on
God's foreknowing that certain would believe, but is based on His sovereign
will to elect certain ones. Those who
are not chosen to be part of the Elect of God can in no way enter into that
company. In line with this teaching the
statement is made that God does not love all men, but only those whom he has
chosen to be saved.
The Scriptures are very plain that God has His Elect ones
who by faith in Jesus Christ are predestined to be conformed to the image of
His Son (Romans 8:29).
“And we know that God
causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who
are called according to His purpose.”
They are adopted by God and chosen in Christ before the
foundation of the world (Ephesians
1:4, 5).
“just as He chose us in Him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In
love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself,
according to the kind intention of His will,”
This election is plainly declared to be based on the
foreknowledge of God (I
Peter 1:2 …
“according to
the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit,
that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and
peace be yours in fullest measure.”
… and Romans 8:29).
“For whom He foreknew, He
also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the first-born among many brethren;”
Since God knows the end from the beginning He foreknows
those who will believe in Christ. He has
purposed that they will be to the praise of His glory throughout the ages and
through them He will show the exceeding riches of His grace (Ephesians 2:7).
“in order that in the
ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus.”
The Scriptures are also very plain in stating that
"whoever" may come to Christ. Please
read the following Scriptures:
John
3:15, 16; “that whoever believes may
in Him have eternal life. For God so
loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 4:14; “but whoever drinks of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give
him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
John 12:46; “I have come as light into
the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness.”
Acts 2:21; “And it shall be, that everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Romans 10:13; “for
"Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved."
Revelation 22:17; “And the
Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say,
"Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes
take the water of life without cost.”
The word "whosoever" means ‘all’, ‘any’, ‘every’,
and ‘whole’. Since we believe in the
verbal, plenary inspiration of the Word of God, we are forced to believe that
when God moves the Scripture writers to say "whosoever", then that is
exactly what He means. That there is a
condition to be met in order for one to be saved is proved by our Lord's words
in John 8:24;
“I said
therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that
I am He, you shall die in your sins."
Other Scriptures have already been quoted under Total
Inability to bear out the conditional requirement of believing in order to have
salvation.
That God loves all men in this world and sent His Son to
die for them is abundantly clear from John 3:16.
“For God so loved the
world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish, but have eternal life.”
The Five-Point Calvinist changes the meaning of the word
"world" here and adds to
the Word of God by placing immediately behind it two words, "the
elect". The verse then appears this
way, "For God so loved the world (the elect) that He gave His only
begotten Son, etc." I have seen
this verse written in this way in gospel tracts. The word "world" is used 77 times in
the Gospel of John. I would encourage you to take Strong's
Concordance and look up each occurrence, then insert the words "the
elect" behind each usage of it. You
do not have to go far before you see how ridiculous it is.
You
see, if God does not love all men then we should not love them either. Since our Christian character comes from the
indwelling of our Lord, we cannot show forth an attribute that is superior to
His. Yet strangely enough, the Word of
God says we are to love our enemies, our wives, our husbands, and our children.
If we must love lost sinners, and our Lord is holier than we are, we must
believe that He loves them too. I'll
believe John 3:16 as it stands unaltered by the followers
of John Calvin.
LIMITED ATONEMENT
The
Five-Point Calvinist states that, Christ died on the cross for the sins of the
Elect. To say that He died for the sins
of the Non-Elect is not reasonable. Since,
according to their system, God has chosen some to be saved and chosen
the rest to be lost, He cannot require the death of Christ for those He does
not plan to save anyhow. Therefore the
Atonement of Christ is limited to the Elect only.
If
you have accepted Total Inability and Unconditional Election it is necessary to
limit the scope of Christ's death on
In 1 John 2:2 it is said that His death was a “propitiation” (satisfaction) not only
for our sins but for the sins of "the
whole world".
“and
He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also
for those of the whole world.”
In Hebrews 2:9 it says that Christ tasted death for "everyone".
“But we do see Him who has been made
for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the
suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God He
might taste death for everyone.”
I
Timothy 2:6 says that
He gave himself a ransom for "all".
“who gave Himself as a ransom for all,
the testimony borne at the proper time.”
John
the Baptist declared in John
1:29 that Jesus was
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the "world".
“The next day he saw Jesus coming to
him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world!”
In Isaiah 53:6 the Word of God states that "all" have gone astray (I
would assume that refers to all men in the world) and that the Lord laid on
Jesus the iniquity of us "all".
“All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of
us all to fall on Him.”
Since
the gospel is for "whoever"
and it consists of the good news that Christ died for sinners, I must believe
that the Atonement of Christ is not limited.
Not only is the Atonement of Christ unlimited and offered
to all men, but the Holy Spirit is presently working to convict the world (all
men) of one sin. That sin is that Christ
paid the penalty for their sins, but they do not believe on him (John 16:8, 9).
“And He, when He comes, will convict
the world concerning sin, and righteousness, and judgment; concerning sin,
because they do not believe in Me;”
God is not willing that any should perish (II Peter 3:9) …
“The Lord is not slow
about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not
wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
… and it is said that He will have all men to be saved, (1 Timothy 2:4).
“who desires all men to
be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
In Scripture we find the Father giving the Son to the
world, the Son tasting death for every man, and the Holy Spirit convicting the
world. Since God's work must be our
work, we should part company with Five-Point Calvinism right here. The Bible knows nothing of a limited Atonement
that comes from the vain intellectual reasoning of men.
IRRESISTIBLE GRACE
Calvinists teach that all those whom God has chosen to be
saved will be unable to resist the call of God. Since He has predetermined them
to be saved, He effectually calls and regenerates them without any condition to
be met on their part.
The Word of God teaches that the Grace of God that
bringeth salvation has appeared to “all
men” (Titus 2:11).
“For the grace of God has
appeared, bringing salvation to all men,”
Since God has provided salvation for all men, and yet all
do not come; that is proof enough that men do resist the Grace of God. The Bible gives clear instances of men
resisting the Grace of God.
Jesus stood over
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,
who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children
together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were
unwilling.”
When Stephen preached to the Jews he said that regarding
their attitude toward God's Word they were stiff-necked and that they were
resisting the Holy Spirit Who was calling them (Acts 7:51).
“You men who are
stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy
Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.”
The writer of Hebrews, when describing those who draw back
unto perdition (Hebrews
10:39) …
“But we are not of those
who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving
of the soul.”
… said that though they were sanctified by the blood of
Christ, yet they had done despite unto the Spirit of Grace (Hebrews 10:28, 29).
“Anyone who has set aside the Law of
Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he
will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as
unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted
the Spirit of grace?”
Here it is plain that the blood of Christ was available to
them for salvation, but was refused. That
the Spirit of God strives with sinners to bring them to repentance and faith is
stated in Genesis 6:3.
“Then the Lord said,
"My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh;
nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”
This verse also states that God will one day give man up
when His grace is continually resisted.
PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
The last point in the Calvinistic system of teaching is
that those whom God has chosen to be saved will persevere to the end and will
not finally and fully depart from the faith. The one who is truly born-again is eternally
secure in Christ and is never in danger of losing his salvation.
Most Fundamentalists would find little to disagree with in
this statement, except to qualify the way God chooses men to be saved by
stating that His Election is according to His foreknowledge. The eternal security of the believer is a
fundamental doctrine of Scripture. However
the false teaching set forth under the first four points of Calvinism bear
their inevitable fruit here. There is a
subtle exclusion here, which is not seen in the stated position, but which
eventually shows up in practice. In
churches where these doctrines are taught there are the following effects on
those who come into the assembly:
1.
The man who is under the conviction of the Spirit and on the threshold of
believing in Christ is soon hearing that he cannot, of himself, believe and
unless God has chosen him to salvation there is nothing he can do.
2.
The one who has been born-again, but is still a babe in Christ, is often
expected to exhibit a spiritual life more advanced than his growth to date.
Because the fruit is slow in coming he begins to doubt whether he is truly
born-again. Thus, one who is a child of
God begins to doubt that he is a true believer and sits at home in absolute
frustration, convinced that God has not chosen him.
3. Those that are saved and living a spiritual life begin
to develop an intellectual superiority over those who cannot see the glorious
truths revealed by John Calvin. Since
they are the Elect of God and the unsaved are the Non-Elect whom God does not
love, they begin to display a self righteous attitude toward those lost in sin.
The attitude of the Jews toward the
Gentiles, whom they referred to as "dogs", begins to come into the
life of the Calvinist. It is the
attitude displayed by John Calvin when he desired the death penalty to be
pronounced upon Servetus. John Calvin
handled the theological part of the trial of Servetus, who was subsequently
burned at the stake for blasphemy.
The usage of the phrase "Perseverance of the
Saints" gives the impression that the saints are doing something to keep
themselves secure in their salvation. A
more Scriptural phrase would seem to be "The Preservation of the
Saints".
I Thessalonians 5:23; “Now may the
God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and
body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.”
Jude 1; “Jude, a bond-servant of
Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are the called, beloved in God
the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:”
Beloved, inquire of your Bible teacher regarding
Calvinism. Do not be satisfied with a
"purposely evasive" answer. The
man who holds these teachings usually will not be a soul-winner or be mission
minded. If your church has no outreach
for the lost it may well be that Five-Point Calvinism has already done its
deadly work.
We, at
If you have questions or comments, or you would like any other information
concerning this or any other Bible studies we have available, please contact us
using the information below.
www.gnbcbible.com
PAUL FREEMAN
EVANGELIST AND BIBLE TEACHER
Phone: 215-266.9716 or 264-2092
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