What is calvinism?

However, I find Johnathan Edwards much closer to Calvin on the will. After having spent some quality time immersed in his work recently, I've found:

Edwards revisited the will. First, he defined the will. Prior to him, it had been defined as that thing in us that makes choices. Edwards refined the definition to be "that by which the mind chooses anything." Here he moved back to Calvin's idea.

What we choose is determined by the mind. We choose what we think is the best, most desirable course of action.

Edwards talked about the role of motives. He wanted to try to address the "Why do we choose x over y?" Question. Basically, he said we choose according to our desires. Therefore, all our choices are moral choices. We have moral agency in our choices, so we can be held responsible for them, even if we never choose Christ. This moral agency's expression is why each of us is condemned for our individual sins as well as a product of the fall itself.

The will itself is therefore, free. The mind is free to choose what it thinks best.

The will is always free to choose God. However, Edwards says the mind doesn't want to in and of itself. The sinner, by himself, never has purely pure thought a purely pure desire for God. He may do good things for their own sake. However, given the choice to do have the benefits of being with God, like the good results of acts of civil virtue, vs. God Himself, eg. God alone as a Person, the sinner will choose the benefits of doing acts of civil virtue. The will is free, but it is only as free as the mind is free. The mind, Edwards says is what is bound. It is bound to the desires, the passions, the emotions, the feelings, etc. It might be persuaded intellectually, but the desires won't conform to the intellect and the will won't follow because all of us are, according to Scripture:

dead in sin, slaves to wickedness, sons of Satan, objects of God's wrath, have nothing innately righteous in us that is capable of meriting God's favor, does not understand, worthless, and mastered by the things that overcome us (in this case sin and death). Therefore, while the will is free, the mind is ultimately bound by the desires left to its own devices, most especially with respect to spiritual things, especially exercising salvific faith and truly repenting of sin and being saved.

Modern Calvinists tend to favor Calvin proper or Edwards in their articulation of their view of the will.

 

Hi Paul 33;

I have to admit that this is the first time I ever heard that faith is done to us. Could you back that up with scripture please?

You see my Bible says;
Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We acquire faith by the hearing of God's word. In order to have it we must listen to the word.It is not something done to us that's ridiculous and is not scriptural at all. If you disagree then prove your point with scripture.
May God Bless You;
Mike

 

From the canon of dort:

Article 12: Regeneration a Supernatural Work

And this is the regeneration, the new creation, the raising from the dead, and the making alive so clearly proclaimed in the Scriptures, which God works in us without our help. But this certainly does not happen only by outward teaching, by moral persuasion, or by such a way of working that, after God has done his work, it remains in man's power whether or not to be reborn or converted. Rather, it is an entirely supernatural work, one that is at the same time most powerful and most pleasing, a marvelous, hidden, and inexpressible work, which is not lesser than or inferior in power to that of creation or of raising the dead, as Scripture (inspired by the author of this work) teaches. As a result, all those in whose hearts God works in this marvelous way are certainly, unfailingly, and effectively reborn and do actually believe. And then the will, now renewed, is not only activated and motivated by God but in being activated by God is also itself active. For this reason, man himself, by that grace which he has received, is also rightly said to believe and to repent.

Article 13: The Incomprehensible Way of Regeneration

In this life believers cannot fully understand the way this work occurs; meanwhile, they rest content with knowing and experiencing that by this grace of God they do believe with the heart and love their Savior.

Article 14: The Way God Gives Faith

In this way, therefore, faith is a gift of God, not in the sense that it is offered by God for man to choose, but that it is in actual fact bestowed on man, breathed and infused into him. Nor is it a gift in the sense that God bestows only the potential to believe, but then awaits assent--the act of believing--from man's choice; rather, it is a gift in the sense that he who works both willing and acting and, indeed, works all things in all people produces in man both the will to believe and the belief itself.

Objections answered:

VI

Who teach that in the true conversion of man new qualities, dispositions, or gifts cannot be infused or poured into his will by God, and indeed that the faith [or believing] by which we first come to conversion and from which we receive the name "believers" is not a quality or gift infused by God, but only an act of man, and that it cannot be called a gift except in respect to the power of attaining faith.

For these views contradict the Holy Scriptures, which testify that God does infuse or pour into our hearts the new qualities of faith, obedience, and the experiencing of his love: I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts (Jer. 31:33); I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring (Isa. 44:3); The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (Rom. 5:5). They also conflict with the continuous practice of the Church, which prays with the prophet: Convert me, Lord, and I shall be converted (Jer. 31:18).

VII

Who teach that the grace by which we are converted to God is nothing but a gentle persuasion, or(as others explain it) that the way of God's acting in man's conversion that is most noble and suited to human nature is that which happens by persuasion, and that nothing prevents this grace of moral suasion even by itself from making natural men spiritual; indeed, that God does not produce the assent of the will except in this manner of moral suasion, and that the effectiveness of God's work by which it surpasses the work of Satan consists in the fact that God promises eternal benefits while Satan promises temporal ones.

For this teaching is entirely Pelagian and contrary to the whole of Scripture, which recognizes besides this persuasion also another, far more effective and divine way in which the Holy Spirit acts in man's conversion. As Ezekiel 36:26 puts it: I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; and I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh....

VIII

Who teach that God in regenerating man does not bring to bear that power of his omnipotence whereby he may powerfully and unfailingly bend man's will to faith and conversion, but that even when God has accomplished all the works of grace which he uses for man's conversion, man nevertheless can, and in actual fact often does, so resist God and the Spirit in their intent and will to regenerate him, that man completely thwarts his own rebirth; and, indeed, that it remains in his own power whether or not to be reborn.

For this does away with all effective functioning of God's grace in our conversion and subjects the activity of Almighty God to the will of man; it is contrary to the apostles, who teach that we believe by virtue of the effective working of God's mighty strength (Eph. 1:19), and that God fulfills the undeserved good will of his kindness and the work of faith in us with power (2 Thess. 1:11), and likewise that his divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3).

 

I think the question your asking is,
What is the source of faith?

Whether faith is a fully persauded mind or an act of the will, the question still remains, What causes me to have faith, God or myself?

Some hear the Word and never believe. Others hear the Word and believe. Why? They have faith.

Where did this faith come from? Eph. 2:8-9.
If it is not from us, it must be from God! God gives faith, therefore, faith must be something that God does to us or for us! PTL!

 

I think this is where we might be able to clarify some on what we believe about faith for our Armininian brothers.

Calvinists do NOT believe we have no faith at all prior to regeneration. Faith, as in the capacity to believe, is within us all. Man has a natural ability to believe. We all exercise faith everyday. My Mom tells me about her father, who died when I was only 3 years old. I believe what she says. I have faith she is correct.

The kind of faith we're talking about here is saving faith. We Calvinists say that human nature is like this:

We recognize and we admit that sin is so powerful that it has incapacitated our ability to be holy. It has removed our ability to please God in any way (Rom. 3:10-12) even by our sincerity of choice. We believe that even our so called sincerity is touched by sin and is, therefore, unacceptable to God. We believe that our sinfulness kills us, insulates us, and makes us unable to freely choose God of our own free will (John 1:13). We believe this because we believe the Scriptures teach us that the sinner, the unregenerate, is a slave of sin (Rom. 6:14-20), dead in his sins (Eph. 2:1), cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14), and does not seek for God (Rom. 3:10-12). We believe that such a person described in scripture is necessarily unable to believe by his own free will because his own free will can only follow its sinful tendencies. Remember, the unbeliever is full of evil (Mark 7:21-23), possess a sinful and deceitful heart (Jer. 17:9), and cannot understand spiritual things (1 Cor. 2:14). Therefore, we believe that the unregenerate sinner will act in a manner consistent with his sinfulness and that he does have the freedom to choose whatever he desires -- and he desires to choose sin. We believe God's word. (MSlick).

We believe that it is God's commandment that we believe in Christ and be saved. It is not a request. (I John 3:23a). Therefore, just as we behave with all the rest of God's commandments, left to our natural, innate abilities, we will not, on our own, exercise our capacity to believe in a manner that fulfills this commandment properly.

Faith, "natural" faith, is, we believe also tainted with sin. There is something ultimately selfish about it. If we believe, it is because we want to avoid a penalty or because we want the benefits of being a child of God, but not for the highest ultimate reason, because we just want to believe God for its own sake. Basically, we don't want to believe "because God says so," and for no other reason.

However, we know people do believe and they are saved. If that's what we believe about faith, then how is it that any of us are saved. Our answer: "God enables us", saving faith, the kind of faith that, even though all those other reasons in us might be attached, also believes because God says so. In a way, it's like saying to God, "I know I can't believe the way you want me to believe on my own, all by myself, but I want to, God..." and we say, if you want to, it is because God has put that desire in your heart by His own power, it does not come from you alone, and thus you have been regenerated. Faith like that is a product of regeneration. We don't have to realize that...we're not talking about some kind of dramatic revelation from God...but, simply put, if a person believes in Christ as Savior and Lord, that is what's going on at the spiritual level within their minds and their hearts, and, when that person accepts Christ, that is what's going on when they exercise faith in Him and are saved.

we Calvinists believe that our believing is the work of God (John 6:28), that we are granted to believe (Phil. 1:29), that we are granted repentance (2 Tim. 2:25), that we are appointed to eternal life Acts 13:48), and that we are born again not of our own wills (John 1:12-13).
We Calvinist believe that this work of God upon us is exceedingly merciful and loving. We believe this because without the merciful and loving work of God not only upon the cross but also in our hearts, that none of us would ever be able to freely believe in God -- because of the power, and the depth, and the strength of sin upon us. We do not believe that we are greater than the effects and the power of sin in us. Unlike the anti-Calvinists, we do not believe that in our unregenerate state our free will is capable of breaking loose from the enslavement of sin by the exertion of our sin-stained wills. We do not believe that the free will of the unregenerate is capable of overcoming their own wicked hearts that are full of evil (Mark 7:21-23), deceit (Jer. 17:9), and are enslaved to sin (Rom. 6:14-20). We do not believe that their free will is strong enough to resurrect itself from the state of its own deadness (Eph. 2:1). We do not believe that our sincerity (an appeal to that which is in the self) or our works are anything but filthy rags before God (Isa. 64:6). This is why we believe that God must predestine (Eph. 1:3-5; Rom. 8:29), grant to us the act of believing (Phil. 1:29), and cause us to be born again (1 Pet. 1:3), not of our own wills (John 1:13). In other words, we believe God's word.

Almost all of us remember a time when we accepted Christ. Some, like Mrs. Ruth Graham, do not, because we grew into our faith in Christ and basically don't seem to have known anything else. For some of us saving faith was very dramatic. For others it was "natural," in that we don't seem to have ever known anything else.

We simply say that for all, our hearts are exceedingly wicked and if believe it is because it was given to us to believe and be saved. Likewise, we believe that the regenerate will be preserved in their believing and that the saved will all persevere. We believe that people may fall into severe sin and backslide greivously. We also believe in apostasy. Apostasy is defined as containing all three of these evils: a gradual or radical moral decay; a fall from evangelical doctrine, eg a repudiation of the gospel itself; and a loss of spirituality of mind, eg. moral compass and conviction of sin in particular. Backsliding may consist of one or two of those evils, usally the first, but never all three. Apostates are not saved at all and never were.

 

I thank all of you for letting me post here and I would like to clarify what the Calvinist position is on some of these questions. One, we do not believe in free will nor does anyone accept the notion in any serious study of religion. The argument has many faces but it is still the same falsehood. Two words often confuse people. One is freedom and the other is will.

Because of the sin of Adam and then hiding from God, God cursed humanity and human nature and thus sin and death came to all of us. We died physically and spiritually. There are many free will arguments put forth but they are all false. Because of sin, humanity is conceived in it, our hearts, spirits, minds are against God, and so is the human will can do no good for it is enslaved to sin. Human nature wars against God but with the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, we can overcome it if we understand grace and how the Father wills to work in our lives.

Christ said: No man can come onto me but by the Father. It is the teaching of the Father to the sinner that turns him to Christ and not our of will or freedom. We are all dead to sin. Christ said: No man can come? The cornerstone to Calvinism is the sovereignty of God for He saw all of us in eternity before the stones of time rained in the universe and knew then everything about each of us. He predestined those whom He chose. He knew our sins, the obvious and hidden ones and each step we would take.
Central to this also is grace for it is grace and the wish of the Father than humanity would return to Him in worship and praise. He gave to us all of the gifts of grace so that we would always be His. He is the Great Shepard and not one that He calls will be lost. To say otherwise, tells God that He has no power to attend to those whom He loves. He is the Great Potter who takes the clay and makes it into fine pottery. Not one of us that is chosen can be lost. God is long-suffering and He knows how long the journey will be and what must be done to makes us into what He wishes.

Because of our lost state, we cannot do anything of ourselves to find or seek salvation. With human nature set against God and bound to death and sin, it cannot have faith to believe in God and therefore faith is a gift from God the Father by His grace. It is true that many great thinkers have come and gone but they too spoke from their carnal minds and could not see the mystery of God. We see they mystery of God as He reveals it to us for we have no power to do it for ourselves. We are lost. To say otherwise, we then say that sin is greater than God is and that the work of the Cross had no affect. This is also false teaching. Our hope is in the life, death and resurrection of Christ, He who paid the ransom that God had placed in the Law. God the Father accepted Christ's death, raised Him from the dead and placed Him at His right hand, who now intercedes on our behalf. The ransom is paid. We can do nothing of ourselves to pleasure God or to attain salvation. Grace provided it.

The great reformer Martin Luther said that any man who teaches and believes in free will does not know Jesus Christ aright and therefore Calvin and others agreed on this position, back to even Augustine. Calvin drew a lot of his work from Augustine.

None of can grow into the faith for we are all mortal and conceived in sin.

 

I do not know what a modern Calvinist is or if there is something called a hyper-Calvinist. We would not agree with Edwards and his idea of the will. We have no free expression of moral agency because it is not based on scripture but the world bases the idea more on humanism. We are dead to sin and death. Not one of us can save ourselves. We have do not have the faith in Christ because God the Father must draw us to Christ.

I would encourage you all to read Calvin's treatise on pedestination. Calvin was truly not the author of the doctrine either.

 

Just to add a little more of my opinion, we Calvinst believe in the word of God or sola scriptual or scripture alone. It is better put within the reformation context that we believe it is the infallible word of God. There others forms of revelation that some Calvinsts accept such as creation but even this is not accepted as such as the infallible word of God. Liked your statements on Calvinsim. Says it to the letter in a short use of text.

What torch did I have to find the way to grace? What light did I bring forth to light my way? No, I had nothing. I walked in darkness and was lost but God's grace found and rescued me, not of myself but of Him.

 

Well, Edwards was a strong Calvinist. He was very like Calvin on the will. The will is bound in that it is united to sin, like a computer network card is bound to its IP address. It can not change its IP address on its own, it has to be unbound from its IP and reassigned a new IP by a network administrator. Edwards said that the will is just the mind choosing. The will is free in that it acts voluntarily. It is free only as far as the mind is free. Edwards does not deny free agency or the bondage of the will, he merely attempted to define the will, the mind, and the desires. The will is the mind choosing. The mind is the intellect. The desires affect the mind and the will. Since there is no true good and he is bound to sin and death, his mind will choose accordingly. Likewise God is absolutely free, but He can not sin for the same reason, because it is against his nature.

A hyper-Calvinist has something in common with an Arminian. Where we say that Arminians have the will doing something intrinsically that it can not, so do hyper-Calvinists. They say we should determine who the elect are and only preach to them. They also affirm what we call equal ultimacy, which is a corresponding positive act of reprobation by God to sinners. Just as God does a positive act of regeneration in those whom He will save, so He does a postive act of reprobation in the non-elect, in effect creating fresh evil in their hearts by causing them to disbelieve the same way He causes the elect to believe. This is not what traditional Reformed theology teaches. We teach regeneration is positive, and the rest are condemned already, so they are simply passed over.

 

Just as God does a positive act of regeneration in those whom He will save, so He does a postive act of reprobation in the non-elect, in effect creating fresh evil in their hearts by causing them to disbelieve the same way He causes the elect to believe.

This is something I would reject personally. I have not spent that much time reading Edwards and decided on reading all of Augustine's works instead, that and Calvin. I would have to check Edwards on face value and check your sources before I would agree to it.

 

Just as God does a positive act of regeneration in those whom He will save, so He does a postive act of reprobation in the non-elect, in effect creating fresh evil in their hearts by causing them to disbelieve the same way He causes the elect to believe.

This is something I would reject personally. I have not spent that much time reading Edwards and decided on reading all of Augustine's works instead, that and Calvin. I would have to check Edwards on face value and check your sources before I would agree to it.