01-Chapter 1

CHAPTER I - A BRIEF HISTORY OF JOHN CALVIN

In order to more perfectly understand the unscriptural doctrine of Hyper-Calvinism, it is essential that God’s people have a good understanding of John Calvin. John Calvin was born on July 10, 1509 in Picardy, France and died in Geneva, Switzerland on May 27, 1564. His childhood was spent in his own district among boys of his own age under a pedagogue and master of scholars; but he outstripped the others, thanks to his quick intelligence and excellent memory.¹ A generation separated John Calvin from Martin Luther and the two reformers never met. John Calvin’s father was an attorney who practiced civil and canon law in the city of Noyon. John Calvin never actually took vows or was ordained by the Catholic Church, but was trained chiefly in law and the humanities. John Calvin was a man of little humor and used deadly logic to persuade those who would listen to become followers of his teachings. The family name, Calvin, is spelled different ways according to the customs of the day and, for some unknown reason, John Calvin was commonly called Maitre Jean C. John Calvin’s mother, Jeanne Le Franc, born in the Diocese of Cambrai brought young John up as a “good” Catholic.

Calvin’s life can be readily divided into two major periods. Until 1536 Calvin was a wandering student; from 1536 until his death in 1564, except for a short period of exile to Strasbourg between 1538 and 1541, he was the leading citizen of Geneva … He studied for a time at the University of Paris, where he met the humanist Guillaume Cop. Here Calvin was introduced to Protestant ideas by his cousin Peirre Oliver. After he finished his humanistic studies, his father sent him to the university at Orleans to study law. He transferred to the University of Bourges in 1529.²

John Calvin was an astute individual and took his studies very seriously. His love for knowledge, coupled with opportunity, elevated him far above his peers and gave credence to his writings. With the bachelor’s degree behind him in about three years, he would be set on the path to the licentiate-in-laws, the goal of the course. More, he now had the right and duty to lecture extraordinarie (these were the less important lectures, delivered by bachelors). In a little while he was regarded, not as a \scholar, but as one of the docteurs ordinaries, and he was more often teacher than hearer … one of the outstanding students, in that he seems both to have lectured ordinaire for some considerable time and also to have been a natural choice for professors seeking a temporary substitute.³

At the age of fourteen John had already exhausted all the learning of Noyon and left for the University of Paris. After four years in the university John Calvin had distinguished himself for his scholarship. And he kept on studying. He studied religion. He studied law. He studied Hebrew and Greek. He studied the classics. Five years passed again in studies, and John was still as uncertain as to what career to follow as his mother must have been when she counted the buttons of his shirt, if she did. Then something happened that decided the question of his career for John Calvin. A friend of his, a physician, asked him to write an address for him, and John Calvin wrote it. In that address Calvin expressed a number of Protestant doctrines … from then on Calvin devoted himself to the writing of Protestant works and to the organization of the Protestant Church.⁴ Little is said concerning John Calvin’s conversion to Christianity. Calvin said only that the Lord subdued my mind, too hardened for its years, to teachableness … We are not told that now he is drawn out of the mire, freed from the superstitions of the Papacy, only that he has been tamed and made teachable ... I tried my best to work hard: God tamed my mind by an unexpected conversion: I pursued my other studies more coolly.⁵

John Calvin began to study the Greek New Testament and soon became dissatisfied with the Roman Catholic Church and, therefore, left it. Because of John Calvin’s great influence and teaching ability, the doctrine that we now label as “Calvinism” came into existence. Though John Calvin never established a denomination, the modern day Presbyterian Church has as its basis Calvin’s theology. The name “Calvinist” is not used, but almost every denomination in America, including some cults, have developed John Calvin’s philosophy.The powerful influence which Calvin exercised upon his own and later generations would have been much reduced if he had not possessed a remarkable style. In his case ’style’ may be a misleading word, unless it is at once understood that with Calvin ’the style is the man’--that it is nothing extraneous, but his peculiarly appropriate way of communicating his thoughts and feelings. He constantly exhibited quite exceptional powers of communication by means both of tongue and pen … he writes with energy and driving force, with more of persuasive rhetoric than of close logic. He rarely makes use of a formally complete syllogism, but where the thought has a syllogistic quality he may employ the enthymeme, or reduced syllogism, in which one premise is unstated and left to the reader to supply … The reader is not allowed to escape from any serious point of doctrine into a realm of neutrality or indecision. In order to forestall our adverse vote, Calvin tries to deal with all actual and conceivable opposing arguments, and often with the motives of those who may favor them. He is an advocate in the court, with adequate oratorical resources, making a case for God and His Word. And the jury he addresses is not composed of experts only, but of everyone who will read.⁶ Hyper-Calvinism developed into five main points, which is sometimes referred to as the TULIP. At the risk of oversimplification, one can summarize the essence of Calvin’s theology by the use of a simple mnemonic device that has been developed in recent years and has often been used by students. The first letters of the main words of Calvin’s theology spell the word tulip. The coordinating idea of his theology is the complete sovereignty of God. Calvin had the majestic conception of God and His glory that is so characteristic of some of the Old Testament prophets. He believed in the total depravity of all men. Man has through Adam inherited the guilt of Adam’s sin and can do nothing for his own salvation because his will is totally corrupted. Calvin next taught that salvation is a matter of unconditional election apart from human merit or divine foreknowledge. Election is based on the sovereign will of God and is a dual predestination of some to salvation and others to condemnation. Calvin also believed that the work of Christ on the cross is limited to those elected to salvation. This belief is his doctrine of a limited atonement. The doctrine of irresistible grace is an inevitable corollary to their own initial desire as the Holy Spirit irresistibly draws them to Christ. Perseverance (or preservation) of the saints is the final point of importance in his system. Those elect who are irresistibly saved by the work of the Holy Spirit will never be finally lost.⁷ These are the five points of the TULIP simply stated:

1. Total Depravity: Man is totally corrupt and dead and cannot respond to the gospel unless God sovereignly enables him.

2. Unconditional Election: God unconditionally chooses who will be called to salvation. Calvin also believed that God also chooses who will go to hell.

3. Limited Atonement: The death of Christ was only for those God will call to salvation.

4. Irresistible Grace: God’s call to salvation is effective and cannot be resisted.

5. Perseverance of the Saints: The saved will continue in the faith.

Through the centuries, many of the great theologians, missionaries, evangelists, and pastors have been Calvinistic in their leanings and their teachings have been widely circulated, even in the fundamental ranks.

Because of the systematic abilities of John Calvin and his followers, men who were capable of stating their positions with clarity and logic, the religious point of view growing out of Reformed Protestantism has had decisive influences on all later evangelical theology.⁸ The much greater influence on subsequent Reformed-Presbyterianism came in the 1530’s from John Calvin … Before long it was Calvinist Protestantism that began to be accepted in “Huguenot” France.⁹

Though the teachings of men of God are important, the Word of God must be the final authority for both doctrine and practice. The intent of this thesis is to biblically disprove each of the five points of John Calvin and to show the true purpose of God in salvation.