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  HYPER CALVINISM
  by David Johnston
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Johnston's theological critique of Hyper-Calvinism, providing a detailed history
of John Calvin's life and the formation of TULIP doctrine before presenting his
biblical evaluation of positions that go beyond Calvin's own teaching into
theological extremes.

  Chapters: 11

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 00.3 - Introduction
    2. 01-Chapter 1
    3. 02-Chapter 2
    4. 03-Chapter 3
    5. 04-Chapter 4
    6. 05-Chapter 5
    7. 06-Chapter 6
    8. 07-Chapter 7
    9. 08-Chapter 8
   10. 09-Footnotes
   11. 10-Bibliography

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  CHAPTER 1: 00.3 - INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION

The doctrinal heresy of Hyper-Calvinism has been in existence for over four
hundred years. Because of the ever-increasing influence of Hyper-Calvinism, it
is essential that Christians be well informed concerning this false doctrine and
not be led astray. As the day of the Lord’s return nears, churches are
increasingly bombarded with doctrinal impurity and Satan endlessly attempts to
destroy the vineyard of the Lord. Satan knows that time is short and will use
any means at his disposal to thwart the efforts of the Church to spread the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and win souls for His glory. The heresy of
Hyper-Calvinism was once a doctrine that remained lodged in the more liberal
Protestant denominations but now has permeated the ranks of the fundamental,
Bible believing churches of our time. Hyper-Calvinists takes a few verses of
Scripture out of context and twist them to conform to their doctrine. With the
recent upsurge of Calvinism, a number of leading Calvinists have begun to take a
far more aggressive stance in its public promotion. Both sides, in fact, are
increasingly making this issue a matter of fellowship in the Lord, resulting in
a division in a number of otherwise sound churches. In some churches, Calvinism
is looked upon as a cult and members are forbidden to promote it even privately.
In others only Calvinists are accepted as members. Of course this has been true
of pastors and mission candidates for centuries in nearly all Presbyterian
churches and even in some Baptist churches - but now that position seems to be
growing.1

Proper Bible study is taking a Scripture verses in its context to find the true
meaning of the verse. Very rarely will you find an individual who becomes a
Hyper-Calvinist through actual Bible study. The vast majority of
Hyper-Calvinists are simple followers of man and not students of the Bible. Many
missionaries, evangelists, and pastors hold to the teaching of Hyper-Calvinism
today and it has become an area of contention among fundamental men and
churches. Men such as C. H. Spurgeon are quoted often without a disclaimer
regardless of their doctrinal position. David Hunt, in his book entitled What
Love Is This?, quoted Spurgeon as saying,

“I do not ask whether you believe Calvinism. It is possible you may not. But I
believe you will before you enter heaven. I am persuaded that as God may have
washed your hearts, He will wash your brains before you enter heaven.”2

There are many men, well known and highly respected, who have been caught up in
this erroneous theology because of following others and a simple lack of Bible
study. Men of God must be students of His Word and not just marionettes in the
hands of theological writers. Their motto must be: “I will not follow man unless
man follows God.” Many preachers have been duped into thinking that the only two
choices available are Hyper-Calvinism or Arminianism. Since the doctrine of
Hyper-Calvinism teaches “eternal security” and Arminianism “falling from grace,”
the logical choice must therefore be Hyper-Calvinism. David Hunt said that

“multitudes of sincere, Bible-believing Christians are ‘Calvinists’ only by
default. Thinking that the only choice is between Calvinism with its doctrine of
eternally security and Arminianism with its falling away, and confident that
salvation cannot be lost because of Christ’s promise to keep eternally those who
believe in Him, they therefore consider themselves to be Calvinists.”3

Many preachers do not agree with all five points of the TULIP but will call
themselves two or three point Calvinist. A systematic study of God’s Word will
conclude that all five points of the TULIP must be rejected.

Hyper-Calvinism is not a biblical doctrine and is permeated with doctrinal
error. Hyper-Calvinism is a foolish doctrine for several reasons that will be
stated here and more thoroughly dealt with at a later time. First of all,
Hyper-Calvinism teaches that a sinner is already saved, but just does not know
it yet. He is elected and predestined for Heaven and can do nothing about it.
Nothing can or will keep him from eternal salvation and, one day, he will come
to the realization that he is one of God’s elect. His salvation has nothing to
do with his own personal choice, but simply with God’s sovereign will. Secondly,
Hyper-Calvinism is unbiblical because it destroys God’s commandment to preach
the gospel to every creature. Why preach the gospel to those who cannot accept
God’s salvation? It is like hanging the proverbial “carrot” of eternal life
under their noses when they do not have the ability to accept it. Fourthly,
Hyper-Calvinism teaches a doctrine of limited atonement that denies His death of
the cross for the sins of the whole world. This teaching is contrary to clear
Scripture on the subject of propitiation. Fifthly, Hyper-Calvinism is a foolish
doctrine because it denies that man has a free will and, therefore, is
accountable for his choices. In effect, this doctrine is placing the blame upon
God for both man’s sinfulness and inability to do anything to correct the
problem. If Hyper-Calvinism is correct, then Adam was also correct in Genesis
chapter 3 by placing the blame for sin upon God who gave him the woman.

God’s Word must be the final authority and will clarify the muddied waters of
sovereignty verses free will. In the light of the work that the Lord Jesus
Christ left to the Church to accomplish, it is imperative that the pastors keep
their theology pure through both diligent study and proper interpretation of
God’s Word. Then and only then can the Great Commission that was entrusted to
the Church’s care be carried out. Otherwise, the Church is in a dilemma. Can
Christians, with all honesty, go from door to door telling others that Jesus
Christ died for their sins if He did not die for the sins of the whole world?
Therefore it must be both dealt with in a Scriptural manner and eradicated from
the churches.


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  CHAPTER 2: 01-CHAPTER 1
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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.


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  CHAPTER 3: 02-CHAPTER 2
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CHAPTER II - SOVEREIGNTY AND FREE WILL

God is sovereign! The sovereignty of God neither proves nor disproves
Hyper-Calvinism, but simply declares that God does as He pleases and asks
counsel of no man.

Romans 11:34 says, “For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been
his counsellor?” Sovereignty simply means “supreme power” and refers to the
right of the Almighty to do as He wishes. The sovereignty of God has been
misunderstood and improperly set forth by the Hyper-Calvinist. John Calvin did
not found the Presbyterian Church, but their doctrine finds its roots in the
five points of Calvinism. In a book called The Presbyterians, sovereignty and
Hyper-Calvinism were reconciled in this manner:

Precisely because God is entirely sovereign, Reformed theologians have stressed
divine providence in salvation―that the redemption of humanity is initiated,
sustained, and brought to its culmination God’s power and for God’s glory. Given
God’s eternity, omniscience, and omnipotence, and it light of the scriptural
teaching that salvation was part of the divine plan even prior to the foundation
of the world, Reformed theologians have been forced to wrestle with the problem
of predestination.. Reformed theological reflection on this difficult
doctrine―often caricatured as impersonal, abstract, “fatalistic,” or
unjust―admits of a rather stark and simple logic. Because God is entirely
sovereign, and because humanity is sinful and incapable of unassisted moral and
spiritual regeneration, God must be responsible for humanity’s salvation. God
initiated the plan of salvation, chose an elect people for salvation, redeemed
them through Christ, and sanctified them with the Holy Spirit.1 The sovereignty
of God in no way negates the free will of man. God, in His sovereignty, chose to
give individuals the right to choose. God wanted man to come to Him on the basis
of love, not duty. To teach that sovereignty does away with free will is to make
man a robot with no ability of choice.

One point of misunderstanding, when sovereignty and Hyper-Calvinism are
considered, is the biblical doctrine of Election. Election is simply the act of
choosing or selecting one or more from a group. This doctrine is one of great
importance in Scripture, but has been distorted through ignorance and lack of
proper interpretation of context. Most theologians, when dealing with election,
improperly apply the term to individuals whom God has supposedly elected to
Heaven―leaving those, supposedly unelected with no hope or possibility of
salvation. A prime example of this teaching is found in the theology books that
are used in seminaries, Bible colleges, and Bible institutes. Lewis Sperry
Chafer sets forth election in this manner: The election which is set forth in
the Scriptures, apart from the elect nation Israel―not now under
consideration--, is that favor of God, notably a full and free salvation, which
is accorded to some, but not to all. Of some it is said that they are “chosen in
the Lord” (Romans 16:13); “chosen . . . to salvation” (2 Thessalonians 2:13);
“chosen . . . in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4);
predestined to the “adoption of children” (Ephesians 1:5); “to be conformed to
the image of his Son” )Romans 8:29); “elect according to the foreknowledge of
God” (1 Peter 1:2). The term election should not be construed to mean only a
general divine purpose to provide salvation for all men. It refers to an express
divine purpose to confer salvation on some, but not all.2

Even the definition of election given in Webster’s 1828 Dictionary can cause
some unnecessary confusion when dealing with the doctrine of Hyper-Calvinism.
Webster’s definition is:

ELECTION, n, The act of choosing; choice; the act of selecting one or more from
others. In theology, divine choice; predetermination of God, by which persons
are distinguished as objects of mercy, become subjects of grace, are sanctified
and prepared for heaven.3

This definition of election would also indicate that some people are predestined
to Heaven and leaving it understood that others are predestined to spend an
eternity in Hell.

John McNeil also misunderstood the doctrine of Predestination and set it forth
incorrectly when he said,

Predestination, by which God adopts some to the hope of life and adjudges others
to eternal death, no one, desirous of the credit of piety, dares absolutely to
deny. But it is involved in many cavils, especially by those who make
foreknowledge the cause of it. We maintain that both belong to God; but it is
preposterous to represent one as dependent on the other. When we attribute
foreknowledge to God, we mean that all things have ever been, and perpetually
remain, before his eyes, so that to his knowledge nothing is future or past, but
all things are present … eternal life is foreordained for some and eternal
damnation for others.4

Election is an act of God’s sovereignty whereby He fulfills His will through the
election of either something or someone. In God’s sovereignty, He chose to elect
four things in Scripture.

The first time that we find something or someone “Elect” is in reference to the
Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 42:1, the Lord says,

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have
put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

In the New Testament, once again we find reference to the Lord Jesus Christ as
being God’s elect in 1 Peter 2:6. The Bible calls Him “a chief corner stone,
elect, precious.” Jesus Christ is God’s Elect in the matter of substitution and
salvation to all who believe. The second thing that is mentioned as being elect
is the nation of Israel. In Isaiah 45:4, the Lord says, “For Jacob my servant’s
sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have
surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.” Of all nations upon the earth,
God chose Israel to be His covenant people. This act of election is national,
not individual. Though Israel was God’s Elect, many in Israel were not saved
through faith in the coming of the Messiah. In interpretation of Scripture, one
must use the context to identify who or what is being referred to. In Romans,
chapters 9-11, the Hyper-Calvinist makes a serious mistake in biblical
interpretation by attributing election and predestination to individuals instead
of the nation of Israel. These three chapters are a parenthetical dealing with
Israel, not individuals. Chapter 9 deals with Israel’s illustrious past, chapter
10 deals with Israel’s blinded present, and chapter 11 deals with Israel’s
glorious future.

In order to get the proper context, it must be noted that each chapter begins
and ends with the nation of Israel. In Romans 9:13, God’s Word says, “As it is
written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” The Hyper-Calvinist uses
this verse, plus the preceding ones, to show that the Lord loved Jacob and hated
his brother, Esau, individually and without a cause. Divine sovereignty is cited
as the sole reason for this interpretation. Back in Genesis 25:23, after Rebekah
had conceived, the Lord told her that there were two nations and two manners of
people within her womb and that the elder would serve the younger. The Lord was
very specific when He referred to these two unborn children as nations. In
Genesis 32:28, God changed the name of Jacob to Israel. The reference in Romans
9:1-33 is not to the individual, Jacob, but to the nation of Israel. Later, in
Genesis 36:8, the Bible declared that “Esau is Edom”. In Malachi 1:1-3, the
Bible says, The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. I have
loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau
Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau, and laid
his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

Therefore, the context of Romans 9:1-33 shows plainly that Jacob was Israel and
Esau was Edom. Israel was God’s chosen nation upon the earth. Their adoption,
which was national and not personal, entitled them to the Promised Land, Canaan.
The Bible teaches that God is no respecter of persons, but He is certainly a
respecter of nations. In Isaiah 46:13, the Lord refers to the nation of Israel
as “Israel my glory,” and in Deuteronomy 32:9-11 as “the apple of his eye.” The
third thing that is referred to in Scripture as elect is the Church, the Body of
Christ. The words elect, election, and predestined are invariably used with
plural pronouns. There is no verse where a first person singular pronoun is used
along with these particular words. The Body of Christ is God’s elect. When an
individual accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, the individual enters into
the Body of Christ and, therefore, into election. When the word elect is used
with individual, it is always qualified with foreknowledge and obedience. In 1
Peter 1:2, the Word of God says that a person is “elect according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto
obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” John Calvin perverted
this verse when he stated, The seed of the word of God takes root and brings
forth fruit only in those whom the Lord, by his eternal election, has
predestinated to be children and heirs of the heavenly kingdom. To all others
(who by the same counsel of God are rejected before the foundation of the world)
the clear and evident preaching of truth can be nothing but an odor of death
unto death. Now, why does the Lord use his mercy toward some and exercise the
rigor of his judgment on the others? We have to leave the reason of this to be
known by him alone. For, he, with a certainly excellent intention, has willed to
keep it hidden from us all. The crudity of our mind could not indeed bear such a
great clarity, nor our smallness comprehend such great wisdom.5

Calvin’s explanation of God’s sovereignty in redemption is not to explain it at
all, but to rather leave it in the realm of the unknowable. No such problem is
incurred when 1 Peter 1:2 is interpreted in the realm of foreknowledge. God set
forth before the beginning or creation the way of salvation and, in His
omniscience, knew those individuals that would come to Jesus Christ through His
precious blood. The fourth thing that is referred to as elect in the Scriptures
are certain angels. 1 Timothy 5:21 says,

I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that
thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing
by partiality.

Therefore, the biblical doctrine of Election has nothing to do with either the
predestination of individuals to either Heaven or Hell.


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  CHAPTER 4: 03-CHAPTER 3
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CHAPTER III - TOTAL DEPRAVITY

The first point of Hyper-Calvinism and the T of the TULIP is Total Depravity. A
definition of Total Depravity is found in John McNeil’s book On The Christian
Faith.

Original sin, therefore, appears to be a hereditary depravity and corruption of
our nature, diffused through all the parts of the soul, rendering us obnoxious
to the divine wrath and producing in us those works which the Scripture calls
“’works of the flesh.” For our nature is not only destitute of all good, but is
so fertile in all evils that it cannot remain inactive.1

First of all, it must be understood that Total Depravity is not a biblical
principle, but a man made doctrine. People are certainly wicked, but
Hyper-Calvinism teaches that an individual is destitute of all good, therefore,
incapable of doing anything other than evil. Since man is destitute of good and
has no free will to exercise, he is incapable of either repentance or faith. God
then condemns man for not repenting or believing. Sin began in the Garden of
Eden when Adam willfully broke the commandment of God forbidding Adam to eat of
the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam’s sin separated him from God and
atonement had to be initiated in order for reconciliation to occur. That sin has
been passed on to every individual born since that time. This is called inherent
sin because it is inherited through the parents from Adam. In Romans 5:12, the
Bible states that “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
Adam’s sin passed upon all men through the flesh, therefore all humanity became
sinful in the sight of God. Inherent sin is not the sin that causes man to spend
an eternity in Hell though. Children, who die before they become accountable to
God, die in the Lord and are present with Him today. Therefore, inherent sin is
not the condemning sin of eternal judgment. Romans 5:12 declares that “death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” The sin that condemns man is the
sin made through his own personal choice. Hyper-Calvinism teaches that man is
not only totally depraved in his natural estate, but incapable of doing any good
at all. Because man is totally incapable of good in any sense of the word, God
must not only provide salvation for man, but must also make the choice of
salvation for him. Hyper-Calvinism is teaching the total inability of man. Is
this biblical truth or doctrinal error?

God’s Word teaches that the heart of all mankind is deceitful, desperately
wicked, and unknowable in Jeremiah 17:9. Every man born into the world has been
born into sin and the Scriptures states “all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God.” The heart is certainly all these things, but this verse does not
teach total depravity. It simply says that the heart will deceive you, is wicked
and capable of doing anything, and that you cannot put any confidence in it. It
does not say that man is incapable of doing any good at all in his natural
state. To read that into the verse is to do a grave injustice to Scripture. Man
is certainly born into sin according to the Bible (Genesis 8:21; Psalms 51:5;
Job 15:14-16; Psalms 58:3; Romans 5:12). Children do not have to be taught to do
evil because it is inherent, but have to be taught to do good because it is
contrary to their nature. Within man is born the capability of committing the
most heinous sins imaginable. It does not take long, looking down through the
centuries, to find out that nothing is sacred to men who let their imaginations
go unchecked. The Bible declares these things to be the “work of the flesh.” The
Apostle Paul, in Romans chapter 7 said that “in me, that is in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing.” To say that man is wicked is correct, but to say that
he is incapable of good is incorrect. Does man have the capability to do good?
The Bible will fully answer this question. God’s Word teaches that man is a
sinner by choice as well as by birth. In the Book of Romans, chapters 1-3, God
declares that the entire world is guilty before Him because of the personal
choices that they have made. Man is inexcusable because God has made it possible
for every man, woman, and child to know him. God has set a “tabernacle under the
sun” in nature itself whereby man can know that there is a supreme Being. In
John chapter one, the Bible says that God lights every man who comes into the
world through His Son, Jesus Christ. How can man know a God of whom he has not
heard? “Seek and ye shall find” is the answer to this question. If an individual
wants to know God, God will make sure that this individual has opportunity to
know Him. In Romans chapter one, there are three steps in human accountability
stated. To refuse the light that God has given to you will eventually lead to a
reprobate mind and eternal damnation. Here, in these verses, the lost make a
three-fold choice.

First of all in Romans 1:21, we find that “when they knew God, they glorified
him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations.”
It does not say that they could not glorify Him as God, but that they chose not
to recognize Him and give to Him the glory that was due. When men comes face to
face with the reality of who God is, they must then make a choice to not only
recognize God, but, also, to put Him in His proper place in their lives as
individuals. That is to accept both His person, as God, and His position, as
Lord of Lord and King of Kings. The wisdom of the world is foolishness to God
and vice versa. Human wisdom that denies the very essence of God becomes
foolishness in the hearts of men. The result is that God gives the individual
over “to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their
own bodies between themselves.” Sexual sin is a direct result of failing to
glorify God. Choosing not to recognize God and to give Him the thanksgiving that
He is due will lead to a hardening of the heart and is the first step to a
reprobate mind.

Secondly, in Romans 1:25, man begins to “change the truth of God into a lie.”
When God is placed on the “back burner,” sin begins to control the sinner and
his choice is to either get right with God or to water down what God has said.
Scripture is of no private interpretation, yet the God denier will begin to
reason it out by saying, “That is not what God meant.” The Word of God says what
it means and means what it says, and to change it or alter it’s meaning is a
dangerous thing. Self-justification has been the method of the sinner to lessen
his sinfulness since Genesis chapter 3. In this same verse, humanism is
introduced. The worship of the creature, which God created, more than the
Creator Himself becomes sin. Man becomes his own god and self-gratification
becomes his rule for life. Society today is permeated with this godless religion
that places man upon the pedestal, therefore, making him equal with God. There
is a two-fold judgment that comes with this second step to a reprobate mind. God
gave them up to the sexual perversion of sodomy. Sodomy is not a result of a
reprobate mind because the sodomite can be saved, but places the sodomite in a
dire situation. The Bible also says that the sinners then receive “in themselves
that recompence of their error which was meet.” God judges the perversion of
sodomy, not only in the life to come, but, also, in this life. The plague of
Aids is a direct result of sodomy though it is blamed upon many different
things. Stop the sodomy and the Aids virus will also stop.

Thirdly, God’s Word declares that “they did not like to retain God in their
knowledge” in Romans 1:28. The inevitable result of denying whom God is and
changing His precious Word into a lie is to try to force God out of the mind.
When man’s sin and self-glorification takes over his life completely, and God is
not in his thoughts, God gives them over to a reprobate mind. Reprobate,
according to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, is to be “abandoned in sin; lost to
virtue or grace.”2 Reprobate men and women will fulfill the lusts of the flesh
with no restraint, therefore, going deeper and deeper into rebellion and
degradation. It is interesting that the Bible says that they know the judgment
of God and yet continue not only sin, but also have pleasure in those who commit
sin. In all three of these steps to a reprobate mind, it is clearly set forth
that man makes his own personal choices and that God holds him accountable for
them. In Chafer Systematic Theology free will is explained away as simply an act
of God which cannot be resisted. In the first instance, it is well to observe
that God did not create the human will as an instrument to defeat Himself; it
was created rather as a means by which He might realize His own worthy purposes.
Though as Sovereign He could do so, God does not coerce the human will; He
rather works within the individual both to will and to do of His good pleasure
(cf. Php 2:13). An efficacious call to salvation, then, is a call which none
ever finally resists (cf. Romans 8:30). Everyone whom God predestinates He
calls, and everyone whom He calls He justifies and glorifies. There could not be
failure in one instance among the missions who are called . . . The divine
invitation still is true that “whosoever will may come.” However, it also is
true that none will ever come apart from this divine call, and that the call is
extended only to His elect.3 This teaching is consistent with the
Hyper-Calvinist teaching of total depravity and does away with human
responsibility, which makes God responsible. If man cannot do good and can only
do evil, it is only because he was created that way. This is a direct affront to
the holiness of God! There are many verses of Scripture that bear out the
ability of man to make right and good choices.

Though man’s thoughts are only evil continually, his heart is desperately wicked
and deceitful, and he neither seeks nor fears God, the Bible does not say he is
therefore unable―unless first of all regenerated by God―to believe the gospel
even if convicted and convinced thereof by the Holy Spirit.

Paul teaches otherwise: “ye were the servants of sin but ye have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you” (Romans 6:17). Clearly,
servants of sin responded to the command to repent and believe in Christ - then
they were saved, regenerated, changed . . . . Nor does the statement that “none
seek after God” deny that any man, no matter how depraved, can respond by
intelligent choice without first being regenerated if God seeks and draws him.
Neither does the Bible teach that God only seeks and draws an “elect” but no
others. Indeed, many passages affirm that under the drawing of the Holy Spirit
sinful man can make a moral response: “Draw me, we will run after thee” (Song of
Song of Solomon 1:4); “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search
for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13); “ . . . he (God) is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). Even the wicked are commanded to
turn unto the Lord, with never so much as a hint that this is impossible until
God first regenerates them (Isaiah 55:6-7).4

God has ordained that the gospel message be preached to “every creature’ (Mark
16:15), therefore, it stands to reason that “every creature” may receive it. To
be able to hear the gospel and not be able to heed the gospel would be terribly
unjust. The Hyper-Calvinist maintains that sinners have no ability to either
repent or believe, except as God calls come selected individuals to salvation
and leaves others He has predestined for Hell, unable to repent. The
unregenerate (unsaved) man is dead in his sins (Romans 5:12). Without the power
of the Holy Spirit, the natural man is blind and deaf to the message of the
gospel (Mark 4:11-12). This is why “Total Depravity” has also been called “Total
Inability.” The man without knowledge of God will never come to this knowledge
without God’s making him alive through Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5). But, God said
that “the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly
seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and
Godhead; so that they are without excuse.” If man is totally unable to make a
choice in the matter of salvation, he certainly has a legitimate excuse! In Acts
17:30, God commands that every man repent. In Matthew 11:28 (also in John 7:37;
Revelation 22:17), God invites every man to come to Him. In Romans 2:6-10 (also
in John 5:39-40), God condemns those who do not respond to the light that has
been given to them. Certainly choices are to be made and accountability is
assumed. For all the importance Calvinism places upon the doctrine of Total
Depravity, inasmuch as that is the condition of all mankind and the elect are
delivered out of it, being totally depraved is not what keeps men in darkness
after all, but God’s withholding the needed light. The lost are kept out of
heaven not by their sin, but by God withholding the grace they need for
salvation, because He has already predestined them to eternal torment.5

Why does man stand condemned in the eyes of God? The answer is clearly given in
John, Chapter 3:19-20, which states that This is the condemnation, that light is
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh
to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Scripture does not say that man cannot come to God, but that he will not come to
God because of his lack of repentance. Once again, there is no inability here,
but a personal choice clearly made.

Hyper-Calvinism teaches Total Depravity, which is Total Inability. If the
doctrine of Total Depravity as defined in TULIP were true, then from Genesis to
Revelation we have a God who pleads for thousands of years with a seemingly
endless procession of billions of individuals to repent and turn to Him,
individuals who are so hopelessly depraved that they can do nothing except
persist in rebellion against Him unless He regenerates them. If He really wants
those with who He pleads to repent and turn to Him, would God not give them the
necessary grace to do so? He does that for the elect. Why not for all?6 The
Bible teaches human responsibility. In Genesis 4:1-26, Abel brought the blood
that God required for atonement, but Cain brought the fruit of his labors which
is a type of works. The Lord accepted the blood offered by Abel, but rejected
the work of Cain. When Cain’s countenance fell, the Lord said to him, “If thou
doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at
the door.” Here a clear choice is given to Cain and also a second chance to do
right. It was Cain’s responsibility to make the right decision. The Lord made no
effort to make the decision for him, but left it to Cain and held him personally
responsible for the choice made. The wrong choice was made because of
sinfulness, not sovereignty. In John, the Pharisees having rejected Jesus as the
Christ of God were indicted by the Lord when He said, “Ye will not come to me,
that ye might have life.” Would Christ have made such an accusation if these men
were rejected in the sovereignty of God and had neither will nor choice? Later,
in Matthew 23:37, the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of the unwillingness of Jerusalem
to come to Him when He said,

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which
are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even
as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

It was stated that they would not, not that they could not. In Matthew 19:16-22,
there is a story of a rich young ruler who came to the Lord seeking salvation.
The Bible says in verses 21-22,

Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and
give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow
me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had
great possessions. The young man came to the Lord for salvation, but was not
willing to repent in the area of finances and went away lost. Jesus told him
what he needed to do and he was unwilling to pay the price. It was his choice to
either obey or disobey and he chose disobedience. In Acts 26:28-29, King Agrippa
was faced with a choice in respect to eternity. He rejected Paul’s plea when he
said, “Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.” Paul answered and said, “I
would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both
almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds.” Agrippa certainly was
able to make a choice in the matter of salvation. Man has a free will and must
personally exercise it in order to be saved.

Here is an interesting note from Chafer Systematic Theology.

However, the objective in the immediate discussion is not to demonstrate the
general inability of fallen man―to which fact the Scriptures bear abundant
proof―but to make evident the more specific truth that unregenerate men are not
able to take one step, apart from the enabling power of the Spirit, in the
direction of their salvation. The Armenian error which avers that a general and
universal grace is given to all men by which they, if they will, may turn to God
is exposed and reproved by a large body of Scripture, and no Scripture is found
which sustains this error.7 This note calls those who believe in the free will
of man Armenians, who believe that salvation can be lost through disobedience to
God. The Armenian believes that you can be saved and later lost again. Bible
believers certainly do not hold to this position, but stand for eternal life
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Free will does not destroy the sovereignty of God, but, rather, shows that God
in His sovereignty has given to man a will and the freedom of personal choice.
Along with that choice goes personal responsibility and either reward for doing
good or judgment for doing evil. John 5:28-29 says,

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the
graves shall hear his voice, And shall come forth; they that have done good,
unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of damnation.


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  CHAPTER 5: 04-CHAPTER 4
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CHAPTER IV - UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION

The U of the TULIP stands for Unconditional Election. Election has been dealt
with in an earlier chapter of this study, so it will not be dealt with in depth
in this chapter. Unconditional Election, as set forth by the Hyper-Calvinist,
has a two-fold problem. The first problem is that it has been inappropriately
applied to individuals in salvation, which is not found in Scripture. These has
never been an individual elected to salvation nor has there been one elected to
damnation. Man is destined to an eternal Hell because of his own personal choice
to sin, not because he is not one of the selected few that God has elected to
Heaven. Election in the Bible is applied to the Body of Christ as a whole. The
second problem with Unconditional Election is the word unconditional. Since
election has nothing to do with the individual, it would seem preposterous to
even deal with the second part, but the word unconditional presents problems
when left alone. The Hyper-Calvinist, in Unconditional Election, was trying to
show that salvation has nothing to do with the free will of man, but is entirely
dependent upon the sovereignty of the Lord. God’s Word declares that salvation
is of the Lord and that man is responsible for exercising that faith that God
has given to him. Can salvation, in any sense of the word, ever be called
unconditional? Salvation is a gift from God to fallen man and, because it is a
gift, cannot be either earned or bought. God, in His love and mercy, extended to
sinful man both mercy and grace through our Lord Jesus Christ. Divine love was
manifested in the incarnation and substitutionary death of our Lord on Calvary’s
cross. John 3:16 shows penalty and price for sin: the penalty being death and
the price being God’s Son. Man’s sin brought about death and God’s love brought
about the Mystery of Godliness, the manifestation of the God-Man, Christ Jesus.
The freeness of this gift does not come without condition! There are several
conditions that are mention in the Bible dealing with man’s salvation. There is
the condition of repentance in salvation. The doctrine of Repentance has been
denied throughout the centuries, but the most fervent attack has come within the
past few decades. The liberal theologians have always denied repentance, but the
strongest attack in these latter years has come from the fundamental ranks. Men
have tried to define and redefine the word in order to prove or disprove the
theories of other men. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines repentance as:

REPENTANCE, n,

1. Sorrow for any thing done or said; the pain or grief which a person
experiences in consequence of the injury or inconvenience produced by his own
conduct.

2. In theology, the pain, regret or affliction which a person feels on account
of his past conduct, because it exposes him to punishment. This sorrow
proceeding merely from the fear of punishment, is called legal repentance, as
being excited by the terrors of legal penalties, and it may exist without an
amendment of life.

3. Real penitence; sorrow or deep contrition for sin, as an offense and dishonor
to God, a violation of his holy law, and the basest ingratitude towards a Being
of infinite benevolence. This is called evangelical repentance, and is
accompanied and followed by amendment of life. Repentance is a change of mind,
or a conversion from sin to God. Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. 2
Corinthians 7:1-16. Matthew 3:1-17. Repentance is the relinquishment of any
practice, from conviction that it has offended God.1

Men try to explain or explain away the term, but the sinner―when confronted with
repentance―has no problem with its definition. The best definition, to which
Noah Webster alluded, is found in 2 Corinthians 7:8-11 which says: For though I
made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I
perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a
season. Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to
repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive
damage by us in nothing. For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to
be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this
selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought
in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear,
yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye
have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

There are several things that need to be mentioned in these verses. One,
repentance is more than mere sorrow for sin. It is clearly seen in these verses
that the “sorrow of the world” brings about no true forgiveness, but death. The
term Jail House Repentance has been applied here because the world is sorry for
some things, but there is no heart change. Godly sorrow is a condition of the
heart whereby man is not only sorry for his sin, but sees sin as God sees and
there is a heart change. The word worketh is also noteworthy in these verses. If
godly sorrow “worketh” repentance to salvation, then it is not the Unconditional
Election that manifests itself in salvation, but the change of a sinful man’s
heart. The results of true repentance are listed in the last verse of the text.
Repentance brought about carefulness in the sinner. Carefulness means to be
diligent or earnest. This is no frivolous attempt by the condemned to appease a
holy God, but a heart-felt sorrow and desire to correct the situation. The
phrase clearing of yourselves comes from a word meaning defense. The Lord
becomes our Advocate and our defense rests in His hands because of the godly
sorrow expressed. There is indignation, or a hatred for the act committed. There
is the word fear which denotes a godly, reverential fear of the Lord. The next
three words―vehement desire, zeal, and revenge―have to do with the sinner’s
desire to make a permanent change in his behavior. Repentance is a condition
that God has set forth in order for sinful man to have eternal life.

There are two kinds of substitution, namely: Unconditional, which grants full
and absolute deliverance to those for who substitution is made; and Conditional,
which grants deliverance to those for whom substitution is made only on the
terms agreed upon between the one who makes the substitution and the one who
accepts it. Christ’s substitution was conditional, dependent upon the repentance
and faith of sinners, with reference to the sins of men (personal sins), and
unconditional with reference to the “sin of the world” (the guilt of the Adamic
sin, collective sin).2

There are many references dealing with repentance in the Bible, but only a
couple will be dealt with in this chapter. The Bible is clear on the subject and
no real argument can be offered to negate it. The first mention of repentance in
the New Testament came from the lips of the greatest preacher (other than the
Lord Jesus Christ) ever born of woman. John the Baptist was the “voice of one
crying in the wilderness” and preached repentance in Matthew 3:1-12. Jesus,
speaking of John the Baptist said in Matthew 21:32, “For John came unto you in
the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the
harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that
ye might believe him.” Jesus said that the preaching of John was the “way of
righteousness.” The message of repentance was also the first to be preached by
our Lord in Matthew 4:17 and very clearly set it forth in Luke 13:3 when He
said, “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” In
both Matthew 9:13 and Mark 2:17 (the wording is very similar in each), our Lord
said, “I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” It is
either repent or perish! This is evidently a condition for salvation. The word
except means unless. Unless a man repents, he will certainly perish and the
repentance is up to him personally. The apostles also preached repentance as a
condition for salvation, Mark 6:12 says, “And they went out, and preached that
men should repent.” Possibly one of the greatest salvation messages was preached
in the second chapter of Acts, when the day of Pentecost was fully come. The
believers were filled with the Holy Ghost and Peter stood forth and preached a
salvation message to all who were in Jerusalem. In verse 38, Peter said,
“Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” The word
repent in this verse is actually a one word sentence with the subject, “you,”
being understood. Paul preached repentance as a condition for salvation in Acts
20:21. The Bible said, about Paul, “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the
Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

In studying the Bible, it is evident that repentance was a condition for
salvation to all. To the Jew, in Acts 5:31, the Bible says, “Him hath God
exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance
to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.” In Acts 11:18, the same condition was
applied to the Gentiles, “When they heard these things, they held their peace,
and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance
unto life.” The Bible does not say that He gave repentance to the Gentiles, but
simply granted them their request for repentance. Acts 17:30 summed up
repentance as a condition for salvation when it said, “And the times of this
ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.” Can
any sinner repent, or is repentance something that only the elect can do. 2
Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance.” A good definition of the word all is
this: All means all and that is all all means. When the sinner truly repents of
sin, God graciously grants their request for forgiveness. Repentance is clearly
a condition for salvation. Another condition for salvation is that of believing
God’s report of His Son, Jesus Christ. In Romans 10:16, Esaias saith, “Lord, who
hath believed our report?” The report is found in the preceding verses and deals
with the incarnation and substitution of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Possibly the
most well known verse in the Bible is John 3:16. This verse sets forth salvation
in such a unique way that a child should be able to understand and be saved. It
is of interest that liberal theologians always used difficult passages of
Scripture to interpret the simple ones instead of the other way around. The
first word of the verse is for which ties it to its context. Jesus is talking to
a religious man about the new birth and explains that birth in this manner. The
word for ties the verse back to man’s sinful state and sets forth God’s remedy.
Man has fallen and God has to initiate reconciliation. He does this out of His
great love with no initial initiative from fallen man. God must do the seeking,
which is typified in the parable of the Ninety and Nine. Though God does all of
this for fallen man, it is still the responsibility of the individual to
exercise the faith that God has given. Many verses can be cited to easily prove
this point. In Acts 16:30-31, the requirement of believing is clearly set forth.
When the Philippian jailor asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved.” The
apostles said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and
thy house.” The subject of their answer is understood to be you. The answer was
not that he could do nothing to be saved, but that he had both responsibility
and choice in his salvation. For the sinner not to exercise faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ is to bring about eternal damnation. The Hyper-Calvinist may
counter with the statement that “faith is a gift that God gives to the elect.”
Ephesians 2:8-9 does say that faith is a gift from God, but does not say that it
is given to a select group of people. In Romans 12:3 the Bible says that God
gives to every man “the measure of faith.” This faith is given by God, but must
be exercised by fallen man. Otherwise, faith is in vain, as it says in James
2:20. In Acts 8:1-40 the Ethiopian Eunuch, upon receiving the witness of
Phillip, asked, “What doeth hinder me to be baptized?” Phillip answered, “If
thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I
believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” The Eunuch had been to Jerusalem
to worship and was reading in the Book of Isaiah when Phillip expounded the
Scriptures to him. He then personally placed his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ
and was saved. John 3:16 says, “Whosoever believeth in him.” There are several
things that the sinner must be believe in order to be saved. First, a sinner
must believe that Jesus Christ is the only way of salvation. Verses such as John
14:6, John 10:9, Acts 4:12, and 1 Timothy 1:15 teach that the only way to Heaven
is through God’s precious Son, Jesus Christ. To come to the Father any other way
is to be a thief and a robber. Many are trying to go through other religions
that set forth man as a savior and many are trying to get to Heaven through the
works of their own hands, but Christ is the only answer to the sin problem.

Secondly, a sinner must believe the gospel. The gospel is defined in 1
Corinthians 15:3 as the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In
Genesis 4:1-26, the Lord told Cain that if he would bring the sacrifice
required, he would be accepted. The death of the lamb was a type of the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sacrificial death (John 1:29 : Romans
3:25; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 2:2; 1 John 4:14; etc.) and
resurrection (Matthew 28:6; Romans 8:34; Romans 10:9; 1 Peter 1:21) of our Lord
are given in detail in the New Testament, and was understood by the Old
Testament saints. The sinner must also believe that the Lord Jesus can and will
save. In Hebrews 11:6, the Word of God says, “But without faith it is impossible
to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is
a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (cf. Acts 16:31; Romans 15:12; 1
John 3:23; 1 John 5:13) Therefore, the conclusion must be that faith is a
condition for salvation.

Then, there is the condition of coming to the Lord. The Lord invited men to come
to Him in Matthew 11:28, when He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (cf. Matthew 19:21-22; John 6:37;
Revelation 22:17) The sinner is invited to come to the Lord for salvation and is
indicted in John 5:40 for not coming. Jesus told the Pharisees, “And ye will not
come to me, that ye might have life.”Chafer’s Systematic Theology differentiates
between election and redemption this way: The highway of divine election is
quite apart from the highway of redemption. With respect to election it is
declared that “whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he
called, them he also justified: and who he justified, them he also glorified”
(Romans 8:30), and in this great certainty every believer may rejoice. In
respect to redemption it is written that Christ died for fallen men and that
salvation, based on that death, is proffered to all who believe; and that
condemnation rests on those who do not believe, and on the ground that they
refuse that which has been provided for them. It would seem unnecessary to point
out that men cannot reject what does not even exist, and if Christ did not die
for the nonelect, they cannot be condemned for unbelief (cf. John 3:18). Both
salvation and condemnation are conditioned on the individual’s reaction to one
and the same thing, namely, the saving grace of God made possible through the
death of Christ.3 To say that God has unconditionally elected some to Heaven and
others to Hell does not make biblical sense. In the book What Love is This?,
David Hunt said,

Why so few were chosen by the God who “is love” (1 John 4:8) and the rest damned
is, as we have already seen, a major problem which Calvin himself recognized.
Yet throughout his Institutes he offered no satisfactory explanation. “That is a
question for which I have no answer,” admitted one of the staunchest critics of
the first draft of this book. Unable to integrate God’s love into the process of
Unconditional Election, Calvin simply struck back sharply at his critics while
pleading Augustine’s authority: I admit that profane men lay hold of the subject
of predestination to carp, or cavil, or snarl, or scoff. But if their petulance
frightens us, it will be necessary to conceal all the principal articles of
faith, because they and their fellows leave scarcely one of them unassailed with
blasphemy . . . . The truth of God is too powerful, both here and everywhere, to
dread the slanders of the ungodly, as Augustine powerfully maintains . . . .
Augustine disguises not that . . . he was often charged with preaching the
doctrine of predestination too freely, but, as it was easy for him to do, he
abundantly refutes the charge . . . . The predestination by which God adopts
some to the hope of life, and adjudges others to eternal death . . . is greatly
caviled at, especially by those who make prescience its cause.4

The second point of Hyper-Calvinism must be rejected because the Bible declares
that salvation is conditional, not unconditional. Men do not go to hell because
of election, because of rejection! If Unconditional Election were the case, how
could a child of God ever have assurance of salvation? The saved cannot see the
Book of Life. The Lord does not come and personally tell a man that he is saved,
therefore, the Hyper-Calvinist can nave no real assurance. Assurance of
salvation comes through the word whosoever. A song put it this way: “Whosoever
surely meaneth me!”


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  CHAPTER 6: 05-CHAPTER 5
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CHAPTER V - LIMITED ATONEMENT

The L of the TULIP stands for Limited Atonement. Some have called Limited
Atonement the heart of Calvinism. The Hyper-Calvinist maintains that Jesus
Christ died only for the elect on Calvary. His death was only for those whom God
the Father gave Him to save (John 17:9). Their doctrine says specifically that
Christ died for the invisible Church: the sum total of all those who would ever
rightly bear the name Christian. According to this teaching, the vast majority
of people born will have to bear their sins in an eternal Hell with no chance of
propitiation.

In Genesis 3:21, the first mention of sacrifice for sins, the Bible makes clear
some things. First of all, it makes clear the penalty for sin. When sin entered
into the world through the disobedience of Adam, God’s redemptive plan, ordained
from the foundation of the world, was set into motion. The penalty for sin has
never changed: death. Because of God’s great love for Adam and Eve, blood was
shed through the death of an animal and coverings were made from that sacrifice.
Thus the first atonement was made. The word atonement means to reconcile or to
cover. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines atonement this way:

ATONEMENT, n, 1. Agreement; concord; reconciliation, after enmity or
controversy. Romans 5:1-21.

2. Expiation; satisfaction or reparation made by giving an equivalent for an
injury, or by doing or suffering that which is received in satisfaction for an
offense or injury; with for. And Moses said to Aaron, go to the altar, and offer
thy sin-offering, and thy burnt-offering, and make an atonement for thyself and
for the people. Leviticus 9:1-24. When a man has been guilty of any vice, the
best atonement he can make for it is, to warn others not to fall into the like.
The Phocians behaved with so much gallantry, that they were thought to have made
a sufficient atonement for their former offense.

3. In theology, the expiation of sin made by the obedience and personal
sufferings of Christ.1 A good break down of the word would be: at-one-ment. This
is a pretty good definition of the word in itself. Atonement is found 69 times
in the Old Testament. It is found only once in the New Testament (Romans 5:11)
and means to reconcile or to restore to favor. Chafer’s Systematic Theology
says, So far as the English translation is concerned, the use of the term
atonement―excepting the mistranslation of Romans 5:11 (Mr. Chafer did not
believe in inerrancy of Scripture)―is restricted to the Old Testament. Though
there it is a translation of two Hebrew words, but on of them, kaphar, is
generally in view and it is used about seventy times. Its meaning is “to cover.”
This, the distinct and limited meaning of the Hebrew word, should not be
invested with New Testament ideas, which contemplate a finished or completed
work. Under the Old Testament provision the one who had sinned was himself fully
forgiven and released, but the ground upon which it could be wrought was itself
only typical and not actual. God forgave and restored where sin was only covered
by animal sacrifices, but the true basis upon which forgiveness could ever be
granted was the intention on God’s part to take up the sin later that He had
forgiven and deal with it righteously and effectively through the sacrificial
death of His Son on the cross. That efficacious death was typified in the
required animal sacrifice.2

What does it take to atone for sin? Leviticus 17:11 says, “For the life of the
flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an
atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the
soul.” The requirement was and always will be blood. The Old Testament saint
offered the blood of bulls and goats to make atonement for sin until the Lamb of
God should come and take away, not cover, the sin of the world. God’s hatred for
sin still requires payment in full by either the perpetrator or through the
death of His Son. Secondly, it is evident that the sacrifice made was sufficient
for every man and woman who lived, Adam and Eve―not Adam or Eve. Thus, the first
sacrifice was not limited to one of the sinful, but for the entire human race.
The First Mention Principle dictates that God will never vary doctrinally from
the first mention of a particular subject, therefore, atonement was and is for
the entire human race.

The second mention of sacrifice is found in Genesis 4:4 when Abel “brought of
the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof.” The animal was brought and
slain as atonement for Abel’s sin. When Cain brought of the “fruit of the
ground,” a type of good works, the Lord “had not respect” to his offering. Works
could never atone for sin, thus they were rejected. The Lord gave Cain a second
chance in Genesis 4:6-7 when he said, “if thou doest well, shalt thou not be
accepted?” The Word of God is clear in this matter of redemption. If Cain had
repented of his dead works and brought the blood required for atonement, he
would have also been accepted. Genesis chapter 4 is consistent with Genesis
chapter 3 in that atonement was to every individual that lived upon the earth.
If atonement is truly limited, God’s Word will show to whom it is limited. First
of all, atonement is limited to whosoever in the Bible. There are several verses
that back up this statement. The first and probably the best known being John
3:16, which states, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting
life.” The sacrifice of God’s Son was made because of His love for the entire
world and included any and all persons who would accept His gift of salvation.
The word whosoever is used several times (John 4:14; John 11:26; John 12:46;
Acts 2:21; Acts 10:43; Romans 10:13; 1 John 5:1; Revelation 22:17) in reference
to salvation. One of the most notable is Revelation 22:17, which says, “And the
Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him
that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely.” Both the Holy Spirit and the Church are to compel all sinners to come
the Christ freely and take of His great salvation. Thus, atonement is limited to
whosoever will. Secondly, atonement is limited to every one. Paul, in Romans
1:16, stated that the gospel was “the power of God unto salvation to every one
that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” No matter what race or
nationality; no matter how rich or how poor; no matter how educated or
uneducated; every one can come to Christ through belief in the gospel. Romans
10:4 says that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth.” Thirdly, atonement is limited to every man. In John 1:19-13, the
Bible declares that Christ was the true Light, which lighteth every man that
cometh into the world . . . But as many as received him, to them gave he power
to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.

According to these verses, every man ever born has received enough Light to be
able to come to Christ through seeking salvation. The responsibility of
salvation is then placed upon the lost sinner because of his failure to receive
the Light given.

Fourthly, atonement is limited to all. One of the best verses of Scripture
dealing with the scope of God’s salvation is found in John 12:32 when Jesus
said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” The
lifting up of the Son of God upon the cross was for all men and the lifting up
of the Son of God in witness will draw all men to Him. Again, once drawn, the
responsibility of salvation is then a matter of choice for the lost. Many verses
can be quoted dealing with the all of atonement, but 1 Timothy 2:1-4 stands out.

I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in
authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and
honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who
will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. The
will of God is expressly stated in the last verse of the text when Paul said,
“Who will have all men to be saved.” (1 Corinthians 1:2; Colossians 1:20; 1
Timothy 4:10; 1 Peter 3:9)

Fifthly, atonement is limited to any man. Phrases such as “if any man eat” (John
6:51), “If any man thirst” (John 7:37), “If any man enter” (John 10:9), “If any
man hear . . . and open” (Revelation 3:20) plainly set forth a salvation that is
to any man, not a limited few. Sixthly, atonement is to every creature. Part of
the commission to the Church is found in Mark 16:15 where Christ said to “preach
the gospel to every creature.” To preach to those who could not come to Christ
would be like dangling a carrot under the nose of some poor old mule, knowing
that it will never be able to eat it. Seventhly, atonement is limited to the
world. In John 1:29, John the Baptist said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world.” John clearly stated that the sacrifice of
God’s Son would be not only for the entire world, but would―when received―be
sufficient to take away the sin of the world. John 3:16 makes it clear that God
love the entire world and gave His Son for all. The Hyper-Calvinist certainly
has a problem in light of 1 John 2:2, which states that “he is the propitiation
for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
One last verse plainly explaining God’s intent when He sent forth His only
begotten Son to die at Calvary is found in 1 John 4:14 which says, “And we have
seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the
world.” The Hyper-Calvinist must greatly distort the Word of God in order to
come up with the doctrine of Limited Atonement. To run by, or to try to explain
away such a multitude of evidence for the death of Christ for all mankind is a
travesty. A blind man should be able to see the heart of God and His great love
for fallen man. Man, created in His image and alienated by the fall, is the
object of God’s goodness and grace in the death of His Son.

There is no way that Christ’s death could be limited to paying only for the
elect’s sins. To deliver even one person from eternal punishment, no matter how
few or many the sins he may have committed, Christ had to pay the penalty
demanded by His infinite justice for sin. By very definition, then, the death of
Christ on the cross paid the penalty for sin itself which hangs over the heads
of the entire human race. It could not be otherwise.3

This third point of Hyper-Calvinism is indefensible with Scripture. Atonement is
limited to all mankind and all can be saved through Calvary’s blood. Everybody
is a whosoever.


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  CHAPTER 7: 06-CHAPTER 6
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CHAPTER VI - IRRESISTIBLE GRACE

The I of the TULIP stands for Irresistible Grace. Hyper-Calvinism teaches that
the result of God’s Irresistible Grace is the certain response by the elect to
the inward call of the Holy Spirit, when the evangelist or preacher of the Word
of God gives the outward call to salvation. When the divine call is given, those
to whom the call is intended cannot resist God’s will and will come to Christ in
salvation. The Hyper-Calvinist maintains that this is a biblical teaching.
According to their belief, Christ taught Irresistible Grace in John 6:37 when he
said that “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out.” First of all, before this corrupted doctrine
can be examined properly, there must be an understanding of grace. Webster’s
1828 Dictionary gives this definition:

GRACE, n. [L. gratia, which is formed on the Celtic; Eng. agree, congruous, and
ready. The primary sense of gratus, is free, ready, quick, willing, prompt, from
advancing.] Favor; good will; kindness; disposition to oblige another; as a
grant made as an act of grace.1 The very essence of grace is that is if freely
offered as an act of kindness from God. On its very face, the phrase
“irresistible grace” presents another irreconcilable contradiction. As far as
grace is concerned, there are two possible meanings for the word “irresistible”:
irresistible in its appeal to all mankind; or irresistible in its imposition
upon the elect alone. The former is, of course, vigorously denied by Calvinism.
That system is founded upon the belief that grace has no appeal at all to the
totally depraved, spiritually dead sons and daughters of Adam. Nor does grace
have any appeal even to the elect until they have been sovereignly regenerated.
Only one possibility remains: that grace is irresistible imposed upon a chosen
few―and this is the teaching of Calvinism. But to impose anything upon anyone is
the very antitheses of grace. Forcing even a most valuable and desirable gift
upon someone who does not wish to receive it would be ungracious in the extreme.
This the phrase “irresistible grace” is another oxymoron. Yet this is an
integral element without which the other four essentials of TULIP collapse.2

Hyper-Calvinist also use the word irresistible which is not a biblical word.
There is no place in God’s Word where He forces man to receive the gift of
Grace. The word grace is used 170 times in the Bible, but not once is it imposed
upon those who do not want it. Can grace be resisted? If not, then the only
conclusion that can be reached is that grace is extended only to the elect of
God. In Titus 2:11, Paul said, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation
hath appeared to all men.” This saving grace is extended, therefore, to all men
and not just to the elect of the Hyper-Calvinist. John 1:9 says that every man
born is enlightened and 1 Timothy 2:4 says that God would have all men to be
saved. Salvation requires the grace of God and that grace is extended to every
individual. If this grace were indeed irresistible, then all mankind would be
saved.

Can God’s will be resisted? Genesis 6:3 says, “And the LORD said, My spirit
shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall
be an hundred and twenty years.” Strive means to plead or to contend. In the
days of Noah, the Lord spoke to a wicked generation through a preacher of
righteousness. For one hundred and twenty years, as Noah built the ark, the Word
of the Lord went forth to all that would hear. Only eight persons entered the
ark at the end of the period of grace. Those who had heard the message certainly
rejected both the Word of God and the Holy Ghost. The Bible teaches that the
Holy Ghost has been and can be rejected. In reference to Genesis 6:3; Genesis
6:1-22 : 1 Peter 3:20 says, Which sometime were disobedient, when once the
longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing,
wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

Those who perished in the flood were disobedient to a divine call given to them
through both the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. In Proverbs 1:24-25, the Lord
dealt with those who had rejected His great salvation by saying,

Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man
regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my
reproof: The Lord called the sinner to repentance, but they refused to hear.
Refusing God’s goodness, mercy, and grace, therefore, they brought upon
themselves the judgment of God. He stretched out His hand to them and they
failed to regard it. God sincerely desires to save all men. His efforts are
plainly seen in His longsuffering and mercy to those who continually reject
salvation. On the Damascus Road, when Saul was converted, the Lord spoke to him
and said that it was “hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” The Lord had,
evidently, dealt with Saul on more than one occasion, but Saul continued in
unbelief. Saul of Tarsus was at the height of his profession: well known and
respected by his peers for his knowledge of law and zeal in persecution of the
Church. Since his place was a place of prominence, he was “in the know”
concerning Jesus Christ and the things that had transpired in the past three
years. He knew of the great miracles and the gracious words of Christ. He knew
of the trial and heard Pilate say, “I find in him no fault.” He watched as
Christ died on the cross and knew of the glorious resurrection. Saul was there
when Stephen was stoned, calling upon the name of the Lord. Saul rejected the
wooing of the Lord until his providential meeting on the highway. When Jesus
announced who He was, Saul knew and believed.

God’s people reject the Holy Ghost. Through out the Old Testament, God’s men
preached the Word to a gainsaying people who heard and rejected the message.
Israel, time and again, rejected the goodness and grace of the Lord. Nehemiah
indicted Israel when he said,

Yet many years didst thou forbear them, and testifiedst against them by thy
spirit in thy prophets: yet would they not give ear: therefore gavest thou them
into the hand of the people of the lands. The Holy Ghost spoke through the
prophets of God to Israel and they turned a deaf ear to His pleas. This
progression continued for the space of years until God finally brought judgment
upon Israel through heathen nations. Isaiah spoke of the judgment of God upon a
nation that refused to give in to God’s demands. He used the words rebelled, and
vexed his holy Spirit” in Isaiah 63:10. These words are defined in this manner:

REBEL’, v.i. [L. rebello, to make war again; re and bello.]

1. To revolt; to renounce the authority of the laws and government to which one
owes allegiance. Subjects may rebel by an open renunciation of the authority of
the government, without taking arms; but ordinarily, rebellion is accompanied by
resistance in arms.

VEX, v.t. [L. vexo.] 1. To irritate; to make angry by little provocations; a
popular use of the word.

2. To plague; to torment; to harass; to afflict.

Ten thousand torments vex my heart.

3. To disturb; to disquiet; to agitate.

White curl the waves, and the vex’d ocean roars.

4. To trouble; to distress.3

It is a certainty that Israel resisted the grace of God on numerous occasions
and suffers the divine consequences for their actions. In Isaiah 65:12, the
prophet said,

Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the
slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not
hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted
not. The rebellion of Israel continued in the days of the Lord Jesus Christ and
also of the apostles. In Acts 7:51, the Bible says, “Ye stiffnecked and
uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your
fathers did, so do ye.” Here is another account of Old Testament rebellion plus
the continuation of New Testament Israel.

God’s children can resist the Holy Ghost and do so. Galatians 5:16 says, “This I
say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”
Not to walk in the Spirit is to walk in disobedience to His directing of the
saint’s life. When the sinner trusts Christ, the Holy Ghost takes up residence
in the regenerated saint. This One whom Jesus said would “lead you into all
truth” abides with the believer and becomes his guide for life. When the saint
tries to commit sin, the Holy Ghost convicts and chastens him. Not to submit to
this wonderful grace shown to the saint is to “grieve” the Holy Ghost. Ephesians
4:30 says, “And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto
the day of redemption.” The saved can “refuse . . . him” and “fail of the grace
of God.” Irresistible certainly does not apply in any of these cases. Man can
certainly resist God. Cain resisted in Genesis 4:6-7 when God offered him a
second chance and the extended grace of God. Isaiah said, “When I called, none
did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes,
and chose that in which I delighted not.” Jeremiah said, “I spake unto you,
rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye
answered not.” Zachariah said in 7:11-12, But they refused to hearken, and
pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law,
and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former
prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.

Therefore, it must be scripturally concluded that the grace of God extended to
fallen man and, also, to those who have been redeemed can be resisted. The Lord,
in His sovereignty, has given man a choice. Upon making that choice, man becomes
responsible. Paul showed the love and will of God in Romans when he said that
could wish himself accursed for Israel’s sake. The Lord Jesus Christ wept over
Jerusalem because of their unbelief and rejection. He called to those who were
tired and burdened to come unto Him and He would give them rest. The teachings
of Hyper-Calvinism concerning God’s grace will not withstand the scrutiny of the
Bible.


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  CHAPTER 8: 07-CHAPTER 7
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CHAPTER VII - PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS The P of the TULIP stands for
Perseverance Of The Saints. Perseverance of the Saints is a doctrine, which
states that the saints (those whom God has saved) will remain in God’s hand
until they are glorified and brought to abide with Him in Heaven. Romans 8:28-39
makes it clear that when God truly has regenerated a person, he will remain in
God’s stead. The will of the saints is so inflamed by the Holy Spirit that they
therefore have an ability because they have such a will; and that their having
such a will proceeds from the operations of God. For if, amidst such great
weakness--which still requires ’strength’ to be ’made perfect’ for the
repressing of pride--they were left to their own will, so as to have ability,
through the divine assistance, if they were willing, and God did not operate in
them to produce that will, among so many temptations and infirmities their will
would fail, and therefore they could not possibly persevere. The infirmity of
the human will, then, is succored, that it may invariably and inseparably
actuated by divine grace and so, notwithstanding all its weakness, may not
fail.1 The work of sanctification, which God has brought about in his elect,
will continue until it reaches its fulfillment in eternal life (Php 1:6). Christ
assures the elect that he will not lose them and that they will be glorified at
the last day (John 6:39). The Hyper-Calvinist teaches that this point of
Calvinism only means that the elect are eternally saved and will never perish
out of the hand of God, but the word perseverance also has other meanings.

PERSEVE’RANCE, n. [L. perseverantia. See Persevere.]

1. Persistence in any thing undertaken; continued pursuit or prosecution of any
business or enterprise begun; applied alike to good or evil.

Perseverance keeps honor bright.

Patience and perseverance overcome the greatest difficulties.

2. In theology, continuance in a state of grace to a state of glory; sometimes
called final perseverance.2 The word perseverance presents a problem. First of
all, the Hyper-Calvinism can have no real assurance of salvation because of the
serious flaws in his doctrinal beliefs. How can a man know if he is truly one of
God’s elect? When asked, they may answer, “Because the Bible says that
‘whosoever shall call upon the Lord shall be saved,’ but salvation is not a
simple prayer, but a heart condition. There have been multitudes that have been
led through the so-called “Sinner’s Prayer” that will not darken the doors of a
local Church. They have never followed the Lord in either personal testimony or
baptism. In 2 Corinthians 13:5, God’s Word says to “Examine yourselves, whether
ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that
Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” For the Hyper-Calvinist to say
that he is one of the elect because he prayed a prayer is not necessarily so.
Certainly his name is not personally written in the Bible, so assurance becomes
a problem. The stand taken by many Hyper-Calvinist to counter this problem is
the use of the word perseverance. When one leaves the will of God permanently or
goes into and continues in a sinful lifestyle, the answer of the Hyper-Calvinist
is that he was not one of the elect. One of the verses that they use is 1 John
2:19, which says,

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be
made manifest that they were not all of us.

There is much of this thinking in local churches today. When a man is “running”
well, he is called a brother, but when the individual gets out of the will of
God, it is said that it is probably a salvation problem. This particular verse
deals with apostasy, not individual sinfulness. The problem is the spirit of
antichrist. To say that a lack of perseverance on the part of these individuals
is a sign of their non-elect condition raises a problem. There are several
biblical examples of saved people who did not persevere.

Possibly the most notable example of a child of God not persevering is found in
the person of Lot. Lot chose the well-watered plains in the general vicinity of
Sodom when he and Abraham went their separate ways. It was once said that Sodom
was a great place to raise cattle, but not children. The Bible specifically says
that he pitched his tent towards Sodom and later was found in a place of
authority in the city. When the angels came, he called the sodomites his
brethren and later, in a cave, got drunk and committed incest with his two
daughters. But in 2 Peter 2:6-9 Lot’s salvation is undeniably cited. And turning
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow,
making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered
just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous
man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from
day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly
out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be
punished: The description of Lot’s eternal soul is plain in these verses. The
Word of God declares Lot, long dead and gone, righteous. Several key words
describe his spiritual condition in these verses. Lot is called “just.” The word
just comes from the Greek dikaios, which means innocent, faultless, or guiltless
and carries the thought of being approved or accepted by God. The word is
translated as righteous 41 times, jus” 33 times, right 5 times, and meet 2
times. Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines it as:

JUST, a. [L. justus. The primary sense is probably straight or close, from the
sense of setting, erecting, or extending.]

5. In a moral sense, upright; honest; having principles of rectitude; or
conforming exactly to the laws, and to principles of rectitude in social
conduct; equitable in the distribution of justice; as a just Judges 6:1-40In an
evangelical sense, righteous; religious; influenced by a regard to the laws of
God; or living in exact conformity to the divine will.3

Peter also said that Lot was a righteous man. The word righteous is the same
Greek word as just, which was referred to earlier. One may ask why the Holy
Ghost used the same word and, through divine preservation, had the word
translated two ways. The reason is inerrance of Scripture. To be declared
righteous is actually a legal term dealing with the justice of God in
imputation. Lot was imputed righteous through his faith and declared righteous
through the Lord Jesus Christ who kept the law in all points.

RIGHTEOUS, a. ri’chus.

1. Just; accordant to the divine law. Applied to persons, it denotes one who is
holy in heart, and observant of the divine commands in practice; as a righteous
man. Applied to things, it denotes consonant to the divine will or to justice;
as a righteous act. It is used chiefly in theology, and applied to God, to his
testimonies and to his saints. The righteous, in Scripture, denote the servants
of God, the saints.

2. Just; equitable; merited.4

Possible the hardest descriptive term given to Lot was the word godly. This word
is only used 4 times in Scripture: 3 times translated devout, and 1 time as
godly.

GOD’LY, a. [god-like] Pious; reverencing God, and his character and laws.

1. Living in obedience to God’s commands, from a principle of love to him and
reverence of his character and precepts; religious; righteous; as a godly
person.

2. Pious; conformed to God’s law; as a godly life.5 The word carries the meaning
of being pious or dutiful. It sounds like a classic case of not persevering to
the causal reader of the Bible, In the eyes of man, Lot was none of these
things, yet, in the eyes of God he was all of these thing. Hyper-Calvinism’s
Perseverance Of The Saints would have a hard time with Lot.

Sampson, one of the few saints that the Lord made mention of in Hebrews 11:1-40
would have caused some problems for the Hyper-Calvinist. His life was permeated
with lustful living. He moved from one worldly woman to the next with,
seemingly, no remorse or fear of God. Everything that the Bible said that a
Nazarite was to abstain from, Sampson violated. When he finally gave up the
secret of his great strength, he was blinded and abused. Eventually he took his
own life and died in shame, yet God placed his name in the “Hall of Faith.” No
perseverance was found in his life yet the Lord gave to him eternal life. In the
Book of Acts, there is the account of God’s people selling what they owned and
sharing their resources with the rest of the saints. In Chapter 5, Ananias and
Sapphira covenanted together to sell what they had and yet hold back a part for
themselves. Peter discerned the deception and Ananias died because he had lied
to the Holy Ghost of God. Later, his wife Sapphira, came in and agreed to the
lie and was likewise slain by God. They died because of their sin, therefore did
not persevere. In 1 Corinthians 11:1-34, while dealing with the Lord’s Supper,
the Bible said that many misused the ordinance and died for their sins. Saved
people chasten unto death for willful disobedience. In chapter 3 of the same
book, the Judgment Seat of Christ is dealt with. Though many of the saint’s
works will be either wood, hay, or stubble, they them selves will be saved “so
as by fire.” The teaching is that eternal life has nothing to do with our
perseverance, but with His promises. One last saint that needs to be dealt with
is Demas. Demas was a faithful servant of the Lord and a fellow helper with the
apostle Paul. In 2 Timothy 4:10, Demas, having fallen in love with the things of
the world, departed, and left behind those with whom he had so lovingly labored.
1 John 2:15-17 says,

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love
the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not
of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. The last verse
dealing with the life of this child of God was one of shame and disgrace, and
yet, had nothing to do with his eternal salvation.

There are other instances of God’s children who did not finish the race set
before them. There is Scripture to say that all of these were saved, and yet,
did not persevere in the faith. These individuals died in a state of sinfulness
with no recorded repentance before their death. If perseverance was a
requirement for eternal life, these fell short of that blessed hope. This being
the case, just what exactly does our preservation depend upon. The
Hyper-Calvinist would have to say that eternal life is based upon election or
predestination. One would actually be secure from the foundation of the world,
totally apart from belief or repentance. This doctrine teaches salvation before
birth, which is fatalism.

First of all, the security of the believer is based upon his obedience to the
gospel of Jesus Christ. InHebrews 5:9(cf.John 3:16;John 3:36;John 4:14;John
5:24;John 6:40John 6:47;John 10:9;John 10:27-28;Romans 2:8,Romans 6:17;Romans
10:16; and other verses), Paul writes,“And being made perfect, he became the
author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.”Ephesians 1:13says, In
whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy
Spirit of promise. The Bible teaches that eternal life is a direct result of
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Secondly, the security of the believer is based upon the application of the
Blood of Christ. Our High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, has applied the blood
to the mercy seat in Heaven. Hebrews 9:12 says, “Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us.” As long as the eternal blood of Christ is
upon the mercy seat in Heaven, the believer is secure. Then there must be the
personal application of the blood of Christ to every believer. It is the blood
that purchases our redemption as set forth in 1 Peter 1:18-20 :

Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as
silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your
fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and
without spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world,
but was manifest in these last times for you.

Our obedience to and faith in Christ and the application of the blood of Christ
gives the child of God assurance of eternal salvation. A vital part of the
saint’s heritage is full assurance and anything that disturbs this is not of
God.

Why such uncertainty among Calvinists? Why such doubts? And in what can the
Calvinist find assurance? Oddly enough, certainty of salvation and confidence of
one’s eternal destiny are not to be found in the fifth point of Calvinism where
one would expect it-nor can it be found in the other four points. While many
Calvinists would deny it, uncertainty as to one’s ultimate salvation is, in
fact, built into the very fabric of their system. . . .Though Christ commanded
that the gospel be preached to every person living in the entire world, the
Calvinist says it is effective only for the elect. Others canimaginethey believe
the gospel, but not having been sovereignly regenerated, their faith is not from
God and will not save. . . . No wonder, they, that Calvinists are plagued by
doubts concerning their salvation.6 The Bible believer certainly believes in
preservation through his faith in the finished work of Christ, but not that the
child of God must persevere. Perseverance would entail several things that are
impossible to humanity. It would demand the perfection of the saint; otherwise,
one would have to determine (as the Armenian) when and where he had crossed the
line from salvation to damnation.

Thank God for preservation and not perseverance! 1 Peter 1:5 says, “Who are kept
by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the
last time.” Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!


========================================================================
  CHAPTER 9: 08-CHAPTER 8
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CHAPTER VIII - HYPER-CALVINISM: AN ENEMY OF GOD

Why all of the fuss and contention? Many view Hyper-Calvinism as a non-issue and
simply agree to disagree agreeable on the subject. The philosophy of live and
let live has become the general rule for fellowship, but with this, a problem is
encountered. The false doctrine of Hyper-Calvinism continues to grow in the
fundamental movement and is permeating many of the local churches. This doctrine
is more than just a gentleman’s disagreement or a non-issue. Hyper-Calvinism is
an enemy of God! The Hyper-Calvinist individually is not to be viewed in this
fashion because, many times, they are just the product of other men and not
personal Bible study. They need to be scripturally admonished and, if their
attitude towards the Word of God is right, they may be taught correct doctrine.
Some are so steeped in Hyper-Calvinism that they will not listen to either the
admonisher or the Word of God. In such cases, the Bible gives the answer in
Titus 3:10, which says, “A man that is an heretick after the first and second
admonition reject.”

Because Hyper-Calvinism is an enemy of God, it must therefore be isolated and
eradicated from the local church. The people of God must be scripturally taught
in such a way as not to be “carried about with every wind of doctrine.”
Doctrinal position must always be Bible based and, therefore, have an unshakable
foundation. “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”
(Psalms 11:3) This chapter will deal in some detail with why Hyper-Calvinism is
an enemy of God.

Hyper-Calvinism is an enemy to the character of God.

CHARACTER, n. The peculiar qualities, impressed by nature or habit on a person,
which distinguish him from others; these constitute real character, and the
qualities which he is supposed to possess, constitute his estimated character,
or reputation. Hence we say, a character is not formed, when the person has not
acquired stable and distinctive qualities.1

One of the worst things that can happen to a person who is moral and upright is
to have someone slander his character. It does several things. It places the one
slandered in a bad light with those around him. The slander is not easily healed
because. Once maligned, it seems that the burden of proof is always upon the one
slandered, not the slanderer. Hyper-Calvinism places the character of God in a
bad light with those for whom He died.

Hyper-Calvinism slanders the love of God. All of the attributes of God are
important, but the salvation of fallen man was initiated by the love of God.

Love is that attrubute of God by which He is inclined to seek the highest good
for His creatures and the communication of Himself to them regardless of the
sacrifice involved . . . God’s love is His desire for and delight in the welfare
of those loved.2

I am unable to see any way out here, or any escape from the conclusion, that the
doctrine of an atonement for the elect only, destroys the claim of the work of
Christ to be what fully reveals and illustrates the great foundation of all
religion, that God is love.3

Much is said in the Bible about this great love so freely bestowed to those who
are in sin. “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) What a verse! Even while man is in
sin, not looking for the Lord, He loves and initiates salvation.

It is simply impossible to maintain that a God who damns those He could save
(much less who takes pleasure in so doing!) is merciful and full of love. How
then can the Calvinist escape the charge that he misrepresents the God of the
Bible? Sovereignty can’t excuse or justify call our neglect on God’s part to
rescue those He could save. That God has the fight to damn everyone would not
make Him living and merciful if He did Song of Solomon 4:1-16

Man strives to love, but the Scripture declares that “God is love.” Not that He
tries to love or is obligated to love, but that it is the very essence of His
person.

More specifically concerning love: God has not attained unto love, nor does He
by an effort maintain love; it is the structure of His being. He is the
unfailing source of all love. It is, because of this fact, preeminently the
thing which He requires. “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” Without the
attribute of love, God would not be what He is. As no other attribute, love is
the primary motive in God, and to satisfy His love all creation has been formed.
It is because of the fact that God has no need which He depends on others to
supply, that He is ever bestowing and imparting.5

John 3:16 states His love for the entire world, though not all will come to
Christ. His love for the sinner is beautifully set forth in John 15:13 :
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his
friends.” The Bible calls the sinner His friend. The Lord Jesus was rightly
accused by the Pharisees when they called him a “friend of publicans and
sinners.” Even in the Garden in Matthew 26:50, as He was betrayed by Judas with
a kiss, the Lord said, “Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and
laid hands on Jesus, and took him.”

Here we confront a major problem with Calvinism: its denial of God’s infinite
love for all. That God would choose to save only a select few and leave the rest
to suffer eternal damnation would be contrary to His very nature of infinite
love and mercy as the Bible presents Him, and as shall be documented in the
process of examining Calvinism from Scripture. Incredibly, however, the very
damnation of perhaps billions is said by the Calvinist to have been foreordained
from eternity past because it pleases and glorifies God! The Westminster
Confession of Faith, paraphrasing Calvin himself, declares:

“By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels
are predestinated unto everlasting life: and others foreordained to everlasting
death . . . . Those of mankind that are predestinated unto life, God . . . hath
chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory . . . to the praise of his glorious
grace . . . . The rest of mankind, God was pleased, according to the
unsearchable counsel of his own will . . . for the glory of his sovereign power
over his creatures . . . to ordain them to dishonor and wrath for their sin, to
the praise of his glorious justice.”6 The Hyper-Calvinist will refer to the
verse in Romans 9:1-33 : Romans 9:11-13 which says,

(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that
the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him
that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is
written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

He will maintain that these verses are speaking of individual and national
election. The problem is that, if this is speaking individually, these
children―before they were even born―were either loved or hated by God. What kind
of love is this? That God would hate an unborn child when He pronounced a curse
upon those who offended children. The Bible often refers to the unborn and small
children as the “innocents.” What a slander upon the character of God’s love!

Another attribute of God slandered by Hyper-Calvinism is that of justice. The
Bible declares that God is just. “To declare, I say, at this time his
righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26)

JUST, a. [L. justus. In a moral sense, upright; honest; having principles of
rectitude; or conforming exactly to the laws, and to principles of rectitude in
social conduct; equitable in the distribution of justice; as a just Judges
7:1-25 The Bible says that there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. When the word “remnant” is used, it refers to just a few. In a textile
mill, a remnant is less than one yard of cloth left over from a fifty-yard bolt.
This figures at approximately one to two percent. This being true, ninety-five
plus percent of the people in the world will perish with Christ. If this great
multitude has absolutely no hope of salvation because God has simply chosen them
to perish, then no justice may be found. According to Scripture, respect of
persons is a sin (James 2:9). If God is a respecter of persons, then―according
to His own Word―He becomes a sinner.

Since the Creator’s authority is absolute, it is superlative cause for gratitude
that God is perfect In justice. What wretchedness would be the creature’s
portion if it were otherwise! Divine justice is exhibited in the fact that
righteous laws are given to men, that these laws are sustained by proper
sanctions, and that these laws are given an impartial execution. No favoritism
is ever indulged, though infinite favor is extended to those who come under the
righteous provisions for salvation made possible through Christ’s sacrifice for
sin.8

Romans 2:11 and Colossians 3:25 maintain that God is no respecter of persons.
According to the Hyper-Calvinist, He is a respecter of persons and, therefore,
the character of God is slandered again.

Hyper-Calvinism slanders the goodness of God. Could God, whom the Bible declares
to be good in His character, condemn children―having done neither good nor
bad―to an eternal Hell with no chance of salvation? Nine times the Word of God
declares that the Lord “is good.” In seven of these references, thanksgiving is
a direct result of realization of the goodness of God. In three of the
references, the Lord is praised for His goodness. In Psalms 86:5, the Bible
states that “Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy
unto all them that call upon thee.” Divine goodness is, in this verse, expressed
to all of mankind in the promised redemption of any and all that call upon His
name. God is ready to forgive those who come to Him. God is plenteous in mercy
to those who ask for it. God’s mercy is sufficient for the sins of all humanity.
The infinite goodness of God is a perfection of His being which characterizes
His nature and is itself and source of all in the universe that is good. The
specific terms employed in setting forth the goodness of God are (a)
benevolence, which is goodness in its generic sense as embracing all His
creatures and securing their welfare; (b) complacency, which is that in God
which approves all His own perfections s well as all that conforms to Himself;
(c) mercy, which is God’s goodness exercised in behalf of the need of His
creatures; and (d) grace, which is God’s free action in behalf of those who are
meritless, which freedom to act has been secured through the death of Christ . .
. . the mercy of God has had it supreme manifestation in the giving of His Son
for the lost of this world.9

It is interesting to note that all nine references to the goodness of God deal
with His everlasting mercy. God is merciful to both saved and lost. He is
merciful to those who have trusted Christ in that there is a complete
forgiveness of sins. Mercy simply means that sinners do not get what they
deserve. God is merciful to the lost in that they are allowed to live in this
wonderful world. God is merciful to the lost in that He has provided a means of
eternal life for those who will come to Him in faith. God is good to those who
reject Him and still gives breath and a good measure of life.

GOOD’NESS, n. The state of being good; the physical qualities which constitute
value, excellence or perfection; as the goodness of timber; the goodness of a
soil.

1. The moral qualities which constitute christian excellence; moral virtue;
religion. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith. Galatians 5:1-26.

2. Kindness; benevolence; benignity of heart; but more generally, acts of
kindness; charity; humanity exercised. I shall remember his goodness to me with
gratitude.

3. Kindness; benevolence of nature; mercy. The Lord God--abundant in goodness
and truth. Exodus 34:1-35.

4. Kindness; favor shown; acts of benevolence, compassion or mercy.10 Not only
is goodness a quality of God, but is a quality that is given to His children
through the Holy Spirit. Could God truly be called good when He condemns those
whom He could save? Instead of offering regeneration, He condemns them to an
eternal Hell without either choice of hope! The Hyper-Calvinist will maintain
that God is good and yet portray Him as a God who condemns the innocent as well
as the guilty. Not only is Hyper-Calvinism an enemy of God’s character, but it
is also an enemy of the Great Commission given to the Church. This Great
Commission is stated in Matthew 28:18-20 which says, And Jesus came and spake
unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end
of the world. Amen. In Mark 16:15, the Lord said, “Go ye into all the world, and
preach the gospel to every creature.” A preacher once preached a message
entitled, “Every Creature Needs A Preacher.” The local church has an obligation
to propagate the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Romans 10:13-17, the Bible
says that in order for a sinner to call upon the name of the Lord, that
individual must have an understanding of the Word of God. How can they believe
without a preacher and how can they preach except they be sent? This is the
responsibility of the local church. “How can they preach, except they be sent?”
The heartbeat of God is worldwide missions, and this can only be accomplished
through the ordaining and sending forth of missionaries to evangelize the world.
In Acts 1:8, the Lord clearly set forth the method of propagation of the gospel.
Before His ascension, Jesus Christ specifically told the disciples to carry the
gospel to the lost, both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of
the earth. The command was to preach to every man, woman, and child. The
fulfillment was to carry the message of hope to every nation and every tongue.
Why preach to “every creature” when Christ did not die for them? It is a
discouragement to local churches in the area of missions. As the end nears,
missions should be more fervent and every effort made to evangelize the world.
Hyper-Calvinists are not mission-hearted!

Hyper-Calvinism is an enemy to the individual soul-winner. The “go ye” of the
Great Commission is to the individual. Biblical evangelism is from faith to
faith. Those who have been regenerated through faith in Christ are to share
their faith and salvation experience with others. Hyper-Calvinism causes the
saints to transfer the personal responsibility of carrying the Word of God to
the Lord Himself. Every child of God is responsible to propagate the gospel! In
every place and in every way, the gospel is to be communicated to the lost.

If grace truly is irresistible, if only those elected by God to salvation can be
saved, if no one can believe the gospel until regenerated by God and thereafter
given the faith to believe, would it not be vain to attempt to persuade anyone
through the gospel - or for those who hear to attempt to believe in Christ?
Since there is nothing one can do to change one’s eternal destiny (if one of the
elect, nothing can stand between the soul and heaven; and if not among the
elect, nothing can be done to escape hell) shouldn’t one just go on with life
and let the inevitable take its course? While many Calvinist would object to
this view, it cannot be denied that this is the practical conclusion to which
that dogma leads.11

Hyper-Calvinism leads to fatalism. There is nothing that can be changed
concerning salvation and God’s elect; therefore, there is nothing that actually
needs to be done in the area of soul winning. Hyper-Calvinists are not
aggressive soul-winners because the very doctrine itself destroys individual’s
responsibility and places that responsibility entirely upon the Lord. The result
of this fatalism is clearly seen in countries where Hyper-Calvinism became
prominent. Countries such as the Netherlands, England, Wales, and Ireland are
spiritually dead because of the teachings of men like John Calvin and Charles H.
Spurgeon. These men are heralded as great preachers, and truly their influence
and pulpit oratory has been greatly appreciated by men of God, and yet they
introduced and preached Calvinism. Slowly the doctrine of Hyper-Calvinism took
hold and the soul winning and mission efforts of the churches began to wane.
Hyper-Calvinism always leads to fatalism.

Hyper-Calvinism is an enemy of the cross of Christ. It is hard to imagine living
in a country where the gospel is not being preached. Living out one’s entire
life never having heard the good news that a Savior has come and died for the
sins of the world. Generation after generation living in the same communities
without a gospel witness; therefore, having no hope. In 1 John 2:2, the Bible
says, “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also
for the sins of the whole world.” The “our” is a reference to those saved (the
Hyper-Calvinist would say that they were the elect), and is contrasted with the
“whole world” which is the unsaved and “would prove that Christ’s death is
propitiatory for all mankind.”12 When Christ died on Calvary, He bore the weight
of the sins of the whole world. The Lord not only died for those who would
accept His great salvation, but also for those who would ultimately reject.
Jesus Christ was sent into the world to die upon the cross for all of men. John
the Baptist, when first recognizing the Christ, said in John 1:29, “Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” Christ not only died for
the sin of the world, but would have taken it away if received by the lost. The
Hyper-Calvinist will try to use the term world as being a reference to the elect
and not every individual. The word world is used eighty times in the gospel of
John alone, and not one reference refers to the elect. To the contrary, many
times the word is used to show the hatred of the world towards the Son of God.
In John 1:10, the Bible says, “The world knew him not.” This is certainly not a
reference to the elect. In John 7:7, Jesus Christ is hated by the world. How
could one of God’s children hate Him? The Bible says that God’s children love
Him, not hate Him. Many other verses using the word world are in direct
reference to the lost and not to the saved. Jesus Christ said, “And I, if I be
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”

Hyper-Calvinism is an enemy of assurance. One of the blessings of being saved is
to have full assurance of salvation. In 1 Thessalonians 1:5, Paul wrote, For our
gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your
sake. The power of the gospel is that it will save any and all that come to
Jesus Christ. At the moment of salvation, the Holy Ghost begins to indwell the
believer and empowers him to live the Christian life. A vital part of that
salvation is “in much assurance.” Not just having a measure of peace that comes
and goes, but having a blessed peace that comes through knowing Christ
personally. Paul later wrote of having personal assurance in 2 Timothy 1:12,
when he said, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” There are actually
two tenses found in this verse. There is the past tense of salvation in the
words “have believed.” This was a reference to Paul’s Damascus Road experience
where he was gloriously saved. There is a specific time and place in life of a
believer where the new birth takes place. The present tense is found in the “I
know.” The word now is understood and is a positive thing. Paul not only
received Christ, but also had full assurance of eternal life. The
Hyper-Calvinist cannot biblically have this assurance. Assurance of salvation
rests solely upon the promises of God. Verses such as 2 Timothy 1:1, which gives
the promise of life through faith in Christ, causes the child of God to rest in
God’s salvation. Ephesians 1:13-14 says, In whom ye also trusted, after that ye
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that
ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the
earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,
unto the praise of his glory.

Blessed assurance comes through trusting Christ alone for salvation and placing
one’s faith in His unwavering promises. There is a license plate that says, “God
said it; I believe it; and that settles it.” This statement may sound good to
the casual reader, but is biblically incorrect. God says it and that settles it
if a person believes it or not. The Christian’s guarantee of eternal life lies
within the veracity of God. God has promised eternal life to all who believe and
the Scripture cannot be broken. Assurance of salvation also is based upon one’s
obedience to the gospel. Romans 10:16 says, “But they have not all obeyed the
gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?” The Bible says to
repent of sin and trust Christ. This is the basis of full assurance.
Hyper-Calvinism teaches that one cannot be saved unless they are one of God’s
elect; therefore, obedience to the gospel is not the basis of salvation.


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  CHAPTER 10: 09-FOOTNOTES
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FOOTNOTES

INTRODUCTION David Hunt, WHAT LOVE IS THIS?, (Loyal Publishing , Inc., 2002), p.
18.

2.Ibid., p. 21.

3 Ibid., p. 14.

CHAPTER I 1 T.H.L. Parker, JOHN CALVIN: A BIOGRAPHY, (The Westminster Press,
Philadelphia, PA, 1975), p. 3.

2 Earle E. Cairns, CHRISTIANITY THROUGH THE CENTURIES, (Zondervan Publishing
House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1954), P. 309.

3 Parker, p. 16.

4 Joseph Gaer, HOW THE GREAT RELIGIONS BEGAN, (Dodd, Mead & company, New York,
New York, 1959), p. 404.

5 Parker, p. 163-164.

6 John T. McNeil, ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH, (The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.,
Indianapolis, New York, 1957), Editor’s Introduction, xvii.

7 Cairns, p. 310.

8 Martin E. Marty, PROTESTANTISM, (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, New
York, 1972), p. 24.

9 Ibid., p. 30.

CHAPTER II 1 Randall Balmer and John R. Fitzmier, THE PRESBYTERIANS, (Greenwood
Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1993), pp. 5-6.

2 Lewis Sperry Chafer, CHAFER SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, (Dallas Seminary Press,
Dallas. Texas 75204, 1947), Vol. I, p. 244.

3 Noah Webster, AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, (S. Converse, New
Haven, Connecticut, 1828), no page number.

4McNeil, p. 92.

5 John Calvin, INSTRUCTION IN FAITH, (The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA,
1959), p. 36.

CHAPTER3 John 1:1 McNeil, p. 42-43.

2 Webster, no page number.

3 Chafer, Vol. VII, p. 136.

4 Hunt, p. 103.

5 Hunt, p. 107.

6 Hunt, p. 105 7 Chafer, Vol. III, p. 212.

CHAPTER IV 1 Webster, no page number.

2 Emery H. Bancroft, CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY, (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand
Rapids, Michigan, 1976), pp. 125-126.

3 Chafer, Vol. III, p. 187.

4 Hunt, pp. 189-100.

CHAPTER V 1 Webster, no page number.

2 Chafer, Vol. VII, p. 25.

3 Hunt, p. 251.

CHAPTER VI 1 Webster, no page number.

2 Hunt, p. 294.

3 Webster, no page number.

CHAPTER VII

1 Hunt, p. 49.

2 Webster, no page number.

3 Webster, no page number.

4 Webster, no page number.

5 Webster, no page number.

6 Hunt, pp. 378-379.

CHAPTER VIII 1 Webster, no page number.

2 Emery H. Bancroft, ELEMENTAL THEOLOGY, (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand
Rapids, Michigan, 1977) p. 98.

3 Leanne Van Dyk, THE DESIRE OF DIVINE LOVE, (Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New
York, New York, 1995), p. 48.

4 Hunt, p. 301.

5 Chafer, Vol. I, p. 205.

6 Hunt, p. 197.

7 Webster, no page given.

8 Chafer, Vol. I, p. 203.

9 Chafer, Vol. I, p. 206.

10 Webster, no page given.

11 Hunt, p. 352.

12 Hunt, p. 255.


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  CHAPTER 11: 10-BIBLIOGRAPHY
========================================================================

BIBLIOGRAPHY Balmer, Randall and John R. Fitzmier. THE PRESBYTERIANS, Greenwood
Press, Westport, Connecticut, 1993.

Bancroft, Emery H. CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids,
Michigan, 1976.

Bancroft, Emery H. ELEMENTAL THEOLOGY, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids,
Michigan, 1977.

Cairns, Earle E. CHRISTIANITY THROUGH THE CENTURIES, Zondervan Publishing House,
Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1954.

Calvin, John. INSTRUCTION IN FAITH, The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, PA,
1959.

Chafer, Lewis Sperry. CHAFER SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY, Dallas Seminary Press, Dallas.
Texas 75204, 1947.

Dyk, Leanne Van. THE DESIRE OF DIVINE LOVE, Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New
York, New York, 1995.

Gaer, Joseph. HOW THE GREAT RELIGIONS BEGAN, Dodd, Mead & company, New York, New
York, 1959.

Hunt, David. WHAT LOVE IS THIS?, Loyal Publishing , Inc., 2002.

Marty, Martin E. PROTESTANTISM, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, New York,
1972.

McNeil, John T. ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc.,
Indianapolis, New York, 1957.

Parker, T.H.L. JOHN CALVIN: A BIOGRAPHY, The Westminster Press, Philadelphia,
PA, 1975.

Webster, Noah. AMERICAN DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, S. Converse, New
Haven, Connecticut, 1828.


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/johnston-david-hyper-calvinism/
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