Calvinism and Arminianism:
Myths & Realities
According to Calvinism, just because the Gospel is not received by all, in no way diminishes its power, since those whose heart is right, repent by it, while those whose heart is wrong, are condemned by it. 2nd Corinthians 2:14-16 states: “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.” According to Calvinism, the heart of man, in its natural state, does not receive the Gospel as an “aroma from life to life,” unless the heart is first changed, and that being by an Irresistible Grace, where one is made preemptively Born Again. The Arminian criticism of Calvinism is that the power of the Gospel is ultimately therefore dwarfed by the dynamite power of Irresistible Grace, which alone is able to change the heart of man. Notice how John Calvin explains the power of the Gospel without being accompanied by an Irresistible Grace:
John Calvin: “The minister’s teaching and speaking does no good unless God adds his inward calling to it. ... Preaching alone is just a dead letter, and we must beware lest a false imagination, or the semblance of secret illumination, leads us away from the Word on which faith depends.” (Acts: Calvin, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.278, emphasis mine)
Question: How can Calvinists talk about the dynamite “power” of the Gospel (Romans 1:16), while simultaneously calling it “a dead letter” in the absence of an irresistible Regenerative Grace, in the face of the far-surpassing, power of Total Inability?
John Calvin: “For as in His creation of the world God has poured forth upon us the brightness of the sun and has also given us eyes with which to receive it, so in our redemption He shines forth upon us in the person of His Son by His Gospel, but that would be in vain, since we are blind, unless He were also to illuminate our minds by His Spirit. Thus his meaning is that God has opened the eyes of our understanding by His Spirit to make us able to receive the light of His Gospel.” (Calvin’s Commentaries: II Corinthians, Timothy, Titus, Philemon, p.57, emphasis mine)
According to John Calvin, the Gospel without Irresistible Grace is “in vain.” This is what he recognized about his theory.
Question: Do Calvinists believe that the power of the Gospel is inferior to the power of Irresistible Grace?
Answer: See for yourself.
John Calvin: “Now let Pighius asseverate that God wills all to be saved, when not even the external preaching of the doctrine, which is much inferior to the illumination of the Spirit, is made common to all.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.109, emphasis mine)
“Much inferior.” This is a comparison between two powers, and obviously John Calvin recognizes that the real power in his theory is in the preceding grace that makes receiving the Gospel, irresistible.
John Calvin: “In a word, Paul indicates that all clamorous sounding of the human voice will lack effect, unless the virtue of God works internally in the heart.” (Concerning the Eternal Predestination of God, p.104, emphasis mine)
In other words, according to Calvin, the preaching of the Gospel is clanging symbols if the hearer is not preemptively made Born Again in order to believe.
Question: Where exactly is the power of the Gospel, if the person hearing must already be Born Again in order to be able to positively respond to it?
Answer: Additionally, why is it said that the Gospel is the seed by which we are made Born Again, if a person must already be made preemptively Born Again in order to receive it? 1st Peter 1:23 states: “For you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.”
John Calvin: “Preaching only finds faith in people when God inwardly calls those he has chosen and draws to Christ those who were already his own (John 6:37).” (Acts: Calvin, Crossway Classic Commentaries, p.229, emphasis mine)
Question: Does the Gospel “find” faith?
Answer: The Gospel generates faith, since Romans 10:17 states: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”
Question: What impact does the Gospel have upon the unregenerate heart? I’m not asking what the Gospel is. I’m asking what it does.
Answer: It seems to me that the inevitable conclusion of Calvinism is that due to the deadness of man in sin, that the living and active, faith-producing Gospel has absolutely no impact upon the unregenerate heart, unless it is accompanied by an Irresistible Grace. If so, then why do we talk about the dynamite power of the living and active Gospel? Why don’t we instead talk about the dynamite power of the living and active Irresistible Grace, without which, the Gospel is otherwise dead and dormant?
Adrian Rogers: “Spiritual blindness makes beggars of us all. ... The blind need more than light in order to see. ... I used to think, as a young preacher, that what you had to do to get people saved is just to tell them how to be saved. Just turn on the light. But it doesn’t matter how much light there is, or the person is blind because he cannot see it. It takes more than light, it takes sight. And a person who is blind cannot see the light, no matter how strong the light is or how pure the light is. It takes more than preaching to get people saved. That’s the reason I frequently say to you, I can preach truth, but only the Holy Spirit can impart truth. That is the reason why we must be a praying church. That’s the reason you must be a spirit filled soul winner. That is the reason that we must have the anointing, because we are dependent upon God to open blinded eyes to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It takes more than light, it takes takes sight. We need to understand that nobody can be argued into the kingdom of heaven. Nobody can be educated into the kingdom of heaven. I’m not against letting the light shine. You must let the let shine. You must preach. But remember, there is another dimension.” (Jesus is God’s Answer to Man’s Darkness: John 20:30, emphasis mine)
That other dimension to which Adrian Rogers refers, is the dimension of Sight, being the preceding work of the Holy Spirit, who convicts the world of its sin (John 16:8), pricks (Acts 26:14), pierces (Acts 2:37) and opens hearts to respond to the Gospel. (Acts 16:14) The other dimension is the dimension of Light, being the Gospel. Both are indeed necessary. The real question is whether the preceding grace of the Holy Spirit is an Irresistible Grace, or a resistible, Prevenient Grace, as taught by Arminianism. In fact, this is what sets aside the arguments of Total Depravity. For once you concede that the Holy Spirit intervenes, then the nature of His intervention trumps all discussion of Total Depravity. The real question, therefore, is does the Holy Spirit bring a person to the point of being able to receive or reject Him, or does the Holy Spirit make the decision for a person, thus making it irresistible? Logically speaking, why would it be impossible that the sight of the Holy Spirit and the light of the Gospel could enable a lost person to make a one way or the other decision to receive Christ? Almost instinctively, a Calvinist will answer that “because man is so depraved, God must....” However, that argument is a double-edged sword, because it is not merely a statement of man’s inability, but also of God’s inability to successfully use a hypothetical Prevenient Grace, if God had wished to do so. Therefore, it would have been better if Calvinists admitted that God could, hypothetically speaking, use a Prevenient Grace in order to bring a person to repentance, if He had wanted to, while insisting that God had preferred to use another method (namely Irresistible Grace, all with the intention that it would bring God greater glory). However, admitting to a logical possibility for its bitter rival, Arminianism, may prove too much for the Calvinist to handle. Nevertheless, it is the Calvinist who ultimately teaches a weak-God, who is helpless to remedy the situation apart from an Irresistible Grace.
Here are two Blog discussions on this topic:
Arminian Charge: Calvinism denies the dynamite power of the Gospel.
Myth or Reality: Calvinism implies that the Gospel is only effectual if it is accompanied by an Irresistible Grace, and hence, that’s where the dynamite is.
