Here is Jerry Vines take on Calvinism from his sermon "Calvinism: A Baptist and His Election."
On divine sovereignty: God is in control of all things. That is very clear in the Bible! But now, it is possible to push this matter of the sovereingty of God, that God is in control of all things to extremes. Philosphers call it determinism; hard determinism and soft determinism.
On total depravity: Man is born with a sinful nature; every facet of our being stained by sin.
Calvinists go a step further than that and say that your will is dead and you are totally unable to respond. Ephesians 2:1, man is spiritually dead, therefore, Calvinists say, how can a dead man repent and have faith, so he has to be regenerated before he can have faith; in the calvinist system regeneration precedes faith.
"That brings up some interesting questions: if you're born again before faith, what does faith accomplish? Which means then that if you are born again before faith that means that, by grace are you saved through faith, that means then, if you're born again then you're born again before you're saved. Did I miss something there? I know I'm just from the country but, did that make sense to you?" The calvinistic view pushes the biblical analogy too far. Dead men can't believe. But it is equally true that dead men can't sin.
"It also raises questions about the character of God. Because, listen, in Acts 17 verse 30 it says that God commands all men, all men everywhere to repent. But now wait a minute. If they can't repent until they're born again and yet God is commanding them to do something which they are not able to do, what does that say about the character of God?"
On unconditional election: Is election unconditional? From the standpoint of God the giver, yes; but from the standpoint of the receiver it is conditioned by faith. 2 Thessalonians 2:13 says you believe the truth of the gospel and you are one of the elect.
On limited atonement: After citing many verses that use universal language in relation to the atonement (including 1 John 2:2) Vines addresses this question, If Jesus died for the sins of the whole world and the whole world is not saved, then did his death fail? He answers by giving an analogy. If a man offers to pay for the meals of 20 people and only 15 take him up on the offer, then his provision has not failed, it simply has not been accepted.
(HT:Founders)
1 comment:
Oh my goodness. Where does one start? First of all, I didn't realize that sovereignty could be divided up into degrees. God is sovereign but not "so sovereign" is what I read there. Reminds me of "The Princess Bride" where Mad Max says he's "mostly dead."
Which brings me to his next point: Spiritual deadness. He gets it right by saying every facet of your being is contaminated by sin. But does that not include your will, your mind, your heart? Dead does mean dead. He shows a woeful lack of understanding in the whole "dead men can't sin" remark. Surely Vines knows better than that. It reveals a total lack of an attempt to understand the position he is denouncing. Dead men can't believe but they can still sin??? Amazing!
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