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Message: Let me first say, Daily Prayer is not CalvinistThis is not to imply that we are anti-Calvinist, either. Daily Prayer, being nondenominational, does not espouse or oppose any particular systematic theology. and is not advocating Calvinism. This is an educational article about what Calvinists believe, not whether they are right or wrong. John Calvin (1509-1564) was a French leader of the Protestant Reformation. His theology, based heavily on today's passage from Romans, is followed by a sizable minority of Christians. If you have ever wondered what the word “Reformed” means — such as on a church sign that says “Dutch Reformed” or “Reformed Baptist” — it signifies doctrine based on Calvin's thought. “Reformed”, in theological circles, is the broad term for “Calvinist”, although most Reformed theologians and believers differ in one or more respects from pure Calvinist doctrine. Sovereignty of God. This sounds non-controversial, but what it means is not necessarily what it sounds like. The cornerstone of Calvinism is that God has all power, to the degree that He appoints the course of nature and directs the course of history down to the minutest details. Man cannot, therefore, have free will. Every thought we have and every action we take was pre-ordained by God. Predestination - Single and Double.. Pure or “High” Calvinists believe that God has predestined some people for heaven (election) and some people for hell (reprobation). Many Reformed believers reject this in favor of “single” predestination, that God has chosen to preordain the salvation of particular people but has not intentionally and specifically predestined anyone for hell; rather, He passively allows it. They reject reprobation on the grounds that God is purely good and thus could not actively cause sinfulness. Total Depravity. The extreme view of this is that man is fundamentally evil and incapable of good. Calvin himself, although he used the term, meant something less extreme: that man is enslaved to sin and cannot find his way out of it, unless God first comes to him and regenerates him. We are sufficiently “depraved”, in other words, that we cannot choose to follow Christ. Unconditional Election. God's election to extend grace to a specific person is not conditioned on anything the person does. In other words, a person will accept Christ, repent sin, etc., only if God reforms the person's heart first. Limited Atonement. Although Christ's sacrifice was sufficient to atone for all sin, it is effective only for the elect. Thus the benefits of atonement for sin are limited to the elect. Irresistible Grace. The power of the Holy Spirit cannot be resisted by human will. If God has elected someone for salvation, that person will receive God's grace. Just as a person cannot, by his will, choose to accept Christ, he cannot choose to reject Christ if he has been elected by God. Persistence of the Saints. This means basically, “once saved, always saved.” A person who has been saved in Christ cannot thereafter fall from grace. “Saints” is used in the generic sense of the New Testament to refer to all the members of the church. People who appear to accept Christ and then backslide into rejection either 1) Never had real faith, or 2) if they were actually saved, will be chastised by God until they return to belief. Some non-Reformed churches adhere to this particular tenet. The Christian denominations generally associated with Calvinism are Presbyterian denominations, the United Church of Christ, some Baptists, and a host of small denominations or independent churches with the word “Reformed” in their name. The Pilgrims and Puritans of early America were Reformed. To put this into context, there are generally five primary theological systems in the Christian community: Calvinist/Reformed, Lutheran, Arminian (e.g. Methodists), Orthodox, and Catholic/Roman Catholic. (Some other theological systems, such as Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses, generate rather emotional debate about whether they should be called “Christian”.) Generally, the split between Protestant churches regarding predestination issues is styled Calvinism vs. Arminianism. There are indeed passages in the Bible that would steer one's mind strongly towards Reformed thought, most notably the quote from Romans in today's Scripture. There are other passages that can be seen to argue against each of the five (or six) tenets set forth above. Note: Daily Prayer is intended to speak to Calvinists and Arminians alike — not to mention Catholics, Lutherans, Orthodox believers, and anyone else who confesses that Christ is the Son of God. The Bible repeatedly and absolutely demands unity and love within the Christian church; we should therefore strive to hear various theological doctrines with love for those who follow it, no matter how we might disagree with the logic.