Calvinism vs. Arminianism: Introduction

From the title you can probably guess what this blog is going to be about. I have been studying Calvinism lately and have been struggling with what I think about it. I just always assumed I was an Arminian and haven’t ever really thought about Calvinism or studied it in depth.

As I was studying it, it started to make sense, which kind of turned everything I had always thought upside down. So, as of right now I am still in the middle of it and thought that writing a series of blogs and having other people input their thoughts would maybe help me clear things up and also other people might learn something too.

For this blog I am just going to give some background on the whole Calvinism vs. Arminian debate which will help set up the rest of the blogs and introduce the debate to people who are new to it. I am not an expert on this stuff, so if you find a mistake with the background info just point it out.

I am just gonna present Calvinism and Arminianism here, this doesn’t mean you have to be either of the two; I am just going to present these two. There is also, 4 point Calvinist, hyper-Calvinism, molinist and so on, so you don’t have to be reading this thinking you have to be either one of the two.

Background
Calvinism is sometimes referred to as Reformed theology, and is generally held by Presbyterian and Reformed churches and many Baptists, while Arminianism has been held by the Methodist and also by many Baptists.

The history of the Calvinism vs. Arminian debate goes back along time. It was first formulated in the fifth century by Augustine and Pelagius. Pelagius was upset at the lack of holiness in the church, so he started to preach a Gospel that began with justification by faith alone but finished through human effort and morality. He disagreed with Augustine’s view on salvation, and later Pelagius’ followers took it farther and removed justification by faith alone and adopted a works based salvation that came to be known as Pelagianism. In response to Pelagius, Augustine taught a theology that included original sin, limited atonement, irresistible grace and predestination.

John Calvin adopted, refined, and clarified Augustine’s theological system that later became known as Calvinism.

In Holland in the early 1600’s, Jacob Arminius was brought up and studied under a strict Calvinist. He gradually came to reject certain Calvinist teachings (which was what the majority of people in Holland held) and the controversy spread all over Holland. He drew up a creed titled “The Five Articles of Remonstrance” and presented it to the authorities in Holland. The Calvinist initially responded with the Counter-Remonstrance, but their official response “Synod of Dort” came later and is now known as the Canons of Dort. They state the Five points of Calvinism in response to the Five Articles of Remonstrance. So the Five Points of Calvinism are not necessarily a summary of Calvinism, but a response to the Arminians which chose these five points to disagree with.

These five points came to be summarized by the acronym TULIP.
T – Total Depravity
U – Unconditional Election
L – Limited Atonement
I – Irresistible Grace
P – Perseverance of the Saints

Throughout history many important people have added to both sides of the argument.

Important Calvinist:
John Calvin
Martian Luther
George Whitefield – A Methodist who is known for his debates between fellow Methodist John Wesley who was an Arminian.
The Puritans
Jonathan Edwards – known as one of Americas greatest theologians, started the First Great Awakening
Karl Bath
Charles Spurgeon – Famous British preacher known as the “Prince of Preachers”
Albert Mohler Jr. – Current president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Recent Theologians
D.A. Carson
R.C. Sproul
John Piper

Important Arminians
Jacob Arminius
John Wesley
Hugh Grotius
Stephen Ashby
C.S. Lewis

Sometimes Calvinism I think is looked down on and misunderstood. When people hear it they usually think of predestination or no free will, and think Calvinist are people who don’t believe in missions and all that. But as I started to study it I came to realize it wasn’t like that at all and I started to see it differently. Calvinism has produced some of the greatest theologians and thinkers in Christianity and their theology, from best I can tell, is solid and air tight in how it all fits together, even more so than Arminian theology. I think they differ in how you understand total depravity, if you understand total depravity like the Calvinist do, I think the rest of their teaching makes sense.

In these series of blogs I am gonna go through each of the five points (but not in the same order), and hopefully we can all learn something.

This debate will probably go on for along time, but even if everyone can’t agree on all points I think it is helpful to discuss the different sides and viewpoints. This can help deepen our relationship with God as we try to understand who He is and what He has done for us.

These five points I think are very important because they greatly affect how we view God, man, the atonement, assurance, missions and on and on.