How Calvinism is in League with the Accuser of the Brethren
The born again Christian is no longer under law but under grace. In regard to justification, the Christian is sinless because Christ died on the cross to end the law, and where there is no law there is no sin.
So, the believer dies with Christ as one born under the slavery of sin, law, and death. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. That is why it is the “law of sin and death” to the unbeliever. The one who is also resurrected with Christ is no longer under any condemnation whatsoever. The law now guides the believer in love, but in no way condemns.
Those whom Satan cannot keep out of the kingdom he seeks to neutralize by keeping them under condemnation. The power of sin is the law’s ability to condemn. Therefore, by a variety of means, he seeks to keep Christians under law and away from love. Not being under law enables the Christian to aggressively obey without fear of condemnation. Fear has to do with judgment and condemnation; those who fear are not mature in love.
Calvinism keeps the “Christian” under law via a particular view of double imputation. Instead of the biblical imputation being OUR sins imputed to Christ and God’s righteousness imputed to us APART from the law, Calvinism teaches that Christ lived a perfect life to fulfill the law so that His obedience to the law, in addition to Him dying for our sins, is imputed to our Christian life in order to keep us saved. This not only keeps Christians under the law, and is not justification apart from the law, but requires the “Christian” to live by faith alone in the Christian life in order for the obedience of Christ to perpetually fulfill the law for justification in order to keep us saved.
It is a satisfaction/fulfillment of the law of sin and death rather than the law of the Spirit of life.
Hence, supposedly, the Christian life must be lived by faith alone so that the law may be continually satisfied by Christ’s obedience and not ours until the final judgment. At the final judgment, if we lived by faith alone well enough, our sins are covered by Christ’s righteousness. This removes the Christian from actual acts of obedience for purposes of loving God and others, and replaces them with faith only in Christ’s loving acts that replace anything we would do lest it be works salvation. So, when Christ says, “well done faithful servant,” He is not going to be talking about anything that we really did, but what we didn’t do by faith alone.
All in all, this keeps Christians under law and condemnation. They must live in constant fear that they are not “trusting” in the works of Christ well enough for the law to be satisfied; or, in Calvin’s words, resting enough. In this construct, sin is empowered because the law’s ability to condemn is still operational. To the contrary, Christ died to end the law (Rom 10:5) for justification, and we are quickened by the Holy Spirit so that the law might be fulfilled by us in our loving acts towards God and others:
Romans 8:1 – There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Calvinism keeps Christians under the law of sin and death via its double imputation view of law. By faith alone in the obedience of Christ while in the flesh, the law is actually doing something that Scripture clearly says it can’t do: give life in justification. It doesn’t matter who keeps it; there is not a law that can give life for justification (Gal 3:21).
Listen: Christ came to set us free from the law of sin and death, not to fulfill it for us so that His obedience can replace our loving acts in sanctification. He came to end the law of sin and death, not fulfill it. Our sin is not covered, it is ended. Because it is ended, we are free to serve the law of the Spirit of life without fear of condemnation. We fulfill the law of liberty and are blessed in the doing of it (James 1:25), and are not under the condemnation of the law of sin and death. The fulfillment of that law cannot bring forth life—only condemnation.
In the Calvinist double imputation approach, we continually seek to see our own condemnation in order to achieve a deeper and deeper gratitude for our original salvation. If we do so, the law of sin and death continues to be satisfied by Christ’s obedience to it and we remain justified by the blood. Instead of there being no condemnation in the Christian life, we are exhorted by the Calvinists to seek a deeper and deeper understanding of our condemnation to make the cross bigger (deeper gratitude for our original salvation).
This is a satanic objective dressed up in Christian garb. We are helping the accuser of the brethren by continually seeking to accuse ourselves. Instead of seeking to love through obedience, we are told to partake in “deep repentance,” “repentance from good works,” and “revealing the sin under the sin.” They tell us that the Christian life is a sin onion, and that the gospel is made bigger by continually peeling back the layers of sin.
There is NO sin onion. The law is ended, and there is no onion to peel. Sinning as God’s children and the grieving of the Holy Spirit is another issue that has nothing to do with justification. Well, sort of.
Obviously, Calvinism also seeks to grieve the Holy Spirit through us by empowering sin in our lives because sin is empowered by condemnation. And it also denies the primary reason Christ went to the cross…
…to end the law of sin and death, and to set us free to love Him through obedience to the law of the Spirit of life.
paul
How Election Promotes the Institutional Church
Election is scary stuff. Bottom line: before the foundation of the earth, God decided who will be saved and who will not be saved. This is even a gospel in and of itself known as the “gospel of sovereignty” or the “gospel of sovereign grace.”
Did God save me or not? In the final analysis, the Reformed admit that we can’t know for certain. You cannot put any stock in your choice to believe the gospel, because you have no choice—it’s God’s choice alone. In fact, telling people they can choose violates the gospel of sovereign grace and is deemed a false presentation of the gospel for that reason. We are to merely “show forth” the gospel and wait to see what God does or doesn’t do. We are to never tell anyone that they can do anything to be saved—that includes believing itself. Pastor John MacArthur even advocates telling people that they can only do one thing and one thing only; “ask.” Yep, ASK and hope for the best.
Some cynically ask if this is really “good news.” It could also be asked if this is a “promise” because no one really knows who the promise is to for certain.
Ah, but a Protestant institutional church near you offers a get out of election free card. They have a program initiated by John Calvin known as the “power of the keys.” Whatever an ordained Reformed elder or elders bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever they loose on earth will be loosed in heaven as well. So, if the elders like you, and you are a “member in good standing,” you’re in! Or, at the very least it’s your best shot.
So, “be faithful” to your local institutional church and obey your elders—it probably means that you are in fact one of God’s elect. Calvin categorized three classes of elect: nonelected, called, and those who persevere. The “called” are those who are temporarily illumined and do not remain faithful to the institutional church. Those who persevere remain in good standing till the end.
So sign up and remain faithful my dear friend—membership has its privileges.
paul
Additional Reading: Calvinism’s Get Out of Election Free Card
Are Babies Totally Depraved? Follow the Protestant Money
No, because man is not totally depraved. This is simple theological math. Man is not totally depraved by virtue of how God creates us. Every human being born into the world is born with the works of God written on their hearts. They are also born with a conscience that either excuses them or accuses them of wrongdoing.
Romans 2:14 – For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them 16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus.
Those who have the law, that is, the written word of God plus the works of the law written on their hearts, are under the law’s judgment. This is why religious people will be judged more harshly than the nonreligious—they are responsible for two laws, not just one.
Christ came to die on the cross to end the law’s condemnation for those under it, or those under law, and was resurrected so that the same can find life in the law apart from any condemnation. Under grace means that we are now under the “law of the Spirit of life” (Rom 8:2). What does that mean? It means the Spirit now imparts life to us through the same law that condemned us prior to our salvation (Jn 17:17, Eph 6:1-3). The old us that was under law literally dies with Christ, and is resurrected by the Spirit as a new creature who finds life in the law (see Psalms 119).
Andy Young and I were having this discussion this morning. In the garden, there was only one law: you may eat of any tree in the garden except the one. As long as they obeyed, there was life in that law; when they disobeyed, death came into the world.
But, back to babies. Babies are not totally depraved, and in fact go to heaven because they are not yet under law; where there is no law there is no sin (Rom 5:13). Don’t confuse this with the pre-fall of man where there was only one unbroken law. Babies do NOT have a developed conscience; therefore, they cannot negotiate right and wrong as administered by conscience according to the written law or the law written on their hearts. So, babies are born under law like all people, but are not accountable to it, and therefore NOT condemned by it until they have a developed conscience that can ascertain right from wrong. I believe mentally handicapped people would fall under this category as well.
Where there is no law, there is no sin. So if babies cannot know law, they have no sin. And if they have no sin—they are going to heaven:
Roman 7:7 – What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. 9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. 10 The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. 13 Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure.
Babies have no concept of law. People are accountable to the law when their consciences are developed to the point of knowing right from wrong.
Follow The Protestant Money
Early in the Protestant Reformation the subject of total depravity was a big deal. This also included the total depravity of the saints. Simply stated, the Reformers believed little different than Rome in regard to salvation via church membership. The biggest draw for the Protestant Reformation was no fault salvation through church membership. The Reformers clearly stated that new sins committed by “believers” removed them from grace, and continued forgiveness of sins through the perpetual reappropriation of Christ’s death was needed to keep oneself saved (for example: The Calvin Institutes, 3.14.9-11). This reapplication of Christ’s death was only valid when administered by the institutional church through baptism, the Lord’s Table, and the grace-infusion of preaching by ordained Reformed elders, in today’s Neo-Calvinist vernacular, “We must preach the gospel to ourselves every day.” Why? Because we need the same gospel that saved us initially to keep us saved daily because the new sins we commit remove us from grace. This would seem fairly evident.
The Reformers believed that baptism initiated church membership, and as long as the baptized remained in good standing as church members, their baptism retained its saving efficacy (Calvin Inst. 4.15.1ff). Salvation is maintained within the institutional church, so baptism doesn’t save you per se, but is necessary for church membership which keeps you saved through faithful attendance to “gospel preaching” by ordained elders and the Lord’s Table. This ministry has compiled a mass of citations by “New” Calvinists who state this in no uncertain terms.
And this is the crux of the infant baptism debate. Protestants were big on baby baptism because it made the babies church members and therefore guaranteed them salvation as long as they remained faithful to the institutional church as they grow up. This led to the birth of Baptists who became half pregnant Protestants over the baby baptism issue. Unfortunately, this boiled down to when a child was old enough to be a church member which was also synonymous with being saved among the Baptists. This closer approximation to truth created the whole never ending “Do babies go to heaven?” debate.
No, Babies are not totally depraved, and yes, they go to heaven. The Baptists only focused on the baby baptism issue without further investigating what was driving the belief to begin with; i.e., salvation by institution.
This began a long deep-seated tradition by Baptists to focus on symptoms and not causes. This is why Presbyterians and Lutherans are far less confused than Baptists—Baptists are both confused and wrong, while the Protestants and Lutherans are just merely wrong…about the gospel.
paul
Loving The Truth is Often Bittersweet
Originally published February 7, 2013
“Part and parcel with being made a new creature in Jesus Christ is love for the truth.”
This is something that I don’t write about enough. Loving the truth and upholding the truth can be a rough life. I don’t think about them much, but when I do in a thoughtful way I find myself in tears; those who have lost almost everything over truth. I feel their pain when I read their emails and published articles. We are social creatures and losing all of your friends is not a pleasant experience. It causes us to long for the day when we will gaze upon the personification of truth among enumerable truth lovers.
Today this hits close to home. Someone very dear to me is once again faced with a choice: the comfort of compromise, or standing by the truth at all cost. The Bible has much to say about this. Let me repeat that another way: God has strong opinions about this issue.
2 Corinthians 10:5 – We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
Truth is God’s opinion about what makes the world He created tick, and apparently, those who know more about life than He does are very annoying to Him. Equally annoying to Him is the idea that His truth is ambiguous and not near to all. Listen to what Moses had to say about that:
Deuteronomy 30:11 – “For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? ‘ 13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? ‘ 14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish.
God doesn’t appreciate the implication that His truth is not near to us—that it is ambiguous and difficult to ascertain—that we need orthodoxy from a host of mystic academics. No, and by the way, we can’t blame those who we chose to listen to in the end; the truth is near to all of us—we are responsible for the sum and substance of our own lives.
Part and parcel with being made a new creature in Jesus Christ is love for the truth. The apostle Paul, in his apocalyptic letter to the Thessalonians, warned that those who perish have not “received the love of the truth.” Receiving this love also comes part and parcel with an attitude: read about Daniel’s three friends and the bunch in Hebrews 11.
This attitude might also be influenced by something believers know about God. When God made a covenant with Israel as stipulated in the Book of the Covenant, and they broke it with defiant flare while Moses was on Mt. Sinai receiving the “tablets of the testimony,” we observe the following scene when Moses returned:
Exodus 32:25 – And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, to the derision of their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” 28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. 29 And Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”
Christ said God’s word is truth, and ONLY truth sanctifies (John 17:17). Sanctification is separation from the world, and hence, when separation occurs—it is often difficult to distinguish naive Christians from worldly false confessors. A stand for the truth is seen as fanaticism. Perhaps rock legend Alice Cooper said it best:
Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that’s a tough call. That’s real rebellion!
paul
New Calvinism and the Great Society
Didn’t plan on doing any writing today as I am trying to tie up family chores in order to start back on writing projects tomorrow. However, I always make the mistake of checking in on FaceBook before I get started with my day. Couldn’t resist but to comment on a post, and thought it would make a decent post here as well.
I read the article over at Desiring God.org, and of course, John Piper is the “elder statesman” of the Neo-Calvinist “resurgence” which has been going on since 1970. The movement has all but totally owned the American church for 10 years, but yet we are in an increasingly, according to the article, “secular” and “post Christianity” gospel misinformed society. Hmmmm, whose fault is that?
Truly, the New Calvinist movement has to be the spiritual version of Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society.” Trillions of dollars have been poured into the program since the 60’s and at the end of the day, it is an abject failure (see “Detroit”). The New Calvinist movement, since its conception in 1970, has escalated into a multi-billion dollar religious empire with a massive sub-culture of church “campuses” and innumerable information networks. Yet, we see the emergence of a never-before-known phenomenon called “the Nones”: people who have given up on church but not God. Like the liberal media, the New Calvinist evangelical industrial complex bears no responsibility for this and continually claims to be the new kids on the block with all the answers to the woes they have created.
Not only do we have the phenomenon of the Nones, but in 2009 spiritual abuse blogs, primarily focused on the New Calvinists, exploded onto the blogosphere. This movement also created the advent of intercessory organizations like Peacemaker Ministries to keep congregants from suing churches. Ironically, these organizations are supported by local churches, and therefore funded by the laity, just in case they would want to sue the institutional church.
Unfortunately, the institutional Protestant church has NEVER advocated individual evangelism because of its Platonist foundation and subsequent spiritual caste system. It has always been the producers bringing people to the expert, or specially anointed evangelist. I shouldn’t have to say anything more than “Billy Graham” to make the point here.
And, neither is said article advocating Christ’s individual mandate, but rather a “community effort.” And be sure of this, Collectivism is always about “community.”
leave a comment