THE
DIFFERNCES BETWEEN THE CALVINISTIC & ARMINIAN SYSTEM OF THEOLOGY.
by Loraine Boettner
1. The Sovereignty of
God
The purpose of this article is to set forth,
in plain language and in terms easily understood, the basic differences between
the Calvinistic and the Arminian system of theology, and to show what the Bible
teaches concerning these subjects. The harmony that exists between the various
doctrines of the Christian faith is such that error in regard to any one of
them produces more or less distortion in all of the others.
There is in reality only two types of
religious thought. There is the religion of faith, and there is the religion of
works. We believe that what has been known in Church History as Calvinism is
the purest and most consistent embodiment of the religion of faith, while that
which has been known as Arminianism has been diluted to a dangerous degree by
the religion of works and that it is therefore an inconsistent and unstable
form of Christianity. In other words, we believe that Christianity comes to its
fullest and purest expression in Reformed Faith.
In the early part of the fifth century these
two types of religious thought came into direct conflict in a remarkably clear
contrast as embodied in two fifth-century theologians, Augustine and Pelagius.
Augustine pointed men to God as the source of all true spiritual wisdom and
strength, while Pelagius threw men back on themselves and said that they were
able in their own strength to do all that God commanded, otherwise God would
not command it. We believe that Arminianism represents a compromise between
these two systems, but that while in its more evangelical form, as in early
Wesleyanism, it approaches the religion of faith, it nevertheless does contain
serious elements of error.
We are living in a day in which practically
all of the historic churches are being attacked from within by unbelief. Many
of them have already succumbed. And almost invariably the line of descent has
been from Calvinism to Arminianism, from Arminianism to Liberalism, and then to
Unitarianism. And the history of Liberalism and Unitarianism shows that they
deteriorate into a social gospel that is too weak to sustain itself. We are
convinced that the future of Christianity is bound up with that system of
theology historically called "Calvinism.' Where the God centered
principles of Calvinism have been abandoned, there has been a strong tendency
downward into the depths of man centered naturalism or secularism. Some have
declared - rightly, we believe - that there is no consistent stopping place
between Calvinism and atheism.
The basic principle of Calvinism is the
sovereignty of God. This represents the purpose of the Triune God as absolute
and unconditional, independent of the whole finite creation, and originating
solely in the eternal counsel of His will. He appoints the course of nature and
directs the course of history down to the minutest details. His decrees
therefore are eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise and sovereign. They are
represented in the Bible as being the basis of the divine foreknowledge of all
future events, and not conditioned by that foreknowledge or by anything
originating in the events themselves.
Every thinking person readily sees that some
sovereignty rules his life. He was not asked whether or not he would have
existence, when or what or where he would be born, whether in the twentieth
century or before the Flood, whether male or female, whether white or black,
whether in the United States, or China, or Africa. All of those things were
sovereignly decided for him before he had any existence. It has been recognized
by Christians in all ages that God is the Creator and Ruler of the world, and
that as such He is the ultimate source of all power that is found in the world.
Hence nothing can come to pass apart from His sovereign will. Otherwise He
would not be truly GOD. And when we dwell on this truth we find that it
involves considerations which establish the Calvinistic and disprove the
Arminian position.
By virtue of the fact that God has created
everything that exists, He is the absolute Owner and final Disposer of all that
He has made. He exerts not merely a general influence, but actually rules in the
affairs of men (Acts 4:24-28). Even the nations are as the small dust of the
balance when compared with His greatness (Is. 40:12-17). Amid all the apparent
defeats and inconsistencies of our human lives, God is actually controlling all
things in undisturbed majesty. Even the sinful actions of men can occur only by
His permission and with the strength that he gives the creature. And since He
permits not unwillingly but willingly, then all that comes to pass - including
even the sinful actions and ultimate destiny of men - must be, in some sense,
in accordance with what He has eternally purposed and decreed. Just in
proportion as this is denied, God is excluded from the government of the world,
and we have only a finite God. Naturally, some problems arise which in our
present state of knowledge we are not able fully to explain. But that is not a
sufficient reason for rejecting what the Scriptures and the plain dictates of
reason affirm to be true.
And shall we not believe that God can
convert a sinner when He pleases? Cannot the Almighty, the omnipotent Ruler of
heaven and earth, change the character of the creatures He has made? He changed
the water into wine at Cana and converted Saul on the road to Damascus. The
leper said, "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean" (Matt.
8:2). And at a word his leprosy was cleansed. Let us not believe, as do the
Arminians, that God cannot control the human will, or that He cannot regenerate
a soul when He pleases. He is as able to cleanse the soul as the body. If He chose
He could raise up such a flood of Christian ministers, missionaries and workers
of various kinds, and could so work through His Holy Spirit, that the entire
world would be converted in a very short time. If He had purposed to save all
men He could have sent hosts of angels to instruct them and to do supernatural
works on the earth. He could have worked marvelously in the heart of every
person so that no one would have been lost.
Since evil exists only by His permission, He
could, if He chose, blot it out of existence. His power in this respect was
shown, for instance, in the work of the destroying angel who in one night slew
all of the first-born of the Egyptians (Ex. 12:29), and in another night slew
185,000 of the Assyrian army (II Kings 19:35). It was shown when the earth
opened and swallowed Korah and his rebellious allies (Nu. 16.31-35). King Herod
was smitten and died a horrible death (Acts 12:23). In Daniel 4:34-35 we read
that the Most High God's "dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom
from generation to generation; and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed
as nothing; and he doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven, and
among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stay his hand, or say unto
him, What doest thou?"
All of this brings out the basic principle
of the Reformed Faith - the sovereignty of God. God created this world in which
we find ourselves, He owns it, and He is running it according to His own
sovereign good pleasure. God has lost none of His power, and it is highly
dishonoring to Him to suppose that He is struggling along with the human race,
doing the best He can to persuade men to do right, but unable to accomplish His
eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise, and sovereign purpose. Any system which teaches
that the serious intentions of God can in some cases be defeated, and that man,
who is not only a creature but a sinful creature, can exercise veto power over
the plans of Almighty God, is in striking contrast to the biblical idea of his
immeasurable exaltation by which He is removed from all weaknesses of humanity.
That the plans of men are not always executed is due to a lack of power, or a
lack of wisdom, or both. But since God is unlimited in these and in all other
resources, no unforeseen emergencies can arise. To Him the causes for change
have no existence. To assume that His plan fails and that he strives to no
effect is to reduce Him to the level of His creatures and make Him no God at
all.