From Arminian to Calvinist Bailey Towne, December 26, 2020March 12, 2023 Arminianism vs Calvinism has been a hot topic of debate within the Church since the Synod of Dort that ended on May 29th 1619. Many of the tenants and points of contention in both systems of theology can be traced back at least to the Apostolic and Early Church Fathers. Many Christians today are unfamiliar with these systems of theology but unknowingly follow one or the other. It has been my experience that most Calvinists know that they are Calvinists whereas most Arminians do not know they are Arminian. I was one such Arminian for most of my life. I used to simply say, “I believe whatever the Bible teaches. I am non-denominational”. Well the truth is that both Arminians and Calvinists think that they believe only what the Bible teaches not realizing that there is a system of theology that undergirds their interpretation of Scripture. Some people are very hateful towards the other side, I however am not one of them. I believe that both Arminians and Calvinists are first and foremost Christians, part of the Church, brothers and sisters in Christ. I also believe that there are many people that call themselves Christians in both camps that are false converts. As A. W. Pink wrote: “There are multitudes who wish to escape the Lake of Fire who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness”1. This post is not intended in any way to be a defense of Calvinism but rather it is intended to give you an understanding of how I went from holding to an Arminian perspective of Scripture to a Calvinist perspective of Scripture. This change in theology is not something that I sought out, but rather something that I believe God opened my eyes to at the right time in my life, when I was ready to receive it. PART 1 I was raised in an Arminian household, going to Arminian churches. Though I have identified as a Christian since I can remember, I was hardly walking with the Lord for the first 25 years of my life. As a matter of fact I was a wretched sinner in love with the pleasures of the world seeking only to satisfy the desires of my flesh. God brought me through a great deal of trials in my life in order to draw me close to Him. At 25 years old, in one of many dark periods in my life, I submitted to the Lord and began to pour into Holy Scripture, prayer, and communion with other believers. I got plugged into a local ‘non-denominational’ church and began serving on the AV (Audiovisual) team. I became friends with the Pastors and their families and started working on my undergraduate degree in Biblical and Theological Studies at a popular Christian University. At this time in my life I had no idea what Calvinism was, nor had I ever heard the term Arminian. Even during my University studies these terms were not used. But as I studied the Word of Truth I began to notice that what I read in the Bible did not always line up with what was being taught at my Church. I was offered to take a preaching class at my church and I accepted. This class was much more focused on public speaking than it was on theology and I don’t even remember discussing expository preaching. During this course we were asked to come up with three ideas for sermons that we would like to preach. We went around the room and talked about our topics and after I had delivered the summaries of my topics my pastor stopped and said, “you sound like a Calvinist”. I was a little bit confused and at the same time a little bit intrigued. After class I immediately started researching Calvinism. I listened to several sermons by some of the more popular Calvinists to include Charles Spurgeon, Cornelius Van Til, John MacArthur, R. C. Sproul, John Piper, J. I. Packer, and Albert Mohler. Everything that these men were saying in their sermons I agreed with. Every word they spoke was supported by a plethora of Scripture. I then began to study the controversy between Calvinism and Arminianism, watching debates, reading book, and even talking to pastors. Though I continued to go to the same “non-denominational” Arminian church, I began noticing significant errors in the Arminian theology that was being taught. I think one of the biggest issues I had with Arminian theology was the fact that it was centered on man. Of course no Arminian would ever come out and say that, because most of them do not believe that, but this man centeredness is a very common theme amongst Arminian pastors, and by this point I had listened to hundreds of sermons by dozens of Arminian pastors. Every sermon seemed to evolve around what God had in store for us, what God did for us, what God wanted for us. Though I would not consider all of these messages to be prosperity preaching they were completely missing the mark. I had not fully committed to Calvinism by this point. I figured that perhaps I was missing something in the Arminian message. I purchased the book Chosen But Free by Dr. Norman Geisler in hopes to get a better understanding of Arminian theology and understand where the Calvinists may had gone wrong. As I read through this book it almost made me physically ill at times. I quickly recognized the error in Dr. Geislers arguments. Dr. Geisler, like nearly all Arminians I have studied since, consistently rely on eisegesis and human philosophy to make their arguments. They force the nature of man onto God instead of recognizing that God’s nature is very different than ours. We should not fully understand the ways or thoughts of God, if we think we do then we are likely wrong. As we read in the book of Isaiah chapter 55. 8For my thoughts are not your thoughts,neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.9For as the heavens are higher than the earth,so are my ways higher than your waysand my thoughts than your thoughts. I then purchased The Potters Freedom by Dr. James White, this book is a rebuttal to Chosen But Free. The Potters Freedom was like taking a breath of fresh air. Every argument was backed by sound biblical theology and consistent hermeneutics. Dr. James White understood the vast difference between the nature of man and God and steered clear of imposing human philosophy and eisegesis on Scripture. At this point I was thoroughly convinced that Calvinistic theology was far more rigorous and scripturally sound than Arminian theology. In the Calvinistic system of theology, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit all had the exact same nature. This was not true with the way that God the Father and Jesus Christ were depicted by the Arminians I studied. As a matter of fact, most of the Arminian churches that I attended and most of the sermons that I watched seemed to depict Jesus with a very different nature than that of the Father. This is however not right as the Father and Son both share the exact same nature. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. -Hebrews 1:1-3, ESV I continued to attend my Arminian church for a few more weeks, but I would come to church hungry for the Word of Truth and I would leave starving. I decided that I would no longer be able to attend an Arminian church and invited my Pastor out for coffee to let him know that I would start attending a local reformed (Calvinist) church. He was very understanding and we are still friends to this day. It has been a little over four years now since I converted to Calvinism and though I do not claim that it is a perfect system of theology, I firmly believe that it is the most biblically supported and hermeneutically consistent system of theology we have to date. PART 2 My conversion to Calvinism was not easy, in fact it was fraught with a wide variety of emotions and questions. How could it be that a loving God might create some for honor and others for dishonor? Do people have free will? If so how free? Can we really be judged for our actions if our actions are due to a predestined disposition? If God did elect some, am I part of the elect? How can I know? What does this mean for apologetics? Is the Gospel true for everyone or just for the elect? Why do so many people reject this system of theology when the Bible seems to support it so well? After 32 years of Arminian teaching I had developed an image and nature of God in my mind that was very different from the God of Scripture. As I questioned the Calvinist understanding of God I realized that everything they taught was clearly stated in Scripture. The only way to deny these teachings were to distort Scripture, ignore Scripture, or alter my methods of interpretation to fit an Arminian narrative. The more I studied the Word of Truth, the more I recognized that a consistent reading of Scripture was contradictory to Arminian thought and in line with Calvinism. As I watched debate after debate on Calvinism vs. Arminianism I noticed how hateful many Arminians were toward the Calvinist perspective. They hated the God that Calvinists worshipped. But everything I read in the Bible confirmed the Calvinist understanding of the nature of God. As I prayed for understanding God began to open my eyes to see the beauty in his nature. He also helped me to see the true nature of mankind. How wretched we really were. The disparity between the nature of man and the nature of God is foundational in Calvinism. As Paul reminds us in his letter to the Romans (3:9-18): 9What then? Are we Jewsa any better off?b No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;11no one understands;no one seeks for God.12All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;no one does good,not even one.”13“Their throat is an open grave;they use their tongues to deceive.”“The venom of asps is under their lips.”14“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”15“Their feet are swift to shed blood;16in their paths are ruin and misery,17and the way of peace they have not known.”18“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Once I understood and acknowledged the wretchedness of man and the goodness of God, I understood how much love God must have had to save any of us, let alone so many. I also finally understood what unconditional love really meant. Truly without condition he loved His elect, for they were predestined to election before they ever had a chance to earn an iota of His love. It is truly by grace alone through faith that we have been saved (Ephesians 2:8). And this faith was a gift given to us out of his unconditional love, not out of anything that we did. I can tell you from personal experience that I did not deserve God’s love, I still do not deserve it. The only thing that I deserve is eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire. I was a great sinner when God drew me to Himself. I became a seeker of God only after he first drew me to Himself and this is true for all that seek Him. The very same God that elected the children of Israel as His own is the very same God that elected the Church to Christ. The people of Israel did not deserve God’s love and affection any more than the Church does today. And this leads me to my final point and further confirmation that Calvinism is a biblically sound system of theology. Arminianism teaches that Christ died on the cross, making salvation possible for all people. Calvinism teaches that Christ died on the cross ensuring the salvation of the elect. Removing eisegesis and philosophy from Scripture the Arminian approach falls flat on it’s face. Do we believe that God simply died in an attempt to save some? Did He spill his blood for those that would reject Him? Cetainly not! As Jesus said in His high priestly prayer to the Father (John 17:6-10): 6“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. It was the people that were given to Jesus out of the world, not for all people in the world. Likewise, it was not for the people given to Christ but for the glory of Christ that the people were given. From beginning to end the central theme of the Bible is the glory of God! God saved the Israelites though they did not deserve it and He did so for his own glory. God drew the elect to Christ though we do not deserve it and it is done for His glory alone, not for ours. 28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:28-30, ESV). We have been saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, according to Scripture alone, for the Glory of God alone. All praise and glory be to our Heavenly Father for He is good! God bless! Arthur W. Pink, Studies in Saving Faith, 1930. All Scripture quoted from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), Crossway Publishing, Wheaton, IL, 2001. Theology ArminianArminianismCalvinismCalvinist