All Articles For A Defense Of Calvinism As The Gospel

Defending Calvinism is simply a matter of defending the gospel. Therefore, we do not defend it apologetically, or defensively, or even as if its fortunes were doubtful, dependent on our defense. As the truth of God, Calvinism stands and will stand—victoriously and gloriously. God Himself maintains it and God Himself sends it forth on an irresistible course of conquest throughout the world. Calvinism is the gospel for every age. It is the truth for which and by which the Reformation of the Church of Jesus Christ took place in the 16th century.

The gospel proclaims the perseverance of the saints. Jesus said: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. I and my Father are one” (John 10:27-30). Jesus gives eternal life to every one of His sheep, and not one of those saints shall ever perish.

Another of the five points of Calvinism is the truth of limited atonement. There is deliverance for fallen men only in Jesus Christ, God’s eternal Son in our flesh. This deliverance occurred in the death of Christ on the cross. His death was atonement for sins, inasmuch as He satisfied the righteousness of God, suffering the penalty of God’s wrath in our stead who deserved that wrath because of our sins. Jesus’ death was efficacious; it saved! It saved everyone for whom He died. It removed, in full, the punishment of everyone in whose stead Jesus died.

The term, “Calvinism,” is not the name by which we Calvinists prefer to have our faith called; nor do we ourselves prefer to call ourselves “Calvinists.” This was also true of most of the Calvinists of the past. Calvin was the name of a man, a great servant of God, John Calvin. He was one of the Reformers by whom the Holy Spirit reformed the Church in the 16th century. He ranks with Martin Luther as one of the two outstanding Reformers. To call ourselves “Calvinists,” and our faith “Calvinism,” leaves the impression that we follow a man and that...