THE ONE-POINT CALVINIST

A few weeks ago I was discussing the topic of Limited Atonement with two Atlanta-area Bible college students. They both claimed to be Calvinists but were wrestling with the tormenting question, for whom did Christ die? (AKA The Extent Of Christ’s Atonement). They proffered the usual arguments of the "all passages," for example, 2 Cor 5:14, 15; 1 Tim 4:10; Tit 2:11; etc., and the "world passages," for example, Jn 1:29; 3:16; 12:47; 2 Cor 5:19; etc., passages stating that Christ died for all and for the world but passages that are egregiously mistaken to mean that Christ died at least to make salvation possible for every human being.

I retorted that the logical and theological inferences from their potential universal salvation scheme were grievous: firstly, that Christ actually died for no one in particular; secondly, it is man who actually and really saves himself -- he has the moral ability to choose Christ without any independent, prior divine enablement; thirdly, final responsibility for salvation rests with each individual because he possesses the ultimate, decisive power in regeneration; and fourthly, man therefore deserves all the honor, praise and glory.

Their swift objection to these remarks precluded my extension of their position to other necessary consequences which would include a lack of the assurance of salvation; a loss of the joy of salvation; a hindered witness, work and worship; religious schizophrenia alternating between emotions of He loves me and He loves me not; and ultimately, no salvation at all since Christ is our only Savior and Mediator, Acts 4:12; 16:30; 1 Tim 2:5; etc.

They accepted my suggestion to review the TULIP, the acrostic named after the Dutch flower and the summary of the Dutch Calvinists’ response to the remonstrations of Jacob Arminius' followers at the Synod of Dordt (1618-1619). We started with the T-- TOTAL DEPRAVITY, which means that apart from God's prior, monergistic, external work in fallen man, the sinner is totally or radically unable to prepare himself for salvation, to incline himself to salvation, to turn to God, to please and obey Him, etc., Pss 51:5; 58:3; Jer 17:9; Rom 8:7; etc. Here my two young friends further demurred. They did not grasp the profundity of radical depravity and in fact subscribed to a partial depravity of man in his Adamic nature. They endowed sinful man with a remnant capacity, “an island of righteousness,” with which he is able to cooperate with God in his salvation. It was strange -- their idea of radical was anything but radical. Their understanding of the term “total” practically pointed to a meaning of “partial.” Their frenetic attempts to jitterbug on this issue proved to be futile as also were my tries to show the logical and theological contiguousness of the Calvinistic scheme. In the end, they departed mildly shaken but stubbornly unconvinced of the historical interpretation and application of the term radical. They stumbled and fell at the first point.

Yet the Scripture insists that apart from the Holy Spirit's monergistic regenerating work in his heart, changing it from one of stone to one of flesh and savingly enlightening him to trust in Christ as He is presented in the Gospel, man is completely and irretrievably lost. He is dead in his transgressions and sins, Eph 2:1, 2. Dead means dead. Theologically speaking, it means he is hostile to God, unresponsive to him, hates Him and needs the miracle of the new birth to quicken him and to cause him to respond to God's gracious overtures toward him in the Gospel. It is only when we embrace these fundamental truths of biblical anthropology, truths that are embedded in the first point of the TULIP, that we can correctly understand the necessity for and the inseparability of all its points. Because fallen man is TOTALLY (RADICALLY) DEPRAVED, that is to say, he is sinful, corrupt and polluted to the very core or root of his being (radical derives from the Latin word radix, meaning root), in order for him to be saved, God must UNCONDITIONALLY ELECT him unto salvation. This in turn means that God Himself decides which of fallen, condemned man, if any, He will save. By His abounding love and mercy and for His Own glory according to the pleasure of His will, God chooses a particular or LIMITED number of sinners in Christ to Himself and it is for these that Christ made ATONEMENT. In history and time, the Holy Spirit applies the benefits of Christ’s atoning work by regenerating them and then they IRRESISTIBLY and freely answer His effectual call without doing violence to their will. Lastly, these are the very ones our Trinitarian God ensures will PERSEVERE to the end: the Farther works out His plan in them enabling them to press on, Phi 1:6; 2:12, 13; the Son continues His Priesthood role of praying for them, Rom 8:34; Heb 7:25; the Holy Spirit continues the application of Christ’s redemption to their hearts by sanctifying and enabling them to produce spiritual fruit indicative of their salvation, Gal 5:22, 23, and constantly assuring them of their filial relationship, Rom 8:15-17; Gal 4:6,7.

It is only in this biblical scheme, otherwise denominated as Calvinistic, that God alone receives the glory that is rightly due Him, Ps 96:4-8; Isa 42:8; etc. It is only in this scheme that the divine sovereignty in man's salvation is zealously, consistently and reverently maintained. It is only in this scheme that we can truly exult that salvation is only of the Lord, Jon 2:9.

Can we opt for some of these five points or must we accept them all? Contrary to the post-modern penchant and reverence for free choice, these points constitute a comprehensive, concrete concatenation. To change, adjust or tamper with any of these points is to sever their unity and to destroy the completeness of their thought. Such action lands us in the Arminian camp. There's no such being as a 4-point, 3-point, 2-point Calvinist; these are all variations of Arminianism. A partial Calvinist is an Arminian.

But notice this scheme receives its foundation from a correct biblical understanding of the fallen nature of man, TOTAL DEPRAVITY, the first point. Failing to grasp the full ramifications of this point perforce catapults us over the Arminian precipice. As for me, I'm a 1-point Calvinist. I (believe I) understand TOTAL DEPRAVITY, especially as it is evinced in my own life. Would that we were all 1-pointers. That’s my point, my first point !