Why I’m a 5 Point Calvinist

As you can probably tell by the name of my blog, I’m a Calvinist.  What I mean by that, if you are not familiar with the term, is that I believe that God in his Sovereignty has chosen those who he is going to save and that he did so based only on His sovereign rule and upon nothing that the individual has done or what He foresees that they will do.  I haven’t been a predestinarian for a long time, in fact, I was firmly arminian in my understanding until a few short years ago.  The main reason for this change is that I never really knew that there was anything else out there, but when I was exposed to the truth of election in God’s word I can’t help but see predestination and election all over the pages of Scripture. 

I was first exposed to Christianity back in the early ’80s when I attended a Charismatic Pentecostal church, and after a long period of “backsliding” (about 20 years), I started attending a Pentecostal church with my wife.  I no longer subscribe to much of the teachings and practices of the charismatic movement.  I find that there is much misunderstanding about the gifts and workings of the Holy Spirit, I also see how much heresy has been perpetrated against the church in recent years within Pentecostalism.

Getting back to the 5 points of Calvinism, The 5 points can be summed up in the acrostic:

T- Total Depravity

U- Unconditional Election

L- Limited Atonement

I- Irresistable Grace

P- Perseverance of the Saints

I would like to share with this post one of the passages of Scripture that I thinks speaks clearly of God’s sovereign plan of election:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience– among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved– and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  (Ephesians 2:1-10)

The first 3 verses show the  “T” of the acrostic.  Total Depravity does not mean that everyone is as bad as they could possibly be, but that they are utterly depraved and have no inclination toward the things of God.  The only thing that keeps people from being as bad or wicked as they are capable of being is the restraining hand of a gracious God.  Everyone is spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins, we have no inclination for the things of God at all.  We all followed the ways of the “world” and the “prince of the power of the air” which is Satan.  We passionately pursued the sinful desires of our wicked hearts without any affection towards God, and were with the rest of mankind children of the Devil and therefore deserving of God’s wrath.

Tags: Bible, Calvinism, Charismatic, Election, Predestination