The letter 'L' in the T.U.L.I.P. acronym stands for "limited atonement," which in Calvinism means that Jesus Christ did not actually die for the sins of the whole world ~ as the Bible clearly says that he did:
"And he [Christ] is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2:2)Can't I just stop right here and declare that Calvinism is a blasphemous lie? Of course, I could. But I won't. I intend to shred it ~ as I would a large rattlesnake that had somehow managed to slither into my child's bedroom.
The video of Dave Hunt, which I included in the previous essay in this series (now titled "part 4"), was excerpted from a much longer version (here's the link), in which Hunt debated a prominent Calvinist named Dr. Joseph Pipa (current President, and Professor of Historical & Systematic Theology, at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Greenville, SC). In that video, Pipa said:
"...Christ is a propitiatory sacrifice.... Now, what's a propitiation? It means to make one propitious, or change his mind toward us. It is here a legal term. It reminds us that, as sinners, we were justly under God's wrath and condemnation, rightfully and justly sentenced to hell.... But on Calvary's cross, when our sins were imputed to the Lord Jesus Christ, he fully satisfied the justice of God. He became the wrath bearer, that he might be the wrath deflector. And all those for whom he acted, have been propitiated; because, he fully paid the judgment of God. You must understand that. That's why it's tied to justification. That's why God is both just, and justifier, of those who believe in him. And John says, in 1 John 4:10: 'Herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.'" (emphasis added)In Pipa's statement, above, there are two key phrases; the first of which is "all those for whom he acted." Pipa denies that Christ acted on behalf of all men, but Pipa insists that Christ's death was propitiatory only for the "elect." Pipa is Professor of Historical & Systematic Theology at a Presbyterian seminary. Why did he purposefully choose, in his statement quoted above, to cite 1 John 4:10, instead of 1 John 2:2 ~ which explicitly addresses the scope of Christ's propitiatory death (which I referenced, above)? The answer to that question is self-evident: that is, because 1 John 2:2 explicitly refutes Pipa's blasphemous claim that Christ's death was propitious only for some, but not for all; whereas, 1 John 4:10 does not touch upon the question of 'scope,' related to Christ's death.
Above, I said that there are two key phrases in Pipa's statement. The second of those is where Pipa said: "That's why God is both just, and justifier, of those who believe in him [Christ]." Exactly. Christ's death is the basis for, or the "why" that, God can and does justify ~ whom? "...those who believe in" Christ Jesus. So, their believing in Jesus's substitutionary death, is the qualifier, concerning whom God justifies on the basis of Christ's propitiatory death. The truth that Christ died for all ~ and not only for "the elect," is testified in many different ways, and in many different places, in the New Testament. Here is yet another such passage:
"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead...." (2 Corinthians 5:14)Calvinism insists that Christ did not die "for all." But the Bible sets forth the fact that Christ did die for all, as the evidence that all "were dead" (spiritually speaking). The whole world is concluded in sin, on the basis of the fact that Jesus Christ "died for all." What Calvinists fail to comprehend, evidently, is that the death of Christ is efficacious not only for those who are saved; but also for those who perish: not for their salvation, of course, but to their eternal damnation. Those who reject to themselves the substitutionary death of Christ, thus become guilty of the death of Christ, who, by the merciful will of God, died in their place. Sinners shall not suffer eternal torment in the lake of fire because they were alcoholics or adulterers, but because they refused the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lamb of God ~ which is the one crime worthy of eternal damnation.
If you will listen to Dr. Pipa's arguments as he presents those in the above-linked video, you will hear how he labors to parse the meaning of the words "all," and "world," in such a way as to try and make the plain words of Scripture to mean something other than what they explicitly state. It reminds me of the notorious case of ex-President Bill Clinton, who infamously said: "That depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is." Calvinism's twisting and turning of the plain meaning of the Bible's words, is not a matter of reasonable differences of interpretation, but it is a determined assault upon the veracity of Scripture.
Consider the above-quoted verse in 1 John 2:2, for example, where the Apostle Paul wrote: "And he [Christ] is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." Do not forget that the Bible is the Light of Truth. If the Holy Ghost, through the Apostle Paul, meant to say that Christ only died for the "elect," then, the sentence should have read something like this: 'And he [Christ] is the propitiation for the sins of all those who will be saved.' That would be a grammatical construction entirely adequate and satisfactory to Calvinist doctrine. But the Holy Ghost did not say anything even remotely like that. In fact, every honest and reasonable person will agree that 1 John 2:2 means exactly what it seems to say, that is, that Jesus Christ died "for the sins of the whole world." Period. Any attempt to make that Scripture mean something other than what it plainly states, is not merely dishonest but it is demonic.
Nor am I focusing upon one obscure verse of Scripture, in order to make my own case. But the unified testimony of the Bible, especially of the New Testament, makes it abundantly clear that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole world. Why else would Jesus himself have commanded his disciples, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature?" "All the world;" "every creature;" those phrases cannot possibly be rendered to mean only a select group from among the world. But that commandment ~ which is commonly called The Great Commission, cannot be reconciled with the teachings of Calvinism. Why should "the gospel" be preached to those whom, according to Calvinism, were damned from the beginning and without any possible hope of salvation? Let's hear what the "gospel" ~ according to Calvinism ~ would sound like, if it were cast in their own words, instead of in God's:
Jesus Christ died on the cross to save you, that is, if you happen to be one of those whom God created for salvation. And if you are lucky enough to be one of the chosen, then, as the result of having heard this message, you will henceforth behave like a Christian. But if you are not one of the chosen, then, you will ignore this message and be damned. But the fact is, you were damned even before you heard this message; which is the very reason why that you will ignore this message. So, ignoring this message is not what damned you; but you had to hear it, anyways. Just because.So, why aren't Calvinists preaching the truth of their own 'gospel'? Calvinists are lying when they preach, telling everyone that God loves them and that Christ died for them. Of course, Calvinists say it is not for themselves to know who are, and who are not, the "elect." (Do they not thus perceive that they themselves must then be hopelessly without assurance of their own salvation?) Therefore, they say, they must preach the "gospel" to everyone so that, in the process of that, the elect may hear about Christ and come to him. But by preaching the same message to everyone, Calvinists are lying to those who, they believe, God does not in fact love them, and Christ did not in fact give his life to save them. What a devious, demonic doctrine is Calvinism!
I could go on literally for days, writing and exposing and arguing against the wickedness of Calvinism. But I am quite satisfied that I have given reason enough, in this brief essay, to refute Calvinism's abominable idea of "limited atonement." What I really intend to accomplish in this series of essays, is not to portray Calvinism as being some innocuous (harmless) expression of Christianity; nor even merely to refute Calvinism; but, far more important I believe, I want to help others to understand and to appreciate just how wicked, and how dangerous, are the doctrines of Calvinism. Calvinism is not something to be tolerated in the Church. It is a set of ideas which must be discerned, understood, and aggressively resisted, by the truth of God's Word and in the power of God's Spirit. Calvinism is Satanic. And I will say it yet, again:
Calvinism shares no common ground with Biblical Christianity.
No comments:
Post a Comment