Five Points in Five Weeks
And Why They Matter
Tim Sisemore
tsisemore@richmont.edu
Introductions
• Why are you here?
• Why am I here?
Goal: Tiptoeing through the TULIP
What is the TULIP?
Recent Restatement
Dispelling Some Myths
• Actually, NOT developed by Calvin
▫ Thus, we’ll track the history behind it tonight
• It is NOT the way Calvin would have wanted to
present his theology
▫ Thus, we’ll see the context of these issues in his
“Institutes”
• It does NOT start with the issue of free will
▫ Though we’ll certainly get there
• It is NOT about which group is saved
▫ Cooler heads on both sides agree this is a family
dispute
Our Ambition
• Put the debate in historical
context
• Detail the Five Points and how
they differ with Arminianism
• Stress the practical
implications of the Calvinist
position
Roots in the Bible
• Both sides seek to honor Scripture and see it is
as authoritative
• Key is to let Scripture speak without starting
from personal presuppositions
▫ What “fair” means
▫ What “free will” means
Round 1: Augustine vs. Pelagius
• Augustine: Great saint of the 5th Century
▫ Bishop of Hippo
▫ Confessions one of greatest books ever
▫ Accidentally started a fight
• Augustine: “Grant what thou commandest,
and command what thou wilt.”
• Pelagius responds: UNFAIR!
• Augustine: Not so, we MUST have grace.
Augustine and Pelagius
• The history of the battle.
▫ Council of Carthage (417) denounced Pelagian
views.
▫ Semi-Pelagianism appeared.
 John Cassian said man begins the work of salvation,
but God completes it.
 This condemned at Synod of Orange (529).
 Yet, unofficially became Catholic doctrine
 And key reason for the Reformation
 And the most common view today.
 Arminianism an “evolution” of the position
Round 2: John Calvin (1509-1564)
• French, but settled in Geneva for most of life as
reluctant pastor.
• Wrote “Institutes of the Christian Religion”.
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Most significant theological work of the era.
Stressed interrelatedness of knowing God and self.
Christian life is SELF-DENIAL.
And, of course, believed in election (as did
Luther).
The Anabaptists: Basics
• Means “rebaptizers” because opposed infant
baptism.
▫ Argued confession of faith should precede
• The “radical reformation”, rejecting most all of
church history since the Bible.
▫ Felt Lutherans and Reformed did not go far
enough
• But some beliefs key to their being persecuted…
The Anabaptists: Basics
• Believed:
▫ Synergistic view of salvation: lots of free will and
no original sin.
 Sins the problem rather than sin
 Free will decisions of individuals focal point
▫ Salvation “experience” essential.
▫ Rejected the monergistic view of Augustine
because of stress on free will.
▫ Essentially the theology of James Arminius (early
17th C.) and Arminians.
Rebuttal to Calvin: Jacob Arminius
• 1560-1609
• Studied under Calvin’s
successor, Beza
• Rejected Reformed
views
• Followers called
Remonstrants
• Calvinists replied in
Synod of Dort in 1618,
forming the “TULIP” as
response
Key Points of Arminianism
• Salvation is by grace alone
• God’s election is conditional…on the faith of the
believer
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God elected all those who will believe
Jesus died for the sins of all
God’s saving grace can be resisted
Salvation is lost if faith does not continue
• Thus, it is essentially Semi-Pelagianism
The Development of Arminianism
• John Wesley later popularized
▫ Defended it as NOT Semi-Pelagianism by belief in
original sin
▫ Prevenient grace enables the sinner to believe if s/he
wants
▫ Still held to idea one could lose salvation
• Today:
▫ Somehow “perseverance of the saints” borrowed from
Calvinists to say you choose to be saved but can’t
choose to reject faith
▫ Most have returned to Semi-Pelagian rejection of
original sin and see ability to believe as inherent in
persons, or haven’t thought this point out well at all
Roots of the Methodists
• John Wesley:
▫ Part of family of 18 kids; part of “holy Club”
▫ Led to nickname of “Methodists” in 1729.
▫ May 1738 his heart “strangely warmed” at Aldersgate
(London) by Luther’s preface to Romans.
▫ Led to Revival.
▫ Itinerant revivalist.
▫ Broke company with George Whitefield, Calvinistic
revivalist, because of rejection of Calvinism
Wesley’s Theology
•
•
•
•
Forcefully Arminian
Original sin solved with prevenient grace.
Man could resist Spirit and fall from grace.
“Second blessing” of Spirit leading to perfect
sinlessness (vital point).
• Yet, Wesleyan roots the reason for strong emphasis on
free will, conversions experiences, “methods” of holiness
in U.S.
• 1784: Methodism officially adapts Arminianism, first
denomination to do so
Modern Context
• Enlightenment/modernism behind stress on
man’s ability
▫ Showed up in Wesley’s theology
▫ But later US thinking, e.g. Charles Finney
• Wesleyans were itinerant evangelists, so their
ideas strong in the South
• Baptists were largely Calvinistic early on
• But many have drifted to Arminian positions
▫ But not Spurgeon, Piper, Carson, e.g.
Why It Matters? Free Will Run Amok
Process Theology
Open Theism
• Whitehead: God is
temporal, changing, and
developing, creating and
being created by, the
world
• Evangelical adaptation of
process theology
• Designed as an apology for
bad things
• Pinnock and others: God
doesn’t know the future,
changes his mind, and
doesn’t control most events
• He’s growing along with us!
• Human choices surprise
him, too
• Where does this leave us?
Why It Matters? Losing the Faith
• American Christians buy “tolerance” so thoroughly
that they discourage articulating ANY doctrine, or at
least any that might make someone uncomfortable
▫ But notice: as liberal positions have gained power by
paralyzing the opposition with tolerance, they are
INTOLERANT (e.g., the Dan Cathy story)
• Christian love vs. tolerance
• Many young people leave the faith for lack of
answers
▫ Good feelings/music not enough to sustain faith
▫ Cp. The Mormons
So, Let’s Begin