What Does It Mean to Be a Calvinist?

First in the "What Does it Mean?" Series

Oct 24, 2024

To be blunt, it means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. When someone asks me if I’m a Calvinist I normally respond with a question: What do you mean by “Calvinist”? Tell me what a Calvinist is, and I’ll tell you if I am one.

Some Thoughts Before Reformation Sunday

So here we are, three days away from Reformation Sunday and it’s a great time to talk about Calvinism. What is Reformation Sunday? It’s the Sunday before October 31 of every year. Why October 31? Because on October 31,1517, an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenburg, Germany. He was inviting a scholarly debate on theological issues and had no idea that this act would set in motion a series of events that impact us five centuries later.

The Protestant Reformation is one of the great turning points in history and Reformers, like Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, and John Calvin, were impressive, remarkable, brilliant, stubborn, brave, flawed men who led the way. All my heroes are flawed. All my heroes need Jesus. And no one knew that better than John Calvin.

Some other time I can tell you how I became a Calvinist, but I assure you that it was after I became a Christian. One does not have to identify as a Calvinist to be a Christian. I have known and read many warm-hearted Christians through the years who cannot and will not own the Calvinist label. Sometimes that’s because they were taught a counterfeit or caricaturized version of Calvinism, sometimes it’s because they were taught Calvinism by an arrogant jerk. But I like to tell people that I’m one of the nice Calvinists.

I’m In Good Company

At any rate, very big books have been written to articulate and defend the theological system that John Calvin advocated. By the way, everyone has a theological system. It’s the only way to organize the massive amounts of data points in Scripture. Charles Spurgeon, the Baptist “Prince of Preachers” said it like this way back in the 19^th century:

“It is no novelty, then, that I am preaching; no new doctrine. I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines that are called by nickname Calvinism, but which are truly and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus. By this truth I make my pilgrimage into the past, and as I go, I see father after father, confessor after confessor, martyr after martyr, standing up to shake hands with me . . . Taking these things to be the standard of my faith, I see the land of the ancients peopled with my brethren; I behold multitudes who confess the same as I do, and acknowledge that this is the religion of God's own church.”

(Spurgeon's Sovereign Grace Sermons, Still Waters Revival Books, p. 170)

Theologian Herman Selderhuis writes that “the three essential elements of Calvinistic doctrine” are the authority of the Bible, the sovereignty of God, and the responsibility of man. I agree and here’s why:

1. The Authority of the Bible

The Bible is the written revelation of God to us. Therefore, it is the Word of God. As the Word of God, it carries the authority of God himself, just as a written decree from a judge carries the authority of the judge, or the written order from a four-star general carries the authority of the general, or the written executive order carries the authority of the president. In all of Jesus’ encounters with his opponents, he consistently appealed to the Scriptures as the final arbiter in all matters. “You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God (Mt. 22:29).

Calvin, like all the Reformers, held that Scripture alone––not popes or priests or creeds or councils––was the final authority in everything. Church traditions may or may not be helpful to our walk with Jesus, but they are determined to be helpful or not by Scripture alone. While we can make some general inferences about the Creator by observing creation, Calvin taught that “no one can get even the slightest taste of right and sound doctrine unless he be a pupil of Scripture” (Institutes, 1:6:2).

2. The Sovereignty of God.

The Bible consistently presents God as omnipresent (present everywhere), omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (knows all things), and omnibenevolent (always good). By these attributes he rules over heaven and earth. There is no place he can’t go, no promise he can’t keep, no plan he can’t execute, no fact he doesn’t know, no knowledge he can learn, no injustice he can commit, and no creature who can thwart his will. Indeed, “all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand” (Daniel 4:35).

You cannot believe the Bible and also deny that “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Psalm 115:3). His reign extends over every human endeavor, “For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations” (Psalm 22:28). He is completely independent, needing nothing and no one, “since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25). This absolute and supreme reign over every atom in the universe is rightly called the sovereignty of God. In short, no matter how random things appear at times, God is in control of the entire universe, including every detail of your life. Nothing is left to chance.

This clear teaching of Scripture is central to Calvinism, as Calvin wrote himself:

“God is deemed omnipotent, not because he can act though he may cease or be idle, or because by a general instinct he continues the order of nature previously appointed; but because, governing heaven and earth by his providence, he so overrules all things that nothing happens without his counsel.”

3. The Responsibility of Man.

The Bible doesn’t teach a meaningless fatalism in which the decisions and actions of human beings make no difference. Neither does God’s sovereignty relieve us of responsibility. It’s hard to wrap our minds around the co-existence of these parallel truths, like tracks on a railroad, they’re side by side, yet never clash. After pondering the implications of God’s sovereignty, a common objection might go something like this: Well, if God has a plan and nothing can affect it, then why should we pray? Why should we do evangelism? Why should we send missionaries? Why should we even obey him at all?

There are two ways to answer those questions. First, because God said so. The sovereign Creator, Sustainer, and Judge of the universe commands us to pray, evangelize, send missionaries, and obey him. That should be enough. Second, the God who ordains the ends also ordains the means, by which he accomplishes the ends. He has chosen to carry out his providential plan through the actions, and even the inactions, of people.

So, trusting in God’s sovereignty doesn’t mean we’re relieved of our duty to obey him or make plans, or set up a 401k, or get a job, or go to the doctor, or use our brains to make good decisions. As Calvin noted:

We are not at all hindered either from looking ahead for ourselves or from putting all our affairs in order, but always in submission to his will. The reason is obvious. For he who has set the limits to our life has at the same time entrusted to us its care; he has provided means and helps to preserve it; he has also made us able to foresee dangers…God’s providence does not always meet us in its naked form, but God in a sense clothes it with the means employed. (Institutes, 1:17:4).

So Here’s My Answer

These three things I believe with all my heart. If this is what it means to be a Calvinist (it is), then I’m a Calvinist.

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