Why I am a Calvinist

For anyone interested, this is my theological position. I hold to something called "Reformed Theology" (aka Calvinism). In this post, I aim to argue that the five-points are true for some of my apologist friends. 

TULIP
Total Depravity
Unconditional election
Limited (Definitive) Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints

Total Depravity
Total Depravity argues that (surprise) mankind is totally depraved. That is, man is completely unable to come to God of his own volition at all. Were man given the opportunity, we'd spit in God's face and curse Him. " For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Romans 8:5-9 ESV)"

Note the flow of thought. The mind set on the flesh cannot please God. So if you imagine a set of people named "in the flesh", who belongs to this set? "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you." So the people who belong to that set are those who do not have the Spirit of God. Aka those who do not belong to Christ. Thus, there are only two categories of people in the world: in the flesh or "belonging to Christ". Those who are in the former do not AND cannot submit to God's law. To be sure, this capability isn't a corruption of rational faculties. We have all the rational/physical faculties we need to choose God. It's one of desire.

Suppose I push Stephen Hawking to the ground. I cannot command him to get up, because he's physically incapable. However, suppose we encounter a dude who just loves floors so much. His love for the floor is such that he doesn't want to get up. We can hold that guy accountable. So it is with sin. Sin is a corruption of our desires-we are so thoroughly corrupt, that though we have everything we need physically to choose God and live, we will not because we want everything but God. This is the plight of mankind.

Unconditional Election

This deserves a whole exegesis of Romans 9, but I'll keep it brief (that's not our only text for this anyway). We believe that mankind freely wills his own rebellion. However, this is the only thing he can freely will-not because he's physically incapable of willing otherwise, but because sin is the only thing we want to freely will apart from God's grace. Thus, God would be just in damning us all. However, before the foundation of the world, God chose to save some (not all) from their rebellion, and chose to pass over others. The language is key here. God does not Himself produce evil in anyone. Rather, He gives man over to his own sinful desires. Thus, God predestines some to eternal life and predestines some to damnation. This isn't a symmetrical action, however. In the former, God chooses to actively cause people to believe. He chooses to regenerate their hearts. God does not do this based off of anything good He sees in the elect. I wasn't saved because I was somehow better-but I was saved according to God's grace, and according to God's purposes. It had nothing to do with my own merits. In the latter, God simply permits the non-elect to engage in their own freely willed rebellion. God doesn't damn them because they are MORE deserving of it than the elect-all people deserve to be damned to hell. God passes over them according to His Sovereign purposes. It's just because everyone deserves hell in the first place anyway. 

I'll mention a few brief notes on Romans 9 (I'll deal with that at length another time). The first view verses of Romans 9 are clearly talking about salvation ("I could wish that I myself were cut off and accursed"). Romans 9 talks about how God's promises to Israel have not failed. Why? Because "not everyone who belongs to Israel is Israel." The Gospel went out and saved everyone God intended it to save. This is reflected in God's choice to include Jacob in the promise and not Esau. Ultimately, God chooses "not based off of human will or works", but off of His sovereign mercy. Here are the other verses: 

If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. (1 John 2:29 ESV)

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. (1 John 5:1 ESV)

This is key. Note the flow of thought. In 1 John 2, John isn't saying that practicing righteousness causes you to be born of God. Rather, it's evidence of it (has been born). Likewise, the grammatical parallel is 1 John 5. Believing evidences being born of God. That means that being born of God precedes belief, just as being born of God precedes practicing righteousness. As a Calvinist, I believe that the moment God regenerates your heart, you believe. However, regeneration is the logical foundation of belief. We all know causes and effects can be simultaneous (just think a ball weighing down a cushion from eternity). However, the ball logically, not temporally, precedes its effect. That is, the ball's weight is the cause of the impression on the cushion. Likewise, the Holy Spirit's work of regeneration, while temporally co-extensive with the effect, is logically prior to believing. That means the Spirit's work brings about new birth which brings about belief, not the other way around.

Regeneration (the Holy Spirit's work of giving us a new heart) --> born of God --> belief.

There's more. John 6:37 teaches that "all that the Father give will come, and those who come [Jesus] will never cast out." There is a chain that goes on here.

Those who the Father gives comes --> those who come Jesus never casts out.

John 6:44, Ephesians 1 (God predestined us for adoption before the foundation of the world), and a bunch of other texts could be placed here. I'll address one more.

" Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.”

(John 10:25-30 ESV)"

Note: "oneness" here denotes one in being and power, not "same Person". But that aside, Jesus says "you do not believe because you are not among my sheep." Again, note the flow of thought. He doesn't say "you are not among my sheep because you do not believe", but rather, "you do not believe because you are not among my sheep." Jesus knows His sheep-the Pharisees weren't part of the flock. That was the reason they didn't believe. And the Father is the one who gives the sheep (who, as we've seen, are not the set of all people in the world).

Limited (Definitive) Atonement

I don't like the the word "limited" atonement. I don't really think that's a good way of putting it. Everyone believes the atonement is limited in some sense (namely, in it's application). This doctrine is saying something more...but TUDIP would've been awkward.

Definitive atonement asks the question "for whom did Jesus die?" Yes, I believe that Jesus made salvation possible for every single person on the planet. I really do. However, did Jesus have a particular people who He was going to definitively secure in His death and Resurrection? Absolutely. Jesus, while making salvation possible for all, also secured His elect people.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. (Romans 8:31-33 ESV)

Who is the us in the context? The elect. How do I know that? Note the flow of thought. "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's elect?" The "us" in context must be the elect, because the only way you inherit the benefits of being in Christ (i.e the only way you will be "graciously given all things") is if you belong to the elect (i.e if all charges of your sinful past are removed-who shall bring a charge against God's elect?).

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:10-11 ESV)

He lays down His life for the sheep. And as we've seen, Jesus knows who His sheep are. That's not to say He doesn't make salvation possible for all. I truly believe He does. But that is to say that Jesus also secures the salvation of His elect. Thus, He definitively accomplishes something in His death, rather than just offering a potentiality to the world.

Irresistible Grace

Perhaps the 1 John texts would've gone better here. There is strong overlap. This doctrine, contrary to William Lane Craig, does not say you can never resist the grace of God. Rather, it says that when God so chooses, He can regenerate your heart and cause you to believe. He can (and will), when He chooses to, overwhelm and overcome the deadness of the human spirit and revive it with new life in Christ. His call is irresistible-because of the power of God's saving grace, those who are called cannot resist but to come. Again, the 1 John texts would've been nice. But also, see this text: And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

(Romans 8:30 ESV)

Again, note the flow of thought. All of those Predestined are --> called --> justified --> glorified. The chain cannot be broken.

Perseverance of the Saints

Romans 8:30 could go here. Philippians 1:6 also belongs here-he who began a good work in you will see it through to completion. God starts the work, and finishes. Note, this is not "once saved always saved." In other words, it doesn't mean that you can believe in the Lord and then live like the devil. Those who are in Christ fight sin! (Romans 8) The evidence of being born of God is that you pursue Jesus. But what it does mean is that I can have confidence that I will grow in my conformity to Christ, and that God will bring me through to salvation. I can be confident that God will be faithful to me to complete what He started in me. That doesn't mean I don't work-oh, there is a good deal of fighting and effort and Spirit-empowered striving after God. But that's the key: the Holy Spirit is the one who drives the whole Christian life.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13 ESV)

I am a Calvinist because it's Biblical. I love the sovereign, merciful, gracious Lord of all!