This chapter has nine subdivisions.
To this point I have been reviewing the portion of the book dealing with the history of Calvinism. Not surprisingly, my chapter reviews of Calvinism’s history have provoked some extremely negative reaction from Baptist brethren who seem to be unaware that the vast majority of Baptists in England and in the New World for the last four centuries have been self-described particular Baptists, which is to say Calvinists. Not until the twentieth century were most Baptists not Calvinists. This is irrefutable historical reality. The Philadelphia Baptist Association, formed 312 years ago under the leadership of Elias Keach, was the first Baptist Association in the New World, and gave rise to all other Baptist groups in North, Central, and South America (with the exception of the Swedish Baptists). The pastors and congregations that formed the Philadelphia Baptist Association were self-described Calvinists.
Going forward, the author begins to deal with the theology of Calvinism, which I expect to provoke moral outrage and indignation from those who would describe George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, William Carey, Adoniram Judson, Hudson Taylor, Charles H. Spurgeon, Dwight L. Moody, Billy Sunday, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, J. Frank Norris, Jewel Smith, and D. James Kennedy as heretics. My advice to those of you who hold to such opinions, and are allergic to discussions of topics you are unfamiliar with or that you disagree with, is to read Ministerial Musings no more. It is not my desire to provoke antagonism, but to review the most substantial treatment of the doctrines and history of Calvinism I have ever read. The rest of us will now continue.
The Transcendence of God. Three paragraphs.. God is the self existent one from eternity. He created the universe to display His glory, but being infinite, He is greater than the universe (I Kings 8.27). He transcends us from the sky above us. He is both near and far, both immanent and transcendent.
The Independence of God. Three paragraphs. Being eternal, self existent, and infinite, God needs nothing and nobody. He did not create the universe because He needed it, nor does He redeem sinners because He was lonely. Nothing compels Him to do anything. He is totally independent. He alone has totally free will. God therefore does what He does for the simple reason that He chooses to do so. Not only does God not have to answer our questions or defend His decisions, He does not need our advice.
Absolute Sovereignty. Four paragraphs. God repeatedly describes Himself as king. He reigns. Which attribute of God is superior to the others? God is described as Lord thousands of times more than as holiness, love, or anything else. It is worth pondering. Any idea of God that does not immediately entail Him as Lord is an idol.
God is God-Centered. One paragraph. The universe is centered around God. It is a theocentric cosmos. Each of us should be consciously and morally centered around God as well. We must center on the glory of Christ, not the felt needs of man. In worship we must engage in God centered praise, not man centered entertainment.
The Rights of God. Four paragraphs. God has given to man certain privileges and duties, and men should show fairness and love to each other. But to be sure, man has no rights with God. God has all the rights–period. He has the right to choose whomever He pleases and reject whomever He pleases. We dare not quibble or argue with God about rights we presume to have.
Absolute Authority. Four paragraphs. Being the absolute Lord and King, God has a right to do whatever He pleases to do. He has what may be called a holy and wise arbitrariness. God does not will or act in a willy-nilly manner. His decrees are perfectly wise, for God predestines and commands according to His own counsel and perfect wisdom (Ephesians 1.11).
The Objection. Seven paragraphs. Fallen man does not like the sovereignty of God. He recoils from it and argues against it. D. James Kennedy saw why man objects to the sovereignty of God. Men will not allow God to be sovereign for a very simple reason – they want to be God themselves. We wholeheartedly agree with Luther’s battle cry: “Let God be God!”
The Contrast. Three men
are quoted.
Arthur W pink wrote,
“The God of the 20th century is a helpless, effeminate being who commands the respect of no really thoughtful man. The God of the popular man is a creation of maudlin sentimentality. The God of many of present-day pulpit is an object of pity rather than awe-inspiring reverence.”
Charles H Spurgeon said,
“There is no attribute more comforting to his children than that
of God’s sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe
trials, they believe that sovereignty has ordained their afflictions, that
sovereignty overrules them, and that sovereignty will sanctify them all. There
is nothing for which the children ought more earnestly to contend than the
doctrine of their master over all creation – the kingship of God over all the
works of his own hands – the throne of God and his right to sit upon the
throne. On the other hand, there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no
truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but
yet most certain doctrine of the sovereignty of the infinite Jehovah. Man will
allow God to be everywhere except on His throne. They will allow Him to be in
his workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to be in His
almonry to dispense His alms and bestow His bounties. They will allow Him to
sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of
heaven, will rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends His
throne, His creatures then gnash their teeth. And we proclaim and enthroned
God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures
as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter; then it is that we
are hissed execrated, and then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on
His throne is not the God they love. But it is the God upon the throne that we
love to preach. It is God upon His throne whom we trust.”
Lastly, Jonathan Edwards:
“From my childhood up, my mind had been wont to be full of objections against the doctrine of God’s sovereignty; in choosing whom he would to eternal life, and rejecting whom he pleased; leaving them eternally to perish, and to be everlastingly tormented in hell. It used to appear like a horrible doctrine to me. But I remember the time very well, when I seemed to be convinced, and fully satisfied, as to the sovereignty of God, and his justice in thus eternally disposing of men, according to his sovereign pleasure. But never could give an account, how, or by what means, I was thus convinced; not in the least imagining, in the time of it, nor a long time after, that there was any extraordinary influence of God’s Spirit in it: but only that I now but only that now I saw further, and my reason apprehended the justice and reasonableness of it. However, my mind rested in it; and it put an end to all those cavils and objections, that had till then abode with me, all the preceding part of my life. And there has been a wonderful alteration in my mind, with respect to the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, from that day to this; so that I scarcely ever found so much as a rising of an objection against God’s sovereignty, in the most absolute sense, in showing mercy on whom he will show mercy, and hardening and eternally damning whom he will. God’s absolute sovereignty, and justice, with respect to the rest assured of, as much as of anything that I see with my eyes; at least it is so at times. But I have oftentimes since that first conviction, had quite another kind of sense of God’s sovereignty, then I had then. I have often sins, not only had a conviction, but a delightful conviction. The doctrine of God’s sovereignty has very often appeared, and exceedingly pleasant, right and sweet doctrine to me: and absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God.”
Conclusion. One
paragraph. Let God be God.
