Purgos

I am finally getting around to responding to Sarah’s question about Calvinism.  This will not be typical but with having a baby and all I apologize for my lack of promptness.  So I will summarize each of the five points, certainly with my own position being evident.  A couple of preliminary observations:

1. The five points of Calvinism are easily remembered through the mnemonic TULIP.  Although people have attempted to re-title some of these in an effort at clarity there is no reason not to use the historic labels since they accurately convey the central ideas of each point.  This is not to say, however, that no explanation is needed.   

2. The five points of Calvinism reflect the Synod of Dort’s (Nov. 1618-May 1619) conclusions in response to five articles put out by the Remonstrants.  The Remonstrants were followers of Jacobus Arminius who got their name from a document or “Remonstrance” that they, as followers of Arminius, issued in 1610.  This was after Arminius’ death in 1609.  So what has become known as the five points of Calvinism were a formalized, Dortian response to Arminius’ followers.  Incidentally Arminius was actually a trained Calvinist under Theodore Beza who was asked to refute a Dutch theologian named Dirck Koornert and his objections to Calvinism. In preparation for the refutation Arminius came to agree with Koornert.

3. Since the five points are articulations from Dort it creates a misperception to uniformly link them with John Calvin.  It is true that Calvin clearly articulated four of the five points.  It is not accurate to say that he clearly subscribed to what later became known as “limited atonement”.  Throughout his voluminous Institutes one can find limited and unlimited statements regarding the atonement.  Theologians look in vain to Calvin for clear justification for “limited atonement.”

So I will take them in their common order.  First a summary of Total Depravity

Total depravity can also be titled, as one helpful article does, “Human Helplessness”.  Total depravity is the teaching that as humans we are innately sinful and cannot respond in and of ourselves to the light of Christ.  We must be enlightened and empowered because our sin renders us impotent to choose eternal good independent of Divine aid.  You will notice I use the term “eternal good” rather than “moral good.”  Total depravity does not teach that humans are as bad as they could be or are incapable of acting in socially or morally appropriate ways.  Instead, it is a predication about their nature that has deep spiritual implications. 

The Bible teaches the truth of total depravity in several texts and also conveys it in the underlying tone of other passages as well.  Rom. 5:12 teaches that death came to all men because through the sin of one man (Adam) all sinned.  The Greek indicates that all sinned in some point in past time.  In other words, in some sense I sinned in Adam.  Some take a seminal view that teaches that I was in Adam as my ancestor (the same way Levi was in the body of his ancestor Abraham (Heb. 7:9-10).  Another view takes a representative approach that we sinned in the sense that Adam functioned as our representative head of the human race.  In any event the text clearly teaches that I sinned when Adam sinned. 

Following Adam’s sin we see the progression of a sinful humanity spiraling toward the flood generation where Moses could record of man that “every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” (Gen. 6:5)

While repenting of his sin with Bathsheba, David says in Ps. 51:5, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”  In addition, the prophet Jeremiah declared, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer.17:9)  They are clearly saying something about the nature of the human situation from the get go, from birth.A final passage I will mention is Eph. 2:3.  Here Paul is contrasting what we were without Christ to what we are with Him.  This of course sets up that great passage that gives us the nature of salvation, Eph. 2:8-9.  It is important to note that the gift of God is set against the backdrop of the depravity of man.  If man is not totally depraved can it really be a gift?  Wouldn’t it then be at best a joint effort, where I do my part and God does his?  But this is not what Paul says and not at all the sense of what he is trying to convey.  In 2:3 we read, “All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”  Notice we are by our very nature objects of wrath.  This is informing us of our condition independent of our actions.  Another way of saying this is to say that we are totally depraved.  We are utterly helpless to change our spiritual condition.A final and important note.  While humanity is totally depraved, moral and societal goodness can come from depraved creatures since we are all made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-28; 9:6; cf. Ps. 8:4-5).  As Tim Keller has noted, “The Biblical doctrine of the universal image of God, therefore, leads Christians to expect nonbelievers will be better than any of their mistaken beliefs could make them.  The Biblical doctrine of universal sinfulness also leads Christians to expect believers will be worse in practice than their orthodox beliefs should make them.”  Universal sinfulness or total depravity keeps humans from knowing God without the veil being lifted by Divine grace.  The universal image of God allows humans to act in moral and socially beneficial ways without having yet partaken of saving grace.   

I thought a great way to get things started on this blog would be to deal with any questions you might have or issues you might want addressed.  As people at Lifeline Community what are biblical, theological, philosophical or spiritual life questions that you have.  I am confident that we all can benefit from interacting about some of these and maybe we can gain insight and clarity on issues that have seemed cloudy to us for a while.  Give it some thought and submit a question or an issue that you want addressed.  You can just post in response to this entry.    

You may be wondering why I have titled the blog purgos.  It comes from a text in the New Testament that has always meant a great deal to me.  When I was working on my undergraduate degree at what is now Davis College I took homiletics (the science of preaching) from a man I deeply respected.  It was a sort of class/preaching lab, and he let us choose the text we were to preach our first sermon on in this particular class.  I chose one verse, Luke 14:28.  It says,  Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?

The context surrounding this verse is a strong call to follow Him as a disciple.  He places this metaphor in his challenge and I think it speaks vividly of what we all as believers should desire, namely that our lives would be built into a long-lasting, enduring tower that will radiate His glory for all to see. Purgos, is the term for “tower” in this text. 

Discipleship is in part about counting the cost and in part about perseverance, and I think both of these ideas are caught up in Jesus words in this verse.  Like Eugene Peterson titles his book on the Psalms of ascent, it is “a long obedience in the same direction”.  So then as you can probably see the tagline flows from title.  The process of discipleship, properly understood in a nutshell, is building lives that make God look great.  May we each count the cost of building such a life and may God get the glory and may we share in His joy as we do so.      

I have entered the blogosphere…maybe against my better judgment.  Actually I am really looking forward to having a forum to share and discuss things that God is doing in the life of Lifeline Community and in my own spiritual and intellectual life.  Anyone who knows me knows that I love ideas and enjoy talking about them.  They also know that I love the local church and count it a privilege to pastor the people at Lifeline Community.  As a church we are a little over three years old and have really seen God do some astounding things in our midst over the past several years.  He has taken us from a living room to a tiny facility, to one twice its size and now it seems as though He might be taking us to a yet larger place.  If you attend Lifeline you know we need it and that is a good problem to have.  Please pray that God would shows us clearly where He wants us to be.

Throughout this blog I want to spend time interacting with a couple of categories of thought, namely:

   1. Issues dealing with theology, philosophy, apologetics, biblical interpretation and the life of the mind

    2. Issues dealing with the inner spiritual life, spiritual disciplines, life in the Kingdom of God and the renovation of the soul 

As a pastor and theologian I see these issues as central to all of life.  I hope you benefit from what you read.  I also want to take you on some of the spiritual journey that I find myself on and share with you what I am seeing and hearing.  Blessings to each of you.