Watershed Differences Between Calvinists and Arminians

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - A listener to the podcast, Peter from Seattle,

00:00:08.080 | writes in, "Pastor John, what is the main difference

00:00:11.560 | "between Calvinism and Arminianism?

00:00:14.720 | "I'm trying to explain this to my 13-year-old son

00:00:18.000 | "and would love to boil it down

00:00:19.400 | "to one or two watershed differences.

00:00:23.140 | "What would those be?"

00:00:26.360 | - Okay, I am going to give him more than he asked for

00:00:31.280 | and then I'm gonna give him what he asked for, okay?

00:00:33.780 | I think it will be helpful for me to just walk through

00:00:38.320 | the so-called five points, because these five points

00:00:42.680 | are what the Arminian remonstrance in 1610

00:00:48.560 | threw back at the Calvinists.

00:00:50.960 | The Calvinists didn't come up with five points

00:00:52.720 | to start with.

00:00:53.900 | The Calvinists wrote their vision of what salvation

00:00:57.200 | looks like and how it happens under God's sovereignty

00:00:59.920 | and when the Arminians read that, they said,

00:01:02.120 | "These are five places we don't agree

00:01:04.900 | "and that's where we've gotten these five points."

00:01:07.640 | So if you wanna talk about what's the key

00:01:10.920 | soteriological differences between Arminianism, Calvinism,

00:01:15.440 | you gotta take these one by one.

00:01:17.000 | So here's what I'll do.

00:01:18.120 | I'll just give one sentence for each Calvinism

00:01:21.240 | and Arminianism under the five points

00:01:23.560 | and then I'll say what I would say to my 13-year-old.

00:01:26.260 | Depravity.

00:01:28.840 | Calvinism says people are so depraved and rebellious

00:01:33.840 | that they are unable to trust God

00:01:36.660 | without his special work of grace to change their hearts

00:01:39.880 | so that they necessarily and willingly, freely believe.

00:01:44.880 | Arminians say, with regard to depravity,

00:01:47.520 | people are depraved and corrupt,

00:01:50.900 | but are able to provide the decisive impulse

00:01:55.900 | to trust God with the general divine assistance

00:01:59.880 | that God gives to everybody.

00:02:02.720 | Election, number two.

00:02:04.800 | Calvinism says that we are chosen,

00:02:07.220 | God chooses unconditionally,

00:02:10.120 | whom he will mercifully bring to faith and salvation

00:02:15.120 | and whom he will justly leave in their rebellion.

00:02:20.520 | Arminians say God has chosen us, elected,

00:02:24.620 | to bring to salvation all those whom he foresaw

00:02:29.620 | would believe by bringing about their own faith,

00:02:33.760 | providing the decisive impetus themselves.

00:02:36.260 | In other words, God doesn't decisively produce the faith

00:02:39.760 | that he foresees.

00:02:40.900 | Third, atonement.

00:02:44.900 | Calvinism says in the death of Christ,

00:02:47.480 | God provided sufficient atonement for all,

00:02:50.340 | but designed that it be effective for the elect,

00:02:55.340 | meaning that it purchased for them

00:02:58.980 | the new covenant promise that God would bring about

00:03:03.800 | in his people, faith and perseverance.

00:03:06.940 | Arminians say in the death of Christ,

00:03:09.260 | God provided a sufficient atonement for all

00:03:12.540 | and designed that it would become effective

00:03:15.400 | by virtue of faith for which we, not Christ,

00:03:20.060 | provide the decisive impetus,

00:03:22.420 | meaning that the faith itself is not purchased by the cross,

00:03:27.420 | but it's the human means of obtaining

00:03:30.300 | what the cross purchased, namely forgiveness of sins.

00:03:34.380 | Fourth, grace or new birth.

00:03:36.640 | Calvinists say that the new birth

00:03:39.700 | is God's work of renewal in our hearts,

00:03:42.620 | which necessarily brings about the act of willing,

00:03:45.540 | hearty, saving faith.

00:03:47.140 | Arminians say the new birth is God's work of renewal

00:03:50.480 | in our hearts in response to our act of saving faith.

00:03:55.480 | And fifth, perseverance.

00:03:58.180 | Calvinists say God works infallibly

00:04:01.820 | to preserve us in faith, all of us who are truly born again

00:04:06.820 | and that no one is ever lost who was truly born of God.

00:04:11.820 | Arminians say God works to preserve his people,

00:04:15.220 | but does not always prevent some who were born again

00:04:19.240 | from falling away to destruction.

00:04:21.580 | So what's the one thing a dad would say to a son?

00:04:26.580 | 'Cause those are all heavy,

00:04:29.740 | those words are carefully chosen,

00:04:31.620 | that would be hard to get,

00:04:32.940 | and they might need years to work through that.

00:04:37.460 | And there is a, I did a seminar on the five points.

00:04:40.400 | I think it's at the website that people could see.

00:04:43.820 | But let me ask, close with the question,

00:04:46.340 | trying to answer the question that the dad asked.

00:04:49.260 | I'd like to say that the one key difference

00:04:52.540 | is the sovereignty of God, but that won't work

00:04:55.860 | because the Arminians won't like that

00:04:57.940 | because they affirm the sovereignty of God too

00:05:00.780 | and just mean something a little more limited by it.

00:05:05.100 | So here's what I would say to my 13-year-old.

00:05:08.420 | I would say the key difference is how we get saved.

00:05:14.260 | The key difference between a Calvinist and an Arminian

00:05:17.340 | is how they understand how we get saved.

00:05:21.420 | That is how we move from a condition of spiritual unbelief

00:05:26.420 | to a condition of heartfelt belief or faith in Christ.

00:05:32.740 | And the key difference is this.

00:05:34.260 | Calvinists believe that God has to produce in us

00:05:41.080 | the decisive desire for Christ.

00:05:45.000 | And Arminians believe we must produce in ourselves

00:05:50.000 | the decisive desire for Christ.

00:05:54.480 | The Arminians say that God helps us.

00:05:58.240 | He helps all people.

00:05:59.880 | But we provide the last decisive impetus

00:06:04.880 | and desire for that belief.

00:06:08.160 | Or I might say it like this.

00:06:11.120 | You can tell if someone is an Arminian or a Calvinist

00:06:14.840 | by how they answer the question,

00:06:17.260 | what was the decisive cause of your faith in Christ?

00:06:23.120 | So you go up to somebody and say,

00:06:24.080 | what was the decisive cause of your faith in Christ?

00:06:28.520 | Was it God or was it yourself?

00:06:33.000 | And the Calvinist says,

00:06:34.640 | the decisive cause of my faith was God

00:06:37.720 | and the Arminian says,

00:06:39.160 | the decisive cause of my faith in Christ is myself.

00:06:44.160 | Very good, thank you, Pastor John.

00:06:47.480 | This is just a brief summary.

00:06:50.040 | If you or someone you love wants more details on Calvinism,

00:06:53.640 | see John Piper's excellent book,

00:06:55.720 | Five Points Towards a Deeper Experience of God's Grace,

00:06:59.620 | which you can download right now free of charge

00:07:02.040 | in its entirety at DesiringGod.org/books.

00:07:06.400 | Again, you're looking for the book Five Points,

00:07:08.720 | five is spelled out, F-I-V-E, Five Points.

00:07:12.000 | And like Peter, if you wanna send Pastor John your question,

00:07:14.200 | a very carefully crafted, concise, and specific question,

00:07:18.020 | go to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.

00:07:22.300 | Tomorrow, Pastor John will explain the differences

00:07:24.200 | between loving God and obeying God.

00:07:27.480 | Or is there a difference at all?

00:07:29.120 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:07:29.960 | We'll see you tomorrow.

00:07:31.000 | (silence)

00:07:33.160 | (silence)

00:07:35.320 | (silence)

00:07:37.480 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

Watershed Differences Between Calvinists and Arminians

Chapters