(upbeat music) - A listener to the podcast, Peter from Seattle, writes in, "Pastor John, what is the main difference "between Calvinism and Arminianism? "I'm trying to explain this to my 13-year-old son "and would love to boil it down "to one or two watershed differences. "What would those be?" - Okay, I am going to give him more than he asked for and then I'm gonna give him what he asked for, okay?

I think it will be helpful for me to just walk through the so-called five points, because these five points are what the Arminian remonstrance in 1610 threw back at the Calvinists. The Calvinists didn't come up with five points to start with. The Calvinists wrote their vision of what salvation looks like and how it happens under God's sovereignty and when the Arminians read that, they said, "These are five places we don't agree "and that's where we've gotten these five points." So if you wanna talk about what's the key soteriological differences between Arminianism, Calvinism, you gotta take these one by one.

So here's what I'll do. I'll just give one sentence for each Calvinism and Arminianism under the five points and then I'll say what I would say to my 13-year-old. Depravity. Calvinism says people are so depraved and rebellious that they are unable to trust God without his special work of grace to change their hearts so that they necessarily and willingly, freely believe.

Arminians say, with regard to depravity, people are depraved and corrupt, but are able to provide the decisive impulse to trust God with the general divine assistance that God gives to everybody. Election, number two. Calvinism says that we are chosen, God chooses unconditionally, whom he will mercifully bring to faith and salvation and whom he will justly leave in their rebellion.

Arminians say God has chosen us, elected, to bring to salvation all those whom he foresaw would believe by bringing about their own faith, providing the decisive impetus themselves. In other words, God doesn't decisively produce the faith that he foresees. Third, atonement. Calvinism says in the death of Christ, God provided sufficient atonement for all, but designed that it be effective for the elect, meaning that it purchased for them the new covenant promise that God would bring about in his people, faith and perseverance.

Arminians say in the death of Christ, God provided a sufficient atonement for all and designed that it would become effective by virtue of faith for which we, not Christ, provide the decisive impetus, meaning that the faith itself is not purchased by the cross, but it's the human means of obtaining what the cross purchased, namely forgiveness of sins.

Fourth, grace or new birth. Calvinists say that the new birth is God's work of renewal in our hearts, which necessarily brings about the act of willing, hearty, saving faith. Arminians say the new birth is God's work of renewal in our hearts in response to our act of saving faith.

And fifth, perseverance. Calvinists say God works infallibly to preserve us in faith, all of us who are truly born again and that no one is ever lost who was truly born of God. Arminians say God works to preserve his people, but does not always prevent some who were born again from falling away to destruction.

So what's the one thing a dad would say to a son? 'Cause those are all heavy, those words are carefully chosen, that would be hard to get, and they might need years to work through that. And there is a, I did a seminar on the five points. I think it's at the website that people could see.

But let me ask, close with the question, trying to answer the question that the dad asked. I'd like to say that the one key difference is the sovereignty of God, but that won't work because the Arminians won't like that because they affirm the sovereignty of God too and just mean something a little more limited by it.

So here's what I would say to my 13-year-old. I would say the key difference is how we get saved. The key difference between a Calvinist and an Arminian is how they understand how we get saved. That is how we move from a condition of spiritual unbelief to a condition of heartfelt belief or faith in Christ.

And the key difference is this. Calvinists believe that God has to produce in us the decisive desire for Christ. And Arminians believe we must produce in ourselves the decisive desire for Christ. The Arminians say that God helps us. He helps all people. But we provide the last decisive impetus and desire for that belief.

Or I might say it like this. You can tell if someone is an Arminian or a Calvinist by how they answer the question, what was the decisive cause of your faith in Christ? So you go up to somebody and say, what was the decisive cause of your faith in Christ?

Was it God or was it yourself? And the Calvinist says, the decisive cause of my faith was God and the Arminian says, the decisive cause of my faith in Christ is myself. Very good, thank you, Pastor John. This is just a brief summary. If you or someone you love wants more details on Calvinism, see John Piper's excellent book, Five Points Towards a Deeper Experience of God's Grace, which you can download right now free of charge in its entirety at DesiringGod.org/books.

Again, you're looking for the book Five Points, five is spelled out, F-I-V-E, Five Points. And like Peter, if you wanna send Pastor John your question, a very carefully crafted, concise, and specific question, go to DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn. Tomorrow, Pastor John will explain the differences between loving God and obeying God. Or is there a difference at all?

I'm your host, Tony Reinke. We'll see you tomorrow. (silence) (silence) (silence)