What Is Calvinism?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - Pastor John, here's a question we get

00:00:06.300 | with some regularity now from people

00:00:08.120 | who have no idea what we're talking about.

00:00:10.260 | Give us a simple definition or description

00:00:12.460 | of Reformed Theology or this thing we call Calvinism.

00:00:16.220 | What are we talking about when we use

00:00:17.940 | those terms on this podcast?

00:00:20.180 | - Here's what I ordinarily mean

00:00:22.580 | when I use the term Reformed Theology or Calvinism,

00:00:25.220 | and please, our listeners should understand

00:00:28.720 | that others may want to give a lot fuller

00:00:33.720 | or more precise meaning.

00:00:36.340 | So don't be surprised if you hear someone say,

00:00:40.840 | "Piper's definition is way too narrow."

00:00:43.980 | They're right in one sense.

00:00:45.780 | Historically, Reformed Theology would include

00:00:49.060 | everything you read in a big systematic theology

00:00:51.820 | written by a Reformed theologian.

00:00:54.120 | So that's Reformed Theology,

00:00:56.580 | which is why certain Reformed folks get all uptight

00:00:59.740 | if you just give it a little teeny definition.

00:01:02.020 | So I totally am okay with that and affirm that,

00:01:05.820 | but I think what people wanna know and what I mean

00:01:09.980 | is what are some of the distinctives

00:01:12.840 | that you're talking about when you use this phrase?

00:01:16.700 | And so here's what I mean.

00:01:18.720 | Reformed Theology, as I mean it,

00:01:21.180 | is a view of God and His way of working

00:01:26.180 | in the world that grows like a tree

00:01:30.740 | with lots of branches out of a deep conviction

00:01:35.980 | that God's glory is the goal of all things

00:01:40.980 | and His freedom and His sovereignty

00:01:44.460 | are essential to His deity,

00:01:48.260 | and because He's free and sovereign and glorious,

00:01:52.860 | He doesn't need to be served by anyone

00:01:55.620 | to meet His needs, and therefore He is gloriously free

00:02:00.340 | to be gracious to us.

00:02:03.180 | That's it in a nutshell.

00:02:06.180 | So let me just take those one at a time

00:02:08.060 | and put texts underneath them.

00:02:09.780 | The glory of God is supreme,

00:02:12.580 | the supreme theme of Reformed Theology.

00:02:18.300 | So Isaiah 48, "For my name's sake I defer my anger,

00:02:24.580 | "for the sake of my praise," God says,

00:02:27.060 | "I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off.

00:02:30.540 | "Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver.

00:02:33.040 | "I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.

00:02:35.420 | "For my own sake, for my own sake I do it.

00:02:39.420 | "How should my name be profaned?

00:02:41.580 | "My glory I will not give to another."

00:02:46.580 | I don't think there's a more God-exalting verse

00:02:50.280 | in the Bible than Isaiah 48, 9 to 11.

00:02:53.540 | So the glory of God from creation to consummation

00:02:57.580 | is the supreme value that God has in the world,

00:03:01.220 | and He's pursuing it in all that He does.

00:03:04.260 | "Bring my sons from afar,

00:03:05.700 | "my daughters from the ends of the earth,

00:03:07.240 | "everyone who's called by my name,

00:03:08.740 | "whom I created for my glory," God says in Isaiah 43, 7.

00:03:13.740 | And in doing this, in pursuing His glory

00:03:20.100 | in all that He does, which is the theme

00:03:22.240 | at the center of Reformed theology,

00:03:24.820 | He is totally free and sovereign.

00:03:29.260 | That is, He's not decisively constrained or controlled

00:03:35.260 | by any force from outside Himself.

00:03:39.800 | He can overcome every obstacle to His purposes

00:03:43.780 | and do everything He pleases.

00:03:46.820 | So here's a text or two on His freedom.

00:03:49.940 | Psalm 115, 3, "Our God is in the heavens.

00:03:53.000 | "He does whatever He pleases," totally free.

00:03:57.280 | Or Romans 9, 15, "I have mercy on whom I have mercy.

00:04:02.000 | "I have compassion on whom I have compassion."

00:04:05.000 | A statement like that is designed

00:04:07.180 | to help us embrace the freedom of God.

00:04:10.320 | He does what He pleases,

00:04:13.800 | and He does it with absolute sovereignty.

00:04:18.460 | And what I mean by that is Isaiah 46, 9,

00:04:21.000 | "I am God, there is no other.

00:04:22.440 | "I am God, there is none like me,

00:04:24.600 | "declaring the end from the beginning,

00:04:26.340 | "and from ancient times things not yet done,

00:04:29.340 | "saying," and here it comes,

00:04:31.640 | "My counsel shall stand,

00:04:34.480 | "and I will accomplish all my purpose," says the Lord.

00:04:39.480 | So nothing can stop Him.

00:04:42.160 | He is sovereign.

00:04:43.240 | Anything that looks like an obstacle in the way,

00:04:46.360 | if He lets it remain an obstacle,

00:04:48.740 | He's just permitting it.

00:04:50.080 | He could go over it any time He wanted,

00:04:52.560 | and therefore He's sovereign over it.

00:04:55.520 | So He has no needs,

00:04:58.280 | and therefore overflows in free grace to whom He pleases.

00:05:03.280 | Acts 17, "God is not served by human hands

00:05:06.160 | "as though He needed anything.

00:05:07.860 | "He Himself gives and gives and gives

00:05:10.200 | "to all mankind, life and breath and everything."

00:05:13.560 | God is a bountiful God

00:05:15.660 | because He's not a needy God,

00:05:17.200 | and He's not a needy God

00:05:18.960 | because He's infinitely glorious and free and sovereign.

00:05:22.600 | So those are the roots of God's action

00:05:26.800 | in creation and history,

00:05:30.140 | which means that when it comes to saving sinners,

00:05:34.980 | and here's where we get down to the nitty gritty,

00:05:37.200 | just briefly,

00:05:38.820 | when it comes to saving sinners,

00:05:41.300 | God is free and sovereign in the way He does it.

00:05:45.600 | We are dead.

00:05:46.520 | John Piper was dead in my trespasses and my sins.

00:05:51.520 | I was unable to change my life.

00:05:55.880 | I did not love God.

00:05:57.660 | I did not trust God.

00:05:59.060 | I did not want God.

00:06:00.380 | I found God boring,

00:06:02.860 | and therefore I was enslaved to my own sin.

00:06:07.860 | God was not beautiful,

00:06:09.620 | and He wasn't satisfying,

00:06:11.180 | and that's the condition of everybody

00:06:14.100 | until God moves.

00:06:17.200 | And so Reformed theology says

00:06:19.700 | the only solution to this hopeless condition

00:06:22.960 | that I was in and everybody's in

00:06:25.760 | is that God is sovereign,

00:06:27.680 | and by His free grace,

00:06:31.280 | overcomes our blindness.

00:06:34.800 | He raises us from the dead.

00:06:36.680 | He gives us eyes to see the beauty of Christ

00:06:39.320 | so that we freely and joyfully embrace Him

00:06:42.900 | as our supreme treasure.

00:06:45.080 | For example, 2 Corinthians 4, 6,

00:06:49.200 | the God who said,

00:06:50.480 | "Let light shine out of darkness,"

00:06:52.300 | way back there in creation,

00:06:53.880 | "has shone in our hearts

00:06:56.700 | "to give the light of the knowledge

00:06:58.080 | "of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

00:06:59.840 | That's how I got saved.

00:07:01.480 | My heart was dark.

00:07:02.820 | It was dead.

00:07:03.980 | It was rebellious.

00:07:05.840 | It had all the wrong preferences,

00:07:08.540 | and God said, "Let there be gospel light

00:07:13.540 | "in John Piper's heart,"

00:07:16.400 | and by miracle, in a moment,

00:07:19.320 | I saw Christ differently.

00:07:21.560 | He was compellingly true and beautiful and satisfying,

00:07:26.560 | and I was saved.

00:07:28.620 | The Bible calls me now a new creation

00:07:32.180 | so that Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 are true.

00:07:34.960 | By grace, you have been saved.

00:07:37.560 | Through faith, this is not your own doing.

00:07:40.360 | It's a gift of God,

00:07:42.200 | not a result of works or anything we did,

00:07:45.920 | so faith is a gift.

00:07:47.880 | We don't create it with our free will.

00:07:50.360 | Now, here's where it gets controversial,

00:07:52.640 | and I'm just gonna close with this statement.

00:07:54.980 | We don't create it.

00:07:56.520 | We don't create faith with our free will.

00:07:59.680 | If left to our free will,

00:08:02.460 | we will all choose the pleasures of the creation

00:08:06.120 | over the beauty of the Creator.

00:08:08.200 | Our free will is a slave to sin.

00:08:11.700 | Just read Romans 6,

00:08:14.040 | and you'll see that we were enslaved to sin,

00:08:16.760 | enslaved on righteousness.

00:08:19.620 | Only the sovereign grace of God can set us free

00:08:23.880 | so that we see Christ for who He really is

00:08:27.440 | and embrace Him as our supreme treasure.

00:08:29.840 | That's what I mean by Reformed theology.

00:08:34.140 | - Excellent.

00:08:34.980 | Thank you for the introduction,

00:08:35.800 | Pastor John,

00:08:36.640 | and if you'd like more about Reformed theology,

00:08:38.240 | see two podcast episodes,

00:08:40.040 | episode number 117,

00:08:41.400 | The Joy of Calvinism and the Fight for Joy,

00:08:43.960 | and see also episode 237,

00:08:46.200 | Where Did All These Calvinists Come From?

00:08:48.440 | And if you want a written introduction to Calvinism

00:08:50.640 | with biblical proofs for you to see and study for yourself,

00:08:53.360 | see Pastor John's new book,

00:08:55.000 | "Five Points Towards a Deeper Experience of God's Grace."

00:08:58.960 | The book can be downloaded in its entirety,

00:09:00.780 | free of charge from our website, DesiringGod.org.

00:09:03.440 | Click on Books at the top,

00:09:04.580 | and then look for the title, "Five Points."

00:09:07.440 | While you're at the website, look around.

00:09:09.280 | We have thousands of books, articles, blog posts, sermons,

00:09:12.040 | and other resources from John Piper

00:09:13.480 | and all free of charge for you to enjoy.

00:09:15.720 | And they're all intended to explain

00:09:17.200 | why God is most glorified in us

00:09:18.680 | when we are most satisfied in Him.

00:09:21.720 | Well, spring is here, the sun is out,

00:09:24.080 | and tomorrow we'll be back to talk

00:09:25.680 | about bikinis and modesty.

00:09:27.980 | Oh my, that should be quite interesting.

00:09:30.480 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:09:31.400 | We'll see you tomorrow.

00:09:32.560 | (upbeat music)

00:09:35.140 | (upbeat music)

00:09:37.720 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

What Is Calvinism?

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