EVANGEL, January 1984 7

THEOLOGY

Calvin and Calvinism

The Anatomy of a Controversy
Paul Helm
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Liverpool

'However the term Calvinist is in these days, among most, a These charges have been made increasingly in recent years by
term of greater reproach than the term Arminian, yet I should various theologians, historians and preachers, and with all the
not take it at all amiss to be called a Calvinist for distinction's apparatus of serious scholarship. In the welter of books and
sake; though I utterly disclaim a dependence on Calvin, or articles it is possible to discern two basic approaches, that of
believing the doctrines which I hold because he believed and those who start from a study of Calvin, and those who start from
taught them; and cannot justly be charged with believing just as the side of Puritanism.
he taught.'
From the side of Calvin
When Jonathan Edwards wrote these words (in 1754, in the
preface to The Freedom of the Will) he was affirming a Although there is a considerable history of scholarship on John
theological identity which was usual, if not commonplace. Calvin much of the modern impetus has come from Karl Barth.
Certain churches were 'Calvinistic', others not. Those that were Students of Barth such as Professors T.F. and J.B. Torrance have
believed themselves to be in basic confessional agreement held that Calvin's great achievement was to break with the
with Calvin, particularly over the doctrine of salvation. presuppositions of mediaeval theology, according to which
According to such churches, human salvation is by grace alone, redemptive grace presupposes and brings to perfection the
grace which has its origin in the eternal decree of God to save natural endownments of mankind.
an innumerable number, the elect, who have fallen in Adam.
Christ the second Adam procured such salvation by his When creation is alternatively interpreted 'in the light of
mediatorial work on the cross, and the Holy Spirit brings nature' it leads too readily to the arbitrary God or the contract
individuals with an experience of and an enjoyment of God according to one's interpretation of 'nature' and 'natural
salviJ.tion through conviction of sin, faith in Christ and law'. It obscures the clear teaching of the Bible that the God
repentance, and a desire to follow Christ in imitation and who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit in his innermost Being
obedience. created all men for sonship, love and communion. But we only
have that understanding of creation when creation is seen in
Such doctrinal agreement was coupled with a similar spirit- the light of its fulfilment in Christ 'by whom and for whom all
uality which focussed on the believer's union with Christ, his things were created.' 1
personal experience of God's grace, an ardent eschatological
hope, and a frugal, industrious attitude to life. The separation between Nature and Grace amounts to
reversion to the pre-Reformation mediaeval view that grace
Historic Calvinism, in this sense, was international and inter- presupposes nature and grace perfects nature - a departure
denominational. It took in the immediate followers of Calvin from the emphasis of Calvin that nothing is prior to grace. 2
on the one hand and the Victorian Baptist Spurgeon on the
other; Anglicans such as Whitefield and Toplady; and What happened, according to Professor J.B. Torrance (part-
Congregationalists in New (and Old) England such as Jonathan icularly in Scotland but also elsewhere), is that the mediaeval
Edwards and John Owen. It found confessional expression in outlook returned to haunt the Reformed churches - the
such assorted documents as the Canons of Dordt (1619), the . spectre of covenant theology arose to obscure the Reformation
39 Articles of the Church of England, and the Baptist Confession in gains and to bring people back to a position of legalistic
1689. bondage.

I. In recent years this view of Calvinism and its confessional and The basic problem with such charges is that they are too
ecclesiastical expression has come under widespread suspicion, sweeping and indiscriminate. There is a sense in which Calvin
if not under frontal attack. It has come to be held by many, and departs - and departs sharply- from the mediaeval tradition,
heralded as a new discovery, that the intellectual and religious but also a sense .in which he is happy with it. For example,
climate of Calvin's thought was strongly different from that of Calvin understands the Fall of Adam in terms of disobedience
his immediate successor, Theodore Beza (1519-1605) and of within a framework of natural law. 3 Like the mediaevals Calvin
later Calvinists such as those we have mentioned. Calvin was draws a 3-fold distinction between natural, ceremonial and
warm, personal, evangelical and Bible-centred in his thinking judicial law. 4 But unlike the mediaevals Calvin was emphatic
and ministry. He believed that Christ died for all men, and that that the natural man cannot now properly understand the
the Christian was characterised by an exuberant, assured faith. natural law of God, but needs special revelation to inform him
By contrast Beza and the covenant theologians were cold, and regenerating grace to enlighten and move him properly to
intellectual and relationistic system-builders. For them the keep it.
whole Christian theology was based upon and dominated by
the doctrine of double predestination, according to which Because me.n are unteachable the Lord has provided us with a
some are destined from all eternity to salvation, and others to written law to give us a clearer witness of what was too obscure
damnation. Christ died only for the elect, and the Christian life in the natural law, shake off our listlessness, and strike more
is one consumed by a concern to discover whether or not one vigorously our mind and our memory. 5
was of the elect, a discovery that could only be made by
remorseless and doubt-plagued exercises of introspection. So while grace does not perfect nature in the mediaeval sense,
 EVANGEL, January 1984 8
THEOLOGY

it does presuppose nature, and the moral character of divine through faith alone.
grace;as seen in the Incarnation and the obedience of the
Christian man, are wholly congruous with it. It falls well outside the scope of an article such as this to
provide a detailed refutation of such serious charges 9 but a
It is interesting to note that while the Torrances argue that the number of the main flaws in this case can be indicated.
Calvinism of the Westminster Confession is not true to Calvin,
Karl Barth argued that Calvin was not true to himself. Barth saw (i) According to Dr. Kendall Calvin taught that Christ died for all
Calvin through his own position according to which all the men. It is certainly true that Calvin's teaching on the extent of
basic loci of theology are to be understood Christologically. the atonement is less precise than the later Calvinists. (This is,
Thus election is to be understood not in ter_ms of the eternal after all, what should be expected. It is only when issues
decree but in terms of Christ's election, the righteousness of become controversial that statements about them achieve
God is to be understood in terms of Christ's righteousness, and scientific precision.) But he does occasionally commit himself
so forth. Seen from this perspective Barth saw in Calvin the to definite atonement; and the overall logic of his position
doctrine of double predestination, limited atonement and requires this view. Furthermore according to Dr. Kendall
other theological horrors. though Calvin does not teach that Christ died only for the elect
he does teach that Christ intercedes in heaven only for the
In Luther's De Servo arbitrio, in Zwingli's De providentia and in elect.
the writings of Calvin, predestination means quite unequivocally
double predestination: double in the sense that election and But this is doubtful, for three reasons. The first is that such a
rejection are now two species within the one genus designated view of Calvin appears to be entirely novel. If it had the
by the term predestination. 6 remotest plausibility then we should surely have heard about it
before 1979, through the numerous detailed controversies
What does this show? That if Barth is right the Torrances are over the extent of the atonement during the Arminian
wrong and that the traditional self-understanding of the controversy. In the second place, Dr. Kendall's exposition of
Calvinist tradition is accurate. Calvin is strained. In the Institutes Calvin insists on the unity of
the work of Christ. Christ purged sin by his own blood, making
From the side of the Puritans satisfaction through his sacrifice and appeasing God's wrath as
intercessor. 10 There is not a hint of the sharp difference in
Others, su.ch as Dr. R.T. Kendall, the minister of Westminster scope that Dr. Kendall thinks Calvin teaches between the
Chapel, in his monograph Calvin and the English Calvinism to death of Christ for all men and his intercession for the elect
1649, have approached the question of the relationship alone. But, even if the opposite could be shown, it would not
between John Calvin and the Calvinists from an examination of help Dr. Kendall's overall case in the least. Dr. Kendall thinks
the Puritan writers. On the basis of an examination of that because Calvin taught that Christ died for all men he can
numerous Puritan writings Dr. Kendall makes the startling be trusted with an assurance that never calls for self-examination
claim that mainstream Puritanism in fact proclaimed a message and for self-questioning.
that was opposed to Calvin's. 'Calvin's thought, save for the
decrees of pre-destination, is hardly to be found in Westminster Thou hast died for sinners,
theology.' 8 Two major departures from Calvin by the Puritans Therefore, Lord, for me!
(following Beza) ushered in numerous others. The first is the
doctrine of limited atonement, the idea that Christ did not die Christ, according to Dr. Kendall, intercedes only for the elect.
for all, but only for the elect. Dr. Kendall claims that Calvin But how is this doctrine of 'limited intercession' supposed to
taught that Christ died for all men, but intercedes only for the be any improvement on the doctrine of 'limited atonement' as
elect. The second alleged departure is that Calvin's view of regards assurance? The problem is merely transferred. Now the
faith as a passive persuasion of the mind is replaced by the view question becomes not, has Christ died for me? but, Does Christ
that faith is an act of the will. In Dr. Kendall's view from these intercede for me? So it is hard to see how, either on the
two charges sprang the idea that it is possible to have saving evidence from Calvin, or on the overall logic of his argument,
faith without being assured of salvation. According to Dr. Dr. Kendall has made out his case.
Kendall Calvin held that faith and assurance are inseparable
but could only do so because he also held that Christ died for (ii) According to Dr. Kendall, as has already been noted, Calvin
all men. If the would-be Christian believes that Christ died only taught that faith is a passive persuasion of the mind, not an act
for the elect then he will wonder whether he is one of the elect of the wi II, and that true faith is assured faith. But there is reason
or not, and be plagued by doubts which he will mistakenly try to think that this is too simple a view of the matter, and
to allay by attempting to discover, through self-examination, therefore mistaken. Dr. Kendall says that Calvin teaches that in
whether or not he has the marks of the elect. conversion our natural will is abolished, 'effaced'. 11 But what
Calvin actually says is

Furthermore, since faith is no longer regarded by the Puritans What takes place is wholly from God. I say that the will is
as a passive persuasion but as an act of the will, assured faith effaced; not in so far as it is will, for in man's conversion what
can no longer be seen as something which God grants, but belongs to his primal nature remains entire.
rather as something that must be sought, by self effort, and I also say that it is created anew; not meaning that the will
which may therefore not be found. now begins to exist, but that it is changed from an evil to a
good will. 12
Limited atonement and faith as an act of the will put paid to
assurance. According to Dr. Kendall we find the Puritan It seems clear enough from this that Calvin took essentially the
preachers exhorting their hearers to prepare themselves for position of the Westminster Divines, that in conversion the
grace, and as a means to this they preached the law before they Holy Spirit renews the wills of the elect and by his holy power
preached the gospel and urged repentance before faith. In so determinates them to that which is good. 13
doing they opened the door to legalism, and salvation by
religious self-effort, so largely undoing and obscuring the Dr. Kendall as we have seen, regards it as axiomatic that for
Reformation re-discovery of salvation by divine grace done Calvin faith includes the personal assurance of salvation,
 EVANGEL, Januar_y 1_984 9
THEOLOGY

quoting the well-known definition of faith given in the not. It is for this reason that New Testament Christians were
Institutes: 'a firm and certain knowledge of God's benevolence bidden to hold fast to some traditions, and to spurn others
toward us, founded upon the truth of the freely given promise (2 Thess. 3-6). We can no more avoid being the product of a
of Christ, both revealed to our minds and sealed upon our tradition that we can avoid having parents.
hearts through the Holy Spirit'. 14 This appears to settle the
matter. But does it? A little further on in the Institutes Calvin This being so, that person is surely extremely strange who does
says this: not want to know about his tradition, about how he comes to
be the sort of Christian he is. How does such a tradition come
Unbelief is so deeply rooted in our hearts, and we are so to be? What is the relationship of the tradition of Calvinistic
inclined to it, that not without hard struggle is each one able evangelicalism to the Protestant Reformation, and of both to
to persuade himself of what all confess with the mouth, Scripture?
namely that God is faithful. 15
Connected with this is the matter of the confessional identity
Calvin is prepared to recognise that faith may be accompanied of churches. Many Churches have a confession of faith as their
by doubt, adding that while faith 'ought to be certain and subordinate standard. This is most apparent in the case of
assured, we cannot imagine any certainty that is not tinged with Presbyterian churches, but is also true, historically, both of
doubt'. Once more it is noteworthy that Calvin's position is Congregationalism and of many Baptist Churches. Often the
quite close to that of the Westminster Confession. status and validity of such confessions has been a matter of
intense debate. Are confessions such as the Westminster
(iii) According to Dr. Kendall the end result of the process of Confession of Faith, which have had an almost incalculable
degeneration set in train in English Puritanism after the death of influence on Protestantism, in fact departures from the spirit
Calvin is 'preparationism'. Others have made similar claims and the letter of the Protestant Reformation? Are they
about new England Puritanism. 16 'Preparationism' is the view documents in which relationalism and intellectualism prevail
that a person can prepare himself, unaided by divine grace, to over the Christian faith, in which a system is imposed on the
receive grace. Gospel, or does the gospel speak for itself in them? Do they
inculcate a legalistic attitude of mind? Is Professor J.B. Torrance
Here it is vital to make certain distinctions if confusion is to be correct when he says the Westminster Confession has serious
avoided. The Westminster Divines, together with the whole weaknesses 'in the understanding of God, of grace, and of the
Puritan and Reformed (and Augustinian) tradition, deny that an Holy Spirit' due to being dominated by the eternal Decrees
unregenerate person can prepare himself spiritually to receive and the scheme of Federal Theology? 18 Or was B.B. Warfield
God's grace. The 'natural man' does not want God, nor does he correct when he claimed that the Westminster Assembly
want to want God. 17 He can, however, do certain things that in provided formularies which have held sway by the inherent
the hormal course of events are necessary for receiving God's power of their truth, "the culminating Reformed Confession of
grace; for example go to church, or read the Bible, or peruse the Faith, and a Catechism preeminent for the exactness of its
pages of Evangel. Further, the Puritans and Calvin (following definitions of faith and the faithfulness of its ethical precepts"?
Scripture) teach that often God himself prepares people
(whether they are conscious of it or not). The modern (b) There is the bearing of all this on the Christian's under-
discussion of preparationism, including Dr. Kendall's treatment, is standing of Scripture and his use of Christian literature. No one
made almost wholly worthless by a failure to make these is suggesting that the tradition of Scriptural exegesis of
necessary discriminations. evangelical Calvinism is infallible, but, building in many
aspects on the amazing pioneer work of Calvin, it has
In maintaining the essential continuity between Calvin and the nourished countless Christians. Take, for example, / John.
later Calvinism it is important not to exaggerate the other way. Many have thought that/ John provides the Christian with tests
There was doctrinal development and change, over the to examine himself. ('We know that we have passed from
understanding of the nature of the atonement, for example, death unto life, because we love the brethren' I John 3:14; Cf.
over Covenant Theology and divergences over Church-State I John 2:3, 5). If so then it would seem that this supports the
relations as well as differences in literary style and approach. It propriety of self-examination. The Puritans would agree. But
would be surprising too if in such a broad family there were not would Calvin? Not according to many, and Calvin in their
members of it who thought of 'Calvinism' as a rigid and estimate rediscovered the biblical gospel in its proper biblical
legalistic system. But what is remarkable is how unified in emphasis. Confusion! What seems to support the straightforward
theological and spiritual outlook was this diverse body of men, interpretation of I John is charged with being legalistic and
at least until the philosophical and theological upheavals of the introspective. And what of Christian literature? The Hodges
eighteenth century. and Owen and Warfield (for example) are not infallible. But are
they reliable? Can the Pastor and the individual Christian use
II. such literature With confidence?

But why does this controversy matter today to anyone except (c) Most important of all perhaps, the Christians own spiritual
University dons and research students in search of a thesis self-understanding is at stake. Need the Christian ever concern
topic? Is it not another example of dry-as-dust theology? There himself with the question of whether or not he is one of the
are four reasons why this would be an over-hasty reaction. elect? Is he right to assume that he is, because Christ has died
for all men? What about doubts and fears and the danger of
(a) Many of the readers of this magazine have become self-deception? Are these sometimes legitimate, or are they
Christian within a particular tradition, the tradition of Calvinistic always improper? What about guilt before God? Ought the
evangelicalism. 'Tradition' is a word that is viewed with Christian to believe that he is guilty because he has broken
suspicion. To many Protestants it suggests the classical Roman God's law? Ought he to experience contrition and penitence,
Catholic view of oral tradition, of another source of religious or ought he to banish such thoughts with the thought that God
authority independent of Holy Scripture. But this is not the loves him? This matter runs deep. For those whose Christian
only meaning of the word. Any organisation existing over a experience is formed through (among other things) a belief in
period of time develops traditions, some consciously, some God's discriminating love, the danger of self-deception, and
 EVANGEL,January1984 10
THEOLOGY

the n_ecessity of an experience of a 'law work', concepts such as (Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education,
self-deception, conviction of sin and evidence of election are 1982) p. 27 3. These claims are repeated in almost
not readily detachable from what it means to be a Christian. identical words in 'The Incarnation and "Limited
They are part of what a Christian is. To use such concepts is not Atonement" ' (Evangelical Quarterly, April, 1983, pp. 88-
simply to employ a traditional or historically-conditioned way 9).
of describing something that might equally well be described 3. Institutes 11. 1.4.
in others ways. These descriptions are part of the Christian's 4. Institutes IV. XX.15.
self-understanding, they determine the character of such a 5. Institutes II. VIII.I.
Christian's experience, they are for him inseparable from 6. Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics (edd. G.W. Bromily and T.F.
spiritual life. Thus it is not a light thing to be invited to entertain Torrance, Edinburgh, T. and T. Clark, 1957) 11.2. p. 17.
the thought that long-honoured Christian teachers have been 7. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1979.
mistaken in principle about the Christian faith, and have 8. Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649, p. 208.
distorted the biblical message so as to subvert the very 9. For further discussion see Calvin and the Calvinists
principle of salvation by grace through faith alone. It is of the (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1982).
utmost importance for the Christian's self-understanding and 10. Institutes I I.XVl.2.
self-identity to try to get and to keep such matters straight. 11. Calvin and English Calvinism to 1649, p. 21.
12. Institutes 11.111.6.
13. Westminster Confession of Faith X.ii.
References 14. Institutes 111.11. 7.
15. Institutes 111.11.15.
1. J.B. Torrance 'Strengths and Weaknesses of the Westminster 16. e.g. Norman Pettit, The Heart Prepared (1966).
Theology' in The Westminster Confession in the Church 17. Westminster Confession of Faith IX.II I.
Today ed. Alasdair I.C. Heron (Edinburgh: The Saint 18. J.B. Torrance 'Strengths and Weaknesses of the
Andrew Press, 1982) p. 52. Westminster Theology', p. 45.
2. J.B. Torrance 'Calvin and Puritanism in England and 19. 8.8. Warfield, The Westminster Assembly and its Work
Scotland - Some Basic concepts in the Development of (New York, Oxford University Press, 1931) p. 72.
"Federal Theology" in Calvinus Reformator

Incamation
The Revd Dr Gerald Bray
Lecturer in Theology, Oak Hill College, London

Like the crucifixion, which we looked at in an earlier issue, the

Incarnation belongs to the inner circle of Christian teaching. It
is part of that precious store of doctrine which shapes the
whole of our Christian life and penetrates beyond it to bear Or Bray continues his
witness, even in our secular society, of the abiding truths of the series of fresh assessments of
Gospel. Christmas, the great feast of the Incarnation, is the key Biblical doctrines.
most popular holiday of the year; it has even spread, thanks to
commercialism, to non-Christian countries like Japan. At the
theological level, books like The Myth of God Incarnate and its
successors remind us of the importance of the doctrine in
contemporary theological debate. Somewhere inbetween
these two extremes, a host of voices calls us to practise a more The need for caution is reinforced when we remember that the
'incarnational' faith, by which is usually meant a modified form Christological disputes of the early centuries, which culminated
of that social gospel which passed for liberalism in the in the famous, and now much-maligned, definition of the
1920's. Council of Chalcedon (AD 451), can largely be understood as
an attempt to expound this verse correctly. For Athanasius
At every level of the Church, the Incarnation is now making (c 296-3 73), it was the key to Christology, and his views, as we
itself felt, perhaps more than any other single doctrine. In the know, were appealed to by later generations as the irreproachable
Scriptures it is spoken of somewhat indirectly in Matthew and source of orthodoxy. An entire theological system was built on
Luke; it can also be found in Philippians 2:5-11, in Colossians the polarity of Word and flesh, which, with minor modifications
and in Hebrews, not to mention half a dozen or so other in the interests of greater clarity, remains the touchstone of
passages. Yet by common consent, both in modern times and right belief even today.
since the early Church period, the main focus of our attention is
the Fourth Gospel, in particular the famous Prologue, and The extent to which this is accepted was demonstrated by the
especially John 1:14 - the Word became flesh. John's speech furore caused by recent assertions that the Incarnation is a
is at once arrestingly direct and tantalizingly obscure. What can 'myth'; the controversy revealed, if nothing else, just how deep
it mean to say that the word, which is surely an intangible thing, the roots of incamational orthodoxy are, even today. Neverthe-
became flesh? The text hardly lends itself to any kind of less, the dispute also showed that ma,ny believers have a faith
allegory or typology, but what can the literal sense possibly in the Incarnation which is more passive than active, more
mean? traditional than vital. To attack it might be sacrilege, but to