Historian W.E.H. Lecky said of Jonathan Edward’s book Original Sin that it was "one of the most revolting books that have ever proceeded from the pen of man" (Iain Murray, Jonathan Edwards: A New Biography [Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1987], p. xxiii). He said this, it seems, because it paints humanity in a such a horrible light. Many would like to say something similar about Edward’s theology of grace, commonly called "Calvinism" or "the doctrines of grace." Though it is rare to hear someone use such strong words, the attitude of many towards Calvinism is that it is "one of the most revolting theologies that have ever proceeded from the mind of man." Many feel this way, it seems, because it appears to them that Calvinism paints God in a horrible light. After all, isn’t God more like a mean oriental despot than a loving parent if, as Calvinism teaches, He determines who will go to heaven and who will go to hell?

Edwards, however, had a much different attitude towards Calvinism. To him, Calvinism "has very often appeared exceeding pleasant, bright, and sweet. Absolute sovereignty is what I love to ascribe to God." But it may be shocking to realize that Edwards did not always feel this way, for the very next thing he writes is "But my first conviction was not so" (Quoted in Piper, Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist [Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 1996], p. 40). There was a time when Calvinism "used to appear like a horrible doctrine" to Edward’s. But then something changed. Somehow, he came to see that Calvinism was both reasonable and glorious.

Might it be possible for many today to go through the same transformation that Edward’s did? Could it come to pass that many who now detest the doctrines of grace would come to love the doctrines of grace–and the God they reveal? Might God grant those who are now saying "the doctrines of grace are one of the most revolting theologies that have ever proceeded from the mind of man" to one day declare that the doctrines of grace are "among the most glorious truths that have ever been revealed by the mind of God"?

My aim in these pages is to be an instrument of God in bringing this to pass. To do so, I will first set forth a biblical explanation and defense of the doctrines of grace in the hopes that people will come to see that the doctrines of grace are true–that is, they do not merely proceed from the mind of man, but from the mind of God. I will at times interact with the opposing view, Arminianism, in order to make the explanation of Calvinism more clear and the defense of Calvinism more solid. Then, I will seek to show that the doctrines of grace are glorious, not revolting, because they exalt the glory of God.

Those who have never heard of "the doctrines of grace" before have probably surmised by now that these doctrines teach that God, not humans, is the one who determines the eternal destiny of each individual. But these doctrines are more than that, and without understanding the "more," the predestinarian aspect will not make as much sense or show forth as much glory. "The Doctrines of Grace" actually consist of five biblical truths concerning the way God works in the salvation of humans. Sometimes these truths are referred to as "the five points of Calvinism." These five doctrines are total depravity, successful grace, unconditional election, successful redemption, and perseverance of the saints.

The first doctrine we will examine, total depravity, provides the context in which the other four points are to be understood because it is the reason that the other points are necessary. Total depravity concerns the extent to which the human race has fallen into sin. When we fell in Adam (Romans 5:12), did we become totally sinful, or did we maintain remaining vestiges of righteousness in ourselves? The doctrine of total depravity answers that sin has corrupted us to every facet of our being such that we are entirely sinful without Christ (Genesis 6:5; 8:21; Romans 7:9).[1] From this it follows that, unless God changes us, we hate God by nature (Romans 8:7-8), we cannot welcome the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:14), everything we do is sin (Hebrews 11:6; Titus 1:16), and we cannot change ourselves (Jeremiah 13:23).

The total depravity of the human heart, and the implications which arise from it, are forcefully taught by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:1-5:

First, notice that Paul teaches here that everybody comes into the world totally sinful. He does this by dividing humanity into two groups–those of the world (unbelievers) and those not of the world (believers)–and saying that those who are of the world are right now totally sinful and those who are not of the world were all originally part of the world, and thus were originally totally sinful. Since the only people who are not totally sinful started off as totally sinful, it follows that all of humanity is sinful by nature–that is, the state in which all humans enter the world is one of utter sinfulness and not righteousness.[2]

Paul shows that those who are of the world are sinful by calling them "sons of disobedience" and by implying that to walk "according to the course of this world" (v. 2) is to walk in "trespasses and sins" (v. 1). That this is a condition of total sinfulness is shown by the fact that those who are of the world serve satan as their master (v. 2), their course of life accords with the will of their master (who never desires people to truly obey God), their moral condition is described in the most pessimistic terms, and (as we will see below) all who are of the world are dead to God–and thus lacking any vestige of positive response (obedience) towards him.

Paul teaches that the second group--those who are not of the world--was originally part of the world (and thus totally sinful) in verse two by saying to those who are not of the world, "you [believers--see 1:1] formerly walked according to the course of this world." Then, in verse three, he writes that "among them [the sons of disobedience–see v. 2] we too [believers, since Paul includes himself in this group] all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh." So Paul is teaching here that all believers were once a part of the sinful world, and as such were sinners. This is stated most forcefully at the end of verse three, where he declares that Christians were once objects of God’s wrath–just as the world is now: "...we...were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." Being an object of wrath implies that one is sinful because it is only sin that calls forth the wrath of God.

The most convincing argument that Paul is describing a state of total sinfulness for the world now and believers when they were a part of the world is that he regards Christians as having been dead in sin when they were a part of the world. To be physically dead means to be without life, totally unresponsive to the physical world. Therefore, when Paul says believers were dead in sin, he means that we had no spiritual life in us and we were totally unresponsive to the things of God. And if we were totally unresponsive to the things of God, then it means that we never obeyed him. Furthermore, the fact that spiritual death describes believers before they came to faith and were still a part of the world implies that all of those who do not now believe are dead in sin. Thus, Paul teaches that all humans are totally sinful by nature.

This leads to the second truth I wish to point out in this passage: those who are totally depraved cannot change themselves and therefore cannot believe in Christ. This follows from the fact total depravity means being dead to God. A dead man cannot make himself alive and responsive to the world. Likewise, a spiritually dead man cannot make himself spiritually alive and responsive to the things of the spirit. But to believe in Christ, which is the way one moves from being an object of God’s wrath to an object of God’s favor (Romans 5:8-11), is to respond to the things of the Spirit. Since all people are by nature dead and unresponsive to the things of the spirit, it follows that, because of total depravity, nobody will ever, left to himself, come to believe in Christ.

For this reason, if a person is to come to faith, God must enable him to believe. But what exactly must God do to enable faith? We have already seen the answer from Ephesians 2: since the reason that we cannot believe by nature is spiritual death, if we are to believe we must first be delivered from this state and made spiritually alive. This resurrection from spiritual death to life is also called regeneration or the new birth (see John 3). Thus, one does not believe in order to be born again; rather, one believes because he has been born again. Regeneration precedes and enables faith (see John 1:13).

Furthermore, it is certain that everybody whom God regenerates will believe because those who are spiritual alive, by definition, welcome the gospel. It would be a contradiction for one to be spiritually alive but still rejecting God. Therefore, all whom God regenerates and delivers from spiritual death necessarily believe. For this reason, it seems better to say that God causes us to believe than that He enables us to believe, for "enable" does not as clearly convey the fact that successful grace makes it not just possible for one to believe, but certain that he will believe. Regeneration does not merely enable us to believe, it causes to believe.

This, in a nutshell, is the doctrine of successful grace—sometimes called "irresistible grace.". While God does at times let people resist His Spirit (Acts 7:51), He is always successful in overcoming our rebellion when He wants to be (Isaiah 55:11; Job 42:2). And since not everybody is saved, it follows that God does not give this grace to everybody. That is, He does not will to overcome everybody’s resistance. These are the two central features of the doctrine of successful grace: it is always successful in bringing one to faith, and it given only to those whom God chooses.

Successful grace is not only taught by Paul in Ephesians 2, but is also forcefully taught by Jesus in John 6:44-45:

Verse 44 seems clear enough: in order to come to Jesus, you must be drawn. But could it be that the drawing is only the granting of the ability to believe, not the actual giving of belief, and is given to all humans? A close look at this passage argues against that position because Jesus seems to teach here that everyone who is drawn by the Father will come to Jesus–and therefore successful grace is both always effectual, and, since it is effectual, not given to everybody (for not everybody believes).

There are many reasons for this. First, in verse 44, Jesus says that those who are drawn will also be raised up to eternal life on the last day: "No one can come to Me, unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day." Since only believers will be raised to eternal life (John 5:24; unbelievers will be raised to eternal judgment), and all who are drawn will be raised to eternal life, it follows that all who are drawn come to faith in Christ. Thus, God’s drawing is both effectual and given only to certain people.

The next verse (v. 45) confirms this interpretation that everyone who is drawn by the Father comes to Jesus: "Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me." "Hearing and learning" from the Father in this verse are used parallel to "draw" from the previous verse. They are being used interchangeably, and thus mean the same thing. So when Jesus says "everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me," He is basically saying, "everyone who is drawn by the Father, comes to Me." This seems to be an open and shut case for successful grace--since all who are drawn by the Father come to Jesus, the Father's drawing is always sufficient to cause a person to believe in Christ. Thus, the Father's drawing of a person is the cause of his believing in Christ.

Later in the chapter in verses 64-65, Jesus makes these truths even more clear. He says that coming to Him is given by God (note–not just the ability to come, but the coming itself), and that the ultimate reason some people do not come to Him is because they are not drawn:

Why did Jesus say that no one can come unless he is drawn? Because there were many who did not believe: "But there are some of you who do not believe...for this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me, unless it has been granted him from the Father." Jesus is giving the reason why his opponents remained in unbelief. His reason was simple--they had not been drawn by the Father. If everyone was in fact drawn by the Father, there would have been no point to Jesus' statement that a person must be drawn in order to come: "There is no point in telling disbelieving people who supposedly already are drawn by the Father that they must be drawn in order to come...this would do nothing to explain what the context of this passage demands: why his opponents remain in their unbelief" (Thomas Schreiner and Bruce Ware, The Grace of God, the Bondage of the Will vol. II [Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1995], p. 356).

In summary, Jesus is saying that no one can come to Him unless the Father draws him (vv. 44, 65), that everyone who is drawn will come (vv. 37, 45), and therefore those who ultimately reject Him have not been drawn by the Father (vv. 64-65). If a person does not come to Jesus it does not mean that God was unable to change that person's heart or that God was trying to preserve his free-will; it means that God chose--for wise and holy reasons--not to draw him but instead to leave him in his own sinful way.

But how is successful grace consistent with Scriptures such as John 3:16, which says that everyone who believes in Christ will be saved? The answer lies in a proper understanding of successful grace. It is true, as John 3:16 says, that a person must believe in Christ to be saved and that all who do believe will be saved. We cannot be saved unless we believe. But that is not the issue. The issue is why do some people believe and not others? Successful grace does not deny that we must believe to be saved (John 3:16); it simply goes a little deeper and says that the reason people believe is because God causes them to. God’s grace does not make it unnecessary for us to believe, it makes it certain that we will believe.

Since it is the successful grace of God which determines whether a person will believe and be saved and not everybody does come to believe, then it follows, as we have alluded to before, that God decides who will be saved by deciding whom He will draw with His successful grace. Therefore, God does not choose who will be saved based upon His foreknowledge of who will first choose Him (because God is the one who gives faith) or His foreknowledge of who will obey Him (for apart from God’s grace we all disobey by nature). Rather, God chooses who will be saved apart from any condition found in the individual. For we simply aren’t able to meet any conditions! This is the doctrine of unconditional election.

Jesus teaches this doctrine, for example, when he tells the Pharisees that they reason they rejected Him (and, by implication, the ultimate reason anyone rejects Him) is ultimately because God did not elect them unto salvation: "But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep" (John 10:26). You do not become a sheep by believing; rather, you must be a sheep in order to believe. On the flip side, Luke teaches unconditional election when he writes that those who do believe do so because they had been chosen by God: "...and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48). Luke did not say that God appointed them to life because they believed. He said that the reason they believed is because they had been appointed to life.

Since God has not elected all people unto salvation (as shown by the fact that not all are saved), it seems to follow that when Christ died on the cross for sins, He did not do so for all people without exception, but only the elect. This is because Christ aimed at saving those for whom He died (Galatians 1:4; Titus 2:14), and it would seem contradictory for Him to aim at saving those that His Father had not destined for salvation.

It may seem as if this point is merely an interesting fact that follows from the previous three points of Calvinism. But that is far from the truth. The extent of Christ’s death is profoundly important because it reveals the nature of Christ’s death. For if Christ died for every individual to ever live, then we must conclude that His death was not of such a nature as to secure salvation for those He died for–since He died for all but not everybody is saved. And if this is true, it would be hard to find perfect security in the death of Christ. But if Christ died only for the elect, then we can delight in the comfort and faith that come from the biblical truth that Christ’s death secured and made certain the salvation of those whom He died for (Romans 5:10; Hebrews 9:12). This truth is called successful redemption.

The apostle John, for example, teaches successful redemption through His affirmation that the death of Christ took away (propitiated) God’s anger. He writes in 1 John 2:2 that "He is the propitiation for our sins." Since Christ took away God’s anger by His death, it follows that, if He died for you, you cannot go to hell because that which was condemning you to hell–God’s anger–has been removed.[3] Thus, the nature of the atonement determines the extent of the atonement.

Revelation 5:9-10 is a beautiful concerning both the nature and extent of the atonement:

First, look carefully at verse nine. Did Christ ransom everybody in every people group? No, He did not for if He did it would not say that the ransomed are taken out from every people group, which clearly means Christ ransomed some people from every people group. Thus, we see from verse nine that Christ's redemption is limited in its scope.

Now look carefully at verse ten. What happens to those who are ransomed? It says that Christ makes them to be a kingdom and priests to God. The same people who are ransomed are said to be made a kingdom and priests--which is the same as saying that all of those whom Christ ransomed become saved. There is nobody that Christ died for that will not finally be saved, because this verse says that those whom He died for are made into a kingdom and priests to God. Thus, we see from verse ten that Christ's redemption is effective in nature.

If the death of Christ secured the salvation of His elect, then it follows that the death of Christ also bought the faith of God’s elect because without faith one cannot be saved. But it also follows that the death of Christ did not only buy the initial coming to faith of the elect, but their perseverance in faith. For since the only kind of faith that saves is a faith that perseveres to the end (Colossians 1:23), Christ’s death had to secure the perseverance in faith of the elect if it was to secure their eternal salvation.

This is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Simply stated, the doctrine teaches that none of those whom God has elected unto salvation will fall away from the faith and go to hell. This doctrine does not mean that the elect do not need to continue in the faith to be saved; it does not mean that a professing Christian can turn from Christ and still be saved if he is elect. Rather, it teaches that all of the elect will continue believing in Christ and never decisively turn from him.

Jesus teaches this doctrine in John 10:27-30:

Jesus declares in the most emphatic terms that his sheep will never perish (v. 28) because His Father is greater than all and holds the sheep in His hand (v. 29) and Jesus is just as great as the Father (v. 30) and also holds them in His hand (v. 28). Therefore, nobody can snatch them out. Many respond to this that even though nobody can snatch us out, we can jump out if we choose. However, verse 27 militates against that objection by stating that Christ’s sheep will never jump out. The mark of a sheep is that he follows Christ and hears His voice (v. 27). A true sheep will never leave Christ completely and finally. If a professing Christian does leave Christ, it shows that he was never a true believer (1 John 2:19).

This does not mean that Christians never backslide. It means that they never decisively and utterly reject Christ. This is commonly misunderstood, for often it is asked "What if one of the elect comes to faith in Christ, but then backslides and dies in that state. If he is not saved, then the elect of God can perish. But if he is saved, then God is saving someone who doesn’t believe in Him, which contradicts many biblical passages." The answer is that even during a time of backsliding, the elect still believe in Christ. They have indeed fallen. But they have not decisively turned from Him. That is impossible for them (John 10:27; 1 John 2:19).

Now that we have explored the biblical teaching on the doctrines of grace, it only remains to show that these doctrines are beautiful because they show forth the glory of God. There are at least three reasons that these doctrines are glorious good news.

They express the love of God; to deny them is to suppress the love of God

First, the doctrines of grace are glorious because they magnify the greatness of God’s love, giving deep comfort and strength to the heart of a Christian. If you are saved, they mean that God saved you because He wanted you–specifically. They mean that God loves you in spite of the fact that by nature you are completely rotten. They mean that He loves you with a special, unbreakable, intense, affectionate, electing love that cannot fail. They means that God loves you like a husband loves his wife.

But all of this is lost if election is false, for that would mean that God loves His saints in the same way that He loves the rest of the world. While it is true that God loves all people (not just His elect), He does not love all people in the same way—for if He did, He would have chosen to save everybody. Have you been accustomed to believing that God loves those whom He condemns eternally in the same way that He loves you, one of His sheep? If so, erase that view from your mind so that it will no longer cloud your experience of your Father's love. Rejoice in the greatness of His special love for you. For God to love His saints in the same way that He loves those whom He condemns eternally in hell would be like a husband saying "Sure, I love my wife. But I love her in the same way that I love every other woman."

As John Piper has said, "Many people have no personal experience of knowing that they were loved by God eternally and will be cared for by Him with omnipotent, all-supplying love forever and ever. Many people think of God's love only in terms of a love that offers and waits, but does not take us for Himself and work with infinite enthusiasm to keep us and glorify us forever. Yet this is the experience available for any who will come and drink the water of life freely (Revelation 22:17)" ⁽John Piper, The Pleasures of God [Portland, OR: Multnomah, 1991], p. 148).

Second, the doctrines of grace are glorious because they are at the heart of God’s commitment to save His people. This is exemplified by the fact that the New Covenant–the Covenant oath of God by which we are saved–ties together all five points of Calvinism. By implication, the doctrines of grace are important because to go wrong on them is to distort the nature of the New Covenant.

The New Covenant ties together all five points of Calvinism because the promises of irresistible grace and perseverance in faith are at the center of it. In Jeremiah 32:39-40, God says "and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good, and for the good of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me." The giving of "one heart and one way" to His people is a promise of irresistible grace, for it will cause His people to fear Him. And it is also a promise of perseverance, because as a result God’s people will never turn away from Him (v. 40). So the New Covenant promises both irresistible grace and perseverance in faith.

The New Covenant connects these two doctrines with successful redemption because it is the death of Christ which purchased the New Covenant: "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood" (Luke 22:20). Jesus’ death sealed the New Covenant. Since the New Covenant promised irresistible grace and perseverance to God’s elect, this means that the death of Jesus purchased faith for God’s elect--a faith that perseveres to the end. Jesus’ death bought our faith in Him and our perseverance in faith. And since not all have faith, it follows that Jesus did not die for all.

We have seen so far that the New Covenant ties together successful grace, successful redemption, and perseverance. It also connects these doctrines with total depravity, for that is the reason that there needs to be a New Covenant–we are sinners and are so bad that we cannot come to Christ on our own. Finally, the New Covenant presupposes election because successful grace, successful redemption, and perseverance presuppose the truth of unconditional election.

What this shows us is the God is utterly committed to saving us and therefore we can have security. The Covenant undergirding His commitment to save us is rock solid. And we ought to marvel at the wisdom of God in devising such a wonderful plan.

Third, the doctrines of grace are glorious because they give us satisfaction in God's plan of redemption. We can be perfectly satisfied in God’s plan of redemption because the doctrines of grace mean that no sheep will be lost. There will be no one missing in heaven who should have been there. Thus, when Christ returns the attitude will be "mission accomplished," not "God did the best that He could to save as many as He could, but its too bad that He was ultimately unable to fully accomplish His hope to save everyone."

May God act irresistibly to grant many more in His church the delight that Jonathan Edwards had in the glorious good news of Calvinism.

1. As Edwards pointed out in Original Sin, Romans 3:9-18 is very descriptive in showing that sin has corrupted every facet of our being. It says that no one is righteous; our throats are the scent of an open grave; our tongues and lips are full of deceit and the poison of asps; our mouths are full of cursing and bitterness; our feet are swift to shed blood; our whole person has destruction and misery in its ways. Thus, all humans are corrupt; each human is entirely corrupt; and each human is extremely and desperately corrupt.
2. One may object that this text speaks nothing of infants, only those who are old enough to make moral decisions. All people old enough to make moral decisions are wicked, but this doesn't mean that infants are. But as Jonathon Edwards remarks in Original Sin, "..this would not alter the case...For if all mankind, as soon as ever they are capable of reflecting, and knowing their own moral state, find themselves wicked, this proves that they are wicked by nature."
3. Some are confused by the fact that John goes on to say in this verse that Jesus is the propitiation "not for our [sins] only, but also for those of the world." Is John here saying that Jesus died to save every individual to ever live? This cannot be because that would deny the truth that His death actually propitiated God’s anger (since some people will be eternally punished by the anger of God). The difficulty is resolved when we realize that John often uses the phrase "whole world" to refer not to every individual to ever live, but to a large number from all kinds of groups. See, for example, Revelation 12:9 and 13:3,8.

Go back to Contend for the Faith.

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