Calvinism Is The Gospel, So Only Believers Of Calvinism Are Saved.

7djengo7

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According to Charles Spurgeon, Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.

Since Calvinism is the gospel, every person who does not believe Calvinism is a person who does not believe the gospel. And, every person who has never believed the gospel is a person who has never been saved. So, unless you have believed Calvinism, you have never been saved.
 

nikolai_42

Well-known member
According to Charles Spurgeon, Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.

Since Calvinism is the gospel, every person who does not believe Calvinism is a person who does not believe the gospel. And, every person who has never believed the gospel is a person who has never been saved. So, unless you have believed Calvinism, you have never been saved.

That approach is not taking it in the direction Spurgeon did. Not that he would disagree that if you believe Calvinism you are bound to believe the true gospel - but rather that this restatement of Spurgeon elevates the label (and any baggage that might go with it) rather than subordinating it to the scriptures. He rather would say that Calvinism is a restatement of what is taught in scripture (thus elevating scripture and what it teaches).

It is no novelty, then, that I am preaching; no new doctrine. I love to proclaim these strong old doctrines that are called by nickname Calvinism, but which are truly and verily the revealed truth of God as it is in Christ Jesus. By this truth I make my pilgrimage into the past, and as I go, I see father after father, confessor after confessor, martyr after martyr, standing up to shake hands with me . . . Taking these things to be the standard of my faith, I see the land of the ancients peopled with my brethren; I behold multitudes who confess the same as I do, and acknowledge that this is the religion of God's own church.


Spurgeon sees in the system known as Calvinism, a formalized teaching of what the scriptures upheld. But rather than say you must be a Calvinist to be saved, he points to the teachings which can be delineated (and many of which are not unique to Calvinism).

I have my own opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel if we do not preach justification by faith without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing unchangeable eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross.


Would a Calvinist hold these things (as biblical) yet say they are not vital to their faith? And would he also not say that they are a part of the gospel?

... and I will go as far as Martin Luther, in that strong assertion of his, where he says, ‘If any man doth ascribe of salvation, even the very least, to the free will of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learnt Jesus Christ aright.’ It may seem a harsh sentiment; but he who in his soul believes that man does of his own free will turn to God, cannot have been taught of God, for that is one of the first principles taught us when God begins with us, that we have neither will nor power, but that He gives both; that he is ‘Alpha and Omega’ in the salvation of men.

The Calvinist believes (though not alone) that it is God who brings about this salvation. He doesn't believe it good news that man must bring himself to decide for Christ. But it is also patently paradoxical to say that a man must know how God operates in advance of Him working for Him to work - when the very basis of one's salvation is supposed to be God's work. So in reality, no Calvinist could claim that you must believe Calvinism to be saved. But they will say that a man who rejects its tenets is in some measure missing the gospel. And the man that continues to assert that he had to bring himself to come to God (after he has been saved for, supposedly, many years) is rightly suspected to have believed "another gospel".
 

7djengo7

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That approach is not taking it in the direction Spurgeon did. Not that he would disagree that if you believe Calvinism you are bound to believe the true gospel - but rather that this restatement of Spurgeon elevates the label (and any baggage that might go with it) rather than subordinating it to the scriptures. He rather would say that Calvinism is a restatement of what is taught in scripture (thus elevating scripture and what it teaches).




Spurgeon sees in the system known as Calvinism, a formalized teaching of what the scriptures upheld. But rather than say you must be a Calvinist to be saved, he points to the teachings which can be delineated (and many of which are not unique to Calvinism).




Would a Calvinist hold these things (as biblical) yet say they are not vital to their faith? And would he also not say that they are a part of the gospel?



The Calvinist believes (though not alone) that it is God who brings about this salvation. He doesn't believe it good news that man must bring himself to decide for Christ. But it is also patently paradoxical to say that a man must know how God operates in advance of Him working for Him to work - when the very basis of one's salvation is supposed to be God's work. So in reality, no Calvinist could claim that you must believe Calvinism to be saved. But they will say that a man who rejects its tenets is in some measure missing the gospel. And the man that continues to assert that he had to bring himself to come to God (after he has been saved for, supposedly, many years) is rightly suspected to have believed "another gospel".

In other words, when Spurgeon said that "Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else," he did not mean that Calvinism is the gospel, nor that it is nothing else. What he actually meant by it was that Calvinism is NOT the gospel, and that it is something else.
 
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7djengo7

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So in reality, no Calvinist could claim that you must believe Calvinism to be saved.

But, the Calvinist would claim that you must believe the gospel to be saved, would he not?

Now, if you must believe the gospel to be saved, and yet you need not believe Calvinism to be saved, then, indeed, Spurgeon was wrong to say that "Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else." Obviously, in that case, Calvinism is something else, and is NOT the gospel.
 

nikolai_42

Well-known member
But, the Calvinist would claim that you must believe the gospel to be saved, would he not?

Now, if you must believe the gospel to be saved, and yet you need not believe Calvinism to be saved, then, indeed, Spurgeon was wrong to say that "Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else." Obviously, in that case, Calvinism is something else, and is NOT the gospel.

Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? Who is Calvin (though even that misses the point since one could very easily put Luther in there)


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7djengo7

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So in reality, no Calvinist could claim that you must believe Calvinism to be saved. But they will say that a man who rejects its tenets is in some measure missing the gospel. And the man that continues to assert that he had to bring himself to come to God (after he has been saved for, supposedly, many years) is rightly suspected to have believed "another gospel".

So, the Calvinist will say that to reject Calvinism's tenets is to, in some measure, miss the gospel. Does this mean that Calvinism's tenets constitute some portion of the gospel, but not all of the gospel? In other words, the gospel is the tenets of Calvinism PLUS something else? And, what, exactly, constitutes that "something else"--that part of the gospel that is not the tenets of Calvinism, and is in addition to them?

Will the Calvinist say that one can be saved who has only believed the part of the gospel that is the tenets of Calvinism, but has not believed the remainder of the gospel?

Will the Calvinist say that one can be saved who has only believed the part of the gospel which is not the part constituted of the tenets of Calvinism, but has not believed the Calvinism part?
 

7djengo7

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Who is Paul? Who is Apollos? Who is Calvin (though even that misses the point since one could very easily put Luther in there)


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Paul was an Apostle of Jesus Christ, who authored 13, maybe 14, NT epistles, being moved by the Holy Ghost. I know next to nothing about Apollos. Calvin was a man who is almost invariably--yet usually quite unnecessarily--introduced into polemic conversations about a set of principles called Calvinism, by would-be defenders of those principles, in hopes of diverting attention away from the logical/biblical errors inherent in those principles, themselves. Luther was a man who farted a lot--even in the devil's face.
 

7djengo7

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That approach is not taking it in the direction Spurgeon did.

Apparently Spurgeon was averse to taking the approach of deductive reasoning from his own, plainly stated principle, viz., the exact identity of Calvinism and the gospel. Perhaps this is why, as he (oddly enough, publicly) admitted, this principle was (as he said) his "private opinion".* He must have been too embarrassed to publicly own (as most Calvinists are) the necessary consequence of his principle, and so, he felt it safer (for his own prestige, at least) to go in the direction of warring against logic.

*I observed that you quoted Spurgeon a little differently than I had remembered:

I have my own opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism.

Whereas, here is how I had remembered reading Spurgeon's quote:

I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism.
http://http://archive.spurgeon.org/calvinis.php

It's an easy typo to make, though, since most keyboards do not have a key marked 'private' anywhere near home row.
 

nikolai_42

Well-known member
Paul was an Apostle of Jesus Christ, who authored 13, maybe 14, NT epistles, being moved by the Holy Ghost. I know next to nothing about Apollos. Calvin was a man who is almost invariably--yet usually quite unnecessarily--introduced into polemic conversations about a set of principles called Calvinism, by would-be defenders of those principles, in hopes of diverting attention away from the logical/biblical errors inherent in those principles, themselves. Luther was a man who farted a lot--even in the devil's face.

Paul said both what I paraphrased in that quote and this :

In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Romans 2:16

Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,
Romans 16:25

Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel:
2 Timothy 2:8

And so was essentially saying the same thing - preaching Paulism. He might as well have said what Spurgeon said - that Paulism is the gospel and nothing else. I'm not quite sure what you are saying about Calvin, but my point is that his name was attached to this doctrine that was notably taught during the Reformation. Luther was in some sense, then, a Calvinist. But that's anachronism. Yet they would both essentially carry the same flag (with some differences over things like the Lord's supper and infant baptism, as I recall). The institution that was suppressing the gospel was what they were reacting to. So if the Calvinist version of the gospel isn't simply repeating what was said by Christ and the apostles 2000 years ago, it's because it was framed in a certain context. Likewise, certain statements in scripture need to be framed in context and so what they might say in Israel of old...what might have been said in places across Europe...is not necessarily going to be reiterated word-for-word today because the nature of opposition to the gospel has changed. Even unchanging Rome has changed some. So the approach needed then is not necessarily the approach needed now. The point there is that no one is saying the gospel started with Calvin but that his name was attached to the set of doctrines that reacted to Rome to restore it to prominence. And the reason I personally wince a little at the label is that so much can accrue under the banner of a label like that - so much that is not necessary or even right. And even within Calvinism there are different strains - only a handful of which anathematize all the others. It is not a tacit recognition that Spurgeon was wrong, but (in my view) a recognition that the vitality of the Reformed faith is identified directly with the faith once for all delivered to the saints. So the exclusivity Spurgeon asserted is actually correct and consistent. Otherwise, it could not be the gospel (by definition).

So was Paul being inconsistent by identifying the gospel with him personally and also diminishing himself?
 

nikolai_42

Well-known member
Apparently Spurgeon was averse to taking the approach of deductive reasoning from his own, plainly stated principle, viz., the exact identity of Calvinism and the gospel. Perhaps this is why, as he (oddly enough, publicly) admitted, this principle was (as he said) his "private opinion".* He must have been too embarrassed to publicly own (as most Calvinists are) the necessary consequence of his principle, and so, he felt it safer (for his own prestige, at least) to go in the direction of warring against logic.

*I observed that you quoted Spurgeon a little differently than I had remembered:



Whereas, here is how I had remembered reading Spurgeon's quote:



It's an easy typo to make, though, since most keyboards do not have a key marked 'private' anywhere near home row.

I go on record here as saying that I think he had to make that assertion. As I thought about this last night, I realized that he couldn't go halfway on it if he didn't believe that Calvinism was true. It had to be that the gospel was contained in Calvinism. I say "contained in" because the definition of the "gospel" (as I understand it) doesn't extend to certain things that are important (certain dogmatic assertions about church leadership, eschatology, ordinances etc...) but is certainly something that is defined in Calvinism. And (again) since the Reformers were responding to the nature of Christianity that had grown up around them, they were phrasing things a certain way. Yet there was a certain commonality of spirit (asserts Spurgeon) that tied them directly back to the early church. They had found what Rome had distorted and hidden and they were attempting to undo her errors.

If Spurgeon's Calvinism wasn't public, but included in his preaching, then the opinion extends only to whether he calls it a nickname or not. The doctrines and their essential nature were not what he was shy about.
 

nikolai_42

Well-known member
Apparently Spurgeon was averse to taking the approach of deductive reasoning from his own, plainly stated principle, viz., the exact identity of Calvinism and the gospel. Perhaps this is why, as he (oddly enough, publicly) admitted, this principle was (as he said) his "private opinion".* He must have been too embarrassed to publicly own (as most Calvinists are) the necessary consequence of his principle, and so, he felt it safer (for his own prestige, at least) to go in the direction of warring against logic.

*I observed that you quoted Spurgeon a little differently than I had remembered:



Whereas, here is how I had remembered reading Spurgeon's quote:



It's an easy typo to make, though, since most keyboards do not have a key marked 'private' anywhere near home row.

As to the quote, I made a mistake I shouldn't have. I picked a site that aggregated quotes and didn't double check them. I can't say whether it was a deliberate error (or possibly a copy of a copy of an error) but SWRB has a bunch of Spurgeon quotes and this one missed "private". Honestly, I should have questioned that anyway since I have heard it quoted before as "private opinion".

http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/spurgeon-quotes.htm
 

nikolai_42

Well-known member
These are clearly not my words (and they can be easily researched online for the well-known author) but in my mind they express the spirit of the essentials of doctrine as approached from a Calvinistic stance:

“I am an avowed Calvinist; the points which are usually comprised in that term seem to me so consonant to Scripture, reason (when enlightened), and experience, that I have not the shadow of a doubt about them. But I cannot dispute; I dare not speculate. What is by some called High Calvinism [or Hyper-Calvinism] I dread. I feel much more union of spirit with some Arminians than I could with some Calvinists; and if I thought a person feared sin, loved the Word of God, and was seeking after Jesus, I would not walk the length of my study to proselyte him to the Calvinist doctrines. Not because I think them mere opinions, or of little importance to a believer—I think the contrary; but because I believe these doctrines will do no one any good till he is taught them of God. I believe a too hasty assent to Calvinistic principles, before a person is duly acquainted with the plague of his own heart, is one principal cause of that lightness of profession which so lamentably abounds in this day, a chief reason why many professors are rash, heady, high-minded, contentious about words, and sadly remiss as to the means of divine appointment. For this reason, I suppose, though I never preached a sermon in which the tincture of Calvinism may not be easily discerned by a judicious hearer, yet I very seldom insist expressly upon those points, unless they fairly and necessarily lie in my way.I believe most persons who are truly alive to God, sooner or later meet with some pinches in their experience which constrain them to flee to those doctrines for relief, which perhaps they had formerly dreaded, if not abhorred, because they knew not how to get over some harsh consequences they thought necessarily resulting from them, or because they were stumbled by the miscarriages of those who professed them. In this way I was made a Calvinist myself; and I am content to let the Lord take his own way, and his own time, with others.”
 

Idolater

"Matthew 16:18-19" Dispensationalist (Catholic) χρ
Not a single peep about Christ's Resurrection so far, in this discussion of what is and what is not the Gospel. The Good News was, on Easter morning, what it is still today, 'HE IS RISEN,' and not 'TULIP.' Calling 'Calvinism' the Gospel is an attempt to coopt and appropriate the word, and is akin to saying that 'Catholicism is the Gospel,' which even Catholics don't say. You don't have to believe Catholicism to be saved, you have to believe the Gospel.
 

Bright Raven

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According to Charles Spurgeon, Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.

Since Calvinism is the gospel, every person who does not believe Calvinism is a person who does not believe the gospel. And, every person who has never believed the gospel is a person who has never been saved. So, unless you have believed Calvinism, you have never been saved.

You are truly confused. Show us where the Bible says that Calvinism is the Gospel. Jesus is the Gospel. It is only through Him that we are saved, not through some fabricated formula called TULIP.
 

Ask Mr. Religion

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According to Charles Spurgeon, Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.

Asked and answered:
http://theologyonline.com/showthrea...-of-iniquity&p=5279630&viewfull=1#post5279630

Then again, you do have issues with doing some heavy-lifting, taking every word captive, instead preferring to quote-mine and opine while ignoring context or an author's full corpus:

http://theologyonline.com/showthrea...nt-destroyed&p=5281715&viewfull=1#post5281715

Using your methods, one can make just about anyone say anything, despite the meaninglessness therein. :AMR:

AMR
 

beloved57

Well-known member
You are truly confused. Show us where the Bible says that Calvinism is the Gospel. Jesus is the Gospel. It is only through Him that we are saved, not through some fabricated formula called TULIP.
You also teach that sinners Christ died for are lost!

Sent from my LGMP260 using Tapatalk
 

7djengo7

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One of the two, following propositions MUST be true, and the other MUST be false, as they are contradictories:

1. Spurgeon, when he said "Calvinism is the gospel," meant that Calvinism is the gospel.
2. Spurgeon, when he said "Calvinism is the gospel," did not mean that Calvinism is the gospel.


Now, Professor, which of those two propositions is the true one, and which one is the false one?

One of the two, following propositions MUST be true, and the other MUST be false, as they are contradictories:

1. Calvinism is the gospel.
2. Calvinism is not the gospel.

Now, Professor, which of those two propositions is the true one, and which one is the false one?

Non-Calvinists have no trouble at all openly declaring that 1 is false, and that 2 is true. Conversely, as a Calvinist, why should you have any trouble at all about openly declaring that 1 is true, and that 2 is false?
 
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