Reformers and Puritans

Why So Shy?

Josh July 19th, 2006

You know, there are many folks who shy away from labels because of the many misinterpretations that come with those labels. Not only terminologies, but symbols of heritage, and other things are shied away from all under the guise of not wanting to be misunderstood. I certainly think that’s folks’ right to do so if they wish, but they needn’t look down upon the people who still hold on to these labels, or symbols of heritage, etc. Nor should they expect others to follow suit in their semi-sensitivity-to-what-others-think behavior.

Calvin

One such term can be “Calvinism”. Being associated with the name seems to be a bad taste to some who may be subscribers to the doctrines of grace but want to distance themselve from the man John Calvin because of misconceptions concerning the death of Servetus, or paedobaptism, etc. I’ll read or hear someone say something like, “Well, I’m not a Calvinist, because I don’t believe everything Calvin taught.” Just today I read, “Having not always been Sovereigntist (the preferred term in our household, as we are not followers of Calvin, but of God)…” I believe, for the most part, this is due to ignorance (not stupidity, mind you, but ignorance) on the part of the fine folks who say such things. Or, even better, because they don’t want to deal with the many strawmen people assert when talking about the Biblical doctrine of soteriology. I think, though, this is a bit misguided in that:

1) People are going to bring the strawmen on AND the name, person, and life of John Calvin when speaking about election, predestination, etc., whether you wear the label “Calvinist” or hold to “Calvinism” or not.

2.) Simply by being called a “Calvinist” or holding to the system known as “Calvinism” you are NOT saying that you believe all the beliefs of John Calvin, or even necessarily most. Rather, you believe in his well-known articulatin of God’s sovereignty over all things, particularly the salvation of men.

I can say that I proudly wear the label “Calvinist” (not in a sense of “hey, look at me”, but in a sense of “Hey, I believe that God has the freedom to save sinners Whom He has so chosen and is not bound by the captive wills and manipulation of sinful men) because it immediately identifies me in the eyes of others as “one of them.” There’s no doubt. No fishing around to see if this guy believes that God is in complete control or not. Yes, the strawmen will come. Yes, the misunderstandings will ensue, but that’s all the more opportunity to educate others on the true teachings of Scripture and what great soul-winners like Spurgeon, Whitefield, Edwards, Judson, Carey, et al. believed from the demands and dictates of Scripture. So be the confrontations! So be the strawmen! I will gladly pour the gasoline to his neck and light the match myself to clear up the understand! So be it all to the glory of the Sovereign God Who was free to condemn all men to hell, yet in His abundant mercy He saved some! Blessed be His Name! And now a few quotes from that quotable Baptist, C.H. Spurgeon:

I am never ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist; I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist; but if I am asked what is my creed, I reply, ‘It is Jesus Christ.’

If anyone should ask me what I mean by a Calvinist, I should reply, ‘He is one who says, Salvation is of the Lord.’ I cannot find in Scripture any other doctrine than this. It is the essence of the Bible. ‘He only is my rock and my salvation.’ Tell me anything contrary to this truth, and it will be a heresy; tell me a heresy, and I shall find its essence here, that it has departed from this great, this fundamental, this rock-truth, ‘God is my rock and my salvation.’ What is the heresy of Rome, but the addition of something to the perfect merits of Jesus Christ—the bringing in of the works of the flesh, to assist in our justification? And what is the heresy of Arminianism but the addition of something to the work of the Redeemer?…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. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.

And, simply in conclusion, an example of shying away from a symbol of heritage I am reminded of the Confederate Battle Flag. What a misunderstood, abused, and hated symbol which is, in my humble opinion, a symbol of heritage for the Southern cause, as known in the first half of the 1800s. More has been done to demonize the South and exalt “honest” Abe (who was a socialist tyrant, trampling upon the Constitution to put his thumb of oppression on the dissenting North and the free peoples of the South) than I care to admit. I grew up thinking such inaccurate things about my own culture and used to think that the Confederate Battle Flag was a sign of hatred. Now, no doubt, there are some “backwoods”, ignorant, racist people who would use it to their advantage, and do fall prey to the caricatures which man place on the Southern people and Southern history, but that is, by no means, an admission by me or any other proud Southron that we should do away with the flag and for what it once stood.