John Calvin - Religious concepts of predestination - Doctrine of Election

What did Calvin believe ‘the fall’ did to the nature of humanity

• Calvin believed that due to ‘the fall’ the nature of humanity has been irreversibly corrupted (total depravity).

• Humans free will and intellect to follow up scripture is ruined.

What does God do, due to his absolute power?

• Since God has absolute power he divides all of humanity into two predestined groups:

• The Elect and the Reprobates

What does Calvin believe about free will?

• He denied free will as humans are predestined in all of their choices.

• Calvin said humans are either going to be saved or damned.

What does Calvin believe about the saved/Elect being chosen

And what does he believe about Christs death and atonement?

• Will be chosen by God before they are born (unconditional election).

• Christ’s death and atonement for our sins was for the elect only (limited atonement)

What does Calvin say about the elect and faith? 

And what traits will the elect show? 

• The elect will be given faith through God and they cannot resist it as they don’t have free will.

• God will make sure that they persevere in their faith - cannot abandon or give up their faith (apostasy) as the holy spirit will be with them.

• The elect will show traits of honesty, hard-work etc.

Can the elect guess their status?

• Calvin argues that it was possible for the elect to guess their status as an elect.

• Because they can feel the ‘‘calling of God’’ i.e. they have an inward certainty that God has chosen them for salvation.

What does Calvin say about the elect and sinning?

• Calvin did state that the elect could still be sinful.

• However God predestines them to have faith in the atonement of Jesus - this is called ‘irresistible grace’

• Therefore, when they sin they cannot resist the calling on their lives to seek forgiveness, and therefore their sins will be passed to Jesus and they will remain sinless.

What does Calvin say about the damned/Reprobates?

• The Reprobates will also be chosen by God.

• The Reprobates will be predestined to suffer eternal damnation.

What happens to Reprobates even if they live a good life and why?

And what traits will reprobates show? 

• Even if a person lives a good life the reprobate is still unable to resist sin as the holy spirit is not present within them to guide them away from sin.

• The reprobates will show traits of laziness, gambling, alcoholism etc

What happened to the reprobates due to the fall, what does this lead to?

• Due to ‘the fall’ the reprobates will be ‘deaf and blind’ to the message of the gospels.

• Therefore, they will not have faith in Christ’s atoning nature - so their sins will remain on their hearts.

• Therefore, the reprobates remain in sin and these sins will lead to hell.

What is the TULIP acronym to summarise Calvin?  

• Total Depravity - Humans are totally corrupted by sin because of ‘the fall’. They cannot choose good over evil 

• Unconditional Election - God alone chooses the elect. Election is not based upon any good works of a person during their lifetime, 

• Limited Atonement - Christ’s atonement for human sins was for the elect only, not the reprobates. Christ’s death puts the elect back into the right relationship with God.

• Irresistible Grace - God’s grace is given to the elect, the ones God has chosen to receive salvation. This grace cannot be resisted.

• Perseverance of the Elect - God will make sure that the Elect do not commit apostasy/give up their faith. This is done via the power of the Holy Spirit