THE ANACHRONISTIC CALVINIST.

One of the issues which Christians debate among
themselves is the issue of 'free-will' versus
'pre-destination'. In essence the question is;
'what, if anything, do we contribute to our
own salvation?'

Once I was discussing this topic with a relative
who dismissed me as a "Calvinist".... as if that
alone was sufficient to clinch the argument from
his point of view! Upto that point in time I had
never actually read anything by John Calvin;
I'd heard of him but never read anything by him.
The opinions my relative had taken such exception
to were founded exclusively on Ephesians 2 despite
his assertion to the contrary. In any event; so what?
Being accused of having Calvinistic tendencies isn't
proof that my grasp of Ephesians 2 was wrong. And
quite why he thought I would alight on this 16th
century French protestant author and attribute
all authority to his words for no readily apparent
reason remains a mystery to me to this day.

That said I have no reason to suppose that I am
not a Calvinist - I can only assume that the man
was expounding the very thing I'd seen for myself
in Ephesians. For this reason I would describe
myself as an "Anachronistic Calvinist"! I drew
my theology from the Bible and later discovered
that a label was attributed to it. The fact that
the word "Calvinist" is used pejoratively is fine
by me; I am not ashamed of the New Testament
message about the sheer grace of God towards
sinners like me. And I understand why many
people detest such a message.... it is a challenge
to human pride.

Before I read Ephesians chapter two I had a
notion that salvation worked like this; Jesus has
contributed 99.99999999999999999999999999%
of what I need to be saved, I just need to add my
0.00000000000000000000000000000001%
to make it effective. As I read what Jesus and his
disciples taught I quickly realised that there was
a HUGE problem with this theory. It means that
Jesus actually saves no-one! For sure no-one is
saved without Him but all that he did at The Cross
is ineffectual - it saves nobody if we don't add
something to it to make it work. On this reckoning
Jesus saves everyone potentially but no one in
actuality. It is my 0.000000000000000000001%
which really provides the magic ingredient - it may
be small but it is that that makes all the difference
between being saved and not being saved. Do
you see the issue? Am I saved by the grace of
Jesus Christ alone, or is it a case of "Jesus plus
something else"? (Which inevitably degenerates
to "Something Else plus jesus!" especially when
human egos are involved). Remember that even
our faith is a gift of God" so that no-one can boast"
Eph 2 v9.

If my theory was right there is something intrinsic
to me which aids my salvation. I am somehow
intrinsically more loving, or more humble, or more
innately 'sprititual' than others; something within
me that makes me better than my neighbour.
Do you see the problem? Grace properly
understood means God's totally unmerited favour.
Even "my" faith is in reality God's gift! See Ephesians
2 v8. And that is good news!
Totally unmerited favour. Wow! Thank God!
Thank God my salvation isn't down to me -
not even 0.0000000000000000001% worth - if
it was I would be lost for sure! God alone is
glorified when we acknowledge the depth of his
amazing grace.

Speaking to another acquaintance about these
things, she said "but how can I be sure I'm saved
if it's all down to God?" [This injects uncertainty
she implied]. She went on to say "I know that I
will always be found faithful" [and on that basis she
can have assurance of salvation]. When I heard her
say this I could shudder for her - if she couldn't
see that she was relying on her self rather than
Christ I'm not sure I could explain it to her.

It is worth saying at this point that the phrase
"self righteous Christian" is a contradiction in
terms. An individual who has put their trust in
Jesus is claiming Christ's righteous in place of
their own because they realise their own
righteousness is "as filthy rags" to quote the
prophet Isaiah. You can trust in yourself and
your own merits or you can trust exclusively
in the merits of Jesus Christ when you stand
before God but you cannot do both. This is not
to say that some people don't want it both ways
and are prepared to give it a try! The question
ultimately is this: who or what exactlty are
you putting your trust in?

Paul writes in Philippians 3 that he considers all
the religious 'brownie points' he'd earned by
religious observances prior to his conversion
(yes, he was "religious" before he got converted
from it!) as 'rubbish' "that I may gain Christ and
be found in him, not having a righteouness of my
own..... but that which comes through faith in
Christ". ['Faith' in the 100% sense, not the
99.999999999999999999999999999% version].
This is the big difference between 'religion' (which
is about clocking up merit by means of religious
observances which is the natural default setting of
us humans - bearing in mind that even atheists
have their means of moral 'one-upmanship') and
The Gospel of Jesus which is about trust in him
and a positive rejection of all such self confidence
..... even if it is only 0.0000000000000000000
0000000000000000000000000000000001%.

ps To this day I haven't yet read "Calvin's Institutes"
but then neither had the Apostle Paul - I guess that
makes him an "Anachronistic Calvinist" as well! Hmm....
Jesus too!