Black and Reformed? Is it Possible?...Why I am Became A Calvinist

Calvinism vs. Arminianism: View of Election

            This is the debate of all debates.  A theological discussion that has raged on for centuries and centuries with qualified top-notch scholars lined up on both sides. However, my intentions are not necessarily to evaluate these two viewpoints and elevate one above the other; but rather to simply express how my thinking has evolved over the years concerning these two views and how they have affected my life and my understanding of the Bible.[1]  I have been on both sides of the argument, but have settled in on what system I think best represents the biblical text, not simply which one I like better or best represents things the way I want them. 

I am reminded of reading Charles Spurgeon, when he quoted George Whitefield saying, “We are all born Arminians” (Charles Spurgeon, Sermons, Vol. 2, p. 124).  Now I know this sounds silly to say, but I believe that these two Calvinist scholars were on to something here (and I am sure meant something credible by it).  If nothing else, I sense that, that quote is true for me.  I remember being young in the faith and when presented with various Calvinist doctrines (i.e., predestination, limited atonement, etc…; anything but eternal security) I scoffed at the idea of them possibly being what the Bible teaches. However, now I look back and realize that my rejection of these doctrines was not based on the Bible but on my caricature of God and my idea of what a loving and fair God would do.  Specifically, I remember riding in the car with my father (associate pastor) and his best friend (a deacon in the same church), returning home from the Moody Bible Institute book store in Chicago. The topics of discussion in the car were lordship salvation and predestination.  The discussion was just between them two, but I decided to chime in with an opinion.  I had just read about predestination (somewhere) and stated that it clearly meant that God “had just foreknown those who would be saved and chose them based on their faith.  The notion that God chooses some and not others is not fair, and God is fair.”[2] Years later I found out that my father leans more toward the Calvinist view of predestination (as opposed to the Arminian one) and did not debate with me because he was simply happy to hear that I was studying and interested in Scripture - considering how young I was (young teen or younger) at the time.  The point being, this idea of individual predestination and irresistible grace did not make any sense whatsoever to me, that is, until college. 

I remember studying Ephesians with a roommate of mine early in the morning. The study lasted hours and by the time it was over with, we were both convinced of predestination – God’s choosing of people based on His own will without looking down the corridor of time, was what the Bible taught.  In fact, we were so convinced that we me made a song about it soon after.  After that, passages that seemingly taught this type of predestination popped up all over NT Scripture.  It was like I was reading it everywhere.  Truly, our Christian lives, our understanding of the Bible and God, Himself, was never the same again.  Before that Bible study, my theology was fully anthropocentric.  In other words, I believed God had given us free will to choose and salvation was totally contingent and dependent on us (humanity) – He just simply hoped we believed (in other words, my view of regeneration was far more synergistic than monergistic).  Unknowingly and innocently, I belittled the sovereignty and the power of God.  But later on after the Bible study, I saw God in a whole new light.[3]  He was not any less loving or just than before, but rather I saw a sovereign God who was Lord over the entire universe that accomplishes His purpose and will.  If nothing else, even if this did not make sense to me, I saw that the Scriptures supported this truth.  Undoubtedly, there seems to be a theological tension between human responsibility and divine sovereignty, but the Bible is clear when it speaks about God choosing the elect (Calvinist view).  Spurgeon is helpful here when he states, “Rebellion against divine election is often founded on the idea that the sinner has a sort of right to be saved, and this is to deny the full desert of sin” (Sermons, Vol. 24, p. 302).

At this point, I began to see faith, not as meritorious or something I had a right to, but as induced by God. I began to realize that God is much more of a mystery than I thought, and that I cannot confine Him to my finite, preconceived thoughts of who He should be and how He should behave.  His thoughts are much higher than mine.  Unlike the claim of many Arminians, I did not relax in my walk with Christ or stopping sharing the gospel.  Quite the opposite, I walked, grew and evangelized more than ever.  I began to see a purpose in my life – one that was chosen for me even before the earth began.  I stopped relying on my understanding of things and focused more on the mind of Christ and His supreme sovereignty.  I gave Him the credit that I once unknowingly contributed to myself.  I learned that “election does not contradict any of God's attributes and, in fact, is a direct outgrowth of his love” (Eph. 1:4-5).[4]  Neither is it right to consider it unfair and wrong.  Fair would be God sending all of humanity to hell.  I thank Him for not doing that.  Romans 9-11 speaks ever clearly on this matter.

Ultimately, I agree with Whitefield, that when we first come to faith, or even are born into this world, the Calvinist concept of God is so foreign from our finite thoughts and our way of viewing things.  It is almost as if it is something God’s grace reveals to you.  Although it is a very logical, well thought out system (as is Arminianism), what eventually convinced me of is truthfulness was not the logic itself, but rather, I believe, the tugging of God’s spirit.  I did not ask to believe it. I did not even want to believe it.  Nor was I convinced by some persuasive sermon or exposition.  I simply read the Scriptures and my mind changed.  But above all, I realize that the difference between the two views is not an essential one. God is Lord over both the Calvinist and the Arminian.  I just happen to be one of the Calvinists.

"I'm so glad that God chose me before the foundation of the world, because he never would have chosen me after I was born!" (Charles Haddon Spurgeon)

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[1] This journal is just one of many on this topic

[2] This was the way I thought.  I am not trying to give a caricature of Arminianism here

[3] Spurgeon has a similar experience: “When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself, and though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me. I do not think the young convert is at first aware of this. I can recall the very day and hour when first I received those truths in my own soul - when they were as John Bunyan says, burnt into my heart as with a hot iron; and I can recollect how I felt that I had grown all of a sudden from a babe into a man - that I had made progress in scriptural knowledge, through having found, once for all, the clue to the truth of God ... I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that He was the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make this my constant confession, I ascribe my change wholly to God.” (Autobiography: 1, The Early Years, Banner of Truth, p. 164-165)


[4] Taken from Daniel Wallace, “My Understanding of the Biblical Doctrine of Election,” www.bible.org