Posted by
ValiantForTruth on Monday, October 04, 2010 12:29:24 PM
Calvinism is something much broader than its view of salvation given in the Doctrines of Grace. It is a whole world-view, stemming from a clear vision of God as the Creator and King over His creation, including man. It is a theocentric way of thinking about all life under the direction and control of God according to His revelation of Himself. God is working all things after the counsel of His will according to His good pleasure to glorify Himself in grace and justice. Calvinism, in other words, is the theology of the Bible viewed from the perspective of the Bible; a God-centered outlook which sees the Creator as the source, and means, and end, of everything that is, both in nature and in grace. Calvinism is thus theism (belief in God as the ground of all things), religion (dependence on God as the giver of all things), and evangelicalism (trust in God through Christ for all things).
This unified philosophy of history which sees the whole diversity of processes and events that take place in God’s world as no more, and no less, than the outworking of His great preordained plan for His creatures and His church is what we call the Reformed World View. The Doctrines of Grace assert no more than that God is sovereign in saving the individual, but Calvinism, as such, is concerned with the much broader assertion that the self-revealed God is sovereign everywhere.
What are the effects of this world view? Does it matter if the churches preach Arminianism or Calvinism?