A Few Thoughts on Hyper Calvinism

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“Remember… while some Arminians are Armenians and some Armenians are Arminians, Armenians and Arminians are two very different groups. Second, while it’s true that some Calvinists can be a bit hyper, that doesn’t make them Hyper-Calvinists.” – Justin Taylor

Amongst the archives at www.aomin.org here I found this, written by my friend Dr. James White; a response to a man I shall call Brian (not his real name). It is rather lengthy but I think you will find it worthwhile. To allow for easy reading I will make James White’s words appear in bold type:

James writes:
The following exchange took place around the year 2000. If I am recalling correctly, an unsolicited e-mail arrived with a large “cc” list of people. As you will see, my initial response was very brief, because I learned long ago that these kinds of impromptu e-mail lists will suck the life right out of you if you let them. False teachers have, seemingly, unlimited time resources. In any case, when the reply came, I did invest a few moments to type out a few thoughts I have had on the subject of the demands of hyper-Calvinists. I hope they are useful to others as well.
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Word and Sacrament in Worship

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Dr. Kim Riddlebarger is senior pastor of Christ Reformed Church (URCNA) in Anaheim, California, and is co-host of The White Horse Inn. He is also author of A Case for Amillennialism. He writes:

In those fundamentalist churches in which I was raised, most Sunday mornings the minister preached from a well-worn Bible, told a few stories to illustrate his point and then reminded us that Jesus is our only hope of heaven. But every service ended the same way, with an altar call. Those who heard the message and were convicted of their sins were invited to come forward and speak with the minister, who would ask those brave enough to repeat the sinner’s prayer and thereby be assured of God’s favor toward them. Sometimes church members would go forward, which was always a shock, because you wondered what they did the week before that required such a public act of contrition. On a rare, but joyful, occasion, someone for whom the church had been praying, was ready to accept Jesus as their “personal Savior.” They would get up out of their pew, walk the aisle and be received with great joy, especially when the person was known to be an unbeliever or a “backslider.”

On the one hand, there was something truly wonderful about this. Heaven rejoices when a sinner repents (Luke 15:7). It was wonderful to be assured of Christ’s favor and to know that even in those times when we struggle with some particular sin, or when doubt chips away at our faith, we could be reassured of God’s favor in some tangible way. On the other hand, there was something quite troubling about this practice. There was always a qualification. The minister would tell us that if we were truly sincere — “if you really meant it”— then God’s promises about the forgiveness of sins and the hope of heaven truly applied to us. But I wasn’t sure I really “meant it.” No doubt others felt the same way.
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Paul’s Reason for Enduring

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The following is a short meditation by Dr. James White.

For this reason I endure all things for the sake of the elect, so that they also might experience the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, and with it, eternal glory. (2 Timothy 2:10 – translation by Dr. James White)

The context is important. 2 Timothy is Paul’s farewell letter to Timothy. You don’t waste words when writing your farewell to a dearly beloved son in the faith. He is encouraging Timothy to be strong. He calls Timothy to “share in suffering” with him (2:3), to compete, work hard, and remember Jesus Christ. Then, in verse 9, he mentions his own suffering as a criminal for the gospel. This is the context lying behind Paul’s statement that he “endures.”

Endures what?

Everything. All the opposition and attacks and beatings and imprisonment and long days of toil and labor–he endured it all for what reason?

Oh, surely, we could say “the glory of God,” but that isn’t Paul’s answer here. Instead, he says he endures all of this “for the sake of the elect.”

Many may wish this term did not appear in Scripture, but it is right there – “the elect,” “the chosen ones.” Paul uses the same term in Romans 8:33 “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?”, and significantly in Colossians 3:12: “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

Notice that Paul refers to the professing believers in Colossae as “those who have been chosen of God.” Not those who chose God (they did that, but they did so as a result of being chosen by Him: the Christian gospel is God-centered, not man-centered!). It is important to see the source of the “choosing” in election here: “chosen of God.” God chooses. God disposes. God is sovereign in this matter.

And so back in 2 Timothy 2:10, Paul endures the sufferings of his apostleship “for the sake of the elect,” but the reason he does so should not be missed, “so that they also might experience the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, and with it, eternal glory.”

Paul sees his sufferings, his ministry, his tireless work, as means God has used to bring His elect to salvation. As I have said many times, God ordains the ends as well as the means. Preaching, teaching, ministering, defending the faith–all are means used by God to bring His elect to salvation. Just a few more quick notes:

1) Why preach if the identity and number of elect was fixed in eternity? Arminians ask this all the time. Because it is our glorious privilege to be used of God in His service as the means by which He brings His elect unto Himself! We who have heard the Master’s call and been raised from spiritual death should long to be used of God to bring others into His kingdom, just as He used those in the faith before us to bring us the life-giving message of the gospel.

2) The interface of the divine decree (“the elect” here clearly refers to a specific people, chosen by God, not merely “foreseen down the corridors of time”) with its outworking in time (seen in Paul’s activity and suffering) is seen. Is God dependent upon Paul? Surely not in the eternal perspective of His decree. But we cannot “see” that decree. We have God’s prescriptive will plainly revealed to us: preach the gospel to every person! Fight the good fight! Endure persecution as a slave of Jesus Christ! We know God will save His elect, and we know those who truly respond to our message do so only by grace. This gives us boldness to proclaim God’s command to repent to all men everywhere.

3) The elect come to Christ. Almost every passage that speaks of the gospel’s specificity in the New Testament likewise denies the concept of inclusivism or pluralism. The salvation the elect obtain is “in Christ Jesus” and in Him alone. It is simply ridiculous to think that Paul includes in this the idea of some kind of “secret, ignorant disciple who clings to falsehood but is really in Christ anyway.” Such is purely wishful thinking on the part of modern neo-evangelicals who are ashamed of the exclusivity of the claims of Christ.