The Angel Was... a Calvinist!?

"She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, 

for he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:21. ESV). 

Alright. I know my Arminian readers (if I have very many) will be crying afoul with the title of this post. No, I don't believe the angels are divided on issues of soteriology between Calvinists and Arminians. So of course, the title is somewhat tongue-in-cheek. 

On the other hand, there are some serious theological implications to the angel's proclamation about our Lord and His work. Let's look at this brief, angelic decree about baby Jesus:

He Will Save
This is a statement of certainty, not possibility. Calvinism holds that the only Savior of God's elect is our Lord Jesus Christ. This was God's plan from all eternity. It is not 'Plan B,' in any sense. It can be Jesus and only Him who saves. We confess the Reformed doctrine of Solus Christus, meaning that salvation is entirely the work of Jesus and none other. 

Neither the decision of a man, nor his freewill (actually, we believe the will is bound, not free) is able to accomplish redemption (John 1:13; Romans 9:16). The angel decreed that Christ's work of redemption was a sure thing, not a probability; Jesus would not only be able to accomplish salvation for the elect, but it is certain that He would.  This can be said because redemption was predestined by God's eternal decree (Ephesians 1:4-5, 11).

His People
Calvinism also holds that Jesus came to redeem a particular people, the elect. In one sense, the blood of Jesus is sufficient to atone for the sins of this whole world--and every other world besides. We grant that the sufficiency of His blood is unlimited in that sense. On the other hand, however, Christ came to shed His blood for a particular people particularly. He came with names and faces in mind, inscribed in the Book of Life.

His atonement was not just a generic offer, like a coupon in the newspaper; it was a specific plan to save particular men, women, and children whom He foreknew from all eternity. John 17, is perhaps where we see this implication spelled out most clearly in Jesus' own High Priestly prayer to the Father (see especially verses 2, 6, and 9).

From Their Sins
Calvinism holds that the condition of man is so severe, that man is not able to help himself, or even prepare himself for salvation, in the slightest degree. Salvation must come from the outside. Unlike other systems (i.e. Arminianism) which see the crucial factor in salvation as the sinner's own decision, Calvinism understands that the depravity of man was so severe that we could not lift ourselves up from our bootstraps and merely will to believe. Sin affects; body, mind, will, affections, and heart. 

Praise God that the angel was right! He will (predestination) save His people (particular atonement) from their sins (total depravity). 

Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville, Florida. Follow on Twitter at @matt_everhard.

Evangelical or Evan-jellyfish?

"Evangelical." We all use the word. We rarely define it. 

The Greek New Testament term, from which our modern word derives, means an announcement of good news. A herald's joyful cry.

In NT usage, it refers specifically to what we call the Gospel--the euangellion--the good news of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

When Martin Luther broke away from the Roman Church in the Reformation, he initially intended his followers to be called "Evangelicals." He meant to identify those who believed in grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Unfortunately, the term did not stick, and his movement became known as the Lutheran movement.

Today, however, the term has lost all formal resemblance to either NT or Reformation usage. It has become a "wax nose," able to be shaped and reshaped as one pleases. For some, it is a voting block of conservatives (most often associated with the Republican Party).

For others, it means non-denominational Christianity,  i.e. generic doctrine divorced from the specificity of credal and confessional Christianity.

J.C. Ryle (1816-1900) gave one of the best warnings I have heard regarding this kind of doctrinally vague Christianity. He said, generic doctrine...

"...is an epidemic which is just now doing great harm, and especially among young people. . . . It produces what I must venture to call . . . a 'jelly-fish' Christianity . . . a Christianity without bone, or muscle, or power. . . . Alas! It is a type of much of the religion of this day, of which the leading principle is, 'no dogma, no distinct tenets, no positive doctrine.'

We have hundreds of 'jellyfish' clergyman, who seem not to have a single bone in their body of divinity. They have no definite opinions . . . they are so afraid of 'extreme views' that they have no views of all.

We have thousands of 'jellyfish' sermons preached every year, sermons without an edge, or a point, or corner, smooth as billiard balls, awakening no sinner, and edifying no saint. . . .
And worst of all, we have myriads of 'jellyfish' worshipers—respectable Church-gone people, who have no distinct and definite views about any point in theology. They cannot discern things that differ, any more than colorblind people can distinguish colors. . . . They are 'tossed to and fro, like children, by every wind of doctrine'; . . . ever ready for new things, because they have no firm grasp on the old."(1)

If by "evangelical" you mean the strand of believer who holds fast despite the cost to the great and ancient doctrines of the NT: atonement, justification, repentance etc, count me as one.

But if by "evangelical" you mean a generic, feel good, self-improvement, entertainment-based form of Christianity, then just call me Reformed.


Matthew Everhard is the Senior Pastor of Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville, Florida.


(1)  From an excellent sermon on the life of J.C. Ryle by John Piper. http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/biographies/the-frank-and-manly-mr-ryle-the-value-of-a-masculine-ministry