Calvinism’s Missing Contexts – Part 3

Published on by Christopher C. Chapman24 Comments

Philippians 1:6

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

Ephesians 1:4

“He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”

Calvinist Challenge:

From these 2 verses it is clear as day that every individual who has been saved was predestined for eternal life from all eternity and will never fall away from the Christian faith. God will complete the work he started in each and every Christian. And he chose each individual that would be saved before the world began.
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Calvinism’s Missing Contexts – Part 2

Published on by Christopher C. Chapman16 Comments

As we search the scriptures honestly and diligently to find answers to our questions about various issues about living in God’s kingdom we will sometimes find ourselves in deep waters. Sometimes we will stumble upon verses that seem to point us back to the conclusions of our Calvinist brethren. Verses that are clearly about predestination and divine election will seem to jump off the page. The reason for this is that divine election, predestination, the radical corruption of mankind, and other similar topics are taught again and again in God’s word. These doctrines are wonderful and reveal the loving plan of God for the human race in general and his followers in particular. It is not these teachings that are dangerous, but the false understanding of them which is promoted by Calvinism. Understanding them is very important if we are going to come to a well-balanced understanding of our faith.
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Understanding and Overcoming the World – Part 2

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For part one of this topic click here.

Conformed or Transformed

Romans 12:2 instructs “Do not be conformed to the World.” Jesus makes clear to us that we are in the world but not of the World (John 17:11-18). That is, we are living in the midst of this wicked World system, but we are not to be conformed into its image. We are not to accept its values as our own, but are to resist the pressure of the godless society around us. Instead of submitting to this World’s mold, we are supposed to be transformed into the image of Christ by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 8:29 & 12:2).
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Understanding and Overcoming the World – Part 1

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When we look at the book of Exodus we see the Hebrews enslaved in Egypt. They are the bondservants of Pharaoh, just as unbelievers are slaves to Satan. In order to understand what role the World plays in temptation and bondage we must again consider the situation of the ancient Hebrew people. Just as Pharaoh ruled Egypt, so Satan rules the World.

Pharaoh was not omnipresent; he wasn’t all over Egypt at the same time. He was limited to being in one place at a time just like any man. Even his henchmen couldn’t see all and be in every Hebrew home. But from his throne he created a system of slavery that continually reinforced his lordship throughout the land.
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Ground Rules of Biblical Interpretation – Part 2

Published on by Christopher C. Chapman3 Comments

(This is the second post in a 2 part series,click here to read part 1.)

Scripture Interprets Scripture (in context)

The second principle we want to look at is that “scripture interprets scripture.” This principle is just what it sounds like. When we face a passage or verse that is hard to understand, we can look elsewhere in God’s word to gain clarity. Since the entire Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit, its teachings do not contradict one another but complement one another. Something in the Gospels might be clarified by a passage from the letters of Paul, and vice versa. Whenever Calvinism is discussed this principle is often abused. Not just by Calvinists but also by those on the other side of the issue.

That scripture interprets scripture is a very basic rule of how to find out what the Bible is trying to say. Some passages have a clearer context than others. The more complete the context, the more confident we can be that our understanding of a particular verse or passage is correct. But it is often abused by those seeking to defend Calvinism from scripture. We must make it very clear that scripture interprets scripture, but scripture does not overrule scripture. Often the verses that speak of God’s sovereign rights are used to explain away the genuine responsibility (i.e. “ability to respond”) and choices of men.
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Demonic Temptation & Satan’s Kingdom

Published on by Christopher C. Chapman3 Comments

The uncontested ruler of Egypt was Pharaoh. He was not only considered the almighty king, but was even considered a god. He didn’t just rule Egypt, he owned it. Everyone and everything in Egypt belonged to Pharaoh and was under his control. Of course Pharaoh couldn’t rule Egypt by himself. He had to have loyal subjects that became his hands and feet throughout the kingdom. These co-laborers of his could bring his attention to any “rebels” they found and could keep things in “proper” order.
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Ground Rules of Biblical Interpretation – Part 1

Published on by Christopher C. Chapman10 Comments

How is it that so many godly men and women can be so convinced that Calvinism is the clear teaching of scripture? Though I believe to fully answer that question it would take an entire book, in this post I will only give the answer that seems the most obvious to me; namely, several passages of the New Testament seem to teach its primary doctrines. Men and women with a sincere desire to submit their hearts and lives to the plain teaching of scripture have read these “Calvinist verses,” sincerely and prayerfully wrestled over them, and ultimately submitted to that interpretation which seemed obvious to them. I am convinced that if there were no such passages in the Bible there would be no Calvinists in the world today. One of the greatest compliments I can give my Calvinist brethren is that their error does not primarily come from a desire to promote a cherished philosophical belief, but from a sincere devotion to the word of God and an equally sincere misunderstanding of it.
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The Divine Proposal: Grace the Bridegroom, Faith the Bride

Published on by Christopher C. Chapman6 Comments

Calvinism’s Challenge:

Ephesians 2:8-9

“For by grace you have been saved, through faith. And this (faith) is not your own doing, it (faith) is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast.”

It is true that God commands everyone to believe in the Gospel. And as John 3:16 says, “Whosoever believes will be saved.” But that doesn’t mean just anyone can believe in Jesus. If someone believes they will be saved, but God will only give the ability to believe to those he has predestined for eternal life. Faith is the “gift of God,” just like every part of a person’s salvation.

Man plays no role in his own salvation. God decides who will be saved, and then he causes them to be born again. This new life inside of them leads them to repentance and faith. Salvation is completely from God, from the beginning until the end. Man has no choice in the matter.

If men did have the ability to accept or reject God’s offer of salvation then they could stop God’s will from taking place. If God wanted someone to be saved, they could just say “No,” and then a puny man could defeat the will of the almighty God. This is blasphemous! And if men could decide to believe in Jesus, then salvation would not be by grace, but by the work of men. God would not be the source of salvation, but the almighty will of man would be the source of eternal salvation! They could boast that their salvation was by their own choice. They could claim that they helped God save them. But this is not the case! The Bible clearly declares that salvation is the work of God, not men. Every part of a person’s salvation is from God, including his faith.
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Describing the Last Days

Published on by Christopher C. Chapman8 Comments

In my last post, “Defining the Last Days,” I tried to lead us into a biblical definition of the last days. I noted that according to the New Testament the last days began with the coming of Christ and will end sometime after his second coming when he destroys death at the Great White Throne Judgment. Often people have the impression that the last days is one generation long, but the Bible is clear that the last days is an era, not a generation. Simply put, the term “last days” refers to the Messianic age.

In this post we want to get a general picture of what is to be expected in the last days. Usually people want to look for “signs” that we are living in the end times, but the Bible is more interested in telling us what to expect than trying to prove to us that we are living in that age. We don’t need signs to know it is the last days, the Bible has already told us that is (Heb.1:2, 9:26,1 Cor.10:11). But we do need to be prepared for the things we will face.
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Defining “The Last Days”

Published on by Christopher C. Chapman10 Comments

What does the Bible mean by the terms like “last days”, “last hour” and “end of the ages”? These phrases, and others like them, are the most fundamental terms in eschatology (i.e. the study of the end times) and yet they are commonly misused. A misunderstanding on these phrases can lead to a lot of unbiblical conclusions. So I would like to look at some verses and come up with a basic New Testament definition. This will give us a clear place to start as we embark on the journey of understanding what the Bible teaches about the end of the world. If we are not clear on this point, the rest of what we learn will be skewed at best, and downright false at worst.

Before getting into how we should interpret such phrases, I would like to demonstrate how we usually interpret them.
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