Back to Chapter 6 – What’s At Stake? The Character of God and the Truth of the Gospel
Some Calvinists emphatically claim that non-Calvinist soteriological teachings are incorrect and damaging to the church. Calvinists Thomas Schreiner and Bruce Ware state that,
“…we believe that the teaching espoused by Arminians is incorrect and will, to the degree it is accepted, work to weaken the church of Jesus Christ.”
“We fear that the denial of the doctrines of grace involves a reduction of the supremacy of God in the minds and hearts of God’s people.”[22]
Recall that the phrase “the doctrines of grace” refers to the Calvinist soteriological doctrines of total depravity or inability, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the preservation and perseverance of the saints. Many Calvinists go as far as to state that their “doctrines of grace” are the very definition and content of the gospel. To preach and teach these Calvinist doctrines is to teach and preach the biblical gospel message.
Non-Calvinist George Bryson documents the testimony of well-known Calvinists themselves on this issue. He writes,
“The much-loved “prince of Preachers,” Charles Spurgeon, boasts:
There is no such thing as preaching Christ and him crucified, unless you preach what…is called Calvinism…It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.”[23]
The very enthusiastic Reformed Baptist, John Piper, claims:
The doctrines of grace (Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, Perseverance of the saints) are the warp and the woof of the biblical gospel that so many saints have cherished for centuries.”[24]
Reformed theologian Herman Hoeksema says:
… for me the truth of the gospel and the Reformed faith are synonymous.[25]
According to Calvinist David Engelsma:
Calvinism is the Gospel. Its outstanding doctrines are simply the truths that make up the Gospel. Departure from Calvinism, therefore, is apostasy from the Gospel of God’s grace in Christ. [26]
Similarly, Calvinist Arthur Custance says:
Calvinism is the Gospel and to teach Calvinism is in fact to preach the Gospel. It is questionable whether a dogmatic theology which is not Calvinistic is truly Christian.[27]”[28]
Engelsma is even more emphatic on this point in relation to the doctrine of unconditional election. After expounding on the five points of Calvinism as the message of salvation, he writes,
“All of the salvation described above has its source in God’s eternal election. The truth of election is another of the characteristic Calvinistic doctrines. God has from eternity elected, or chosen, in Christ, some of the fallen human race – a certain, definite number of persons – unto salvation. This choice was unconditional, gracious, and free; it was not due to anything foreseen in those who were chosen. Reprobation is implied. God did not choose all men; but He rejected some men, in the eternal decree. It makes no essential difference whether one views reprobation as God’s passing by some men with His decree of election in eternity (which is, in fact, a Divine decision about their eternal destiny), or whether one views it as a positive decree that some men perish in their sin, their unbelief and disobedience. Election and reprobation make up predestination, the doctrine that God has determined the destiny of all men from eternity. This truth is regarded, not inaccurately, as the hallmark of Calvinism. The very heart of the Reformed Church is election, God’s gracious choice of us sinners, guilty and depraved, worthy only of damnation, unto salvation.
Election is the fountain of all salvation! As such, it is the ultimate, decisive, convincing proof and guarantee that salvation is gracious – that salvation does not depend upon man, but upon God; that salvation is not man’s idea, but God’s; that salvation is not man’s work, but God’s; that salvation is not due to man’s decision for God, but to God’s eternal decision for man.
This is how Calvin himself viewed predestination – as the final, conclusive, incontrovertible testimony to, and guarantee of, gracious salvation. Therefore, in his definitive edition of the Institutes (1559), Calvin treated predestination at the end of Book III, after his treatment of redemption in Christ and his treatment of the application of redemption by the Holy Spirit. Calvin wrote:
We shall never feel persuaded as we ought that our salvation flows from the free mercy of God as its fountain, until we are made acquainted with His eternal election, the grace of God being illustrated by the contrast – viz, that He does not adopt promiscuously to the hope of salvation, but gives to some what He denies to others” (III, XXI,1).
This is Calvinism!
This is the Gospel!”[29]
Read the next section – Two Mutually Exclusive Gospels
Back to Chapter 6 – What’s At Stake? The Character of God and the Truth of the Gospel
Footnotes
[22] Still Sovereign: Contemporary Perspectives on Election, Foreknowledge, and Grace, eds. Thomas R. Schreiner and Bruce A. Ware, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000) pp. 16, 17.
[23] C. H. Spurgeon, Spurgeon’s Sovereign Grace Sermons (Edmonton: Still Waters Revival Books, 1990), 129.
[24] John Piper, Tulip, The Pursuit of God’s Glory in Salvation (Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethlehem Baptist Church, 2000), back cover.
[25] H. Hanko and H. C. Hoeksema and J. Van Baren, The Five Points of Calvinism (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 1976), 45.
[26] Professor David J. Engelsma, A Defense of Calvinism as the Gospel (South Holland: The Evangelism Committee, Protestant Reformed Church). April 6, 2013, https://www.prca.org/resources/pamphlets/a-defense-of-calvinism-as-the-gospel. Last accessed Oct. 13, 2025.
[27] Arthur C. Custance, The Sovereignty of Grace (Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1979), 302.
[28] George Bryson, The Dark Side of Calvinism: The Calvinist Caste System (Santa Ana, Calvary Chapel Publishing, 2004), 37, 39.
[29] Professor David J. Engelsma, A Defense of Calvinism as the Gospel (South Holland: The Evangelism Committee, Protestant Reformed Church). April 6, 2013, https://www.prca.org/resources/pamphlets/a-defense-of-calvinism-as-the-gospel. Last accessed October 13, 2025.
The Truth of the Gospel 