Editor's Note:

The following article represents one part of an ongoing and fuller discussion we will be having on the Doctrines of Grace. In the months ahead, we intend to explore each of these doctrines more deeply — biblically, historically, and pastorally — in order to clarify why they matter for the life and health of the church. Each article will seek to unfold, in cumulative fashion, the fullness of what the Scriptures reveal concerning God’s sovereign work in salvation. Our aim is not controversy for its own sake, but clarity for the sake of the gospel, as we continue to consider together what it truly means to be saved by grace.

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“If you tell me you believe in Calvinism, I’m going to be very upset.”

“Calvinism is a false doctrine.”

“I just don’t think I could worship a God like that.”

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Few topics stir as much consternation in the evangelical world as the "C-word."

 

I first encountered the doctrines of grace (aka: Calvinism) as a college student, when the topic was igniting lively debate within our student ministry. After a season of study — and no small number of R.C. Sproul's online lectures — I became convinced that these truths, often labeled “Calvinism,” were not the inventions of men, but the clear teaching of Scripture.

 

The years that followed included many awkward conversations trying to explain what I do and don’t believe. The quotes above are just a few examples of things I’ve heard along the way.

 

I have many friends who still resist aspects of the doctrines of grace. Some develop a mild case of hives just thinking about them! And yet, I love and respect them as genuine Christians. I don’t believe these doctrines are first-tier theological issues (in the sense that they determine who is or isn’t saved). Frankly, I find much of the online discourse nauseating — especially from those on “my side.”

 

Still, I believe this conversation is worth having.

 

Because while this may not be a first-tier issue, it is certainly a foundational one. The stakes are meaningful, and I genuinely believe that nothing less than salvation by grace is on the line.

 

All orthodox Protestants agree that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Wesleyans, Free-Will Baptists, many Pentecostals, and others affirm that we don’t earn salvation before Him. That’s good, and I rejoice in that shared confession.

 

But the implications of our theology matter deeply.

 

When we shift the focus from God’s role in salvation to man’s response, something vital is lost. Here is where I believe the doctrines of grace alone keep us close to grace itself.

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Keeping Close to Grace

One of the great battle cries of the Protestant Reformation was Sola Gratia — grace alone.

 

But Sola Gratia meant more than “we’re saved apart from works.” It meant that God must complete the entire work of salvation, from beginning to end.

 

Our Reformed forefathers believed that our only hope was in the active, sovereign grace of God. Jesus said, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin” (John 8:34). Sin has blinded us so completely that we cannot even see the beauty of the gospel when left to ourselves (John 3:3).

 

If we are to be saved, we need God alone to fulfill His promise from Ezekiel 36:26: to remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh. Sin has not merely wounded us; it has corrupted every part of us. We are not as bad as we could be (utter depravity), but sin has certainly touched every faculty of our being — mind, heart, and will.

 

When sin is this deep, grace is our only hope.

Real grace.

Strong grace.

Sovereign grace.

 

We need electing grace that chooses before we are born (Ephesians 1:4–5; Romans 9:11–12).

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We need atoning grace that actually saves us from our sin (Matthew 1:21; Ephesians 5:25–26).

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We need irresistible grace that draws us to Christ and changes our hearts (John 6:37, 44; Ezekiel 36:26).

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We need persevering grace that keeps us to the very end (John 10:27–28; Philippians 1:6).

 

This is the grace that saves.

Grace that acts.

Grace that accomplishes.

Grace that keeps.

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Moving Away from Grace

Now, to be fair (and as already stated above), all evangelicals (including Arminians) agree that man is "saved by grace." They may differ on the details, but all affirm that works cannot earn God’s favor. And yet, when we follow the logic of the Arminian system to its conclusion, we find something troubling — a subtle, but real drift away from grace.

 

Here’s what I mean.

 

Arminians teach that God gives prevenient grace — an enabling grace that allows every person to respond to the gospel if they choose. In this system, every person has the same opportunity, and the decisive factor becomes whether a person chooses rightly or wrongly.

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But think through the logic.

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• Why is one person saved while another isn’t?

Because one repented and believed by their own free-will, and the other didn’t.

• Who did Jesus die for?

Everyone. But only those who accept His offer by their free-will are saved.

• Who perseveres to the end?

Those who cooperate with the Spirit by their own free-will.

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At each step, the difference between the saved and the unsaved lies in the person — in their decision, their cooperation, their endurance.

 

And that is precisely where the danger lies.

 

If the ultimate reason one sinner goes to heaven and another to hell rests in mere decisionalism, then salvation, however slightly, depends on the free-will of man — not on the mercy of God (Rom. 9:16). And that is not Sola Gratia.

 

The Reformers at Dort saw this clearly and resisted it earnestly, because the gospel itself was at stake.

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Drawing Near to Grace

My aim in this article is not to push my Arminian brothers and sisters away, but to invite them nearer — not to a "camp" or a "label," but to the fullness of God’s sovereign grace.

 

It's grace that tells you God determined to save you before He made the trees (Ephesians 1:4).

It's grace that tells you that Jesus came not merely to make salvation possible, but to save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21; John 10:27).

It’s grace that tells you that you will never fall away, but will persevere to the end (Heb. 10:39; John 10:28–30).

 

No matter how fierce your suffering or how persistent your sin, this grace will keep you. You will endure — not because you are strong, but because God is.

 

I know these doctrines can be hard. Predestination (election and reprobation) stretch the human mind. They make us wrestle with God’s sovereignty in ways that humble us. But they also comfort the weary soul. They remind us that salvation rests, not on the strength of our grip on God, but on His grip on us.

 

Let God be God over the lives of your loved ones — He will do what is right (Gen. 18:25).

Let God be God over salvation — it is better in His hands than ours (Rom. 9:16).

 

You need this grace — not only to begin the Christian life, but to finish it — the grace that assures you that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come… nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38–39).

 

You don’t need a prevenient grace that shifts with your fickle free-will and performance.

You need a sovereign grace that is anchored in the finished, perfect work of Christ.

 

If you are in Christ today, it is because the Father has chosen you, the Son has redeemed you, and the Spirit has sealed you — all "by grace," from first to last. (Eph: 1:3-14)

 

And if that’s not a God worth worshiping, I don’t know what is.