Calvinism
By Timothy Glover
Calvinism teaches that all are born in sin, receiving a sinful nature from Adam. Since this theology came from a study of the events in the garden of Eden, we questioned how Adam and Eve came to sin if they were originally born hereditarily righteous. Since he came from God, he was totally sinless at his birth. Total depravity teaches that in our birth, we can do no good but are utterly sinful because of our Adamic nature. If so, then why would not the reverse be true. In other words, why would not Adam be unable to do any evil since he was totally good? But, Adam, who was created in sinless perfection, could choose to do wrong and loose the paradise of God. Why could not we, who are born in sin (according to Calvinism), choose to do right and gain the paradise of God?
Let us stay in this account of the first sin to answer two more tenets of Calvinism. First, according to Calvinism, the Spirit must regenerate the totally wicked soul before he can respond to God. This operation of the Spirit is performed without the sinner’s will. Again, let us apply the reverse situation to the completely sinless Adam in the garden. Did the Devil’s unholy spirit perform a direct operation on a totally righteous man to enable him to sin? If the totally depraved require the Holy Spirit to work miraculously on his heart to give him life and empower him or her to obey, why would not the totally righteous require the direct work of the devil to give death and empower him or her to disobey? Remember, according to the view, this is the miraculous working of the Spirit without the person’s choice. If one dead in sins is unable to change the condition without the Spirit performing a miracle on his heart, then one who is alive must be unable to change that spiritual condition until the devil performs a miracle. If not, why not?
Yet, righteous Adam was able to sin without a miraculous working of the devil’s unholy spirit on his heart. Also, the wicked sinner is able to obey without the miraculous act of the Holy Spirit on his or her heart. Adam was led to sin by the spoken word of the Devil (Gen. 3:1-6). His deceitful words allured him to sin and die. Similarly, the word of God can cause the dead to obey and live (Jn. 5:25).
Second, Calvinists teach that once one is saved, he or she can never be lost. They argue that you cannot undo your spiritual birth any more than you can undo your physical birth. Once again, applying the same to Adam, we must adopt a doctrine of “once lost, always lost”. Once Adam sinned, he should have been unable to respond to God in obedience. Yet, Adam did hear God and obey after his sin (Gen. 3:7f.) If Adam could choose to follow God after the fall, then the saved can choose to follow the Devil after his salvation (2 Peter 3:17; Heb. 3:12).
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