The Doctrines of Grace and “Against Calvinism”

It’s been almost three years since I have come to embrace Reformed Theology and the doctrines of grace.  While my theology is still being formed and I am still growing in knowledge, I can say with absolute certainty that I have never been on such solid theological footing as I am now. The doctrines of grace, or Calvinism, teach that salvation is all of grace.  From beginning to end, salvation is a free gift of God for which no man is worthy.  Salvation is a gift that is offered to everyone but not given to everyone.  Once received however, it can never be lost, and it can never be taken away.  Whether I was capable of articulating it or not, embedded deep within my theology was the proud, lofty idea that there was, in me, something good and worthy that God saw fit to save.  At some level, I truly believed that God saved me because He saw something good in me.  Nothing could be further from the truth. Apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit there is nothing in me that could ever choose anything good or desire God.  I am, by nature, a sinner and worthy of nothing but eternal destruction. This erroneous understanding of salvation spilled into and colored everything in my theology. Continue reading>>>