Calvinism (also called the Reformed tradition,
Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism,
or the Reformed faith) is a major branch of
Protestantism that follows the theological
tradition and forms of Christian practice
set down by John Calvin and other Reformation-era
theologians.
Calvinists broke from the Roman Catholic Church
in the 16th century. Calvinists differ from
Lutherans on the real presence of Christ in
the Eucharist, theories of worship, and the
use of God's law for believers, among other
things. As declared in the Westminster and
Second Helvetic confessions, the core doctrines
are predestination and election. The term
Calvinism can be misleading, because the religious
tradition which it denotes has always been
diverse, with a wide range of influences rather
than a single founder. In the context of the
Reformation, Huldrych Zwingli began the Reformed
tradition in 1519 in the city of Zürich.
His followers were instantly deemed Zwinglians,
consistent with the Catholic practice of naming
heresy after its founder. Very soon, Zwingli
was joined by Martin Bucer, Wolfgang Capito,
William Farel, Johannes Oecolampadius and
other early Reformed thinkers. The namesake
of the movement, French reformer John Calvin,
converted to the Reformed tradition from Roman
Catholicism only in the late 1520s or early
1530s as it was already being developed. The
movement was first called Calvinism, referring
to John Calvin, by Lutherans who opposed it.
Many within the tradition find it either an
indescriptive or an inappropriate term and
would prefer the word Reformed to be used
instead.The most important Reformed theologians
include John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, Martin
Bucer, William Farel, Heinrich Bullinger,
Peter Martyr Vermigli, Theodore Beza, and
John Knox. In the twentieth century, Abraham
Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, B. B. Warfield, J.
Gresham Machen, Karl Barth, Martyn Lloyd-Jones,
Cornelius Van Til, and Gordon Clark were influential.
Contemporary Reformed theologians include
J. I. Packer, John MacArthur, R. C. Sproul,
Timothy J. Keller, David Wells, and Michael
Horton.
Reformed churches may exercise several forms
of ecclesiastical polity; most are presbyterian
or congregationalist, though some are episcopalian.
Calvinism is largely represented by Continental
Reformed, Presbyterian, and Congregationalist
traditions. The biggest Reformed association
is the World Communion of Reformed Churches
with more than 100 million members in 211
member denominations around the world. There
are more conservative Reformed federations
such as the World Reformed Fellowship and
the International Conference of Reformed Churches,
as well as independent churches.
== Etymology ==
Calvinism is named after John Calvin. It was
first used by a Lutheran theologian in 1552.
It was a common practice of the Catholic Church
to name what it viewed as heresy after its
founder. Nevertheless, the term first came
out of Lutheran circles. Calvin denounced
the designation himself:
They could attach us no greater insult than
this word, Calvinism. It is not hard to guess
where such a deadly hatred comes from that
they hold against me.
Despite its negative connotation, this designation
became increasingly popular in order to distinguish
Calvinists from Lutherans and from newer Protestant
branches that emerged later. The vast majority
of churches that trace their history back
to Calvin (including Presbyterians, Congregationalists,
and a row of other Calvinist churches) do
not use it themselves, since the designation
"Reformed" is more generally accepted and
preferred, especially in the English-speaking
world. Moreover, these churches claim to be—in
accordance with John Calvin's own words—"renewed
accordingly with the true order of gospel".
Since the Arminian controversy, the Reformed
tradition—as a branch of Protestantism distinguished
from Lutheranism—divided into two separate
groups: Arminians and Calvinists. However,
it is now rare to call Arminians a part of
the Reformed tradition. While the Reformed
theological tradition addresses all of the
traditional topics of Christian theology,
the word Calvinism is sometimes used to refer
to particular Calvinist views on soteriology
and predestination, which are summarized in
part by the Five Points of Calvinism. Some
have also argued that Calvinism as a whole
stresses the sovereignty or rule of God in
all things including salvation.
== History ==
First-generation Reformed theologians include
Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531), Martin Bucer
(1491–1551), Wolfgang Capito (1478–1541),
John Oecolampadius (1482–1531), and Guillaume
Farel (1489–1565). These reformers came
from diverse academic backgrounds, but later
distinctions within Reformed theology can
already be detected in their thought, especially
the priority of scripture as a source of authority.
Scripture was also viewed as a unified whole,
which led to a covenantal theology of the
sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper
as visible signs of the covenant of grace.
Another Reformed distinctive present in these
theologians was their denial of the bodily
presence of Christ in the Lord's supper. Each
of these theologians also understood salvation
to be by grace alone, and affirmed a doctrine
of particular election (the teaching that
some people are chosen by God for salvation).
Martin Luther and his successor Philipp Melanchthon
were undoubtedly significant influences on
these theologians, and to a larger extent
later Reformed theologians. The doctrine of
justification by faith alone was a direct
inheritance from Luther.John Calvin (1509–64),
Heinrich Bullinger (1504–75), Wolfgang Musculus
(1497–1563), Peter Martyr Vermigli (1500–62),
and Andreas Hyperius (1511–64) belong to
the second generation of Reformed theologians.
Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion
(1536–59) was one of the most influential
theologies of the era. Toward the middle of
the 16th century, the Reformed began to commit
their beliefs to confessions of faith, which
would shape the future definition of the Reformed
faith. The 1549 Consensus Tigurinus brought
together those who followed Zwingli and Bullinger's
memorialist theology of the Lord's supper,
which taught that the supper simply serves
as a reminder of Christ's death, and Calvin's
view that the supper serves as a means of
grace with Christ actually present, though
spiritually rather than bodily. The document
demonstrates the diversity as well as unity
in early Reformed theology. The remainder
of the 16th century saw an explosion of confessional
activity. The stability and breadth of Reformed
theology during this period stand in marked
contrast to the bitter controversy experienced
by Lutherans prior to the 1579 Formula of
Concord.Due to Calvin's missionary work in
France, his programme of reform eventually
reached the French-speaking provinces of the
Netherlands. Calvinism was adopted in the
Electorate of the Palatinate under Frederick
III, which led to the formulation of the Heidelberg
Catechism in 1563, and in Navarre by Jeanne
d'Albret. This and the Belgic Confession were
adopted as confessional standards in the first
synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in 1571.
Leading divines, either Calvinist or those
sympathetic to Calvinism, settled in England
(Martin Bucer, Peter Martyr, and Jan Łaski)
and Scotland (John Knox). During the English
Civil War, the Calvinistic Puritans produced
the Westminster Confession, which became the
confessional standard for Presbyterians in
the English-speaking world. Having established
itself in Europe, the movement continued to
spread to other parts of the world, including
North America, South Africa, and Korea.Calvin
did not live to see the foundation of his
work grow into an international movement;
but his death allowed his ideas to break out
of their city of origin, to succeed far beyond
their borders, and to establish their own
distinct character.
=== Spread ===
Although much of Calvin's work was in Geneva,
his publications spread his ideas of a correctly
Reformed church to many parts of Europe. In
Switzerland, some cantons are still Reformed,
and some are Catholic. Calvinism became the
theological system of the majority in Scotland
(see John Knox), the Netherlands (see William
Ames, T. J. Frelinghuysen and Wilhelmus à
Brakel), some communities in Flanders, and
parts of Germany (especially these adjacent
to the Netherlands) in the Palatinate, Kassel
and Lippe with the likes of Olevianus and
his colleague Zacharias Ursinus. In Hungary
and the then-independent Transylvania, Calvinism
was a significant religion. In the 16th century,
the Reformation gained many supporters in
Eastern Hungary and Hungarian-populated regions
in Transylvania. In these parts, the Reformed
nobles protected the faith. Almost all Transylvanian
dukes were Reformed. Today there are about
3.5 million Hungarian Reformed people worldwide.
It was influential in France, Lithuania and
Poland before being mostly erased due to the
counter-reformational activities taken up
by the monarch in each country. Calvinism
gained some popularity in Scandinavia, especially
Sweden, but was rejected in favor of Lutheranism
after the Synod of Uppsala in 1593.Most settlers
in the American Mid-Atlantic and New England
were Calvinists, including the English Puritans,
the French Huguenots and Dutch settlers of
New Amsterdam (New York), and the Scotch-Irish
Presbyterians of the Appalachian back country.
Nonconforming Protestants, Puritans, Separatists,
Independents, English religious groups coming
out of the English Civil War, and other English
dissenters not satisfied with the degree to
which the Church of England had been reformed,
held overwhelmingly Reformed views. They are
often cited among the primary founders of
the United States of America. Dutch Calvinist
settlers were also the first European colonizers
of South Africa, beginning in the 17th century,
who became known as Boers or Afrikaners.
Sierra Leone was largely colonized by Calvinist
settlers from Nova Scotia, who were largely
Black Loyalists, blacks who had fought for
the British during the American War of Independence.
John Marrant had organized a congregation
there under the auspices of the Huntingdon
Connection. Some of the largest Calvinist
communions were started by 19th- and 20th-century
missionaries. Especially large are those in
Indonesia, Korea and Nigeria. In South Korea
there are 20,000 Presbyterian congregations
with about 9–10 million church members,
scattered in more than 100 Presbyterian denominations.
In South Korea, Presbyterianism is the largest
Christian denomination.
A 2011 report of the Pew Forum on Religious
and Public Life estimated that members of
Presbyterian or Reformed churches make up
7% of the estimated 801 million Protestants
globally, or approximately 56 million people.
Though the broadly defined Reformed faith
is much larger, as it constitutes Congregationalist
(0.5%), most of the United and uniting churches
(unions of different denominations) (7.2%)
and most likely some of the other Protestant
denominations (38.2%). All three are distinct
categories from Presbyterian or Reformed (7%)
in this report.
The Reformed family of churches is one of
the largest Christian denominations. According
to adherents.com the Reformed/Presbyterian/Congregational/United
churches represent 75 million believers worldwide.The
World Communion of Reformed Churches, which
includes some United Churches (most of these
are primarily Reformed; see Uniting and united
churches for details), has 80 million believers.
WCRC is the third largest Christian communion
in the world, after the Roman Catholic Church
and the Eastern Orthodox Churches.Many conservative
Reformed churches which are strongly Calvinistic
formed the World Reformed Fellowship which
has about 70 member denominations. Most are
not part of the World Communion of Reformed
Churches because of its ecumenical attire.
The International Conference of Reformed Churches
is another conservative association.
Church of Tuvalu is the only officially established
state church in the Calvinist tradition in
the world.
== Theology ==
=== 
Revelation and Scripture ===
Reformed theologians believe that God communicates
knowledge of himself to people through the
Word of God. People are not able to know anything
about God except through this self-revelation.
Speculation about anything which God has not
revealed through his Word is not warranted.
The knowledge people have of God is different
from that which they have of anything else
because God is infinite, and finite people
are incapable of comprehending an infinite
being. While the knowledge revealed by God
to people is never incorrect, it is also never
comprehensive.
According to Reformed theologians, God's self-revelation
is always through his son Jesus Christ, because
Christ is the only mediator between God and
people. Revelation of God through Christ comes
through two basic channels. The first is creation
and providence, which is God's creating and
continuing to work in the world. This action
of God gives everyone knowledge about God,
but this knowledge is only sufficient to make
people culpable for their sin; it does not
include knowledge of the gospel. The second
channel through which God reveals himself
is redemption, which is the gospel of salvation
from condemnation which is punishment for
sin.In Reformed theology, the Word of God
takes several forms. Jesus Christ himself
is the Word Incarnate. The prophecies about
him said to be found in the Old Testament
and the ministry of the apostles who saw him
and communicated his message are also the
Word of God. Further, the preaching of ministers
about God is the very Word of God because
God is considered to be speaking through them.
God also speaks through human writers in the
Bible, which is composed of texts set apart
by God for self-revelation. Reformed theologians
emphasize the Bible as a uniquely important
means by which God communicates with people.
People gain knowledge of God from the Bible
which cannot be gained in any other way.Reformed
theologians affirm that the Bible is true,
but differences emerge among them over the
meaning and extent of its truthfulness. Conservative
followers of the Princeton theologians take
the view that the Bible is true and inerrant,
or incapable of error or falsehood, in every
place. This view is very similar to that of
Catholic orthodoxy as well as modern Evangelicalism.
Another view, influenced by the teaching of
Karl Barth and Neo-Orthodoxy, is found in
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Confession
of 1967. Those who take this view believe
the Bible to be the primary source of our
knowledge of God, but also that some parts
of the Bible may be false, not witnesses to
Christ, and not normative for today's church.
In this view, Christ is the revelation of
God, and the scriptures witness to this revelation
rather than being the revelation itself. Dawn
DeVries, a professor at Union Presbyterian
Seminary, has written that Barth's doctrine
of Scripture is not capable of resolving conflicts
in contemporary churches, and proposed that
Scripture not be thought of as the Word of
God at all, but only human reports of the
revealed Jesus Christ.
=== Covenant ===
Reformed theologians use the concept of covenant
to describe the way God enters fellowship
with people in history. The concept of covenant
is so prominent in Reformed theology that
Reformed theology as a whole is sometimes
called "covenant theology". However, sixteenth
and seventeenth-century theologians developed
a particular theological system called "covenant
theology" or "federal theology" which many
conservative Reformed churches continue to
affirm today. This framework orders God's
life with people primarily in two covenants:
the covenant of works and the covenant of
grace. The covenant of works is made with
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The terms
of the covenant are that God provides a blessed
life in the garden on condition that Adam
and Eve obey God's law perfectly. Because
Adam and Eve broke the covenant by eating
the forbidden fruit, they became subject to
death and were banished from the garden. This
sin was passed down to all mankind because
all people are said to be in Adam as a covenantal
or "federal" head. Federal theologians usually
infer that Adam and Eve would have gained
immortality had they obeyed perfectly.A second
covenant, called the covenant of grace, is
said to have been made immediately following
Adam and Eve's sin. In it, God graciously
offers salvation from death on condition of
faith in God. This covenant is administered
in different ways throughout the Old and New
Testaments, but retains the substance of being
free of a requirement of perfect obedience.Through
the influence of Karl Barth, many contemporary
Reformed theologians have discarded the covenant
of works, along with other concepts of federal
theology. Barth saw the covenant of works
as disconnected from Christ and the gospel,
and rejected the idea that God works with
people in this way. Instead, Barth argued
that God always interacts with people under
the covenant of grace, and that the covenant
of grace is free of all conditions whatsoever.
Barth's theology and that which follows him
has been called "monocovenantal" as opposed
to the "bi-covenantal" scheme of classical
federal theology. Conservative contemporary
Reformed theologians, such as John Murray,
have also rejected the idea of covenants based
on law rather than grace. Michael Horton,
however, has defended the covenant of works
as combining principles of law and love.
=== God ===
For the most part, the Reformed tradition
did not modify the medieval consensus on the
doctrine of God. God's character is described
primarily using three adjectives: eternal,
infinite, and unchangeable. Reformed theologians
such as Shirley Guthrie have proposed that
rather than conceiving of God in terms of
his attributes and freedom to do as he pleases,
the doctrine of God is to be based on God's
work in history and his freedom to live with
and empower people.
Traditionally, Reformed theologians have also
followed the medieval tradition going back
to before the early church councils of Nicaea
and Chalcedon on the doctrine of the Trinity.
God is affirmed to be one God in three persons:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Son (Christ)
is held to be eternally begotten by the Father
and the Holy Spirit eternally proceeding from
the Father and Son. However, contemporary
theologians have been critical of aspects
of Western views here as well. Drawing on
the Eastern tradition, these Reformed theologians
have proposed a "social trinitarianism" where
the persons of the Trinity only exist in their
life together as persons-in-relationship.
Contemporary Reformed confessions such as
the Barmen Confession and Brief Statement
of Faith of the Presbyterian Church (USA)
have avoided language about the attributes
of God and have emphasized his work of reconciliation
and empowerment of people. Feminist theologian
Letty Russell used the image of partnership
for the persons of the Trinity. According
to Russell, thinking this way encourages Christians
to interact in terms of fellowship rather
than reciprocity. Conservative Reformed theologian
Michael Horton, however, has argued that social
trinitarianism is untenable because it abandons
the essential unity of God in favor of a community
of separate beings.
=== Christ and atonement ===
Reformed theologians affirm the historic Christian
belief that Christ is eternally one person
with a divine and a human nature. Reformed
Christians have especially emphasized that
Christ truly became human so that people could
be saved. Christ's human nature has been a
point of contention between Reformed and Lutheran
Christology. In accord with the belief that
finite humans cannot comprehend infinite divinity,
Reformed theologians hold that Christ's human
body cannot be in multiple locations at the
same time. Because Lutherans believe that
Christ is bodily present in the Eucharist,
they hold that Christ is bodily present in
many locations simultaneously. For Reformed
Christians, such a belief denies that Christ
actually became human. Some contemporary Reformed
theologians have moved away from the traditional
language of one person in two natures, viewing
it as unintelligible to contemporary people.
Instead, theologians tend to emphasize Jesus'
context and particularity as a first-century
Jew.
John Calvin and many Reformed theologians
who followed him describe Christ's work of
redemption in terms of three offices: prophet,
priest, and king. Christ is said to be a prophet
in that he teaches perfect doctrine, a priest
in that he intercedes to the Father on believers'
behalf and offered himself as a sacrifice
for sin, and a king in that he rules the church
and fights on believers' behalf. The threefold
office links the work of Christ to God's work
in ancient Israel. Many, but not all, Reformed
theologians continue to make use of the threefold
office as a framework because of its emphasis
on the connection of Christ's work to Israel.
They have, however, often reinterpreted the
meaning of each of the offices. For example,
Karl Barth interpreted Christ's prophetic
office in terms of political engagement on
behalf of the poor.Christians believe Jesus'
death and resurrection makes it possible for
believers to attain forgiveness for sin and
reconciliation with God through the atonement.
Reformed Protestants generally subscribe to
a particular view of the atonement called
substitutionary atonement, which explains
Christ's death as a sacrificial payment for
sin. Christ is believed to have died in place
of the believer, who is accounted righteous
as a result of this sacrificial payment. Contemporary
Reformed theologians such as William Placher
and Nancy Duff have criticized this view,
claiming it makes God appear abusive or vindictive
and sanctions violence by the strong against
the weak.
=== Sin ===
In Christian theology, people are created
good and in the image of God but have become
corrupted by sin, which causes them to be
imperfect and overly self-interested. Reformed
Christians, following the tradition of Augustine
of Hippo, believe that this corruption of
human nature was brought on by Adam and Eve's
first sin, a doctrine called original sin.
Reformed theologians emphasize that this sinfulness
affects all of a person's nature, including
their will. This view, that sin so dominates
people that they are unable to avoid sin,
has been called total depravity. In colloquial
English, the term "total depravity" can be
easily misunderstood to mean that people are
absent of any goodness or unable to do any
good. However the Reformed teaching is actually
that while people continue to bear God's image
and may do things that appear outwardly good,
their sinful intentions affect all of their
nature and actions so that they are not pleasing
to God.Some contemporary theologians in the
Reformed tradition, such as those associated
with the PC(USA)'s Confession of 1967, have
emphasized the social character of human sinfulness.
These theologians have sought to bring attention
to issues of environmental, economic, and
political justice as areas of human life that
have been affected by sin.
=== Salvation ===
Reformed theologians, along with other Protestants,
believe salvation from punishment for sin
is to be given to all those who have faith
in Christ. Faith is not purely intellectual,
but involves trust in God's promise to save.
Protestants do not hold there to be any other
requirement for salvation, but that faith
alone is sufficient.Justification is the part
of salvation where God pardons the sin of
those who believe in Christ. It is historically
held by Protestants to be the most important
article of Christian faith, though more recently
it is sometimes given less importance out
of ecumenical concerns. People are not on
their own able even to fully repent of their
sin or prepare themselves to repent because
of their sinfulness. Therefore, justification
is held to arise solely from God's free and
gracious act.Sanctification is the part of
salvation in which God makes the believer
holy, by enabling them to exercise greater
love for God and for other people. The good
works accomplished by believers as they are
sanctified are considered to be the necessary
outworking of the believer's salvation, though
they do not cause the believer to be saved.
Sanctification, like justification, is by
faith, because doing good works is simply
living as the son of God one has become.
=== Predestination ===
Reformed theologians teach that sin so affects
human nature that they are unable even to
exercise faith in Christ by their own will.
While people are said to retain will, in that
they willfully sin, they are unable not to
sin because of the corruption of their nature
due to original sin. Reformed Christians believe
that God predestined some people to be saved
and others were predestined to eternal damnation.
This choice by God to save some is held to
be unconditional and not based on any characteristic
or action on the part of the person chosen.
This view is opposed to the Arminian view
that God's choice of whom to save is conditional
or based on his foreknowledge of who would
respond positively to God.Karl Barth reinterpreted
the Reformed doctrine of predestination to
apply only to Christ. Individual people are
only said to be elected through their being
in Christ. Reformed theologians who followed
Barth, including Jürgen Moltmann, David Migliore,
and Shirley Guthrie, have argued that the
traditional Reformed concept of predestination
is speculative and have proposed alternative
models. These theologians claim that a properly
trinitarian doctrine emphasizes God's freedom
to love all people, rather than choosing some
for salvation and others for damnation. God's
justice towards and condemnation of sinful
people is spoken of by these theologians as
out of his love for them and a desire to reconcile
them to himself.
==== Five points of Calvinism ====
Most objections to and attacks on Calvinism
focus on the "five points of Calvinism", also
called the doctrines of grace, and remembered
by the mnemonic "TULIP". The five points are
popularly said to summarize the Canons of
Dort; however, there is no historical relationship
between them, and some scholars argue that
their language distorts the meaning of the
Canons, Calvin's theology, and the theology
of 17th-century Calvinistic orthodoxy, particularly
in the language of total depravity and limited
atonement. The five points were more recently
popularized in the 1963 booklet The Five Points
of Calvinism Defined, Defended, Documented
by David N. Steele and Curtis C. Thomas. The
origins of the five points and the acronym
are uncertain, but they appear to be outlined
in the Counter Remonstrance of 1611, a less
known Reformed reply to the Arminians that
occurred prior to the Canons of Dort. The
acronym was used by Cleland Boyd McAfee as
early as circa 1905. An early printed appearance
of the T-U-L-I-P acronym is in Loraine Boettner's
1932 book, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination.
The acronym was very cautiously if ever used
by Calvinist apologists and theologians before
the booklet by Steele and Thomas. More recently,
a broad range of theologians have sought to
reformulate the TULIP terminology to reflect
more accurately the Canons of Dort; one of
the more popular efforts has been PROOF, standing
for Planned Grace, Resurrecting Grace, Outrageous
Grace, Overcoming Grace, and Forever Grace.The
central assertion of these points is that
God saves every person upon whom he has mercy,
and that his efforts are not frustrated by
the unrighteousness or inability of humans.
"Total depravity", also called "total inability",
asserts that as a consequence of the fall
of man into sin, every person is enslaved
to sin. People are not by nature inclined
to love God, but rather to serve their own
interests and to reject the rule of God. Thus,
all people by their own faculties are morally
unable to choose to trust God for their salvation
and be saved (the term "total" in this context
refers to sin affecting every part of a person,
not that every person is as evil as they could
be). This doctrine is derived from Augustine's
explanation of Original Sin. While the phrases
"totally depraved" and "utterly perverse"
were used by Calvin, what was meant was the
inability to save oneself from sin rather
than being absent of goodness. Phrases like
"total depravity" cannot be found in the Canons
of Dort, and the Canons as well as later Reformed
orthodox theologians arguably offer a more
moderate view of the nature of fallen humanity
than Calvin.
"Unconditional election" asserts that God
has chosen from eternity those whom he will
bring to himself not based on foreseen virtue,
merit, or faith in those people; rather, his
choice is unconditionally grounded in his
mercy alone. God has chosen from eternity
to extend mercy to those he has chosen and
to withhold mercy from those not chosen. Those
chosen receive salvation through Christ alone.
Those not chosen receive the just wrath that
is warranted for their sins against God.
"Limited atonement", also called "particular
redemption" or "definite atonement", asserts
that Jesus's substitutionary atonement was
definite and certain in its purpose and in
what it accomplished. This implies that only
the sins of the elect were atoned for by Jesus's
death. Calvinists do not believe, however,
that the atonement is limited in its value
or power, but rather that the atonement is
limited in the sense that it is intended for
some and not all. Some Calvinists have summarized
this as "The atonement is sufficient for all
and efficient for the elect."
"Irresistible grace", also called "efficacious
grace", asserts that the saving grace of God
is effectually applied to those whom he has
determined to save (that is, the elect) and
overcomes their resistance to obeying the
call of the gospel, bringing them to a saving
faith. This means that when God sovereignly
purposes to save someone, that individual
certainly will be saved. The doctrine holds
that this purposeful influence of God's Holy
Spirit cannot be resisted, but that the Holy
Spirit, "graciously causes the elect sinner
to cooperate, to believe, to repent, to come
freely and willingly to Christ." This is not
to deny the fact that the Spirit's outward
call (through the proclamation of the Gospel)
can be, and often is, rejected by sinners;
rather, it is that inward call which cannot
be rejected.
"Perseverance of the saints" (also known as
"perseverance of God with the saints" and
"preservation of the believing") (the word
"saints" is used to refer to all who are set
apart by God, and not of those who are exceptionally
holy, canonized, or in heaven) asserts that
since God is sovereign and his will cannot
be frustrated by humans or anything else,
those whom God has called into communion with
himself will continue in faith until the end.
Those who apparently fall away either never
had true faith to begin with (1 John 2:19),
or, if they are saved but not presently walking
in the Spirit, they will be divinely chastened
(Hebrews 12:5–11) and will repent (1 John
3:6–9).
==== Comparison among Protestants ====
This table summarizes the classical views
of three Protestant beliefs about salvation.
=== Church ===
Reformed Christians see the Christian Church
as the community with which God has made the
covenant of grace, a promise of eternal life
and relationship with God. This covenant extends
to those under the "old covenant" whom God
chose, beginning with Abraham and Sarah. The
church is conceived of as both invisible and
visible. The invisible church is the body
of all believers, known only to God. The visible
church is the institutional body which contains
both members of the invisible church as well
as those who appear to have faith in Christ,
but are not truly part of God's elect.In order
to identify the visible church, Reformed theologians
have spoken of certain marks of the Church.
For some, the only mark is the pure preaching
of the gospel of Christ. Others, including
John Calvin, also include the right administration
of the sacraments. Others, such as those following
the Scots Confession, include a third mark
of rightly administered church discipline,
or exercise of censure against unrepentant
sinners. These marks allowed the Reformed
to identify the church based on its conformity
to the Bible rather than the Magisterium or
church tradition.
=== Worship ===
==== 
Regulative principle of worship ====
The regulative principle of worship is a teaching
shared by some Calvinists and Anabaptists
on how the Bible orders public worship. The
substance of the doctrine regarding worship
is that God institutes in the Scriptures everything
he requires for worship in the Church and
that everything else is prohibited. As the
regulative principle is reflected in Calvin's
own thought, it is driven by his evident antipathy
toward the Roman Catholic Church and its worship
practices, and it associates musical instruments
with icons, which he considered violations
of the Ten Commandments' prohibition of graven
images.On this basis, many early Calvinists
also eschewed musical instruments and advocated
a cappella exclusive psalmody in worship,
though Calvin himself allowed other scriptural
songs as well as psalms, and this practice
typified presbyterian worship and the worship
of other Reformed churches for some time.
The original Lord's Day service designed by
John Calvin was a highly liturgical service
with the Creed, Alms, Confession and Absolution,
the Lord's supper, Doxologies, prayers, Psalms
being sung, the Lords prayer being sung, Benedictions.Since
the 19th century, however, some of the Reformed
churches have modified their understanding
of the regulative principle and make use of
musical instruments, believing that Calvin
and his early followers went beyond the biblical
requirements and that such things are circumstances
of worship requiring biblically rooted wisdom,
rather than an explicit command. Despite the
protestations of those who hold to a strict
view of the regulative principle, today hymns
and musical instruments are in common use,
as are contemporary worship music styles with
elements such as worship bands.
=== Sacraments ===
The Westminster Confession of Faith limits
the sacraments to baptism and the Lord's Supper.
Sacraments are denoted "signs and seals of
the covenant of grace." Westminster speaks
of "a sacramental relation, or a sacramental
union, between the sign and the thing signified;
whence it comes to pass that the names and
effects of the one are attributed to the other."
Baptism is for infant children of believers
as well as believers, as it is for all the
Reformed except Baptists and some Congregationalists.
Baptism admits the baptized into the visible
church, and in it all the benefits of Christ
are offered to the baptized. On the Lord's
supper, Westminster takes a position between
Lutheran sacramental union and Zwinglian memorialism:
"the Lord's supper really and indeed, yet
not carnally and corporally, but spiritually,
receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and
all benefits of his death: the body and blood
of Christ being then not corporally or carnally
in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet,
as really, but spiritually, present to the
faith of believers in that ordinance as the
elements themselves are to their outward senses."The
1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith does
not use the term sacrament, but describes
baptism and the Lord's supper as ordinances,
as do most Baptists Calvinist or otherwise.
Baptism is only for those who "actually profess
repentance towards God", and not for the children
of believers. Baptists also insist on immersion
or dipping, in contradistinction to other
Reformed Christians. The Baptist Confession
describes the Lord's supper as "the body and
blood of Christ being then not corporally
or carnally, but spiritually present to the
faith of believers in that ordinance", similarly
to the Westminster Confession. There is significant
latitude in Baptist congregations regarding
the Lord's supper, and many hold the Zwinglian
view.
=== Logical order of God's decree ===
There are two schools of thought regarding
the logical order of God's decree to ordain
the fall of man: supralapsarianism (from the
Latin: supra, "above", here meaning "before"
+ lapsus, "fall") and infralapsarianism (from
the Latin: infra, "beneath", here meaning
"after" + lapsus, "fall"). The former view,
sometimes called "high Calvinism", argues
that the Fall occurred partly to facilitate
God's purpose to choose some individuals for
salvation and some for damnation. Infralapsarianism,
sometimes called "low Calvinism", is the position
that, while the Fall was indeed planned, it
was not planned with reference to who would
be saved.
Supralapsarians believe that God chose which
individuals to save logically prior to the
decision to allow the race to fall and that
the Fall serves as the means of realization
of that prior decision to send some individuals
to hell and others to heaven (that is, it
provides the grounds of condemnation in the
reprobate and the need for salvation in the
elect). In contrast, infralapsarians hold
that God planned the race to fall logically
prior to the decision to save or damn any
individuals because, it is argued, in order
to be "saved", one must first need to be saved
from something and therefore the decree of
the Fall must precede predestination to salvation
or damnation.
These two views vied with each other at the
Synod of Dort, an international body representing
Calvinist Christian churches from around Europe,
and the judgments that came out of that council
sided with infralapsarianism (Canons of Dort,
First Point of Doctrine, Article 7). The Westminster
Confession of Faith also teaches (in Hodge's
words "clearly impl[ies]") the infralapsarian
view, but is sensitive to those holding to
supralapsarianism. The Lapsarian controversy
has a few vocal proponents on each side today,
but overall it does not receive much attention
among modern Calvinists.
== Variants ==
=== Amyraldism ===
Amyraldism (or sometimes Amyraldianism, also
known as the School of Saumur, hypothetical
universalism, post redemptionism, moderate
Calvinism, or four-point Calvinism) is the
belief that God, prior to his decree of election,
decreed Christ's atonement for all alike if
they believe, but seeing that none would believe
on their own, he then elected those whom he
will bring to faith in Christ, thereby preserving
the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election.
The efficacy of the atonement remains limited
to those who believe.
Named after its formulator Moses Amyraut,
this doctrine is still viewed as a variety
of Calvinism in that it maintains the particularity
of sovereign grace in the application of the
atonement. However, detractors like B. B.
Warfield have termed it "an inconsistent and
therefore unstable form of Calvinism."
=== Hyper-Calvinism ===
Hyper-Calvinism first referred to a view that
appeared among the early English Particular
Baptists in the 18th century. Their system
denied that the call of the gospel to "repent
and believe" is directed to every single person
and that it is the duty of every person to
trust in Christ for salvation. The term also
occasionally appears in both theological and
secular controversial contexts, where it usually
connotes a negative opinion about some variety
of theological determinism, predestination,
or a version of Evangelical Christianity or
Calvinism that is deemed by the critic to
be unenlightened, harsh, or extreme.
The Westminster Confession of Faith says that
the gospel is to be freely offered to sinners,
and the Larger Catechism makes clear that
the gospel is offered to the non-elect.
=== Neo-Calvinism ===
Neo-Calvinism, a form of Dutch Calvinism,
is the movement initiated by the theologian
and former Dutch prime minister Abraham Kuyper.
James Bratt has identified a number of different
types of Dutch Calvinism: The Seceders—split
into the Reformed Church "West" and the Confessionalists;
and the Neo-Calvinists—the Positives and
the Antithetical Calvinists. The Seceders
were largely infralapsarian and the Neo-Calvinists
usually supralapsarian.Kuyper wanted to awaken
the church from what he viewed as its pietistic
slumber. He declared:
No single piece of our mental world is to
be sealed off from the rest and there is not
a square inch in the whole domain of human
existence over which Christ, who is sovereign
over all, does not cry: 'Mine!'
This refrain has become something of a rallying
call for Neo-Calvinists.
=== 
Christian Reconstructionism ===
Christian Reconstructionism is a fundamentalist
Calvinist theonomic movement that has remained
rather obscure. Founded by R. J. Rushdoony,
the movement has had an important influence
on the Christian Right in the United States.
The movement declined in the 1990s and was
declared dead in a 2008 Church History journal
article. However, it lives on in small denominations
such as the Reformed Presbyterian Church in
the United States and as a minority position
in other denominations. Christian Reconstructionists
are usually postmillennialists and followers
of the presuppositional apologetics of Cornelius
Van Til. They tend to support a decentralized
political order resulting in laissez-faire
capitalism.
=== New Calvinism ===
New Calvinism is a growing perspective within
conservative Evangelicalism that embraces
the fundamentals of 16th century Calvinism
while also trying to be relevant in the present
day world. In March 2009, Time magazine described
the New Calvinism as one of the "10 ideas
changing the world". Some of the major figures
in this area are John Piper, Mark Driscoll,
Al Mohler, Mark Dever, C. J. Mahaney, Joshua
Harris, and Tim Keller. New Calvinists have
been criticized for blending Calvinist soteriology
with popular Evangelical positions on the
sacraments and continuationism.
== Social and economic influences ==
Calvin expressed himself on usury in a 1545
letter to a friend, Claude de Sachin, in which
he criticized the use of certain passages
of scripture invoked by people opposed to
the charging of interest. He reinterpreted
some of these passages, and suggested that
others of them had been rendered irrelevant
by changed conditions. He also dismissed the
argument (based upon the writings of Aristotle)
that it is wrong to charge interest for money
because money itself is barren. He said that
the walls and the roof of a house are barren,
too, but it is permissible to charge someone
for allowing him to use them. In the same
way, money can be made fruitful.He qualified
his view, however, by saying that money should
be lent to people in dire need without hope
of interest, while a modest interest rate
of 5% should be permitted in relation to other
borrowers.
== Politics and society ==
Calvin's concept of God and man contained
strong elements of freedom that were gradually
put into practice after his death, in particular
in the fields of politics and society. After
the successful fight for independence from
Spain (1579), the Netherlands, under Calvinist
leadership, became the freest country in Europe.
It granted asylum to persecuted religious
minorities, e.g. French Huguenots, English
Independents (Congregationalists), and Jews
from Spain and Portugal. The ancestors of
philosopher Baruch Spinoza were Portuguese
Jews. Aware of the trial against Galileo,
René Descartes lived in the Netherlands,
out of reach of the Inquisition. Pierre Bayle,
a Reformed Frenchman, also felt safer in the
Netherlands than in his home country. He was
the first prominent philosopher who demanded
tolerance for atheists. Hugo Grotius was able
to publish a rather liberal interpretation
of the Bible and his ideas about natural law.
Moreover, the Calvinist Dutch authorities
allowed the printing of books that could not
be published elsewhere, e.g. Galileo's Discorsi.
Even more important than the liberal development
of the Netherlands was the rise of modern
democracy in England and North America. In
the Middle Ages state and church had been
closely connected. Martin Luther's doctrine
of the two kingdoms separated state and church
in principle. His doctrine of the priesthood
of all believers raised the laity to the same
level as the clergy. Going one step further,
Calvin included elected laymen (church elders,
presbyters) in his concept of church government.
The Huguenots added synods whose members were
also elected by the congregations. The other
Reformed churches took over this system of
church self-government which was essentially
a representative democracy. Baptists, Quakers,
and Methodists are organized in a similar
way. These denominations and the Anglican
Church were influenced by Calvin's theology
in varying degrees.Another precondition for
the rise of democracy in the Anglo-American
world was the fact that Calvin favored a mixture
of democracy and aristocracy as the best form
of government (mixed government). He appreciated
the advantages of democracy. The aim of his
political thought was to safeguard the rights
and freedoms of ordinary men and women. In
order to minimize the misuse of political
power he suggested dividing it among several
institutions in a system of checks and balances
(separation of powers). Finally, Calvin taught
that if worldly rulers rise up against God
they should be put down. In this way, he and
his followers stood in the vanguard of resistance
to political absolutism and furthered the
cause of democracy. The Congregationalists
who founded Plymouth Colony (1620) and Massachusetts
Bay Colony (1628) were convinced that the
democratic form of government was the will
of God. Enjoying self-rule they practiced
separation of powers. Rhode Island, Connecticut,
and Pennsylvania, founded by Roger Williams,
Thomas Hooker, and William Penn, respectively,
combined democratic government with freedom
of religion. These colonies became safe havens
for persecuted religious minorities, including
Jews.
In England, Baptists Thomas Helwys and John
Smyth influenced the liberal political thought
of Presbyterian poet and politician John Milton
and philosopher John Locke, who in turn had
both a strong impact on the political development
in their home country (English Civil War,
Glorious Revolution) as well as in North America.
The ideological basis of the American Revolution
was largely provided by the radical Whigs,
who had been inspired by Milton, Locke, James
Harrington, Algernon Sidney, and other thinkers.
The Whigs' "perceptions of politics attracted
widespread support in America because they
revived the traditional concerns of a Protestantism
that had always verged on Puritanism." The
United States Declaration of Independence,
the United States Constitution and (American)
Bill of Rights initiated a tradition of human
and civil rights that was continued in the
French Declaration of the Rights of Man and
the Citizen and the constitutions of numerous
countries around the world, e. g. Latin America,
Japan, India, Germany, and other European
countries. It is also echoed in the United
Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights.In the nineteenth century,
the churches that were based on Calvin's theology
or influenced by it were deeply involved in
social reforms, e.g. the abolition of slavery
(William Wilberforce, Harriet Beecher Stowe,
Abraham Lincoln, and others), women suffrage,
and prison reforms. Members of these churches
formed co-operatives to help the impoverished
masses. Henry Dunant, a Reformed pietist,
founded the Red Cross and initiated the Geneva
Conventions.Some sources would view Calvinist
influence as not always being solely positive.
The Boers and Afrikaner Calvinists combined
ideas from Calvinism and Kuyperian theology
to justify apartheid in South Africa. As late
as 1974, the majority of the Dutch Reformed
Church in South Africa was convinced that
their theological stances (including the story
of the Tower of Babel) could justify apartheid.
In 1990, the Dutch Reformed Church document
Church and Society maintained that although
they were changing their stance on apartheid,
they believed that within apartheid and under
God's sovereign guidance, "...everything was
not without significance, but was of service
to the Kingdom of God." It should be noted
that these views were not universal and were
condemned by many Calvinists outside South
Africa. It was pressure from both outside
and inside the Dutch Reformed Calvinist church
which helped reverse apartheid in South Africa.
Throughout the world, the Reformed churches
operate hospitals, homes for handicapped or
elderly people, and educational institutions
on all levels. For example, American Congregationalists
founded Harvard (1636), Yale (1701), and about
a dozen other colleges. Princeton was a Presbyterian
foundation.
== See also ==
List of Calvinist educational institutions
in North America
List of Reformed denominations
Synod of Jerusalem (1672): Eastern Orthodox
council rejecting Calvinist beliefs
Criticism of Protestantism
=== 
Doctrine ===
Common grace
Reformed confessions of faith
=== 
Related ===
Boer Calvinists: Boere-Afrikaners that hold
to Reformed theology.
Huguenots: followers of Calvinism in France,
originating in the 16th and 17th century.
Pilgrims: Puritan separatists who left Europe
for America in search of religious toleration,
eventually settling in New England.
Presbyterians: Calvinists in Scotland, Ireland
and England.
Puritans: English separatists.
Continental Reformed church: Calvinist churches
originating in continental Europe.
Waldensians: Italian Protestants, preceded
Calvinism but today identify with Reformed
theology
=== 
Similar groups in other traditions ===
Crypto-Calvinism: German Protestants accused
of Calvinist leanings within the Lutheran
church in the late 16th century
Jansenism: a radical, Roman Catholic Augustinian
group with some doctrinal distinctives similar
to those of Calvinism
Calvinistic Methodists
Molinism
=== 
Opposing views ===
Lutheranism
Arminianism
Open theism
Free Grace theology
Roman Catholicism
