Theological Term of the Week
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 7:22PM 
hyper-Calvinism
A perversion of Calvinism in which the universal offer of the gospel is denied, as well as the obligation of the unregenerate person to repent and believe the gospel.
- Scripture that refutes hyper-Calvinism:
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent… (Acts 17:30 ESV)
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20 ESV)
- From a hyper-Calvinistic confession, the Gospel Standard Articles of Faith:
XXVI We deny duty faith and duty repentance - these terms signifying that it is every man’s duty spiritually and savingly to repent and believe. We deny also that there is any capability in man by nature to any spiritual good whatever. So that we reject the doctrine that men in a state of nature should be exhorted to believe in or turn to God;
XXXIII Therefore, that for ministers in the present day to address unconverted persons, or indiscriminately all in a mixed congregation, calling upon them savingly to repent, believe, and receive Christ, or perform any other acts dependent upon the new creative power of the Holy Ghost, is, on the one hand, to imply creature power, and, on the other, to deny the doctrine of special redemption.
- From the Canons of Dordt, The Second Main Point of Doctrine
Article 5: The Mandate to Proclaim the Gospel to All
Moreover, it is the promise of the gospel that whoever believes in Christ crucified shall not perish but have eternal life. This promise, together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be announced and declared without differentiation or discrimination to all nations and people, to whom God in his good pleasure sends the gospel.
- From Duty-Faith by Arthur Pink:
In like manner, we must turn from the vain reasonings (as in the above Articles of Faith) of the hyper-Calvinist, and while holding fast to the total depravity and the spiritual inability of the natural man, we must also believe in his moral responsibility and accountability to God. It is the bounden duty of God’s servants to tell the unregenerate that the reason why they cannot repent evangelically is because their hearts are so wedded to their lusts; that the reason why they cannot come to Christ is because their sins have fettered and chained them; that the reason why they hate the Light is because they love the darkness. But so far from this excusing them, it only adds to their guilt; that so far from rendering them objects of pity it exposes them as doubly deserving of damnation. It is the preacher’s business to show wherein spiritual inability consists: not in the lack of soul faculties, but in the absence of any love for Him who is infinitely lovely. Far be it from us to extenuate the wicked unbelief of the unregenerate!
Learn more:
- Sam Storms: What Is Hyper-Calvinism?
- Jim Ellis: What Is Hyper-Calvinism?
- Colin Maxwell: A comparison chart of Arminianism, Calvinism, and hyper-Calvinism
- Founders Journal: Calvinism, Hyper-Calvinism and Arminianism
- Phil Johnson: A Primer on Hyper-Calvinism
- Fred Zaspel: Hyper-Calvinism and the Free Offer, Part 1, Part 2
- Erroll Hulse: Adding to the Church: The Puritan Approach to Persuading Souls
- Tom Ascol with Chris Arnzen on Iron Sharpens Iron: Hyper-Calvinism vs. Calvinism (mp3)
- Curt Daniel: Hyper-Calvinism (mp3)
Related terms:
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