Although there is no Church that bears Calvin’s name, most Protestants historically were Calvinist or Calvinist leaning. Pure Calvinism appears to be waning, but it is still a very common theological orientation. As a group Calvinist-leaning churches often use the designation “Reformed”. Presbyterians, Reformed, Congregationalists, some kinds of Anglicans/Episcopalians, and Southern Baptists would fall into the Calvinist camp, to a greater or lesser degree, at least historically. So what is said below will have relevance for Christians from many backgrounds who are interested in understanding Lutheranism.
Lutherans and “TULIP”
The fundamental tenets of Calvinism are commonly organized under the acronym “TULIP”. That, then, would seem to be a good place to summarize the similarities and differences between Lutherans and Calvinists. After that, I will discuss some further implications of “TULIP” as it relates to Lutheranism.
Total Depravity
This expression does not mean that people are depraved in the ordinary sense of the word. It means that a human being, unaided by the Holy Spirit, is incapable of coming to God, believing in Him, or in any meaningful way making himself acceptable to God. It means that a human being by nature is spiritually blind, spiritually dead, and hostile to God, and cannot do anything to change that. Calvinists believe this firmly, and so do Lutherans.
Unconditional Grace
This means that God bestows His favor upon a person not because of any merit or worthiness in them, or in view of anything the person has done, or might do (remember “Total Depravity”–without God’s help a person cannot come to Christ). Instead, grace is given unconditionally, and entirely because of God’s sovereign choice to do so. That far Lutherans agree with Calvinists. But Calvinists go farther: They teach that some are unconditionally chosen by God to be saved, “the Elect”, while others are unconditionally chosen not to be saved, that is, they are chosen by God to be damned. This doctrine is sometimes called the Doctrine of Double Predestination. Lutherans strenuously reject the Doctrine of Double Predestination as repugnant to the Scriptures and poisonous to believers.
Limited Atonement
A necessary corollary to the Doctrine of Double Predestination is the Doctrine of a Limited Atonement. This means that Christ did not die for all, but only for the Elect. Lutherans strenuously reject this doctrine also, and teach that God “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” 1 Tim. 2:4, and that Jesus is the “Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world” John 1:29.
Irresistible Grace
Another necessary corollary to the Doctrine of Double Predestination is the teaching that grace is irresistible. That is, if God has chosen you to be saved, then you will believe in Christ and you will come to Him when He calls you. This is so because a human being has no power to resist God’s call. Again, Lutherans do not teach this. We do believe that God is sovereign and that no one can resist Him when He exercises His almighty power. However, we do not believe that God calls people to faith in Jesus through the exercise of His almighty power. Instead, He calls sinners by means of the Gospel and Baptism, physical things which a human being can resist. By analogy, Christ, though Almighty, could be resisted, and was often resisted, when His almighty power was veiled and He worked instead through His human flesh. Today, as then, if a person refuses to believe when Christ calls them to faith with words, God will not impose faith upon Him and force him, as it were, to be saved.
Perseverance of the Saints
Here is yet another necessary corollary to the Doctrine of Double Predestination. The popular way of expressing this is “Once saved, always saved.” The logic is simple enough: If you are one of the Elect, then you cannot fall away from the faith, and if a person does appear to have fallen away from the faith, then that can only mean that they were not (and never had been) one of the Elect. Lutherans teach that a true Christian can fall away. This can happen if we neglect the Word and Sacraments, the physical means by which Christ keeps us close to Him.
Some Further Implications of “TULIP”
The Doctrine of Double Predestination presents a fairly serious problem for the Christian who is concerned to know if they are saved or not. Calvinism assures that the Elect will all be saved, but has difficulty assuring an individual Christian that they are, in fact, one of the Elect. How is someone supposed to know if they are one of the Chosen? “If a person believes in Jesus, then he’s one of the Elect.” Okay. But what if a person’s not sure? What if he’s wrestling with doubts? Might not any doubt a person has produce the thought that perhaps he is not one of the Elect after all? He could look to other evidence in his life: his faithfulness in worship, his moral integrity, and so forth. What, though, is the difference between that and outright trusting in your good deeds and character for your salvation? But suppose a person convinces himself, some way or another, that he does, in fact, believe. Adding up all the evidence, he defeats all his doubts. But even that person, who thinks (perhaps reasonably) that he believes today, is not out of the woods yet. Because there remains the possibility that he might fall away some time in the future, and if that happens, then that would prove that he was never one of the Elect to begin with, not even now, when he thinks he believes. Until a Christian reaches the end of his life, how can he know he is one of the Elect?
Something more insidious is going on, here, though. How do we comfort this person? How do we strengthen their faith? Perhaps if Jesus Himself were to appear to this individual and say, “Come, and follow me!”–that should do it! But even then, this poor person wouldn’t know, not for sure. After all, “many are called,” the Scripture says. But only the Elect are chosen. We must face this terrifying fact head on: If Jesus were to say to someone who is not one of the Elect, “Come, and follow me,” He could not possibly mean it. He would only seem to be calling the person. Think of the Rich Young Man (Mark 10:17-22). That is terrifying.
This is a real problem in Calvinism. If a Christian’s confidence that Christ not only has died, but died for him, if that confidence must ultimately depend on an unknowable decree of God from before the foundation of the world, then that person can never be confident. That’s unfortunate, but that’s not even the worst of it. The worst is this: It completely undermines the the Gospel, the very Word of Christ. If you’re not one of the Elect, then the Gospel isn’t talking to you. Jesus isn’t talking to you, because Jesus isn’t your Savior.
The Lutheran answer to this problem is to stop focusing on some unknowable eternal decree of election and to start listening to the very knowable Word of Christ. Stop questioning whether Jesus is serious when He says to you, “Come and follow me.” If He says it, He means it. Stop focusing on whether you believe or not, and start focusing on Christ and what He says. I’ll be personal here. I know I am saved. I know this because Jesus has promised me salvation–that’s what my Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the Gospel is all about–and Jesus does not lie.