The Calvin Challenge

For a couple of years now, I have really wanted to read through The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin. I first confronted Calvinism in a challenging way about 5 years ago. My understanding of soteriology, the theological doctrine of salvation, was limited to the 4 spiritual laws at that time. Whenever I spoke about the 5 points of Calvinism (aka TULIP) with a Calvinist, I usually felt woefully inadequate. I could find Bible verses few and far between with which I would challenge their conviction. Sometimes, they would stumble for a response to my interrogation, but usually it was I who did the stumbling. I was typically left out-of-words.

One day, in the Calvary Chapel Bible College coffee-shop, I sat speechless before a good friend of mine. For about a week we had been meeting, going back and forth through Hebrews discussing the doctrine of "Once Saved Always Saved," aka "Perseverance of the Saints" (the P in TULIP). We had gone over every passage in the book of Hebrews that I felt proved that a Christian could lose their salvation. He very easily responded to each verse with clear and contextual answers. During that conversation I found out that he had the entire book of Hebrews memorized. I was shocked and awed! I realized that I might not know as much as I thought I did.

It took me awhile after that day to accept that I was wrong. And it took much longer than that to accept the other 4 points of Calvinism. Once I did accept Calvinism, I was amazed at how much of God's Word was clarified. There were countless verses that I used to skim over in frustration because I couldn't understand them. I am far from a scholar on soteriology, but I have grown quite a bit in my faith over these last 5 years.

Now I'm ready to go deeper. I want to challenge myself to read through The Institutes of the Christian Religion and blog about my thought process. I have no idea how it will turn out, but at least I will have some accountability to sift through it for all its worth. I'm anxious to get started!