Calvinism = License to Commit Sin!

 

I found the above video by Derek Thomas in which he effectively argues against repentance (or just pays lip-service to it), demonstrating that Calvinism is practically a license to commit sin. It is a short video, so I can quote the entire transcript and discuss it in more detail. He begins as follows:

“How much sin do you need to forsake in order to come to Christ?”

The answer is, All of them! Name me one sin in the Bible that we are excused from, and are not required to repent of. I don’t know of any. He continues:

“How much remorse do you need to have? How much sense of guilt do you need to have before you can come to Christ?”

The answer is, Enough remorse, sense of guilt etc. to bring you down to repentance, or to cause you to forsake your sins. “Remorse” and “sense of guilt” alone are not what constitute repentance. To “repent” means to forsake sin. Endless “remorse” and “sense of guilt” is not what it means to repent. He continues:

“And all of a sudden, repentance—and repentance is a requirement, of course—but the quality of my repentance can become the standard, the marker of my justification. And all of a sudden, I am justified not by faith alone, but I am justified by the quality of my repentance.”

“Faith alone” is the heresy of Calvinism. It is not biblical. The biblical doctrine is faith coupled with repentance. And to “repent” means to stop sinning. It means to stop doing what you know to be wrong, and start doing what you know to be right. It means to stop breaking God’s commandments, and start keeping them. “Constant remorse” is not what constitutes repentance. He continues:

“And all of a sudden, it is a performance. It is our obedience. It is our works.”

Repenting of our sins, living a righteous life, and keeping the commandments of God are not the same as “works”. “Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness etc.” are not “works”. You are not doing any “work” by abstaining from those sins. You would be doing a lot more “work” by committing those sins than by abstaining from them. He continues:

“And you can dress that up in very fanciful, spiritual language that sounds very biblical. ‘Do you need to repent in order to be a Christian?’ Yes and no.”

Wrong! The biblical answer to that question is a definitive, unequivocal Yes! There are no “ifs” and “buts” about it. We need to repent of our sins in order to be saved, or to become a Christian. He continues:

“Yes, we need to repent, but it is not our repentance that justifies us.”

It is not our “faith” that justifies us either. It is God who justifies us when we fulfil his requirements, which are faith and repentance. Faith without repentance will not “justify” anyone; and to “repent” means to turn away from sin. It means to stop breaking the commandments of God, and start keeping them. He continues:

“It is not the quality of our repentance that justifies us. In the history of the church, this has sometimes been labeled “preparationism,” that you need to prepare yourself in order to come to Christ. You need to be in a certain frame of mind. You need to have gone through various stages in your recognition of your sinfulness before you can come to Christ.”

He is making repentance sound a lot harder and more complicated than it is. Ezekiel in the Old Testament explains it like this:

Ezekiel 33:

14 Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right;

15 If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die.

16 None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live.

Nothing complicated about that. And in the New Testament John the Baptist explains it like this:

Luke 3:

7 Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

10 And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then [to repent]?

11 He answereth and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.

12 Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do [to repent]?

13 And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.

14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do [to repent]? And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.

And Jesus says:

Matthew 11:

29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

There is nothing difficult or complicated about repentance. It means to forsake sin. It means to stop doing what one knows to be wrong, and start doing what one knows to be right. That was the main focus of Jesus’ teachings in the New Testament (Matt. 5:1–48; 6:1–4, 14–15, 19–21, 31–34; 7:1–5, 12–14, 21–29; 16:27; 19:16–21; 23:1–39; 25:1–46; Mark 3:1–5; Luke 6:6–10, 20–49; 8:15–21, 40–56; 12:31–48; 15:7; 16:19–31; John 5:28–29). He taught doing good, and abstaining from evil (Matt. 5:44; 25:23; Mark 3:4; Luke 6:9; 6:27; 6:33; 6:35; 5:29); and his disciples likewise did the same (Acts 10:38; Gal. 6:10; Heb. 13:16; James 4:17; 1 Peter 3:11; 3 John 1:11). Calvinist theology is inherently antithetical to repentance. It is a license to commit sin and get away with it. “Doing good” in Calvinism is a sin! That is “works,” and you are damned! So he tries to make repentance appear as something that is in reality impossible to achieve—and therefore not even worth trying. He pays lip-service to repentance, but in practise he denies it. He continues:

“And this affected certain aspects of Puritanism, particularly in New England in the late 1600s, early 1700s. And Thomas Boston was adamant that this was incorrect, that it violated, it undermined the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone.”

I am not a defender of “Puritanism”. The Puritans were themselves an offshoot of the Protestant heresy, and were tainted with many of its doctrinal errors. I am a defender only of biblical Christianity, which is diametrically opposed to Calvinism. He continues:

“Paul hadn’t come to Galatia to offer ‘religion,’ a moral code of behavior that would produce a certain kind of citizenship in Europe.”

Paul certainly came to Galatia to preach a moral code of behavior that would produce citizenship in the Kingdom of God. This is what he taught to the Galatians:

Galatians 6:

7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

And he taught the same things to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 6:

9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

And likewise he taught the same to the Romans:

Romans 2:

6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds:

7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:

8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

9 Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the [pagan] Gentile:

11 For there is no respect of persons with God.

12 For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

13 (For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

14 For when the [pagan] Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another; )

16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

And Peter sums it all up very nicely in these words:

Acts 10:

34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

35 But in every nation [including religion] he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

They didn’t teach Calvinism, for sure! According to these verses, repentance without faith saves people faster than faith without repentance. An unbelieving pagan who does what is good and right in his life out of a good conscience, will be saved; whereas a believing Christian who does evil (and does not repent), will receive a greater condemnation than an unbelieving pagan who commits the same sin (Luke 12:47–48).

According to the words of Jesus, judgment takes place on judgment day on the basis of people’s actions, not “faith” alone (Matt. 7:21–27; 16:27; 25:31–46; John 5:28–29; Rev. 20:12–13; 22:12); and believers who sin (and do not repent) will receive a greater punishment than unbelievers who commit the same sins (Luke 12:47–48).

And as far as “rewards” are concerned, Jesus talks about “rewards” all over the place in the New Testament. A quick search produced these results: Matt. 5:12, 46; 6:1–6, 16, 18; 10:41–42; 16:27; Mark 9:41; Luke 6:23, 35; 23:41. Then he finally concludes his remarks with the following words:

“He [Paul] had come to [Galatia] to offer a message of grace. He had come to offer freedom in Christ. He had come to emancipate those who by nature are slaves and in bondage and to set them free, to be what God intends them to be, to become children of God and heirs of God.”

Paul came to preach a message of repentance (Rom. 2:4; 2 Cor. 7:9-10); and Jesus did so even more (Matt. 4:17; 9:13; 11:21; 12:41; Mark 1:15; 2:17; 6:12; Luke 5:32; 11:32; Luke 13:3, 5; 15:7, 10; 24:47). He didn’t come to preach Calvinism, and neither did Jesus.

The doctrine of repentance does not sit well with Calvinism. Calvinism is a license to sin with impunity, and get away with it. Repenting of your sins in Calvinism is “works,” and you are damned! It is as unbiblical, heretical, and false as it can get. It is the doctrine of demons. It is the biggest perversion of the gospel in the history of Christianity. Avoid at all cost.