Was John Newton A Calvinist?

Who gave Himself a ransom for all. -1 Timothy 2:6

John Newton is the famous author of the hymn Amazing Grace. Newton lived a wicked life. He served as captain on a slave ship. But eventually he was gloriously saved, came to oppose slavery, and preach the Gospel. American Tract Society has a great tract on him, The Amazing Story of Amazing Grace.

Was John Newton a Calvinist? The answer is yes, and no.

Newton claimed to be a Calvinist. That is pretty good evidence. The point is this - there are a hundred different varieties of Calvinists. What kind of Calvinist was he?

Some Baptists claim to be non-Calvinists, meaning they are neither Arminian or 5-point Calvinist. Others, believing the same thing, call themselves Moderate Calvinists. This would stand in contrast to more Strict Calvinism or 5-point Calvinism.

Many have put it that all Southern Baptists are Calvinists because they at least agree with one of the five points of Calvinism; the one called Perseverance of the Saints. This is also referred to as Eternal Security, or Once Saved, Always Saved. In this sense, we are all at least Moderate Calvinists. Many Moderate Calvinists would also say they believe in other of the five points of Calvinism, depending on how they are defined.

On the other hand, most Southern Baptists reject one of the five points of Calvinism known as Limited Atonement. The big majority of Southern Baptists believe Jesus sacrificially died for all people on the face of the earth (John 1:29; 3:16-17; Romans 5:6.; 2 Corinthians 5:14-16, 19; 1 Timothy 2:4, 6; 4:10; Hebrews 2:9; 2 Peter 2:1; 3:9; 1 John 2:2). A Strict Calvinist, however, believes Jesus only died for the elect, those who will eventually get saved (Limited Atonement).

Some Strict Calvinists of today love to point out Christian leaders of the past as Calvinists, implying they believed in all five points of Calvinism. The reality is many of them were more of the Moderate rather than the Strict 5-point variety.

Now back to John Newton. It is interesting that he gently reproved some of the more militant Calvinists of his day.

Did John Newton believe in the modern day view of all five points of Calvinism? Apparently not. It appears that Newton was of the more Moderate Calvinist variety.

Evidently John Newton did not believe in Limited Atonement. Why? Consider a couple of his hymns, and you be the judge.

My Soul Once Had it’s Plenteous Years

O sinners, hear His gracious call!
His mercy’s door stands open wide,
He has enough to feed you all,
And none who come shall be denied.
-John Newton

Now Let Us Join With Hearts and Tongues

When angels by transgression fell,
Justice consigned them all to hell;
But mercy formed a wondrous plan,
To save and honor fallen man.
…
O glorious hour, it comes with speed
When we from sin and darkness freed,
Shall see the God Who died for man,
And praise Him more than angels can.
-John Newton

In his hymns, Newton often says Jesus died for sinners. All are sinners.

It appears John Newton was indeed a Calvinist, but one of the more Moderate variety. Evidently he did not believe the view of Limited Atonement.

Note: It also seems evident from their writings that John Calvin himself, and B. H. Carroll, founding president of SWBTS, also believed Jesus died for all mankind.

-David R. Brumbelow, Gulf Coast Pastor, December 19, AD 2011.

Related Articles (find many more in lower right margin).
Unlimited Atonement, Jesus Died For All
Books on Calvinism, Predestination

Paige Patterson on Calvinism

Several years ago Dr. Paige Patterson spoke on Calvinism at the SBC Pastor’s Conference. An excerpt from Baptist Press follows:

PATTERSON: PEOPLE ARE ‘TOTALLY FREE’

Patterson began his segment by saying, to laughter, “The real question we are here to discuss today is whether or not you are here on your own free will."

He listed six areas in which he and Calvinists agree –- areas for which he said he has great appreciation. Calvinists, Patterson said: “usually lead very pious lives”; believe theology is important; generally are “very clear about the dangers involved in the charismatic movement; “understand the purpose of everything is to glorify God”; “never question the inerrancy of Scripture or the substitutionary atonement of Christ”; and “are crystal clear about the fact that salvation is by grace alone.”

But Patterson also said there are several areas of concern he has with “some Calvinists”:

-- the notion that if “you are not a Calvinist then you must be an Arminian.” He said he is neither.

-- the argument that “if you are not a Calvinist then you do not accept the doctrines of grace.” Patterson said, “I believe that salvation is by grace alone, and I'm not a Calvinist.”

-- the assertion that those who are not Calvinists don’t believe in the sovereignty of God. “I just happen to believe that God is sovereign enough that He can make a man totally free if He wishes to do so,” Patterson said.

-- “antinomian tendencies” present “in some Calvinists,” particularly on the subject of drinking alcohol. Antinomianism tends to overemphasize grace in relation to law.

-- a failure of Reformed pastors to be “completely forthright” with pulpit committees during interviews. “This is a concern not only about Calvinists,” Patterson said. “It is a concern about people who happen to be dispensationalists, like me. It's a concern about any position which you hold." There should be “full disclosure of what you believe and what you plan to do once you become the pastor of that church."

-- the “compassionlessness” for a lost world seen in “some Calvinists.” Patterson said what he “appreciate[s] so much about Dr. Mohler and many of my other Calvinist friends is that that emphatically is not true of them."

Patterson said he views the doctrine of election through the "foreknowledge of God." He also said he sees no biblical evidence for “irresistible grace” –- one of the tenets of Calvinism.

“If, in fact, men cannot resist the will of the Holy Spirit … then in fact salvation is coercive and a person does not have a choice about what he is going to do,” he said. "… I believe it is God's will that every human being be saved. I don't believe all of them will be saved -- narrow is the way, and straight is the gate.”

Patterson read two quotes he attributed to Presbyterian pastor R.C. Sproul: "God desired man to fall into sin. God created sin"; and "It is [God's] desire to make His wrath known. He needed, then, something on which to be wrathful. He needed to have sinful creatures."

“It is impossible to find justice in that by any biblical definition of justice," Patterson said. “… This makes God, in some sense, the author of sin.”

He listed several scriptural passages -- 1 Timothy 2:3-6, 2 Peter 3:9, Hebrews 2:9, 1 John 2:2 -- that he said support general atonement instead of the Calvinist tenant of limited (or particular) atonement. *

"To me, the references to the universality of the atonement are absolutely overwhelming in the New Testament," Patterson said. “… The Calvinist must fall back on the idea of two wills of God –- a revealed will and a secret will. The problem with the secret will, of course, is that it is secret and we cannot know about [it] at all. Not only that, [but] it pits the secret will in juxtaposition and over against His revealed will.”

Patterson challenged those in attendance, "My fervent prayer is that whatever your beliefs are about the sovereignty of God … you will join me in taking the Gospel to the ends of the earth.”
-from Baptist Press, June 13, 2006 by Michael Foust.

Dr. Paige Patterson is a graduate of Hardin-Simmons University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (Th.M. and Ph.D.), he is the author of a number of books, and was twice elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was one of the key leaders in the Conservative Resurgence that brought Southern Baptists back to their historic commitment to the inerrancy of the Bible. Patterson serves as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas (swbts.edu).

One additional quote:
“The current trend in Southern Baptist life to imitate the Reformed movement is a major step backwards and must be resisted.” -Dr. Paige Patterson, at SWBTS Anabaptist Conference, 2012.
[The Reformers fought against Believer's Baptism by Immersion and actually persecuted, tortured, and executed Anabapists and Baptists in the 1500s and 1600s.]

* The Calvinist doctrine of Limited Atonement says Jesus died only for the elect.  Non-Calvinists (or at least non-5-point Calvinists) believe in General or Unlimited Atonement.  Unlimited Atonement means Jesus died for the sins of all humanity; of course, only those who believe are saved. 

-David R. Brumbelow, Gulf Coast Pastor, August 8, AD 2011.

Books on Calvinism, Predestination

Adrian Rogers on Predestination, Calvinism   
See Related Articles by clicking any of the "Labels" in this post, or by going to the lower right margin under Gulf Coast Pastor Articles (Labels). 

Limited or Universal Atonement by Dr. David L. Allen; part 2

Part 2 of 2
THEOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The key theological argument used to support limited atonement is the Double Payment argument, which says justice does not allow the same sin to be punished twice. This argument faces several problems:

* it is not found in Scripture
* it confuses a commercial debt and penal satisfaction for sin
* the elect are still under the wrath of God until they believe (Eph 2:3)
* it negates the principle of grace in the application of the atonement (nobody is owed the application).

Though Christ died sufficiently for the sins of all people, the promise of salvation is clearly conditional in the New Testament -- one must repent and believe in order to receive salvation. The limitation was not in the provision of Christ's death, but in the application. A man cannot be punished for rejecting what was never for him in the first place!

LOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

One argument for limited atonement goes like this: Christ died "for His sheep," for "His Church," and for "His friends." These are limited categories of people, thus, this is proof of limited atonement.

Not so fast!

Statements such as these do not prove limited atonement, because to argue such invokes the negative inference fallacy: the proof of a proposition does not disprove its converse.

One cannot infer a negative (Christ did NOT die for group A) from a bare positive statement (Christ did die for group B), any more than one can infer that Christ only died for Paul because Gal 2:20 says that Christ died for Paul.

Consequently, the fact that many verses speak of Christ dying for his "sheep," his "church," or "his friends" does not prove that he did not die for others not subsumed in these categories. There is no statement in Scripture that says Jesus died ONLY for the sins of elect. There are numerous statements that say Christ died for "all," the "world," or for "everyone," as in Hebrews 2:9.

CONCLUSION

Acts 3:26 states: "To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities." Peter is telling his unbelieving audience that God sent Jesus to bless each and every one of them and to turn every one of them from their iniquities. This is equivalent to Peter saying: Christ died for you.

How could Jesus save every one of them (which is what blessing and turning away from iniquity involves) if he did not actually die for the sins of all of them? Certainly "each one" of the Jews Peter addressed must have included some who were non-elect! The free and well-meant offer of the gospel for all people necessarily presupposes that Christ died for the sins of all people.

Limited atonement truncates this good news of the gospel by sawing off the arms of the cross too close to the stake. At this strategic time of focus on a Great Commission Resurgence, should the Southern Baptist Convention move toward "five-point" Calvinism, such a move would be away from and not toward the gospel.

-Part 2 of 2, by Dr. David L. Allen, dean of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's school of theology; Fort Worth, TX; swbts.edu
-from Baptist Press (BP); bpnews.net (originally posted at BP, 10-1-2010)

Note: David Allen is author of the New American Commentary on Hebrews published by Broadman & Holman. Get his book and Hebrews by R. L. Sumner ($19.95 postpaid, 546 pages and filled with illustrations; Biblical Evangelism, 5717 Pine Drive, Raleigh, NC 27606-8947). They make a great combination and will give you preaching material for the foreseeable future. Remember, get your sermon from one source - that’s plagiarism. Get your sermon from two sources - that’s research!

David Allen is also contributor to Whosoever Will by Allen & Lemke, B&H, an outstanding, bestselling book on Baptists and Calvinism. 

-David R. Brumbelow, Gulf Coast Pastor, November 17, AD 2010.

Related Articles:
Limited or Universal Atonement by Dr. David L. Allen; part 1 of 2
Unlimited Atonement, Jesus Died For All
Saved By The Sinner's Prayer
The Roman Road of Salvation 

Limited or Universal Atonement by Dr. David L. Allen

Part 1 of 2
FORT WORTH, Texas (BP) - The issue of the "extent of the atonement" answers the question "For whose sins did Christ die?" There are only two options: 1) for the elect alone ("limited atonement" also called "definite atonement," or "particular redemption") or 2) for all of humanity.

Importantly, arguing for unlimited atonement and against limited atonement does not require quoting a single Arminian or non-Calvinist. It is a common misconception that all Calvinists affirm limited atonement. But even John Calvin rejected limited atonement, and Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, Jonathan Edwards and Andrew Fuller are just a few of history's well-known Calvinists who likewise rejected this position.

HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS

All of the earliest reformers, including Calvin, held to a form of universal atonement -- not universal salvation, but that Christ's shed blood paid the price for all men's sins so the possibility of atonement was unlimited. The five-point Calvinist's doctrinal position of limited atonement was not developed until the second and third generation of reformers, beginning primarily with Beza.

Controversy over introduction of this concept into Reformed beliefs grew to such an extent that ambiguous language on the subject was left in the final draft of the Canons of Dort (1618–1619) so as to allow those among the delegates who rejected limited atonement to sign the final document.

Even the Westminster Assembly (1643–1649) included delegates who rejected limited atonement, and the Puritans in the 17th and 18th centuries included distinguished leaders who preached and wrote against it. For example, John Bunyan declared: "Christ died for all.... For the offer of the gospel cannot with God's allowance, be offered any further than the death of Jesus Christ doth go; because if that be taken away, there is indeed no gospel, nor grace to be extended."

BIBLICAL CONSIDERATIONS

There are three key sets of texts in the New Testament that affirm unlimited atonement:

* the "all" texts,
* the "world" texts, and
* the "many" texts.

There also are three sets of texts that state Jesus died for His:

* "church"
* "sheep," and
* "friends."

How are we to reconcile the universal texts with the limited ones?

The high-Calvinist wrongly interprets the universal texts in light of the limited texts. Non-Calvinists and moderate Calvinists rightly interpret the limited texts as a subset of the universal texts.

Some Calvinists argue that biblical authors believed in limited atonement because they made statements affirming Christ died for the Church, even though biblical writers do not say that Christ died only for the Church or that He did not die for the non-elect.

There is no linguistic or exegetical or theological ground for reducing the meaning of "world" to "the elect" in such passages as John 3:16. John Owen made John 3:16 read "God so loved those he chose out of the world," which changes completely the sense of the verse and turns it into something opposite of its intended meaning. But to make the meaning of "world" here "the elect" is to make not only a linguistic mistake but also a logical mistake of category confusion.

-Part 1 of 2, by Dr. David L. Allen, dean of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's school of theology; swbts.edu

-David R. Brumbelow, Gulf Coast Pastor, November 9, AD 2010.

Related Articles:
Limited or Universal Atonement by Dr. David L. Allen; part 2

Unlimited Atonement, Jesus Died For All

One of the five points or beliefs of Calvinism (aka Reformed Doctrines, Doctrines of Grace) is limited atonement. Limited atonement says that Jesus did not die for everyone. He shed His blood only for the elect, or those who would get saved. This is also called particular atonement.

While I agree with some aspects of Calvinism, I believe that the Bible clearly teaches unlimited or general atonement. In other words, the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ died for the sins of all mankind, all humanity.

Unlimited atonement does not endorse universalism. Jesus died for all, but only those who receive Him as Savior will have their sins forgiven and be saved (John 1:12; 14:6; 1 Timothy 4:10; etc.).

The normal, natural meaning of a number of verses make it clear that God loves all, wants all to be saved, and that Jesus died for all.

Scripture that teaches unlimited atonement:
1. Who takes away the sin of the world! -John 1:29

2. For God so loved the world… For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. -John 3:16-17.
Notice how the word “world” is used.

3. I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. -John 12:47.

4. Christ died for the ungodly. -Romans 5:6.
Who are the ungodly? Both the elect and those who are not elect.

5. If One died for all, then all died; and He died for all…God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. -2 Corinthians 5:14-16, 19.

6. Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. -1 Timothy 2:4.

7. Who gave Himself a ransom for all. -1 Timothy 2:6
Compare with the meaning of “all” in these verses and in Romans 3:23 and Ephesians 1:11.

8. Who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. -1 Timothy 4:10.

9. [That Jesus] might taste death for everyone. -Hebrews 2:9.

10. Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. -2 Peter 3:9.

11. He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. -1 John 2:2.

12. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! -Matthew 23:37.
Jesus would have saved them all, but they “were not willing.”

13. But there were also false prophets among the people, even as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, and bring on themselves swift destruction. -2 Peter 2:1
Even the false prophets were bought by Jesus. Christ is the Savior of all men, even false prophets. He has purchased their salvation. But only those who believe will be saved.

Some who believe in limited atonement point to verses that speak of Christ’s death for, and His love for, those who are saved. This in no way negates the other Scripture that says Jesus died for all, and loves all. Someone may say, “Bill loves Mary and Jeff.” That in no way means that Bill does not love anyone else. To say Jesus loves Daniel and Brittany, does not mean He loves no one else.

The above Scripture is the reason that most Baptists believe that Jesus shed His blood for everyone on the face of this earth. You can speak to any human on this earth and say with confidence, “Jesus loves you. He died for your sins and rose again so that you can be forgiven and made right with God. Jesus offers His salvation to you.”

-David R. Brumbelow, Gulf Coast Pastor, October 27, AD 2009.

Related Articles:
Limited or Universal Atonement by Dr. David L. Allen; part 1 of 2
See other articles under Gulf Coast Pastor Articles (Labels) in lower right column.