List of articles dealing with the doctrines of grace:
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Why this emphasis on Calvinism?—James Montgomery Boice & Philip Graham Ryken"The world should realize with increased clearness that Evangelicalism stands or falls with Calvinism." The great Princeton theologian Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield wrote those words a century ago. At the time, Calvinism still had a major influence on evanglicalism, helping to define its theology, shape it spirituality, and clarify its mission. That is no longer as true as it once was. Increaslingly Calvinism is defined over agianst evanglicalism, and while many Calvinists still consider themselves evanglicals, most evangelicals are suspicious of Calvinism. On a first reading, therefore, Warfield's claim seems excessive, and probably false. One doubts whether it would find widespread acceptance in the contemporary church. What has Calvinism to do with evangelicalism? And why would the vitality of the evanglical church in any way depend on Calvinist theology? As surprising as it may seem, Warfield's claim is the thesis of our book, The Doctrines of Grace, namely, that evanglicalism stands or falls with Calvinism. To put this in a slightly less provocative way, evanglicalism needs Calvinism. In order to see why this is so, it helps to remove the labels. By "Evanglicalism," Warfield essentially meant what German Lutherans meant when they first started using the term during the Protestant Reformation: a church founded on the gospel, the good news of salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And when Warfield spoke of "Calvinism," he was referring to the Protestant Reformation, with its insistence on justification by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone. To put it more simply, evanglicalism stands for the gospel and Calvinism stands for grace. What Warfield was really saying, therefore, is something that every Christian should and must believe: the gospel stands or falls by grace. As Warfield recognized, the gospel is not really the gospel unless it is a gospel of grace, in other words, the gospel is only good news if it announces what God has done to save sinners. And if that is true, then the gospel stands or falls with the doctrines of grace.
|Page 1| Introduction
|Page 2| The Doctrines of Grace |