ARE TODAY"S CALVINISTS MORE CALVINIST THAN JOHN CALVIN?
Are today's Calvinists even more Calvinist that John Calvin? Did Calvin have a slip of the tongue in the following quotes?
In his commentary on Romans 5:18, Calvin affirmed, “Although Christ suffered for the sins of the world, and is offered by the goodness of God without distinction to all men, yet not all receive Him.” In his commentary on Galatians 5:12, Calvin declared, “God commends to us the salvation of all men without exception, even as Christ suffered for the sins of the whole world.”
A sermon on Isaiah 53 warned, “Our Lord Jesus suffered for all and there is neither great nor small who is not inexcusable today, for we can obtain salvation in Him. Unbelievers who turn away from Him and who deprive themselves of Him by their malice are today doubly culpable. For how will they excuse their ingratitude in not receiving the blessing in which they could share by faith? . . . Let us not fear to come to Him in great numbers, and each one of us bring his neighbours, seeing that He is sufficient to save us all.”
Calvin’s sermon on 2 Timothy 2 declared, “For it is no small matter to have the souls perish which were bought by the blood of Christ.” Similarly, a sermon on Ephesians exhorted, “Also we ought to have good care of those that have been redeemed with the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. If we see souls which have been so precious to God go to perdition, and we make nothing of it, that is to despise the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Calvin would even state, “So we must beware, or souls redeemed by Christ may perish by our carelessness, for their salvation to some degree was put into our hands by God.” Calvin clearly was not as guarded in his wording as many later “high” Calvinists tended to be.
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