03/05/2026
I cannot tell you how many messages I get calling John MacArthur “evil,” R.C. Sproul “dangerous,” or attacking whoever I happen to quote that day.
And almost every time, the accusation comes down to this: they taught Calvinism, as if they invented it, revived it out of nowhere, or brought some strange new doctrine into the church.
That is not just incorrect. It is historically and biblically uninformed.
The doctrines of grace are not rooted in a man’s name. They are rooted in the Bible.
Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44).
Paul said God “chose us in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).
Romans 9 teaches that God’s mercy does not depend on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.
There are far more Scriptures that support the doctrines of grace than the later system of Arminianism.
The doctrines of grace were being taught about 1,100 to 1,200 years before Arminianism became a formal theological system.
From beginning to end, the Bible presents salvation as the work of God alone: planned by the Father, purchased by the Son, applied by the Spirit, and secured entirely by grace.
These truths did not appear in the Reformation out of nowhere. Augustine taught the bo***ge of the will and the necessity of grace long before Calvin. The Reformers recovered these truths from Scripture against a system that had buried grace under human merit.
So no, Calvinism is not a modern movement.
It is not MacArthurism. It is not Sproulism.
It is not even ultimately Calvinism.
It is the ancient biblical truth that salvation belongs to the Lord from beginning to end.
Why do we beg God to open blind eyes, soften hard hearts, grant repentance, and save the lost?
Because deep down, we know salvation is not merely a human decision. We know God is sovereign. We know He can do what sinners cannot do for themselves.
“And crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” Revelation 7:10
Praise God, He is in control, and we are not.
