Why Calvinism Has To Be The Gospel

 

 
Calvinism has to be the Gospel because of the reality of the doctrine of total depravity, man’s utter lostness and utter inability to make himself acceptable to God, even if a person’s salvation simply involved making a decision to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. A person can’t comprehend their need for a Savior, a Divine sinless Savior, if they cannot see just how sinful they are compared to an infinitely holy God. It is the supernatural act of regeneration by the Holy Spirit of God that enables a sinner to see the scope of their own spiritual wretchedness in contrast to an infinitely holy God. Just to be clear, total depravity does not mean that a person can never act kind or decent towards others. Nor does it mean that they are constantly doing evil things. However, it does mean that any good things they do are not being done to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. They may be done to gain favor with others or even to attempt to earn favor with God. However, to be able to see that you are totally at the mercy of God for your salvation and that salvation can ONLY be found in the Lord Jesus Christ and His blood sacrifice on the cross – is something that God Almighty has to show you.
 
The “unsaved” are in spiritual darkness – spiritually dead and they don’t even know it. Does a corpse know it is dead (not considering the person’s eternal soul)? Of course not! Therefore, there is no way for the lost to make a decision to accept Christ as their Savior without doing it in total ignorance of what exactly they are doing and therefore they would be making their “decision” in vain. If and when a person does truly turn to Christ it is because God has already regenerated them through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God which is why the word “translated” is used in this Bible verse:
 
“Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins” Colossians 1:12-14
 
Once a person realizes that the “light” has turned on to enlighten their minds to the truth of the Gospel, and once they realize that they could not have possibly turned that light on themselves, that it had to be a supernatural act of God on a person who previously had no desire for the things of God, then they will realize that they have nothing to glory in, that they cannot and dare not glory in some decision they made for Christ. Then they will realize what this verse means to themselves regarding their salvation:
 

“For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?” – 1 Corinthians 4:7

 
— RM Kane