Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

¹⁴  But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach.

 ¹⁵  The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?”

 ¹⁶  So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.

 ¹⁷  “If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.

 ¹⁸  “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory;  but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”  John 7:10-18. 

Reformed Doctrine a/k/a Calvinism seeks the glory of God by fully acknowledging God’s overall sovereignty and specifically giving all credit for salvation to God.

Arminianism, and other false doctrines which emphasize universal atonement (Christ died for all) and man’s free will, partially acknowledge God’s sovereignty such as in the realm of creation, but they give part credit for salvation to man for his or her faith and for at least exercising his or her free will to choose Christ.

Scripture shouts loud, clear, and often that all credit for salvation belongs to God.  Here are some Scriptures.

Psalm 3:8
“Salvation belongs to the LORD;  Your blessing be upon Your people!  Selah.”

^“I, even I, am the LORD,
         And there is no savior besides Me. 
    “It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed,
         And there was no strange god among you;
         So you are My witnesses,” declares the LORD,
         “And I am God. 
    “Even from eternity I am He,
         And there is none who can deliver out of My hand;
         I act and who can reverse it?”  Isaiah 43:11-13. 

“For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;  but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.  But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.”  I Corinthians 1:26-31.

^“for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh.  If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more:  circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee;  as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.  But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,”  Philippians 3:3-8.

^“Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches;  but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth;  for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.”  Jeremiah 9:23-24.

^“For He says to Moses, “I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION.”  So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy.”  Romans 9:15-16. 

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”  Ephesians 2:4-5. 

“For by grace you have been saved through faith;  and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  Ephesians 2:8-9.

So, here is how Reformed Doctrine a/k/a Calvinism, through The Canons of Dordt, ties it all together to specifically give all credit for salvation to God:

Article 5.  The cause or guilt of this unbelief as well as of all other sins, is no wise in God, but in man himself;  whereas faith in Jesus Christ, and salvation through him is the free gift of God, as it is written: “By grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God,” Ephesians 2:8.  “And unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him,” etc. Philippians 1:29.

Article 6.  That some receive the gift of faith from God, and others do not receive it proceeds from God’s eternal decree, “For known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world,” Acts 15:18.  “Who worketh all things after the counsel of his will,” Ephesians 1:11.  According to which decree, he graciously softens the hearts of the elect, however obstinate, and inclines them to believe, while he leaves the non-elect in his just judgment to their own wickedness and obduracy.  And herein is especially displayed the profound, and merciful, and at the same time the righteous discrimination between men, equally involved in ruin; or that decree of election and reprobation, revealed in the Word of God, which though men of perverse, impure and unstable minds wrest to their own destruction, yet to holy and pious souls affords unspeakable consolation.

Article 7.  Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation of the world, he hath out of mere grace, according to the sovereign good pleasure of his own will, chosen, from the whole human race, which had fallen through their own fault, from their primitive state of rectitude, into sin and destruction, a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ, whom he from eternity appointed the Mediator and Head of the elect, and the foundation of Salvation.

This elect number, though by nature neither better nor more deserving than the others, but with them involved in one common misery, God hath decreed to give to Christ, to be saved by him, and effectually to call and draw them to his communion by his Word and Spirit, to bestow upon them true faith, justification and sanctification; and having powerfully preserved them in the fellowship of his Son, finally, to glorify them for the demonstration of his mercy, and for the praise of his glorious grace; as it is written: “According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved,” Ephesians 1:4,5,6.  And elsewhere: “Whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified,” Romans 8:30.

Article 8.  There are not various decrees of election, but one and the same decree respecting all those, who shall be saved, both under the Old and New Testament:  since the scripture declares the good pleasure, purpose and counsel of the divine will to be one, according to which he hath chosen us from eternity, both to grace and glory, to salvation and the way of salvation, which he hath ordained that we should walk therein.

Article 9.  This election was not founded upon foreseen faith, and the obedience of faith, holiness, or any other good quality of disposition in man, as the pre-requisite, cause or condition on which it depended; but men are chosen to faith and to the obedience of faith, holiness, etc., therefore election is the fountain of every saving good; from which proceed faith, holiness, and the other gifts of salvation, and finally eternal life itself, as its fruits and effects, according to that of the apostle: “He hath chosen us (not because we were) but that we should be holy, and without blame, before him in love,” Ephesians 1:4.

Article 10.  The good pleasure of God is the sole cause of this gracious election; which doth not consist herein, that out of all possible qualities and actions of men God has chosen some as a condition of salvation;  but that he was pleased out of the common mass of sinners to adopt some certain persons as a peculiar people to himself, as it is written, “For the children being not yet born neither having done any good or evil,” etc., it was said (namely to Rebecca): “the elder shall serve the younger; as it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated,” Romans 9:11,12,13.  “And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed,” Acts 13:48.