I will say that I consider myself a Calvinist, and that I love Calvinism and the doctrines of grace / TULIP (total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace & perseverance of the saints). I know the name of John Calvin and the term Calvinism conjure up a lot of negative, misguided, flawed, and faulty connotations (understatement!), so for a brief summary of Calvinism / the doctrines of grace / TULIP, I'd encourage you to read this article.)

Over the past several years, I've been brought to the same deep and abiding conviction which Charles Spurgeon also held:

"I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else."

~ from Spurgeon's "A Defense of Calvinism"

I want to make it clear that I very well know that souls can be saved and not hold to the tenets of Calvinism. I know this because for years, I was saved, but I wasn't a Calvinist! (In my post, "True Calvinism is not," I wrote about how I balked at and rejected many of the doctrines of grace for years. I'd encourage you to read that account here.)

However, don't get me wrong... I'm not at all squishy or soft when it comes to doctrine. Along with Whitefield, I'd say I am ten thousand times more convinced of Calvinistic doctrine than I was at this time year. I believe it is critical and vital that the doctrines of grace are preached and taught. And I strongly and urgently assert that one reason why the Church is in such a sad, sorry, and ruined state right now is because those doctrines have not been preached and taught as they ought to have been –– since those doctrines provide the true kindling for the fire of personal and corporate reformation, renewal, and revival –- which results in an overflowing love and zeal for God, God's glory, God's Word, God's Gospel, and God's mission –– exactly what happened on the Day of Pentecost. O! We are in desperate need of the heavens being rent again and the Holy Dove to descend with His baptizing fire!

WELCOME ONE ANOTHER FOR THE GLORY OF GOD

However, all that said, I am compelled by the Spirit of Christ to welcome ALL the saints (both Arminians and Calvinists) whom Christ Himself has welcomed, for Christ's sake and for the sake of the Gospel, for the glory of God. (Makes for an interesting tension in my soul, to say the least!)

In Romans 15, Paul reminds us of our holy obligation to welcome one another:

5  May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, 6  that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7  Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

THE POWER TO WELCOME ONE ANOTHER

In those verses, Paul is praying for God to endow the Roman Christians with His power so they might welcome one another because it's wholly impossible for any of us to do that apart from the power of God working in us! Plus, he's praying these things for Romans because he knows they will struggle mightily with temptations not to welcome one another and to destroy brotherly love, as Whitefield put it. Isn't it wonderful that in Jesus Christ we have a merciful and faithful high priest who was tempted as we are, who knows our weaknesses, and having been tempted as we are, and yet without sin, He has pity upon us and is ready and able to supply sufficient grace from His riches in glory as we call upon Him? (see Hebrews 2:16-18, 4:14-16)

Paul's prayer has been preserved as part of the canon of Holy Scripture because the Holy Spirit wanted to remind believers throughout the ages (including us here in the 21st century) that we will all struggle and we will all be tempted like the believers in Rome in the first century. These things were written for our example. These prayers were prayed for our example. But thanks be to God, with every commandment God gives, God gives His people the power to fulfill that commandment:  the Christ who welcomed us will empower us to welcome one another, for the glory of God. We desperately need to go boldly to the throne of grace and ask the God of endurance and encouragement to pour out grace upon us so we might welcome one another. And notice there, that when we welcome one another as Christ welcomed us, we do so for the glory of God. What does it say about our attitude toward the glory of God when we are not seeking to welcoming one another as Christ welcomed us?

THE PICTURE PORTRAYED AS WE WELCOME ONE ANOTHER

A few verses later in Romans 15, Paul launches off into a seemingly different trajectory:  a spectacular world-wide missionary vision and call, in which he cites verses from Isaiah, written hundreds of years prior.  What's with that? How does Paul get there from the first verses in the chapter? My brothers and sisters, our welcoming one another in the local church is a picture of God's welcoming us into His global family. And our welcoming one another in the local church is a small picture of what God has been and is continuing to do throughout the entire world for thousands of years. As the Gospel is preached to all the nations (people groups) to all the ends of the earth, are we not welcoming those whom Christ has redeemed to God by His blood from out of every tribe, and language, and people, and nation. And if we aren't welcoming one another in the local church (or in cyberspace, or wherever ...), how hypocritical of us is it for us to claim we're burdened for the lost? Convicting? Yes, for myself also. Greatly convicting.

Jesus Christ died to make us all one new man that we all might glorify God for his mercy.

Romans 1:1  Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2  which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3  concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4  and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5  through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6  including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ...

"For the sake of His name among all the nations, including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ..." If you belong to Christ, you belong to Him for the sake of His name. If you have been welcomed by Jesus Christ, you have been welcomed for the sake of His name. Your salvation and my salvation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ is God's means for His name to be lifted up and praised among all the nations. Peter reminds us that we're a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light (I Peter 2:9).

When we stop and linger over and meditate upon and don't skip over those first portions of the Lord's prayer, "Our Father... hallowed be Your Name, Your Kingdom come," when we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ and His purposes for the world, as we keep the glory of God and the furtherance of the Gospel in plain view, we will keep a right perspective and be eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit (see Ephesians 4:1-6), and strive to do whatever we can to avoid destroying brotherly love –– much as Paul wrote in Romans 12:  If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. And you can look high and low, but I don't see any loopholes there:  all means all.

MADE WILLING IN THE DAY OF HIS POWER

There are many, many Christians with whom I differ, but as God's grace works in me, I long to welcome them as Christ welcomed me, and I wish to support and encourage all those who belong to Christ and are preaching the Gospel, seeking to lift up Christ and Him crucified, guarding the Gospel and holding to the authority and the truth of the Scripture, and seeking the glory and praise of God in all things.

As much as I have every fleshly reason to despise and reject those who differ from me (particularly those who have slandered and maligned both Calvinism and Calvinists), God Himself won't let me do so because His Spirit convicts me and His love comes to constrain and fill me. The God of endurance and encouragement has given and continues to give me Christ's supernatural, longsuffering love for those saints and their ministries:  a love for Christ and His Church that goes above and beyond my beloved Calvinism, so I might welcome them as Christ has welcomed me:  to love them as Christ has loved me, and to forgive them as Christ has forgiven me.

I have to pinch myself at those times I have found my heart drawn out in love, even toward those who have insulted me for my Calvinistic beliefs, and how I find found myself praying for God's blessings to fall afresh on those saints. At that I can only marvel, for that is God's doing, for it is the Lord alone who makes me willing in the day of His power (Psalm 110:3, KJV), so I might welcome all the saints as Christ has welcomed me, delight in all the saints as Christ delights in me, and intercede for all the saints as Christ intercedes for me.

THAT WE MIGHT NOT DESTROY BROTHERLY LOVE

The devil loves division, and he is constantly prowling and seeking to get a foothold to divide us one from another. I'm not saying we shouldn't ever discuss these matters of doctrine for, as I said above, I consider these matters vital –– but there may come certain points in time when we may need to refrain and restrain ourselves like George Whitefield, so that we might not destroy brotherly love. May God give each one of us His Spirit of truth and wisdom tempered with His Spirit of love, humility, patience, and gentleness, always entrusting all the saints to God's keeping ~ II Timothy 2:14-26; Acts 20:32. As we remain watchful and stand firm in the faith, may all we do, may all I do, be done with love ~ I Corinthians 16:13-14... "knowledge puffs up, but love builds up" ~ I Corinthians 8:1.

May we have the mind of Christ dwelling within us, that our manner of life would be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so we might stand firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together, striving side by side, for the faith of the gospel (Philippians 1:27), for the glory of God and the praise and renown of God's name in all the nations, until the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the seas!

~ Karen, S.D.G.