How we have made Christ into a lawgiver

By: Travis Cartee

  Even when I speak his name I am afraid that those who do not know the sweetness of the Gospel will hear only dreadful thundering and terrible lightning of God's judgement, when John has clearly written by the ineffable inspiration of the Holy Spirit, "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1:17)

Even when I speak these things, I am immediately overwhelmed by the attacks of the enemy, reminding me of my Calvinist teachings, which I spent so many thousands of hours studying and absorbing, searching for the assurance promised like some Heracles conquering the Hydra, not on account of the conquering mind you, for in the last year of my Calvinism my sensibility of my self-righteousness reached a new intensity, though the way out was not clear, in spite of many thousands of hours of supposedly learning about Christ.  I mean this analogy on account of the many headed Hydra representing the many sects and shades of Calvinism, which glimmer and shimmer like so many scales on a rainbow fish, yet leave a man with no idea where to find his assurance, where to find his rock, other than in himself, when it is taken from him in the outward Word, and even when it is given, for that is an offering of an empty, cupped hand, when the Calvinist claims a universal offer of salvation, or a predestination that simply passes over some, both presenting duplicity in God's character and thus undermining the whole thing, regardless of how big they grin and emphasize the silver lining of their abominable doctrine. 

Why is it abominable?  Not because my tastes as a mere creature define it as such but because it goes against everything the Bible teaches on morality, salvation, hell, heaven, and faith in the outward Word of Holy Scripture which is near you, even in your mouth (Romans 10), not far from you, like the so-called Christ of the Calvinist religion who withholds himself from those who speak his truth.

Calvinism seeps far deeper than we realize.  If we would only study history we would realize its roots in the Reformation and its growing out to oppose Lutheranism wherever it could.  We would notice the emergence of the most prevalent Pietistic sects, as well as the modern aberrations of so-called conservative Lutheranism, as a result of compromise with Calvinism.  We would notice a fundamental disconnect between Calvinism and everything Luther preached about the revealed God, Jesus Christ.

Luther often said that the Gospel had only begun to be understood in his day.  I dare say that we have progressed little if at all.  I dare say even that we may have regressed if I were not cautious of violating Christ's prophecy, "...the gates of hell will not prevail against it."  No, we have not regressed, but rather our progress in understanding the Gospel has not been in the way that my human reason would have expected, and it is this difference that truly shows me the way to understanding the Gospel more deeply, just as a wise man shows a fool how to behave not by behaving like him but by behaving wisely."