Errors of Hyper-Calvinism
Some of the primary errors descriptive of Hyper-Calvinism include:
(1) Overemphasis of the sovereignty of God to the neglect of the responsibility of man.
(2) Ordains ends but not the means to those ends.
(3) That God causes wickedness in sinners thus making God the author of sin.
(4) Denial or neglect the word of God (reading and preaching), prayer, evangelism, and good works.
In the first, Hyper-Calvinism is that which overemphasizes the sovereignty of God to the neglect of the responsibility of man. The key here is that the way in which the sovereignty of God is understood ends up distorting or destroying the responsibility of man, not so much that the sovereignty of God, properly understood, can be overemphasized. In other words, it is improper to define Hyper-Calvinism as that which overemphasizes the sovereignty of God without mention of the distortion of man's responsibility to this sovereign God.
In the second, Hyper-Calvinism emphasizes that God has foreordained the ends, but because of this the means to those ends do not matter. This therefore essentially denies God's providence over all things in bringing about the ends by the means He has appointed.
In the third, Hyper-Calvinism tends to describe God's sovereign acts in such a way that would make Him the direct and active cause of the sins of creatures, thus making God the author of sin. This is a blasphemous and dangerous view of God.
In the fourth, Hyper-Calvinism practically applied tends to neglect or even deny the reading and preaching of the word of God, in prayer, evangelism, and good works. This is related to the second point in that Hyper-Calvinism emphasizes the ends God has ordained but not the means to those ends.
This page was last updated: 2/3/2017
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