Calvinism before John Calvin

[atpollard]

For the sake of this discussion, I will set aside Augustine. However nearly 200 years before John Calvin wrote his first words, Wycliffe believed in what later came to be called “Calvinism”.

When John Calvin was still wearing little-boy pants, William Tyndale wrote the following:

“By grace we are plucked out of Adam, the ground of all evil, and graffed into Christ, the root of all goodness. In Christ God loved us, his elect and chosen, before the world began, and reserved us unto the knowledge of his Son and of his holy gospel; and when the gospel is preached to us, openeth our hearts, and giveth us grace to believe, and putteth the Spirit of Christ in us.”

- William Tyndale, ‘A Pathway into the Scriptures’, c. 1525.

Let it be known by all, that the men that gave us the scripture in the vernacular (Wycliffe and Tyndale) also believed in a Sovereign God that elects His chosen in eternity past, and saves those He has elected. Just as all Reformed (“Calvinists“) do. It was NEVER about John Calvin and it was always about what the Bible actually says rather than the Catholic traditions.

 

[Josiah]

Actually, the quote affirms Lutheranism.



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[atpollard]

Actually, the quote affirms Lutheranism.
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Does Lutheranism really affirm “and reserved us unto the knowledge of his Son and of his holy gospel” ... that God reserved His elect/chosen for knowledge of His Son and gospel (salvation)? That is Predestination of the Elect in Reformed Theology.

(not a challenge, just an honest question from ignorance about Lutheranism)

 

[Josiah]

Does Lutheranism really affirm “and reserved us unto the knowledge of his Son and of his holy gospel” ... that God reserved His elect/chosen for knowledge of His Son and gospel (salvation)? That is Predestination of the Elect in Reformed Theology.

(not a challenge, just an honest question from ignorance about Lutheranism)

I see nothing in this quote from Tyndale here that Lutherans would disagree with. In fact, it seems Tyndale was just affirming the Council of Orange many centuries before him. I know of no difference between the concept of "predestination of the elect" in Reformed theology and the "doctrine of election" in Lutheran theology.

But of course that has nothing whatsoever do to with anyone other than Calvinists even possibly agreeing the Calvinism. Certainly not before, although certainly MUCH of Calvinism embraces historic Christianity - it's just those are not things that make it distinctively Calvinism.




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