So that really it is most misleading to call this soteriology "Calvinism" at all, for it is not a peculiarity of John Calvin and the divines of Dort, but a part of the revealed truth of God and the catholic Christian faith. "Calvinism" is one of the "odious names" by which down the centuries prejudice has been raised against it. But the thing itself is just the biblical gospel.
J.I. Packer
The Quest for Godliness
For when one says, I am of Paul," and another, "I am of Apollos," are you not carnal?
1 Corinthians 3:4
"And he said, `Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given him of my Father.'" Here our Lord uttered a bit of old-fashioned free-grace doctrine, such as people nowadays do not like. They call it "Calvinism," and put it aside among the old exploded tenets which this enlightened age knows nothing of. What right they have to ascribe to the Genevan reformer a doctrine as old as the hills I do not know. But our Lord Jesus never hesitated to fling that truth into the face of His enemies. He told them, "Ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you." "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." Here He tells them plainly that they could not come unto Him unless the Father gave them the grace to come. This humbling doctrine they could not receive, and so they went aside.
Charles Spurgeon
Sermons
They say, moreover, that the keeping up such a distinction of names, has a direct tendency to uphold distance and disaffection, and keep alive mutual hatred among Christians, who ought all to be united in friendship and charity, though they cannot, in all things, think alike. I confess, these things are very plausible; and I will not deny, that there are some unhappy consequences of this distinction of names...However the term Calvinistic is, in these days, among most, a term of greater reproach than the term Arminian; yet I should not take it all amiss, to be called a Calvinist, for distinction's sake: though I utterly disclaim a dependence on Calvin, or believing the doctrines I hold, because he believed and taught them; and cannot be justly charged with believing in every thing just as he taught.
Jonathan Edwards
The Freedom of the Will
The situation is not what it seems to be. For it is not true that some Christians believe in divine sovereignty while others hold an opposite view. What is true is that all Christians believe in divine sovereignty, but some are not aware that they do, and mistakenly imagine and insist that they reject it. . . How then do you pray? Do you ask God for your daily bread? Do you thank God for your conversion? Do you pray for the conversion of others? If the answer is `no', I can only say that I do not think you are yet born again. But if the answer is `yes' well, that proves that, whatever side you may have taken in debates on this question in the past, in your heart you believe in the sovereignty of God no less firmly than anyone else. On our feet we may have arguments about it, but on our knees we are all agreed.
J.I. Packer
Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God
We believe that nothing less than the full truth of the great doctrines of grace, is the Gospel of Holy Scripture. It hardly matters whether this theology is termed Calvinistic, Augustinian or Reformed, since any system of divinity stands
or falls according as it is, or is not, thoroughly Scripture-based, and in harmony with the entire content of God's Holy Word.
Cheeseman/Gardner/Sadgrove/Wright
The Grace of God in the Gospel
Calvinism is the gospel.
Charles Spurgeon
Spurgeon At His Best
It seems, we are, originally, indebted to the Church of Rome for this appellation. "Calvinists: A name given by Papists to the reformed of France, Swisserland, Germany, and the Low Countries" (Great Hist. Dict.).
Augustus Toplady
The Complete Works of Augustus Toplady
...let God be true but every man a liar.
Romans 3:4
We call this system of doctrine "Calvinism," and accept the term "Calvinist" as our badge of honor; yet names are mere conveniences. "We might," says Warburton, "quite as appropriately, and with equally as much reason, call gravitation "Newtonism". . .
Loraine Boettner
The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination
Whoever believes in God; whoever recognizes in the recesses of his soul his utter dependence on God; whoever in all his thought of salvation hears in his heart of hearts the echo of the soli Deo gloria of the evangelical profession by whatever name he may call himself, or by whatever intellectual puzzles his logical understanding may be confused Calvinism recognizes as implicitly a Calvinist...
B.B. Warfield
Calvinism
The fact is clear, that God had certain important purposes to accomplish, and that he brought such influences to bear upon their minds, that they aided in the fulfillment of his purposes. How these influences were exerted, no one can comprehend; and, therefore, no one can have the least evidence that they impaired the free agency of the men upon whom they were exerted. And if any one persist in asserting the incompatibility of such influences with human accountability, his controversy is with the Bible, not with Calvinism.
N.L. Rice
God Sovereign and Man Free
I therefore ask no other favor from the studious for my new work than that which they have already bestowed on me beyond my merits. I feel so much obliged, that I shall be satisfied if I am thought not to have made a bad return for the gratitude I owe...Farewell, dear reader, and if you derive any fruit from my labours, give me the benefit of your prayers to the Lord.
John Calvin
Preface to the second edition of Institutes
