Abstract
This is the first of two papers on the role that the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination played in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. The article begins with some preliminary remarks on the role that doctrines fulfil within religious traditions. The doctrine of sola gratia, according to which our salvation is due to God’s grace alone and is not something that we can in any way earn with our good works, is a defining principle in Reformed theology. Through the course of time this principle has been interpreted in various ways. Calvin’s doctrine of predestination is one such interpretation. Although this interpretation has been very influential, it was always controversial. What are the main objections that have been levelled against it? And could the doctrine of sola gratia be interpreted in ways that avoid these objections? In order to answer these questions it is important to note that Church doctrine is never an immutable system of thought. It is, rather, a heritage of faith which is handed down in a religious tradition. Each generation of believers is called upon to reinterpret this heritage in ways that are adequate and relevant to issues of the day.
There are especially two factors that call for such reinterpretation. First, the forms of thought in terms of which the heritage of faith is conceptualised, may change through the course of time. Thus a conceptualisation that seems obvious to believers in a specific period might become incomprehensible to believers in a later age. Secondly, the issues confronting believers could also change over time. Doctrines that express the heritage of faith adequately in a specific period could be quite inadequate or even irrelevant to issues of a later period. When interpreting the heritage of faith, believers tend, therefore, to select those aspects of the heritage that are relevant to the issues of the day and ignore other aspects that might be relevant in another age when they are faced with other issues. This selection is usually done by the use of “key metaphors” in the light of which the interpretation of the heritage is structured. Thus for a pietist like Andrew Murray, the key metaphor of his whole theology was the love of God in Christ, whereas for John Calvin it was the absolute sovereignty of God. These factors played a decisive role in the debate about the doctrine of sola gratia in the Reformed tradition.
In the second section of the paper I discuss Calvin’s version of the doctrine of predestination according to which “God in his eternal counsel had determined what he willed to be done with the whole human race. Thus it was determined that Adam should fall […] and by his defection should involve all his posterity in sentence of eternal death. Upon the same decree depends the distinction between the elect and the reprobate: as he adopted some for himself for salvation, he destined others for eternal ruin.” In this way Calvin safeguarded the absolute sovereignty of God that was the key metaphor of his theology.
This doctrine of double predestination raises some serious objections: (1) It involves a determinism in which human beings lack the freedom of choice to initiate their own actions. But then they cannot be held responsible for what they do, whether good or bad. (2) If God is the only free agent in the relationship with us, then God alone is responsible for the salvation of the elect and for the eternal ruin of the rest. (3) If God’s eternal decree is the sufficient condition for the salvation of the elect, it becomes unclear how the merit of Christ is also necessary for their salvation. (4) The doctrine of double predestination entails the doctrine of “limited atonement”: the gospel message of atonement is not addressed to all people, but only to the elect. It assures the elect about their status as elect, but it is not a call to all human beings to (freely) turn to God. This runs contrary to the practice of evangelism and mission in the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa. (5) The doctrine of double predestination entails a spirituality of resignation to the eternal, divine decree and a longing for certainty about one’s predestined status: Do I belong to the elect or to the reprobate? This is contrary to the traditional evangelical spirituality in the Dutch Reformed Church in which believers freely devote themselves to conversion and sanctification, to mission and evangelism.
The third section of the paper deals with the debate in the Netherlands in the 1880s between Abraham Kuyper and J.J. Gunning. Kuyper was the father of neo-Calvinism. As with Calvin, the key metaphor of his theology was the absolute sovereignty of God. He therefore subscribed to the doctrine of double predestination. In addition to this he developed the distinction between special and general grace. Special grace is the grace of salvation that God bestows on the elect. General grace is not saving but preserving. It preserves both the elect and the reprobate from the worst effects of sin and enables them to cooperate in improving the world. The elect are joined together in the church and are called upon to honour God by applying the principles of the neo-Calvinist ideology based on the Reformed confessions to all spheres of life. This ideology is the Reformed alternative to rival ideologies such a socialism, liberalism, Roman Catholicism, Modernism, Methodism, and so forth.
Gunning was a leading proponent of “ethical theology” in the Netherlands. The key metaphor of this theology was the love of God in Christ and its spirituality was evangelical. Believers did the will of God because they were constrained by the love of Christ, and not because they subscribed to the neo-Calvinist ideology. To Gunning’s disgust, Kuyper suggested that his refusal to submit to the neo-Calvinist ideology was an indication that he did not belong to the elect.
The final section of the paper deals with the debate between neo-Calvinists and evangelicals in the Dutch Reformed Church. Under the influence of Andrew Murray, Nicolaas Hofmeyr and the Theological Seminary in Stellenbosch, the pervading spirituality and theology in the Dutch Reformed Church were evangelical. However, all Dutch Reformed theologians considered themselves to be orthodox followers of Reformed doctrine without bothering about the logical tension between their evangelical spirituality and the Reformed doctrine of predestination. They were attacked on this point from two sides. First, the Modernist the Rev. J.J. Kotze from Darling argued that Andrew Murray’s theology entailed the rejection of the Reformed doctrine of predestination. In an ensuing debate Murray failed to provide an answer to any of the points raised by Kotze. Secondly, the neo-Calvinist the Rev. S.J. du Toit from the Paarl and his followers rejected evangelical spirituality as being Methodist rather than Reformed. They were especially annoyed by the fact that the Rev. (later Professor) John du Plessis rejected the doctrine of limited atonement. Du Plessis admitted that his objection to this doctrine was based on Scripture rather than on Reformed doctrine. In 1932 the neo-Calvinists and the fundamentalists in the Dutch Reformed Church managed to have Du Plessis removed from his chair at the Theological Seminary in Stellenbosch on account of his liberal views on Scripture.
It is significant that the issue of limited atonement played no role in the controversy between Du Plessis and his opponents. I think that evangelical spirituality and practice were so pervasive in the Dutch Reformed Church that there was not the slightest chance that the synod would have rejected Du Plessis on this count. Nevertheless, there remained a tension between the pervasive evangelical piety of the Church and the neo-Calvinism that was on the rise in South-Africa in the 1930s and 1940s. This tension erupted in a debate in Die Kerkbode in 1935. In the next paper I hope to discuss this debate and to show how it played a role in the rise of Afrikaner nationalism and also in the rise of apartheid.
Key words: Abraham Kuyper, Andrew Murray, Calvin, Evangelical Spirituality, J.I. Marais, J.J. Gunning, key metaphors in theology, limited atonement, neo-Calvinism, Nicolaas Hofmeyr, predestination, S.J. du Toit
Lees die volledige artikel in Afrikaans: Uitverkiesing en evangeliese spiritualiteit
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