Amyraldism

Last updated September 21, 2024

Amyraldism (sometimes Amyraldianism) is a Calvinist doctrine. It is also known as the School of Saumur, post redemptionism,^[1]^[2]moderate Calvinism,^[3] or hypothetical universalism.^[4] It is one of several hypothetical universalist systems.^[5]

Amyraldism is the belief that God decreed Christ's atonement, prior to his decree of election, for all alike if they believe, but he then elected those whom he will bring to faith in Christ, seeing that none would believe on their own, and thereby preserving the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election. The efficacy of the atonement remains limited to those who believe.

This doctrine is named after its formulator, Moses Amyraut, and is viewed as a variety of Calvinism in that it maintains the particularity of sovereign grace in the application of the atonement. However, detractors such as B. B. Warfield have termed it "an inconsistent and therefore unstable form of Calvinism".^[6] Amyraut additionally proposed an alternative view to covenant theology in which the Mosaic covenant was seen as neither a covenant of grace nor one of works, but rather as a third substance, being a subservient covenant.^[7]

History

Background

Hypothetical universalist teachings may be found in the writings of early Reformed theologians including Heinrich Bullinger, Wolfgang Musculus, Zacharias Ursinus, and Girolamo Zanchi. Several theologians who signed the Canons of Dort were hypothetical universalists.^[8]

Moses Amyraut, originally a lawyer, but converted to the study of theology by the reading of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion , an able divine and voluminous writer, developed the doctrine of hypothetical or conditional universalism, for which his teacher, John Cameron (1580–1625), a Scot, and for two years headmaster of Saumur Academy, had prepared the way. His object was not to set aside but to moderate Calvinism by ingrafting this doctrine upon the particularism of election, and thereby to fortify it against the objections of Roman Catholics, by whom the French Protestants, or Huguenots, were surrounded and threatened. Being employed by the Reformed Synod in important diplomatic negotiations with the government, he came in frequent contact with bishops, and with Cardinal Richelieu, who esteemed him highly. His system is an approach, not so much to Arminianism, which he decidedly rejected, as to Lutheranism, which likewise teaches a universal atonement and a limited election.

Amyraut maintained the Calvinistic premises of an eternal foreordination and foreknowledge of God, whereby he caused all things to pass, the good efficiently, the bad permissively. He also admitted the double decree of election and reprobation, but his view on double predestination is modified slightly by his view of double election. He also taught that God foreordained a universal salvation through the universal sacrifice of Christ offered to all alike, on condition of faith, so that on the part of God's will and desire, the grace is universal, but as regards the condition it is particular, or only for those who do not reject it which would thereby make it ineffective.

The universal redemption scheme precedes the particular election scheme, and not vice versa. He reasons from the benevolence of God towards his creatures; the traditional Reformed presentation of predestination, he thought, improperly reasons from the result and makes facts interpret the decrees. Amyraut distinguished between objective grace which is offered to all, and subjective grace in the heart which is given only to the elect. He also makes a distinction between natural ability and moral ability, or the power to believe and the willingness to believe; man possesses the former but not the latter in consequence of inherent depravity. It, therefore, takes an act of God to illuminate the mind, thereby engaging the will towards action. He was disposed, like Huldrych Zwingli, to extend the grace of God beyond the limits of the visible Church, inasmuch as God by his general providence operates upon the heathen, as in the case of Malachi 1:11,14, and may produce in them a sort of unconscious Christianity, a faith without knowledge; while within the Church he operates more fully and clearly through the means of grace.

Those who never heard of Christ are condemned if they reject the general grace of providence, but the same persons would also reject Christ if he were offered to them. As regards the result, Amyraut agreed with the particularists. His ideology is unavailable, except for those in whom God previously works the condition of faith: for those who are included in the particular decree of election.

Amyraut's doctrine created a commotion in the Reformed Churches of France, the Dutch Republic, and Switzerland. Jean Daillé (1594–1670), David Blondel (1591–1655), and others considered it innocent and consistent with the decrees of the Synod of Dort, where German Reformed and Anglican delegates professed similar views against the supralapsarianism of Gomarus. But Pierre Du Moulin (Molinæus) (since 1621 professor of the rival theological school of Sedan), Friedrich Spanheim (1600–1649, Professor in Leiden), André Rivet (1572–1651, Professor in Leiden), and the theologians of Geneva opposed it.

Similar charges were leveled against the Puritan great, Richard Baxter, who dealt frequently with Cyrus and Peter du Moulin. In Geneva, the chief opponent of Amyraut's scheme was Francis Turretin (1623–1687).^[9] Amyraut's teaching was not, however, considered to be heretical or outside the Reformed confessions by its opponents.^[10]

The friends of Amyraut emphasised the love, benevolence, and impartial justice of God as well as the numerous passages in Scripture which teach that God loves 'the whole world', that he will have 'all men to be saved', that Christ died 'not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world', that 'he shut up all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all'. On the other hand, it was objected that God does not really will and intend what is never accomplished; that he could not purpose an end without providing adequate means; God did not actually offer salvation to all; and that a hypothetical universalism based on an unlikely condition is an unfruitful abstraction.

The national Synods at Alençon, 1637; at Charenton, 1645; and at Loudun, 1659 (the last synod permitted by the French government), decided against the excommunication of Amyraut but delimited his views in order to avoid further variance with historic Reformed orthodoxy. He gave the assurance that he did not change the doctrine but only the method of instruction. His opponents allowed that the idea of a universal grace by which no one was actually saved unless included in the particular, effective decree of election, was permissible. In this way hypothetical universalism was sanctioned as a permissible view, along with the particularism that had characterized historic Reformed orthodoxy, and a schism in the French Church was avoided. The literary controversy continued for several years longer and developed a large amount of learning and ability, until it was brought to an abrupt close by the political oppressions of the Reformed Church in France.^[11]

17th century England and Scotland

John Davenant (1576–1641), like Amyraut a student of John Cameron, was an English delegate at the Synod of Dort and influenced some of the members of the Westminster Assembly. He promoted "hypothetical universalism, a general atonement in the sense of intention as well as sufficiency, a common blessing of the cross, and a conditional salvation. The "root principle of the Davenant School" was the "notion of a universal desire in God for the salvation of all men."^[12] In the floor debate on redemption at the Westminster Assembly, Edmund Calamy the Elder of the Davenant School attempted to insert Amyraldism into the Catechism.^[13]

Richard Baxter held to a form of Amyraldism, although he was less Calvinistic than Amyraut. He "devised an eclectic middle route between Reformed, Arminian, and Roman doctrines of grace: interpreting the kingdom of God in terms of contemporary political ideas, he explained Christ's death as an act of universal redemption (penal and vicarious, but not substitutionary), in virtue of which God has made a new law offering pardon and amnesty to the penitent. Repentance and faith, being obedience to this law, are the believer's personal saving righteousness… the fruit of the seeds which Baxter sowed was neonomian Moderatism in Scotland and moralistic Unitarianism in England."^[14]

Popularised in England by the Reformed pastor Richard Baxter, Amyraldism also gained strong adherence among the Congregationalists and some Presbyterians in the American colonies, during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Recent

In the United States, Amyraldism can be found among various evangelical groups, such as Southern Baptists, the Evangelical Free Church of America, the dispensationalists in independent Bible Churches and independent Baptist churches. In Australia, many in the Anglican Diocese of Sydney hold to a modified "four point" Calvinism, while in England, one author, Dr. Alan Clifford, pastor of the Norwich Reformed Church, tirelessly promotes Amyraldism in self-published pamphlets such as Amyraut Affirmed.^[15] Yet "Five point" Calvinism remains prevalent especially in more conservative groups among the Reformed and Presbyterian churches, Reformed Baptists, among evangelical Anglicans in England and in some non-denominational evangelical churches.

Contrasting views

Amyraldism has been strongly criticized in recent years by contemporary Calvinist theologians who argue that one cannot accept that Christ died for all people in the world if not all are saved. That belief either requires a second payment for sin at the judgment, the adoption of a form of universal reconciliation, or abandonment of the penal substitution theory of the atonement.

Reformed theologian, pastor, and author R. C. Sproul suggests there is confusion about what the doctrine of limited atonement actually teaches. While he considered it possible for a person to believe four points without believing the fifth, he claimed that a person who really understands the other four points must believe in limited atonement because of what Martin Luther called a resistless logic.^[16]

Related Research Articles

Arminianism is a movement of Protestantism initiated in the early 17th century, based on the theological ideas of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius and his historic supporters known as Remonstrants. Dutch Arminianism was originally articulated in the Remonstrance (1610), a theological statement submitted to the States General of the Netherlands. This expressed an attempt to moderate the doctrines of Calvinism related to its interpretation of predestination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reformed Christianity</span> Protestant denominational family

Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation, a schism in the Western Church. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental, Presbyterian, and Congregational traditions, as well as parts of the Anglican and Baptist traditions.

Moïse Amyraut, in English texts often Moses Amyraut, was a French Huguenot, Reformed theologian and metaphysician. He was the architect of Amyraldism, a Calvinist doctrine that made modifications to Calvinist theology regarding the nature of Christ's atonement and covenant theology.

Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby God's omniscience seems incompatible with human free will. In this usage, predestination can be regarded as a form of religious determinism; and usually predeterminism, also known as theological determinism.

Total depravity is a Protestant theological doctrine derived from the concept of original sin. It teaches that, as a consequence of the Fall, every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin as a result of their fallen nature and, apart from the efficacious (irresistible) or prevenient (enabling) grace of God, is completely unable to choose by themselves to follow God, refrain from evil, or accept the gift of salvation as it is offered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Predestination in Calvinism</span> Theological doctrine

Predestination is a doctrine in Calvinism dealing with the question of the control that God exercises over the world. In the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith, God "freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever comes to pass." The second use of the word "predestination" applies this to salvation, and refers to the belief that God appointed the eternal destiny of some to salvation by grace, while leaving the remainder to receive eternal damnation for all their sins, even their original sin. The former is called "unconditional election", and the latter "reprobation". In Calvinism, some people are predestined and effectually called in due time to faith by God, all others are reprobated.

In Christianity, salvation is the saving of human beings from sin and its consequences—which include death and separation from God—by Christ's death and resurrection, and the justification entailed by this salvation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">B. B. Warfield</span> American theologian (1851–1921)

Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield was an American professor of Reformed theology at Princeton Seminary from 1887 to 1921. He served as the last principal of the Princeton Theological Seminary from 1886 to 1902. After the death of Warfield in office, Francis Landey Patton took over the functions of the office as the first president of seminary. Some conservative Presbyterians consider him to be the last of the great Princeton theologians before the split in 1929 that formed Westminster Theological Seminary and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

Limited atonement is a doctrine accepted in some Christian theological traditions. It is particularly associated with the Reformed tradition and is one of the five points of Calvinism. The doctrine states that though the death of Jesus Christ is sufficient to atone for the sins of the whole world, it was the intention of God the Father that the atonement of Christ's death would work itself out in only the elect, thereby leading them without fail to salvation. According to Limited Atonement, Christ died for the sins of the elect alone, and no atonement was provided for the reprobate. This is in contrast to a belief that God's prevenient grace enables all to respond to the salvation offered by God in Jesus Christ ^{Acts 2:21} so that it is each person's decision and response to God's grace that determines whether Christ's atonement will be effective to that individual. A modified form of the doctrine also exists in Molinism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irresistible grace</span> Calvinist theological doctrine

Irresistible grace is a doctrine in Christian theology particularly associated with Calvinism, which teaches that the saving grace of God is effectually applied to those whom he has determined to save and, in God's timing, overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing them to faith in Christ. It is to be distinguished from prevenient grace, particularly associated with Arminianism, which teaches that the offer of salvation through grace does not act irresistibly in a purely cause-effect, deterministic method, but rather in an influence-and-response fashion that can be both freely accepted and freely denied.

Hyper-Calvinism is a branch of Protestant theology that places strong emphasis on supralapsarianism, or salvation from eternity, where the atonement of Christ was and is difficult for the non-elect to understand, where man has little to do with his salvation, there being nothing man can do to resist being saved, wherein evangelism was given lower emphasis as compared to traditional Calvinism, and where assurance of salvation was felt within a person, identified by introspection.

The Five Points of Calvinism, occasionally known by the mnemonic TULIP, constitute a summary of Reformed soteriology. Named after John Calvin, they largely reflect the teaching of the Canons of Dort. The Five Points of Calvinism assert that God saves every person upon whom he has mercy, and that his efforts are not frustrated by the unrighteousness or inability of humans. They have been summarized under the acrostic TULIP: total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints.

Unlimited atonement is a doctrine in Protestant Christianity that states Jesus died as a propitiation for the benefit of all humans without exception. It is normally associated with Amyraldism, as well as Arminianism and other non-Calvinist tradition. It is a doctrine distinct from other elements of the Calvinist acronym TULIP and is contrary to the Calvinist doctrine of limited atonement.

The Helvetic Consensus is a Swiss Reformed profession of faith drawn up in 1675 to guard against doctrines taught at the French Academy of Saumur, especially Amyraldism.

The Five Articles of Remonstrance or the Remonstrance were theological propositions advanced in 1610 by followers of Jacobus Arminius who had died in 1609, in disagreement with interpretations of the teaching of John Calvin then current in the Dutch Reformed Church. Those who supported them were called "Remonstrants".

The history of the Calvinist–Arminian debate begins in the early 17th century in the Netherlands with a Christian theological dispute between the followers of John Calvin and Jacobus Arminius, and continues today among some Protestants, particularly evangelicals. The debate centers around soteriology, or the study of salvation, and includes disputes about total depravity, predestination, and atonement. While the debate was given its Calvinist–Arminian form in the 17th century, issues central to the debate have been discussed in Christianity in some form since Augustine of Hippo's disputes with the Pelagians in the 5th century.

John Davenant was an English academic and bishop of Salisbury from 1621. He also served as one of the English delegates to the Synod of Dort.

Hypothetical universalism is the belief that Christ died in some sense for every person, but his death effected salvation only for those who were predestined for salvation. In the history of Reformed theology, there have been several examples of hypothetical universalist systems, all of which are considered errant by traditional Calvinism. Amyraldism is one of these, but hypothetical universalism as a whole is sometimes erroneously equated with it. Hypothetical universalism is believed to be outside the bounds of the Reformed tradition. For example, Canon VI states

Wherefore, we can not agree with the opinion of those who teach: l) that God, moved by philanthropy, or a kind of special love for the fallen of the human race, did, in a kind of conditioned willing, first moving of pity, as they call it, or inefficacious desire, determine the salvation of all, conditionally, i.e., if they would believe, 2) that he appointed Christ Mediator for all and each of the fallen; and 3) that, at length, certain ones whom he regarded, not simply as sinners in the first Adam, but as redeemed in the second Adam, he elected, that is, he determined graciously to bestow on these, in time, the saving gift of faith; and in this sole act election properly so-called is complete. For these and all other similar teachings are in no way insignificant deviations from the proper teaching concerning divine election; because the Scriptures do not extend unto all and each God’s purpose of showing mercy to man, but restrict it to the elect alone, the reprobate being excluded even by name, as Esau, whom God hated with an eternal hatred. The same Holy Scriptures testify that the counsel and will of God do not change, but stand immovable, and God in the heavens does whatsoever he will ; for God is infinitely removed from all that human imperfection which characterizes inefficacious affections and desires, rashness repentance and change of purpose. The appointment, also, of Christ, as Mediator, equally with the salvation of those who were given to him for a possession and an inheritance that can not be taken away, proceeds from one and the same election, and does not form the basis of election.

The Canons of Dort, or Canons of Dordrecht, formally titled The Decision of the Synod of Dort on the Five Main Points of Doctrine in Dispute in the Netherlands, is an exposition of orthodox Reformed soteriology against Arminianism, by the National Synod held in the Dutch city of Dordrecht in 1618–1619. At the time, Dordrecht was often referred to in English as in local dialects as Dort or Dordt. The Canons are of a similar nature to the Nicene Creed, in that they were written to settle a theological controversy, affirming and vindicating the orthodox position.

Reformed orthodoxy or Calvinist orthodoxy was an era in the history of Calvinism in the 16th to 18th centuries. Calvinist orthodoxy was paralleled by similar eras in Lutheranism and tridentine Roman Catholicism after the Counter-Reformation. Calvinist scholasticism or Reformed scholasticism was a theological method that gradually developed during the era of Calvinist Orthodoxy.

References

↑ Warfield, Benjamin B, Works, vol. V. Calvin and Calvinism, pp. 364–365.
↑ Warfield, Benjamin B, Works, vol. VI. The Westminster Assembly and Its Work, pp. 138–144.
↑ Horton, Michael, Pinson, J. Matthew (ed.), Four Views on Eternal Security, p. 113.
↑ Hodge, Charles, Systematic Theology, vol. II, Christian Classics Ethereal Library, pp. 321–324.
↑ Crisp, Oliver D. (2014). Deviant Calvinism: Broadening Reformed Theology . Augsburg Fortress. p. 185. ISBN 9781451487596 . Retrieved 6 December 2015– via Project MUSE.
↑ Warfield, Benjamin B (1915), The Plan of Salvation, Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, pp. 119–120
↑ "Report of the Committee to Study Republication: The Orthodox Presbyterian Church". Orthodox Presbyterian Church . Retrieved 9 November 2022.
↑ Muller, Richard A. (2008). "Review of English Hypothetical Universalism: John Preston and the Softening of Reformed Theology by Jonathan Moore". Calvin Theological Journal. 43: 149–150. quoted in Ponter, David W. (19 May 2008). "Richard Muller on Non-Amyraldian Precedents to Hypothetical Universalism". Calvin and Calvinism.
↑ Turretin, Francis, The Atonement of Christ, Translated by James R. Willson (1978), ISBN 0-8010-8842-9.
↑ Muller, Richard A. (2003), Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 1, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker, pp. 79–80, cited in Ponter, David W. (4 October 2007). "Richard Muller on Amyraut". Calvin and Calvinism.
↑ Schaff, Philip, ed. (1876), Creeds of Christendom, vol. 1, Harper & Brothers, pp. 483ff.
↑ Hanko, Herman (1989), The History of the Free Offer, Theological School of the Protestant Reformed Churches, pp. 82–84.
↑ Blunt, David (January–March 1996), "Debate of Redemption at the Westminster Assembly", British Reformed Journal: 5–10.
↑ Packer, J. I., "Introduction," in Baxter, Richard (1979) [1656], The Reformed Pastor, The Banner of Truth Trust, pp. 9–10, archived from the original on 30 June 2006.
↑ Clifford, Alan Charles (2004), Amyraut Affirmed, or Owenism, a Caricature of Calvinism: a Reply to Ian Hamilton's Amyraldianism – is it Modified Calvinism?, Charenton Reformed, ISBN 0-9526716-7-0 , critically reviewed in Helm, Paul (November 2004), "Amyraut Affirmed, or Owenism, a Caricature of Calvinism", Evangelicals Now, UK .
↑ Sproul, R. C. (2007), The Truth of the Cross, Reformation Trust, pp. 140–142, ISBN 978-1-56769-087-3 .