It is not uncommon for Arminians to misrepresent Calvinism, not only with respect to doctrine but also by confusing Calvinism with hypercalvinism.

American Arminians tend to confuse Calvinism with their misunderstanding of free will and divine election, from which they think that Calvinists do not preach the free offer of the Gospel.

These topics were central to the debate in the 1618-1619 Synod of Dort, at which the major differences between the Arminians and the Calvinists were summarized in the acrostic TULIP, the national flower of Holland where the debate took place.

However, there are some Calvinists who preach hypercalvinism and give Calvinism a bad name.

What is hypercalvinism?

The Wikipedia entry is confusing and misleading. Hypercalvinism is that unbiblical doctrine that restricts the free offer of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to “the elect” whom God has chosen to save or to those who are under conviction of sin.

This is not biblical.  The free offer of salvation through Jesus Christ is to be given to all who hear the Gospel.  It is to be offered, not simply declared, nor simply spoken about.  Preachers are to invite all of their hearers to come to the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation.  Hypercalvinists have difficulty with this because they do not know how to integrate this with their theology of election.  On the other hand I have heard many evangelical preachers who believe in the free offer but do not know how to preach it.  Some preach like Amyraldians and others preach like hypercalvinists.

The offer of salvation in Christ is not to be restricted to particular classes of people.  Hypercalvinistic preachers try to restrict the offer of salvation to the elect of God or sinners convinced of their sins.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

The famous 19th-century London preacher Charles Haddon Surgeon (1834-1892) was a Calvinist who preached the Free Offer of the Gospel.  He would point out the futility of restricting the Gospel by asking if anyone could indicate who were the elect in his massive congregation of thousands of people.

One way that hypercalvinist preachers vainly attempt this, and create consternation in the process, is to offer salvation to those who are convinced of their sins, in the mistaken assumption that such convinced sinners are on their way to salvation and are therefore possibly among the elect.

The mistaken theology behind this thinking arises from mistaken Bible exegesis.

Charles Spurgeon and John Gill

Spurgeon had a particular interest in correcting this error.  One of the predecessors in his famous London pulpit had been the celebrated Hebraist scholar and baptist preacher John Gill (1697-1771), whose Bible commentary is still used with profit to the present day.

However, Gill was a hypercalvinist.  Not many Baptists know this, nor Presbyterians, who readily quote Spurgeon while not realising that Spurgeon is correcting John Gill.

One can see Gill’s restricting the offer of the Gospel in his Bible commentary at Isaiah 55:1 and Mat 11:28.

These verses invite all sinners who hear them, describing them by their lamentable condition, but John Gill and hypercalvinists misinterpret these verses as restricting the invitation to those in their lamentable condition. 

John Gill interprets Isa 55:1 as an invitation to those who are spiritually thirsty in the sense of being under conviction of sin. He writes in his Bible commentary that this has “the nature of a Gospel call or invitation, to persons described as “thirsty”; not in natural, much less in a sinful sense, but in a spiritual one; thirsting after forgiveness of sin by the blood of Christ; after justification by his righteousness; after salvation by him;” etc. This is not biblical exegesis but dogmatic assertion without proof and it is plainly wrong. The next verse Isa 55:2 shows that this is not correct because it addresses those who are not seeking their satisfaction in God but in whatever the world has to offer them, an offer which does not satisfy. Gill says the invitation in Isa 55:1 is “to sensible sinners”, which is his way of describing sinners under conviction of sin, as the remainder of his commentary on this verse demonsrates.

Rather Isa 55:3 says specifically that these very people, who are seeking satisfaction elsewhere, are invited to come to God, with the promise that they will find everlasting life.  Hypercalvinists do not know how to put this together so they misinterpret the Word of God at this point.

Another example is:

“Come unto Me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Jesus Christ: Matthew 11:28.

John Gill interprets Mat 11:28 as those labouring under conviction of sin.  The text does not say so, but simply mentions anyone who is labouring. Gill’s misinterpretation is an example of eisegesis, reading into and putting into the text one’s own opinions rather than taking out of the text (exegesis) its true meaning. He writes: “The persons invited, are not “all” the individuals of mankind, but with a restriction”, which he goes on to interpret as “such who groan, being burdened with the guilt of sin upon their consciences, and are pressed down with the unsupportable yoke of the law”, etc. “These are encouraged to come … not these who are labouring in the service of sin and Satan.” Gill restricts Christ’s call to “sensible sinners” under conviction of sin. This is hypercalvinism and Charles Spurgeon did not follow this restriction upon the Gospel call. Jesus invited all who heard His words to come to Him for rest, without restriction.

Jesus says: “I will certainly not reject anyone who comes to Me.”

John 6:37

People often complain that “it is not what you say, but the way you say it”. The impression created is often what people remember of a message rather than its details, and hypercalvinism often leaves its hearers with the impression that they must be in a particular condition before they can come and be accepted by Christ.  Rather, Jesus “receives sinners” Lk 15:2.  The angel told Joseph to “call His name Jesus, because He shall save His people from their sins’ Mat 1:21.

Putting it all together

So how do we put the biblical data together?  We are not to simply preach theology or doctrine but we are to preach about the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour.  His ability to save sinners is within Himself, not in some formula of words.  He is able to save all those who come to Him for salvation, whoever they are.  This is because He has obtained the authority to forgive sin by His own atoning death Heb 2:10 and to give the gift of eternal life through His own righteousness Jn 14:19 and Personality as the Son of God Jn 17:11,21-23.

Christ can save the chiefest sinner. The apostle Paul had been a persecutor of Christians but he was converted and found mercy:

“This is a trustworthy saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.”

The apostle Paul: 1 Timothy 1:15

“Wherefore Jesus is able also to save them to the uttermost who come to God by Him because He lives forever to make intercession for them.”

The apostle Paul: Hebrews 7:25

It is interesting to compare the phrase “to the uttermost” in this text with the same phrase in 1Th 2:16:

“Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins always, and the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.”

The apostle Paul: 1 Thessalonians 2:16

There are some churches who think that they have the right and even authority to forbid preachers from preaching the Gospel.  This is even worse than hypercalvinism.

Hypercalvinism restricts the free offer of the Gospel, but this ungodly activity in 1Th 2:16 stops preaching the Gospel altogether, and the divine sentence on such activity is very severe.

Let us prayerfully study the Bible and learn our theology from the Lord Jesus Christ.