What Does it Mean to be a 5 Point Calvinist?

I follow most of your podcasts and have listened to almost all of your “Michael Easley Sermons”. Somewhere along the way I heard you say you were more of a “5 Point Spurgeon than a Calvinist”. Can you please possibly explain further on this statement?What does it mean to be a 5 point Calvinist? I believe I am a “5 pointer” but I am unsure exactly if Spurgeon believed along those lines as well or if he had a slightly different view.

Excerpt From The Answer

It is important to dissect one of 5 points of TULIP in particular, limited atonement. That’s the one to have the most pause with. The argument of this viewpoint is that the extent of the atonement was only for the elect. So this assumes a lot. We have to understand the doctrine of predestination and election, which most people that call themselves reformed are bread and buttered in. Election means you were chosen before the foundation of the world based on nothing you do, nothing you did, nothing you would do, that God chose you kindly. That’s the doctrine of election. 

Now, limited atonement says Christ’s blood only was sufficient for the elect. In other words, a limited efficacy of the atonement. Unlimited atonement says, no, Christ’s death is sufficient for all, but only the elect will respond to the Gospel. So for example, out of Calvin’s own commentary regarding John 1-29, when John the Baptist sees Christ and he says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, not the elect. Calvin wrote, “He uses the word sin in the singular number for any kind of iniquity, as if He’d said that every kind of unrighteousness which alienates men from God is taken away by Christ. And when He says the sin of the world, He extends His favor indiscriminately to the whole world.”

Links Mentioned:

Michael Easley Sermons Podcast 

The Extent of the Atonement: Limited Atonement Versus Unlimited Atonement (Part One)

The Extent of the Atonement: Limited Atonement Versus Unlimited Atonement (Part Two)

Pocket Dictionary of The Reformed Tradition by Kelly M. Kapic and Wesley Vander Lugt

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