What could be more evangelical and complete than Christmas?Is this a time when everyone who celebrates Christmas agrees on the meaning of the holiday, and even many non-Christians claim to believe it?Christmas doesn’t seem like a good time to discuss the doctrines of grace. After all, we are made to believe that Christmas is gloriously complete and that Calvinism is, unfortunately, limited.
So why such strict doctrines insert in full and beautiful joy that we share at Christmas? Well, first, these doctrines are not at all strict or restricted, they are attractive and glorious, and understanding immediately leads to the kind of abundance. joy we associate with Christmas.
- But there is more.
- The reason we should associate Christmas with Calvinism is because Jesus himself does it.
- In John 6.
- Jesus gives a very clear reason for the incarnation.
- And the incarnation is what we celebrate when we celebrate Christmas properly.
- It says this: “Why did I come down from heaven.
- Not to do my will.
- But the will of the one who sent me? (John 6.
- 38).
- This complete statement of Jesus takes on a more precise form in the following verses: “And the will of the one who sent me is this: that I lose nothing of all that he has given me; on the contrary.
- I will resurrect him on the last day.
- In fact.
- My Father’s will is that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him have eternal life; and will I resurrect you on the last day? (6.
- 39-40).
- Later in this same discussion.
- Jesus speaks more about the will of the Father.
- Who came to earth to fulfill: “No one can come to me if the Father.
- Who sent me.
- Does not bring him; (6.
- 44).
- And again.
- It is the spirit that accelerates; Does meat benefit at all? (6.
- 63).
- Finally.
- Answering some of the disciples’ questions about unbelievers.
- Jesus said: That is why I said to them: Can no one come to me if the Father does not grant them? (6.
- 65).
As the reason for Jesus’ incarnation is to do the will of the Father, it is worth looking at these teachings systematically. First, we learn that no one can come unto Jesus unless the Father attracts or allows him to do so (John 6. 44, 44, 4. 65). This is because only the Holy Spirit invigorates and man in his natural state is unable to find life; in the flesh, human beings have nothing useful to attain salvation (John 6:63). We learn that the Son came to save those who were given to Him (John 6:39). We are told that those who have been attracted, liberated, and brought to come by life by the Father: no one can resist his transformative grace (John 6:37) and then, perhaps more specifically, we learn that Christ guarantees that all who come to him in faith, those who have been given to him by the Father and transformed by the Spirit, will certainly be resurrected on the last day (John 6. 40).
In other words, when Jesus reflects on his coming to earth, he explains in terms of the Will of Salvation of the Father, a will manifested in the context of the total depravity of man, the unconditional choice of God, the definitive work of Christ. in salvation, God’s irresistible grace to attract and deliver men to Christ, and the glorious promise that one day Christ will resurrect those who address him in authentic faith, that is what we talk about when we talk about Calvinism. as we have seen, this is also what Jesus teaches when he talks about Christmas.