We Need More than a Solid Defense

Baksetball commentators have said that the number one thing for a team to work hard on is defense. Good defense wins games, they say. I am sure that this statement is true, but at the same time I am certain no coach would admit that he never works on offense. Why? Because defense may be important, indeed crucial, to victories, but if you can't score points after you steal the ball what you end up with is only a tie.

Just as it is with sports so it is with theology, we must have both good defense and good offense. In recent days I've begun to wonder if the Reformed constitiuency has not forgotten to work on their offense. The "Five Points of Calvinism" are the most common features of Reformed theology cited by both proponents and opponents of this system. Yet these five poitns were developed as a defensive response to the five points of Arminianism. The "five points," then, are the defensive efforts of Reformed Theologians, but there is more to this system than simply this. What about the offensive efforts? They seemed to have been misplaced, forgotten, or simply ignored, and this to the detriment of the system's appeal.

Why bring this up? I bring this up today for several reasons: (1) I have just recently begun to realize this truth for myself. When I say that the Reformed constituency has spent too much time working on their defensive plays I include myself in it. (2) Because there are a number of charaterizations of Reformed theology that are currently floating around. Baptists especially are right now watching Calvinists from out of the corner of their eye, to keep an eye on us, and these misrepresentations of our theological system may, and will, effect the growth of Reformed theology among Baptists. So how can we counter it? By teaching what Calvinism is beyond the five points. Moving beyond the five points to a full-life-orbed explication of the system. Calvinism is more than simply five points it is worldview, so let us move on to show it in its full beauty and all its Biblical truth and application.

Good defense is needed, but not at the expense of good offense!