PANDANGAN SPURGEON YANG SEBENARNYA: IA ADALAH ORANG YANG MENERIMA SEMUA 5 POINTS DARI CALVINISME

BACA JUGA: TULIP: LIMA POKOK CALVINISME

C. H. Spurgeon: “if I believed what some preach about the temporary, trumpery salvation which only lasts for a time, I would scarcely be at all grateful for it; but when I know that those whom God saves He saves with an everlasting salvation, when I know that He gives to them an everlasting righteousness, when I know that He settles them on an everlasting foundation of everlasting love, and that He will bring them to His everlasting kingdom, oh, then I do wonder, and I am astonished that such a blessing as this should ever have been given to me!” (= .................... Saya tahu bahwa mereka yang Allah selamatkan, Ia selamatkan dengan suatu keselamatan kekal ...........................................) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 179 (AGES).

Tentang ‘Unconditional Election’ (= Pemilihan yang tidak bersyarat).

C. H. Spurgeon: “I suppose there are some persons whose minds naturally incline towards the doctrine of free-will. I can only say that mine inclines as naturally towards the doctrines of sovereign grace. Sometimes, when I see some of the worst characters in the street, I feel as if my heart must burst forth in tears of gratitude that God has never let me act as they have done! I have thought, if God had left me alone, and had not touched me by His grace, what a great sinner I should have been! I should have run to the utmost lengths of sin, dived into the very depths of evil, nor should I have stopped at any vice or folly, if God had not restrained me. I feel that I should have been a very king of sinners, if God had let me alone. I cannot understand the reason why I am saved, except upon the ground that God would have it so. I cannot, if I look ever so earnestly, discover any kind of reason in myself why I should be a partaker of Divine grace” (= Saya menganggap ada sebagian / beberapa orang yang pikirannya condong secara alamiah pada doktrin tentang free will. Saya hanya bisa berkata bahwa pikiran saya condong secara alamiah pada doktrin tentang kasih karunia yang berdaulat. Kadang-kadang, pada waktu saya melihat beberapa orang dengan karakter yang terburuk di jalan, saya merasa seakan-akan jantung / hati saya harus meledak dalam air mata syukur bahwa Allah tidak pernah membiarkan saya bertindak seperti yang mereka telah lakukan! Saya telah berpikir, seandainya Allah membiarkan saya sendirian, dan tidak menyentuh saya dengan kasih karuniaNya, saya akan menjadi orang sangat berdosa yang bagaimana! ... Saya merasa bahwa saya akan menjadi raja orang berdosa, seandainya Allah membiarkan saya sendirian. Saya tidak bisa mengerti alasan mengapa saya diselamatkan, kecuali atas dasar bahwa Allah menghendakinya demikian. Saya tidak bisa, jika saya melihat dengan begitu sungguh-sungguh, menemukan jenis alasan apapun dalam diri saya sendiri yang menyebabkan saya menjadi pengambil bagian dari kasih karunia Ilahi) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 180 (AGES).

Tentang ‘Unconditional Election’ (= Pemilihan yang tidak bersyarat).

C. H. Spurgeon: “I did not commence my spiritual life - no, I rather kicked, and struggled against the things of the Spirit: when He drew me, for a time I did not run after Him: there was a natural hatred in my soul of everything holy and good. Wooings were lost upon me - warnings were cast to the wind - thunders were despised; and as for the whispers of His love, they were rejected as being less than nothing and vanity. But, sure I am, I can say now, speaking on behalf of myself, ‘He only is my salvation.’ It was He who turned my heart, and brought me down on my knees before Him” (= Saya tidak memulai kehidupan rohani saya ....................................................................... Adalah Dia yang membalikkan hati saya, dan membawa saya untuk berlutut di hadapanNya) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 180 (AGES).

Tentang ‘Unconditional Election’ (= Pemilihan yang tidak bersyarat).

C. H. Spurgeon: “Well can I remember the manner in which I learned the doctrines of grace in a single instant. Born, as all of us are by nature, an Arminian, I still believed the old things I had heard continually from the pulpit, and did not see the grace of God. When I was coming to Christ, I thought I was doing it all myself, and though I sought the Lord earnestly, I had no idea the Lord was seeking me. I do not think the young convert is at first aware of this. I can recall the very day and hour when first I received those truths in my own soul - when they were, as John Bunyan says, burnt into my heart as with a hot iron, and I can recollect how I felt that I had grown on a sudden from a babe into a man - that I had made progress in Scriptural knowledge, through having found, once for all, the clue to the truth of God. One weeknight, when I was sitting in the house of God, I was not thinking much about the preacher’s sermon, for I did not believe it. The thought struck me, How did you come to be a Christian? I sought the Lord. But how did you come to seek the Lord? The truth flashed across my mind in a moment - I should not have sought Him unless there had been some previous influence in my mind to make me seek Him. I prayed, thought I, but then I asked myself, How came I to pray? I was induced to pray by reading the Scriptures. How came I to read the Scriptures? I did read them, but what led me to do so? Then, in a moment, I saw that God was at the bottom of it all, and that He was the Author of my faith, and so the whole doctrine of grace opened up to me, and from that doctrine I have not departed to this day, and I desire to make this my constant confession, ‘I ascribe my change wholly to God.’” [= Saya bisa mengingat dengan baik cara dalam mana saya belajar doktrin tentang kasih karunia dalam satu saat. Dilahirkan, seperti semua orang secara alamiah, sebagai seorang Arminian, saya tetap percaya hal-hal lama yang telah saya dengar terus menerus dari mimbar, dan tidak melihat kasih karunia Allah. Pada waktu saya datang kepada Kristus, saya pikir saya melakukan itu sendiri seluruhnya, dan sekalipun saya mencari Tuhan dengan sungguh-sungguh, saya saya sekali tak mempunyai gagasan / pemikiran bahwa Tuhan sedang mencari saya. Saya tidak berpikir bahwa petobat-petobat muda / baru mula-mula menyadari tentang hal ini. ... Suatu minggu malam, pada waktu saya sedang duduk di rumah Allah, saya tidak banyak memikirkan tentang khotbah si pengkhotbah, karena saya tidak mempercayainya. Lalu pemikiran menyambar saya, Bagaimana kamu bisa menjadi orang Kristen? Saya mencari Tuhan. Tetapi bagaimana kamu bisa mencari Tuhan? Kebenaran menerangi pikiran saya pada satu saat - Saya tidak akan mencari Dia kecuali telah terjadi semacam pengaruh yang mendahuluinya dalam pikiran saya yang membuat saya mencari Dia. Saya berdoa, saya kira, tetapi lalu saya bertanya kepada diri saya sendiri, Bagaimana saya bisa berdoa? Saya dibimbing / didesak untuk berdoa oleh pembacaan Kitab Suci. Bagaimana saya bisa membaca Kitab Suci? Saya memang membacanya, tetapi apa yang membimbing saya untuk melakukannya? Lalu, dalam satu saat, saya melihat bahwa Allah ada di dasar dari semua itu, dan bahwa Ia adalah Pencipta dari iman saya, dan dengan demikian seluruh doktrin kasih karunia terbuka bagi saya, dan DARI DOKTRIN ITU SAYA TIDAK PERNAH MENYIMPANG SAMPAI HARI INI, dan saya ingin untuk membuat ini PENGAKUAN SAYA YANG KONSTAN, ‘Saya menganggap perubahan saya berasal sepenuhnya dari Allah’.] - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 180-181 (AGES).

Tentang ‘Unconditional Election’ (= Pemilihan yang tidak bersyarat).

C. H. Spurgeon: “I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love. So I am forced to accept that great Biblical doctrine” (= Saya percaya doktrin tentang pemilihan, karena saya cukup pasti / yakin bahwa, seandainya Allah tidak memilih saya, saya tidak akan pernah memilih Dia; dan saya yakin Ia memilih saya sebelum saya dilahirkan, atau kalau tidak, Ia tidak akan pernah memilih saya setelah itu; dan Ia pasti telah memilih saya untuk alasan-alasan yang tidak saya ketahui, karena saya tidak pernah bisa menemukan alasan apapun dalam diri saya sendiri mengapa Ia harus memandang saya dengan kasih yang khusus. Maka saya dipaksa / didesak untuk menerima doktrin Alkitab yang agung itu) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 182 (AGES).

Tentang ‘Unconditional Election’ (= Pemilihan yang tidak bersyarat).

C. H. Spurgeon: “I recollect an Arminian brother telling me that he had read the Scriptures through a score or more times, and could never find the doctrine of election in them. He added that he was sure he would have done so if it had been there, for he read the Word on his knees. I said to him, ‘I think you read the Bible in a very uncomfortable posture, and if you had read it in your easy chair, you would have been more likely to understand it. Pray, by all means, and the more, the better, but it is a piece of superstition to think there is anything in the posture in which a man puts himself for reading: and as to reading through the Bible twenty times without having found anything about the doctrine of election, the wonder is that you found anything at all: you must have galloped through it at such a rate that you were not likely to have any intelligible idea of the meaning of the Scriptures.’” (= ) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 182-183 (AGES).

Tentang ‘Unconditional Election’ (= Pemilihan yang tidak bersyarat).

C. H. Spurgeon: “In the very beginning, when this great universe lay in the mind of God, like unborn forests in the acorn cup; long ere the echoes awoke the solitudes; before the mountains were brought forth; and long ere the light flashed through the sky, God loved His chosen creatures. Before there was any created being - when the ether was not fanned by an angel’s wing, when space itself had not an existence, when there was nothing save God aloneeven then, in that loneliness of Deity, and in that deep quiet and profundity, His bowels moved with love for His chosen. Their names were written on His heart, and then were they dear to His soul. Jesus loved His people before the foundation of the world - even from eternity! and when He called me by His grace, He said to me, ‘I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.’” (= Pada mulanya, ................ Allah mengasihi makhluk-makhluk pilihanNya. ............................ Nama-nama mereka tertulis di hatiNya, dan maka mereka menjadi kesayangan jiwaNya. Yesus mengasihi umatNya sebelum dunia dijadikan - bahkan dari kekekalan! .........................................) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 183 (AGES).

Catatan: kutipan ayat dari Yeremia 31:3 versi KJV: ‘The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee’ (= ).

Yeremia 31:3 - “Dari jauh TUHAN menampakkan diri kepadanya: Aku mengasihi engkau dengan kasih yang kekal, sebab itu Aku melanjutkan kasih setiaKu kepadamu”.

Hanya RSV menterjemahkan seperti Kitab Suci Indonesia, sedangkan NIV/NASB/ASV/NKJV menterjemahkan seperti KJV, yang dipakai oleh Spurgeon.

RSV: ‘the LORD appeared to him from afar. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you’ (= ).

NIV: “The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness” (= ).

NASB: “The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness” (= ).

Tentang Irresistible Grace (= Kasih karunia yang tidak bisa ditolak).

C. H. Spurgeon: “Then, in the fullness of time, He purchased me with His blood; He let His heart run out in one deep gaping wound for me long ere I loved Him. Yea, when He first came to me, did I not spurn Him? When He knocked at the door, and asked for entrance, did I not drive Him away, and do despite to Ms (His?) grace? Ah, I can remember that I full often did so until, at last, by the power of His effectual grace, He said, ‘I must, I will come in;’ and then He turned my heart, and made me love Him. But even till now I should have resisted Him, had it not been for His grace” (= Maka, pada saat waktunya sudah genap, Ia membeli saya dengan darahNya; ... Ya, pada saat Ia pertama kali datang kepada saya, tidakkah saya menolakNya dengan angkuh? Pada waktu Ia mengetok pintu, dan meminta untuk masuk, tidakkah saya mengusirNya, ... Ah, saya bisa mengingat bahwa saya sering melakukan demikian, sampai akhirnya, oleh kuasa dari kasih karuniaNya yang efektif, Ia berkata, ‘Saya harus, saya akan masuk’; dan lalu Ia mengubahkan hati saya, dan membuat saya mengasihi Dia. Tetapi bahkan sampai sekarang saya akan sudah menolakNya, seandainya itu bukan karena kasih karuniaNya) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 183 (AGES).

Spurgeon menentang ‘Conditional Election’ (= Pemilihan yang bersyarat). Juga ia percaya Total Depravity (= Kebejatan Total).

C. H. Spurgeon: “Did my Savior die for me because I believed on Him? No; I was not then in existence; I had then no being. Could the Savior, therefore, have died because I had faith, when I myself was not yet born? Could that have been possible? Could that have been the origin of the Savior’s love towards me? Oh! no; my Savior died for me long before I believed. ‘But,’ says someone, ‘He foresaw that you would have faith; and, therefore, He loved you.’ What did He foresee about my faith? Did He foresee that I should get that faith myself, and that I should believe on Him of myself? No; Christ could not foresee that, because no Christian man will ever say that faith came of itself without the gift and without the working of the Holy Spirit. I have met with a great many believers, and talked with them about this matter; but I never knew one who could put his hand on his heart, and say, ‘I believed in Jesus without the assistance of the Holy Spirit.’” (= Apakah Juruselamat saya mati untuk saya karena saya percaya kepadaNya? Tidak; saya waktu itu belum ada, saat itu saya tidak mempunyai keberadaan. Karena itu, bisakah sang Juruselamat, telah mati karena saya mempunyai iman, pada saat saya sendiri belum dilahirkan? Bisakah itu memungkinkan? Bisakah itu merupakan asal usul dari kasih sang Juruselamat terhadap saya? O, tidak; Juruselamat saya mati untuk saya lama sebelum saya percaya. ‘Tetapi’, kata seseorang, ‘Ia melihat lebih dulu bahwa kamu akan mempunyai iman; dan karena itu, Ia mengasihi kamu’. Apa yang Ia lihat lebih dulu tentang iman saya? Apakah ia melihat lebih dulu bahwa saya harus mendapatkan iman itu oleh saya sendiri, dan bahwa saya percaya kepadaNya dari diri saya sendiri? Tidak; Kristus tidak bisa melihat itu, karena tidak ada orang Kristen akan pernah mengatakan bahwa iman datang dengan sendirinya tanpa pemberian dan tanpa pekerjaan dari Roh Kudus. Saya telah bertemu dengan sangat banyak orang percaya, dan berbicara dengan mereka tentang persoalan ini; tetapi saya tidak pernah mengetahui / mengenal seseorang yang bisa meletakkan tangannya di hatinya, dan berkata, ‘Saya percaya kepada Yesus tanpa pertolongan Roh Kudus’.) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 183-184 (AGES).

C. H. Spurgeon: “I am bound to the doctrine of the depravity of the human heart, because I find myself depraved in heart, and have daily proofs that in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing” (= Saya harus percaya pada doktrin tentang kebejatan dari hati manusia, karena saya mendapati diri saya sendiri bejat dalam hati saya, dan mempunyai bukti setiap hari bahwa dalam daging saya tidak ada hal yang baik) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 184 (AGES).

Spurgeon mengakui dirinya sebagai Calvinist, dan kecam Arminian sebagai ‘heresy’ (= bidat), juga ia tunjukkan bahwa ia percaya Predestinasi, Penebusan Terbatas, Keselamatan tidak bisa hilang. Dan ia sebut Calvinisme sebagai Injil, dan yang non Calvinisme sebagai bukan Injil, yang ia benci / jijik terhadapnya.

C. H. Spurgeon: “The late lamented Mr. Denham has put, at the foot of his portrait, a most admirable text, ‘Salvation is of the Lord.’ That is just an epitome of Calvinism; it is the sum and substance of it. If anyone should ask me what I mean by a Calvinist, I should reply, ‘He is one who says, Salvation is of the Lord.’ I cannot find in Scripture any other doctrine than this. It is the essence of the Bible. ‘He only is my rock and my salvation.’ Tell me anything contrary to this truth, and it will be a heresy; tell me a heresy, and I shall find its essence here, that it has departed from this great, this fundamental, this rock-truth, ‘God is my rock and my salvation.’ What is the heresy of Rome, but the addition of something to the perfect merits of Jesus Christ - the bringing in of the works of the flesh, to assist in our justification? And what is the heresy of Arminianism but the addition of something to the work of the Redeemer? Every heresy, if brought to the touchstone, will discover itself here. I have my own Private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus. Such a gospel I abhor. ‘If ever it should come to pass, That sheep of Christ might fall away, My fickle, feeble soul, alas! Would fall a thousand times a day’” (= ) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 184-185 (AGES).

Catatan: bagian yang saya beri garis bawah ganda dan warna hijau, dikutip oleh Suhento Liauw (?) dalam tulisannya berjudul ‘Kalvinisme’ (file Graphe - Liauw 9), dimana ia berkata “Kalvinisme hanyalah nama panggilannya. Kalvinisme adalah Injil, dan tidak lain daripada itu.” (Spurgeon)”. Jadi, seharusnya ia tahu bagian ini (karena ia bukan mengutip dari saya, saya tak pernah mengutip ini dalam buku-buku / tulisan-tulisan saya sebelum ini). Jadi seharusnya ia tahu bahwa Spurgeon adalah seorang Calvinist tulen / murni, yang percaya 5 point Calvinisme. Lalu mengapa ia tetap mengatakan bahwa Spurgeon hanya percaya point 1 dan 5 dari 5 point Calvinisme?? Dasar pendusta!

Spurgeon percaya Keselamatan tidak bisa hilang.

C. H. Spurgeon: “If one dear saint of God had perished, so might all; if one of the covenant ones be lost, so may all be; and then there is no gospel promise true, but the Bible is a lie, and there is nothing in it worth my acceptance. I will be an infidel at once when I can believe that a saint of God can ever fall finally. If God hath loved me once, then He will love me for ever” (= Jika satu orang kudus yang kekasih dari Allah telah binasa, maka semua juga bisa demikian; jika satu dari orang-orang perjanjian terhilang, maka semua bisa terhilang; dan lalu di sana tidak ada janji injil yang benar, tetapi Alkitab adalah suatu dusta, dan di sana tidak ada di dalamnya yang layak untuk saya terima. Saya akan segera menjadi seorang kafir pada waktu saya bisa percaya bahwa seorang kudus dari Allah akhirnya bisa murtad. Jika Allah telah sekali mengasihi saya, maka Ia akan mengasihi saya selama-lamanya) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 185 (AGES).

Spurgeon percaya Allah tidak mungkin mengubah rencana, termasuk pemilihan / predestinasi, sehingga yang dipilih pasti selamat.

C. H. Spurgeon: “God has a mastermind; He arranged everything in His gigantic intellect long before He did it; and once having settled it, He never alters it, ‘This shall be done,’ saith He, and the iron hand of destiny marks it down, and it is brought to pass. ‘This is My purpose,’ and it stands, nor can earth or hell alter it. ‘This is My decree,’ saith He, ‘promulgate it, ye holy angels; rend it down from the gate of Heaven, ye devils, if ye can; but ye cannot alter the decree, it shall stand for ever.’ God altereth not His plans; why should He? He is Almighty, and therefore can perform His pleasure. Why should He? He is the All-wise, and therefore cannot have planned wrongly. Why should He? He is the everlasting God, and therefore cannot die before His plan is accomplished. Why should He change? Ye worthless atoms of earth, ephemera of a day, ye creeping insects upon this bay-leaf of existence, ye may change your plans, but He shall never, never change His. Has He told me that His plan is to save me? If so, I am for ever safe. ‘My name from the palms of His hands. Eternity will not erase; Impress’d on His heart it remains, In marks of indelible grace.’” (= ...................................................................... Allah tidak mengubah rencanaNya; mengapa Ia harus mengubahnya? Ia maha kuasa, dan karena itu bisa melaksanakan kesenanganNya. Mengapa Ia harus mengubahnya? Ia maha bijaksana, dan karena itu tidak bisa telah merencanakan secara salah. Mengapa Ia harus berubah? ....................... kamu bisa mengubah rencanamu, tetapi Ia tidak akan pernah, tidak pernah mengubah rencanaNya. Apakah Ia telah memberitahu saya bahwa rencanaNya adalah untuk menyelamatkan saya? Jika demikian, saya aman selama-lamanya .................................................) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 185 (AGES).

Spurgeon menganggap bahwa orang Kristen yang tidak percaya ‘Perseverance of the Saints’ (=Ketekunan orang-orang kudus) adalah orang yang tidak bahagia, dan sebaliknya, yang mempercayainya adalah yang paling bahagia, dan juga bahwa mereka ini adalah orang-orang Kristen yang paling benar.

C. H. Spurgeon: “I do not know how some people, who believe that a Christian can fall from grace, manage to be happy. It must be a very commendable thing in them to be able to get through a day without despair. If I did not believe the doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints, I think I should be of all men the most miserable, because I should lack any ground of comfort. ... I believe that the happiest of Christians and the truest of Christians are those who never dare to doubt God, but who take His Word simply as it stands, and believe it, and ask no questions, just feeling assured that if God has said it, it will be so” (= ) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 186 (AGES).

Spurgeon percaya bayi mati masuk surga.

C. H. Spurgeon: “I rejoice to know that the souls of all infants, as soon as they die, speed their way to Paradise” (= ) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 188 (AGES).

Spurgeon percaya ‘Limited Atonement’ (= Penebusan Terbatas) dan menentang ‘Universal Atonement’ (= Penebusan Universal).

C. H. Spurgeon: “Some persons love the doctrine of universal atonement because they say, ‘It is so beautiful. It is a lovely idea that Christ should have died for all men; it commends itself,’ they say, ‘to the instincts of humanity; there is something in it full of joy and beauty.’ I admit there is, but beauty may be often associated with falsehood. There is much which I might admire in the theory of universal redemption, but I will just show what the supposition necessarily involves. If Christ on His cross intended to save every man, then He intended to save those who were lost before He died. If the doctrine be true, that He died for all men, then He died for some who were in hell before He came into this world, for doubtless there were even then myriads there who had been cast away because of their sins. Once again, if it was Christ’s intention to save all men, how deplorably has He been disappointed, for we have His own testimony that there is a lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, and into that pit of woe have been cast some of the very persons who, according to the theory of universal redemption, were bought with His blood. That seems to me a conception a thousand times more repulsive than any of those consequences which are said to be associated with the Calvinistic and Christian doctrine of special and particular redemption. To think that my Savior died for men who were or are in hell, seems a supposition too horrible for me to entertain. To imagine for a moment that He was the Substitute for all the sons of men, and that God, having first punished the Substitute, afterwards punished the sinners themselves, seems to conflict with all my ideas of Divine justice. That Christ should offer an atonement and satisfaction for the sins of all men, and that afterwards some of those very men should be punished for the sins for which Christ had already atoned, appears to me to be the most monstrous iniquity that could ever have been imputed to Saturn, to Janus, to the goddess of the Thugs, or to the most diabolical heathen deities. God forbid that we should ever think thus of Jehovah, the just and wise and good!” (= ) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 188-189 (AGES).

Spurgeon akui ia percaya ajaran Calvin.

C. H. Spurgeon: “There is no soul living who holds more firmly to the doctrines of grace than I do, and if any man asks me whether I am ashamed to be called a Calvinist, I answer - I wish to be called nothing but a Christian; but if you ask me, do I hold the doctrinal views which were held by John Calvin, I reply, I do in the main hold them, and rejoice to avow it” (=Tak ada jiwa / orang yang hidup yang memegang / mempercayai dengan lebih teguh doktrin tentang kasih karunia dari saya mempercayainya, dan jika siapapun bertanya kepada saya apakah saya malu untuk disebut sebagai seorang Calvinist, saya menjawab - Saya berharap / ingin tidak disebut sebagai apapun kecuali sebagai orang Kristen; tetapi jika engkau bertanya kepada saya, apakah saya memegang /mempercayai pandangan-pandangan doktrinal yang dipegang oleh John Calvin, saya menjawab, Saya memang terutama memegang / mempercayainya, dan bersukacita untuk mengakuinya) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 189 (AGES).

Spurgeon mempercayai baik penetapan Allah maupun kebebasan manusia.

C. H. Spurgeon: “The system of truth revealed in the Scriptures is not simply one straight line, but two; and no man will ever get a right view of the gospel until he knows how to look at the two lines at once. For instance, I read in one Book of the Bible, ‘The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.’ (Rev 22:17) Yet I am taught, in another part of the same inspired Word, that ‘it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.’ (Roma 9:16) I see, in one place, God in providence presiding over all, and yet I see, and I cannot help seeing, that man acts as he pleases, and that God has left his actions, in a great measure, to his own free-will. Now, if I were to declare that man was so free to act that there was no control of God over his actions, I should be driven very near to atheism; and if, on the other hand, I should declare that God so over-rules all things that man is not free enough to be responsible, I should be driven at once into Antinomianism or fatalism. That God predestines, and yet that man is responsible, are two facts that few can see clearly. They are believed to be inconsistent and contradictory to each other. If, then, I find taught in one part of the Bible that everything is foreordained, that is true; and if I find, in another Scripture, that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true; and it is only my folly that leads me to imagine that these two truths can ever contradict each other. I do not believe they can ever be welded into one upon any earthly anvil, but they certainly shall be one in eternity. They are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the human mind which pursues them farthest will never discover that they converge, but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring” (= ) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 190 (AGES).

Doktrin tentang kasih karunia paling menyucikan kehidupan, dan orang yang mengatakan bahwa doktrin itu membuat orang berbuat dosa, sama sekali tidak mengerti doktrin itu.

C. H. Spurgeon: “It is often said that the doctrines we believe have a tendency to lead us to sin. I have heard it asserted most positively, that those high doctrines which we love, and which we find in the Scriptures, are licentious ones. I do not know who will have the hardihood to make that assertion, when they consider that the holiest of men have been believers in them. I ask the man who dares to say that Calvinism is a licentious religion, what he thinks of the character of Augustine, or Calvin, or Whitefield, who in successive ages were the great exponents of the system of grace; or what will he say of the Puritans, whose works are full of them?” (= ) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 190-191 (AGES).

C. H. Spurgeon: “No doctrine is so calculated to preserve a man from sin as the doctrine of the grace of God. Those who have called it ‘a licentious doctrine’ did not know anything at all about it. Poor ignorant things, they little knew that their own vile stuff was the most licentious doctrine under Heaven. If they knew the grace of God in truth, they would soon see that there was no preservative from lying like a knowledge that we are elect of God from the foundation of the world. There is nothing like a belief in my eternal perseverance, and the immutability of my Father’s affection, which can keep me near to Him from a motive of simple gratitude. Nothing makes a man so virtuous as belief of the truth” (= ) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 191 (AGES).

Ia mengatakan Calvinisme berasal dari tulisan Paulus, Roh Kudus, dan Yesus sendiri!

C. H. Spurgeon: “It may happen this afternoon that the term ‘Calvinism’ may be frequently used. Let it not be misunderstood, we only use the term for shortness. That doctrine which is called ‘Calvinism’ did not spring from Calvin; we believe that it sprang from the great founder of all truth. Perhaps Calvin himself derived it mainly from the writings of Augustine. Augustine obtained his views, without doubt, through the Spirit of God, from the diligent study of the writings of Paul, and Paul received them of the Holy Ghost, from Jesus Christ the great founder of the Christian dispensation” (= ) - ‘Exposition of the Doctrines of Grace’, hal 4 (AGES).

Ia menyerang ajaran Arminian, bukan orangnya.

C. H. Spurgeon: “Nor are these all, for such good things as these abound, and they constrain me to say, that in attacking Arminianism we have no hostility towards the men who bear the name rather than the nature of that error, and we are opposed not to any body of men, but to the notions which they have espoused” (= ) - ‘Exposition of the Doctrines of Grace’, hal 7 (AGES).

Ia mengatakan penyerang-penyerang Arminian terhadap Calvinisme sering memfitnah, memiringkan ajaran Calvinisme dan lalu menyerangnya!

C. H. Spurgeon: “And now, having made these remarks upon terms used, we must observe that there is nothing upon which men need to be more instructed than upon the question of what Calvinism really is. The most infamous allegations have been brought against us, and sometimes, I must fear, by men who knew them to be utterly untrue; and, to this day, there are many of our opponents, who, when they run short of matter, invent and make for themselves a man of straw, call that John Calvin and then shoot all their arrows at it. We are not come here to defend your man of straw - shoot at it or burn it as you will, and, if it suit your convenience, still oppose doctrines which were never taught, and rail at fictions which, save in your own brain, were never in existence. We come here to state what our views really are, and we trust that any who do not agree with us will do us the justice of not misrepresentingus. If they can disprove our doctrines, let them state them fairly and then overthrow them, but why should they first caricature our opinions and then afterwards attempt to put them down?” (= ) - ‘Exposition of the Doctrines of Grace’, hal 7-8 (AGES).

Ia tidak percaya unconditional reprobation!

C. H. Spurgeon: “But we are next met by some who tell us that we preach the wicked and horrible doctrine of sovereign and unmerited reprobation. ‘Oh,’ say they, ‘you teach that men are damned because God made them to be damned, and that they go to hell, not because of sin, not because of unbelief, but because of some dark decree with which God has stamped their destiny.’ Brethren, this is an unfair charge again. Election does not involve reprobation. There may be some who hold unconditional reprobation. I stand not here as their defender, let them defend themselves as best they can; I hold God’s election, but I testify just as clearly that if any man be lost he is lost for sin; and this has been the uniform statement of Calvinistic ministers” (= ) - ‘Exposition of the Doctrines of Grace’, hal (AGES).

Catatan: saya tak setuju dengan Spurgeon dalam hal ini. Dan kata-kata yang saya beri garis bawah ganda saya kira tidak benar. Bandingkan dengan komentar Calvin di bawah ini.

Calvin (tentang Roma 11:7): “‘And the rest have been blinded.’ As the elect alone are delivered by God’s grace from destruction, so all who are not elected must necessarily remain blinded. For what Paul means with regard to the reprobate is, - that the beginning of their ruin and condemnation is from this - that they are forsaken by God” (= ).

Ia memuji ajaran Calvinisme sebagai harmonis dan sangat berhubungan satu dengan yang lain, sehingga dari pada percaya 2 atau 3 point lebih baik menolak semuanya. Ini sangat menunjukkan kemustahilan kata-kata Suhento Liauw dan Steven Liauw bahwa Spurgeon percaya hanya 2 points dari 5 point Calvinisme (point 1 dan 5)!

C. H. Spurgeon: “It has this singular virtue also - it is so coherent in all its parts. You cannot vanquish a Calvinist. You may think you can, but you cannot. The stones of the great doctrines so fit into each other, that the more pressure there is applied to remove them the more strenuously do they adhere. And you may mark, that you cannot receive one of these doctrines without believing all. Hold for instance that man is utterly depraved, and you draw the inference then that certainly if God has such a creature to deal with salvation must come from God alone, and if from him, the offended one, to an offending creature, then he has a right to give or withhold his mercy as he wills; you are thus forced upon election, and when you have gotten that you have all: the others must follow. Some by putting the strain upon their judgments may manage to hold two or three points and not the rest, but sound logic I take it requires a man to hold the whole or reject the whole, the doctrines stand like soldiers in a square, presenting on every side a line of defense which it is hazardous to attack, but easy to maintain” (= ) - ‘Exposition of the Doctrines of Grace’, hal 14-15 (AGES).

C. H. Spurgeon: “To think that my Savior died for men who were or are in hell, seems a supposition too horrible for me to entertain. To imagine for a moment that He was the Substitute for all the sons of men, and that God, having first punished the Substitute, afterwards punished the sinners themselves, seems to conflict with all my ideas of Divine justice. That Christ should offer an atonement and satisfaction for the sins of all men, and that afterwards some of those very men should be punished for the sins for which Christ had already atoned, appears to me to be the most monstrous iniquity that could ever have been imputed to Saturn, to Janus, to the goddess of the Thugs, or to the most diabolical heathen deities. God forbid that we should ever think thus of Jehovah, the just and wise and good!” (= ) - ‘Spurgeon’s Autobiography’, vol 1, chapter 16, hal 189 (AGES).

C. H. Spurgeon: “I begin this morning with the doctrine of Redemption. ‘He gave his life a ransom for many.’ The doctrine of Redemption is one of the most important doctrines of the system of faith. A mistake on this point will inevitably lead to a mistake through the entire system of our belief. ... the Arminian holds that Christ, when he died, did not die with an intent to save any particular person; and they teach that Christ’s death does not in itself secure, beyond doubt, the salvation of any one man living. They believe that Christ died to make the salvation of all men possible, or that by the doing of something else, any man who pleases may attain unto eternal life; consequently, they are obliged to hold that if man’s will would not give way and voluntarily surrender to grace, then Christ’s atonement would be unavailing. ... Now, we believe no such thing. We hold that Christ, when he died, had an object in view, and that object will most assuredly, and beyond a doubt, be accomplished. ... We cannot so belie our reason as to think that the intention of Almighty God could be frustrated, or that the design of so great a thing as the atonement, can by any way whatever, be missed of. ... we believe that as the result of this, every person for whom he died must, beyond the shadow of a doubt, be cleansed from sin, and stand, washed in blood, before the Father’s throne. We do not believe that Christ made any effectual atonement for those who are for ever damned, we dare not think that the blood of Christ was ever shed with the intention of saving those whom God foreknew never could be saved, and some of whom were even in hell when Christ, according to some men’s account, died to save them” (= ) - ‘Sovereignty’, hal 87-88 (AGES).

Loraine Boettner mengutip kata-kata Charles Haddon Spurgeon:

“If Christ has died for you, you can never be lost. God will not punish twice for one thing. If God punished Christ for your sins He will not punish you. ‘Payment God’s justice cannot twice demand; first, at the bleeding Saviour’s hand, and then again at mine.’ How can God be just if he punished Christ, the substitute, and then man himself afterwards?” (= Jika Kristus telah mati untuk kamu, kamu tidak pernah bisa terhilang. Allah tidak akan menghukum dua kali untuk satu hal. Jika Allah menghukum Kristus untuk dosa-dosamu Ia tidak akan menghukummu. ‘Pembayaran keadilan Allah tidak bisa menuntut dua kali; pertama, pada tangan Kristus yang berdarah, dan lalu lagi pada tanganku’. Bagaimana Allah bisa adil jika Ia menghukum Kristus, sang Pengganti, dan lalu manusia itu sendiri setelahnya?) - ‘The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination’, hal 155.

Catatan: Boettner tidak menunjukkan dari buku Spurgeon yang mana dia mendapatkan kata-kata itu. Tetapi tak masalah karena di bawah ini saya punya kata-kata Spurgeon sendiri, yang mengatakan hal yang kurang lebih sama.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon: “Memory looks back on past sins with deep sorrow for the sin, but yet with no dread of any penalty to come; for Christ has paid the debt of His people to the last jot and tittle, and received the divine receipt; and unless God can be so unjust as to demand double payment for one debt, no soul for whom Jesus died as a substitute can ever be cast into hell. It seems to be one of the very principles of our enlightened nature to believe that God is just; we feel that it must be so, and this gives us our terror at first; but is it not marvelous that this very same belief that God is just, becomes afterwards the pillar of our confidence and peace! If God is just, I, a sinner alone and without a substitute, must be punished; but Jesus stands in my stead and is punished for me; and now, if God is just, I, a sinner, standing in Christ, can never be punished” (= Ingatan melihat ke belakang kepada dosa-dosa yang lalu dengan kesedihan yang dalam untuk dosa, tetapi tanpa rasa takut terhadap hukuman yang akan datang; karena Kristus telah membayar hutang umatNya sampai pada hal yang paling kecil / remeh, dan telah menerima kwitansi ilahi; dan kecuali Allah itu bisa begitu tidak adil / benar sehingga menuntut pembayaran dobel untuk satu hutang, tidak ada jiwa, untuk siapa Yesus mati sebagai pengganti, bisa dicampakkan ke dalam neraka. Kelihatannya merupakan satu prinsip dari diri kita yang sudah diterangi untuk percaya bahwa Allah itu adil / benar; kita merasa bahwa haruslah demikian, dan ini mula-mula memberikan kita rasa takut; tetapi tidakkah merupakan sesuatu yang mengagumkan bahwa kepercayaan yang sama bahwa Allah itu adil / benar, setelah itu lalu menjadi pilar / tonggak dari keyakinan dan damai kita! Jika Allah itu adil / benar, saya, seorang yang berdosa, sendirian dan tanpa seorang pengganti, harus dihukum; tetapi Yesus telah menggantikan saya dan dihukum untuk saya; dan sekarang, jika Allah itu adil / benar, saya, seorang yang berdosa, berdiri dalam Kristus, tidak pernah bisa dihukum) - ‘Morning and Evening’, September 25, morning.

Catatan: Perhatikan kata-kata ‘His people’ (= umatNya). Bukan untuk setiap individu dalam dunia ini, tetapi untuk ‘umatNya’. Disamping itu, dia mengatakan bahwa “tidak ada jiwa, untuk siapa Yesus mati sebagai pengganti, bisa dicampakkan ke dalam neraka”. Kalau Spurgeon mempercayai ‘Universal Atonement’ (= Penebusan Universal), maka dia harus percaya Universalisme (= pandangan yang mengatakan bahwa pada akhirnya semua manusia, tanpa kecuali, akan masuk surga), dan itu tidak mungkin! Jadi jelas Spurgeon mempercayai ‘Limited Atonement’ (= Penebusan Terbatas).

Spurgeon adalah seorang dari gereja Baptis yang juga adalah seorang Calvinist, karena ia menerima 5 points Calvinisme, dan bahkan menerima penentuan segala sesuatu, termasuk dosa. Satu-satunya perbedaan doktrinal antara Spurgeon dan para Calvinist adalah dalam persoalan baptisan, karena ia menolak baptisan bayi, dan juga menggunakan baptisan selam.

C. H. Spurgeon menentang free will.

C. H. Spurgeon: “THIS is one of the great guns of the Arminians, mounted upon the top of their walls, and often discharged with terrible noise against the poor Christians called Calvinists. I intend to spike the gun this morning, or, rather, to turn it on the enemy, for it was never theirs; it was never cast at their foundry at all, but was intended to teach the very opposite doctrine to that which they assert. Usually, when the text is taken, the divisions are: - First, that man has a will. Secondly, that he is entirely free. Thirdly, that men must make themselves willing to come to Christ, otherwise they will not be saved. Now, we shall have no such divisions; but we will endeavor to take a more calm look at the text, and not, because there happen to be the words; ‘will,’ or ‘will not’ in it, run away with the conclusion that it teaches the doctrine of free-will. It has already been proved beyond all controversy that free-will is nonsense. Freedom cannot belong to will any more than ponderability can belong to electricity. They are altogether different things. Free agency we may believe in, but free-will is simply ridiculous” (= ) - ‘Sermons’, vol 1, hal 695 (AGES).
Catatan: Pdt. Budi Asali, M.Div:  meraih gelar Master of Divinity (M.Div) dari Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS), Jackson, Mississippi, United States of America
PANDANGAN SPURGEON YANG SEBENARNYA: IA ADALAH ORANG YANG MENERIMA SEMUA 5 POINTS DARI CALVINISME.