Spurgeon and Arminian Prayer
My friend Jamie Lundy, who is getting married this weekend and I am extremely happy for him and pray that God will bless this marriage, has always wanted me to read Spurgeon’s “Arminian Prayer.” Well, today I was looking for it and I hope what I found is what he was talking about. I find this prayer quite funny. Spurgeon writes in his sermon, “Free Will–A Slave,”
…You have heard a great many Arminian sermons, I dare say; but you never heard an Arminian prayer—for the saints in prayer appear as one in word, and deed and mind. An Arminian on his knees would pray desperately like a Calvinist. He cannot pray about free-will: there is no room for it. Fancy him praying, “Lord, I thank thee I am not like those poor presumptuous Calvinists. Lord, I was born with a glorious free-will; I was born with power by which I can turn to thee of myself; I have improved my grace. If everybody had done the same with their grace that I have, they might all have been saved. Lord, I know thou dost not make us willing if we are not willing ourselves. Thou givest grace to everybody; some do not improve it, but I do. There are many that will go to hell as much bought with the blood of Christ as I was; they had as much of the Holy Ghost given to them; they had as good a chance, and were as much blessed as I am. It was not thy grace that made us to differ; I know it did a great deal, still I turned the point; I made use of what was given me, and others did not—that is the difference between me and them.” That is a prayer for the devil, for nobody else would offer such a prayer as that. Ah! when they are preaching and talking very slowly, there may be wrong doctrine; but when they come to pray, the true thing slips out; they cannot help it…
Spurgeon is right, no one would dare pray like that. It sounds too much like the Pharisee who prayed in Luke 18:11-12
,
God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.
Rather all Christians who have experienced the mercy of God prays like the tax collector in Luke 18:13,
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”
For when we pray like the tax collector, Jesus says this of us in Luke 18:14,
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
Related posts:
3 Comments so far
Leave a reply
An incredible misappropriation of Wesleyan, Restorationist, and Arminian theology. I knew Spurgeon was a polemicist, but each time I see it, it amazes me all the more.
[…] Hank, over at Think Wink displays a wonderful example of the venerated Charles Spurgeon and his polemics: Spurgeon and Arminian Prayer. […]
That’s why I prefer to make the Calvinism vs. Arminianism debate a textual issue. Polemics can work up an audience to never be open-minded about the opposing side. If one were to hear this prayer, they would rule out Arminianism, not because of the exegesis of a passage of Scripture, but because of an emotional appeal. The opponents of Calvinism in the SBC use this route when they preach against Reformed theology. They get their audience all emotionally charged and never come to a single text and exegete it. I just think the prayer is funny because I think we can both agree that if a person were to pray like this, that person needs to be introduced to God’s grace and mercy.