#13 T.U.L.I.P. « Stuff Calvinists Like

#13 T.U.L.I.P.

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This easy acronym helps Calvinists to remember the primary tenants of Calvinist Theology. Each letter stands for a significant teaching of Calvin or his immediate followers. Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. Often you'll hear someone say "I'm a 5 point Calvinist," meaning that they ascent to all 5 points of the TULIP acronym. You also commonly find 4 point Calvinists who object to Limited Atonement (the idea that Christ only died for the elect).

Tony Arsenal
http://reformedarsenal.tumblr.com

St Paul, Minnesota

SCL additions:

The historical information below should be taken into account for those who are not familiar with the five points or T.U.L.I.P. in general. It should be clear that Calvin himself never used T.U.L.I.P. or the five points as they were not formed before his death.

Historical Information
(From BBC's Article, "What We Believe About the Five Points of Calvinism")

John Calvin, the famous theologian and pastor of Geneva, died in 1564. Along with Martin Luther in Germany, he was the most influential force of the Protestant Reformation. His Commentaries and Institutes of the Christian Religion are still exerting tremendous influence on the Christian Church worldwide.

The churches which have inherited the teachings of Calvin are usually called Reformed as opposed to the Lutheran or Episcopalian branches of the Reformation. While not all Baptist churches hold to a reformed theology, there is a significant Baptist tradition which grew out of and still cherishes the central doctrines inherited from the reformed branch of the Reformation.

The controversy between Arminianism and Calvinism arose in Holland in the early 1600's. The founder of the Arminian party was Jacob Arminius (1560-1609). He studied under the strict Calvinist Theodore Beza at Geneva and became a professor of theology at the University of Leyden in 1603.

Gradually Arminius came to reject certain Calvinist teachings. The controversy spread all over Holland, where the Reformed Church was the overwhelming majority. The Arminians drew up their creed in Five Articles (written by Uytenbogaert), and laid them before the state authorities of Holland in 1610 under the name Remonstrance, signed by forty-six ministers. (These Five Articles can be read in Philip Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, vol. 3, pp. 545-547.)

The Calvinists responded with a Counter-Remonstrance. But the official Calvinistic response came from the Synod of Dort which was held to consider the Five Articles from November 13, 1618 to May 9, 1619. There were eighty-four members and eighteen secular commissioners. The Synod wrote what has come to be known as the Canons of Dort. These are still part of the church confession of the Reformed Church in America and the Christian Reformed Church. They state the Five Points of Calvinism in response to the Five Articles of the Arminian Remonstrants. (See Schaff, vol. 3, pp. 581-596).

So the so-called Five Points were not chosen by the Calvinists as a summary of their teaching. They emerged as a response to the Arminians who chose these five points to oppose.

It is more important to give a positive Biblical position on the five points than to know the exact form of the original controversy. These five points are still at the heart of Biblical theology. They are not unimportant. Where we stand on these things deeply affects our view of God, man, salvation, the atonement, regeneration, assurance, worship, and missions.

Somewhere along the way the five points came to be summarized under the acronym TULIP.

T-Total depravity.
U-Unconditional election
L-Limited atonement
I-Irresistible grace
P-Perseverance of the saint

We have found, however, that people grasp these points more easily if we follow a presentation based on the order in which we experience them.

We experience first our depravity and need of salvation.

Then we experience the irresistible grace of God leading us toward faith.

Then we trust the sufficiency of the atoning death of Christ for our sins.

Then we discover that behind the work of God to atone for our sins and bring us to faith was the unconditional election of God.

And finally we rest in his electing grace to give us the strength and will to persevere to the end in faith.This is the order we will follow in our presentation.

We would like to spell out what we believe the Scripture teaches on these five points. Our great desire is to honor God by understanding and believing his truth revealed in Scripture. We are open to changing any of our ideas which can be shown to contradict the truth of Scripture. We do not have any vested interest in John Calvin himself, and we find some of what he taught to be wrong. But in general we are willing to let ourselves be called Calvinists on the five points, because we find the Calvinist position to be Biblical.

We share the sentiments of Jonathan Edwards who said in the Preface to his great book on THE FREEDOM OF THE WILL, "I should not take it at all amiss, to be called a Calvinist, for distinction's sake: though I utterly disclaim a dependence on Calvin, or believing the doctrines which I hold, because he believed and taught them; and cannot justly be charged with believing in every thing just as he taught."

The best book I have found that easily and fully explains T.U.L.I.P. "Tulip: The Five Points of Calvinism in the Light of Scripture" by Duane Spencer.

Click here to buy it now from Amazon.com (Usually less than $10)

It is only 96 pages and I have given away/loaned out several copies of this book to others interested in the subject. It is written by a former Arminian as he searched the scriptures to see if he could see these things in the Bible. It is simple, short and to the point.

Additional Resources:

TULIP - The Pursuit of God’s Glory in Salvation ~ A Seminar for The Bethlehem Institute (PDF)
Five Points of Calvinism ~ Helpful Chart from 10th Presbyterian Church (PCA)
Summary of the Sovereignty of God in Salvation ~ John Piper - The "Five Points" of Calvinism

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