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CALVINISM
By Jonathan Barlow
www.reformed.org
The
Five Points of Calvinism
This
system of theology was reaffirmed by the Synod of Dordt
in 1619 as the doctrine of salvation contained in the Holy Scriptures. The system was at that time formulated
into "five points" in answer to the unscriptural five points submitted by the Arminians to the Church of Holland
in 1610.
According
to Calvinism:
Salvation
is accomplished by the almighty power of the triune God. The Father chose a people, the Son died for them, the
Holy Spirit makes Christ's death effective by bringing the elect to faith and repentance, thereby causing them
to willingly obey the Gospel. The entire process (election, redemption, regeneration) is the work of God and is
by grace alone. Thus God, not man, determines who will be the recipients of the gift of
salvation.
The
Five Points of Calvinism are easily remembered by the acrostic TULIP.
T
Total Depravity (Total Inability)
Total Depravity is probably the most misunderstood tenet of Calvinism. When Calvinists speak of
humans as "totally depraved," they are making an extensive, rather than an intensive statement. The effect of
the fall upon man is that sin has extended to every part of his personality -- his thinking, his emotions,
and his will. Not necessarily that he is intensely sinful, but that sin has extended to his
entire being.
The unregenerate (unsaved) man is dead in his sins (Romans 5:12). Without the power of the Holy
Spirit, the natural man is blind and deaf to the message of the gospel (Mark 4:11f). This is why Total
Depravity has also been called "Total Inability." The man without a knowledge of God will never come to this
knowledge without God's making him alive through Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5).
U
Unconditional Election
Unconditional Election is the doctrine which states that God chose those whom he was pleased to
bring to a knowledge of himself, not based upon any merit shown by the object of his grace and not based upon
his looking forward to discover who would "accept" the offer of the gospel. God has elected, based solely
upon the counsel of his own will, some for glory and others for damnation (Romans 9:15,21). He has done this
act before the foundations of the world (Ephesians 1:4-8).
This doctrine does not rule out, however, man's responsibility to believe in the redeeming work of
God the Son (John 3:16-18). Scripture presents a tension between God's sovereignty in salvation, and man's
responsibility to believe which it does not try to resolve. Both are true -- to deny man's responsibility is
to affirm an unbiblical hyper-calvinism; to deny God's sovereignty is to affirm an unbiblical
Arminianism.
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