The Doctrines of Grace - Prologue Part 2

(Click here to read Part 1)

In this post I would like to take some time and review the history and main points of what has come to be known as Calvinsm.

Calvinism (sometimes called the Reformed tradition, the Reformed faith, or Reformed theology) is a theological system and an approach to the Christian life that emphasizes the rule of God over all things. While the reformed doctrines are completely Scriptural (as you will see in the coming weeks), the systematics of it were developed by theologians such as Martin Bucer, Heinrich Bullinger, Peter Martyr Vermigli, and Huldrych Zwingli and influenced English reformers such as Thomas Cranmer and John Jewel. It bears the name of the French reformer John Calvin because of his preeminent influence on it and because of his role in the confessional and ecclesiastical debates throughout the 16th century. Today, this term also refers to the doctrines and practices of the Reformed churches of which Calvin was an early leader.

The founder of the Arminian party was Jacob Arminius (1560-1609). Arminius came to reject certain reformed teachings. The controversy spread all over Holland, where the Reformed Church was the overwhelming majority. The Arminians drew up their creed in Five Articles, and laid them before the state authorities of Holland in 1610 under the name Remonstrance, signed by forty-six ministers.

The official reformed 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.

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 (Definite Atonement)
I - Irresistible Grace
P - Perseverance of the Saints


The differences between the Calvinist and the Arminian on these five points are as follows...

Depravity: The Calvinist believes that people are so depraved and rebellious that they are unable to trust God without His special work of grace to change their hearts so that they necessarily and willingly believe; The Arminian believes that people are depraved and corrupt but are able to trust God with the general divine assistance that He gives to all people. God’s help is not decisive.

Election: The Calvinist believes that God has chosen unconditionally whom he will bring to faith and salvation out of their sin and depravity; The Arminian believes that God has chosen to bring to salvation all of those whose faith He foresaw.

Atonement: The Calvinist believes that in the death of Christ God provided a sufficient atonement for all but designed that it be efficient for the elect (meaning that it purchased for them the new covenant promise that God would work in His people the grace of faith and perseverance); The Arminian believes that in the death of Christ God provided a sufficient atonement for all and designed that it become efficient by virtue of faith (meaning that the faith itself is not a purchased gift, but that it is the human means of obtaining the gift of God’s forgiveness).

Grace (New Birth): The Calvinist believes that new birth is God’s work of renewal in our hearts which necessarily brings about the act of saving faith. Irresistible grace does not mean that God cannot be resisted, but it means that if God chooses He can in any given person overcome the resistance. You can resist God, and if He wills, He can let you resist Him right into hell, but He can also overcome the resistance; The Arminian believes that new birth is God’s work of renewal in our hearts in response to our act of saving faith.

Perseverance: The Calvinist believes that God works infallibly to preserve in faith all who are truly born again so that no one is ever lost; The Arminian believes that God works to preserve His people but does not always prevent some who were born again from falling away to destruction. There is no eternal security.


I will not follow this order in this presentation. There is a good rationale for this traditional order: it starts with man in need of salvation and then gives, in the order of their occurrence, the steps God takes to save his people. He elects, then he sends Christ to atone for the sins of the elect, then he irresistibly draws his people to faith, and finally works to cause them to persevere to the end.

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

1. We experience first our depravity and need of salvation.
2. Then we experience the irresistible grace of God leading us toward faith.
3. Then we trust the sufficiency of the atoning death of Christ for our sins.
4. 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.
5. 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 I will follow in this presentation.

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

(Sources include Desiring God Ministries and Wikipedia)

On Tuesday I will move forward with this series by taking a look at the total depravity of man. The following questions will be looked at: Is man basically good or basically evil? Are people good deep down? Are men totally depraved? Is every faculty of the person corrupted? Can men do good when they want to? Are men at least born pure? What is the natural disposition of man toward God? Can man do anything to please God? Can the natural man comprehend the gospel or come to saving knowledge of God on his own? Can men of themselves accept God's gift of salvation? Do men choose God on their own? Can men do anything to help themselves?

Until then, Soli Deo gloria!!!