Showing posts with label Reformed Doctrine. Show all posts

As multiple of the TULIP points rely upon predestination as a basis I've decided to do a couple post on predestination.

First i'll began with more of a logic based argument.

The Bible says that man is totally depraved, that is, man is completely evil, and unable to save himself. Here is my link back to my Total Depravity post, but here are some other verses as well.  Gen 6:9, Ps. 7:11, 10:41, 51:5, Rom 3:10-18, 5:10, 12, 6:23, 8:5-8, 14:23, 1 cor 2:12, Eph 2:1-3, 5, Col 1:21-22. This list comes from my churches statement of faith, and a few of the verses I don't think directly apply to total depravity, but I decided to include them because they apparently think they do. Also, a few of those verses (Rom 8:7b for example) also directly speak to election or predestination.

So on the basis that man is totally evil, and cannot save himself, how in the world can I save myself if I am unable to, and utterly unwilling to seek after good? Somewhat of a trite, and often used analogy is how can a dead man open a present? (Based of off the often used salvation as a gift analogy) Looking at Romans 3, it is said that NO man seeks after God. (10,11) So if we don't seek God, how can we seek, and receive salvation if we don't want it? Psalm 10:4 also speaks to this. 1 Cor 2:14 says that the ways of God are foolish to natural man. So why would I chase after something that I see as foolish?  The second part of that verse says that even if man wanted to look into the ways of God, he cannot understand them. This is because to understand God, one needs a spiritual understanding, which can only come from an external force, not from ourselves before regeneration.

So basically to sum up, man is totally depraved, unable to seek after God, and have no desire to, and even if we wanted to, His ways are beyond our comprehension.

My 2nd post is going to be a list of the exact verses that speak to Predestination. 

Yes yes I know, it's been incredibly too long since I've blogged, but such is life. I was actually somewhat reminded of this by someone completing my blog form, only the 3rd person lol.

I'm so weird because its fun, and being "normal" is incredibly boring. So I hope that answers your first question. As for Perseverance of the Saints I've actaully already done a post on that, here is the link to it. However, I also need to finish up my TULIP series which includes it, so hopefully my post will be informative, and maybe you'll find something of interest in the other ones.



So here we go.
Here is my introductory post to my series. 
TULIP is an acrostic for the "Reformed" doctrines of:
Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints

I hope that my series (while perhaps being long in finishing lol) has been useful to my readers.

John 10:28-29 (New American Standard Bible)

Here Paul is firmly convinced that NOTHING, not death, not Satan, NOTHING can separate believers from God. If not even Satan, death, or any other power on earth can separate us from God, how could our sin, once payed for, separate us from the love of God?

Romans 8

1 Corinthians 1:8-9 (New American Standard Bible)

Philippians 1:6 (New American Standard Bible)

I’m going to start out with saying that this post on Irresistible Grace (IG) is going to be a bit different than my other posts. Irresistible Grace is the doctrine that someone cannot refuse God’s grace in their lives. If God chooses you as elect, you cannot reject salvation. There are no specific verses that speak on IG, but if you hold to either Total Depravity or Perseverance of the Saints, then you basically have to believe in Irresistible Grace.


If we are all totally depraved, then we would all reject God’s “gift” of life. There would not be a single person who would accept. So then IG must be true, or there would be no Christians.  If Christ only died for certain people, and not the entire world, than those who are called (not the general command, but the application of Christ’s blood to someone) must believe or they invalidate Christ’s death.

Limited atonement is probably one of the most misunderstood parts of the TULIP. It’s complex, and yet at the same time very simple. Limited Atonement is the doctrine that while Christ’s death would have covered all of humanity’s sin, it only covered the sins of those who believe and are saved. Christ’s blood is sufficient to cover sin, and His death does cover the sins of those who believe. If Christ died for everyone, then their sins would be covered, and everyone would be saved, but we know that is not true. If you want to say though, that Christ died for everyone, but each person can choose whether to accept His death or not, then Christ died in vain because it was not needed for some people. Also, the power of His death is decreased, because it can be as easily brushed aside as a spider web. In Mathew 26:28, Christ died for the “many”, not for all. John 10:11-15 speaks of how Christ died for His sheep. We know from other passages that the sheep are His children, and unbelievers are called goats. (Mat 25:31-34) In the High Priestly Prayer (John 17, a fantastic passage) Jesus prays for those whom His Father has given Him, and not for the world (John 17:9). In Isaiah the prophecy speaks of Christ dying for many, not all (53:12).

The next point in TULIP is Unconditional Election. Unconditional Election is the doctrine that God's basis of saving individuals is not based on any merit of the individual, or based on any particular people group. (Eph. 1:4-8; Rom. 9:11)

Total depravity is the doctrine that Man is totally corrupt after the fall. Every single part of us, heart, mind, soul, and body are 100% corrupt, there is absolutely no goodness left in us. No man searches after God, not even a little, nor is there any righteousness to be found in us. (Rom 3:9-18) Our hearts before regeneration are dark, evil things, from which nothing good can come. (Mark 7:21-23) Our heart is also sick, and is said to be “more deceitful than all else”. (Jer 17:9) Unregenerate man is slave to sin, and can obey no other. (Rom 6:16-20) Before God changes us, we think the things of God silly, and frequently even idiotic, we are totally unable to comprehend God and His ways. (1 Cor 2:14) We were dead in our sin and children of wrath, unwilling and unable to come to God. (Eph 2:1,3)

As I've been talking to people and just thinking about it, I believe that there are quite a few people who do not understand the TULIP or that it is indeed based on Biblical evidence. So my endeavor over the next couple weeks will be to explain each point, and to give the Biblical reasons behind each one.

So starting out for those of you who still don't know what I'm talking about lol. TULIP is also known as the five points of Calvinism, it's an acrostic for five very important Biblical principles: Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, Perseverance of the saints. I would also like to point out that while I consider myself a Calvinist on many things, I fully understand that John Calvin was simply a man, and as such was a complete sinner. While this is so, I also believe he taught many good, Biblical things, I only follow those principles which are Biblical. While Calvin did believe in infant baptism or paedobaptism, I do not because I believe that the Bible teaches otherwise. I do my best though to search out all my beliefs in the Bible, and ascertain whether they are correct or not. Therefore I believe that the TULIP, while it is a man Organized concept, it is 100% Biblical.