Why I Consider TULIP Calvinism Unbiblical

WHY I CONSIDER TULIP CALVINISM UNBIBLICAL

By Ezekiel Kimosop

TULIP is an acronym that stands for the five point doctrines embraced by Calvinism or Reformed Theology. 

It is spelt out under the following outlines:

Total Depravity

Unconditional Election

Limited Atonement

Irresistable Grace

Perseverance of Saints

Each of the five doctrines is independently outlined but they are closely related. The Total Depravity doctrine is the central or pivotal doctrine on which the others stand. If it is theologically demolished, the next three doctrines would accordingly collapse! This is basically what this article seeks to prove.

Five Point Calvinism teaches as follows (summarized):

1) TOTAL DEPRAVITY

1) According to Calvinism, a sinner [a person outside Christ] is so dead in sin that he is morally incapable of responding to the gospel unless God first and causatively regenerates his heart after which he is enabled to believe in Christ. 

Calvinism denies the libertarian free will of the sinner who is considered totally depraved and irretrievably lost in sin such that he is unable to make a moral decision for obedience to Christ.

My view is that this doctrine is false for a number of reasons. I will outline two below: 

First, there's no evidence in Scripture that God forcibly chooses anyone against their will. Each sinner must willingly accept or reject the gospel when proclaimed to them. The choices have clear consequences that are taught in the Bible. To deny this truth is to reject the revelation of the word of God.

Secondly, Ephesians 2:1-10 which is the bedrock of this doctrine contains several metaphors and figures of speech that cannot be literally rendered without distorting the passage context and the harmony of  the entire body of Scripture. 

Paul's reference to the sinner being dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1,5) is, in my view, a metaphorical reference to the sinner's spiritual condition in which he is alienated or separated from God by reason of the sin in Adam. It does not imply that the sinner is unable to hear the gospel preached or make a moral choice for obedience.

2) UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION

This doctrine says that God chose some among sinners and predestined them to be saved without any condition on his part or on their part. According to Calvinism, the chosen few did nothing to merit their salvation, not even exercising faith in Christ! They were passively involved in the entire process!

Calvinism teaches that God simply decided, on His own motion, to save some sinners against their will for His own glory even as He rejected others and will ultimately destroy them in hell for His glory!

Again there are a number of Biblical objections to this doctrine! God's grace revealed in the Bible conveys just one condition for the sinner to fulfill! 

The sinner must first believe in order to be saved! He must repent and willingly choose Christ (John 3:16; Acts 16:25-30; Romans 10:14). Salvation is not automatically  and forcibly inputted on a sinner. It is received by grace though faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). 

3) LIMITED ATONEMENT

This doctrine teaches that Christ did not die for the sins of the whole world. He only died for the "Elect", a small number of sinners that, according to Calvinism, God chose from the foundation of the world to receive atonement in Christ.

The rest of the sinners who, according to Calvinism, are not on God's favored list will never come to faith in Christ no matter how the gospel is presented to them.

This doctrine agrees with the double predestination doctrine taught by sections of high Calvinism that says that God had predetermined the fate of two categories of sinners as follows: those who will be saved and will receive eternal life in Christ under a divine decree and those who will be rejected by God and will be destroyed in hell to the glory of God!

This implies that in a family, some may fall into either group and there's perfectly nothing one can do about that because God exercised His sovereignty in choosing who to save and who to reject! In short, Calvinism cannot assure the sinner of God's saving grace! 

The Bible reveals that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world! God's grace in Christ is unlimited. It can can accommodate all sinners if all were to accept the gospel. 

The Limited Atonement doctrine is decidedly a false doctrine which is not taught in the Bible. God never secretly chooses anyone outside the works of the cross! He gave all sinners a libertarian free will to accept or reject the gospel.

Those who reject the gospel will face God's judgment. This is not because God's grace was insufficient for them or that God deliberately excluded them from salvation. 

This doctrine is perhaps one of the worst in the Calvinistic perspective.

4) IRRESISTIBLE GRACE

The Irresistible Grace doctrine says that since the believer was initially dead in sin (see TULIP 1), God must have chosen him in advance and drawn him to Christ by means of a special divine, irresistible force!

While this is partly true as regards the conviction for sin, the doctrine extends further into absurdity. Here's why. Calvinism teaches that once God directs His special grace only to the sinner that He has chosen or predestined to save. This special sinner is unable to resist God's grace because his heart had been changed by God through regeneration that preceded faith. The special sinner will automatically respond to God's grace and accept Christ. This portrays God as a manipulative deity, something that Scripture does not teach!

On the converse, the sinner who, according to Calvinism, is not on God's favorite list will not receive this special grace. He will therefore not accept Christ and will perish in his sinfulness! (See Doctrines 1-3 above). 

This doctrine is false. It implies that the sinner is not responsible for his decisions or choices and that God irrationally chooses who to save and who to reject without any objective basis.

This doctrine is not supported by any passage of Scripture, not even Romans 9. 

5) PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS

This final doctrine of the TULIP says that God will preserve those He has chosen for eternal life so that none is ultimately lost. 

This is perhaps the only doctrine that non Calvinists would recognize as consistent with Scripture. 

Wesleyan/Arminianism groups reject this doctrine. They believe that it is possible for a believer to fall away from the faith if they persist in rebellion against God. 

However, it is important to observe that believers do not persevere in the faith out of their own strength. God sustains them by His word and through the leading of His Spirit. 

I would therefore consider the first four doctrines of the TULIP Calvinism as inherently defective and inconsistent with Scripture. This inescapably renders the Calvinism philosophical systematic unbiblical and unreliable for authentic Christian instruction.

Where does this place the entire Calvinism systematic? Let the reader judge for himself!

© Ezekiel Kimosop 2020