Five Points of Calvinism

And it produced a kind of like a counter argument.

a Calvinist framework that later was summarized as TULIP, which you might be familiar with.

So TULIP is an acronym for the Calvinist framework of faith that came out of the Synod of Dort in response to Jacobus Arminius' theology.

And the word TULIP, it stands as an acronym for Total depravity, that means that every person is born sinful and spiritually dead, unable to choose God on their own.

The U stands for unconditional election, that means God chooses whom to save based entirely on his own sovereign will, not on any human merit or even foreseen faith.

The L stands for limited atonement, that means that Jesus died specifically to pay for the sins of the chosen elect rather than every individual who ever lived.

you've got to catch up on this story I'm researching.

I will start with saying we're looking at basically the foundation of how Tulip Calvinism came to be.

And just a heads up, if you are a hardline Calvinist, please just hear it all out and don't get offended.

And, you know, it's not trying to attack anybody or any viewpoints, but we're just looking at the history of how that came to be and how it came to be such a formalized theology.

This must be right, right? So this is just kind of an exercise in digging into where this stuff comes from.

and how it becomes a thing.

And this one in particular, the reason why Tulip Calvinism is important is the story of Tulip Calvinism, as Brian mentioned, involves forms of what we would call today Christian nationalism, which I think is a a far more clear and present concern than many would like.

And I think, as you'll see from our discussion, that there's a severe inherent danger with some of those things.

So in 1618, the Dutch church, with delegates from all over reformed Europe, convened the Synod of Dort specifically to examine and pronounce judgment on this Arminian remonstrance.

And they produced counter-affirmations that we now commonly know by the famous acronym TULIP.

Tulip.

Right.

Sinners means men exactly as God finds them.

Guilty, vile, helpless, spiritually dead, powerless, and utterly unable to lift a finger to do God's will or contribute to their own rescue.

Let's look at how Dort answered the five Armenian points with the TULIP acronym.

Total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement or particular redemption, irresistible grace and the perseverance or preservation of the saints.

The internal calling cannot fail to bring about that effect.

And we could still ask though, why this effect itself? Why is it that the internal calling [baby crying] guarantees a conversion of sinners who receive it? The answer to this question takes us to the famous TULIP acronym, for those of you who have heard of TULIP.

This is the famous five points of Calvinism.

The letter T at the beginning of TULIP, it's an acronym, stands for total depravity, and this teaches that every aspect of fallen human nature is corrupt.

There's no little island of righteousness within anyone's heart.

We just talked about that today in the catechism.

"Effectual calling is the work of God's almighty power and grace whereby out of his free and special love to his elect, and from nothing in them moving him thereunto, [baby crying] he doth, in his accepted time, invite and draw them to Jesus Christ by his Word and Spirit, savingly enlightening their minds, renewing and powerfully determining their wills, so as they, although in themselves dead in sin, are hereby made willing and able freely to answer his call, and to accept and embrace the grace offered and conveyed therein." If only we could write like that today.

This doctrine of effectual calling includes what is known as the idea of irresistible grace.

"And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one can boast." All right, I told you we're gonna talk about TULIPS.

TULIP stands for Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints.

Contrary to popular opinion, Calvin did not come up with this.

If you could meet Calvin in heaven and you said, "Hey, tell me all about TULIP," he would be like, "What, the flower?" This is not something he came up with.

In the late fifteen hundreds, a theologian and a professor by the name of Jacob Arminius challenged some of the teachings of Calvin.

He felt that Calvinism too easily dismissed human responsibility.

That comes to our final point, number three, the perseverance of the saints.

Some of you guys know that as the letter P in that acronym TULIP that defines the doctrines of grace, or better known as the Five Points of Calvinism.

Number five is the perseverance of the saints, but after centuries have gone by, many were saying, "Well, it's actually probably a little bit more accurate.

We'll keep the P for the TULIP, but how about the preservation of the saints?" Because we know that ultimately it is God's sovereign hand to preserve us to the very end.

Look at the last two verses, 10 and 11.

"Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.

Okay.

Now we have the eye of TULIP, irresistible grace.

probably more accurate to call it effectual calling.

This is the calling that has the effect of drawing the sinner to Christ.

They talk about the doctrines of grace.

That is literally what they call TULIP, the doctrines of grace.

So it sounds wonderful.

We have a graceful God.

Therefore, man cannot be responsible by very definition.

And if man is not responsible, then it's God alone who sins.

That is where we're headed with TULIP.

It makes God a sinner.