THE FIVE POINTS OF CALVINISM

The doctrine of salvation is succinctly expressed in the five points of Calvinism. According to the Rev Dr Timothy Tow, “Calvinism is Paulinism systematised”. When we study Calvin, we are actually studying the Apostle Paul. The five points can be easily remembered through the acronym TULIP which stands for (1) Total Depravity, (2) Unconditional Election, (3) Limited Atonement, (4) Irresistible Grace, and (5) Perseverance of the Saints.

Total Depravity

Of the five points, the first is the most important. Total depravity speaks of man’s utter defilement and corruption due to sin. Man in his total depravity is dead in sin and his fallen will is bound by sin. Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.” (Rom 3:10–11). As such, sinful man is incapable of saving himself from the judgment to come. That is why he needs a Saviour. Furthermore, man left on his own will never choose Christ as Saviour. That is why God has to do the choosing if man is to be saved.

Unconditional Election

Man can be saved only by God’s election which is unconditional. Jesus said, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you” (John 15:16). God’s election is not based upon any merit in man for there is none at all. God chose by virtue of His sovereign will. However, He did not choose all, only some. He says, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” (Rom 9:15–16).

Why did God choose some and not all? The answer is simple. It is because He “suka” (Malay: “like”). He chose out of His own good will and pleasure: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will” (Eph 1:3–5).

Limited Atonement

Having chosen some to be saved, God needed to deal with the sins of those whom He had chosen. The holy and just God requires the penalty of sin to be paid in full. For this reason God the Father sent His only begotten Son into the world to be our Substitute, to die for our sins on the cross: “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:6–8). “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom 6:23).

Christ died on the cross, shedding His precious blood, for our atonement. The atonement is limited because it is effective only for those whom God had chosen to save (Matt 1:21, John 10:15–16). Although the atonement is efficacious only for the elect, did Christ in a sense die for the whole world? The answer is yes. God loves the world, and His gospel is sincerely offered to all. This we know from John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” 1 John 2:2 says, “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” Christ’s atonement is “sufficient for all, efficient for the elect.”

Irresistible Grace

Although atonement is already made for sin, there is a further thing God must do if man is to be saved. Since man will not come to Him on his own, God must draw man to Himself. When God calls a person to salvation, it is irresistible. This is the work of the Holy Spirit who convicts the person of his sin and guilt and enables the person to believe in Christ for his salvation. John 6:44 says, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

This special grace has to do with God’s call. This call comes from the Holy Spirit. The Spirit convicts and converts the sinner when the gospel is preached. It is the Spirit who grants faith to the sinner to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The sinner is unable to resist this inward call of God unto salvation. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Eph 2:8–9). “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Rom 8:14).

Perseverance of the Saints

Once saved, always saved. God is all powerful. He does not fail. When God starts a work, He finishes it. His salvation plan comes with a 100% guarantee. The believer’s place in heaven is safe and secure. Jesus promised, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” (John 10:27–29).

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.” (Rom 8:28–30). God will preserve His people all the way until they reach heaven, and His people will persevere in their faith all the way till they see Him face to face.

“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:31–39).

CALVIN’S 43 FACETS OF FAITH

1. Faith found only through knowing Christ (1 Pet 1:21).
2. Not “implicit faith” but explicit knowledge revealed in Christ (Rom 10:10).
3. Faith is not reverence for Church but for God and Christ (John 17:3).
4. Implicit faith because of imperfect knowledge (Phil 3:15).
5. Implicit faith is docile faith not blind faith (John 4:50–53, John 4:42).
6. Faith and Word inseparable (John 20:21).
7. Faith comes through the knowledge of God’s benevolence (Ps 25:10).
8. “Not head but heart faith” (Rom 10:18).
9. Not shadowy but clear faith.
10. Not professing faith but repentant faith (eg Simon Magus, Acts 8).
11. Not temporal faith but perpetual faith (Heb 6:4).
12. Not reprobate faith but elect faith (John 2:24–25).
13. Pure doctrine generates pure faith (1 Tim 3:9, 4:6, 4:20, Tit 1:13).
14. Faith is above reason (Eph 3:18).
15. Confident faith not doubting faith (Eph 3:12).
16. Peaceful faith not fearful faith (Rom 8:38).
17. Conquering faith not faltering faith (Pss 27:14, 42:5).
18. Successful faith not failing faith.
19. Progressive faith not regressive faith.
20. Faith imperfect in present sinful state (2 Cor 3:18).
21. Faith in Word is a spiritual shield that cannot be destroyed (Job 13:15, Ps 33:4).
22. Faith is reverent fear which deters sin (1 Cor 10:11).
23. Faith is reverent fear which produces humility (Phil 2:11).
24. Christ-centred faith not man-centred faith.
25. Faith sees man as nothing and God as everything.
26. Faith is reverent fear for God who is not only Father but also Lord (Mal 1:6).
27. Faith is filial fear not servile fear.
28. Faith not only looks to present but also to future blessings.
29. Faith rests on a gratuitous not a conditional promise (Rom 10:8).
30. Saving faith rests on divine mercy not divine threatenings.
31. Faith comes from illumination and the Word.
32. Faith directs us to Christ (Rom 15:8).
33. Illumined faith not philosophic faith.
34. Illumined faith received by the light of the Holy Spirit.
35. Spiritual faith not natural faith (2 Cor 4:13, 1 Cor 2:5).
36. Rooted faith not suspended faith (sealed in the heart) (Eph 1:13, 2 Cor 1:29).
37. Unmoveable faith in the midst of doubts and temptations (Ps 3:5).
38. Faith produces works not faith in works.
39. Certain faith not conjectural faith.
40. Faith gives knowledge of ultimate destination (Rom 8:31).
41. Faith gives knowledge of invisible realm (Heb 11:1).
42. Faith gives hope (Rom 8:24).
43. Faith and hope inseparable (1 Pet 1:5, 21).

JK