By Bob Wilkin

Recently, I recorded a seven-minute YouTube video with the same title. It is available to view on the Grace Evangelical Society YouTube channel.

When I graduated from DTS in 1982, I called myself a Calvinist. I considered myself a three-pointer.

I’ve come to realize that all five points are a unit. You believe either all five or none. Of course, some people give different meanings to the points to reach an agreement, but that’s cheating.

TULIP summarizes the five points: Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, and the Perseverance of the saints.

Here is how Calvinists define those points:

Total depravity. Humans are like cadavers. They cannot respond to God. They cannot believe in Christ. Regeneration must precede faith.

Unconditional election. In eternity past, God elected or chose those who would be saved. That election is based on nothing in the ones chosen. He chose about one to two percent of all of humanity. The rest cannot be saved.

Limited atonement. Christ died for only the elect. Only the elect are savable. The ninety-eight percent He didn’t die for are not savable. They’re doomed from conception.

Irresistible grace. God draws only the elect, and the elect cannot resist His drawing and His grace.

Perseverance of the saints. The elect, and only the elect, will persevere in faith and good works until death. Eternal security (the preservation of the saints) applies only to believers who persevere. Believers who do not persevere will be eternally condemned. Here is my response to the five points:

T = We are sinners, but we can respond to God.
U= Election is to service, not to eternal destiny.
L = Christ died for the world, making all savable.
I = Humans can resist God’s grace.
P = Perseverance is not guaranteed and isn’t required for preservation. It is a condition for ruling with Christ.

John 3:16-18 (as well as many other passages in John and throughout the Bible) contradicts Calvinism in these ways:

Contra T: Anyone can believe in Christ.
Contra U: No election to everlasting life is mentioned or implied.
Contra L: God sent Christ to die for the sins of the whole world.
Contra I: God is drawing all, and those who resist for their whole lives (never coming to faith in Christ) will be eternally condemned.
Contra P: Eternal security is true, independent of perseverance.

I’m concerned for Calvinists because they lack assurance of their eternal destinies. They do not know if they are elect, if Christ died for them, or if they will persevere. They go through life on a quest for assurance that can never be realized. Only when they die will they know whether they were elected or not.

You don’t need to be a Calvinist or an Arminian. You can be a Biblicist. You can believe and follow God’s Word where it takes you. Be like the Bereans who searched the Scriptures (Acts 17:11).

Keep grace in focus.

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Bob Wilkin is Executive Director of Grace Evangelical Society. He and Sharon live in Highland Village, TX. He has racewalked ten marathons.