Trampling through the T.U.L.I.P.s

"We are the Lord's elected few, let all the rest be damned; there's room enough in hell for you, we won't have heaven crammed!"

(Actual Calvinist song as documented in The Other Side of Calvinism
by Dr. Laurence Vance)

This article is not meant to mock Calvinists. There are many God loving people who have held to Calvin’s system of soteriology, not the least of whom was Charles Haddon Spurgeon. On the flip side, there have always been very good Christians who’ve held to the opposite view, Armenianism, such as John Wesley.

Pointing out the errors in doctrine is not the same as demeaning those who believe it.

That being said, Calvinism, if taken to its logical end result can be very harmful. Those who take it there are called hyper-Calvinists, and they tend to spend their time in groups muttering about the elect, eternal decrees, and doing everything but soul winning. Thankfully, Charles Spurgeon was not a hyper-Calvinist and he actually spoke out against them.

Regardless of whether your beliefs lean towards Armenianism or Calvinism, it’s important to take a step back and examine them. I’ve seen many Calvinists accuse those who do not adhere to their doctrine as being lazy, unwilling to study the scriptures, and taking the easy way out. If you are a Calvinist, I hope you will hold yourself to the same standard of diligence that you hold others to as we take a look at the five points of T.U.L.I.P, starting with Total Depravity.


Rom. 3:10-12, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

The idea behind this point in Calvin’s system is that man is so totally depraved that he lacks the ability to be able to come to God or seek Him out. Calvin is correct on this point, to a certain degree. On his own, man is so depraved that he will not seek after God. That’s easily ascertainable in the above passage.

The story doesn’t end there though; consider this woman who just wouldn’t give up:

Matt. 15:21-28, “Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. 22 And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. 23 But he answered her not a word.”

This woman came to Jesus for help. He did not seek her out at all, she went out of her way searching for Him, and when she found Him she asked Him for help.

Jesus gave her the cold shoulder, first rejection.

“24 And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us.”

Second rejection. The disciples ask Jesus to tell her to go away, right in front of her. Does this deter her?

“25 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Third rejection, right in front of the woman Jesus ignores the woman again, and tells the disciples that at that time the gospel wasn’t intended for the gentiles. At this point, the woman has experienced rejection three times and Jesus still hasn’t spoken to her directly.

“25 Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. 26 But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs.”

After being rejected three times, the woman pleads with the Lord to help her. He rejects her, insults her, and insinuates that she’s not good enough to even be able to hear the gospel. The plan was not for her at the time.

In Matthew 10:6-7 Jesus clearly told his disciples to ignore everyone who was a Gentile and to only bring the gospel to the Jews. Sure, the Gentiles were going to get a “crack at it”, but not until the Jews had heard it first. The reasons behind this have to do with dispensations and the gospel of the kingdom, something that is another Bible study in of itself. Regardless, Jesus rejects this woman directly after ignoring her twice.

“27 And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. 28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.”

After being rejected four times, the woman doesn’t try to defend herself at all. She understands that she is a lost, hell bound sinner who deserves nothing. She doesn’t argue with the Lord, she agrees with Him. Jesus is moved by this woman’s persistence and faith and goes outside of His own dispensational guidelines to save her.

How does THAT line up with the idea of total depravity, or better put, total inability?

Does this mean we take the verses in Romans 3 and throw them out the door?

Of course not. Then how do we reconcile the woman in Matthew 15 with what is written in Romans 3?

John 12:32-33, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 33 This he said, signifying what death he should die.”

Jesus Christ is the game changer. Jesus Christ is the bridge between God and man; the woman in Matthew 15 couldn’t help but be drawn to Jesus Christ. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and anyone in the same room as Him would know it instinctively regardless of any dispensational boundaries that may exist! We read in John 12:32 that when Christ was lifted up (“lifted up” is defined as crucifixion in the very next verse) that all men would be drawn unto Him.

Before Christ, there are many instances of men choosing of their own free will to obey God. Obviously the depravity of man does not extend to his will, when given light from God and given a choice man is able to respond to it. Without the light, man doesn’t seek out God, but with light he certainly has the ability to choose God.

So the “T” in T.U.L.I.P is a moot point. It doesn’t matter whether or not man can come to God on His own or not, Jesus promised that if He was crucified that He’d draw all men on earth to Himself one way or another.



Click Here to View the Next Article on Calvinism


-