I REJECT TULIP THEOLOGY

I REJECT TULIP THEOLOGY

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Updated September 24, 2000 (first published July 27, 1999) (David W. Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061-0368, fbns@wayoflife.org) - The Westminster Confession reflected John Calvin’s system of predestinarian theology which has been summarized in five points by the acronym of TULIP: Total depravity of man, meaning man is incapable of responding to the Gospel; Unconditional election, meaning God chooses which men will be saved and which men will be lost; Limited atonement, meaning Christ died only for those who will be saved; Irresistible grace, meaning the sinner cannot resist God’s call to salvation; and Perseverance of the saints, meaning those who are saved will hold out faithful to the end.

We must hasten to say that the Westminster Confession’s teaching in these areas is contrary to the plain statements of the Word of God. The Calvinist wants to have a big God, and I am all for that. I am thankful for men who want to exalt God in a man-exalted hour. The Bible presents us with a BIG God and a little man, and I believe in that. I serve and worship a BIG God. He sits as King forever. He does His will, and no one can stay Him. No one can question His will; no one can thwart His will. He says, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure" (Is. 46:10). Indeed, He will. He is Almighty God, and He is to be exalted.

It is wrong, though, and a very strange thing, indeed, to define a doctrine of the sovereignty of God that goes counter to what that God has said about Himself! The Westminster Confession says:

"By the decree of God ... some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and OTHERS FOREORDAINED TO EVERLASTING DEATH. These angels and men, thus predestinated and foreordained, are particularly and UNCHANGEABLY DESIGNED; and their number is so certain and definite, THAT IT CANNOT BE EITHER INCREASED OR DIMINISHED. ... they who are elected ... are effectually called unto faith in Christ ... NEITHER ARE ANY OTHER REDEEMED by Christ, effectually called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and saved, BUT THE ELECT ONLY."

This is erroneous human philosophy which makes God out to be a liar, but the Bible plainly says salvation is for whosoever will (Jn. 3:16; Rev. 22:17). The Bible repeats this and repeats this and repeats this. The Bible says Christ "gave himself a ransom FOR ALL" (1 Tim. 2:6). He purchased even wicked false teachers who are lost and on their way to Hell; when these men deny the biblical Jesus Christ, the Bible says they deny "the Lord that bought them" (2 Pet. 2:1). He bought them, though they are damned and on their way to Hell! Away with the man-made doctrine of limited atonement.

The Westminster Confession says those who are saved are "effectually called unto faith in Christ." This means God’s call to salvation is irresistible, but the Bible plainly says that God’s call CAN be resisted. The Lord Jesus Christ wept over Jerusalem and testified, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not (Mt. 23:37). He would; they would not. There is no irresistible grace here. He said to the stubborn Pharisees, "And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life" (Jn. 6:40). He would have given these lost men life, but they would not come. He would; they would not. There is no irresistible grace here, either. That God’s grace can be resisted and refused is a matter of Scriptural record from Genesis to Revelation. Cain refused God (Gen. 4:5-16); men living during the Great Tribulation will also refuse God (Rev. 9:20-21; 16:9,11). Men have been foolishly refusing and rejecting God’s call for the entire, wretched, 6,000 years of human history.

Away with any man-made teaching that denies these plain statements of Scriptures. Someone might say, "I can explain those Scriptures." Away with that, too. I don’t want anyone explaining away the plain teaching of the Word of God. The Bible requires careful interpretation, it is true; but if we can’t take the Word of God at face value, in context, there is no way we can dogmatically know what it is saying.

I have a big God, a sovereign God, but I am neither Calvinist nor Arminian. The Bible says God would have all men be saved. I believe that. The Bible says man can say no to God. As amazing as this seems to me, I believe it. If God wants to give man the potential to resist Him and to reject Him and to say no to Him, who am I to say this detracts from His sovereignty or makes Him any less Almighty God? It does not detract from His sovereign power one iota.

The problem with Calvinism is its attempt to reconcile and systematize that which the Bible does not reconcile. Though there is value in systematic theology, there is also a danger. We must be careful simply to believe the Bible as it stands. I believe Acts 13:48, which says "as many as were ordained to eternal life believed," and I also believe Acts 13:46, which says the unbelieving Jews had rejected God's salvation and had judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life. I don't try to develop a theological system that will somehow make perfect sense of it all.