The Five Points of Calvinism

     The Doctrines of Grace may be summed up under the following five headings that form the acronym T.U.L.I.P.

Total Depravity

• The Scriptures teach that all men everywhere are sinful in every aspect of their being and as such can neither save themselves nor prepare themselves for salvation.

  Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
  —Genesis 6:5

• This does not mean that all men are as bad as they can be, but that no one is spiritually good in the eyes of God.

  There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.
  —Romans 3:10-12

Unconditional Election

• The Bible teaches that from this race of fallen, sinful humanity God chose a people to be His own solely based upon His love and grace and not upon anything that they had done or ever would do.

  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.... This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.
  —John 6:37, 39

• This means that God’s choice of His elect for salvation is not based on any merit in them: neither works nor faith can make a man worthy to be saved.

  ...God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began
  —2 Timothy 1:9

Limited Atonement

• The Word of God teaches that the the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was shed only for His elect people, and that His self-sacrifice actually saves them from their sin.

  I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.... I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
  —John 10:11, 14-16

• This means that the elect, and they alone, are the intended recipients of the saving work of Christ.

  But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
  —John 10:26-28

Irresistible Grace

• The Scriptures tell us that God sovereignly calls and draws those whom He has chosen for salvation to the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.
  —John 6:37

• God does this by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit who convicts, convinces, and converts the elect of God bringing them to Jesus.

  No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
  —John 6:44

Perseverance of the Saints

• The Bible says that all whom the Father has chosen, and the Son redeemed, and the Holy Spirit drawn to Christ, shall persevere in the Christian faith unto the very end and be saved.

  And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
  —John 10:28-29

• Nothing will ever separate the elect from God.

  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 created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  —Romans 8:38-39