Depending on your church background, you may have heard people talk about Calvinism as depressing or reassuring. Either way, the five points of Calvinism are essential to understanding one of the most widely held views on salvation.
Calvinism is a system of theology named after the reformer John Calvin. Though many teachers taught concepts found within Calvinism throughout church history, John Calvin is credited with synthesizing and explaining those concepts. His book Institutes of the Christian Religion lays out the systematic theology that would cement his place in reformation history.
At its core, Calvinism places a heavy emphasis on God’s sovereignty and grace. A basic premise of Calvinism is that God is fully glorious and self-sufficient in the Trinity. Therefore, God does not need anything from his creation. Because of this, God is not obligated to do anything. He is free to be gracious according to his will.
With that basic understanding in mind, we can ask, “What does Calvinism actually say?” Many people have heard of the five points of Calvinism: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonment, Irresistable Grace and the Perserevence of the Saints (TULIP). These five points essentially sum up Calvin’s theology.
Total depravity seeks to explain the extent of sin’s effect upon humanity. According to R.C. Sproul’s What Is Reformed Theology?, sin affects the entirety of a person—including the mind, body, and will. There is no hidden pocket of goodness in us, just waiting to be accessed. Sin is what we most want. It is our natural inclination. And, because of this, we can’t and don’t want God. God is everything our sin nature despises, and we are incapable of desiring him.
Sproul also rightly asserts that total depravity does not mean that people are as bad as they could be. As creatures made in God’s image, we still retain some of his characteristics, such as a capacity for love, creativity, and charity. However, our sin nature has warped these qualities into self-serving shadows of what God created them to be.
The Apostle Paul speaks to the human heart’s depravity in Romans 1:18-32. Here, Paul describes how humanity willfully turned away from God, instead choosing to worship created things and indulge in all manners of wickedness. Therefore, God “gave them up to dishonorable passions” and to “a debased mind” (v. 26, 28). Later, in Romans 3:19-18, Paul reaches back into the Old Testament and quotes Psalms and other passages that speak to the human heart’s evil condition.
We find similar words from Paul in Ephesians 2:1-3, where he describes the former state of the believers to whom he is writing. Before Christ, they were “following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air” (v. 2). They lived to satisfy the mind and body’s desires, desires contrary to God’s commands.
The concept of total depravity paints a pretty bleak picture for humanity. We are spiritually dead, unable (and unwilling) to choose God. We can do nothing to save ourselves from God’s wrath. Humanly speaking, we are in a hopeless situation.
This brings us to the point of unconditional election. In his grace and love, God was not willing to let his creation destroy itself. According to the doctrine of unconditional election, from eternity past, the Lord predestined some to be saved from their sins and brought back into relationship with him. Whereas some Christians believe that God made his choice based upon his foreknowledge of who recieve his call, Calvinists believe that God’s choice was entirely unconditional. Nothing within his elect people made them more worthy of his grace. They did not catch his eye with their spiritual sensitivity or potential.
In Ephesians 1:3-12, Paul clarifies that the Lord chose who would be saved based solely upon his own gracious will. Paul does not see this as a problem: rather, it is a glorious truth to celebrate. Before he created the world, God chose us to receive unimaginable mercy and blessings, not based on anything we did to deserve it, but only because he wanted to be good and gracious. We who deserved only wrath and judgment have been adopted into God’s family. We have been made blameless in his sight, and we will receive eternal glory when Christ returns. This was God’s purpose.
We see similar sentiments echoed by the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter, where he refers to his readers as “elect exiles” (1:1), “chosen and precious” (2:4), and “a chosen race” (2:9). Peter does not see the church of God as a random collection of individuals, but as a body of purposefully chosen saints.
Though unconditional election is perhaps Calvinism’s most controversial point, it provides enormous comfort to those who believe it. What peace there is in knowing that God’s favor is truly unconditional. We could not earn it before we were saved. We cannot earn it after we are saved. It is totally free.
Limited atonement speaks to the scope of Jesus’ atoning work on the cross. Calvinists would argue that Jesus’ suffering and death had a very specific purpose and reach. Instead of just opening up the potential of salvation to all, Christ’s death atoned for the elect’s sins.
Certainly, this is a difficult concept to accept. However, if we argue that Christ’s sacrifice was not only for the elect, we run into some major theological issues. The simplest and most obvious issue is universalism. If we say that Christ’s work on the cross accomplished atonement for all, we must say that all are saved, contradicting the entire New Testament (e.g., John 3:18).
Many have tried to distance themselves from this conclusion by arguing that Jesus’ death opened the potential for salvation, but only those who accept Christ through faith actually receive atonement for their sins. R.C. Sproul rightly asserts that by saying this, people make faith a condition of salvation. This condition implies that Jesus’ death was not sufficient to atone for sin. Faith becomes a work by which people are saved (What Is Reformed Theology? 191).
Limited atonement balances the doctrines of Christ’s sufficiency, God’s justice, and salvation by grace alone. Limited atonement affirms that Christ’s death was sufficient to atone for all sin for all time if that had been God’s plan. It also affirms that only those who repent of their sins and trust in Christ for salvation receive atonement for their sins. Therefore, the elect’s sins have been paid for once and for all by our great Savior, Jesus Christ. All those who reject Christ will not receive atonement, but will suffer God’s just wrath for their unbelief.
The term irresistible grace may inadvertently mislead the reader about the focus of this concept. R.C. Sproul instead calls the fourth petal of TULIP “the Spirit’s effective call,” which better communicates this point’s main idea. Irresistible grace insists that God’s grace is the sole force of regeneration in a person’s heart. This line of thinking states that regeneration comes before justification. People must be given spiritual life before they can respond to God in faith.
Over and over again, Scripture tells us that people are spiritually dead in their sins (Col. 2:13, Eph. 2:5). A dead man cannot bring himself back to life. The story of Israel in the Old Testament illustrates this. Even though they had every advantage and every reason to choose God, they rejected him over and over. The Lord would have to act to save sinners. In Ezekiel 36, the Lord proclaims that he will do just that. He promises to remove the hearts of stone from his people and replace them with hearts of flesh (v. 26). That is, he will remove their hardened, unfeeling hearts and give them hearts that are soft and responsive. More than that, God promises to put his Spirit within his people, empowering them to follow his commands (v. 27).
All of this is the Lord’s work. There is no necessary cooperation on the part of the people. As we have already seen, the Apostles Peter and Paul agree that God alone brings sinners back to life (Eph. 2:5, Col. 2:13, 1 Pet. 1:3). It is only after the application of God’s grace that a person can respond in faith. This grace is often referred to as effectual calling.
The effectual call of God through the Holy Spirit is particular to the elect and certain in its outcome. When people hear the gospel proclaimed, they receive God’s general calling. Throughout the gospels, Jesus models this calling and commands his followers to do the same. However, only the elect receive an effectual calling. In this calling, the Holy Spirit uses the proclaimed gospel to breathe life into the sinner’s dead heart and free the will to come to God in repentance and faith. Jesus describes this effectual call in John 6:37 when he says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me….”
This point could also be called “preservation of the saints,” as it asserts that those saved by grace through faith in Jesus are preserved by God and empowered to persevere in the faith until they reach final glorification. Those truly in Christ can have complete assurance of their salvation past, present, and future.
Biblical support for the perseverance of the saints cannot be overstated. The entire New Testament is bursting with the glorious reality that God keeps and protects his own. John 10:27-30 records Jesus promising the security of his sheep: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will 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 the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
According to Paul in Romans 8, our glorification is as certain as our justification (v. 30). Why? Because we are absolutely secure in the love of Christ (v. 39). Peter echoes Paul’s certainty in 1 Peter 1, where he reminds his readers that God is guarding them for an inheritance that they will receive when Jesus returns (v. 4-5). Surely, Peter must have had the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus in mind when he wrote those words (John 17).
Of course, this does not mean that Christians will never struggle or even stray for a time. But it does mean true believers will never fully walk away from Christ. They will exhibit fruit over time that points to the fact that they have been saved and sealed by our great God. On the other hand, those who walk away and denounce Christ should be understood as never being true Christians. Much like Judas, one may act like and even believe that they are saved, but the pressures of life will reveal the truth.
Though some may consider Calvinism to be harsh, this systematic theology is consistent with Scripture and provides a helpful framework to view our faith. By making much of God’s glory, justice, grace, and love, the believer enters a position of humble awe at their Creator and Savior.
Regardless of our theological opinions, may we all make it our aim to live in humble worship of and submission to our great God.
Photo Credit: Getty Images/Luisa Vallon Fumi
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