•Human Free Will--This states that though man is fallen, he is not incapacitated by the sinful nature and can freely choose God. His will is not restricted and enslaved by his sinful nature.

•Conditional Election--God chose people for salvation, but only based on His foreknowledge, where God looks into the future to see who will respond to the Gospel message. Knowing who says “yes”, He chooses them.

•Universal Atonement--The position that Jesus bore the sin of everyone who ever lived.

•Resistable Grace--The teaching that the grace of God can be resisted and finally beaten so as to reject salvation in Christ.

•Fall from Grace--The teaching that a person can fall from grace and lose his salvation.

This system of thought, known today as Arminianism, was popularized by the Wesleys and their movement of Methodists. And many others. The great majority of Christians in the West, think as Arminian. Though they do not know Jacob, the founder of their thought! In fairness, they too wish to trace their beginnings to the Bible.

Don’t we all?

The Five Points of Calvinism

As we said, Calvin died in 1564.But his teachings did not. The Reformation adopted much of what he said, and formed it into a system, a system which was “reaffirmed by the Synod of Dordt in 1619 as the doctrine of salvation contained in the Holy Scriptures.” (reformed.org)

And at the same time, 1619, the system was put into a more manageable order by creating five points of its own, as an answer to the Arminians.

According to Calvinism: (Per reformed.org)

“Salvation is accomplished by the almighty power of the triune God. The Father chose a people, the Son died for them, the Holy Spirit makes Christ's death effective by bringing the elect to faith and repentance, thereby causing them to willingly obey the Gospel. The entire process (election, redemption, regeneration) is the work of God and is by grace alone. Thus God, not man, determines who will be the recipients of the gift of salvation.”

Some very creative brother or sister came up with a way of remembering Calvinism’s five points: An acrostic using the word “tulip.”

T is for Total Depravity (or perhaps better, Total Inability)

At the outset, a problem in vocabulary. Depravity in modern vernacular is corruption, even perversion. One thinks even of insanity, or craven decadence. Well, it can be all of that. But what was originally meant, is that sin has extended to every part of the personality. His thoughts. His emotions. His will. Sin is a pervasive disease, and some have the sickness worse than others, but all are affected. All. From birth. Nay, from conception.

Again, from reformed.org, “The unregenerate (unsaved) man is dead in his sins (Romans 5:12). Without the power of the Holy Spirit, the natural man is blind and deaf to the message of the gospel (Mark 4:11f). This is why Total Depravity has also been called "Total Inability." The man without a knowledge of God will never come to this knowledge without God's making him alive through Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5).”

U: Unconditional Election

God chose the ones whom He would later call to Himself, based on His own will, not anything man did or decided. This means He has also chosen others for damnation (Romans 9:-15-21). He did all this before there was a world (Ephesians 1:4-8)

Still, man has the responsibility of believing the Gospel. To deny this leads to what is called “hyper-Calvinism”. To deny God’s sovereign choices, however, is to affirm Arminianism, that it is man who chooses to “accept” Christ.

In this system, good works are the fruit, not the root, of salvation (Ephesians 2:10).

Reformed.org: “This is what Peter means when he admonishes the Christian reader to make his "calling" and "election" sure (2 Peter 1:10). Bearing the fruit of good works is an indication that God has sown seeds of grace in fertile soil.”

L: Limited Atonement (Particular Redemption)

For whom did Jesus die? Whose sins were forgiven at the cross? All men? Or all that God gave to Jesus (John 17:9)? (Matthew 26:28). Though some fear this doctrine kills motivation behind evangelism, the command of Jesus to go and preach is not affected by us not knowing who will come and who will not. The fact is, the preaching of the Gospel will call the elect, and we must keep preaching for their sakes.

We all agree that all men will not be saved, so in fact Jesus’ death did not affect all men, but only the saved. The Arminian wants to have a potential salvation for all, a phenomenon the Calvinist sees as unnecessary.

I: Irresistible Grace

When the Holy Spirit calls a man by the Word of God, that man will respond. There may be a struggle, but God will win that struggle in His elect. John 6:37 makes this clear. See also John 6:44, and Romans 8:14. The most unlikely of surprises have demonstrated this awesome fact through the years!

P: Perseverance of the Saints

We trivialize this concept into “once saved, always saved,” then write it off as ridiculous in the light of all the people we know who were “saved” then fell away. But Romans 8:28-39, coupled with John 6:39 speak of a God who is able to keep us to the end, if we truly were His to begin with.

Credit: This description of the Five Points of Calvinism was written originally by Jonathan Barlow but totally revised and edited by yours truly. It could be denied in some parts by various adherents of the Calvin-dom Empire. Yes, Calvinism has splintered much, even as has Arminianism. People have division in their belly, and seem to love a good fight. Others are truly searching but have only found a certain measure of the truth.

Now let’s take a closer look at the five huge issues, with their sub-issues, before us, and see whether any preliminary conclusions can be made.

Importance

Before we go on, though, we must address again the importance of this study. “Does it really matter?” one might ask. Do I need this information to get to Heaven? Will being on the right side assure my place in Heaven?

Well, yes, it really matters, but no, your salvation does not depend on your knowledge of this portion of theology. Probably. I say “probably” for this reason:

If one is still drinking at the Pelagian well, and thinking that he is indeed the one responsible for his salvation, that he must work to save himself, that the blood of Jesus makes no real difference, and likewise the Spirit of Jesus, this study is extremely important! The salvation-by-works dogma is damning, and read a certain way in Arminian teaching, can destroy a man’s soul.

But if one is drinking only Christ, and His revealed Word, being filled with the one Spirit of God, growing in the grace of God, fruit will begin to be produced regardless of the presence of some imperfect teachings.

So why? A right understanding can bring confidence in one’s position in Christ. A right understanding can bring huge appreciation of Christ’s sacrifice and a resultant praise life that is enhanced. A right understanding can bring a humility of soul and an awareness of self that is the true mark of a child of God. Pursue this study. It is not going away any time soon. The church has nearly always had to struggle with this teaching. Rest not in intellectual acumen but in the simple words of Scripture. You may be surprised at what emerges.