The Doctrines of Grace, also known as TULIP, have to do with God’s total sovereignty in comparison to man’s powerlessness in salvation. This topic is far from new and continues to be debated in Christian circles today. Both sides of the debate are on opposite planes of the spectrum and, thus, only one is accurate. Either the Doctrines of Grace are true or they are false. If even one of the points in TULIP is false, the whole thing falls. The same applies to the opposing party. The two parties include what is commonly known as Calvinism and Arminianism. The main question of debate boils down to this: “Is the clay’s salvation completely dependent upon the potter’s grace or is the potter dependent upon the clay’s free will to make a conscious decision for Christ apart from predestination and election?”

The one who believes that the clay is able to make a conscious decision for Christ apart from God’s sovereign control affirms Arminianism. The one who believes that the potter must freely extend His grace to the clay and work a miracle of regeneration upon the hearts of men before men can ever freely love God in return, affirms Calvinism. Determining which position stands or falls should be done according to exegetical examination of the Holy Scriptures. For simplicity, this article will be divided into two parts. The first part will examine the Five Points of Arminianism, which inspired the birth of a response known as the Five Points of Calvinism. The next part will lead into the Five Points of Calvinism, which are arranged in an acronym commonly known as TULIP.

First Part – 5 Points of Arminianism

1. Free-Will or Human Ability: The fall of Adam cursed all generations of mankind, but man’s free will remained like Adam and Eve’s free will as it was before the fall. In other words, man can choose between good and evil as Adam and Eve could because man did not fall into a state of complete spiritual helplessness or death. Man’s decisions are not enslaved to his inherited sinful nature and, thus, it ultimately rests on the efforts of man to accept or reject the gospel. Of course, man can use God’s assistance to help him achieve a saving relationship with Jesus. However, God cannot have total true sovereign control over man’s precious free will because man’s free will paves the way for his own fate. Therefore, man does not first need to be regenerated by God in order to have genuine faith in the true and living triune God. Somehow, sinful men manage to produce saving faith within themselves.

2. Conditional Election: Since man leads his own destiny, God’s election can only be consistent if the election is conditional; that is, based upon God looking to the future to learn who would elect Jesus as their Savior. God does not freely elect – His election is restricted to man’s election because God is obligated to serve man’s free will. Therefore, God elects people based upon what they do. God is a respecter of persons.

3. Universal Atonement: Since God only knows all possible choices instead of the actual choices people will make with their free will, Jesus’ atonement was merely made possible for every person who ever lived from Adam to every last human being ever born. Anyone can accept His sacrifice without the regeneration of the Spirit because man is the author and finisher of salvation. Jesus’ sacrifice did not really accomplish anything on the cross. Rather, the blood of Jesus only becomes effectual when man cooperates with God.

4. Grace can be resisted: God does everything within His limited power to save everyone, but He often fails. Man can trample on God’s internal call and, thus, God’s will is often thwarted. Either God does not know who will come to faith or He wastes His time trying to help save someone that He knows will reject Him.

5. Falling from Grace: Genuine born again believers can lose their salvation when they fail to keep the faith. It is therefore dependent on man to maintain salvation through his efforts. Some Arminianists may differ on this point. Nevertheless, a consistent Arminianist will tend to believe that "ex-Christians" exist.

Second Part – 5 Points of Calvinism

1. Total Depravity: The fall of Adam cursed all generations of mankind in all aspects: physically and spiritually. Since man is completely dead in His trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), He can only choose from that which is sin because he is literally dead; that is, spiritually dead, deaf and blind. Man is unable to do anything good (Rom. 3:11), which includes freely accepting the gospel to become born again into a child of God. Man’s very heart is deceitful above all else, and is desperately sick and wicked (Jer. 17:9). As opposed to free will, his will is in bondage to his own evil nature. He does not even know that he is in darkness because, being spiritually appraised, he cannot understand spiritual things (Rom. 3:11; 1 Cor. 2:14). The sinner has nothing to offer but sin and cannot develop saving faith within himself. Saving faith is part of the gift from God that He imputes into the sinner in the process of regeneration whereby the sinner is given a new nature. This transformation enables the sinner to freely love God in return. Man, if left to his own devices, would freely lead himself to hell apart from God’s regeneration.

2. Unconditional Election: Since man is completely helpless and dead, God must select people unto salvation and bring them to a willing acceptance of Christ by the indwelling of the Spirit whereby God begins His work of resurrecting the sinner to life without any conditions attached. God does not base His election upon man’s will or cooperation, since man’s will is enslaved to wickedness. Rather, God’s will is the cause of men coming to a saving relationship with Jesus. Faith and repentance are gifts granted by God (Phil. 1:29; 2 Tim. 2:24-26) and therefore are the result of God’s divine intervention in regeneration. Without God’s gracious predestination and election, man has no hope.

3. Limited Atonement or Particular Redemption: God knows who is going to be saved because, evidently, God is the one who chooses and redeems. God added to Himself human nature and sufficiently atoned for all the sins of those He intended to save through His sacrifice on the cross. He perfected His redemptive work by sending the Spirit to seal the salvation for those He actually intended to save. All those whom He died for will inevitably come to saving faith because Christ actually accomplished what He set out to do on the cross: to cover the sins of His people with His blood forever 'on the cross.'

4. Irresistible Grace: There is an external call where the gospel is ringing all throughout the world, but there is a particular internal call that is for the elect alone. This internal call cannot be rejected because God’s grace is invincible; it always results in man freely and willingly putting his faith and trust in Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins. God triumphs over man instead of the other way around.

5. Perseverance of the Saints: Salvation is not dependent upon man because salvation is apart from works that man leaving man helpless in contributing to Christ’s finished work on the cross. God is the one who perfectly saves His elect and guarantees salvation to them for eternity. The redemptive work of Christ is actually sealed by the Spirit, and God promises that He will never abandon us. A perfect work that God began He will finish.

As one can see, the doctrines of grace are completely God-glorifying. Those who hold to the doctrines of grace are generally referred to as Calvinists. The doctrines of grace themselves are associated with Calvinism. In fact, Calvinism is the most God-glorifying world view that exists.

In Arminianism, man is placed on the pedestal while God plays the role of a secretary. God is merely the assistant or cosmic force that helps man achieve salvation only if man is cooperating with God through works/efforts. God draws man to a certain point, but God cannot save him until the sinner responds. Evidently, at this point, salvation rests on sinful man. If this were the case, then no one would ever be saved because the Bible teaches that the natural man is dead; the natural man is unresponsive because he doesn’t have eyes to see and ears to hear.

In Calvinism, man is completely helpless while God is the only sufficient and perfect provider who never fails. God is not man’s assistant. Rather, God is the author and finisher of salvation. In addition, according to Calvinism, Jesus Christ is an actual Savior who guarantees salvation to those He substituted Himself for on their behalf. In other words, Jesus saves rather than 'trying' to save.