Thursday, June 10, 2010
Accessing RTS Reformed Theology course
The online course at Reformed Theological Seminary can be accessed at http://itunes.rts.edu/. Click to Launch RTS on iTunes U. On the left, click on Courses in Theology; click on Introduction to Pastoral and Theological Studies and listen to the lectures. The download is free and no RTS registration required.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The Plight of the Homeless Christian
In 1977 I was homeless. So, disgusted with city-life, I high-tailed it for the mountains and pitched my tiny orange tent in Cottonwood Lake Campground. I dropped out and spent my days hiking, trout fishing, and reading Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings.” Waking as the tent heated from the morning sun and falling asleep with a billion stars shining as my nightlight was freedom defined.
Occasionally my camp-mate and I drove his Plymouth Belvedere to my cousin’s house on Trout Creek. There we sat in stiff wooden chairs around her kitchen table and ate and talked and laughed with incense burning and Pink Floyd playing in the background. Inside her walls lived a different kind of freedom: the freedom of belonging. Her screen door slammed shut on a fearsome loneliness. The summer wore on. We visited my cousin’s home, our home away from homelessness, more frequently.
I was a young, immature, follower of Christ in 1977. I knew less than nothing about God and life. I had no idea that what we were doing around my cousin’s kitchen table was oddly church-like. We sang no hymns, passed no offering plate, and followed no liturgy. We broke bread; we gave thanks; we encouraged one another; we loved one another. We had a sacred fellowship. And God was there, though not invoked, yet gentle, invisible, insistent. God surfaced in nearly every conversation, hung around in every corner.
Everyone needs a place to belong: a community to talk, laugh, cry, and encounter God with.
In 2008 I became a homeless Christian, without a gathered Christian community to encounter God with. At first, like in the summer of 1977, the freedom was exhilarating. Did you know people sleep in, read the comics, and freely hang out in coffee shops on Sunday mornings? Suddenly Sundays became Sabbath, relaxed and unpressurized.
Eventually though, reading the funnies, or even the Bible, in my boxers lost its appeal. I missed the intellectual, social, and spiritual stimulation present in a gathered Christian community. I yearned for encountering God in music, sermons, ancient and modern rites, and most of all, other people. I did not miss, however, the politics, the griping, or the massive weight of trying to speak honestly for God.
While homeless, my spiritual life resembled a slowly receding tide, leaving bleached, empty shells of faith on the beach. My faith became a distant, powerless belief system rather than a vibrant way of life. Now months later, surrounded by a grace-filled Christian community, God is rebuilding my soul.
I am not the only one to experience spiritual homelessness. Disgusted with the real and perceived hypocrisy, ritual, dogma, judgmentalism, and general irrelevance of what we now call church, many followers of Christ have dropped out and pitched a tent in their own backyards hoping for the best. Researchers claim only about 20% of Americans attend church. While three quarters of American adults call themselves Christian.
A sizable majority of Christians are homeless, without a gathered community to belong to. You may be one.
The problem is God designed life to be lived with-in a caring, serving, worshiping community called church. Unlike bowling, Christianity is not an individualistic sport. God most often shows up in the spaces (interactions) between people and the more distant those spaces the smaller the interaction and the easier it is to lose sight of God. God loves us as individuals but calls us to live in community. “Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging one another, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on . . . .” Hebrews 10:24-25, The Message.
This question is not whether one “can be a Christian while never ‘going’ to church.” Church is a family, if often a dysfunctional one. You may go to your family’s house, but you don’t “go to” family. You are family. You are the church. In Christ we have been adopted and are a part of a family whether we are estranged—homeless—or not. And just as being estranged from our biological families has far-reaching effects, so too, does being estranged from our spiritual families. The plight of homeless Christians is serious and debilitating to us as individuals and to us as the church.
Often it is not laziness or apostasy that keeps us homeless. Very real fear, pain, and past disappointments keep many of us from belonging to a faith family. Jesus knows our pain and estrangement. The Prodigal Son is not just a story about forgiveness, but also about coming home to God and family, pouty older brother and all. Reconnecting is a fearful prospect, I know. But know also that God is waiting for your return and will kill the fatted calf when you do. We might even put on some Pink Floyd.
GodSightings are an uncommon view of God from a common point of view written by Dr. Eugene C. Scott. Reach him at ecscott@tnc3.org
Occasionally my camp-mate and I drove his Plymouth Belvedere to my cousin’s house on Trout Creek. There we sat in stiff wooden chairs around her kitchen table and ate and talked and laughed with incense burning and Pink Floyd playing in the background. Inside her walls lived a different kind of freedom: the freedom of belonging. Her screen door slammed shut on a fearsome loneliness. The summer wore on. We visited my cousin’s home, our home away from homelessness, more frequently.
I was a young, immature, follower of Christ in 1977. I knew less than nothing about God and life. I had no idea that what we were doing around my cousin’s kitchen table was oddly church-like. We sang no hymns, passed no offering plate, and followed no liturgy. We broke bread; we gave thanks; we encouraged one another; we loved one another. We had a sacred fellowship. And God was there, though not invoked, yet gentle, invisible, insistent. God surfaced in nearly every conversation, hung around in every corner.
Everyone needs a place to belong: a community to talk, laugh, cry, and encounter God with.
In 2008 I became a homeless Christian, without a gathered Christian community to encounter God with. At first, like in the summer of 1977, the freedom was exhilarating. Did you know people sleep in, read the comics, and freely hang out in coffee shops on Sunday mornings? Suddenly Sundays became Sabbath, relaxed and unpressurized.
Eventually though, reading the funnies, or even the Bible, in my boxers lost its appeal. I missed the intellectual, social, and spiritual stimulation present in a gathered Christian community. I yearned for encountering God in music, sermons, ancient and modern rites, and most of all, other people. I did not miss, however, the politics, the griping, or the massive weight of trying to speak honestly for God.
While homeless, my spiritual life resembled a slowly receding tide, leaving bleached, empty shells of faith on the beach. My faith became a distant, powerless belief system rather than a vibrant way of life. Now months later, surrounded by a grace-filled Christian community, God is rebuilding my soul.
I am not the only one to experience spiritual homelessness. Disgusted with the real and perceived hypocrisy, ritual, dogma, judgmentalism, and general irrelevance of what we now call church, many followers of Christ have dropped out and pitched a tent in their own backyards hoping for the best. Researchers claim only about 20% of Americans attend church. While three quarters of American adults call themselves Christian.
A sizable majority of Christians are homeless, without a gathered community to belong to. You may be one.
The problem is God designed life to be lived with-in a caring, serving, worshiping community called church. Unlike bowling, Christianity is not an individualistic sport. God most often shows up in the spaces (interactions) between people and the more distant those spaces the smaller the interaction and the easier it is to lose sight of God. God loves us as individuals but calls us to live in community. “Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging one another, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on . . . .” Hebrews 10:24-25, The Message.
This question is not whether one “can be a Christian while never ‘going’ to church.” Church is a family, if often a dysfunctional one. You may go to your family’s house, but you don’t “go to” family. You are family. You are the church. In Christ we have been adopted and are a part of a family whether we are estranged—homeless—or not. And just as being estranged from our biological families has far-reaching effects, so too, does being estranged from our spiritual families. The plight of homeless Christians is serious and debilitating to us as individuals and to us as the church.
Often it is not laziness or apostasy that keeps us homeless. Very real fear, pain, and past disappointments keep many of us from belonging to a faith family. Jesus knows our pain and estrangement. The Prodigal Son is not just a story about forgiveness, but also about coming home to God and family, pouty older brother and all. Reconnecting is a fearful prospect, I know. But know also that God is waiting for your return and will kill the fatted calf when you do. We might even put on some Pink Floyd.
GodSightings are an uncommon view of God from a common point of view written by Dr. Eugene C. Scott. Reach him at ecscott@tnc3.org
Friday, July 10, 2009
John Calvin's The Institutes of the Christian Religion
If Martin Luther was the father of the Protestant Reformation, John Calvin was its most influential theological voice. It was Calvin, after all, who set out to write a common Reformation theology for lay people. It is now known as the first systematic Protestant theology, called The Institutes of the Christian Religion.
Calvin wrote the first edition of The Institutes in 1536, when he was 27. It was around 200 pages. He wrote his final and 8th revision in 1559, five years before his death. By the time he was done, it had grown to about 1,500 pages!
If you have never read this Christian classic, I encourage you to begin with the abridged, soft cover, 271 page edition edited by Tony Lane and Hilary Osborne, published by Baker. If you are ready for the full course meal, then purchase the two volume 1960 hardback edition, edited by John T. McNeill, and translated by Ford Lewis Battles (Westminster/John Knox). But I should also warn you, that if your spiritual diet consists mainly of Joel Osteen and Rick Warren, you will be stretched.
Although The Institutes was written to teach the basics of the Christian faith, it was dedicated to King Francis I of France in defense of the Protestant movement. Calvin’s concern is that the Roman Catholic Church, because of all its abuses, had lost the gospel. So Calvin turns the spotlight on our sin, and the floodlight on God’s grace in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He wants to recapture and explain the gospel.
While Calvin’s work is utterly brilliant, it is also usually blunt, and often cast in a polemical tone as he seeks to point out the church’s errors and point the way back to the Scriptures. In addressing the king he says, “A very great question is at stake: how God’s glory may be kept safe on earth, how God’s truth may retain its place of honor, how Christ’s Kingdom may be kept in good repair among us.”
For Calvin, the Bible was the supreme authority in the church, under Christ. For that reason, he desires that his Institutes be Bible driven. It is his ambition to keep within the limits of what has been revealed in Scripture and to avoid useless speculation.
It may surprise some that the theme of divine election is not the central theme of The Institutes. Nor does it contain an outline of TULIP (the so called five points of Calvinism). That came from a later age. While his theology affirms the five points, it also includes many more affirmations as Calvin seeks to represent the full teaching of Scripture. In fact, the doctrine of election does not appear at the beginning of The Institutes. Rather, it appears toward the end, as a doctrine to bring comfort. Calvin starts his work by focusing on the saving grace of God toward a sinful world.
While Calvin does have a lot to say about God’s sovereignty in creation, providence and salvation, he also affirms the importance of human responsibility as well. How these two fit together is a mystery. Unlike many people who deny one and affirm the other, Calvin affirms the Biblical compatibility of both.
John Calvin’s chief concern is with the unsearchable glory and majesty of God revealed in Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of everything. So much so that Calvin once wrote that it would be an insult to describe his theology as “Calvinism.” His passion is to see God glorified and Christ exalted.
Calvin sometimes distinguishes between essential and non-essential matters of faith. He believed that doctrinal matters are not all of equal importance. Some are vital to the faith. For this reason, Calvin outlines his four books of The Institutes based on the Apostle’s Creed, with its Trinitarian theological framework.
BOOK ONE Book One Focuses on God. Calvin makes the stunning claim that our wisdom consists almost entirely of two parts—the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves. In his age, as in ours, society errs by neglecting the knowledge of God and pursuing all kinds of other knowledge. Self knowledge, says Calvin, does not come until we look into the face of God. Knowledge of God and of ourselves is interrelated. True happiness comes through the liberating knowledge of God. Knowing God is humankind’s chief end.
How is God known? Through God’s gracious self-revelation in creation and providence, and through his special revelation in the Bible. There we learn how dependent we are before his absolute sovereignty. We also learn of our true condition, that we are fallen from the free state in which we were created. We are desperately lost and without hope, apart from his sovereign mercy.
BOOK TWO Book Two focuses on the person and work of Jesus Christ. His atoning death on the cross is God’s remedy for the sin and guilt of a lost humanity. Christ is our redeemer, as prophet, king and priest. As mediator he opened the way through the cross for the forgiving grace of God to enter into the lives of sinful people.
BOOK THREE Book Three focuses on the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation, the life of prayer, the mystery of election, and the hope of resurrection. Here Calvin takes up the work of the Spirit in justification through the gift of faith, and sanctification to holy living. He also takes up the subject of eternal election. Our salvation lies in God’s hands. It depends wholly on his free grace.
BOOK FOUR Book Four is about the church. In one sense, the church is invisible. It is the company of all of God’s redeemed ones through the ages. In this life, however, we are concerned with the visible church. Calvin describes its nature. It is our mother. We are conceived in her womb and brought to birth through her milk. He speaks of the marks of a true church—it is a community of the faithful in which the Word is truly preached, the sacraments rightly administered and Christian discipline is maintained. He also describes its organization, its officers, and its duties in the world.
Abandoning the church, says Calvin, is always fatal. She is the mother of the godly. He writes, “for those to whom God is a father, the church must also be a mother.” In this and in many other sections of The Institutes, Calvin still speaks–even 500 years after his birthday. He has much to teach the 21st century church.
Dr. Don Sweeting
Senior Pastor Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church
Address: 10150 E. Belleview Avenue, Englewood, CO 80111-6218
Phone: 303-779-9909
Web site: http://www.cherrycreekpres.org
http://donsweeting.wordpress.com/
Email: generalinfo@cherrycreekpres.org
Calvin wrote the first edition of The Institutes in 1536, when he was 27. It was around 200 pages. He wrote his final and 8th revision in 1559, five years before his death. By the time he was done, it had grown to about 1,500 pages!
If you have never read this Christian classic, I encourage you to begin with the abridged, soft cover, 271 page edition edited by Tony Lane and Hilary Osborne, published by Baker. If you are ready for the full course meal, then purchase the two volume 1960 hardback edition, edited by John T. McNeill, and translated by Ford Lewis Battles (Westminster/John Knox). But I should also warn you, that if your spiritual diet consists mainly of Joel Osteen and Rick Warren, you will be stretched.
Although The Institutes was written to teach the basics of the Christian faith, it was dedicated to King Francis I of France in defense of the Protestant movement. Calvin’s concern is that the Roman Catholic Church, because of all its abuses, had lost the gospel. So Calvin turns the spotlight on our sin, and the floodlight on God’s grace in the person and work of Jesus Christ. He wants to recapture and explain the gospel.
While Calvin’s work is utterly brilliant, it is also usually blunt, and often cast in a polemical tone as he seeks to point out the church’s errors and point the way back to the Scriptures. In addressing the king he says, “A very great question is at stake: how God’s glory may be kept safe on earth, how God’s truth may retain its place of honor, how Christ’s Kingdom may be kept in good repair among us.”
For Calvin, the Bible was the supreme authority in the church, under Christ. For that reason, he desires that his Institutes be Bible driven. It is his ambition to keep within the limits of what has been revealed in Scripture and to avoid useless speculation.
It may surprise some that the theme of divine election is not the central theme of The Institutes. Nor does it contain an outline of TULIP (the so called five points of Calvinism). That came from a later age. While his theology affirms the five points, it also includes many more affirmations as Calvin seeks to represent the full teaching of Scripture. In fact, the doctrine of election does not appear at the beginning of The Institutes. Rather, it appears toward the end, as a doctrine to bring comfort. Calvin starts his work by focusing on the saving grace of God toward a sinful world.
While Calvin does have a lot to say about God’s sovereignty in creation, providence and salvation, he also affirms the importance of human responsibility as well. How these two fit together is a mystery. Unlike many people who deny one and affirm the other, Calvin affirms the Biblical compatibility of both.
John Calvin’s chief concern is with the unsearchable glory and majesty of God revealed in Jesus Christ. This is the foundation of everything. So much so that Calvin once wrote that it would be an insult to describe his theology as “Calvinism.” His passion is to see God glorified and Christ exalted.
Calvin sometimes distinguishes between essential and non-essential matters of faith. He believed that doctrinal matters are not all of equal importance. Some are vital to the faith. For this reason, Calvin outlines his four books of The Institutes based on the Apostle’s Creed, with its Trinitarian theological framework.
BOOK ONE Book One Focuses on God. Calvin makes the stunning claim that our wisdom consists almost entirely of two parts—the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves. In his age, as in ours, society errs by neglecting the knowledge of God and pursuing all kinds of other knowledge. Self knowledge, says Calvin, does not come until we look into the face of God. Knowledge of God and of ourselves is interrelated. True happiness comes through the liberating knowledge of God. Knowing God is humankind’s chief end.
How is God known? Through God’s gracious self-revelation in creation and providence, and through his special revelation in the Bible. There we learn how dependent we are before his absolute sovereignty. We also learn of our true condition, that we are fallen from the free state in which we were created. We are desperately lost and without hope, apart from his sovereign mercy.
BOOK TWO Book Two focuses on the person and work of Jesus Christ. His atoning death on the cross is God’s remedy for the sin and guilt of a lost humanity. Christ is our redeemer, as prophet, king and priest. As mediator he opened the way through the cross for the forgiving grace of God to enter into the lives of sinful people.
BOOK THREE Book Three focuses on the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation, the life of prayer, the mystery of election, and the hope of resurrection. Here Calvin takes up the work of the Spirit in justification through the gift of faith, and sanctification to holy living. He also takes up the subject of eternal election. Our salvation lies in God’s hands. It depends wholly on his free grace.
BOOK FOUR Book Four is about the church. In one sense, the church is invisible. It is the company of all of God’s redeemed ones through the ages. In this life, however, we are concerned with the visible church. Calvin describes its nature. It is our mother. We are conceived in her womb and brought to birth through her milk. He speaks of the marks of a true church—it is a community of the faithful in which the Word is truly preached, the sacraments rightly administered and Christian discipline is maintained. He also describes its organization, its officers, and its duties in the world.
Abandoning the church, says Calvin, is always fatal. She is the mother of the godly. He writes, “for those to whom God is a father, the church must also be a mother.” In this and in many other sections of The Institutes, Calvin still speaks–even 500 years after his birthday. He has much to teach the 21st century church.
Dr. Don Sweeting
Senior Pastor Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church
Address: 10150 E. Belleview Avenue, Englewood, CO 80111-6218
Phone: 303-779-9909
Web site: http://www.cherrycreekpres.org
http://donsweeting.wordpress.com/
Email: generalinfo@cherrycreekpres.org
Monday, May 4, 2009
Ordination Requirements
Please click on the following link for information on the requirements for ordination in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.
http://www.epcwest.org/CoCCBrochure.pdf
http://www.epcwest.org/EPCInfo.html
http://www.epcwest.org/CoCCBrochure.pdf
http://www.epcwest.org/EPCInfo.html
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
What is an EPC Ruling Elder?
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) has four governing bodies, called courts, that exercise discipline and give moral order to the Church. They are the Board of Deacons, the Church Session, the Presbytery, and the General Assembly. Ruling Elders represent a particular congregation in the Church Session, the Presbytery, and General Assembly. The Ruling Elders generally spend the majority of time serving the Session of a particular church, which has jurisdiction over the church’s worship and ministry. The Session oversees the entire life of the congregation, including spiritual conduct, evangelism, oversight of members, and budgetary matters. The pastor serves as moderator for the Session, and it consists of two ruling elders (laity) for every Teaching Elder (ordained minister). Particular churches in the EPC are of, by, and for the people of God for the purpose of giving God glory. Qualifications for Ruling Elders are based on Scripture.
Ruling Elder Qualification: The Ruling Elder must be a mature Christian with experience in the congregation and who has faithfully served the church for a suitable period of time. The age and gender of the Ruling Elder are left to the discretion of the particular church. Most important are the person’s relationship with Jesus Christ, and his or her character and sensitivity to the needs of the congregation. In Scripture we read, "Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money” (1 Tim 3:2-3 TNIV). Such describes an enlivened faith expressed relationally in personal relationships and with members in the body of Christ. Ruling Elders must honor Christ in all that they do.
Ruling Elder represent the people in two ways:
1) The Ruling Elder is called to represent the people to Christ. The Ruling Elder is called to be an overseer of the flock in action, in word and in deed. James 5:14 says “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” Thus, the church seeks prayer and the elders pray for the sick, afflicted, and troubled. Of course, God's power is not limited to the elders of the church, but it is the calling, duty, and privilege of the elders to pray for the body (the church) at all times. When a church member asks for prayer, God honors the person who asks and he blesses the elders who are faithful to his command. God has the power and desire to heal—spiritually, emotionally, and physically—and he does so as we pray, love, and obey him. When given the spiritual gift of leadership, the Ruling Elder’s desire “is to lead, (and to) do it diligently” (Rom 12:8b TNIV).
2) The Ruling Elder is called to represent the people in the church courts. The Ruling Elder spends the majority of time serving in the Session. Often decisions of the Session affect the day-to-day church life, but many decisions affect the church for many years to come. Decisions for the church are made by a majority vote and with a prayerful seeking of God’s wisdom, Who supplies perfect direction. The Ruling Elder has significant say in church matters, for with a two to one ratio of RE to TE, Ruling Elders have majority membership in the Session. Nothing can be done without the concurrence of the ruling elders. As a representative of the congregation, RE listen to the people and honor their desires to do God’s will in and for his church.
Furthermore, a Ruling Elder is God’s Steward in and outside of the church (Titus 1:7). He or she has a “good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil” (1 Tim 3:7). Our strongest desire to honor God in all that we do and say and to serve his Church.
Mr. Sam Searcy
Ruling Elder
Cherry Hills Community Church
Highlands Ranch, Colorado
dcmi@ix.netcom.com
Ruling Elder Qualification: The Ruling Elder must be a mature Christian with experience in the congregation and who has faithfully served the church for a suitable period of time. The age and gender of the Ruling Elder are left to the discretion of the particular church. Most important are the person’s relationship with Jesus Christ, and his or her character and sensitivity to the needs of the congregation. In Scripture we read, "Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money” (1 Tim 3:2-3 TNIV). Such describes an enlivened faith expressed relationally in personal relationships and with members in the body of Christ. Ruling Elders must honor Christ in all that they do.
Ruling Elder represent the people in two ways:
1) The Ruling Elder is called to represent the people to Christ. The Ruling Elder is called to be an overseer of the flock in action, in word and in deed. James 5:14 says “Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” Thus, the church seeks prayer and the elders pray for the sick, afflicted, and troubled. Of course, God's power is not limited to the elders of the church, but it is the calling, duty, and privilege of the elders to pray for the body (the church) at all times. When a church member asks for prayer, God honors the person who asks and he blesses the elders who are faithful to his command. God has the power and desire to heal—spiritually, emotionally, and physically—and he does so as we pray, love, and obey him. When given the spiritual gift of leadership, the Ruling Elder’s desire “is to lead, (and to) do it diligently” (Rom 12:8b TNIV).
2) The Ruling Elder is called to represent the people in the church courts. The Ruling Elder spends the majority of time serving in the Session. Often decisions of the Session affect the day-to-day church life, but many decisions affect the church for many years to come. Decisions for the church are made by a majority vote and with a prayerful seeking of God’s wisdom, Who supplies perfect direction. The Ruling Elder has significant say in church matters, for with a two to one ratio of RE to TE, Ruling Elders have majority membership in the Session. Nothing can be done without the concurrence of the ruling elders. As a representative of the congregation, RE listen to the people and honor their desires to do God’s will in and for his church.
Furthermore, a Ruling Elder is God’s Steward in and outside of the church (Titus 1:7). He or she has a “good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil” (1 Tim 3:7). Our strongest desire to honor God in all that we do and say and to serve his Church.
Mr. Sam Searcy
Ruling Elder
Cherry Hills Community Church
Highlands Ranch, Colorado
dcmi@ix.netcom.com
T.U.L.I.P
In 1610, the followers of Jacob Arminius drew up a petition to amend the official articles of faith for Holland and West Friesland. It was called the Remonstrance and the five changes they proposed were that predestination was conditional rather than absolute; the atonement was universal in intention; regeneration by the Holy Spirit is necessary for salvation; the divine grace of regeneration can be utterly resisted; and believers can fall from grace. What came to be known as the five points of Calvinism (or TULIP), actually started out as a response to those five articles. Calvinism had never been summarized in five points before. In response to their petition, a national Synod was convened at Dort where the views of the Remonstrance were considered and then sharply condemned. The most significant issue at stake in the debate had to do with the work of God in the process of a believer’s salvation.
The T in TULIP stands for the doctrine of Total Depravity. When I get a cold, I feel miserable. My body aches, my nose runs, I can’t think straight, and I want to be alone. Every part of me is affected. Total Depravity is like that. The sinful nature affects the total person. It does not mean that a person is completely evil or that they are devoid of goodness. They may, in fact, be very nice, however, the disease of sin has left every person totally incapable of achieving anything spiritual (John 8:34; Rom 3:12; 1 Cor 2:14; 2 Tim 2:26); dead (Eph 2:1, 5) and opposed to God (Rom 8:7). Because of that, God must act towards them first before they can respond. How a person understands the Bible on this point will make all the difference in the way he or she appreciates the rest.
The U in TULIP stands for the doctrine of Unconditional Election. Normally, when we make decisions we consider the characteristics of the product or service to determine which we prefer. Do we want cruise control, or a sun roof, or a better gas mileage? When God was choosing a people for himself, he did not consider anything about them when he made the decision (Deut 7:7-8). This is, perhaps, the most emotionally charged of the five points. After all, we like to think that we had something to contribute. But that is not how the Bible presents it (Rom 9:11; 11:5-6). That does not mean that God used no criteria. The Bible provides one insight into his reasoning. Ephesians 1:4b-5 says, “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (TNIV). For some reason outside of themselves, God has determined to love some with a special love, and it is them and them alone that he adopts as his children.
The L in TULIP stands for Limited Atonement. It may be better entitled Definite Atonement because Limited Atonement may incorrectly communicate that Christ’s death had limited value. Practically all Christians agree that the atonement has infinite value, that all people enjoy some benefits of God’s grace even if they are not saved, and that since not everyone is saved, there is some kind of limit on it. The limit is either in effect (Christ died for all but only some are saved), or in scope (Christ died for some and all of them are saved). Another way to approach this is to ask if Christ actually accomplished anything on the cross or if he just made something possible. For the Arminian, Jesus’ death only made salvation possible. It may still be rejected. The Calvinist affirms that Christ made full payment for all the sins of those he had chosen and that their salvation was actually accomplished (Isa 53:5-8; Matt 1:21; John 13:1; 17:1-2,9; Rom 8:28-32; Eph 5:25).
The I in TULIP stands for Irresistible Grace. By far the most popular hymn in the English speaking world is Amazing Grace. Every time a survey is done, it ranks far ahead of every other, even among those who are non-religious. Grace is an attractive concept, but the term irresistible grace may be confusing because grace can be resisted in many ways (Acts 7:51). For that reason, it is often referred to as Effectual Grace to emphasize that the grace of God can not be ultimately resisted, but will be effective to accomplish God’s saving purpose (Deut 30:6; Luke 8:10; John 5:21; 6:37, 44-45; Rom 9:16; Eph 2:1,5; Col 2:13; 1 Peter 1:3, 23). This doctrine teaches that God’s saving purpose will ultimately be fulfilled in the lives of those he has died for.
The P in TULIP stands for the Perseverance of the Saints. This is, perhaps, the least controversial of the five points. Most Christians hold to the idea that once someone is saved, they are always saved. Again, the term can be misleading in the sense that it sounds like the primary responsibility is on the part of the believer. Since God is the one who secures them, it is better to refer to this doctrine as the Preservation of the Saints. In no way does this deny the scriptures when it says that some will falsely claim to be believers or believers cannot fall into sin. Instead, it affirms that all who truly belong to Christ and have genuine faith will be preserved by God for salvation (Isa 43:1-3; Jer 32:40; John 10:27-30; Rom 8:29-30; Col 3:3-4; 1 John 2:19, 25).
One thing that must be appreciated by the Remonstrance is that they understood the essential connectedness of these doctrines. Like the knit sweater that my grandmother made me, when one stitch unravels the whole system eventually and inevitably comes apart. These five points form a system which best describe the way the Bible reveals the work of God and human beings in salvation.
Rev. David Long
Sanger Community Church
Sanger, California
dave@SangerChurch.net
The T in TULIP stands for the doctrine of Total Depravity. When I get a cold, I feel miserable. My body aches, my nose runs, I can’t think straight, and I want to be alone. Every part of me is affected. Total Depravity is like that. The sinful nature affects the total person. It does not mean that a person is completely evil or that they are devoid of goodness. They may, in fact, be very nice, however, the disease of sin has left every person totally incapable of achieving anything spiritual (John 8:34; Rom 3:12; 1 Cor 2:14; 2 Tim 2:26); dead (Eph 2:1, 5) and opposed to God (Rom 8:7). Because of that, God must act towards them first before they can respond. How a person understands the Bible on this point will make all the difference in the way he or she appreciates the rest.
The U in TULIP stands for the doctrine of Unconditional Election. Normally, when we make decisions we consider the characteristics of the product or service to determine which we prefer. Do we want cruise control, or a sun roof, or a better gas mileage? When God was choosing a people for himself, he did not consider anything about them when he made the decision (Deut 7:7-8). This is, perhaps, the most emotionally charged of the five points. After all, we like to think that we had something to contribute. But that is not how the Bible presents it (Rom 9:11; 11:5-6). That does not mean that God used no criteria. The Bible provides one insight into his reasoning. Ephesians 1:4b-5 says, “In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will” (TNIV). For some reason outside of themselves, God has determined to love some with a special love, and it is them and them alone that he adopts as his children.
The L in TULIP stands for Limited Atonement. It may be better entitled Definite Atonement because Limited Atonement may incorrectly communicate that Christ’s death had limited value. Practically all Christians agree that the atonement has infinite value, that all people enjoy some benefits of God’s grace even if they are not saved, and that since not everyone is saved, there is some kind of limit on it. The limit is either in effect (Christ died for all but only some are saved), or in scope (Christ died for some and all of them are saved). Another way to approach this is to ask if Christ actually accomplished anything on the cross or if he just made something possible. For the Arminian, Jesus’ death only made salvation possible. It may still be rejected. The Calvinist affirms that Christ made full payment for all the sins of those he had chosen and that their salvation was actually accomplished (Isa 53:5-8; Matt 1:21; John 13:1; 17:1-2,9; Rom 8:28-32; Eph 5:25).
The I in TULIP stands for Irresistible Grace. By far the most popular hymn in the English speaking world is Amazing Grace. Every time a survey is done, it ranks far ahead of every other, even among those who are non-religious. Grace is an attractive concept, but the term irresistible grace may be confusing because grace can be resisted in many ways (Acts 7:51). For that reason, it is often referred to as Effectual Grace to emphasize that the grace of God can not be ultimately resisted, but will be effective to accomplish God’s saving purpose (Deut 30:6; Luke 8:10; John 5:21; 6:37, 44-45; Rom 9:16; Eph 2:1,5; Col 2:13; 1 Peter 1:3, 23). This doctrine teaches that God’s saving purpose will ultimately be fulfilled in the lives of those he has died for.
The P in TULIP stands for the Perseverance of the Saints. This is, perhaps, the least controversial of the five points. Most Christians hold to the idea that once someone is saved, they are always saved. Again, the term can be misleading in the sense that it sounds like the primary responsibility is on the part of the believer. Since God is the one who secures them, it is better to refer to this doctrine as the Preservation of the Saints. In no way does this deny the scriptures when it says that some will falsely claim to be believers or believers cannot fall into sin. Instead, it affirms that all who truly belong to Christ and have genuine faith will be preserved by God for salvation (Isa 43:1-3; Jer 32:40; John 10:27-30; Rom 8:29-30; Col 3:3-4; 1 John 2:19, 25).
One thing that must be appreciated by the Remonstrance is that they understood the essential connectedness of these doctrines. Like the knit sweater that my grandmother made me, when one stitch unravels the whole system eventually and inevitably comes apart. These five points form a system which best describe the way the Bible reveals the work of God and human beings in salvation.
Rev. David Long
Sanger Community Church
Sanger, California
dave@SangerChurch.net
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