Colossians 3 Elect of God The Five Points of Calvinism The current division in the SBC Traditional Southern Baptist Provisionists This will not be a Theological Study It will not be a Philosophical Argument Scriptures will be presented which refute the tenets of “meticulous determinism”
Introduction
Calvinism summarized by TULIP: Total Depravity Unconditional Election Limited Atonement Irresistible Grace Perseverance of the Saints
Purpose: We are not attacking people Testing doctrine by Scripture
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:11 KJV)
Our Starting Point: God is sovereign ✅ Man is responsible ✅
Total Depravity
What Calvinism teaches: Man is so depraved he cannot respond to God at all without regeneration first. Biblical Correction: Yes, man is fallen:
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (Rom. 3:10-11 KJV)
BUT man is still capable of responding to God:
Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isa. 55:6-7 KJV)”
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: (Acts 17:30 KJV)
And ye will not come to me [not cannot], that ye might have life. (Jn. 5:40 KJV)
Key Point:
The issue is willful rejection, not inability.
2. Unconditional Election
What Calvinism teaches: God chooses individuals for salvation without regard to faith.
Biblical Correction: Election is in Christ, not arbitrary individuals: Ephesians 1:4 → “chosen… IN HIM” Salvation conditioned on faith:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (Jn. 3:16 KJV)
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. (Rom. 10:13 KJV)
Foreknowledge matters:
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied. (1 Pet. 1:2 KJV)
Key Point: God chooses the plan (Christ); individuals enter by faith.
3. Limited Atonement
What Calvinism teaches:
Christ died only for the elect.
Biblical Correction:
Christ died for all: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 Jn. 2:2 KJV)
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. (2 Pet. 2:1-2 KJV)
Key Point:
The atonement is unlimited in provision, limited only by unbelief.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. (2 Pet. 3:9 KJV)
4. Irresistible Grace
What Calvinism teaches:
When God calls, the person cannot resist.
Biblical Correction:
Grace can be resisted:
Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. (Acts 7:51 KJV) The question is not: “Do some people resist the Holy Spirit?”
Both sides agree: Yes.
The real question is:
Is the Holy Spirit’s saving work divided into two different kinds of calls—one resistible and one irresistible?
The Calvinist must import a theological category into the text: Calvinist: “This is only the external call, not the effectual call.”
That distinction is not stated in the text.
People reject God’s will: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! (Matt. 23:37 KJV)” Key Point:
God draws, but does not force.
“God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise moral choice, and man from the beginning has fulfilled that decree by making his choice between good and evil. When he chooses to do evil, he does not thereby countervail the sovereign will of God but fulfills it, inasmuch as the eternal decree decided not which choice the man should make but that he should be free to make it. If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, 'What doest thou?' Man’s will is free because God is sovereign. A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures. He would be afraid to do so.” (A.W. Tozer)
No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. (Jn. 6:44 KJV)
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. 33 This he said, signifying what death he should die. (Jn. 12:32-33 KJV)
6. Perseverance of the Saints
What Calvinism teaches: Those truly saved will inevitably continue in faith and holiness.
Biblical Correction: Salvation is secure by faith, not performance:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. (Jn. 10:28 KJV) My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. (Jn. 10:29 KJV) I and my Father are one. (Jn. 10:30 KJV)
Believers can fail:
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. (1 Cor. 3:15 KJV)
Examine the passage regarding the man engaged in sexual immorality with his father’s wife:
To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. (1 Cor. 5:5 KJV)
The man is in serious, ongoing sin This is not a minor stumble It’s open, scandalous immorality
Key Point:
Security rests in Christ’s faithfulness, not ours.
7. Conclusion & Application
Summary: Calvinism: Limits human responsibility Redefines clear invitations of Scripture
Application: The Gospel is genuinely offered to all Every person can respond Salvation is by grace through faith alone Invitation/Application: Encourage: Confidence in sharing the gospel Urgency—because people truly can respond
