Firming Your Foundation
Let’s Check It Out:
The “I” in TULIP
by George Sinkie

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     We are looking at a series of lessons dealing with five main points of Calvinism.  They are arranged as an acrostic for the word TULIP.  The doctrines we have looked at so far are: “Total Hereditary Depravity”, “Unconditional Election”, and “Limited Atonement”.  If you would like more information on these please contact us.  In this article we are going to look at the “I,” which stands for “Irresistible Grace”.  Simply put this doctrine teaches that if God decided to save you then His grace will be applied to you and you will not be able to resist obeying God.  In other words people do NOT have free will to obey or disobey God’s teaching.
     It would be so easy to answer this false doctrine by saying read the New Testament with an open mind, but I feel like I should point out a couple of Scriptures.  First consider, Acts 13:46, (look it up and read it all,) the middle part of that verse says, “since you repudiate it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life…”  If the doctrines of Unconditional Election and Irresistible Grace were true then Paul would have said “God didn’t choose to save you.”  This verse shows that these Jews used their free will and rejected the will of God.
     Another verse to consider is Acts 7:51, here Stephen in his last sermon made this statement about the Jews listening to him.  “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.”  Again this shows that we have the free will to resist God or to follow God.
     These points of Calvinism teach that if you are lost, then it is God’s fault because He did not decide to save you.  Blaming God for us being lost is as wrong today as it was when Adam tried to blame God for his eating of the forbidden fruit because of “the woman whom You gave to be with me, ….”  Our hope and prayer is that you will exercise your free will and follow God today.

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      Courtesy of the Mitchell church of Christ.
      © George Sinkie; used by permission. rev.170507
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      Unless otherwise noted, “Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission.” or from the “New American Standard Bible. 1986 (electronic edition.) La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.”
      This article’s presentation in Exploring God's Word ©2017 David G. Churchill.
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