The Tulip Driven Life

The Doctrines of Grace – Unconditional Election, Part 1 TULIP is a familiar acronym which serves to state succinctly the doctrines of grace. [1] Some theologians may reject one or more of them, but unless they reject them all simultaneously, they hold to an inconsistent theology. Each doctrine relates to the others in such a way that if you change or redefine any one of them, you violate their logical coherency, and they no longer fit together. This may be illustrated by considering the first two doctrines in TULIP, namely, Total Depravity and Unconditional Election . As we have seen, Total Depravity is the biblical teaching that men are conceived and born in sin (Ps 51:5), that is, man is ‘sinner’ before he is ever born and commits his first sin. Elsewhere the sinner is described as dead in his sins (Eph 2:1), without spiritual understanding and unable to seek God (Rom 3:11; 1 Cor 2:15; Eph 4:17, 18). There is nothing in natural man that God looks upon and finds pleasing...