Students from all over Western Europe came to Geneva to sit at Calvin’s feet; then, inspired by his teaching, they returned to their native lands to spread Calvinism. Thus it was that Calvinistic churches (often referred to as Reformed churches) appeared in Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Central Europe. And it would become something of a rival movement with Lutheranism. Also, through one named John Knox and others, Calvinism spread to Scotland, where it was eventually to embody in the Presbyterian church—the Presbyterian denomination. Calvinism also appeared in England where it gave rise to Puritanism. From England and Scotland, Calvinism was transplanted to the New World, where it has played a very important part in the development of America.

Earlier, I mentioned briefly the acrostic that has been made, that comes from the tenents of Calvanism, and that the letters for the acrostic are T U L I P. I thought I would share just a little bit more information about that simply because it is so wide-spread—at least parts of this doctrine—and it is a doctrine that is believed and accepted and practiced widely among many of the Protestant denomonations, even today.

By the way, Calvin’s T U L I P is commonly referred to as “the deadly flower.”

The “T” of that T U L I P stands for “Total heredity depravity.” That is the first premise of this doctrine. “Total” means absolute. “Heredity” means “by birth.” And “depravity” means “wickedness; evil; corrupt / corruption.” And so, the doctrine is effectively this: A child is born in sin. A child is born with sin. It is total; it is hereditary—it comes by birth; and that means that that child is wicked, evil, corrupt at birth. It is the doctrine of “original sin,” as it is referred to by some even today. Well, we understand, as we examine the Scriptures, that this doctrine is unscriptural. We know from Ezekiel, chapter 18, and verse 20, that children do not inherit the sins of their fathers [“The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”]. We know that there is nothing that is more clean, more pure, more precious, than a child—a child who has come virtually from the hand of God. Sin is not passed on from generation to the next. Now, there are sometimes, however, when the consequence of sin is passed on. But that is not the same as the sin. For example, a woman who is pregnant and abuses her body through the use of drugs, through narcotics, whatever it may be, her child may be born with mental or physical problems, or both, because of the abuse of the mother—because of the sin of the mother—but the child has not inherited the mother’s sin. The child has inherited the consequence of the mother’s sin. And there is a drastic difference.

The “U” of the T U L I P means “Unconditional election.” And that is the belief that God pre-ordains certain people—some to be saved and the rest to be lost. Well, is that consistent with Scripture? It is not. We are “called and chosen.” That is right. But we are “called and chosen” by means of the Gospel, 2 Thessalonians 2, and verses 13 and 14 [“But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the Truth, 14 to which He called you by our Gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.”]. God has created us with a free will to accept, to believe, to obey His Will for us. It is something that is voluntary, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 21 [“For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the Message preached to save those who believe.”]. And so, the suggestion, or the belief, that God has predestined—preordained—virtually by name those who will be saved and those who will be lost is not Scriptural. God has preordained the means by which one will be saved, certainly.

The “L” of the T U L I P is for “Limited atonement.” This is, I guess, essentially an extension of the previous one, the “Unconditional election.” The implication of this regarding atonement…. And, of course, we know that Jesus Christ is the propitiation; He is the atoning sacrifice for sin. But the word “Limited” associated with “atonement” simply means that Christ’s death, His atoning sacrifice, was only for a limited number—that it was only for those who were already predetermined, predestined. And others…are just out of luck, so to speak. Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by Me he will be saved…” John 10, verse 9. We could cite many other passages of Scripture which speak to the availability to all people of the atoning sacrifice of Christ. Someone pointed out in a discussion about this that if there really is “Limited atonement,” the blood of Christ is not available to all who believe, who are willing to be obedient, and who obey the Gospel, then why would Christ give the Great Commission? What would be the purpose for that? “Go into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” Why bother if there is really “Limited atonement”?

The “I” of the T U L I P is for “Irrestible grace.” Simply stated, one cannot resist the direct operation of the Holy Spirit. There are many these days who believe in the direct operation of the Holy Spirit—those of the pentecostal denominations, those who are called evangelical, believe in this direct operation of the Holy Spirit. Calvin’s doctrine was that it was something that was irrestible, that there was no way to avoid it; there was no way to hide from it; there was no way to get out from under it; that if you were selected, if you were elected, then the Holy Spirit would operate on you, and you would have no say, no will, in the matter at all. Well, we know that all must have the Spirit of God, Romans 8, verse 9 [“But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”], but certainly not by the “direct operation” of the Holy Spirit, Acts 2, verse 38 [“Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”]. The Spirit operates on us, yes, but not in a direct fashion. The Spirit operates on us through the Word of God. And, by the way, according to Stephen, as he was testifying before the Sanhedrin, he would state that Israel resisted (that is the word that is used there)…resisted the Holy Spirit,Acts 7, and verse 51 [“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.”]. So, according to Stephen, it IS possible to resist the Holy Spirit.

The “P” of the T U L I P stands for “Perseverance of the saints.” This is, in effect, the “once saved, always saved” doctrine, which is taught and believed by many, once again, even to this day. And effectively, this doctrine says that once you have the Holy Spirit, then there is no turning back. There is nothing that you can do to change your destiny; there is nothing that you can do to turn yourself away from the Lord and what He intends for you, because you have been predetermined; you have been preselected. But James says, James, chapter 5, there are those who would err from the Truth [“Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the Truth, and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins” James 5:19-20.]. Peter would graphically describe and portray those who have turned their backs on the Lord, who have gone into apostasy, 2 Peter, chapter 2, verses 20 through 22. He will talk there about them, and he will use the analogy of this being such a distasteful, such a heinous, practice that it is the equivalent of a dog returning to its vomit and of a sow returning to the wallow after having just been washed [“For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb: ‘A dog returns to his own vomit,’ and, ‘a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire.’”]. And so, indeed, it is, once again, not according to Scripture that one cannot fall from grace. As a matter of fact, the Hebrew letter uses that very termonology, Hebrews, chapter 6, verses 4 through 6—“some have fallen away” the Hebrew writer would say [“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.”].

And so, there is the deadly T U L I P of John Calvin. It is, perhaps, an appealing doctrine. And again, it has spawned quite a few doctrines that we still see among us today, but while it may have some appeal, it is a flower that is full of deadly poison, and must be avoided.