Let’s explore verses often quoted by Calvinists from Words of Jesus Christ and God the Father to justify TULIP, and investigate how they error in every one of them. Please note these posts does not include any counter-verses elsewhere from words of Jesus but just taking the very verses quoted for Calvinism and disproving how they err using the same context in that verse.
Tabulation of TULIP doctrines and the quoted word of God the Father and Jesus Christ.
| Calvinist Doctrine | Words of God the Father & Jesus Christ |
|---|---|
| Total Depravity Humans cannot come unless enabled by God | Argument by Calvinist for Inability: • “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” — Jesus (John 6:44)1 • “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”(Jeremiah 17:9)2; “The intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth.” — God (Genesis 8:21)3 |
| Unconditional Election God chooses independently of human will | Argument by Calvinist for Divine Choosing: • “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.” — Jesus (John 15:16)4 • “I have chosen you… to be My people.” — God (Deuteronomy 7:6)5 |
| Limited Atonement Christ died for a specific people – Penal Substitution theory; Also incorporates Christus Victor theory | As we saw in the earlier post, Penal Substitutionary Atonement is for Israel. For Gentiles, however, Christ’s death is not a Penal Substitutionary Atonement since they were never under the curse of the Law, but rather a Substitutionary Atonement that defeats death once for all, for all mankind. |
| Irresistible Grace Those given by God will certainly come | Argument by Calvinist for Irresistible: • “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me.” — Jesus (John 6:37)6 • “I will also give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me wholeheartedly.” — God (Jeremiah 24:7); “I will put My law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.” — God (Jeremiah 31:33); “I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever…” — God (Jeremiah 32:39)7; “I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you… I will cause you to walk in My statutes.” — God (Ezekiel 36:26–27)8 |
| Perseverance of the Saints True believers are kept by God | Argument by Calvinist for Perseverance: • “No one will snatch them out of My hand.” — Jesus (John 10:28)10 • “I will make an everlasting covenant… I will not turn away from doing good to them.” — God (Jeremiah 32:40)7 |
1,6Against Total Depravity for using John 6:44; Irresistible Grace using John 6:37
The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.” … But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.” (John 6:41-51; 64-65)
The above passage is contextually tied to Jesus’ fore-knowledge of His audience and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy about who will believe Him, who will not and who will betray during His time.
John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven … The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. (John 3:27;35) … Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, (John 13:3)
In the above passage, we can clearly see how John the baptist is prophesying about Christ how the Father placed all things in His hands in Chapter 3 and fulfillment in Chapter 13.
And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die. (John 12:32-33)
When Christ is lifted up in the cross, He will draw all people to Himself. While the Father draws only a few to Christ before crucifixion, the Son draws everyone. Hence, there is no Total Depravity since all are drawn to Christ.
2Against Total Depravity for using Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, To give to each person according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds. As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is a person who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the middle of his days it will abandon him, And in the end he will be a fool.” (Jeremiah 17:9-11)
The above verse doesn’t prove total depravity since the verse itself expects each person will be judged according to his ways and deeds, thus proving the ability to do good. This is evident if the complete words of the LORD are taken in context.
3Against Total Depravity for using Genesis 8:21
And the LORD smelled a soothing aroma. Then the LORD said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. (Genesis 8:21)
If you do well, will your face not be cheerful? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” (Genesis 4:7)
The intent (or inclination) is always evil as in Genesis 8:21 but as God Himself says, we must master it. This doesn’t prove total depravity or inability to master it.
4Against Unconditional Election for using John 15:16
Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. … You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. (John 15:2; 16)
This statement occurs during the Farewell Discourse (John 13–17), where Jesus is speaking specifically to His disciples. Even within this context, the Father takes away every branch that does not bear fruit.
5Against Unconditional Election for using Deuteronomy 7:6
“For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. … because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, .. (Deuteronomy 7:6-8) … it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and in order to confirm the oath which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 9:5) … (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), lest the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you.
(Leviticus 18:27-28)
God chose Israel for 3 reasons: Love, Wickedness of nations, Oath to patriarchs. God is fulfilling His oath which he swore to patriarchs because Abraham obeyed God as in Genesis 22:15-18. There is no unconditional election here since the reasons are given by God Himself. God also warns He will repay and eliminate everyone whom He chose if they hate Him and/or don’t keep His commandments.
7Against Irresistible Grace for using Jeremiah 24:7; 31:33; 32:39
The LORD showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Then the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.” Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart. ‘And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’—surely thus says the LORD—‘so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. (Jeremiah 24:1-8)
God shows Jeremiah two baskets of figs: one very good, one very bad which is a symbolic vision. The good figs represent the exiles taken from Judah to Babylon to whom God promises to bring them back and restore them. It is to them, God says He will give them a heart to know Him. The bad figs represent those who remain in the land and the unfaithful leadership. This has nothing to do with irresistible grace. God is choosing people based on their goodness.
.. this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
The above passage is for all Israel from the least to the greatest and to every neighbor – none excluded and all of them will be God’s people.
“Now therefore the LORD God of Israel says the following concerning this city of which you say, ‘It has been handed over to the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by plague’: Behold, I am going to gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath, and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and have them live in safety. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts, so that they will not turn away from Me. I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and all My soul. (Jeremiah 32:36-41)
The above passage which echoes Jeremiah 31:31-34 is again specifically about Jerusalem and how God will bring them back to Jerusalem and have them live in safety. Without theological manipulations and acrobatics, this prophecy is not yet fulfilled and not applicable to gentiles. It will be fulfilled in New Heaven and new Earth
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. … He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. (Rev 21:3;7)
The New Covenant promise in Jeremiah about Jerusalem echos what will be fulfilled in New Jerusalem as in the above passage. This has nothing to do with Irresistible Grace in this present age.
8Against Unconditional Election for using Ezekiel 36:26–27
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. … Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken it and performed it,” says the LORD.’ ” … Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Ezekiel 36:26-28; 37:12-14; 26-27)
Similar to the prophecy in Jeremiah, the above continuous passages across two chapters mentioning the same event is not yet fulfilled. It literally speaks about how God will put His Spirit on those who are raised out of their graves and place them in the land of Israel. As above, without theological gymnastics, this prophecy is not yet fulfilled and not applicable to gentiles.
And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. … He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. (Rev 21:3;7)
This again echos what will be fulfilled in New Jerusalem as in Revelation 21 as we saw earlier.
9Against Eternal Security for using John 10:28
Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. (John 10:24-29)
The verse itself says His sheep will hear His voice and they follow Him. True to the context of the verse, Eternal life is given only to those who follow Him and not to those who reject Him mid-way as in John 6:66 which says, “From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more”. The verse nowhere suggests that the disciples who do not walked with Him are guaranteed given Eternal life in-spite of rejecting Him. The above passage is also contextually tied to Jesus’ fore-knowledge of His audience. The Father had placed all authority after His crucifixion and the Son draw all people to Himself.
Christ is our Eternal life
Let’s take a detour to understand what Eternal Security itself is.
- And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3)
- And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. The one who has the Son has the life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. (I John 5:11-12)
- Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6)
Eternal life was never given to anyone to lose it or safe-guarding it from falling away. If Christ dwells within a believer, then the believer has eternal life. There is no eternal life other than Christ.
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will follow My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. The one who does not love Me does not follow My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. (John 14:23-24)
Christ will dwell only to those who follow His Word. Let’s see what the Spirit says to Christ’s own churches which are in His own hands:
- Denying access to tree of life from believers who don’t overcome. Rev 2:7
- Allowing believers who don’t overcome to get hurt from second death. Rev 2:11
- Fight against believers who eat things sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality. Rev 2:16
- Push believers who commit adultery with a self-claimed prophetess into great tribulation and kill her children Rev 2:22-23
- Blot the names of believers from the book of life if they defile their garments. Rev 3:4-5
- Not keep the believers from the hour of trial if they had not kept His command to persevere. Rev 3:10
- Vomit believers out of His mouth if their works are lukewarm Rev 3:15-16
Eternal life is not guaranteed just because the Spirit dwells within a believer.
But they rebelled And grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them. (Isaiah 63:10)
Indwelling of the Holy Spirit within a believer doesn’t mean God is a prisoner of some sort forced to only give Eternal Life. Holy Spirit is God Himself dwelling in us. As in Malachi 3:6 – I, the LORD, do not change.
- God within us can become our enemy: But they rebelled And grieved His Holy Spirit; Therefore He turned Himself to become their enemy, He fought against them. (Isaiah 63:10)
- God within us can put us to death, wound: See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, And there is no one who can save anyone from My hand. (Deuteronomy 32:39)
Conclusion
The critique of Calvinist interpretations of Scripture reveals that key verses used to support TULIP doctrines are often taken out of their immediate and broader biblical contexts, which emphasize human responsibility, conditional election, and the possibility of falling away. Passages often cited for irresistible grace, are tied to specific prophetic promises for Israel’s restoration, not universal or unconditional application. Eternal security is challenged by Jesus’ own warnings in Revelation and John 15:6, which indicate that perseverance is contingent on ongoing faith and obedience. Ultimately, the biblical narrative consistently upholds the tension between divine sovereignty and human freedom, rejecting the Calvinist framework as a misrepresentation of Scripture’s balanced teaching.
