March 19, 2025
“Gospel” means “Good News.” Ever since Jesus’ death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and sending the Holy Spirit (Acts 2), the Good News of salvation through Jesus has been offered to the entire world.
It is true that the Good News includes bad news. Before ascending, Jesus declared, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). That’s Good News and bad news in the same breath. The Good News is that each individual has a choice. There is a way to be saved. We are all condemned sinners, separated from God – but through Jesus, almighty God is offering us salvation, escape from damnation. We can escape the bad news by accepting the good news.
Not so with Calvinism. According to Calvinism, God from eternity has committed the vast majority of humanity to damnation – and there is absolutely nothing anybody can do about it. According to Calvinism, God eternally damned most people before they were even born.
While TULIP is comforting to those who imagine they were eternally predestined by God for salvation, it is devastating to those whom God supposedly predestined to damnation with no opportunity offered to repent and yield to God. That’s the bad news of TULIP for those God supposedly rejected from all eternity.
Here’s the bad news of Calvinism, which they clearly teach, even if they don’t emphasize it. This is TULIP for the vast majority of people, with no opportunity to escape:
Total depravity forever
Unconditional rejection
Left out of the atonement
Irredeemably condemned
Perpetual inescapable damnation
That’s not the Gospel (Good News). It’s bad news. In fact, it’s fake news.
>>> The true Good News tells of the loving “God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved” (1 Tim. 2:3-4).
>>> The Good News is that “Now he [God] commands that all people everywhere should repent” (Acts 17:30). A command offers a choice, an opportunity.
>>> The Good News is that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
>>> The Good News is that “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16).
>>> The Good News is that “the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’… He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely (Rev. 22:17).
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NOTE: The purpose of this series is to biblically examine various aspects of the Calvinistic acrostic, TULIP: Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, and Perseverance of the saints.