Reformed Theology
The original sin of Adam and Eve, when they believed Satan's lies about God and chose to follow their own desires instead of God's request for them, caused spiritual death and the corruption of all creation. We have all been born into this family of sin, and we have inherited spiritual death. As spiritually dead beings, we have no right or ability to be with God. But God, by his love and amazing grace, chooses to awaken his elect through a spiritual rebirth leading to faith. With faith we see that our sin makes us worthy of God's wrath but that Jesus took our penalty upon himself, so that through our belief in him we have no condemnation before God but are fully justified. Our election into God's family has nothing to do with our own accomplishments (religious, professional, or personal), but is entirely based on God's sovereign choosing. Being that election was not based on our merit, but on God's grace and Jesus perfect work, we are assured that our salvation is eternal and cannot be lost. By this all of the glory of salvation belongs to our great God. It should be noted that man's selfish nature drives us to think more highly of ourselves than we should, including a self-focused view of our own control in our salvation. But through biblical study and the leading of the Holy Spirit, we begin to see and appreciate just how amazing God's graceful work has been to save us as his people, even while we are still self-focused people lost in sin. Calvinism is often described with the acronym TULIP. This acronym summarizes a five-point written response that was made to a group of people who were challenging this view of God's sovereign choice. As such, these five points can help explain some commonly misunderstood aspects of Reformed theology.
Total Depravity
The fall has affected all of man's nature. While we are still made in the image of God and see good elements of his design, sin has corrupted us and its effects will be seen in all areas of our lives. We are are people in very real need of rescue, unable to save ourselves. We are not capable of choosing God without his help, as we are spiritually dead and blind on our own. Dead men cannot tell themselves to take a breath of life.
Unconditional Election
God chooses to save the people that he chooses to save. His choice is not based on any of our attitudes or activities, including our religious affiliations, our morality, or compassion. God has no obligation to save anyone as we are all sinners and are unworthy of his favor, therefore all glory in election belongs to our Father, it is Him alone who has chosen us. God's election of us is not based on a simple foreknowledge of who would choose to follow him, it is based on his sovereign choice.
Limited Atonement
Jesus death on the cross paid for the sins of those who God has elected to save. Without faith in Christ his work does not apply to us, and we will remain condemned for eternity.
Irresistible Grace
When God chooses us we are given a new spiritual birth, awakening us to God's greatness and our condition. With this awakening we are fully aware of the great gift God offers and it is not possible to turn away from this. The very act of turning away from God's grace is proof that one does not really understand what is being offered, and is proof that spiritual blindness remains in that individual.
Perseverance of Saints
As we are saved by God's grace, not because of any merit or worth on our own, we can not lose our salvation either. God's elect are eternally elect. He knew us before we were born and he knows us to the end of time. There is nothing that he might later discover in us that would cause him to change his mind about us.
God Saves Sinners
"What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy." (Romans 9:14-16 ESV)
