Before
exploring these two letters, one must first understand what John
Calvin taught regarding divine election. His position on this
subject is summed up in the acrostic known as TULIP. In particular,
the letter U in TULIP refers to unconditional election (Spencer
29). The basic thought behind this concept is that
GodHimself chooses
who comes to Christ; man does not have any say in the matter
(Spencer 32). However, there is more to this thought than meets the
eye. Calvin had four major points in his view of divine election.
The first two points refer to those who are in the elect.
Specifically, those in this group are arbitrarily chosen by God
regardless of merit and if they are chosen, they cannot reject His
calling (Calvin 926; 929). The last two points refer to those who
are outside of the elect. Since these individuals are not called,
God has eternally condemned them to destruction and, as a result,
they cannot come to God even if they desired to (Ibid. 926; 981).
Calvin supports his first two points with several Scriptures. For
example, he uses Pauls words to the Ephesians that God chose and
predestined us before the foundation of the world as proof that
God arbitrarily selects people (Eph. 1:4-5; Calvin
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Calvin asserts
that the saying every tree that my Father has not planted will be
uprooted implicitly proves that those who have been planted by the
Father cannot be uprooted (Matt. 15:13; Calvin 972). In John,
Calvin applies the discussion of Christs sheep to the
irrevocability of Gods calling (Jn. 10:27-29; Calvin 971). The
thought behind these views is that those in the elect are protected
by God before, during, and after they receive their call (Calvin
976). If one appears to be part of the elect and falls away, Calvin
states that he would by no means concede to them that sure
establishment of election which I bid believers seek from the word
of the gospel (Calvin
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