What the Bible Says About the Doctrines of Grace

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Unconditional Election

God is Sovereign

Exo 15:18; 1Chr 29:11-12; 2Chr 20:6; Psa 22:28

  1. He exercises that sovereignty in actively ordaining everything

    2. Deu 32:39; 1Sam 2:6-8; Job 9:12; Job 12:6-10; Psa 33:11; Psa 115:3; Psa 135:6; Isa 14:24; Isa 45:7; Act 15:18; Eph 1:11

  2. Man is not permitted to question his sovereign acts

    3. Job 33:12-13; Isa 29:16; Isa 45:9-10; Mat 20:1-16; Rom 9:19-24


God elects [i.e. chooses, predestines, foreordains]
  1. His angels

    2. 1Tim 5:21

    <li><em>His peculiar people, Israel</em></li>

    Exo 6:7; Deu 7:6-8; Deu 10:14-15; Psa 33:12; Isa 43:20-21

    <li><em>Individuals to salvation</em></li>

    Psa 65:4; Mat 24:24; John 6:37; John 15:16; Act 13:48; Rom 8:28-30; Rom 9:10-24; Rom 11:5-7; Eph 1:3-6; Eph 1:11-12; 1The 1:4; 1The 5:9; 2The 2:13-14

    <li><em>Individuals to condemnation</em></li>

    Exo 4:21; Rom 9:13; Rom 9:17-18; Rom 9:21-22; 1Pet 2:8

His motivation in election
  1. His own good pleasure

    2. Eph 1:5; 2Tim 1:9

    <li><em>The display of his glory</em></li>

    Isa 43:6-7; Rom 9:22-24; 1Cor 1:27-31; Eph 2:4-7; Pro 16:4

    <li><em>His special love</em></li>

    Deu 7:6-8; 2The 2:13

    <li><em>His foreknowledge</em></li>

    Rom 8:29; 1Pet 1:2

    • Which means his special love

    Jer 1:5; Amos 3:2; Mat 7:22-23; 1Cor 8:3; 2Tim 2:19; 1Pet 1:20

    <li><em>But not:</em></li>  

<li><u>Any good <em>[nobility, wisdom, power, choice, seeking]</em> he foresees in anyone</u></li>

    Deu 7:7; Rom 9:11-13; Rom 9:16; Rom 10:20; 1Cor 1:27-29; 1Cor 4:7; 2Tim 1:9

Total Depravity

Man is constituted a sinner by his relationship with Adam

Psa 51:5; Psa 58:3; Rom 5:18-19

He is therefore unable

  1. To do anything good

Gen 6:5; Job 15:14-16; Psa 130:3; Psa 143:2; Pro 20:9; Ecc 7:20; Isa 64:6; Jer 13:23; John 3:19; Rom 3:9-12; Jam 3:8; 1John 1:8

<li><em>To believe in God (or come to him)</em></li>

John 6:44; John 6:65; John 8:43-45; John 10:26; John 12:37-41

<li><em>To understand the truth</em></li>

John 14:17; 1Cor 2:14

<li><em>To seek God</em></li>

Rom 3:10-11

He is dead in sins

Gen 2:16-17; John 3:5-7; Eph 2:1-3; Col 2:13

He is blinded and corrupt in his heart

Gen 6:5; Gen 8:21; Ecc 9:3; Jer 17:9; Mark 7:21-23; John 3:19-21; Rom 8:7-8; Eph 4:17-19; Eph 5:8

He is captive to sin and Satan

John 8:34; John 8:44; Rom 6:20; 2Tim 2:25-26; Tit 3:3; 1John 5:19

He performs actions freely according to his nature, but his nature is wholly evil

Job 14:4; Mat 7:16-18; Mat 12:33; Mark 7:21-23; Jam 1:13-14

Limited Atonement

God purposed to redeem a certain people and not others

1Chr 17:20-21; Mat 22:14; 1Pet 2:8-9 [see “God elects individuals to salvation”/God elects individuals to condemnation”]

  1. It is for these in particular that Christ gave his life

    2. Isa 53:10-11; Mat 1:21; John 6:35-40; John 10:3-4, 11, 14-15; Act 20:28; Eph 5:25 [we are commanded to love our wives in the same way that Christ loved the church and gave himself for it; therefore, if Christ loved and gave himself for all people in the same way, we are commanded to love all women in the same way that we love our wives]; Heb 2:17; Heb 9:15

    <li><em>It is for these in particular that Christ intercedes</em></li>

    John 17:1-2; John 17:6-12; John 17:20-21, 24-26; Rom 8:34

    <li><em>The people for whom Christ intercedes are the same as the people for whom he offered himself up as a sacrifice </em></li>

    Heb 7:24-27; Heb 9:12 [note context, in which entering into the holy place is explicitly for the purpose of intercession], 24-28 [For a fuller understanding of the indissoluble connection between sacrifice and intercession, read Hebrews chapters 7-10]

The atonement of Christ is effective

  1. To justify

Isa 53:11 [the single effective cause of justification in view here is the bearing of iniquities; all whose iniquities Christ bore must be justified]; Rom 8:34 [the argument here is that the fact of Christ's death, resurrection, and intercession is in itself an incontrovertibly effective reason for non-condemnation; if this verse is true, then no one for whom Christ died and was raised to intercede may be condemned]

<li><em>To redeem and cleanse from sins</em></li>

Eph 5:25-27; Tit 2:14

<li><em>To propitiate the Father</em></li>

1John 2:2 [“propitiation” means “the turning away or appeasement of wrath”; therefore, by definition, the Father has no more wrath against those whose sins have been propitiated]; 1John 4:10

<li><em>To raise to new life</em></li>

2Cor 5:14-15 [the argument is a simple “if/then” proposition: “if” Christ died for someone, “then,” with no other conditions, that person died with him and was raised again]; 1Pet 3:18

[See also, “Jesus' death purchased for his people a new heart; – faith; – repentance”. Jesus died in order to establish the New Covenant (Mat. 26:26-29, etc.); the New Covenant promised faith, repentance and knowledge of God (Jer. 31:33-34, Ez. 36:26-27, etc.); therefore, Jesus died in order to provide faith, repentance, and knowledge of God, as the fulfillment of a unilateral promise. This means that his death had a definite purpose which was intended for some and not others. His death effectively purchased faith; not all have faith; and so his death had an effective intent that was limited to certain persons.]

Those whom God purposed to redeem include all who believe

John 3:16

  1. From every nation

    2. Rev 5:9

    <li><em>From every class</em></li>

    Gal 3:28; 1Tim 2:1-6 [the first “all men” is explicitly tied to all classes of men, which gives warrant for understanding the second “all men” in the same way]

    <li><em>Therefore, Christ's saving work is commonly spoken of in terms of “all,” “world,” etc.</em></li>

    John 1:29; Tit 2:11-14 [in the context of “all men” is the delimiting concept of a peculiar people, zealous of good works]; Heb 2:9-10 [notice that the many sons whom Christ brings to glory gives a contextual delimiter to the term “every”]; 2Pet 3:9 [note that this desire is explicitly limited to “us” (Peter was writing to fellow-believers) in the context]; 1John 2:2 [propitiation means “appeasement of wrath”; either Jesus appeases God's wrath against all, and therefore hell (which is the place where God's wrath resides) is non-existent; or the “whole world” means something different than “every individual who ever lived”. See John 11:51-52, and “The word 'world' is often used in the sense of 'many,' or 'all of a set'”]

    <li><em>The word “all” is often used to indicate all of a set, or even many representatives of a set</em></li>

    Mat 10:22; 1Cor 6:12; 1Cor 15:22; Mat 2:3; John 4:29; Act 10:39; Act 17:21; Act 21:28; Act 26:4

    <li><em>Or, to indicate all “classes” or “nations,” not all individuals</em></li>

    Mat 5:11; Act 2:17; Act 10:12

    <li><em>The word “world” is often used in the sense of “many,” or “all of a set”</em></li>

    Luk 2:1-2; John 6:33; John 12:19; Act 19:27; Rom 1:8

Additional reasons that the atonement of Christ is not for all the sins of all people

  1. God punishes people in hell, which would be unjust if their sins were atoned for

Mark 9:43-44

<li><em>If one were to say, “their sins are atoned for, but that atonement is not applied because of unbelief,” he fails to realize that unbelief is likewise a sin

Heb 3:12

[“The Father imposed His wrath due unto, and the Son underwent punishment for either:

1) All the sins of all men;

2) All the sins of some men; or

3) Some of the sins of all men.

In which case it may be said:

1) If the last be true all men have some sins to answer for, and so none are saved;

2) That if the second be true, then Christ, in their stead suffered for all the sins of the elect in the whole world, and this is the truth;

3) But if the first is the case, why are not all men free from the punishment due unto their sins? You answer, Because of unbelief. I ask, Is this unbelief a sin, or is it not? If it be, then Christ suffered the punishment due unto it, or He did not. If He did, why must that hinder them more than their other sins for which He died? If He did not, He did not die for all their sins!” – John Owen, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ]

<li><em>God bears eternal wrath against people, which by definition means that his wrath against them has not been propitiated [appeased]</em></li>

1The 2:16; 2The 1:6-9

Intentions of Christ’s death other than atonement

  1. To make a public display of demons

Col 2:13-15

<li><em>To rule over everyone</em></li>

Rom 14:9

<li><em>To redeem creation</em></li>

Isa 35:1-4; Rom 8:20-23

<li><em>To lay the foundation for a genuine gospel call</em></li>

John 6:39-40; John 7:37-38

<li><em>To provide temporal mercies for the non-elect</em></li>

Mat 5:45; 1Tim 4:10

Irresistible Grace

Faith and Repentance (as well as the new heart which is able to produce them) are themselves gifts of God

  1. A new heart

Deu 30:6; Eze 11:19; Eze 36:26-27

<li><em>Faith</em></li>

John 3:27; Phi 1:29; 2Pet 1:1; Act 16:14; Act 18:27; Eph 2:8-10

<li><em>Repentance</em></li>

Act 5:3; Act 11:18; 2Tim 2:25-26; 1Cor 4:7

The Father writes his own word upon (places the fear of himself in, etc.) his people’s hearts

Jer 31:33; Jer 32:40; Mat 16:15-17; Luk 10:21; John 6:45; 2Cor 4:6

The beginning of salvation is the sovereign impartation of spiritual life into a heart which had been dead, thereby causing it to exercise faith

1John 5:1; Eze 37:3-6, 11-14; John 1:11-13; John 3:3-8; John 5:21; Eph 2:1-5; Jam 1:18; 1Pet 1:3; 1John 2:29

True offers of grace in the outward gospel call may be resisted by men who do not have this new heart

Act 17:32-33

In fact, true offers of grace will always be resisted by such men

John 10:24-26; John 12:37-40

But there are some whom God causes to come to him

Psa 65:4; Psa 110:3; John 6:37-40; Rom 9:15

Perseverance of the Saints

What God begins, he finishes

Psa 138:8; Ecc 3:14; Isa 46:4; Jer 32:40; Rom 11:29; Phi 1:6; 2Tim 4:18

Of all whom he has called and brought to Christ, none will be lost

John 6:39-40; John 10:27-29; Rom 8:28-31; Rom 8:35-39; Heb 7:25; Heb 10:14

God’s preservation of the saints is not irrespective of their continuance in the faith

1Cor 6:9-10; Gal 5:19-21; Eph 5:5; Heb 3:14; Heb 6:4-6; Heb 10:26-27; Heb 12:14; Rev 21:7-8; Rev 22:14-15

However, it is God who sanctifies us and causes us to persevere

John 15:16; 1Cor 1:30-31; 1Cor 6:11; 1Cor 12:3; 1Cor 15:10; Gal 3:1-6; Eph 2:10; Phi 2:12-13; 1The 5:23-24; Heb 13:20-21; 1John 2:29; Jud 1:24-25

18 Responses to “What the Bible Says About the Doctrines of Grace”

  1. Chris says:
    May 27, 2007 at 1:30 pm

    Good list! I had created something similar back in the day.

  2. Perry says:
    May 27, 2007 at 9:24 pm

    Great resource! I love your sub-categories among the five points.

  3. Perry says:
    May 27, 2007 at 9:26 pm

    Nathan,

    Sorry for another comment but I would love to get a hold of the full text version to use in discipleship. My e-mail is: perry@siolon.com

  4. pitchford says:
    May 28, 2007 at 12:31 am

    Chris,

    Thanks for the link — hadn’t seen your list yet.

    Perry,

    Glad you found it useful.

  5. Barry says:
    May 28, 2007 at 5:41 am

    Hi, Nathan. Good list. We struggle with this issue within the walls of my church. Could you please email me the file?

    blw777 (at) gmail (dot) com

    Thanks.

  6. mv says:
    May 29, 2007 at 2:07 pm

    Thanks for posting this resource. Please send me the full text version via email.

    mv

  7. SC says:
    May 30, 2007 at 7:09 am

    Please would you be able to email the full text version to me?

  8. The Aspiring Theologian says:
    June 1, 2007 at 2:43 pm

    Great list! Thanks for taking the time to do this Nathan. I actually had this same idea myself but never got around to it – you have done a fantastic job. I have a friend who is interested in Calvinism but not entirely sure about it – this will be a great resource I can share with him.

    Thanks, Albert Shepherd The Aspiring Theologian

  9. Jay says:
    June 21, 2007 at 2:39 pm

    Could you send me a full text version also, thanks!

  10. Bob Hayton says:
    June 24, 2007 at 4:28 am

    Great list, Nathan. If you could send the full version via email, that would be great too.

    Blessings,

    Bob

  11. Derek Iannelli-Smith says:
    June 25, 2007 at 6:12 am

    I would like an electronic copy of this as well if you have one. It is hard to copy from your site (i can do it if you do not already have it in a user friendly format), please email it to me at the email I included in this posting. Thank you for your hard work. This will assist me in my ordination exams. Coram Deo!

  12. Greg Hahn says:
    June 26, 2007 at 7:11 pm

    Well done. I do believe, however, that you should remove all of your references to the Book of Job.

    As you may recall, the story of Job is that some terrible things happen to him, and he is left with his well-meaning religious friends to try to figure it out. They give some fine-sounding arguments, but in the end God said they didn’t know what they were talking about.

    So to quote such discredited sources as Eliphaz the Temanite is to do yourself a disservice. Your work stands well without Job.

  13. pitchford says:
    June 26, 2007 at 8:33 pm

    Greg,

    I do see your point, but I think that Eliphaz and the others had a great deal of insight into the sovereign power of God, but they erred in not carrying it far enough. This, because they thought that God was somehow bound to reward the “righteous” and punish the wicked with temporal circumstances in this physical life. So quoting them to say that God is in fact sovereign is not to cite them on the point for which God later rebuked them. I also believe that the analogy of faith may be operative here: the things they said that are borne out by other scriptures must themselves be true.

    Of course, I agree that the scriptural testimony is sufficiently clear that the list could stand without any references from Job. If you want to make use of the list, feel free to do so with a modified, Job-free, redaction.

  14. Nath @ Reformed Geek says:
    June 29, 2007 at 2:59 am

    Hi. Great post. If it is possible, could you please email me an electronic version if this post (Word File, PDF etc).

    Thanks!

  15. pitchford says:
    August 16, 2007 at 6:25 pm

    Update: For any e-sword users, Andrew Groves has made both the Doctrines of Grace and Dispensationalism scripture lists into .top files for use on e-sword. With them, you can read the lists in multiple versions, etc. If interested, let me know, and I’ll get the file to you.

  16. jonathon says:
    November 20, 2007 at 10:52 am

    Could you post the URL for the e-Sword topical files for other people to obtain.

    xan

    jonathon

  17. pitchford says:
    November 20, 2007 at 5:41 pm

    Jonathon,

    I don’t think there’s a URL, I just have the files I can e-mail. If I’m wrong, and they are on the internet somewhere, let me know and I’ll post the link.

  18. pitchford says:
    November 21, 2007 at 9:16 am

    Update: the URL for my lists is here

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