TULIP - from Paul's Point of View in Romans

TOTAL DEPRAVITY

Both Jews (having the Law) and Gentiles (without the Law) are sinners. All have sinned.

UNCONDITIONAL ELECTION

Jewishness and Law-keeping are not conditions of election. Only BELIEVE - without works - and you will be saved. That's the method God elected.

LIMITED ATONEMENT

Although Jesus died for all, it is by faith that we stand. Therefore Jews must not stumble at the stumblingstone. And Gentiles must fear. For it is by faith we stand.

IRRESISTABLE GRACE

Our nationality or status in regard to the Law neither attract nor obstruct the availability of God's grace to us. It's freely available to all, through faith.

PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS

If ye continue in the faith.

Jacob Have I loved, Esau Have I Hated

Paul quoted this verse. It was a statement by God. But notice God didn't say it in the first book of the Bible, before Jacob and Esau were born - He said it in the last book of the Bible long after the two brothers had lived and died.

Yes, before they were born, God declared what the outcome of these two guys' descendents would be, based on His foreknowledge. It wasn't even a statement about the two brothers, primarily. Esau didn't actually serve Jacob during his lifetime. It was mainly a statement about the two brothers' descendants. But the outcome was not without a cause: Esau despised his birthright and chose to allow Jacob to inherit it. The New Testament later actually describes Esau as a profane person - a prototype of the type of Hebrews who were at risk of missing-out on God's promised salvation due to unbelief in Jesus.

Paul told this story to illustrate that it was not without precedent in Scripture that many Jewish people were missing-out on experiencing the promised salvation - it was an outcome long foreseen by the Prophets. God had elected that salvation would be by grace alone, and He foresaw that many, despite being Jewish, would not believe. Therefore the outcome which the Roman believers were witnessing in the first century was quite in-keeping with prophecy and quite in-keeping with God's original promises. Paul's Gospel [the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith] was therefore vindicated, despite its implications for unbelieving Israel.

T.U.L.I.P. - My Version

Total Depravity:

Justification could never be earned on the grounds of Jewishness nor on the grounds of keeping the Law;

Unconditional Election:

God therefore elected to grant salvation on a different basis that would not be conditional upon Jewishness nor conditional upon observance of the Law;

Limited Atonement:

The basis upon which God elected to grant salvation meant that a person would not automatically be saved just because of his Jewishness;

Irresitable Grace:

God chose to save both Jew and Gentile - by His grace! Who can resist (dispute) the graciousness - the justice, equality & mercifulness - of that plan.

Perseverence of Saints:

Seeing it was always legitimately God's plan to save both Jews and Gentiles by the grace of Jesus Christ alone - rather than on the basis of Jewishness or on the basis of keeping the Law - believers who had chosen not to succumb to the insistences of the Judaizers could therefore rest assured that this confidence of theirs would not disppoint them in that Great and final Day. The believers' confidence was founded in the legitimacy of the plan which from the beginning was God's own: to save by His grace (rather than by Jewishness nor by the observance of the Law).

The Sense of the Word "Predestined'

When Paul exulted in our predestination by God, he wasn't thinking about some decision of God's to arbitrarily choose one person and not another to salvation without any revealed basis for that choice - rather, Paul was glorying in the truth that it had been God's plan all along to take-out a people for His Name, by grace, and on the basis of faith alone, rather than on the basis of the works of the Law or on the basis of Jewish nationality.

The Church - inclusive of Jews and Gentiles - saved by grace through faith, not through the works of the Law - had been God's pet plan ever since before the plan was revealed, and had now become His pet prize.

That's what Paul gloried in! He used the word 'predestined' in order to boast in the solid Scriptural basis for the existence of the Church in the plan of God, according to his Gospel.

If therefore you are part of His Church (by God's grace and through faith), then you also were predestined by God to all His wonderful, eternal plans since before the world began!

(Because God ordained it, not only in the Scriptures, but also before the world began, to save people by His grace through faith, without the works of the Law and irrespective of their nationality).

God foreknew a people whom He would take out of the world, by grace through faith, to be His Church, His building, His house, His temple, His vineyard, His people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His bride.

By using the word 'predestined', Paul was asserting the legitimacy of the Church in the plan and Scriptures of God.

And it legitimizes you as a believer in Jesus. Hallelujah!

Is TULIP Taught in Romans 9?

God made "faith" the prerequisite for salvation rather than physical Jewishness; and God extended the availability of this mercy to the Gentiles.

In Romans 9 Paul showed that it was not altogether without precedent in Scripture for God to take such a sovereign prerogative, and Paul showed that this outcome had already been foreseen by the Prophets.