In Depth:  Stephen de Garis

Dear Editor,

I read the article in the January EN by John Piper on ‘five points of encouragement’. I am aware of this man of God and his record, but in my opinion he is wrong to endorse ‘TULIP’, regarding them as ‘truths’. I speak purely as a believing orthodox evangelical layman. With most of his comments I am in total agreement, but TULIP is a theological construct not shared by all believers. I think I am as convinced as he is by the biblical truths of grace and sovereignty but to be so one does not have to endorse TULIP. As in all things, definitions are significant. As he understands what the Synod of Dort put together four centuries ago (maybe putting together what others had previously formulated), I personally do not find endorsed in Scripture – in fact in every one of the constituent parts of the acronym.