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.
I am aware that there are doctrines on which conservative evangelical believers disagree and will hardly be unified until Jesus returns. My sole purpose in writing is to draw attention to a disputed issue which while endorsed by a great man of God, is not infallible and the truths of grace and sovereignty are open to some diversity of interpretation and should not be presumed to be the preserve of Reformed theology!
