Yes
T-otal depravity (total inability) - Salvation is completely God's work. Total depravity does not mean man has nothing left intact to redeem as some misunderstand.
U-nconditional Election - There is no merit in man that He should be chosen over another. God shows no favoritism.
I did and still do wrestle with portions of this, but as I understand this doctrine, it isn't a big hanging issue. We are chosen by God in Christ. It has to do with God not only foreknowing, but through whatever means is applying grace appropriately. Some deem this determinism, which is most certainly involved. How exactly it works is a debate point but it is written in addressing the Arminian side of concerns that would/might give meritorious favor to man for his salvation.
Eph 2:8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Eph 2:9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.
John 10:16
I
have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and
they will hear My voice; and
they will become one flock with one shepherd.
John 6:44,
65
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. . . .” And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”
John 15:16
"You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
Joh 17:20 "I am not praying only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony,
Joh 17:21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.
Joh 17:22 The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one —
Joh 17:23 I in them and you in me — that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.
Joh 17:24 "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Joh 17:25 Righteous Father, even if the world does not know you, I know you, and these men know that you sent me.
Joh 17:26 I made known your name to them, and I will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them, and I may be in them."
So, this one I'm still working on, but I understand the premise and the scriptures. It is true, but I'm still struggling over exactly what this means in predestination and application. Regardless, I have to see these as emphatic and truthful scripture. This is why there are 4 point Calvinists.
For me coming to accept this, it was more about the fact that in not understanding this, one might be lead to the opposite conclusion: God shows arbitrary favoritism in choosing some and rejecting others. At the same time, it presumes upon mercy and grace as meritorious or that "everyone should get a fair shake at Salvation." The problem with these is that it presumes upon grace. God's counsel is wise, loving, and right. We do not have to question, but trust. We may not know all the reasons, but I trust God. I do not believe Him arbitrary, for that is a show of neglected favoritism of which this doctrine is written to avoid. It is written to avoid the very thing that theologians would reject about it. Once I got past that hurdle, it was much more palatable to me and was my entry point into embracing 5 point Calvinism.
L-imited Atonement - Christ's redemptive work is 100% effectual but not all will be saved. Atonement means: Made right with God. Only His sheep are atoned.
Mar 12:10 Have you not read this scripture: 'The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner;
Mar 12:11 this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"
Joh 17:9 I am praying on behalf of them. I am not prayingon behalf of the world, but on behalf of those you have given me, because they belong to you.
Christ is the Cornerstone or stumbling block to men respectively. His atonement works only for those who do not reject or stumble.
I-rresistable Grace -
Rom 9:15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
Rom 9:16 So it depends not upon man's will or exertion, but upon God's mercy.
Eph 2:8 For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Eph 2:9 it is not from works, so that no one can boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we may do them.
God pursues His own so that they are transformed. This does not mean God's grace cannot be resisted, but that ultimately God wins all the battles He chooses to fight. Jonah ran, Moses ran. Grace is such that in power, beauty, and love, the one finding it cannot resist.
P-erseverance of the Saints - This to me isn't OSAS doctrine, but a truth:
2Co 5:17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away — look, what is new has come!
Mat 7:17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad23 tree bears bad fruit.
Mat 7:18 A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit.
1Jo 2:19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us, because if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But they went out from us to demonstrate that all of them do not belong to us.
This is a debate but not devisive in any denomination that I'm aware of. I take a strong doctrinal position that saints will persevere.
It isn't OSAS because only God knows the heart of man. We only see fruit in season and some take time to grow and thrive before the fruit shows. As with the thief on the cross, with some people, their time is too short here to be able to inspect that fruit, but God knows who are His. Others may be influenced toward an appearance of godly fruit imitating those around them but may prove unregenerate. Because we see Salvation often as a 'prayer' I don't want to falsely give hope to one who believes He is saved because he/she at one time said a prayer at the altar.
