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ARMINIANISM

When the Council of Dort convened to debate the Five Remonstrances of Arminius vs. Calvin concerning predestination of election, the debate never took place. The Arminians left the Council because they believed the rules for the debate had been stacked against them. This left only the Calvinists to debate the Five Remonstrances below, and, the outcome of the debate was assured. All five remonstrances were denied and turned around as statements of what is known as Five Point Calvinism today. The acronym TULIP is now used to represent the five points of Calvinism. T = Total Depravity, U = Unconditional Election, L = Limited Atonement, I = Irresistible Grace, and P = Perseverance of the Saints.

The original "Five Points of Arminianism" that were turned into the Five Points of Calvinism when the Council of Dort denied Arminius’ Five Remonstrances are listed and commented upon in the following paragraphs.

1. Free Will: Arminius believed that the fall of man was not total, maintaining that there was enough good left in man for him to will to accept Jesus Christ unto salvation. The Council of Dort rejected this proposition and gave birth to the First Point of Five Point Calvinism by asserting the TOTAL DEPRAVITY of man who cannot of his own freewill decide to believe the Gospel.

  • Reformed Theologians (Calvinists) believe that the Arminianist position of freewill denies the sovereignty of God. But that is scarcely an argument against it because if it is God’s will to save or condemn mankind by man’s own choices it will then not detract one bit from his sovereignty when some men chose to accept His offer of salvation in Christ Jesus and others chose to reject it. However, since the scriptures do say that the heart of man is so totally corrupt that no man can know the depths of its wickedness and sickness (Jer. 17:9), we must reach an understanding that allows for both the absolute corruption of the human heart while at the same time allowing for man’s cooperation with God in achieving each person’s personal salvation by a personal savior.
  • First, if man is so totally depraved that he cannot seek God apart from what can only be described as a Divine Ravaging of his will, then God has wasted a lot of words and work telling us that just the opposite is true. First, mankind cannot be so totally corrupt as to not understand what God has said about himself in the Heavens. God has told everyone of us who has ever existed that there is a God in Heaven who is our Creator? If mankind is incapable of receiving this message, how can God then declare that those who ignore this message will be without excuse when they face his judgment? (See the article Creation Declares) The fact of the Creation is such a strong argument for pointing mankind to the Truth of the Creator that Satan has chosen it as his primary point of attack to delude mankind into denying God. It is plainly true then that men can not have been so corrupt as to have been unable to understand that there is a God who is their Creator. The battle between God and the Devil over the soul of a man concerns not God’s Predestination of that soul, but rather which god/God will a man choose. The Heavens declare the Truth of our Creator and men must choose to seek him or face the wrath of the Creator for choosing to ignore the message He has placed in the Heavens.
  • Arminius did however, make an error in his assertion concerning freewill. But that does not mean that the Calvinists are right and that man is so totally depraved that he cannot of his own freewill choose to believe the Gospel. Arminius thought that men had enough good left in them after the fall so they could respond the Gospel Invitation of their own freewill. The Scriptures just plainly deny such a statement. (John 6:44) But that does not mean that God has not provided a means by which mankind can respond to the invitation of the Gospel of their own free will. (John 12:32)
  • Jesus said that if he was lifted up from the earth he would “draw” all of mankind to himself. So clearly Jesus means for us to understand that there will be no one who does not get drawn toward Jesus. If man has no choice in this matter, then all of mankind must be saved because clearly all of mankind have been drawn to Jesus, are now being drawn to Jesus, and will continue to be drawn to Jesus in the future. Since we know that some of mankind have not been saved we must conclude that men can choose whether to be saved or not.
  • So what do the scriptures say about how this “drawing” of mankind to Jesus is accomplished, and why does this drawing not result in the universal salvation of mankind? Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. (John 16:7-14) The Prophets Joel and Peter taught that on the day of Pentecost God began pouring His Spirit out upon all flesh, (Acts 2:16-17) And Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment when the Spirit came. Therefore, we must conclude that there is no one who has not been touched by the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Jesus taught that all of mankind is born under condemnation, and He has come into the world so that all who will come unto him will be saved. But what men do with this invitation is purely a matter of their own choosing. (John 3:16-20) So we see that men cannot come to Jesus until they have been convicted of their sin, the righteousness of Jesus, and the Judgment of God by the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches that whosoever will then call upon the name of the Lord when the Spirit is being poured out upon them will be saved.
  • 2. Conditional Election: Arminius believed that election was based on the foreknowledge of God as to who would believe the Gospel. Man's "act of faith" was seen as the "condition" or his being elected to eternal life, since God foresaw him exercising his free will" in response to Jesus Christ. This was plainly an error as shown below.
  • Arminius taught that “Election” was based upon God’s foreknowledge of who would believe the Gospel, but, as the Calvinists point out, the major difficulty with that assertion is that the Bible clearly teaches that faith in Jesus Christ is a gift from God. Therefore, before anyone can believe on Jesus Christ they have to receive the gift of faith from God. (Eph. 2:8) Calvinists reason that since faith is the gift from God, mankind can have no choice in electing to receive this gift.
  • But how then can the scriptures also assert that, “Whosoever will, let him take of the waters of life freely?” Scriptures must be assimilated in order to form doctrines and the various Doctrines concerning Predestination Election are prime examples of the failure to do this. Calvinists correctly teach that election is not based upon God’s foreknowledge of who will believe. But clearly Election is based upon God’s foreknowledge of something. (1 Pet. 1:1-2)
  • Both Joel and Peter taught that whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Isaiah taught that before we call God answers. (Isa. 65:24) The Apostle Paul taught that Chapter 65 of Isaiah should be applied to the church. (Rom. 10:20-21) Therefore, scripture teaches that Election is based upon God’s foreknowledge of whosoever will call upon the Name of The Lord when the Holy Spirit convicts them of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. Before they call God has heard them in Eternity and answered them by writing their names in the Lamb’s Book of life before he founded the worlds.
  • 3. Universal Atonement: Arminius held that redemption was based on the fact that God loves everybody, that Christ died for everyone, and that the Father is not willing that any should perish. The death of Christ provided the grounds for God to save all men, but each must exercise his own "free will" in order to be saved.
  • Calvinists (Reformed Theologians) teach that Christ’s atonement was not universal but limited. That is what the “L” stands for in their TULIP acronym. By limited they mean that salvation is only efficacious for those whom God Predestined for salvation. Reformed Theology teaches that Jesus died only for those whom God has Predestinated, and for the rest of the world it is of no value. This is clearly denied in scripture. (1 John 2:2) The Apostle John clearly taught that Christ’s atonement was for the whole world and this is what Arminius preached. But, since the whole world is not being saved, it follows that something can and does interfere with the atonement that is for the whole world, and that is why Arminius taught the following tenet of obstructable grace.
  • 4. Obstructable Grace: Arminius believed that since God wanted all men to be saved, He sent the Holy Spirit to "woo" all men to Christ, but since man has absolute "free will," he is able to resist God's will for his life. He believed that God's will to save all men can be frustrated by the finite will of man. He also taught that man exercises his own will first, and then is born again.
  • When the Calvinists debated this issue at the Council of Dort they turned it into the 4th point of 5 point Calvinism by saying that God’s offer of grace to those whom he has predestinated for salvation is irresistible. Irresistible Grace is the what the I in TULIP represents. The doctrine of Irresistible Grace is the Calvinists’ logical conclusion of the erroneous understanding of predestination election. If they did not misunderstand predestination election there would be no need for them to then force the private interpretation of irresistible grace upon the scriptures.
  • It is clear that the scripture teaches that God is unwilling that anyone should perish. (2 Pet. 3:9) If it is not God’s will that anyone should perish, then it cannot be said of Him that he damned some to Hell before the foundation of the worlds. Therefore, since Gods offer of grace has been extended to all, and since we do not see all of mankind being saved, we must conclude that God’s offer of Grace can be, and has been resisted by many millions who oppose themselves.
  • 5. Falling From Grace: Arminius thought that if a person cannot be saved by God except he wants to be saved, then man cannot continue to be saved unless he continues to want and will to be saved. In denying this statement the Calvinists turned this statement into the Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints, or Once Saved, Always Saved as some now declare.
  • This point of Calvinism is so plainly false that it is a testament to Satan’s ability to cloud human minds that anyone has believed it at all. The scriptures that deny “Once Saved, Always Saved” are so numerous that it requires a separate page to list them all. Jesus has told us that only those who “endure to the end” will be saved.
  • There is one more point that must be made concerning the doctrine of “Once Saved, Always Saved.” If it were to be true, it would preclude the Day of the Lord from ever occurring. The following verse says that the day of the Lord will not come unless there comes a falling away first. If no one can fall away then the Day of the Lord cannot come.
  • 2 Thess. 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
  • The term, “falling away” in 2 Thess. 2:3 is translated from apostasia, a Greek word defined as desertion. Anyone who deserts the faith of Jesus Christ is an apostate, and the Day of the Lord cannot come until a great forsaking occurs in the midst of the land. (Isa. 6:10-12)
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