James Arminius (1560-1609)

James Arminius

Is man's will truly free?

To answer this question, we need to determine what happened to man when he originally fell into sin. What part of man fell? More important, was man's will completely unaffected by sin?

Jacobus Arminus (1560 - 1609) Dutch scholar University of Leyden 1582 Pastorate in Amsterdam (1588) Professor of Theology in Leyden (1603 - 1609) Came to doubt unconditional predestination, ascribing to man freedom of will. Controversy followed. After his death, his followers (sometimes called "Arminians") systematized and developed his beliefs in a statement called "Remonstrance." It taught a predestination based on "foreknowledge" but gave it a different twist than their Calvinist counterparts. The Arminians taught predestination based on God "foreseeing" faith, and that grace may be rejected.

The Arminian notion of "freedom of choice" minimizes God's own freedom in salvation, and does not comport with Scripture (see John 6:44, 65; Acts 13:48; 2 Tim. 2:25, among many others).

Salvation: How God brings sinners back into favor with Him

God takes the initiative

God never intended to leave His children in a hopeless condition. Instead He made immediate provision for their salvation. As early as the Garden of Eden, God cursed the deceiving serpent (Satan) and promised a coming redeemer who would bruise the serpent's head (Gen. 3:15). In the fullness of time, Jesus was born, lived a perfect life, died and arose again to ascend into heaven. That death accomplished a great feat in that it provided for the salvation of God's elect (Gal. 4:4; Rom. 5:9; Col. 1:20).

Key components of salvation

  • Election: God elects some to eternal salvation (Eph. 1:11).
  • Effectual Calling: God draws the elect to salvation. Though God enables man to cooperate, man does not have the final say. God, through sovereign electing love, draws the sinner irresistibly to Him, causing him to be born again (Rom. 1:6-7; Acts 16:14; 1 Cor. 1:9).
  • Regeneration: The new birth, where God gives us a new heart and new life (Tit. 3:5; John 3:3). Man is not active in regeneration as he is in conversion (see below).
  • Faith: The gift of God where we place faith in Christ as our Lord and Savior (Phil. 1:29; John 1:12). We stress gift because man cannot generate the ability to believe just as he cannot regenerate himself.
  • Repentance: Sorrow for sin and a change in disposition whereby we turn from sin and walk obediently to God (2 Cor. 7:9-10; Matt. 3:2; Heb. 6:1). While we do not do this perfectly in this life, God does change our basic desires and inner disposition toward obeying Him.
  • Justification: God declaring the sinner righteous because of Christ (Rom. 4:4; Gal. 2:16). In justification, we must think of God in terms of judge with the full power to acquit us based on some legal formula. Of course, that formula was the death of His own beloved Son. God now can declare the sinner righteous based upon faith in Jesus Christ.
  • Adoption: God adopting us into His family, counting us as son and daughters of God (1 John 3:1; John 1:12).
  • Sanctification: The act of God whereby He makes us holy and sustains a process whereby we become more and more like Christ (Rom. 6:1-23; 8:13; 1 Thess. 4:3). Our quest for holiness in this life remains progressive, if halting at times. To insure we attain a measure of victory over sin, God gives us the means of grace, such as prayer, the Word of God, and private and corporate worship.
  • Perseverance: God enabling the believing saint to continue in the faith, so that all who believe will never lose their salvation (1 Pet. 1:5; John 10:27-29; Phil. 1:6). This feature is denied by the Arminians (see article on Arminius to the left), but remains a focal point of Scripture. God will complete the glorious work He began in the believer (Phil. 1:6).
  • Glorification: Believers will be brought into a perfect blessed state in body and soul, perfectly conformed into the image of Christ (Phil. 3:20-21; 1 John 3:2). Ultimate salvation includes a perfected soul, body, and environment (heaven). We will realize these blessings on the last day when God ushers in the new heaven and new earth, though some features of this occur earlier (e.g., we receive a perfected soul at death, prior to the resurrection and new heavens and earth).

Salvation therefore consists of much more than simply escaping eternal judgment. God designed us to live and walk in perfect harmony with His will. But man fell through Adam and, as such, is born into sin. God in His mercy saves believing sinners, declares them righteous before God, progressively makes them holy throughout their lifetime, then one day will glorify them.

"How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard (Heb. 2:4)."