Arminian Today

Dr. Jack Cottrell, in the book Perspectives on Election, shows the debate among Arminians concerning predestination.  In Calvinism, predestination is always associated with individuals.  Calvinists acknowledge that God does choose groups to use for His service such as the Israelites but by in large, Calvinists argue that predestination is unto salvation and this is individual in nature.

Arminians, however, disagree even among themselves about the nature of predestination.  Some Arminians hold that God only predestines groups or corporate election.  In other words, a common saying among some Arminians is, “God elects the plan but not the man.”  In this view, God elects the Church but this doesn’t mean that He chooses who is in the Church.  Anyone can be in the Church through faith and those who come into the Church through faith in Jesus become His elect.  God also has elected Jesus Christ to be our Savior.  This election is unconditional.  But salvation into Jesus is very much conditional and while God sovereignly chose Jesus, He allowed Jesus to die for the sins of all so that all can be saved in the elected one.

I do think there is much truth associated with the above view.  Corporate election is biblical.  I see a corporate election in the choosing of Israel.  Deuteronomy 7:7-8 tells us that Yahweh chose the children of Israel by His own sovereign plan and purpose and for His own glory.  Paul establishes this corporate view in Romans 9:1-5.  I, like most Arminians, do not find salvation in this sovereign choosing but to service.  Calvinists such as John Piper in his book, The Justification of God, struggles to find salvation in Romans 9:1-5 while appealing to Romans 9:1-23 as proof that God elects unto salvation those whom He unconditionally chooses.  It is possible to be chosen by God for His service but not be saved as in the case of Pharaoh in Romans 9:17.  Another example of this sovereign choosing is in Jesus’ choosing of the Twelve Apostles in John 15:16.  They were chosen by Jesus to serve Him though I do not see that as individual salvation as in the case of Judas who betrayed Jesus though being one of the Twelve.

I do agree with Dr. Cottrell though in that he writes that predestination can be unto salvation and service.  In the case of Saul of Tarsus, God choose him to service and unto salvation (see Acts 9:15-16).  Some suppose predestination only to a corporate group but that God chooses the Church presupposes that He has chosen individuals to fill that group.  The key to understanding the Arminian view on predestination is to understand our position on foreknowledge.  God foreknows those who are His own.  Romans 8:29-30 makes this clear and the context of Romans 8:29 is not a group but individual salvation.  God foreknows those who are His (1 Peter 1:1-2).  2 Thessalonians 2:13 (NASB) says that God has chosen the believers for salvation.  This salvation is individual.

John writes in 2 John 1 of the “elect lady” (ESV) and this is individual.

Again, the key is that God foreknows those who His.  When we evangelize the lost, it is not our duty to bring them to Jesus for salvation.  We are to witness of Christ but Christ does the saving.  The Church doesn’t save sinners.  Evangelists don’t save sinners.  Jesus saves sinners.  He uses the gospel to draw them to salvation (John 6:44).  Those whom He foreknows will repent of their sins.  That He knows this doesn’t mean that He causes this.  He convicts.  He saves.  But He doesn’t believe for the person.  He simply knows those who will believe the gospel.  He knows this because He knows all things.  Nothing happens that He doesn’t know.  He is infinite in His wisdom (Romans 11:33-36).  Our duty then is not to try to argue people to salvation or to try to persuade them in the flesh to salvation.  Our duty is to preach Jesus Christ and He does the saving.  He draws sinners, convicts them, and converts them (Titus 3:5-7).  The duty of the disciple is to point people to the Savior who alone saves sinners by His grace (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 1:8).

So on the one hand I do believe that God has chosen the Church.  I believe that Romans 9-11 is Paul’s argument against the Jews thinking that God had chosen them simply because of their being Jewish unto salvation.  Paul’s argument is that even though God choose Israel, not all of Israel was part of Israel but only those who believed (Romans 9:30-33; 10:11-13; 10:21-11:16, 20-24, 32).  On the other hand, He has chosen individual people to fill the Church (1 Peter 2:9-10).  He has “predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:5).  We can rejoice that God foreknows all things including our own salvation.  This should humble us.  This should force us to fear Him who saved us by His own grace and power.  That He foreknows our salvation in Jesus is not an issue of pride but great humility as we see what He has done for us in His Son.  Praise Him for His grace!

Acts 13:48 is one of the most quoted passages of Scripture by Calvinists to defend their doctrine of unconditional election.  For instance, Dr. John MacArthur states in the MacArthur Study Bible that Acts 13:48 is “one of the clearest texts that shows that God is sovereign in salvation.”  I have never read a work by Calvinists on unconditional election that did not feature Acts 13:48 as a prominent passage that reinforces their view regarding election.

Arminians do not skip over Acts 13:48.  In fact, we do see election in Acts 13:48 but not unconditional election.  Dr. Kenneth Keathley notes in his book, Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist Approach, that “the book of Acts presents the entire gamut of reactions to the message of Christ.  Many gladly receive the good news (2:41; 4:4).  Some make an incomplete conversion (8:13, 20-23).  Others, like Saul and the Philippian jailor, first exhibit great hostility and then are dramatically converted (9:1-9; 16:30-34).  Some resist while others gladly respond (13:45-52).  Some such as the Ethiopian eunuch and Lydia, receive the gospel quickly (8:36-38; 16:14), while others, such as Sergius Paulus, take a while to be converted (13:6-12).  Felix is moved by the gospel to the point he ‘trembles’ with fear, yet he eventually loses interest (24:24-26).  Festus dismisses the message as madness (26:24), while Agrippa replies to Paul’s appeal, ‘You almost persuade me to become a Christian’ (26:28 NKJV).  Acts presents a remarkable array of responses to the gospel” (pp. 132-133).

We find those types of testimonies among us.  Our experience matches up with Scripture in this case to show that grace is resistible.  All of us come to Christ in various ways.  Some of us come quickly after hearing the gospel.  Others take time to study and think through the cost of being a disciple of Jesus.  Yet we do know people who like Festus, dismiss Christianity quickly.  Others are like Agrippa and are almost persuaded but still lost.  We have all known people like Simon in Acts 8 who appear to want to follow Jesus but turn away (Matthew 13:20-21).  Just as in Acts, so the gospel goes forth in various ways today to save people in various ways but all through Jesus Christ alone (John 14:6).  If irresistible grace were true, why do we find such a variety of salvation experiences in Acts?  It would seem that all would come to Christ the same, without resistance and without question if in fact they are the elect of God.

In Acts 13:48 we find the passage that all Calvinists point to about unconditional election.  Does this verse teach this?  Keep in mind what I quoted from Dr. Keathley above, that God saves people in various ways in the book of Acts.  Now take that approach to Acts 13:48.  Here we find Paul dealing with Jews who are refusing the gospel.  Notice back in Acts 13:43 where Paul and Barnabas are teaching so many people the gospel that it causes the Jews jealousy (v. 45).  The Apostles give their defense for their preaching in verses 46-47 which leads us to verse 48.

Dr. Adam Clarke wrote about Acts 13:48,

This text has been most pitifully misunderstood. Many suppose that it simply means that those in that assembly who were fore-ordained; or predestinated by God’s decree, to eternal life, believed under the influence of that decree. Now, we should be careful to examine what a word means, before we attempt to fix its meaning. Whatever tetagmenoi may mean, which is the word we translate ordained, it is neither protetagmenoi nor proorismenoi which the apostle uses, but simply tetagmenoi, which includes no idea of pre-ordination or pre-destination of any kind. And if it even did, it would be rather hazardous to say that all those who believed at this time were such as actually persevered unto the end, and were saved unto eternal life. But, leaving all these precarious matters, what does the word tetagmenov mean? The verb tattw or tassw signifies to place, set, order, appoint, dispose; hence it has been considered here as implying the disposition or readiness of mind of several persons in the congregation, such as the religious proselytes mentioned ver. 43, who possessed the reverse of the disposition of those Jews who spake against those things, contradicting and blaspheming, ver. 45. Though the word in this place has been variously translated, yet, of all the meanings ever put on it, none agrees worse with its nature and known signification than that which represents it as intending those who were predestinated to eternal life: this is no meaning of the term, and should never be applied to it. Let us, without prejudice, consider the scope of the place: the Jews contradicted and blasphemed; the religious proselytes heard attentively, and received the word of life: the one party were utterly indisposed, through their own stubbornness, to receive the Gospel; the others, destitute of prejudice and prepossession, were glad to hear that, in the order of God, the Gentiles were included in the covenant of salvation through Christ Jesus; they, therefore, in this good state and order of mind, believed. Those who seek for the plain meaning of the word will find it here: those who wish to make out a sense, not from the Greek word, its use among the best Greek writers, and the obvious sense of the evangelist, but from their own creed, may continue to puzzle themselves and others; kindle their own fire, compass themselves with sparks, and walk in the light of their own fire, and of the sparks which they have kindled; and, in consequence, lie down in sorrow, having bidden adieu to the true meaning of a passage so very simple, taken in its connection, that one must wonder how it ever came to be misunderstood and misapplied.

John Wesley wrote this about Acts 13:48

St. Luke does not say fore-ordained. He is not speaking of what was done from eternity, but of what was then done, through the preaching of the Gospel. He is describing that ordination, and that only, which was at the very time of hearing it. During this sermon those believed, says the apostle, to whom God then gave power to believe. It is as if he had said, “They believed, whose hearts the Lord opened;” as he expresses it in a clearly parallel place, speaking of the same kind of ordination, chap. xvi, 14, &c. It is observable, the original word is not once used in Scripture to express eternal predestination of any kind. The sum is, all those and those only, who were now ordained, now believed. Not that God rejected the rest: it was his will that they also should have been saved: but they thrust salvation from them. Nor were they who then believed constrained to believe. But grace was then first copiously offered them. And they did not thrust it away, so that a great multitude even of Gentiles were converted. In a word, the expression properly implies, a present operation of Divine grace working faith in the hearers.

The fact is that God has chosen to only save believers.  In this case, the Jews had rejected the gospel.  Those who believed the gospel were saved as Acts 13:48 makes clear.  God does not save unbelievers (Romans 5:1).  He only saves those who place faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:1-9).  Those who repent and are baptized in Acts 2:38 are the saved.  Those who do not repent are not.  In Arminianism, the elect are those who believe the gospel (1 Timothy 4:10).  Those who reject the gospel are lost (Romans 1:18-32).  God only saves those who believe (1 Corinthians 1:21).  Every Calvinist would agree with me on that point.  In this case, Acts 13:48, Luke is not building a case for unconditional election but simply showing that those who believed were appointed for eternal life.  Those who are worthy in other words.  Jesus spoke about those who are not worthy in Matthew 10:37-38 and also in Matthew 22:8.  Notice especially Matthew 22:8 as it compares to Acts 13:48.

The Doctrine Proved by Scripture

Let us now look at what the Scriptures have to say about the total inability of the sinner to obtain salvation.  I noted on the previous post that the term total depravity is probably not the best term to describe the sinner’s position before God.  No doubt we are sinful and depraved (Ephesians 2:1-3) but we are not always as sinful as we could be or others may be.  The point of being dead in our sins as Ephesians 2:1 states is that we are spiritually and morally dead before God.  To be dead in our sins doesn’t mean that we lack the ability to hear the gospel or to see the gospel but we lack the ability to move toward God.  We are totally unable in our own strength to earn God’s perfect righteousness.  We are tainted by sin and even our goodness is tainted by sin as Isaiah 64:6 states.  To be dead in sin does not mean, as Calvinists teach, that we lack even the ability to believe or hear the gospel but it means that we are without the life of God in us.  Adam and Eve were dead in their trespasses and sins after the fall (Genesis 3) but this simply means that they now lacked the ability apart from God to obtain His perfect righteousness that He requires.

Perhaps the strongest verse that teaches the total inability of the sinner to save ourselves is Ephesians 2:8-9.  Here Paul the Apostle states that salvation is by grace through faith and not by works.  Calvinists take the phrase, “that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (NASB) as meaning the gift of faith given to the elect.  Calvinists teach that since humans are dead in their sins, they lack the ability to come to God or even to believe the gospel apart from God regenerating them first.  In Calvinism, regeneration then proceeds faith instead of faith producing regeneration.  I will say more about this viewpoint on another post.  Arminians hold that the phrase, “that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” to be pointing to salvation itself.  The NASB notes in the margin an interpretation here that they believe that salvation is the view in mind as well.  I believe the context would point to salvation.  Ephesians 2:1-7 has been building up to our salvation that God has brought about in Christ Jesus (vv. 4-6) so why would Paul then jump from talking about our salvation to isolating “faith” in Ephesians 2:8?  Furthermore, verse 9 contrasts verse 8.  We are justified by faith (v.9) and not by works (v. 10).

Yet in Ephesians 2:8-9 we see that we are not able to save ourselves through our own good works.  We are saved by God’s grace through faith.  Over and over again the New Testament writers make faith the key issue for justification.  Notice Romans 5:1.  We are justified through faith says Paul.  Notice Titus 3:5-7 where Paul again says that we are saved by God’s grace and not by works of righteousness which we have done.  Jesus Himself says in John 6:29 in reply to the Jews who were asking about the works of God that the work of God was not to earn our way to God but to believe (or have faith) in the one whom He has sent.

In John 1:12-13 we read,

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Here John the Apostle states that our salvation comes through faith.  Notice again that when we believe  we become the children of God.  This goes against the Calvinist view that regeneration precedes faith.  If that were true then the verse would say, “But to all who were children of God, he gave the right to believe in his name.”

However, note that the verse shows us that when we believe in the Son of God, we are born again and this is not a birth that comes by our own power.  John states that this new birth comes by the power of God.  We don’t will our way to salvation.  We don’t earn our salvation by our faith.  We are justified before God through Jesus Christ.  Faith is the means to salvation.  The ground for our justification is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ (John 14:6).  He is our salvation (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

The Issue of the Gift of Faith

Is faith a gift given to the elect only?  In one sense, faith is a gift.  Arminians don’t deny that the ability to believe must come from God.  We despise God by nature (Romans 1:18-32).  Romans 3:10-18 shows that our entire makeup is sinful and thus we don’t seek after God (v. 11).  Jonah 2:9 states that salvation is of the LORD.  When we come to Jesus for salvation, the Spirit of God must open our eyes to the gospel and He must help us to believe the gospel to be saved.  Two passages that point to this are John 6:44 and Acts 16:14-15.

If this is the case, what are we to believe about an unlimited atonement in relation to salvation by grace through faith.  We believe that since Jesus died for all and all can be saved (John 3:14-16; 12:32; 1 Timothy 2:3-4; 1 John 2:1-2), then all can come and be saved through faith in Jesus.  Yet what about John 6:44, 65 or Acts 13:48 or Acts 16:14-15?  Arminianism teaches that a general call goes out for all to come and be saved.  God foreknows those whom are His own (1 Peter 1:2) and His Spirit works on the sinners heart to draw them to the Savior.  In some sense the Spirit is in the world to convict the entire world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-11) and John 1:9 states that the light that Jesus brings enlightens every man.  The Spirit is working through the gospel (Matthew 28:19) to draw sinners to the Savior.

A couple of points are to be noted.  First, we see the importance of the Holy Spirit in relation to evangelism.  Jesus said that the Spirit would empower us to be His witnesses (Acts 1:8).  How vital it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49) to be an effective witness for Jesus.  The Holy Spirit gives the Church boldness to witness (Acts 4:29-31) but He alone draws the lost to the Savior.  The duty of the disciple is not to save anyone.  We can’t.  We are sinners in need of a Savior as well.  Our duty is to testify of His grace (Mark 16:15) and to allow the Holy Spirit to take our gospel and open sinners hearts to the truth.  Faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17) and this happens when sinners hear the gospel and the Holy Spirit opens their hearts to the gospel as Acts 16:14 states about Lydia.

Secondly, we don’t know who the elect of God are so our duty is to preach the gospel to all and allow Him to draw all to Himself.  Whoever comes to Jesus becomes His elect (John 6:37; 1 Timothy 4:10).  1 Timothy 4:10 shows us that Jesus died for all people but only those who receive His gift of salvation are the elect of God.  This does not undermine the teaching that salvation is by grace through faith.  Faith is the opposite of works (Romans 4:5) and all who receive the gift of salvation do so by their own free will though the aid of the Spirit but salvation is still by grace nonetheless (Romans 11:6).  Because I accept a gift doesn’t make it less than a gift still.  I didn’t earn the gift.  I accepted the free gift (Romans 6:23).  Our faith saves us and we must continue in saving faith to remain saved (Romans 11:20-22; 1 Corinthians 15:1-3; 2 Corinthians 1:24; Galatians 5:1-4; etc.).

Next we will take a look at Acts 13:38 as it relates to salvation.

I was listening to brother Ray Comfort’s teaching, True and False Conversion the other night while working.  I do recommend the teaching.  While we don’t agree eye to eye on all points, Ray Comfort’s passion for holiness is heard in this teaching.  He looks around at the church and sees so many who are not Christ-lovers.  They are abiding in sin, playing games with the world, and never seeking after righteousness.  Comfort calls them “false converts.”

Are there really false converts in the modern Church?  Of course there are.  Comfort does a good job of showing in the teachings of Jesus that there would be sheep and goats (Matthew 25:32), wheat and tares (Matthew 13:24-30), and many who will say on the day of Judgment that Jesus is Lord but He will not be their Lord (Matthew 7:21-23).  Comfort walks his hearers through Mark 4:1-9 and the parable of the sower with Jesus’ own explanation of His parable (Mark 4:14-20).  He shows from Mark 4:14-20 who the true and false converts are.

Several points he makes are solid.  Comfort points out that salvation is a work of the Spirit of God.  No Arminian would disagree.  We believe that the Holy Spirit takes the gospel and He opens the sinners heart to receive the Word of God.  While the Spirit is not mentioned in John 6:44, no doubt He is the one who leads us to the Father to be saved through the Son (Acts 16:14-15) as Jesus said that He would convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8-11).

Next Comfort points out that if a person is truly saved, we will not need to baby sit them to keep them saved.  Some think that we need to take a new disciple and take them away from temptation and away from the world and away from their old friends but Comfort says that if a person is truly saved, temptation drives us to Jesus and not away from Him (Mark 4:20; Romans 5:1-3; James 1:2-5).  Comfort points out that true salvation leads one to build on Jesus so that when storms come from the world or from temptation, we are on solid ground in Christ but not so with the false convert (Matthew 7:24-27).

The differences I had with his teaching were not that there are false converts.  I agree that there are many false converts.  However, Comfort holds to eternal security and therefore he believes that every person who turns away from Christ was a false convert.  He points to Judas Iscariot.  He points out that Judas was not a believer who fell away.  He says that Judas was a false convert.  He turns to John 6:66-71 and points to Peter as a true disciple who falls into sin but comes back but Judas was never saved to begin with.  He points to Luke 22:31-34 as proof that Jesus was praying for Peter but not Judas.  He points out that Judas is called a thief in John 12:6 and not that he became a thief.  Judas was a thief the whole time he was with Jesus.  He was a false convert.

From this, Comfort holds that a person can seemed to be anointed, seem to preach the gospel (as Judas did), and seem to do great things for the Lord but inwardly they are like Judas, a thief and a false convert.  He points to Acts 20:30 to wolves who will arise inside the church to deceive people from Christ.  They are wolves who appear to be sheep (Matthew 7:15).  No matter how long a person may “serve” Christ, if they do not remain faithful to Him, they are a false convert.  They were never born again.

I know some Arminians who would agree with Comfort on this.  They, like Comfort, hold to eternal security but only if a person remains faithful to Jesus.  If they fall away, they were never saved to begin with.  I have dealt with such teaching before on this blog and will not labor back over that.  I actually could sit under that teaching (and by the way, I do appreciate Ray Comfort even if we don’t agree on this issue) better than under the radical, “once saved, always saved” teaching that allows for continued sinning without repentance.

However, I believe that Scriptures do teach apostasy and that it is something we should beware of.  If we hold to the “never saved to begin with” theory, we must do something with the warning passages such as Matthew 18:21-35 or 24:4-5, 13 or Luke 8:21 or John 8:51 or 15:1-8 or Acts 13:43 or Romans 11:20-22 or 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:21 or 2 Corinthians 1:24 or Galatians 5:1-4 or 6:7-9 or 2 Peter 2:1-22 and so many more.  We must do something with the warnings issued by Jesus in Revelation 2-3 where He gives specific promises to overcomes and warnings to those who fail to abide in Him.  We must do something with the entire book of Hebrews!  We must view these warning passages as hypothetical or twist them to mean something than they clearly mean if we hold that a person can never fall from grace.

Further, I believe that such a view never truly gives assurance of salvation.  I have no problem teaching that a person must continue in the faith since this is all through the epistles (see Colossians 1:21-23 for example).  We should urge disciples to continue seeking Jesus always and always placing their faith and hope fully in Him and His cross for our salvation and never in our works (Galatians 3:1-5).  We should preach perseverance of the saints and not preservation of the sinner.  We should point out that there is never any promises of eternal life given to those abiding in sin.  None.  We should preach that the disciple of Jesus is called to victory in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:12-13, 37).  This leads to assurance that we are saved (Romans 8:14-17 in the context of Romans 8:12-13).  To tell people, “if you don’t continue in the faith, you were never saved to begin with,” how can this not lead to a lack of assurance?

Are there many promises given in the New Testament to the keeping power of God?  Yes!  I trust in them!  Yet every single promise is given to those who are in Christ Jesus.  Each passage assumes that disciples are in Christ Jesus through faith (John 10:27-29).  We are protected by God’s power through faith (1 Peter 1:5).  This faith is ongoing.  It not momentary.  It is not false. It is a continual trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ for our salvation.  We have the promise of 1 John 2:24-25 if we remain in Jesus by faith.

I do appreciate Ray Comfort greatly and praise God for his service to the kingdom of Christ.  His books on evangelism are excellent resources for all believers.  Both Arminians and Calvinists and everyone in-between can learn much from this man of God.  I just disagree with him over his teaching that anyone who turns away from the faith was never saved to begin with.  I don’t believe this faithfully deals with the warning passages of the New Testament and leads to a lack of assurance of our salvation.  The question before us is the same that the Puritans use to ask themselves daily, “Am I trusting today in the cross of Christ or in my own flesh?”  That is something we should all yearn for, that complete trusting in Jesus alone for our eternal salvation (2 Peter 1:10-11).

In Ephesians 4:13 we read

In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. (NKJV)

Several things I notice about this text.  First, notice that belief followed hearing the gospel.  We must hear the gospel to be saved (Romans 10:14-17).  This is why evangelism is so important to the disciple of Jesus.  We simply are following the command of our Savior to take the gospel to all of creation (Mark 16:15).  We believe that none can be saved without the gospel of Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5-6).

Secondly, notice that our salvation is found in Jesus.  Not in our own election.  Not in our doctrinal system.  Salvation is found in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The focus of Ephesians 1:3-14 is not on you.  It is on Jesus.  Jesus is the main focus here.  Election in Arminianism is always Christ-centered and not man-centered.  Our focus is on Jesus whom God chose to send to die for our sins in our place (Isaiah 53:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:18-21; 1 Peter 2:21-24).  Over and over again the focus is on Him in Ephesians 1:3-14.  ”In Christ” (v. 3), “in Him” (v. 4), “by Jesus Christ to Himself” (v. 5), “His grace” (v. 6), “In Him” (v. 7), “He made” (v. 8), “His will” and “His good pleasure” (v. 9), “in Christ” (v. 10), “In Him” (v. 11), “in Christ” (v. 12), “In Him” (v. 13), and “His glory” (v. 14).

Thirdly, notice when the sealing of the Spirit takes place.  Paul writes that after believing, we are sealed with the Spirit.  This is important because the sealing of the Spirit marks ownership.  We become God’s elect when we believe the gospel.  We can debate about whether election is unconditional or conditional but the passage is clear that when we believe, we are then marked with the Spirit and become God’s possession.  This is detrimental to the teaching that regeneration must be before faith.  If this were the case, surely the Spirit knows those who are the elect already since He regenerates them before believing the gospel.  In fact, the regeneration before faith view teaches that the Holy Spirit must regenerate people before faith otherwise faith becomes and a work and a person has “worked” their own salvation through their own faith.  Yet this passage is clear that having believed, we are then sealed with the Spirit of promise.  Is then teaching a second blessing?  Is this teaching that the Spirit regenerates before conversion but then He does something else after conversion?

That someone receives salvation through faith as opposed to works is clear in the New Testament.  However, simply because someone has faith in the gospel and then is regenerated does not make this faith a work.  To receive a free gift that a person did not earn nor deserve does not make it less than a gift does it?  Even so salvation is through faith and a person is responsible to believe the gospel or reject it but salvation is always by grace through faith and not by works of righteousness that we have done (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7).  Yet a person is not force to believed nor could they not reject the free offer of the gospel if they so choose.  This does not make salvation by works but acknowledges that a person must believe the gospel to be saved.

While Arminianism affirms justification by faith and affirms that salvation is a work of God and not of man (John 1:12-13) and we affirm that salvation is all of grace (Acts 15:11; Ephesians 2:8-9) yet because we affirm that we believe that people are responsible to believe the gospel once they hear the gospel preached to them (Romans 10:9-17) that this leads to justification by works.  Faith, in this case, is seen as a work since we are telling people that they must believe the gospel to be saved (Acts 2:21).

The problem with this view is that while Arminians do believe that people must believe the gospel to be saved and they must exercise their free will to follow Jesus (Luke 14:25-35), we believe that this is the work of the Spirit.  Apart from the Holy Spirit, no one could be saved.  The Holy Spirit is the one who woos the sinner’s heart to salvation.  He anoints the preaching (Acts 1:8), opens ears to the gospel (Acts 16:14), and He takes the gospel and applies it to the sinner’s heart (Acts 15:9).  When a person then believes the gospel through faith and repentance (1 Corinthians 1:21), the Spirit of God regenerates them (Titus 3:5-7).  Being regenerated by the Spirit is absolutely essential to eternal life (John 3:3-7).

Now at this point Calvinists would agree with much of what I just wrote.  They too would affirm all that I said but would add that once a person does believe it is because the Spirit of God must deposit faith into them by His sovereign grace or they would not be saved.  Because of their view of complete and total depravity of the person, how can a dead person believe the gospel and be saved (Ephesians 2:1)?  Since a dead person cannot respond to the gospel, the Spirit of God must regenerate them to believe the gospel.

The problem with such a view abounds.  First, there is simply no biblical basis for this view.  This is an assumption that Calvinists carry over to the Scriptures and make fit.  I have seen Calvinist theologians strain to make 1 John 5:1 fit their theology.  No where in the New Testament does it teach that regeneration precedes faith.  Faith is always seen as the way to salvation.

Secondly, the view that regeneration must precede faith, in my estimation, would naturally lead to double-predestination.  John Calvin seemed to embrace this view as did many other Calvinists after him including theologians such as Jonathan Edwards or even modern theologians such as John Frame.  Calvin called this doctrine, “the horrible decree” because it viewed God as choosing before time whom He would save and whom He would damn.  The person bound for hell is bound there no matter what.  The gift of faith will never be given to them even if they seem to believe for a while.  If the gift of faith is required in order for someone to be saved, why doesn’t God just give this gift to all people?  Why limit this “for His glory?”  If God has the power to save all, why doesn’t He?  Arminianism affirms that His desire is to save all who would believe the gospel (John 3:16; 1 John 2:1-2).  We affirm a universal atonement that is so powerful that it can save all who come to God through faith just as Moses and the snake in the wilderness could heal all who looked upon the serpent on the poll (John 3:14-15).

A few passages do seem to present faith as a gift.  Let’s look at a couple.  First is the Ephesians 2:8-9.  I have read this verse thousands of times and yet to see how Calvinists see the phrase “this is not your own doing” as being the gift of faith and not salvation apart from works?  Verses 9 and 10 both are emphasizing works yet we are to believe that the gift of faith is the issue in verse 8?   We affirm that salvation is by God’s grace through faith and have no problem proclaiming that truth but to read into verse 8 as the gift of faith, I believe, is not an accurate exegesis of the passage.  By the way, John Calvin was noted for not always being consistent in his views and he wrote this about Ephesians 2:8-9:

“He does not mean that faith is the gift of God, but that salvation is given to us by God, or, that we obtain it by the gift of God.” (Commentaries, vol. 11, 145).

Another common cited passage is Philippians 1:29.  However, we Arminians affirm that faith is a gift from God in the sense that the Spirit helps us to believe.  We believe the gospel but the work of salvation is all of God and not of us and even our believing comes because the Holy Spirit used the gospel to save our souls.  There is not boasting from a biblical Arminian about “saving ourselves” through our free will.  We believe that because of sin, we are lost without the aid of the Holy Spirit drawing us to salvation in the Savior (John 6:44).  However, I do want to point out that few speak much about the gift of suffering that Paul has in mind in Philippians 1:29.  Many want to debate the issue of believing but not the suffering to which we are also called (Romans 8:18).

A final problem I want to point out about the issue of regeneration before faith is found in F. Leroy Forlines book Classical Arminianism in which he writes about the problem of justification and regeneration in Calvinism.  If regeneration takes place before faith then this would mean that the elect are justified before faith but this would logically go against passages such as Romans 5:1 and would ignore the need of sanctification.  If the elect are eternally justified then sanctification is meaningless.  They are not sinners.  The elect are born justified and from all eternity have been so.  Justification comes through the work of Jesus Christ.  Jesus obtained our justification on the cross.  Yet if regeneration takes place before faith then this would mean that the elect are justified already before faith since they are regenerated and their sins are gone.  This would mean that all the elect are born sinless.  They are seen as justified before God.  Forlines points out that some Calvinist theologians such as Louis Berkhof saw this problem in his systematic theology text.  R.C. Sproul, however, does not.  In his book, Chosen By God, Sproul defends the view that regeneration must precede faith.  He ignores the issue of eternal justification.

I believe that the Arminian view that justification is by faith is the correct one.  This was the major focus of Paul the Apostle in the book of Romans and no where in Romans does he say that regeneration takes place before faith.  He makes faith the condition.  Romans 3:25-26 are strong verses that show that justification is by faith in Jesus Christ.

One final point from Forlines that I believe is worth repeating is that he makes the point that faith is the condition for salvation and not the grounds for it.  Forlines points out that when we speak often of justification by faith and focus on faith and not Christ as the grounds for our salvation, we then get caught in examining our faith and not the person and work of Jesus Christ.  As I have pointed out many times before, Jesus is our salvation.  We can debate faith and regeneration and sanctification but Jesus is our salvation.  We are saved by a Person and not a theory.  Certainly I agree that we are justified by faith but my focus must be on Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23).  Jesus is the one who died for me and His blood alone cleanses me from all sin (Ephesians 1:7).  In eternity, the praise and glory will not be for the elect or the gift of faith but upon Jesus who gave His life for the Church (Revelation 5:9-10).  Jesus alone is the one that our faith needs to focus on and not our theological assumptions which are so often wrong.