Arminian Today

In Exodus 3:18-22 we read what Yahweh tells Moses concerning Pharaoh and the plunder of the Egyptians.  God tells that Moses that He is going to set His people free from the bondage under the Egyptians (vv. 7-8).  He then tells Moses in verse 18 to go and tell Pharaoh that the Jews were to go into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD yet Yahweh tells Moses in verse 19 that He knows that Pharaoh will not let them go unless compelled by a mighty hand and so in verse 20 Yahweh tells Moses that He will strike Egypt with wonders and then Pharaoh will let them go.  God even promises in verses 21-22 that He will give the Jews favor with the Egyptians so that the Jews will plunder them.

Anyone who knows the book of Exodus and the history of the Israelites knows that all this comes to pass.  Moses goes before Pharaoh and sure to God’s word, Pharaoh denies that the Israelites can go free.  God does wonders that amazes both the Egyptians and the Israelites and finally, after the striking down of the first-born in all of Egypt, Pharaoh calls Moses to him and tells him to leave (Exodus 12:31-32).  The Israelites even plunder the Egyptians as God promised (Exodus 12:36).

What amazes me about Exodus 3:18-22 is that Yahweh clearly foresees all the free will decisions that will come to pass.  In His complete omniscience He knows what Pharaoh will do and say and even what the Egyptians will do for the Israelites after God’s judgment upon them.  Romans 9:14-18 gives us insight into God’s choosing of Pharaoh for His own purpose.  Romans 9:14-18 is not salvation in nature.  The point of Romans 9:14-18 is that God is sovereign to choose whomever He desires for His own purpose without saving them in the process.  Pharaoh could have been saved if he had repented of his sins but he continued in his unbelief and hardened his heart toward Yahweh.  The parallel between John 15:16 and Romans 9:17 are similar.  Jesus’ choice of His Apostles in John 15:16 was to service and not entirely to salvation (as the case of Judas shows).  This is true of Pharaoh as well.  He was chosen by God for God’s own purpose: to show His glory and wonders to the Israelites.

What is amazing though is that God knows the free will choices that Pharaoh and the Egyptians would make.  God does not force these decisions but He knows them just as He knows your thoughts before you even utter them (Psalm 139:4).  Jesus knew the thoughts of many in the Gospels.  In Mark 2:8 we read that Jesus perceived the thoughts of the people questioning His words in their hearts.  In John 2:25 we read that Jesus knew what was in man.  In John 6:64 Jesus even knew who did not believe about the disciples spoken of in verse 66 and about Judas (verse 71).  On a side note, Adam Clarke makes the point that could it be that Jesus was reaching out to Judas trying to call him to repent of his wickedness beforehand?  I know this is speculation on Clarke’s part but I do see the love of Jesus even for a Judas.

I write all this because some accuse us Arminians of rejecting the omniscience of God.  They believe that we hold to open theism, that God does not know all future actions of free will creatures.  I certainly reject this notion.  I believe from passages such as Exodus 3:18-22 that God does indeed know all things.  He knows even the free will decision of people.  He foreknows even those who will believe the gospel of Christ (Romans 8:29).  While this knowledge is not unconditional in that salvation is based on conditions that God has set including belief, He does know those who will believe.  This mystery is beyond me.  I cannot fathom knowing all things including decisions others are going to make.  God does.  God knows all things.  He foreknows all events.  He has chosen in His sovereignty to allow for free will from His creatures so that none can accuse Him of evil and say on the day of judgment that they were only doing what God had caused them to do.  Calvinists believe that God renders certain whatsoever comes to pass including sin.  How does this not make God the author of sin?  If God is going to render certain all things that come to pass then this means that He causes them to come to pass.  In essence, this makes God the one who caused the event (even sinful) to be rendered certain.

The Arminian view is that God simply knows.  That is it.  God knew the free will actions of Pharaoh and the Egyptians before it happened because He knows.  God knew when you would believe.  God knew that I would write this post.  That God knows is not the same as God caused.  God foreknows all things including the free will decisions of people.  He controls all things but He does not cause all things.  He knew the free will actions that would be taken toward His Son (Isaiah 53:4-6) but He allowed those free will choices to be made and for Jesus’ death to come to pass (Acts 2:23 notice that Peter says that those Jews were guilty of Jesus’ death through the hands of lawless men).  God allowed people to make free will choices to crucify His Son but He knew those choices would be made even if He didn’t make that choice for them.

There are some who take comfort in a fatalistic view of God’s omniscience.  I have even known some who would abide in sin believing that God knew and rendered certain their sin so why fight it?  I have seen some find comfort in their struggles of life by believing that God caused their troubles to come upon them by His own sovereign choice.  I have seen women mourn over their dead baby only to bless God for killing the child.  They find comfort that God causes all things to come to pass even if they don’t understand God’s ways.  They read the book of Job and see the hand of God crushing Job as proof that we should expect the same in this life.

I don’t know.  I don’t find much comfort in that thought.  I do believe that God is sovereign.  I do believe that God foreknows all things.  I do believe that God controls all things.  I reject that God causes all things.  Did God cause Adam to sin?  Did God cause Judas to betray Jesus?  Did God cause Hitler to murder over 6 million Jews?  Did God cause the rapist to rape a little girl?  What kind of God is this?  Despite the picture that Scripture presents of Him being loving and good, I would find this fatalistic view of God as appalling.

I am not sure if either Arminianism or Calvinism has the answer to the problem of evil.  The Calvinist views the sovereignty of God as meaning that He must cause all things to come to pass for His glory even the hardening of sinner’s hearts.  The Arminian views the sovereignty of God as God allowing free will decisions to be made that He does know but does not cause.  The open theist view is that God allows the future to partly open so that free will decisions are completely unknown to Him before they take place in time and then God reacts to those free will decisions.  I believe that all three may have problems but I accept the Arminian view as I believe from cases such as Exodus 3:18-22 that God does know all things including the future free will choices that others will make and He is able to make prophetic statements in that regard.

I saw on Twitter the other night a tweet by a well known Calvinist boasting of the Calvinist doctrine of limited atonement.  He tweeted concerning John 17:9 which says, “I pray for them.  I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours” (NKJV).  He boasted that John 17:9 teaches both unconditional election and limited atonement at the same time.  Of course I believe his exegesis of John 17:9 is terrible.  The passage in context is Jesus praying for His own Apostles whom He had personally chosen (John 15:16).  Jesus is praying before the Father, at this time in John 17:9, for His Apostles as John 17:12 makes clear.  The entirety of John 17 is focused mainly on the Apostles and not the unconditional elect as in this Calvinist’s mindset.

Yet who would want to boast in a limited atonement?  Calvinists often point out that the atonement of Jesus Christ is powerful enough to potentially save all but of course it does not.  This statement seems absurd to me even on a surface level.  The begging question then is why would God send His Son to die for the sins of the world (John 1:29) but then only save a few if in fact He could save all who come to Him in faith (John 6:37).  This leads to prayers such as from Charles Spurgeon, “Oh God save the elect and then elect some more!”  We Arminians would gladly agree.  But we go a step further in Arminianism and actually do believe that the atonement of Jesus Christ was for the saving of all people.  Because some reject this salvation doesn’t limit God’s work or His glory (John 5:39-40).  People in hell are there not because of Calvin’s “terrible decree” as he called it but because they refuse the Son of God and die in their sins (Romans 1:18-32).  Their sinful rebellion against God is the act of free choice people choosing as Adam and Eve did, to rebel against a holy God and ignore His commandments and His salvation that He has wrought in His Son (Romans 3:10-25).

I know that for some Calvinists, they prefer to call the doctrine of limited atonement by another name such as “particular redemption” but this doesn’t elevate the doctrine anymore than where it is.  Richard Mouw, in his book Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport talks about the doctrine of unlimited atonement and he talks about how the doctrine is one of those “shelf doctrines” that he doesn’t really like.  He believes it because it fits in his system though he finds little biblical support for the doctrine.  He doesn’t talk about it much and doesn’t think about it much either.  Newer Calvinists heroes such as John Piper or R.C. Sproul are defending the doctrine not just as important to Calvinism but as almost heretical to teach any other doctrine.  I heard a prominent Calvinist teaching from 2 Thessalonians 1:11 the other day and he found limited atonement in that verse that he was teaching on prayer from.

Yet the doctrine, to this Arminian, is largely based on logic than Scripture.  To those who hold to the five points of Calvinism (TULIP), the Calvinist teaching of unconditional election logically flows from the teaching of total depravity and in turn leads to a limited atonement.  For if mankind is totally depraved (Ephesians 2:1-3) and if God has unconditionally elected some to salvation and others to damnation then it logically follows that He sent His Son to die not for the sins of those whom He predestined to damnation but for those whom He chose to salvation.  This is logical.  But it’s not biblical.  I would agree that the Bible teaches depravity (though not in the Calvinist usage) and I would agree that the Bible teaches election (conditional and not all to salvation in the Scriptures such as in Romans 9:4-5 or Romans 9:13) but the overwhelming passages present the atonement as for the world (John 3:16 is a prime example).  I know that Calvinists such as John Piper see the use of the word “world” as meaning “those in the world that God has sovereignly chosen” or “all kinds of people” but this is not doing proper exegesis to the texts.  This is taking the doctrines of Calvinism and presupposing them upon the Bible.  It’s taking the doctrine of limited atonement and making the assumption that the Bible must teach the doctrine lest Calvinism be untrue and therefore all the passages such as John 1:29 or John 3:16 or Romans 1:16-17 or 1 Timothy 2:3-6 or 1 John 2:1-2 or 1 John 4:14 or Revelation 17:14 are thus interpreted in light of Calvinism and not the clear teaching of Scripture.  By far the doctrine of limited atonement is the weakest of the five points of Calvinism (though some such as Dr. Roger Olson believe irresistible grace is the poorest based on Scripture).

Frankly, you have the New Testament writers boasting of the power of the cross.  The cross was powerful enough to save one person (Galatians 2:20) to dying for His sheep (John 10:15) to His Church (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 5:23-26) to “many” (Matthew 20:28).  As Isaac Watts wrote in his classic hymn, “Joy To The World”,

He comes to make His blessings flow
Far s the curse is found.

Let every heart prepare Him room,
And heav’n and nature sing

But if Jesus did die for all then surely He died for our unbelief as well, so the Calvinist logically concludes.  If this is the case then how could people go to hell if in fact Jesus died for their sins.  Analogies could serve here such as the emancipation proclamation by President Lincoln that said that slaves in the rebellious states (Confederacy) were now free but few knew this when Lincoln declared it and many remained slaves even after the Civil War ended because they didn’t believe that what Lincoln wrote was true.  Their unbelief led them to their slavery.  The same is true for the atonement of Jesus Christ (John 3:18).

We also see an example of Jesus’ atonement in Numbers 21:8-9 which Jesus used in John 3:14-15 about Himself.  In Numbers 21:8-9 Moses prepared a serpent on a poll that whoever looked to the poll were healed of their snake bites.  Whoever did not look was killed.  Jesus used this reference to Himself in John 3:14-15.  All who come to Him can be saved in Him but whoever refuses to come to Him will be lost in their sins (Ezekiel 18:4).

In Romans 5:8-9 we see the power of Jesus’ atonement and unbelief as well.  In Romans 5:8 we see God’s provision for us in the death of His Son.  In Romans 5:9 we see the application of the atonement which is given to those who believe.  The same is true in Romans 3:24-25.

The case for an unlimited atonement indeed is very strong.  I once heard a missionary say that he saw missions on nearly every page of the Bible.  I see the same when I think of the doctrine of an unlimited atonement.  I see it on every page.  I see the grace of God, the power of God, the mercy of God, and the great love of God in the giving of His Son for our sins.  I see that when people stand before God the Father in judgment (Hebrews 9:27-28) they will die in their sins not because of Calvin’s “horrible decree” but because they refused to believe the truth and be saved (2 Thessalonians 2:10 and notice that their refusal of the truth leads to 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 not because of God’s horrible decree but because of their unbelief).

Thank God for the blood of Jesus that saves sinners such as I (Matthew 26:28)!

Interesting note from Daniel Whedon’s commentary on John 6:40.

So long as he [the believer] performs the condition, so long is he heir of the salvation. When he ceases to be a believer he loses all claim to the divine promise, and all interest in eternal life. That he has once believed no longer secures him heaven, any more than the fact that he has once disbelieved secures eternal death.

Notice that Whedon makes a good argument for conditional security when he says that the logic that once a believer has eternal life they always have eternal life, Whedon notes that if this logic were true then a disbeliever always has eternal death.  Eternal life is found not arbitrarily but by faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22-25).  Notice the words of Jesus in John 5:24 which are all in the present active sense,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life.  He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

And then also notice the words of Jesus in John 8:51 which are also in the present active tense,

“Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death!”

It seems that Whedon and the words of Jesus agree, we have eternal life in Jesus Christ (Romans 6:23).

I was browsing a Calvinist blog that I enjoy reading and the Calvinist brother stated that based on 1 John 2:19 it is clear that those who do not persevere are not truly saved no matter what evidences we might try to cite.  I have blogged on the misuse of 1 John 2:19 before but the problem I have with the Calvinistic interpretation of 1 John 2:19 is that it offers no assurance for our salvation.  The Calvinist is told that they are eternally secure and that nothing can separate them from the love of Christ (Romans 8:37-39).  They are told that they are Jesus’ sheep forever (John 10:27-29).  They are told that the One who has begun a good work in them will be faithful to complete it (Philippians 1:6).  They are told that no sin can ever bring division between them and their Savior who saved them completely from their sins (Hebrews 7:25; 10:10).  Yet if they turn back, they were never saved to begin with no matter what.

How confusing that must be.  The Arminian rejoices in the above passages of Scripture but we also equally emphasize that there are many warning passages that call God’s people to persevere and to hate sin and to despise their flesh (Romans 6:12-14; 11:20-22; Galatians 6:7-9; Hebrews 6:4-20; 10:19-39; 1 John 2:15-17).  The Arminian can rejoice that God is indeed faithful to keep His promises but we must also be aware of God’s holiness and His hatred for sin and not disobey Him (Hebrews 3:6-19).  We remain secure in Jesus Christ by faith (2 Corinthians 1:24).

But the question becomes, “Is there no future assurance of our salvation?”  The Calvinist would say that we are eternally secure but if the person begins to live in sin, they were never saved to begin with.  The current Calvinist hears this and must think to themselves, “I can never sin again or I might not be saved to begin with.”  The Arminian hears that we are eternally secure if we remain in Jesus Christ by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9; 2 Peter 1:10-11) and that true grace motivates us toward holiness (Titus 2:11-12) and not toward sinning.  The Arminian, in my estimation, has better scriptural standing in their view of salvation.  The Calvinist can’t be sure that they will be saved because it is possible that right now they are not saved.  They might be a false convert based on their view of 1 John 2:19.  The Arminian, on the other hand, can rejoice that we are currently saved by faith in Jesus and will be eternally so provided we continue in faith (1 Corinthians 15:1-2; Colossians 1:21-23).

So to answer the question of whether we have future assurance: Yes we do in Jesus!  Jesus is our shield and our protection.  Jesus is our refuge (Proverbs 18:10).  Jesus is the one who protects us through faith (1 Peter 1:5).  As long as we remain in Jesus (Romans 5:1) by faith, we have the assurance that we are saved.  We need not doubt if we are in Jesus Christ.

I became a disciple of Jesus in 1992 at the young age of 17 years old.  I have often wondered what could or who could have reached me before that age?  Why didn’t I get saved earlier as I grew up going to church?

The reality is that I don’t know why God chose to save me when He did.  I have no answers.  While a guy I went to high school with planted the first seeds of the true gospel (mainly through his transformed life; 2 Corinthians 5:17), the Lord chose to save me in His own timing by His own sovereign power.  I am reminded of Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 1:9, “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” (NASB).  Why God chose to save me is beyond me but I am thankful that He reached down to me in His grace and saved me.

This much I do know about salvation, it is the work of God.  We don’t have to force people to become disciples of Jesus.  We can study with them.  Pray for them.  Speak to them.  Warn them.  But the end result is the work of God.  Our duty before the Lord is to be faithful in evangelism.  We know His command (Matthew 28:19-20).  We have His Spirit (Acts 1:8).  We have His Word (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  But salvation is a work of God.  The Church nor any person can save a soul.  Only God can save souls.  Salvation is never a work of man.  Salvation is not accomplished because the music was right and the lights were correct or the message moved us (though the message should be biblical).  Salvation is a work of God.  Arminius stated:

Justification is a just and gracious act of God as a judge, by which, from the throne of his grace and mercy, he absolves from his sins, man, a sinner, but who is a believer, on account of Christ, and the obedience and righteousness of Christ, and considers him righteous, to the salvation of the justified person, and to the glory of divine righteousness and grace.

But isn’t salvation accomplished only when a person believes the gospel and is saved?  Yes!  Justification is a work of God by His grace through faith (Romans 5:1).  The Scriptures clearly teach that we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 2:38-39; 8:36-38; 16:30-34; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7) but even that faith is a gift from God.  Arminians deny that salvation is 95% God and 5% man but we teach that all of salvation is a work of grace.  Even the act of believing the gospel is a work of grace.

My encouragement for you is this: preach the gospel and let the Holy Spirit take the gospel and convert the lost.  Be faithful to share your faith but leave the results to God alone.  We don’t have to create converts for Jesus.  We need only preach the gospel and the Holy Spirit will take the gospel and He will transform lives.  I know that I post 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 often on this blog concerning evangelism but 1 Corinthians 3:5-9 so strongly teaches that it is not the work of people to save the lost.  It is the work of disciples to take the gospel to sinners but the act of saving sinners is the sovereign act of God alone.  In His timing He saves sinners and we need to allow Him to use us to spread His gospel of His Son to the world but leave the results to Him alone.

Dr. Robert Picirilli, in his excellent book Grace, Faith, Free Will, points out that for the Calvinist, the gospel is not justification by faith but unto faith since regeneration must precede faith.  Calvinists teach that since a person is dead in sin (Ephesians 2:1) then a dead person cannot believe without first being made alive.  In this case, God grants His elect the power to believe through the Holy Spirit who regenerates the person so that they can believe (John 3:3-7; Titus 3:5-7).  Without this act, the person could never believe (Romans 3:10-18) since they are totally depraved.  Justification then is not by faith for the Calvinist but unto faith, the gift of faith that God gives to the elect (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Arminius did not disagree as Picirilli points out.  Picirilli then states:

1.  The capacity to believe is from God.

2.  The possibility of believing is from God.

3.  The content of belief – the gospel truth – is from God.

4.  The persuasion of truth which one believes is from God.

5.  The enabling of the individual to believe is from God.

But then adds Picirilli, “the believing itself can finally be done by no one other than the person who is called on to believe the gospel, and that will to believe savingly is the free decision of the individual.  Jesus said, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40).  In fact, throughout the New Testament we are never told that sinners are not to have faith or that they will be regenerated unto faith but the New Testament calls people to repent and believe the gospel (Acts 2:38-39; 17:30-31; 2 Peter 3:9).

The Arminian then can be thankful that God works through the gospel to draw us unto Himself and that salvation is a work of grace in the human heart wrought by the Spirit of God.  In no way is faith a work if you mean that we merit eternal life apart from faith in Jesus Christ and His blood.  Our faith is not faith in faith but faith in Jesus Christ who gave His life so that we might be imputed with His righteousness and be saved for eternity (2 Corinthians 5:18-21).  All works of grace: faith, repentance, baptism, sanctification, etc. are just that, works of grace that God works in us that which pleases Him (Philippians 2:12-13; Ephesians 2:10).