Jacob Arminius

On October 10, 1560, the Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius was born in Oudewater, Netherlands. He would later challenge the establish doctrines of Calvinism.

Arminius was educated through the support of friends at the University of Leyden. After graduation he entered a pastorate in Amsterdam, winning distinction as a preacher and pastor. Later he succeeded Franz Junius as professor of theology in Leyden and remained there until his death.

Arminius undertook to defend the Calvinist doctrine of predestination against the attacks of Dirck Coornhert. Instead, his research led him to change his own views of the doctrine.

In Leyden, he engaged in vigorous theological debates, seeking to win the Dutch Reformed Church to his views. He taught the compatibility of divine sovereignty with human freedom, denied Calvin’s doctrine of irresistible grace, and modified the strict conception of predestination.

Arminius’s ideas were formulated after his death into a definite system by his disciple, Simon Episcopius, who drew up the “Five Articles of the Remonstrants.”

John and Charles Wesley later adopted Arminianism, as did most of the denominations that followed them.

ARMINIAN DOCTRINE

1. Total Depravity.

“That man has not saving grace of himself, nor in his free will, because he is in the state of apostasy, and can by himself neither think, will, nor do any thing that is truly good; but that it is needful that he be born again of God in Christ, through his Holy Spirit, and renewed in understanding and inclination, in order that he may rightly understand, think, will, and effect what is truly good, according to the Word of Christ, John 15:5, ‘Without me you can do nothing.’”

• People are dead in sin and unable to respond to the gospel. However, God extends to people a Common Sufficient Grace to make them capable of believing in response to the preached Word.

“That God, by an eternal purpose in Jesus Christ, before the foundation of the world, has determined, out of the fallen race of men, to save in Christ, those who, through the grace of the Holy Ghost, shall believe on his son, and persevere in this faith and obedience, through this grace, to the end; and, on the other hand, to leave the unbelieving under wrath, and to condemn them according to the word of the Gospel in John 3:36: ‘He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.’”

• God’s election of people to salvation is conditioned upon their faith response to the gospel.

“That Jesus Christ died for all men and for every man, so that he has obtained for them all, by his death on the cross, redemption and the forgiveness of sins; yet no one actually enjoys this forgiveness of sins except the believer, according to the word of the First Epistle of John 2:2: ‘And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.’”

• Christ died for the entire human race. His atonement is therefore sufficient for all people, but it is effective only for those who believe.

“That the grace of God is the beginning, continuance, and accomplishment of all good, even to this extent, that the regenerate man himself, can neither think, will, nor do good, nor withstand any temptations to evil; so that all good deeds or movements, that can be conceived, must be ascribed to the grace of God in Christ; but the operation of this grace is not irresistible; inasmuch as it is written concerning many, that they have resisted the Holy Ghost in Acts 7, and elsewhere.”

• God, in His sovereign grace, has given humans the ability to resist His will.

“That those who are in Christ, have full power to strive against Satan, sin, the world, and their own flesh, and to win the victory; it being understood that it is through the grace of the Holy Ghost; and that Jesus Christ extends to them his hand, if they are ready for the conflict, and desire his help, and are not inactive; he keeps them from falling, so that they cannot be misled nor plucked out of Christ’s hands, according to the Word of Christ, John 10:28: “Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” But whether they are capable, through negligence, of forsaking again the first beginning of their life in Christ, of again returning to this present evil world, of turning away from the holy doctrine which was delivered them, of losing a good conscience, of becoming devoid of grace, that must be more particularly determined out of the Holy Scripture, before we ourselves can teach it with the full persuasion of our mind.”

• Grace is sufficient to keep a person in Christ, but it is possible to forsake the faith and turn from God.