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April, 1999

What is Arminianism? What is Legalism? What is Calvinism? Who cares? I do now but
for most of my first 11 years in the Lord, I didn't. All I knew of Arminian Theology was that
it opposed Calvinistic Theology and that I didn't appreciate the way many Christians argued
about it. That turned me off and so I dismissed the subject repeatedly. I knew deep down that
God was the One Who saved me and that was good enough for me. I mean, if having such a
staunch view of something meant you were suppose to argue with other Christians that don't
agree with you, then I didn't want to be staunch |
 . In short, I =
 to remain
simplistic in my thinking. Well, in October of 1996 the Lord moved in my life marking a new
season for me, my family and ministry. In the same way that I had to begin 
 

worldly systems of thinking when I was converted to Christianity, I had to begin unlearning
Arminian systems of thinking in order to embrace the Biblical view of God's sovereignty and
grace. Let's look at some definitions to establish this topic.

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embraces the view that man is inherently good and participates in his
own salvation by ´accepting´ God. Today Arminians may neither know nor acknowledge
that they comply to the theology of Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609). The term applies to all
who believe that God is more a ´suitor´ to sovereign man than a sovereign God who does
whatever He wills. While the Protestant church has, throughout history, understood God to be
totally omnipotent, the high view of man in Arminianism characterizes much of the church
today. It asserts, in sum:

1) All men have a "corrupt" nature, but this corruption is not of the nature of sin. Men
are responsible only for their voluntary acts.

2) Man has not lost his ability to be good (after The Fall).

3) This ability (merely) needs a u
 or = from God for salvation and holy living.

4) This boost, or grace, is sufficient for all men to repent, believe, and keep the
commandments of God.

5) Those who cooperate are saved. An important distinctive between Arminianism and
Calvinism is that the former views election as the broad purpose of God to save all who have
the "will" to believe, while the latter views election as God¶s work in those predestined to
believe. [The five numbered points are paraphrased from Charles Hodge¶s Systematic
Theology, Vol. II: Anthropology. Reprinted by Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 1995.]

Arminianism's roots are found earlier than Jacobus Arminius. The position that
salvation is not at all a gracious gift from God but a human achievement based on personal
goodness and moral self-effort is characteristic of pagan religion and philosophy. Early in
church history, a British monk named Pelagius tried to teach pagan moralism as Christian
doctrine. Pelagius was condemned as a heretic, and his system was labeled Pelagianism. In
Pelagianism, the saving work of Christ is not necessary; a man can save himself by leading a
good and moral life. Yet even the Pelagian claims to teach a salvation by grace. According to
the Pelagian, it is only by the grace of God that he was created as a man, a noble creature
with the moral ability to earn heaven, and not as a frog or a rock. When the Pelagian speaks
of the grace associated with salvation, he is referring to the grace of creation which is
common to all men. When the orthodox Christian talks about salvation by grace, he is
referring to the special grace of God which is based upon the work of Christ and which saves
undeserving sinners.* As a man, Arminius obviously had much in common with Pelagius.

 
is a term used to describe the biblical view of man which acknowledges that
we are all inherently God-hating rebels (and legally dead) until or unless God sovereignly
saves us according to His pleasure. Calvin's teachings are really a continuation of the Biblical
teachings of Augustine, the great teacher from the 4th Century. Calvinists are not "followers"
of the man John Calvin (1509-1564). The term is used to distinguish Calvinists from
Arminians. Calvinism is often discussed in reference to soteriology, the doctrine of salvation.
To do this, however, limits the scope of its comprehensive, biblical, world view. The greatest
synod of Reformed churches ever held, the Synod of Dort (1618-1619), unanimously
rejected, and emphatically condemned, the teachings of Arminianism, thereby recognizing
the orthodoxy of Calvinism. It was during this synod that the acrostic "TULIP" was devised
to explain Calvinism¶s soteriology (soteriology refers to the doctrines of salvation as asserted
by such theologians as Calvin and Arminius. One¶s soteriology will demonstrate as much
about one¶s view of the condition and nature of man as it does about a belief in how man is
"saved"). TULIP is an acrostic often attributed to theologian John Calvin, but was actually
devised after his death to explain Calvinism, particularly regarding soteriology. TULIP is a
reminder of the:

otal depravity of man apart from God;

nconditional election (we have nothing to do with our salvation); the atoning work of Jesus
Christ being
imited to His predestinated elect (but not limited in power);
rresistible grace (we cannot run or hide if God elects us as His own); and
erseverance of the saints, which promises steady advancement of the church, the body of
Christ on earth.

  
is the teaching that a person can earn salvation by keeping God's Law.

  is defined "unmerited favor" or "unearned blessing". The Greek word translated
grace has as its root idea the concept of bringing joy and gladness through gifts. The Apostle
Paul uses this word to refer to the unmerited and freely given favor and mercy which God
bestows upon the sinner in salvation. Through this grace, the sinner is delivered from sin and
judgment. This grace, though freely given, is precious and costly, for its basis is the saving
work of Jesus Christ. A salvation that is received by grace is the very opposite of a salvation
that is earned by working or by obeying the law of God. A person who is saved by grace has
no basis for boasting in his salvation for he has done nothing to earn or merit it. The gospel of
grace is the only true gospel. Those who teach a salvation that is earned or merited through
obedience of any sort have to some degree fallen from the teachings of grace into legalism.*
Some verses to amplify this:



 
   

  
 
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and the seed Christ. These two races of people, two tribes if you will, are seen all through the
Bible starting in Genesis, after the Fall. The line of Seth and the line of Cain. A holy line and
an unholy line of people. A line of continued blessing and a line of continued wickedness.
This is not to say that the holy line of people never sinned, but that they were blessed. Also
note that the unholy line often claimed righteousness. Jesus said it clearly in John 8:44 î
      
 
     
         
   

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Israel" and claimed that they were holy but Jesus revealed to us who they were children of
Satan. Why were they children of Satan? Because they were born children of Satan, by his
seed, in his line. In Romans 9, Paul points out that not all born of Abraham are saved: +


 



       
   
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Cain tilled the ground. Abel kept sheep, he raised them. This was apart of the curse, to
work the ground and eat of it. Through the text we read of their two offerings. One of fruit
and one of sin substitution. The two offerings reveal so much to us of who these two men
were and their intentions. One had works and the other had faith. Cain brought a sacrifice of
his labor and Abel brought a sacrifice of God's gift. Cain assumed that God would accept him
on the merits of his own labor while Abel understood that only faith in God's gift of
substitution would be sufficient. Cain was working for his salvation but Abel had already
bowed to God's command of repentance in faith. Abel had learned from God (probably
through Adam) that faith in God's promise was the way of pleasing God. Faith in God's
provision was the way of salvation for Abel. God's covenant with them was sufficient for
pleasing God. Abel dared not add anything to it, nor vary from its perfection. Cain was not in
active belief of that covenant relationship and therefore was not accepted by God.

The rejection from God angered Cain. He did what the others in that wicked line of
people would do for centuries right up to our day. They seek to kill the righteous. They covet
the blessing but dispise it's content. They claim righteousness but don't possess it. They
exchange true worship for idols. They dwell in the doctrines of man, in the wisdom of the
world, in the sovereignty of themselves. They refuse God's Way and insist that they have a
better one. They spurn rebuke but demand the rebuke of their brothers. They accuse the godly
of false charges. In short, like their father, they desire to be God and rise above Him. This is
the wicked rebellion of the ungodly seed of Satan.

How does Arminianism fit into all this? Arminian Theology, as we examined above,
declares what? It declares that man is not in the radically sinful state that God says he is in. It
insists man's autonomy from the sovereignty of God as declared in His Word: )
 


 
   
 
 
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me get to the heart of the matter. The Bible. It is God's Word. It is the final authority. It is
perfect revelation to us from God. Its contents reveal that which we could never understand
without it. How does Satan and his followers do battle? Eve was tempted with the opening
words from Satan:

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The devil opens with a question, a questioning of God's Word. Has God indeed said....?
Notice, when Jesus was tempted in the desert after fasting forty days, the last words spoken
to Him from God before the 40 days were  2   )  
  
  
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Word:

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answer the enemy and then the devil fled from Him. The line of battle is drawn on God's
Word. The questioning and twisting of the spoken command of God is where the sin of
unbelief breeds disobedience. It is at that precise point that the enemy attacks to kill millions,
to destroy the lives of men and women. To lie and deceive in order to usurp the authority of
God delegated to men. Is it not customary for the enemy to attack the validity of God's Word?
Look at the systematic way that the so called ˜
˜   
of the Scriptures has been so
popular in the late 19th Century and all through the 20th Century. These higher critics pick
and choose what portions of Scripture is valid. Sound familiar? It is precisely what the devil
has done since his fall from glory, challenging God and His Word! We must not ignore what
current mask that the deceiver wears in our generation. If we do, we cannot be effective in
battle against him. Who will hear God's Word and obey it? Jesus says

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." John 10:8-10

Arminian Theology is not sound teaching. It is damaging and deceiving. It challenges

God's Word. It is, at it's root, a doctrine of legalism. So many, like Cain, have offered God
things that He has not commanded, such as the "strange fire" of Aaron's sons:  
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It can be reduced to a simple formula:

God's Way: God is sovereign.

Man¶s way: man is sovereign.
Arminianism and Legalism: man trying to mix the two above ways.

That is why legalism and hypocrisy are so repellent to God. It makes an appearance of
godliness but denies the power of God. It tries to mix man's stubborn way with God's Way.
Legalism claims righteousness but has an amazing way of varying from the very Law it
claims to keep. It adds to its ordinances and twists its statutes to fit individual lifestyles. The
Pharisees and Scribes were masters of this. They, by the time of Christ, had added so many
laws to the Law of Moses that they couldn't even keep those laws themselves. Jesus rebuked
them for this. They were busy looking good on the outside but had no holy motive for their
religion. THEY THOUGHT THEY COULD PLEASE GOD IN THEIR WORKS. There it is,
again. Works, just like Cain. Regardless of the variation of God's commands, you can't be
righteous outside of the Lord's free gift of righteousness, His finished work on the cross,
nothing more. Nothing but God's grace in the provision of the cross, bestowed on us as a gift
from God, can save us. We cannot improve that, mix it or add to it. One of the biggest
downfalls to Israel was to mix and compromise God's Word with pagan philosophy and
living. The end result was a strange imposter of the formally pure Israel. Arminianism is
nothing more than another heresy comprised of pagan philosophy and Biblical teaching.

Pelagianism and Arminianism were found heretical by godly counsels for a reason. And
again, people who subscribe to its teachings may not even be aware that they subscribe to a
teaching that was condemned as heresy. Arminianism starts with man, not God. It places
man, ultimately, in the center of the universe. Historically, this is clearly a rehashed method
of ancient philosophy that insists that man is ultimately in control of his destiny. A method
that the devil has used for centuries.

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To me, the information given already should be answer enough to this question. The
tendency for man is to claim himself as governor and also to be religious and self righteous.
The way you see these doctrines will affect every part of your life. It will determine the way
you see yourself as a witness of Christ. It will determine the way you see yourself in God's
Kingdom and how others enter it. It will determine how you preach and how you see people
responding to the message. It will certainly affect the way you understand God's love and
mercy for you and your love for Him. And finally, it will have a huge impact on how you see
God. Do you see Him as God Almighty, Holy and yet merciful, or as an arbitrary deity that
isn't in total control of His universe?

The doctrines of grace are certainly humbling. It is humbling to know that all I have has
been given to me. It is humbling to think that when I do anything pleasing to God, the credit
must go entirely to Jesus. It is humbling to learn that there are doctrines that I will never fully
understand because of my limitations as a finite creature. It is humbling to find out that but
for the grace of God, I would still be in bondage to sin. It is humbling to discover that I found
God only because He first found me. It is humbling to realize that I stand firm in the faith
only because God keeps me from falling. These doctrines are very humbling, and perhaps
that is why some people reject them in spite of their strong and clear Biblical basis.

A baby can't be born of a woman unless God first forms him/her in the womb. People
can't be born again of the Holy Spirit unless God first gives it to them. As I look back on my
natural childbirth, I know a great deal more about it in retrospect than I did when I was only
minutes old. As I look back on my birth in the Holy Spirit, I realize that before I was born
again I was dead, lost and hopeless until He gave me life. ", .4,/ 2, +,., 
.4,/ "2 +,., ", ./c. . ", *./. As a new believer,
however, I understood very little about God, I first needed milk before I could handle meat. It
is not easy to swallow meat when you are a infant, and it is impossible to be an infant unless
God sovereignly creates you.

Jacob and Esau were once in a woman's womb, God had already chosen one of them to
receive the promise. 
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In our theologizing, the temptation is to look for elements of human sovereignty in our
deliverance, to theorize ways to hold God responsible for our mistakes, and to hope that there
might not be some degree of truth in Satan's claim that man can be "as God" (Genesis 3:5). A
friend of mine claims that he is "Calminian," that is, he is both Arminian and Calvinist. To
some extent, I believe him because he is Arminian in his sermons but is more Calvinistic in
his prayers. A true Arminian knows, however, you cannot ride the fence with these issues. In
order to walk the fence with this issue, you are forced to explain it away with philosophy and
statements like, "we mortals cannot comprehend such matters." As C.H. Spurgeon has
pointed out, all true Christians pray in terms of the doctrines of grace. All true Christians pray
in terms of divine sovereignty and human responsibility and never in terms of human
sovereignty and divine culpability. We lower our eyes, smite our breast, and cry out, "God, be
merciful to me a sinner!" We never look God proudly in the eye and say, "God, I thank you
that I am the man I am!" Allow me to leave you with Mr. Spurgeon's thoughts on this
subject:*

You have heard a great many Arminian sermons, I dare say; but you never heard an
Arminian prayer -- for the saints in prayer appear as one in word, and deed and mind. An
Arminian on his knees would pray desperately like a Calvinist. He cannot pray about free
will: there is no room for it. Fancy him praying, "Lord, I thank thee I am not like those poor
presumptuous Calvinists. Lord, I was born with a glorious free-will; I was born with power
by which I can turn to thee of myself; I have improved my grace. If everybody had done the
same with their grace that I have, they might all have been saved. Lord, I know that thou dost
not make us willing if we are not willing ourselves. Thou givest grace to everybody; some do
not improve it, but I do. There are many that will go to hell as much bought with the blood of
Christ as I was; they had as much of the Holy Ghost given to them; they had as good a
chance, and were as blessed as I am. It was not thy grace that made us to differ; I know it did
a great deal, still I turned the point; I made use of what was given me, and others did not --
that is the difference between me and them."

That is a prayer for the devil, for nobody else would offer such a prayer as that. Ah!
when they are preaching and talking very slowly, there may be wrong doctrine; but when
they come to pray, the true thing slips out; they cannot help it. If a man talks very slowly, he
may speak in a fine manner; but when he comes to talk fast, the old brogue of his country,
where he was born, slips out.

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