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Arminius taught that Calvinist predestination and unconditional election made God the author of evil. Instead, Arminius insisted, God's election was an election of believers and therefore was conditioned on faith. Furthermore, Arminius argued, God's exhaustive foreknowledge did not require a doctrine of determinism.
(John Calvin and Jacob Arminius) still stand as the pillars of modern soteriology. However, Calvinism cannot be credited to Calvin. For it was Augustine in the fourth century who first synthesized and systematized the New Testament’s doctrine on salvation. The same is true of Jacob Arminius. His theology was simply a reaction to the celebrated doctrines of Calvin’s and finds a portion of its theological roots in the works of Pelagius. Pelagius was the opponent of Augustine and was declared a heretic at the Council of Ephesus in 431. In other words, this debate between man’s free will and the sovereignty of God in salvation goes deep into the annals of Christian history.
The heart of the issue, however, circles around five core soteriological doctrines. The Arminians hold to the acronym F.A.C.T.S which stands for (Freed by Christ, Atonement for All, Conditional Election, Total Depravity, and Security in Christ). While these are not the exact titles for their historic position, they are the titles used in the modern view today. Jacob Arminius was only three years old when Calvin died in 1564. Later, he became a student of Theodore Beza (Calvin’s successor) and over time became troubled by elements of Calvin’s theology. He soon broke away from Beza initiating a group called The Remonstrates. It was this group who, out of a reaction to Calvin’s position, produced the “Articles of the Remonstrance” in July of 1610 (The first version of F.A.C.T.S). Several years later in 1618, a group of Christians gathered in Holland to formally review and respond to these articles. They rejected their position and countered their five doctrines with five of their own doctrines anchored in the orthodox reformed theology of Calvin and Augustine.[3] They are Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. You may know them as T.U.L.I.P. While there are some similarities between these two positions, they are more different than they are alike. To some, they believe these differences are irreconcilable and generate two completely different Gospels. To others, they are critical differences that may diminish Christian fellowship but do not require total division. Personally, I share the position of Dr. Martyn Llyod Jones who once said:
“I am a Calvinist; I believe in election and predestination; but I would not dream of putting it under the heading of essential. You are not saved by your precise understanding of how this great salvation comes to you. What you must be clear about is that you are lost and damned, hopeless and helpless, and that nothing can save you but the grace of God in Jesus Christ and only Him crucified, bearing the punishment of your sins, dying, rising again, ascending, sending the Spirit, regeneration. Those are the essentials… While I myself hold very definite and strong views on the subject, I will not separate from a man who cannot accept and believe the doctrines of election and predestination, and is Arminian, as long as he tells me that we are all saved by grace, and as long as the Calvinist agrees, as he must, that God calls all men everywhere to repentance. As long as both are prepared to agree about these things, I say we must not break fellowship.”[4] relearn.org
hope this helps !!!
(John Calvin and Jacob Arminius) still stand as the pillars of modern soteriology. However, Calvinism cannot be credited to Calvin. For it was Augustine in the fourth century who first synthesized and systematized the New Testament’s doctrine on salvation. The same is true of Jacob Arminius. His theology was simply a reaction to the celebrated doctrines of Calvin’s and finds a portion of its theological roots in the works of Pelagius. Pelagius was the opponent of Augustine and was declared a heretic at the Council of Ephesus in 431. In other words, this debate between man’s free will and the sovereignty of God in salvation goes deep into the annals of Christian history.
The heart of the issue, however, circles around five core soteriological doctrines. The Arminians hold to the acronym F.A.C.T.S which stands for (Freed by Christ, Atonement for All, Conditional Election, Total Depravity, and Security in Christ). While these are not the exact titles for their historic position, they are the titles used in the modern view today. Jacob Arminius was only three years old when Calvin died in 1564. Later, he became a student of Theodore Beza (Calvin’s successor) and over time became troubled by elements of Calvin’s theology. He soon broke away from Beza initiating a group called The Remonstrates. It was this group who, out of a reaction to Calvin’s position, produced the “Articles of the Remonstrance” in July of 1610 (The first version of F.A.C.T.S). Several years later in 1618, a group of Christians gathered in Holland to formally review and respond to these articles. They rejected their position and countered their five doctrines with five of their own doctrines anchored in the orthodox reformed theology of Calvin and Augustine.[3] They are Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. You may know them as T.U.L.I.P. While there are some similarities between these two positions, they are more different than they are alike. To some, they believe these differences are irreconcilable and generate two completely different Gospels. To others, they are critical differences that may diminish Christian fellowship but do not require total division. Personally, I share the position of Dr. Martyn Llyod Jones who once said:
“I am a Calvinist; I believe in election and predestination; but I would not dream of putting it under the heading of essential. You are not saved by your precise understanding of how this great salvation comes to you. What you must be clear about is that you are lost and damned, hopeless and helpless, and that nothing can save you but the grace of God in Jesus Christ and only Him crucified, bearing the punishment of your sins, dying, rising again, ascending, sending the Spirit, regeneration. Those are the essentials… While I myself hold very definite and strong views on the subject, I will not separate from a man who cannot accept and believe the doctrines of election and predestination, and is Arminian, as long as he tells me that we are all saved by grace, and as long as the Calvinist agrees, as he must, that God calls all men everywhere to repentance. As long as both are prepared to agree about these things, I say we must not break fellowship.”[4] relearn.org
hope this helps !!!
