Arminianism - is it truth?

One can barely study Calvinism without finding references to Arminianism. These two doctrines are a bit of yin and yang, if you'll pardon the expression. Jacob Arminius founded Arminianism in contrast to the teachings of John Calvin. The two had a rift... perhaps it had to do with the fact that Calvin was a murderer, I don't know for sure... nevertheless, the two developed a strong difference of opinion, and Arminianism was born.

These days, hard-nosed Calvinists will claim that any "Christian" who does not agree with the 5-points ("TULIP"), is by default an Arminian. This is simply not true for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that Calvinistic philosophy is so far off base, that the concepts are not an "either-or" proposition, but simply entirely false because they fabricate doctrine where none existed before.

Arminius developed a counter argument to TULIP, which he called the "Five Articles of Remonstrance." This counter also had 5 points to it. This was, in my opinion, where he went wrong. Some of the very premises of Calvin were the problem... and to answer them is to give credence to them (something I intentionally did not discuss in my article on Predestination). It is interesting to note that "The Five Articles of Remonstrance" was deemed heresy at the Synod of Dort.

Here is an excellent chart that outlines Arminianism vs. Calvinism with respect to the 5 points.

However, please note that most of the things one can find online about Arminianism are put there by Calvinists, and are suspect, at best, with respect to accuracy.

That said, what doctrine does Arminianism hold (and is it true?):
(for the sake of clarity, I will use the Five Articles of Remonstrance as my basis, and not charts or other easily misattributed material as put forth by Calvinists with an axe to grind)

1.

That God, by an eternal and unchangeable purpose in Jesus Christ his Son, before the foundation of the world, hath determined, out of the fallen, sinful race of men, to save in Christ, for Christ’s sake, and through Christ, those who, through the grace of the Holy Ghost, shall believe on this his son Jesus, and shall persevere in this faith and obedience of faith, through this grace, even to the end; and, on the other hand, to leave the incorrigible and unbelieving in sin and under wrath, and to condemn them as alienate from Christ, 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 abideth on him,” and according to other passages of Scripture also.

 This tenet is absolutely true. Every word of it. 

2. 

That agreeably thereunto, Jesus Christ the Savior of the world, 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 that no one actually enjoys this forgiveness of sins except the believer, according to the word of the Gospel of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” And in the First Epistle of 1 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.”

This tenet is also true with a caveat: although Christ died for the world, not everyone will be saved. The tenet does not suggest universalism, but some might try to imply that it does, hence the reason I give this caveat. In fact, if the reader reads the entire passage, it actually rejects universalism.

3. 

That man has not saving grace of himself, nor of the energy of his free will, inasmuch as he, in the state of apostasy and sin, can of and by himself neither think, will, nor do any thing that is truly good (such as saving faith eminently is); but that it is needful that he be born again of God in Christ, through his Holy Spirit, and renewed in understanding, inclination, or will, and all his powers, 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 ye can do nothing."

Man is capable of good, being made in the image of God and all. However, the sin nature makes it awfully hard to live a perfect life. And even so, the acceptance of God must be had to go to Heaven.  That said, man cannot save himself - and this tenet gets that part right, making this part accurate.

4. 

That this grace of God is the beginning, continuance, and accomplishment of all good, even to this extent, that the regenerate man himself, without prevenient or assisting, awakening, following and cooperative grace, 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 respects the mode of the operation of this grace, it is not irresistible; inas­much as it is written con­cerning many, that they have resisted the Holy Ghost. Acts 7, and else­where in many places.

This tenet is correct - specifically with reference to mankind's ability to resist God's Grace. God gave mankind free will, and that includes the ability to make poor choices of all kinds.

5.

That those who are in­corporated into Christ by true faith, and have thereby become partakers of his life-giving Spirit, have thereby full power to strive against Satan, sin, the world, and their own flesh, and to win the victory; it being well un­derstood that it is ever through the assisting grace of the Holy Ghost; and that Jesus Christ assists them through his Spirit in all temptations, extends to them his hand, and if only they are ready for the conflict, and desire his help, and are not inactive, keeps them from falling, so that they, by no craft or power of Satan, can 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.

This one is where we have possible issues - but only because of Calvinists' willful misinterpretation of words that are very clear. Calvinists say that this is the concept of being able to lose one's salvation, which is clearly not scriptural. It is possible that one might reject Christ after first having accepted Him, and Scripture is not perfectly clear on what happens in that case, so there is merit to this idea.

Nevertheless, the summary here talks of being able to teach the Gospel with the full persuasion of our mind, and how that is impossible if we have turned away from holy doctrine. Once Saved Always Saved is accurate, and is clear NOT what this passage is about. This passage is written to correct Calvin's heretical teachings of Perseverance of the Saints - which is never mentioned or alluded to in the Bible.

Summary Caveat:
Many Arminian teachers mistakenly teach that one can become unsaved. This is not consistent with Arminianism as applied by Jacobus Arminius nor the Five Articles of Remonstrance. Still, it is far better than Calvinism.


Therefore: In absence of scripture to the contrary, I conclude that original Arminianism is the true definition of Christianity. 
God's perfect plan of salvation cannot be undone, but may be rejected.
Anything else would be intellectually dishonest at best.



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