A Name Often Used and Seldom Defined
Few words in Christian conversation are used as loosely as Arminian. In some circles it is an insult. In others it means anyone who is not a Calvinist. If you believe that Christ died for all and that a sinner can refuse the Gospel, someone has probably told you that you are an Arminian. This study asks what the word really means, and it lets Arminians answer from their own documents.
Arminianism is a real tradition with a real history. It is named for Jacobus Arminius (1560–1609), a Dutch minister and professor. It was set out in five articles in 1610, and it reached much of the English-speaking world through John Wesley (1703–1791). Today it is held by Methodists, by Wesleyan-Holiness churches such as the Nazarenes, by Free Will Baptists, and by many Pentecostals.
The teaching, named for Jacobus Arminius, that God chose in Christ to save those who believe, that Christ died for every person, that grace must go before any good in a sinner but can be resisted, and, for most Arminians, that a true believer can fall away.
We are not Arminians. We hold that every believer is eternally secure, and that difference matters a great deal. But we owe Arminians what we owe Calvinists: a summary of their view so fair that they would sign it. Thou shalt not bear false witness (Exodus 20:16) applies to theology too.
Could you state what Arminians believe so well that an Arminian friend would say, “Yes, that is what I mean”?
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For Deeper Study
- Arminian Theology: Myths and RealitiesAmazon Roger E. OlsonClassical Arminian. The best place to hear the tradition defend itself, myth by myth. We differ on the security of the believer.
- Grace, Faith, Free WillAmazon Robert E. PicirilliFree Will Baptist (Reformed Arminian). Compares Calvinism and Arminianism at each point. Holds conditional security, which we reject.
- Four Views on Eternal SecurityAmazon J. Matthew Pinson, ed.Classical Calvinist, moderate Calvinist, Reformed Arminian, and Wesleyan Arminian writers answer one another.
- Why I Am Not an ArminianAmazon Robert A. Peterson and Michael D. WilliamsReformed. A companion to the Walls and Dongell volume, and a fair statement of the Calvinist reply.
- Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of Five-Point CalvinismAmazon David L. Allen and Steve W. Lemke, eds.Non-Calvinistic Southern Baptist scholars. Closest to the view taught here, and a reminder that the alternative to Calvinism is not only Arminianism.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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Calvinism and Arminianism: What Is the Debate?
Calvinists and Arminians both confess salvation by grace, but they differ on election, the atonement, human ability, the power of God's call, and the security of the believer, and we hold a non-Calvinistic Baptist position that is neither system.
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