The following is taken from a larger essay, exegeting Colossians 2:13, by Brian N. Daniels¹, a M.Div. student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a four-point Calvinist.

"Of the many issues that divide Arminians and Calvinists, one of the more interesting has to be the relationship between regeneration and faith. The question may be put like this: which comes first and grounds the other, new life given by the Spirit or belief in Christ? This question is important because of its connection to many other points of soteriology. One’s answer generally reveals much about what he believes regarding the nature of grace and depravity, as well as the more difficult issue of election and predestination.

Did God create some souls for hell and others for heaven, as John Calvin¹ insisted? Calvinist C. H. Spurgeon, quoted from Kenneth D. Keathley, Professor of Theology and Dean of Graduate Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, in his book, Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist Approach, writes the following: "Do you believe that God created man and arbitrarily, sovereignly -- it is the same thing -- created that man, with no other intention, than that of damning him? Made him, and yet, for no other reason than that of destroying him forever? Well, if you can believe it, I pity you, that is all I can say: you deserve pity, that you should think so meanly of God, whose mercy endureth forever."²

Kenneth D. Keathley, Professor of Theology and Dean of Graduate Studies at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, has completed his latest book, Salvation and Sovereignty: A Molinist Approach, published by B&H Academic. Today's post will interact with his chapter on Overcoming Grace (pp. 101-37).

From the back cover of the book, one reads the following: "Salvation and Sovereignty begins with author Kenneth Keathley asking, 'What shall a Christian do who is convinced of certain central tenets of Calvinism but not its corollaries [conclusions]?' Like many, he suspects the usual Calvinist understanding of sovereignty (that God is the cause of all things) is not sustained by the biblical witness as a whole."

“The Remonstrants clearly were not Pelagians.”

You would think that such a statement comes from the lips or pen of an Arminian scholar or pastor, but it originally came from Reformed Baptist scholar Mark A. Ellis, who had even pastored a Reformed Baptist church. This quote appears in Ellis' introduction to his landmark scholarly translation of The Arminian Confession of 1621 (Mark A. Ellis [trans. and ed.], The Arminian Confession of 1621 [Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2005]). We are excited to be able to make this introduction available.* Click on this link to read the story behind this historically significant document.

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