The Canons of Dort say Christ acquired faith for us by His death (Point 2, article 8).1 The significance of this seemly minor point is that Christ buying the condition of the covenant effectively changes the…
Faith
Addressing Two Really Bad Calvinist Objections
There are two objections from the Calvinist side against Arminians and Molinists which are really so terrible, I’m struggling to make a blog post of decent length about them. They’re such simple mistakes that they…
Craig L. Adams, “Calvinism and John 6:44”
An email and my response: Hello Mr. Adams, I read with interest your comments on Calvin’s comments on John 3:16 on your web site. I was wondering what your thoughts are on Jesus’ words as…
Steve Sewell, “The Gospel and the Kingdom”
Is the gospel message we preach a gospel of true substance? Is it entirely Biblical? Does the listener really understand the message? Does it result in genuine conversions? I believe that the gospel message that…
Steve Sewell, “A Case for Conditional Security, and Why It’s Not a Works-Salvation”
Conditional Security (CS) is the belief that we can lose, or forfeit our salvation through either a lifestyle of unrepentant sin, or a complete falling away from the faith. There are many who have the…
Austin Fischer’s Response to Kevin DeYoung’s Review of Fischer’s Book Young, Restless and No Longer Reformed
My Review of Kevin’s Review Here’s my review of what I thought, generally speaking, was a fair review of my book by Kevin DeYoung. I’ll focus in on a few key critiques and offer some…
Dr. Jerry Walls, “Clive (C.S.) Lewis and the Pious Calvinist Confusions of John Piper”
Dr. Jerry Walls speaks about John Piper’s recent book, Does God Desire All to Be Saved?. From the video’s YouTube page: Dr. Jerry Walls gives his critique of Calvinism, and more specifically, John Piper’s written…
A Layman’s View of the Debate over Free Will between Calvinists and Evangelical Non-Calvinists
The following comment (now with a little editing) was left in the comment thread of Braxton Hunter’s reply defending his article in favor of the free will of man against the criticisms of Tom Hicks:…
Why the Resurrection Matters (Resurrection is Everything)
By Matt O’Reilly “Why celebrate Easter?” That’s an honest question that was put to me recently by a man who is deeply interested in religion, though intentionally not part of any orthodox Christian tradition. His…
Daily Scripture Commentary, Sunday April 6: Gal 3:21-29
Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. But Scripture has…
Some Informal Comments on Matthew Pinson’s Denial that Arminianism is Synergistic
by Brian Abasciano Here are some (now) edited and expanded comments I made in SEA’s private discussion group on Dr. J. Matthew Pinson’s article, “Are Arminians Necessarily Synergists?”, which argues that Arminianism is not really synergistic, but…
Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry Fall 2012, Vol. 9.2: Essays on the “Traditional Statement” Part 1
This issue of the Journal for Baptist Theology and Ministry is the first of two dedicated to exploring the soteriological issues addressed by “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation” as a result…
Salvation by Grace Through Faith, and Its Implications for Eternal Security
Salvation by Grace Through Faith, and Its Implications for Eternal Security by forlinianslip A judge of evangelical orthodoxy has been the Pauline maxim, “Salvation by grace through faith.” Arminians have consistently understood this as God’s…
How Can a Dead Person Believe Unless God Makes Him Alive?
How can a dead person believe unless God first makes him alive? This is a question that is asked by Calvinists. Ephesians 2:1-9 states that we are dead in sin, that we are saved by…
Brian Abasciano, “A Response to Thomas Schreiner’s Review of My Book on Romans 9:10-18”
Thomas Schreiner reviewed my book, Paul’s Use of the Old Testament in Romans 9.10–18: An Intertextual and Theological Exegesis for the online theological journal Themelios. His review may be found here. This is the response…
Romans 9 in Context (John F. Parkinson)
Click the link below to see John F. Parkinson’s solid and concise interpretation of Romans 9 from a non-Calvinist perspective. Please note that while Mr. Parkinson seems to approach Romans 11 from a pre-trib dispensational…
Why I Am An Arminian
Part IV: Theology
I do not know whether or not you have noticed, but as I’ve been going, I am moving from my least relevant reasons to my most relevant reasons as to why I am an Arminian…
A. W. Tozer on Prevenient Grace
Christian theology teaches the doctrine of prevenient grace, which briefly stated means this, that before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man. Before a sinful man can think a right…
The FACTS of Salvation
C: Conditional Election
Conditional Election (the C in FACTS) [Cf. Article 1 of the 5 Articles of the Remonstrance] There are two main views of what the Bible teaches concerning the concept of election unto salvation: that it is…
The FACTS of Salvation
F: Freed to Believe by God’s Grace
Freed to Believe by God’s Grace (the F in FACTS) [Cf. Articles 3-4 of the 5 Articles of the Remonstrance] As we have noted, because human beings are fallen and sinful, they are not able to…
