This is an excellent interview with Pauline scholar Haley Goranson Jacob. The conversation focuses on interpretting Romans 8:28-30 in light of the greater biblical narrative. https://thebibleproject.com/podcast/destined-glory/
Image of God
FWS Podcast: Anthropology
In these episodes, Dr. Vic Reasoner will discuss Anthropology. Alternative Link: Anthropology (Part 1) Alternative Link: Anthropology (Part 2)
Ben Witherington and Keith Stanglin, Jacob Arminius, Theologian of Grace – Part Five
BEN: Would it be correct to say that Arminius rejects Calvin’s strong distinction between the secret decrees and will of God and the revealed will of God, which allowed for the possibility that God’s revealed…
J. Warner Wallace, “Did Free Will Simply ‘Emerge’?”
Please click on the link to view J. Warner Wallace, “Did Free Will Simply ‘Emerge’?” The article was taken from the author’s website.
God Is Not Impassive
It is sometimes said of God, that, being infinite and perfect, he is beyond the reach of emotionality; in other words, is an “impassive” existence, a being without feeling. The truth seems to us to…
Michael McGhee Canham, “Potuit Non Peccare or Non Potuit Peccare: Evangelicals, Hermeneutics, and the Impeccability Debate”
Please click on the link to view Michael McGhee Canham, “Potuit Non Peccare or Non Potuit Peccare: Evangelicals, Hermeneutics, and the Impeccability Debate,” The Master’s Seminary Journal 11/1 (Spring 2000) 93-114. Abastract: The debate over whether Christ was…
The Doctrine of Original Sin: Arminius vs. Episcopius
The doctrine of original sin, to define the issue very simply, maintains that the effects of Adam and Eve’s sin, which is known as the first human sin, were passed ontologically (related to being or…
Dave Treat, “4 Ways Prevenient Grace Relates to the Missio Dei”
The Church periodically re-discovers dormant truths. Not the elaborate constructions of creative theologians, but the simple, profound keys that unlock difficult passages or concepts. The moment of discovery is usually marked by an exclamation (“Duh!”)…
Why I Am An Arminian
Part VI: Convinced by Scripture
In this final post, I’ll look at the most important reason for believing any theology: why I think Arminianism is what the Scripture teaches. One thing that you may notice though is that I am…
Imago Dei
The concept of being created in the image of God is at the center point of many Christian anthropological positions (anthropology is the study of humanity: what makes humans human). My pastor often says that you should never create a doctrine around a single verse. This is an excellent rule of thumb, and I highly recommend it. But, ironically, when we are talking about being made in the image of God, we have to deal with the fact that this term is actually only used in one passage of all of Scripture: Genesis 1:26-30 (though referenced elsewhere). However, this is a rather important verse. It is specifically the creation of man, and as such gives us what I think is a legitimate exception to the general rule.
Free Will and the Why of Creation
Free Will and the Why of Creation
I am not a big fan of arguing for free will. In general, I think it is a given for the moral character of humanity. Even Calvinists postulate some degree of freedom through the concept of secondary agency to present some kind of intelligible concept of morality. So generally, we are debating what everyone seems to really accept when we look at it rationally. But a conversation prompted me to post the following.
An acquaintance was listening to a Youtube presentation by a popular Calvinist concerning God’s knowledge of the future and its relationship to sin and free will. The Calvinist posed the common question posed by many Calvinists, which I have paraphrased below.
- If, as Arminians believe, God infallibly knew exactly what was going to happen when he created, and knew that sin would occur as a result of his creation, then why did he create in the first place?
A Word or Two to Consider
Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over…
John Wesley’s View of Man: A Study in Free Grace Versus Free Will
JOHN WESLEY’S VIEW OF MAN: VERSUS FREE WILL
From the Wesleyan Theological Journal
Irwin W. Reist, Th. M., S. T. D. (candidate)
Associate Professor, Bible and Theology, Houghton College
I. INTRODUCTION: THE IMPORTANCE OF MAN FOR THEOLOGY
Made in the Image of God
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. – Genesis 1:27 AV What does it mean for us to have been…
Made In the Image of God
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. – Genesis 1:27 AV What does it mean for us to have been…