William Klein’s article: “Paul’s use of Kalein: A Proposal” challenges us to reconsider the traditional understandings of Paul’s use of kalein, based on linguistic evidence. Kalein typically either means summoning or naming. For Paul, when…
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Friday Files: Klein’s article on Paul’s use of Kalein
J.C. Thibodaux, “Does Granville-Sharp’s Rule Indicate That ‘Foreknowledge’ is Synonymous With ‘Determinate Counsel’?”
A claim made by many Calvinist authors concerns the terms used in Acts 2:23, “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and…
J.C. Thibodaux, “If Our Actions Are Inevitable, Do We Really Have Free Will?”
Calvinists reject the idea that God bases His divine election on His foreknowledge of people, as well as the idea that God has given men free will. One tactic used to refute these concepts is to try to confuse the issue:
“For example, before the foundation of the world, God knew that Joe would make a free decision to become a Christian. Somehow, then, before Joe was born, God knew of his free decision. So even at that time, Joe’s free decision must have been inevitable. Why was it inevitable? Not because of Joe’s free will, for Joe was not yet born. Not because of God’s predestination, because the Arminian denies that possibility from the outset. It would seem that the inevitability in question had some source other than either Joe or God.”
Excerpt From Apologetics to the Glory of God by John Frame pp. 44-45 (P & R Publishing)
Justice and the Atonement
This post is an excerpt from the book review of Death of Death in the Death of Christ.
The topic of Justice is central to Owen’s view of the atonement. Book 3, chapters seven, eight and nine primarily deal with justice. The general idea with justice and the atonement is that we broke God’s law and therefore are due punishment.
Jerry L. Walls and Joseph R. Dongell, “Examining Calvinism”
Jerry L. Walls and Joseph R. Dongell, “Examining Calvinism”, Good News Magazine (September/October 2004).
Scholars Jerry L. Walls and Joseph R. Dongell critique Calvinism and explain why they reject it.
Perseverance of the Saints Part 13: Salvation Assurance
For the rest of the series, see here. We now come to the important topic of salvation assurance. Calvinists have often claimed that Arminians do not have solid ground for assurance because Arminians do not…
Arminius: The Reformer
I have often wondered why so little has been said about Jacobus (or James) Arminius being listed along with other Reformers such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, Theodore Beza, Zwingli, Huss, Tyndale, or others. In…
Friday Files: Olson’s Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Arminian
Roger Olson’s article: Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Arminian explains the importance of Arminians and Calvinists accepting each other and working together despite their theological differences. Olson shares several personal anecdotes while explaining why classic…
Upcoming Radio Debate on Calvinism between Dr. Michael L. Brown and Dr. James White
Former Calvinist Dr. Michael L. Brown and continuing Calvinist Dr. James White are scheduled to do a radio debate on Calvinism on Jan. 26 and 27 (2009). It will take place on Dr. Brown’s daily…
Why I Became an Arminian
This is a personal post that deals with my journey as an Arminian. I became a Christian at a young age. I remember going to a church service, being convicted of sin, and going down…
Sufficient for All, Efficient for the Elect
A missionary from our church who ministers in India told the story of a conversation he had with his three year old son concerning the word “famine.” His son did not know what the word…
Eric Landstrom, What Is the Purpose of Giving People Grace that God Knows Will Never Believe Anyway?
What is the purpose of giving people grace that God knows will never believe anyway? The Scholasticism By his antecedent will God wills that all people will be saved if they repent and believe, and…
John 1:1-17; a Christmas Devotional
Many believe that there are only two tellings of the Christmas story in Scripture: Luke 3, and Matthew 1-2. But there is a third telling: John chapter one.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him as life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Friday Files: Cameron’s Arminius- Hero or Heretic?
Charles Cameron’s article, “Arminius―Hero or Heretic?” explains that James Arminius comes as a bit of a surprise to both Calvinists and Arminians today, as he is closer to Calvinism than people expect. Cameron starts with some preliminaries about Arminius (his affinity for Calvin’s commentaries, his approach to reconciling differences and his commitment to scripture) and then dives into the 5 points of Calvinism. On Total Depravity, Cameron notes Arminius’ focus on grace, not freewill. On Election, Arminius teaches a Christocentric, evangelical, eternal, decree whereby God chooses to save believers. Cameron questions the “from eternity” and “based on foreknowledge” aspect of Arminius’ explanation of election. On the Atonement, Arminius avoids universalism, but advocates God’s universal love and the availability of forgiveness for all.
Calvinists Deny Reality
Please click on the link to view Calvinists Deny Reality.
Ben Henshaw, “Enjoying The Good News Of Christ’s Birth From An Arminian Perspective”
The content of this post was authored by Ben Henshaw and is posted on his behalf. Calvinists often argue that God’s love has failed if Christ’s atonement was made for all and yet not all…
Matt 1:21: How Calvinists Blind Side a Text
He Will Save His People from Their Sins: How Calvinists Don’t Bother Looking from the Other Side One of the more inane proof-texts for Calvinism is Matthew 1:21: “…for he will save his people from…
I John 5:12-13; A Devotional
The one who has the Son has life; the one who does not have the Son of God has no life. These things I have written to you so that you will know that you…
Friday Files: Picirilli
In Robert E. Picirilli’s article Foreknowledge, Freedom, and the Future, he explains that Reformation Arminians hold that God knows what we will freely choose in the future, whereas Neo-Arminians (a.k.a. Open Theists) disagree. With a little help from Arminius and Richard Watson, Pircirilli carefully defends his thesis that “there is nothing about the certainty of the future that is in conflict with the ability of human beings to make free, moral decisions” by defining certainty, necessity and contingency and demonstrating how contingency and certainty don’t conflict. Picirilli explains that the difference between Calvinists and Arminians is foreordination, not foreknowledge.
Brenda B. Colijn, “Let Us Approach: Soteriology In The Epistle To The Hebrews”
Please click on the attachment to view Brenda B. Colijn, “‘LET US APPROACH’: SOTERIOLOGY IN THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS”, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 39/4 (December 1996) 571–586. Soteriology in Hebrews (PDF)
Recent Posts
Richard Coords, “Remote Tribes”
Steve Lemke on Irresistible Grace and Jesus’ Lament Over Jerusalem
Mark K. Olson: Famous Sermons of John Wesley 7: Salvation by Faith
How Do You Deal with the Limited Atonement Argument that If Jesus Paid the Penalty for All, Then People Sent to Hell Would Be Paying the Penalty a Second Time?
