Arminianism vs. God’s Attributes in Salvation

 

The Arminian likes to boast of his own salvation as if it is of himself.  So often they even mention God’s sovereignty with little understanding of what that really means.  But in their arrogance of decisional regeneration or letting Jesus in their heart or free willy-ism, just how much do they attempt to destroy the attributes if God?  (Understanding fully that they cannot.)

 

Generally speaking, and it may differ slightly from church to church, Arminianism states that man has a free will because his total nature was not completely affected by the Fall so there is what is called a bit of prevenient grace within each of us to make a free will choice in salvation should we so desire.  Election as clearly defined in scripture shows that it is God Who chooses man unto salvation and that choosing will come to fruition. However, the Arminian believes that God looked forward through time and saw who would accept Jesus Christ through the gospel and therefore elected him (after the fact) until salvation.  Perhaps the biggest point to Arminianism is their erroneous belief that Jesus Christ died for every person who ever lived, is alive or who will live. This type of apparent universal redemption violates the particular redemptive nature of the atonement because if He died for all then his blood was shed in vain for those who rejected Him and are suffering or will suffer in eternal damnation.

 

Here is a partial list of the attributes of God that the Arminian attempts to destroy or weaken or ignore.

 

1. Sovereignty. Though often spoken it is easy to recognize that they (Arminians) do not really believe that God is totally sovereign.  For to understand that God is sovereign is to understand man’s depraved nature. To understand man’s depraved nature is to understand the inability and incapability to make a “decision for Jesus.”  In fact, God’s attribute of sovereignty is the umbrella in which could embrace all the other attributes. So, knocking out sovereignty can make the others crumble (although, they will not.) Exodus 15:18 reads, “The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.  Psalm 22:27 says, “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.” Isaiah 46:10, 11 tells us of God, “Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.”  Ephesians 1:11 adds, “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.”

2. Decrees.  The decrees point to the fact that when God determines or purposes something then it will come to fruition.  It will be fulfilled, regardless of man’s attempt to negate it. The Arminian so wishes that personal salvation is the result of a personal decision.  This, of course, is false. God’s decrees and wills will be fulfilled and not with the help of man’s will.  Yes, man is responsible. Yes, God will use particular men but that does not mean that the particular man God chooses has power over God in any way.  Acts 2:23, 24, “Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden.”  Ephesians 1:9 says, “Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.”

3. Knowledge. The knowledge of God does not grow because He does not learn.  The Arminian believes that God has to somehow wait on man to decide his own salvation.  This thinking attempts to teach that God is not sure who will choose Jesus or not. Psalm 139:3-6 affirms knowledge by saying, “Thou compasseth my pass and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.  For there is not a word in tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hath beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.” John 21:17 has Peter acknowledging “…Lord, thou knowest all things…”

4. Foreknowledge.  God does not look forward through time to see who chooses Jesus then adds them to the list of the elect to be placed in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  This type of foreknowledge exhibits a before-the-foundation-of-the-world intimacy towards a certain group of people.  It is a special love that He has for them because He literally chose some before the foundation of the world.  Amos 3:2 says, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth…”  This knowledge exhibits, also, the foreknowledge of God Who chose a certain people before time that He wanted that special relationship with.  Certainly, God knew more than that family so it further proves his fore “known” love for Israel. It was not something that they earned. Romans 8:29 further states of His foreknowledge, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

5. Omniscience.  Since God is all-knowing and cannot learn then He knows those whom He has chosen and knows them who will be regenerated unto salvation to believe in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. All one has to do is read through John 3 and John 6 among many other chapters and verses to see that God already knows who will be saved.  He does not sit on His throne wondering and worrying about an individual’s salvation. He already knows.  John 6:37 says, “All that the Father giveth me (Jesus Christ) shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”  There is no guessing or wondering with the Triune God of salvation. Acts 13:48 says, “And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.”

6. Omnipotence.  Arminians will confess that God is omnipotent but will also say that man can make his own decision in salvation.  But if God is omnipotent and desires a person to be saved then will that person not be saved? The often-misused verse in II Peter 3:9 is always taken out of context when the meaning incomplete.  Peter is simply making a reference to the elect, not to every single person that ever lived or will live.  There is no omnipotence if God cannot save those whom He has chosen. Isaiah 14:27 says, “For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it?  And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” Philippians 1:6 also tells us, “Being confidant of this very thing, that he which begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

7. Faithfulness.  If the Sovereign and Triune God promised salvation to all and not all are saved then how can He be faithful in His word and actions? Deuteronomy 7:9 says, “Know ye therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations.”  I Corinthians 1:9 tells us, “God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”

 

In no particular order, this partial list of God’s attributes show that Arminian teaching attempts to dismantle God’s attributes, thus His total sovereignty.  There is no consistency in Arminian theology as to God’s sovereignty. Arminians attempt to put man at the center of salvation and make it a cooperative effort between man and God with man making the final decision.  This synergistic interpretation by Arminians is foreign to salvation by grace alone.