Attending a Reformed Presbyterian Church I am subject to a considerable amount of Calvinist dogma. While I accept the scriptures about Predestination I tend to have grave doubts about the way in which these scriptures are interpreted. I also have reservations about the implications of the Calvinist perspective on the individual believer’s relationship with God and perception of God’s attitude toward them.
I have even heard folk describe how when they first accepted Calvinism they wept. I assume that this is because where they had believed God to be a loving Father who rejoiced in the salvation of His children and delighted in their every interaction with Him. Apart from anything else this sounds like a conversion experience and if you are already converted to Christ Jesus who are you now having a conversion experience with?
In any case, it seems they now have to accept that God is fickle. He saves whom He chooses and condemns others to eternal fire on a whim. Even the rebellion of Lucifer and the war in heaven was scripted by God. Those angels including Lucifer who rebelled against Yahweh were mere puppets going through the motions of an existence apparently foreordained by God.
According to the proponents of Calvinism, from the book of Genesis on through to Revelation. T hose who are redeemed and those who will perish have no choice in their eternal destiny. God has decided this from the beginning of time. This is the Calvinist outlook. This is the perception of the nature of God that those adherents of Calvinism purport to the world. A view that has been endorsed with extreme prejudice on more that one occasion since the times of John Calvin and other Reformers.
Today with the advent of Social Media. Calvinism has made a strong re-emergence onto the stage of evangelical Christianity. Ultra Calvinists have even been known to threaten with violence those who would seek to debate the issues along the traditional lines of Calvinism versus Arminianism. Such is the fanaticism and strength of emotion held about subject.
If you read the Five Articles of the Remonstrance written by the followers of Jacob Arminius after his death in 1609. They really seem quite gentle and perfectly biblical. Nothing there to get worked up about. Yet the Synod of Dordrecht in 1618 rejected the Remonstrance, branding the articles as heresy and dismissing the Remonstrant ministers instructing them to desist from all forms of ministry and writing about the teachings of Arminius.
The question I would ask is what could there be that really would cause any issues in the Five Articles of the Remonstrance. Essentially they just expound a fairly accurate New Testament view of the mechanics of salvation through a loving savior and a gracious God. The worst that could happen is that the gospel would be preached and the lost would be found. I’ll leave it to you the reader to digest the five articles as they are represented below.
Five articles of Remonstrance
The Five articles of Remonstrance refers to the document drawn up in 1610 by the followers of Jacobus Arminius1 (1560-1609). A "remonstrance" is literally "an expression of opposition or protest," which in this case was a protest against the Calvinist doctrine of predestination contained in the Belgic Confession. Consequently, those followers of Arminius who drafted this protest were given the name "Remonstrants."
This document was condemned as heresy by the reformed churches at the Synod of Dort, 1618-1619. [1]
Article 1
That God, by an eternal and unchangeable purpose in Jesus Christ his Son, before the foundation of the world, hath determined, out of the fallen, sinful race of men, to save in Christ, for Christ’s sake, and through Christ, those who, through the grace of the Holy Ghost, shall believe on this his son Jesus, and shall persevere in this faith and obedience of faith, through this grace, even to the end; and, on the other hand, to leave the incorrigible and unbelieving in sin and under wrath, and to condemn them as alienate from Christ, according to the word of the Gospel in John 3:36: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him,” and according to other passages of Scripture also. [2]
Article 2
That agreeably thereunto, Jesus Christ the Savior of the world, died for all men and for every man, so that he has obtained for them all, by his death on the cross, redemption and the forgiveness of sins; yet that no one actually enjoys this forgiveness of sins except the believer, according to the word of the Gospel of John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” And in the First Epistle of 1 John 2:2: “And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” [3]
Article 3
That man has not saving grace of himself, nor of the energy of his free will, inasmuch as he, in the state of apostasy and sin, can of and by himself neither think, will, nor do any thing that is truly good (such as saving faith eminently is); but that it is needful that he be born again of God in Christ, through his Holy Spirit, and renewed in understanding, inclination, or will, and all his powers, in order that he may rightly understand, think, will, and effect what is truly good, according to the Word of Christ, John 15:5, “Without me ye can do nothing.” [4]
Article 4
That this grace of God is the beginning, continuance, and accomplishment of all good, even to this extent, that the regenerate man himself, without prevenient or assisting, awakening, following and cooperative grace, can neither think, will, nor do good, nor withstand any temptations to evil; so that all good deeds or movements, that can be conceived, must be ascribed to the grace of God in Christ. but respects the mode of the operation of this grace, it is not irresistible; inasmuch as it is written concerning many, that they have resisted the Holy Ghost. Acts 7, and elsewhere in many places. [5]
Article 5
That those who are incorporated into Christ by true faith, and have thereby become partakers of his life-giving Spirit, have thereby full power to strive against Satan, sin, the world, and their own flesh, and to win the victory; it being well understood that it is ever through the assisting grace of the Holy Ghost; and that Jesus Christ assists them through his Spirit in all temptations, extends to them his hand, and if only they are ready for the conflict, and desire his help, and are not inactive, keeps them from falling, so that they, by no craft or power of Satan, can be misled nor plucked out of Christ’s hands, according to the Word of Christ, John 10:28: “Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” But whether they are capable, through negligence, of forsaking again the first beginning of their life in Christ, of again returning to this present evil world, of turning away from the holy doctrine which was delivered them, of losing a good conscience, of becoming devoid of grace, that must be more particularly determined out of the Holy Scripture, before we ourselves can teach it with the full persuasion of our mind. [6]
Resources
Phillip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, Volume 3, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI: 1996. Pages 545ff.
1James Arminius (Jacob Harmenszoon). Arminius was born in 1559 in Oudewater - a small city in the province of Holland.
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