Sunday 2 August 2009

How Reformation Arminian Soteriology Safeguards Reformation Theology and the Character of God

Reformation Arminian Urgencies (PDF)
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2 comments:

DonaldH said...

Brother James,

I love the work that you're doing. I also appreciate the move/upgrade to your newer website.

I love to see older brethren that are out here blogging. Nothing against the young guys, like what they are doing.

But as an older guy myself pushing 50 it is a great joy to me to see brothers do what you do.

3 August 2009 at 17:25
James M. Leonard said...

Regarding election, if I may defend my jab at Calvinism....

With Arminianism, the basis of election is union with Christ, who is the perfect and foremost elect One. Since believers are united with him, they share in his election. This is no secret. It is revealed and an explicit doctrine. It is union with Christ that makes one person special and not another. Thus, Arminian election is christocentric.

With Calvinism, no one knows what makes particular people special to God that he would elect them. So either God arbitrarily elects one and not another, or he decreed in eternity past to endow some people with a special quality as the basis for election and to distinguish them from the reprobate. Either way, this is semi-gnostic, since no one knows the basis of election.

Of course, Calvinists would never claim to have some God-given specialness in their nature to link them with an eternal decree. But the other option is that God chose the elect arbitrarily, without reason or rationale. Take your pick.

At any rate, it does make a nice turn around in the discussion when the Calvinist asks us, "What was special about you that you believed and someone else did not?" The same thing can be asked of the Calvinist.

6 August 2009 at 14:43

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