A Defense of Arminianism - A Look at The Five Articles of the Remonstrance (1610)
Before delving into The Five Articles of the Remonstrance (1610) it’s helpful to note a few things about Jacob Arminius:
He was educated at Leiden University. It was a Reformed University. All of his professors were Calvinists. However, even though Leiden University at this time was Reformed it was also steeped in an Anabaptist, Lutheran, and Zwinglian theological influence, which surely influenced his own theology.
At Leiden he was taught to utilize Ramism as a philosophy in contrast to Aristotelian philosophy. Petrus Ramus was a Huguenot which simply means a member in the Reformed Church of France. Ramism influenced Protestantism in the 16th century, but was rejected by Roman Catholic countries. (Most likely because without Aristotle’s influence on Aquinas, Rome’s doctrine on the Eucharist would be null and void.)
Arminius afterward studied under Theodore Beza in Geneva. This is important to note because Beza was a successor of Calvin.
Beza actually wrote a recommendation for Arminius regarding a pastoral role in Amsterdam.
Arminius later ran into trouble when a colleague of his in Amsterdam began public discourses with him due to his exegesis of Romans 7. Arminius simply taught that through grace man did not have to live as a slave to sin. That the Holy Spirit can convict unregenerate men, before regeneration. Because of this he was labelled a Pelagian. (I personally believe this was however the origins of the doctrine of Common Grace.)
Finally, I think it’s better to give Arminius the benefit of the doubt. Studying under Beza he was surely Augustinian in thought and theology.
The Five Articles of the Remonstrance:
Article One – Total Depravity:
Man is born in a state of apostasy and sin. “in his state of apostasy and sin he can of and by himself neither think, will, nor do any thing that is truly good.”
Man cannot possess salvation based on his own free moral agency, due to the fact he is wholly fallen in sin and depravity. “That man does not posses saving grace of himself, nor of the energy of his free will”.
Man’s will and nature is fallen, his faculties are corrupt. He cannot do any good without God, The Holy Trinity, first acting on his behalf. “but that it is necessary that he be born again of God in Christ, through his Holy Spirit, and renewed in understanding, inclination, and will, and all his faculties, in order that he may rightly understand, think, will, and effect what is truly good, according to the Word of Christ.” Then the Article cites John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
It is all of God in the Christ’s Atonement and The Holy Spirit’s illuminating grace. Without Christ and His Saving Grace and regeneration, man can do nothing. This is not Pelagianism, this is Holy Scripture.
Article Two – Conditional Election:
Truly, this article speaks for itself; “That God, by an eternal and unchangeable purpose in Jesus Christ His Son before the foundation of the world, has determined that 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 Spirit, 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 alienated from Christ,”
Christ acts first, man in grace through faith believe on the Son’s actions, believe or choose unbelief, alienate themselves, and choose wrath instead. But it is “for Christ’s sake, and through Christ, those who through the grace of the Holy Spirit shall believe, on this His son Jesus..” On the other hand though, those who reject Christ, are damned by their choices. This Article cites John 3:36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Saving Faith is active, not passive, God’s Saving Faith is not mere belief in what Christ did, but allegiance to Christ the Son, our King. “those who through the grace of the Holy Spirit, shall believe on this His son Jesus, and shall persevere in this faith and obedience of faith, through this grace, even to the end;” obedience is active. But it is because of God acting first that we can proactively serve Him.
Article Three – Unlimited Atonement
Christ died for all man, all of creation, in His atoning works of Redemption. Man fell in Adam, due to Adam’s temptation and disobedience. He ate the apple though we all would as well. God knew before the foundations that men would choose death. Christ knew before the foundations that because of His Divine omniscience, He would take on flesh and tabernacle among us, why? For the Reconciliation of all things (Colossians 1:20).
Unlimited atonement is this, “That, accordingly, 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,”
What have we learned thus far?
That no one “enjoys” redemption unless he has faith in Christ.
God acts firstly, granting man grace through faith, it is God’s works not our own.
We are totally depraved and incapable of choosing salvation solely by our own free agency, that’s not Pelagianism.
But upon God granting us His grace we can cooperate in faith, insomuch, that we believe and align ourselves to Christ, or choose to reject His redemption, thus choosing death of the body and spirit.
Christ’s atonement has not failed because sinful men choose to reject it. Christ truly obtained salvation for all on His own behalf, but Has not determined that all men partake in it.
This Article at its end cites 1 John 2:2 “and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
Article Four – Resistible Grace
This Article certainly speaks for itself as well, “That this grace of God is the beginning, continuance, and accomplishment of all good, even to the 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 with respect to the mode of the operation of this grace, it is not irresistible, since it is written concerning many, that they have resisted the Holy Spirit.”
Now, how can man have Christ yet resist the Spirit? If grace be grace and faith be faith, then how could either fail?
Does Christ’s atonement fail? Heavens no.
There is a given narrative that God hardens hearts, because of Pharaoh in Egypt. But we neglect to see Pharaoh’s role in his own hardening. Pharaoh hardened his own heart to the Israelites, and God gave him over to such a sin nature. Did God choose Pharaoh’s sin? I do not think the Text expresses this. Pharaoh could have chose to relent, however he rejected the Trinity and clutched his pearls to his own destruction.
But did God harden the hearts of the Pharisees? Christ was right before them. Yet, they still chose the hardening of their own hearts so much so that in Matthew 3:9 John the Baptist states that those who call upon Abraham, the Father of Faith, as a defense, can do so, without faith, but that ultimately God could raise up stones to be better children of Abraham. The Pharisees, The Israelites, they had the truth of God, in fact God Incarnate was right before them and they rejected Him. They hardened their own hearts. Are we capable of knowing God and rejecting Him? Well yes, that’s quite literally the endless theme we see in the Old Testament.
Did Israel have God’s Covenant promises? Yes. Did they all keep them? No, they chose creation over the Creator. Abraham had faith, and he was counted righteous (Genesis 15:6). We must not forget that Saving Faith is active. Abraham cooperated in faith and was a friend of God.
Article Five – Assurance of Faith:
“That those who are incorporated into Christ by true faith, and have thereby become partakers of his life-giving Spirit, as a result have full power to strive against Satan, sin, the world, and their own flesh, and to win the victory;”
Those of us who are grafted into Christ’s vine (John 15:5) have now become partakers in God’s Kingdom. Now who is the source of this Divine assurance, is it man himself? Heavens, no! It is through Christ that we are partakers through His heavenly grace! We are freed from our fallen self in the New Birth. So that we may act and act accordingly to God’s will for us.
The Article goes on to say, “it being well understood that it is ever through the assisting grace of the Holy Spirit; 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, desire his help, and are not inactive, keeps them from falling, so that they, by no deceit or power of Satan, can be misled nor plucked out of Christ’s hands.” It is through the Holy Spirit and Christ our Mediator and Preserver that man is even capable of such acts. We “desire his help, and are not inactive”. Saving Faith is not inactive but active. Who is our Helper in all things but Christ Himself, He sits on the Mercy Seat at the right hand of the Father (Romans 8:34). We can not do anything without Christ (John 15:5, Philippians 4:13).
Does this negate God’s Divine Sovereignty? No! Let us look to Saving Faith once more; the Greek term for faith is pistis, which means: faithfulness (or fidelity), belief, and trust. Faith is continued loyalty, allegiance, and obedience. It is the aligning of ourselves, not to our own will but the Divine Will of our Sovereign King. We do not have faith in man, nor ourselves, but solely a faith in God. It is not mere belief in the abstract, but trust in the concrete works of our Savior.
Now I mean not to read so much on Arminius or these articles that he would not have understood himself. However from my readings of Arminius I do believe this commentary would represent him wholeheartedly. He is so worth reading, in fact, to properly uphold integrity, to be consistent, I plead that not one projects onto him common misconceptions that fail to represent his theology accurately.
Article Five ends citing John 10:28 “Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” Then stating, “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 neglecting grace, that must be more particularly determined out of the Holy Scripture, before we ourselves can teach it with the full confidence of our mind.”
Now where do we see similar language in Holy Scripture?
1 Corinthians 1:10-11
“Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.
For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.”
Paul here is exhorting the Church in Corinth that there be no division in the Church, but according Chloe, there are quarrels among the brethren.
2 Corinthians 4:1
“Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart,”
Paul here exhorts the Church of Corinth to not lose heart. But can we lose heart? Only if we are negligent and lose sight of God’s Great Commission.
1 Galatians 1:6-8
“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;
which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!”
We have assurance, but solely in allegiance to Christ. Without it we pervert the Gospel. Was the Church in Galatia unsaved? Were they Christian? Or as Christians, did they choose to desert?
1 John 1:6-8
“If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth;
but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.
If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
Is not John here pleading that we do not walk in darkness? That in choosing disobedience, we deceive ourselves? Is John speaking to unbelievers or God’s Church? In context he is encouraginly speaking to God’s people. Can we fall away in darkness and disobedience? Certainly we can, and that’s what the Remonstrants are stating as well.
Scripture is clear. We are either actively obeying or actively deceiving ourselves. Calvinists would use 1 John 2:4 to say they were not of us, therefor they’re not God’s elect. But they miss their active faith and obedience in it all.
Quarrels, sin, deceit, negligence, and backsliding all occur in the Church. In order to serve Christ as a Sovereign we must serve Him actively. That means our cooperation or lack thereof matters and has consequences.
I believe this is Arminius’ point: we are not automatons. Now, I do not believe this is what Calvinist brethren are espousing at all either, however this was a fear and reality Arminius witnessed in his day and in his pastoral role. He had congregants who showed many good fruits and much sanctification, but still were convinced due to the Calvinist theology of their day that they were elected for damnation. This left them inactive, paralyzed, and it grieved Jacob to see his congregants be hurt by a fundamental misunderstanding of election. In Arminius’ mind, he was simply continuing the Reformation in his theology. He was reforming the Church in his own way and clearly his theological legacy has survived the sands of time.
The Five Articles of the Remonstrance leave us with this, “These Articles, thus set forth and taught, the Remonstrants deem agreeable to the Word of God, tending to edification, and, as regards this argument, sufficient for salvation, so that it is not necessary or edifying to rise higher or to descend deeper.”
The Remonstrants were proclaimed heretics at the Synod of Dort. If my Calvinist brothers deem me a heretic, may God have mercy on my soul. But I encourage you to wrestle with these articles in order to understand Arminianism better.
Thank you,
May, The Lord bless you and keep you;
May, The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
May, The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Amen.