By Gary Ray Branscome
A great controversy over the doctrine
of eternal election began when Jacob Arminus
(1560-1609) tried to correct the unbiblical conclusions Calvin had come up with
without understanding why those conclusions were wrong. Lacking that
understanding, he failed to get to the root of the problem. Instead, he
sidestepped Calvin’s conclusions by coming up with counter conclusions.
First of all, he
assumed that God’s elect were those that God knew would come to faith of their
own free will; and then assumed that
every sinful, lost human being has within himself the ability to choose to
believe or reject the gospel. Those two
conclusions not only contradict the passages that tell us that God chooses to
save individuals, not just anyone who believes, but also contradicts the
passages that tell us that faith is a gift of God. For example: The words, “You
are saved by grace through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God,” plainly tell us that faith does not come from some
inner ability to believe, but is a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). The words, “What is the exceeding greatness of His
power toward us who believe,
according to the working of His mighty power,” reinforce that truth by
telling us that it is the power of God that brings us to faith, not some
ability in us (Ephesians 1:19). While men do have the ability to make many
choices, because all of the lost are in Satan’s kingdom Satan will not let them
come to faith in Christ unless God intervenes. The words, “Who are not born of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will
of man, but of God,” tell us that we are not saved by our “free will,” but
by the will “of God” (John
Those who make salvation dependent upon a choice
made by man shift salvation from what Christ did to what we do. As a result,
Christ is not seen as saving us, but instead as making it possible for us to
save ourselves by choosing to believe. For that reason, every Christian should reject
that idea.
Calvinists err because
they put God's choice of who should be saved (election) prior to His decision
to provide atonement for the sins of mankind. Arminians
err because they place God's choice of who should be saved (election) after
faith (that is after He knew that a person would believe). The Biblical
doctrine that I have presented avoids those errors by placing God's election
between God's decision to provide atonement for all, and His bestowal of the
gift of faith.