Clarification and Additions on Arminianism

In reference to my blog of yesterday, I want to add quickly that one Biblical definition of sin is missing the mark. I was not attempting to cast doubt on the Word of God, when I asked whether or not that little boy's gift was sin. I was simply trying to focus on heart purity, and on the fact that we will always fall short until we die and go to be with Jesus. "For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God"(Romans 3:23). We are totally depraved. But focusing on our shortcomings all the time leads to despair. It is condemning. Some believers think that if they point out our sins all the time. they are helping us. They are not. One can administer the Word of God in a way that kills (2 Corinthians 3:6). But God looks at our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7), and acts according to what He sees there. The dad accepted the boy's gift because they are related as father and son. Just so with God. There are different words for sin in the Bible. We need to consider all of them together before we jump to conclusions about sin. One other point I wanted to make briefly has to do with unlimited atonement. "and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world"(1 John 2:2). There are different words for "world" in the Bible. Calvinists would translate "world" as "elect" in many cases, but that makes for a very awkward translation, and simply doesn't work. Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world, but His atonement is effective only for those who believe. Calvinists would say that if Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world, then the whole world would be saved, because nothing that Jesus does is ineffective. This is human logic. Jesus lavished His love and grace on us (Ephesians 1:7-8). Some of it may be wasted from a human perspective, like the ointment from the alabaster jar (Mark 14:3-4). But Jesus commended the woman, and He also pours out His love and grace on people. Whether or not they accept it is up to them, but Jesus pours it out anyway. He is not stingy like the man in Proverbs 23:6-7 (New International Version). He is generous beyond our ability to comprehend. Jesus paid for the sins of the whole world, as the Scriptures say in 1 John 2:2. Praise the Lord for His generosity!

Illustration of an Arminian Truth

Isaiah 64:6 "...all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Psalm 103:14 "He knows our frame; He remembers that we are but dust." A little boy sees his dad working outside in a hot day. He sees his dad perspiring, and wiping perspiration from his face. The little boy decides to take his dad a glass of water. So he pushes a chair up to the sink, climbs up, and grabs a dirty glass off the counter, smudging it in his dirty hands. He fills the glass with tap water, and spills part of it as he climbs down off the chair. He spills more of it on his way out the door. Once outside, he gives the dirty, half-filled glass of water to his dad. His dad looks at the glass. Does this reach the standard of what he wants as a refreshing drink? No, it falls far short. He looks at his child. The little boy is looking at him with adoring eyes. Does the dad condemn the boy for falling short? No, he accepts the glass of water from the child, drinks it, then takes him inside for a glass of ice cold lemonade. We are the boy, and his dad is God. If sin is falling short of the glory of God, was his gift sin? Was he guilty? No. All of our gifts and actions are like that glass of water in the eyes of God. We always will fall short. That's why we need a Savior. God looks at the heart. He desires heart purity. If we focus on the heart, our actions will fall in line eventually. But if we focus on our actions, we create a very oppressive system of bondage

Romans 9-11 Commentary

People often try to interpret Romans 9-11 from the perspective of individual salvation, and they run into all kinds of problems. Romans 9-11 is not about individual salvation. It is about Israel and the Gentiles. I will do an overview of this passage, not a verse-by-verse analysis as I did with chapters 5-8. In verses 6-13 of chapter 9, Paul makes he point that Israel does not consist only of Jews. The children of faith are the sons of Abraham. Many try to interpret verse 11 as being about our choice versus God's choice. That would mean man has no choices. But that not what the verse is saying. It is God's choice, versus our WORKS. Relationship to God is not based on works. It has always been by faith. God's purposes are always based on His choices, not man's works. Many people struggle with verse 13. However, "hated" really means "not committed to." This theme of God's choice versus man's works (yet with the necessity of faith), is carried through the end of chapter 9. God has the rights, but man can still exercise faith. Verses 32 and 33 show that man must exercise faith, and that the nation of Israel did not. Chapter 10 is about the necessity of faith, as well as the fact that salvation is now offered to the Gentiles. In chapter 11, Paul begins expounding on election, and continues the theme that salvation is not by works (verse 6). Election is about nations and the church as a whole, not individuals. In 17-24, the language about being broken off and reinstated is about Israel and the Gentiles, not individuals. Israel's hardening is temporary (25-26). Israel's being broken off is not final. In fact, one day "all Israel will be saved" (11:26). The modern reader of this passage need not try to make falling away and/or being cut off apply to himself/herself as an individual. This interplay between God's Sovereignty and man's free will and faith is what Arminians call conditional election. The free will of man and the Sovereignty of God work together without diminishing either.

What did Arminius Really Say?

The original 5 points of Jacobus Arminius. 1. God from eternity past determined to save all who believe in Jesus and to "leave the incorrigible and unbelieving in sin and under wrath." 2. Christ died for and obtained redemption and forgiveness of sins for all, but these benefits are effective only for those who believe on Christ. 3. Man cannot "think, will, nor do anything that is truly good," and that includes saving faith, but must be regenerated. 4. That God's grace is absolutely essential for salvation, but that it may be resisted. 5. That those truly saved through faith in Christ are empowered by the Holy Spirit to resist sin; but whether they could fall away from the faith "Must be more particularly determined out of the Holy Scriptures before we can teach it with full persuasion of our minds." All of the above found in What Love Is This? by Dave Hunt. So we have Conditional election (Free Will), Unlimited Atonement, Total depravity, Resistible Grace, and later in his life, loss of election. Arminius was a Calvinist. When he made these statements, he was not attempting to set up a system of theology. He was responding to the abuses of Calvinism at the Council of Dort, much like Luther and his 95 Theses. His concern was that Calvinists placed no responsibility on the believer, and made sin irrelevant to one's standing with God. Arminius wanted to give that responsibility back to the believer.

Romans 5-8 Commentary

In Romans 5:1-2, Paul identifies himself ("we") as having peace with God through Jesus, and as having been introduced by faith into the grace in which "we" stand. In 5:9, He identifies himself with those who are justified, and saved from God's wrath. In 5:10-11, he identifies himself with those who are reconciled to God. In 6:4-10, He identifies himself with those who have been crucified with Christ(6), buried with Him and walking in newness of life (4), united with Him in the likeness of both His death and His resurrection (5), freed from sin (7), died with Christ and living with Him (8-10). 6:11-13 are built on the previous verses, and verse 17 affirms believers reigning in life, and freed from sin (22). Those who hold the concurrent position maintain that believers are freed only from the condemnation of the Law. Romans 7:1-3 is an example on which verses 4-6 are based. The widow in the example is freed not only from the condemnation of the Law of marriage; she is freed from the Law of marriage ITSELF. Verses 4-6 are an exact parallel of 1-3 (somewhat like if...then). So we have died to the Law. What Law? For the widow in the example, it was the Law of marriage. For us, it is the part of the Law that aroused sinful passions (verse 5), and which produced death. Verse 6 says we have been freed from "that Law," the Law stated in verse 5. The Law from which we are released is the Law that aroused sinful passions in our members. The fruit of this release is walking in the Spirit, and by inference from verse 5, life. We died to "that Law" which bound us, the Law that aroused sinful passions. In 7:7-25, Paul harks back to his pre-conversion days. We can know this is not part of his current life, because of verse 14. Is Paul really sold into bondage under sin in his life as a Christian? No, he is not. He said in 6:7 that he is freed from sin, and that in verse 17 that he reigns in life. One cannot be in bondage to sin and freed from sin concurrently. One cannot reign in life and and be in bondage to sin concurrently. In 8:1-17, Paul expounds on walking in the Spirit. In verse 2, he reaffirms freedom from the Law of sin and death. In 8:9, Paul tells the Romans that they are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in them, and that if they don't have the Spirit of Christ, they don't belong to Him. Is Paul telling them that they are believers, and he is not, or that they reign in life, and he does not (6:17, 7:14)? No, he is not. Doesn't Paul have the Spirit of Christ? He does! Is the Holy Spirit in bondage to sin? No, He is not! That's an impossibility! 7:7-25 has to be referring to Paul's experience as an unbeliever. One cannot be in the Spirit (i.e. a believer) and be in bondage to sin. I am not saying we don't, as believers, have sin we need to confess. This passage is referring to BONDAGE to sin. A note for Arminians: 1 John 1:9 does not refer to the eradication of the sin nature. We can and should confess our sins and receive forgiveness and cleansing multiple times as believers. The sin nature cannot be removed and reinstated multiple times. To live victoriously (6:17) does not imply the need to eradicate the sin nature. This is a holdover from Augustinian theology. Nothing is said about a second blessing. Believers can have as many blessings as they want to, and, according to Scripture, are commanded in Ephesians 5 to keep on being filled by the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Holy Spirit is what Arminians refer to as a second blessing.

The Somali Woman and Us

That local news story about the Somali woman who locked her five children in a closet and left for ten hours really disturbs me. Two of the children died. The woman's husband was traveling and had left her alone with the children. Let me give you some perspective on this practice. I spent several years as a missionary in Africa. African men do this all the time. This usually works ok as far as the well-being of the wife and children is concerned. The women and children live an an area of the country where there are lots of relatives and a supportive community that would step in and help in a heartbeat. But here was this women in a foreign country, alone with five children, far away from family, and living in a community that didn't want to be involved. Add to that burden the possibility of a language barrier. She was no doubt stressed out by the responsibility of caring for the children alone, with no one she believed she could turn to. So she snapped, and two children are dead. Her action was wrong, of course. But do you condemn her out of hand? Do you pray for her? What would you have done if you lived in her neighborhood? God knows our frame; He remembers that we are but dust (Psalm 103:14). I am so thankful for that Truth about God. Another reason this story disturbs me is that I can identify somewhat with this mother. No, I have neither been married nor had children. Nevertheless, my life is extremely challenging. I am grateful for the people who pray for me regularly, and whom I can talk to on the phone. And the Lord has blessed me with one friend who bears the brunt of my daily challenges to a very sacrificial degree in more ways than one, and does so with a great attitude. Sometimes I struggle with the fact that no one else rises to the challenge to share the load. (I would quickly add that I minister to this friend all the time). I am extremely thankful for this one friend. Scurrying along from this uncomfortable note, I wish to make a broader point. I believe that in the very near future in the United States, we will see hard times such as this country has never seen. The signs are everywhere. If we don't learn to be more community minded, and take care of each other, many of us won't survive, like a certain two Somali children.

Counter-Cultural

Many Christians believe that in order to be a "real" Christian, you have to shun formal dress, traditional theology, and traditional music. They believe orthodox theology is stuffy. This is not true. You can be a Christian and dress any way that you want, as long as it's modest. The Holy Spirit can work through any God-honoring music you use. Being "real" has nothing to do with outward things. Being "real" is a radical orientation of the heart. And orthodox theology is vital. "You shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). Orthodox theology is not stuffy. Only people are stuffy. I am finding orthodox theology exciting. I immerse myself in the Scriptures, and read them daily with the full intention of obeying them. In the Scriptures I connect with a real Person, Who is anything but stuffy. If you intend to obey, the Lord will reveal Himself to you. Jesus is the First and the Last. He will be the ONLY love of your life, if you let Him. You won't fit in any more. Do you love Him that much? "... all who will live a godly life in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). Do you really love Him that much? Following Jesus costs more than anything but not following Him.

Be Real

Alot of Christians talk about being real, but do they really want it? "All who live godly in Christ Jesus shall be persecuted." That's Biblical. That's real. A real Christian won't fit in. Guaranteed. Real Christianity has been counter-cultural since the beginning of the Church. Do we really want it? It's lonely, hard, and even ugly. Do we want it? Or do we prefer the safety of hypocrisy?