You must think and study in order to follow Jesus faithfully, for He has warned us that there will be “false Christs, and false prophets” who will show “signs and wonders ... [to] deceive the very elect” if possible (Matt. 24:24). There are some very good things, once pure truth, that are perplexing and confusing, but now are contradictory.
Intervarsity Press publishes two complementary books, Why I Am Not an Arminian and Why I Am Not a Calvinist. They are like Eugene Field’s famous gingham dog and calico cat that had a row and ate each other up so nothing was left; when you finish the two books you have no gospel left.
Both Calvin and Arminius were sincere, good men doing the best they could with what they had: they just lived too early to grasp the “time of the end” truth of the Day of Atonement and the cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary.
Calvin saw that what Christ started He had to finish or He would be disgraced before the universe; He had to save the world! But Calvin felt he had to define the “world” as that special group of people known as “the elect” whom God predestined to be saved; and of course, all others must then be predestined to be lost. Solved the problem: why there are so many bad people still in the world.
Arminius said, No, that’s not fair. “All men” must have an equal chance. Christ must die for all, but His death does no one any good unless first he believes and obeys. It’s just a provisional offer (unless you think of the physical life we all have, but the animals have that, too!). But the problem with Arminianism is that it leaves one’s personal salvation dependent on his own initiative: and therein we have the hidden, secret source of world-church lukewarmness. That inevitable touch of self-dependence eats away beneath the surface.
Finally in the late 19th century two young men broke through the clouds to recover what Paul saw: Christ did accomplish something beyond a provisional offer—He did save the world, He did give the gift of salvation to “every man” (Romans 5:15-18 is clear as sunlight) as surely as Esau had the birthright which he despised and sold. The lost throw away what Christ gave them. Yes, He is “the Savior of the world” (John 4:42),”the Savior of all men” (1 Tim. 4:10) in a very real sense. But the gift can be refused. You can despise, reject, and crucify Him afresh; don’t do it!
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