The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum It's official, folks...

And, I am confident that you, Fred, would also affirm that although someone may affirm a doctrine, it doesn't necessarily mean that they actually believe that affirmation. <img src="/forum/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> What I mean is that although Arminius' may have affirmed that Christ's death was "substitutionary", it was far from what Calvinism affirms by that term. For in fact, Arminius' view of the atonement is actually far more limited than that which those antagonistic to biblical Calvinism accuse us of. His doctrine limited the effectiveness of that atonement which didn't actually secure the redemption it was designed to do, in and of itself. In this, it shares the same synergistic heresy as modern Arminianism, which is more semi-Pelagian and worse than Arminius' view.

One must be prudent when examining affirmed doctrines by taking ALL of what a man affirms and not isolating individual pieces. In doing so, one then can see what is actually being affirmed. For example, Arminius desired to return to the doctrines which Rome held, re: soteriology (aka: synergism). Like Rome, who does hold to much biblical orthodoxy, but ends up denying that orthodoxy by other doctrines affirmed. Terminology is thus defined by the whole rather than in isolation. The deceit of the Evil One is just that . . . deceit; a counterfeit which looks like the truth but in fact is a lie. A half truth is no truth and we would be wise to always remember that. Let us not be swayed by the words, "Yea, hath God said...."

We, as Calvinists are quick to point this truth out to our detractors, do we not? Take away any of the infamous "5 Points" and then entire system falls to the ground. They are an integral whole in which the individual affirmations of doctrine complement each other and build upon one another. The bottom line, therefore, IMHO, is that when Arminius affirmed that Christ's death was "substitutionary", he redefined what the term generally means, i.e., "in the place of another", so that all that God required to establish reconciliation and to satisfy ALL which the law demanded was met. For the Lord's death, for Arminius, was incomplete in itself and it was man's role to supply that which was lacking so as to secure salvation.

In His Grace,