Perseverance Calvinists say God works infallibly to preserve us in faith - all of us who are truly born again - and that no one is ever lost who was truly born of God. Arminians say God works to preserve his people, but he does not always prevent some who were born again from falling away to destruction.
Molinism is named for the 16th-century Jesuit, Luis de Molina. Molinism is a system of thought that seeks to reconcile the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. The heart of Molinism is the principle that God is completely sovereign and man is also free in a libertarian sense. Molinism partly seeks to avoid so-called “theological determinism”: the view that God decrees who will be saved or damned without any meaningful impact of their own free choice.
New Birth Calvinists say that the new birth is God’s work of renewal in our hearts that necessarily brings about the act of willing, hearty, saving faith. Arminians say the new birth is God’s work of renewal in our hearts in response to our act of saving faith.
Depravity Calvinism says people are so depraved and rebellious that they are unable to trust God without his special work of grace to change their hearts so that they necessarily and willingly - freely - believe. Arminians say, with regard to depravity, that people are depraved and corrupt, but they are able to provide the decisive impulse to trust God with the general divine assistance that God gives to everybody.
Atonement Calvinism says that in the death of Christ, God provided sufficient atonement for all but designed that it be effective for the elect - meaning that Christ’s death purchased for them the new-covenant promise that God would bring about in his people faith and perseverance. Arminians say that in the death of Christ, God provided sufficient atonement for all and designed that it would become effective by virtue of faith for which we - not Christ - provide the decisive impetus. Meaning, faith itself is not purchased by the cross, but that it is the human means of obtaining what the cross purchased - namely, forgiveness of sins.
1. Natural Knowledge - This is God’s knowledge of all necessary and all possible truths: all things which “can be.” In this “moment” God knows every possible combination of causes and effects. He also knows all the truths of logic and all moral truths. This knowledge is independent of God’s will, a point few if any theologians would dispute. 2. Middle Knowledge - This is God’s knowledge of what a free creature would do in any given circumstance. This knowledge consists of what philosophers call counterfactuals of creaturely freedom. These are facts about what any creature with a free will would freely do in any circumstance in which it could be placed. This knowledge, like natural knowledge, is independent of God’s will. 3. Creative Command - this is the “moment” where God actually acts. Between His knowledge of all that is or could be, and all that actually comes to be, is God’s purposeful intervention and creation. 4. Free Knowledge - This is God’s knowledge of what He decided to create: all things that “actually are.” God’s free knowledge is His knowledge of the actual world as it is. This knowledge is completely dependent on God’s will.
Election Calvinism says that we are chosen. God chooses unconditionally whom he will mercifully bring to faith and whom he will justly leave in their rebellion. Arminians say God has chosen us - elected to bring to salvation - all those whom he foresaw would believe by bringing about their own faith and providing the decisive impetus themselves. In those, God doesn’t decisively produce the faith that he foresees.
Calvinism centers around the supreme sovereignty of God, predestination, the total depravity of man, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of saints. Arminianism on the other hand emphasizes conditional election based on God’s foreknowledge, man’s free will to cooperate with God in salvation, Christ’s universal atonement, resistible grace, and salvation that can potentially be lost.
@@yuanlairuci2021 : Eph 3: 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
God’s sovereignty. This is the belief that God is in complete control over everything that happens in the universe. His will is the final cause of all things. Calvinists believe God is 100% sovereign and he knows everything that will happen because he planned it. Arminians believe God is sovereign, but has limited control in relation to man’s freedom and their response to it. Another one, Election. This is the concept of how people are chosen for salvation. Calvinists believe that God elected some people to be saved and it has nothing to do with man’s future response. Arminians believe that election is based on God’s foreknowledge of those who would believe in him through faith, which means God chooses those who chose him on their own free will, based on man’s response to God’s offer of salvation. We have Perseverance of the saints, which is tied to the “once saved, always saved” debate and the question of eternal security. The Calvinist says that believers will persevere in salvation because God will see to it that none will be lost. Believers are secure in their faith because God will finish the work he began. On the other hand, Arminianism says that because of free will, believers can turn away or fall away from grace and potentially lose their salvation. Man, that was deep. At the end of the day, no matter what you currently believe, it’s important to note that all of the doctrinal points in both theological positions, Calvinism and Arminianism, have a biblical foundation, which is why the debate has been so divisive and enduring throughout church history. Different denominations disagree over which points are correct, rejecting all or some of either system of theology, leaving a lot of us believers with a mixed perspective on what we truly believe. Because both Calvinism and Arminianism deal with concepts that go far beyond human comprehension, the debate is certain to continue as human beings try to explain an infinitely mysterious God.
