Why The Arminian View Of Election Is Incompatible With Scripture

There are generally two views on the doctrine of election. One says that God looks down the corridor of time to see who would put faith in Him. With God's foreknowledge He is able to see who would believe in Him and it is those people whom God elects to salvation. As I understand it, this is the Arminian view of election. And it does a good job at preserving the will of man as the ultimate cause of our election and consequent salvation.

The other view of election says that there are no conditions on which God elects a sinner to salvation. Election is the perogative of God and God's choosing of people for salvation is based on His Sovereign gracious will. He chooses us first and we are the ones who respond to Him. This is the Calvinist view of election. This view upholds the will of God over that of man.

I believe that the Calvinist view is the one that is in line with Scripture and that the Arminian view leaves room for boasting in what man does. According to the Arminian view, election is then based on man's choosing God first, not grace.

Now if you will follow me on this line of thought, I will hopefully explain from one angle why the Arminian view is not compatible with the Scriptural view of election.

In 2 Peter 1:1, Peter writes to those who have "obtained a like precious faith." The word "obtained" means to receive by Divine allotment. In other words, faith is given to people at the discretion of God. To put it in other terms, faith is a gift of God. This is exactly what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2:8-9. Faith is a gift of God so that there is no room for boasting in what man does. If you cannot come to grips with this idea (faith as a gift) then we will not be able to go any further in this line of reasoning. You must be convinced that faith is a gift. 2 Peter says it is. Scripture supports this idea elsewhere as we'll see shortly.

A couple of questions arise at first glance...at least in my head. What is the definition of faith? And how is it given to us...how do we obtain it? Let's first put together a working defintion of faith.

Faith is "the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ. Faith is "a strong conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God." To put it another way: faith is absolute certainty that Christ is Who the Father has revealed Him to be and vice versa. Faith is also confidence in who the Spirit has revealed Father and Son to be through the Scriptures. Faith and trust are often used synomously. When we say that we have faith in Christ, we are saying that we trust Him because He has revealed Himself to be trustworthy. Did you get that last phrase? The reason we trust Christ is because He has revealed Himself to be worthy of trust or faith. Faith then must be instilled in a person as the object of faith proves itself to be worthy of trust. Faith is not blind trust. That is an unbiblical definition of faith. That is the world's definition of faith. No where does God ever call us to trust Him without knowing Him. He calls us to trust Him as He has shown Himself to be. That being said, Christ is faith worthy. We cannot know this about Him through general revelation alone. The Lord must deliberately and specifically reveal Himself so that we can see that He is worthy of faith and confidence. This in essence is how we obtain faith. When God reveals Himself, faith is given to us or instilled in us. That is why faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ. Christ speaks of Himself as all of Scripture does. When we hear of Christ we see His glorious nature and it's in seeing His nature that we see that we can trust Him for life and salvation...and so we trust Him. That is how God gives faith to us. We obtain it by special revelation...the Word of God.

As an example, I would say that I trust my wife because she has shown herself to be trustworthy. I don't blindly have faith and confidence in her. I trust her because I have seen her character. That is exactly how God calls us to trust in the Son. We trust what we've been shown. I believe this is the Biblical definition of faith.

Now even if the Arminian view of election was right...let's assume that it is for right now. Even if that view was correct, we're still left with the question: What specifically is man trusting about Christ? The answer: He's trusting that Christ is the righteous Savior that the Father sent and that the Spirit revealed. Both Arminian and Calvinist would agree. But we must take it a step further. How did the Arminian come to know that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior? How did the Arminian come to know that the Son was the Savior? Matthew 16:17 tells us that the Father reveals who Christ is. Matthew 11:27 tells us that it is the Son who reveals the Father and that the only ones who know the Father are the ones whom the Son chooses to reveal the Father. The Son elects or choose who gets to know the Father. The Father chooses or elects who gets to know the Son. If neither the Father or the Son choose to reveal the other then you cannot trust them in the way that leads to salvation. What exactly are you going to trust if they have not revealed themselves to you? You cannot obtain or receive faith if they choose to remain hidden to you.

Now if you're following where I'm going with this, and you adhere to the Arminian view of election, then you're forced to say that the only reason a person is elected to salvation is because they had faith in God. But you must add this next thought to your understanding of election. The reason that anyone would ever obtain faith in God, in Christ, is because God elected or chose to reveal Himself which is the means by which we are given faith. The Arminian is forced, at this point, to basically agree with the Calvinist. God chose us first, not the other way around.

So if God had to look down the corridor of time to see who'd choose Him, what He'd see first and foremost is that He chose to reveal Himself so that faith could be given to or instilled in sinners so that they'd choose Him. The Arminian view is just not compatible with Scripture. It is forced to ignore the means by which God gives a person faith. If you toss out that doctrine, then the Arminian may have a leg to stand on. But you can't toss out that doctrine. And you just can't stop with faith being put in Christ. You must go to the source of that faith. When you go to the source, you're brought back to the reality that God is the causation of our faith. And then you're forced to believe what we Calvinists believe. God chose us without any condition on our part. It was His Sovereign grace that led us to know Him. That knowledge of Him is what created faith in us which led to our trusting in Him for salvation.

This wonderful song gives us a snapshot of what I'm trying to say.

I KNOW WHOM I HAVE BELIEVED
I know not why God’s wondrous grace
To me He hath made known
Nor why unworthy, Christ in love,
Redeemed me for His own

CHORUS
But I know whom I have believed
And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed
Unto Him against that day

I know not how this saving faith
To me He did impart
Nor how believing in His Word
Wrought peace within my heart

I know now how the Spirit moves,
Convincing men of sin
Revealing Jesus through the Word,
Creating faith in Him



God bless you my friends. The doctrines of grace are much better than the doctrines of wage. ;-)