Featured Arminianism

Will of man trumping will of God!

 

= salvation by the works of not rejecting it.

 

It is still a work of the flesh. If they were born again, they would not, or could not reject anything related.

 

Five Articles
The Five Articles of Remonstrance (1610)
Article 1

That God, by an eternal, unchangeable purpose in Jesus Christ his Son, before the foundation of the world, hath determined, out of the fallen, sinful race of men, to save in Christ, for Christ’s sake, and through Christ, those who, through the grace of the Holy Ghost, shall believe on this his Son Jesus, and shall persevering this faith and obedience of faith, through this grace, even to the end; and, on the other hand, to leave the incorrigible and unbelieving in sin and under wrath, and to condemn them as alienate from Christ, according to the word of the gospel in John 3:36: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but wrath of God abideth on him,” and according to other passages of Scripture also.

Article 2
That, agreeably thereto, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, died for all men and for every man, so that he has obtained for them all, by his death on the cross, redemption and the forgiveness of sins; yet that no one actually enjoys this forgiveness of sins except the believer according to the word of the Gospel of John 3:16: “God so love the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” And in the First Epistle of John 2:2: “And he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”

Article 3
That man has not saving grace himself, nor of the energy of his free will, inasmuch as he, in the state of apostasy and sin, can of and by himself, neither thing, will, nor do any thing that is truly good (such as saving Faith eminently is); but that it is needful that he be born again of God in Christ through his Holy Spirit, and renewed in understanding, inclination, or will, and all his powers, in order that he may rightly understand, think, will, and effect what is truly good, according to the Word of Christ, John 15:5: “Without me ye can do nothing.”

Article 4
That this grace of God is the beginning, continuance, and accomplishment of all good, even to this extent, that the regenerate man himself, without prevenient or assisting, awaking, following and co-operative grace, can neither think, will, nor do good, nor withstand any temptations to evil; so that all good deeds or movements, that can be conceived, must be ascribed to the grace of God in Christ. But as respects the mode of the operation of this grace it is not irresistible, inasmuch as it is written concerning many, that they have resisted the Holy Ghost (Acts 7:51), and elsewhere in many places.

Article 5
That those who are incorporated into Christ by a true faith, and have thereby become partakers of his life-giving Spirit, have thereby full power to strive against Satan, sin, the world, and their own flesh, and to win the victory; it being well understood that it is ever through the assisting grace of the Holy Ghost; and that Jesus Christ assists them through his Spirit in all temptations, extends to them his hand, and if only they are ready for the conflict, and desire his help, and are not inactive, keeps them from falling, so that they, by no craft or power of Satan, can be misled nor plucked out of Christ’s hands, according to the Word of Christ, John 10:28: “Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” But whether they are capable, through negligence, of forsaking again the first beginnings of their life in Christ (Heb 3:6, 14; 2 Pet 1:10; Jude 3; 1 Tim 1:19; Heb 11:13), of again returning to this present evil world, of turning away from the holy doctrine which was delivered to them, of losing a good conscience, of becoming void of grace, that must be more particularly determined out of the Holy Scripture, before we ourselves can teach it with full persuasion of our minds.

These Articles, thus set forth and taught, the Remonstrants deem agreeable to the Word of God, tending to edification, and, as regards this argument, sufficient for salvation, so that it is not necessary of edifying to rise higher or to descend deeper.

Five Articles

 

Universal atonement still kills any grace involved in Salvation, as always.

 

It still makes man, not God, the savior. It wreaks with self-righteousness.

 

No, it's two-sided. Man saves himself by not resisting. = Salvation only for the self-righteous.

 

To not resist means to become obedient which is salvation by works.

 

But the Holy Spirit saves no one. They save themselves through obedience (not resisting).

 

“Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” Romans 9:18–24 (KJV 1900)

 

Arminian articles of the Remonstrance reveal the overarching idea that man must cooperate with God in a synergism and juxtaposition in order for salvation to be complete. Failure on man's part will result in eternal damnation.

To me, such reliance on human assistance and cooperation cannot result in salvation because all human effort falls short of the glory of God.
Paul's writing in Ephesians 2:1-10 makes this quite clear as the greek word(s) translated as dead in trespasses and sins convey the idea that humans attempted to get to God on their own and missed the mark so badly that they died in the attempt. Thus, the only means of salvation is for God to make a person alive and then take that person and not only hit the mark, but actually surpass the mark so that there is no doubt in their salvation.
When humans are relied upon to cooperate in a synergism to be saved, it is sure that the human attempt will fall short of the mark and thus fail in the attempt.
Because humans always fail to hit the mark, I hold to a monergist salvation where human failure is not relied upon. God and God alone accomplishes our salvation. Our assistance only ensures our incapacity and failure. It must be God and God alone.