Comments on: An Arminian Compromise http://www.headtheology.com/13/ "As we must turn keenness of mind toward God, so affection of heart has to follow." -John Calvin Wed, 09 Jul 2008 04:03:26 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: BSW http://www.headtheology.com/13/comment-page-1/#comment-15 BSW Sat, 11 Mar 2006 14:26:32 +0000 http://www.headtheology.com/?p=13#comment-15 Hey Michael, hope things are going well for you this semester. Hope things are working out at the house. Good blog man, tough subject. I've heard it explained simply but still reformed: there are some folks that hear the Gospel and for awhile they are a Christian and do Christian things, like pray, go to church, even talk about Christ to others and say Christian things (maybe even respond to an altar call and get baptized). But after awhile they kind of grow out of it, it's more of like a fad to them, and they return to their old way of living and forget about the gospel. One could say they became a Christian and lost their salvation. But those of us who are reformed know that were probably never saved to begin with. Michael Horton has a lot of good things to say about Arminianism, since that's the background he grew up in. A subject of contention for him was the issue of sin and falling away and that he was taught in church and Sunday school that if you were living in some type of sin and died you wouldn't be saved because at that moment you had unconfessed sin. This made him respond that people know that we are Christians by our fruit, but God knows us by our faith "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested APART from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it--the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe" Romans 3:21,22. For all sin is a transgression of God's law, right? And all sin will be forgiven except the unforgivable sin, rejection of the Holy Spirit. So when talking about sin, if one is a true believer, has been regenerated and brought to new life, no amount of sin is his/her life can cause them to lose their salvation because it would mean that Christ's death on the cross was not enough to atone for their sin. But then one might ask, well does that mean I can continue to sin and do whatever I want and still go to heaven? That's what Paul was dealing with in his letter to the Galatians. If you are truly saved and truly know God and love God and know that God loves you, why would you want to sin against him? Wouldn't you want to follow him? Wouldn't you, who has been saved from the pit of hell and given new life, want to love and follow the one who has saved you? Hey Michael, hope things are going well for you this semester. Hope things are working out at the house. Good blog man, tough subject. I’ve heard it explained simply but still reformed: there are some folks that hear the Gospel and for awhile they are a Christian and do Christian things, like pray, go to church, even talk about Christ to others and say Christian things (maybe even respond to an altar call and get baptized). But after awhile they kind of grow out of it, it’s more of like a fad to them, and they return to their old way of living and forget about the gospel. One could say they became a Christian and lost their salvation. But those of us who are reformed know that were probably never saved to begin with.

Michael Horton has a lot of good things to say about Arminianism, since that’s the background he grew up in. A subject of contention for him was the issue of sin and falling away and that he was taught in church and Sunday school that if you were living in some type of sin and died you wouldn’t be saved because at that moment you had unconfessed sin. This made him respond that people know that we are Christians by our fruit, but God knows us by our faith “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested APART from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it–the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” Romans 3:21,22. For all sin is a transgression of God’s law, right? And all sin will be forgiven except the unforgivable sin, rejection of the Holy Spirit. So when talking about sin, if one is a true believer, has been regenerated and brought to new life, no amount of sin is his/her life can cause them to lose their salvation because it would mean that Christ’s death on the cross was not enough to atone for their sin. But then one might ask, well does that mean I can continue to sin and do whatever I want and still go to heaven? That’s what Paul was dealing with in his letter to the Galatians. If you are truly saved and truly know God and love God and know that God loves you, why would you want to sin against him? Wouldn’t you want to follow him? Wouldn’t you, who has been saved from the pit of hell and given new life, want to love and follow the one who has saved you?

]]>