NOTE: I USE THE TERM ARMINIAN TO REFER TO THOSE WHO DENY THE TULIP FORMULA OF CALVINISM (OR REFORMED THEOLOGY) BUT SOME THEOLOGIANS CLAIM TO BE FOUR-POINTERS, DENYING THE LIMITE OR DEFINITE ATONEMENT SCHEMA. THERE ARE ONLY TWO INTERPATIONS OF THE GOSPELS OF GRACE: ARMINIAN AND CALVINIST AND MOST FALL SOMEWHERE INBETWEEN, LIKE ARMINIANS WHO AFFIRM ETERNAL SECURITY.
There is no question that we cannot come to Christ apart from the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives to make us able and willing to believe ("This is the work of God, that you believe..." according to John 6:29). Some theologians of the Arminian persuasion do admit to the wooing of the Holy Spirit and even have a name for the pre-salvation work of Christ in our hearts, known as prevenient grace, whereby God makes you able to respond to the gospel. Calvinists or Reformed theologians subscribe to an efficacious grace or as it is called irresistible grace (cf. Rom. 5:21).
God doesn't try to save sinners, He saves them. He doesn't offer to save us but saves us. The word for wooing in Koine (Greek )is elko, which means to compel or drag. You can picture drawing water from a well. God has the power to make the most unwilling willing, and to turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh! God literally drags us into the kingdom and makes believers out of us!
The big issue is whether God draws all and if He does, does He draw them equally? And if all are wooed, why do some not respond? The golden chain of redemption in Romans 8:29-30 says that whom He foreknew He called. There is a general gospel call given to all the world (cf. Titus 2:11), but the inner calling of the Holy Spirit is only given to the elect. (cf. Acts 2:32). "The elect obtained unto it, and the rest were hardened," (cf. Rom. 11:7). "As many as were elected believed..." (Acts 13:48). We are commanded to call all because we do not know whom the elect are, but God looks on the heart and knows those who are His. God doesn't draw all equally, because some need more work than others and are given more grace ("Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more," according to Rom. 5:20).
The Arminian will not admit that God doesn't draw some at all, but leaves them in their sin. (Passing them by is called preterition). God reserves the right to have mercy on whom He will have mercy according to Romans 9:15. No one can resist God's will according to Romans 9:19 and if God decides to save someone, they will get saved--He is determined to bring about the salvation of the elect at the appointed time. This brings up the issue or doctrine of preterition, which is when God passes over the non-elect so that they will receive the justice of God and not the mercy of God. He doesn't work fresh evil in their hearts but simply lets them go their way of sin and follow their hearts in the flesh, enslaved to sin.
"No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them," (cf. John 6:44). We cannot respond to the gospel apart from the wooing, and this wooing guarantees that we will respond to the gospel message--the Greek word elko means "to compel by irresistible superiority." Arminians like the word "woo" because it doesn't sound authoritarian, but that is downgrading God's omnipotence and sovereignty. Arminians believe God may only draw those He sees will respond, but cannot say why God doesn't woo the others who fail to come to Christ. Perhaps it is the intensity of the wooing! We cannot attribute some merit to ourselves for responding to the wooing ministry, for salvation is by grace alone.
The big question is why some people respond and others don't. According to Scripture, we are called according to His purpose and grace and to the pleasure of His good will, nothing inherent in us to boast of. "What do you have that you didn't receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7). We have no inherent virtue or wisdom to qualify us for the kingdom. The only explanation is that faith is a gift from God and the result of regeneration not the cause of it--we don't conjure it up, but faith is not achieved but given. We believer through grace. (Acts 18:27).
The big issue is whether God draws all and if He does, does He draw them equally? And if all are wooed, why do some not respond? The golden chain of redemption in Romans 8:29-30 says that whom He foreknew He called. There is a general gospel call given to all the world (cf. Titus 2:11), but the inner calling of the Holy Spirit is only given to the elect. (cf. Acts 2:32). "The elect obtained unto it, and the rest were hardened," (cf. Rom. 11:7). "As many as were elected believed..." (Acts 13:48). We are commanded to call all because we do not know whom the elect are, but God looks on the heart and knows those who are His. God doesn't draw all equally, because some need more work than others and are given more grace ("Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more," according to Rom. 5:20).
The Arminian will not admit that God doesn't draw some at all, but leaves them in their sin. (Passing them by is called preterition). God reserves the right to have mercy on whom He will have mercy according to Romans 9:15. No one can resist God's will according to Romans 9:19 and if God decides to save someone, they will get saved--He is determined to bring about the salvation of the elect at the appointed time. This brings up the issue or doctrine of preterition, which is when God passes over the non-elect so that they will receive the justice of God and not the mercy of God. He doesn't work fresh evil in their hearts but simply lets them go their way of sin and follow their hearts in the flesh, enslaved to sin.
"No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them," (cf. John 6:44). We cannot respond to the gospel apart from the wooing, and this wooing guarantees that we will respond to the gospel message--the Greek word elko means "to compel by irresistible superiority." Arminians like the word "woo" because it doesn't sound authoritarian, but that is downgrading God's omnipotence and sovereignty. Arminians believe God may only draw those He sees will respond, but cannot say why God doesn't woo the others who fail to come to Christ. Perhaps it is the intensity of the wooing! We cannot attribute some merit to ourselves for responding to the wooing ministry, for salvation is by grace alone.
The big question is why some people respond and others don't. According to Scripture, we are called according to His purpose and grace and to the pleasure of His good will, nothing inherent in us to boast of. "What do you have that you didn't receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7). We have no inherent virtue or wisdom to qualify us for the kingdom. The only explanation is that faith is a gift from God and the result of regeneration not the cause of it--we don't conjure it up, but faith is not achieved but given. We believer through grace. (Acts 18:27).
However, the Arminian believes some respond favorably because of something in them such as being less biased or smarter, which makes salvation is ultimately based on their merit and works and not grace and faith. If you can come to God in faith without being regenerated, what good is it? There is a tug on the heart as the elect hears the gospel message ("Faith comes by hearing and by hearing of the Word of God" according to Rom. 10:17). Soli Deo Gloria!