Non-Essential Christian Doctrines: Part 3 – Predestination and Free Will

[Note: One of the most important things an understanding of worldview brings to us is a clear picture of the outer limits of the various belief systems that exist in the world. By understanding how a belief system answers the three worldview questions (Who is God? What is man? What is salvation?), we know what worldview system it belongs to and how to evaluate it for truth. However, there are also other questions, beyond the three essential worldview questions, that come up as people attempt to understand and live out their faith. The answers to these “other” questions are important – some even very important. However, as important as they might be, they are not essential to the faith. People can answer them differently, and even get the answers wrong, and still be a part of the faith. There are many of these kinds of questions in the Christian faith, and it is typically these non-essential questions that create the conflict and division that exist within the faith itself. In fact, these kinds of differences are the main reason why there are different denominations. The purpose of this series is to explain those differences in order to give Christians a basis upon which to agree to disagree in love. These kinds of differences may cause various divisions, but they should never cause Christians to reject one another.]

What is the Dispute about Predestination All About?
So, is God all powerful or not? Does man have free will or not? Interestingly enough, if you want to go through the Bible and cherry pick verses that favor one side or the other, you can do it. There are enough verses in the Bible that speak of God’s sovereignty that one can make an entire theology that “proves” God is all powerful and that he determines everything about an individual’s life. On the other side, there are enough verses in the Bible that speak of man’s free will that one can make an entire theology out of that point of view, as well. And the truth is, this has actually been done.

Calvinism (or Reformed Theology) begins with the belief that God is sovereign and that his power cannot be resisted. Of course, there are several versions of Calvinism that interpret various things in different ways, but the basic premise in all of them are the same. There are several major denominations that follow Calvinist teachings.
Primitive Baptist Churches
Reformed Baptist Churches
Presbyterian Churches
Reformed Churches
The United Church of Christ
The Protestant Reformed Churches in America
Christian Reformed Church in America

Arminianism begins with a strong emphasis on free will. As was the case with Calvinism, there are also several variations of Arminianism. The major Armenian denominations include:
American Baptist Churches USA
The United Methodist Church
Wesleyan Churches
Pentecostal Churches
Pentecostal Holiness Church
The Christian and Missionary Alliance
The Church of God
The Churches of Christ
The Assemblies of God
The Church of the Nazarene

It should also be noted that there are some denominations where both emphases are present. Probably the most notable of these is the Southern Baptist Convention.

The Variety of Beliefs About Predestination
If we want to get at this topic, though, it is important that we at least have a basic understanding of the various possibilities. So, lets take a look at the primary teachings of each point of view.

Calvinism
Calvinism (also called the Reformed tradition, Reformed Christianity, Reformed Protestantism, or the Reformed Faith) represents a major branch of Protestantism that gets its theology primarily from John Calvin. During the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, Calvinists were one of the groups that broke from the Roman Catholic Church.

While there are several doctrines that are unique to Calvinist theology, the core concepts are based on beliefs about God’s sovereignty and the doctrines of predestination and election that emerge from Calvinist’s interpretation of those topics. The term Calvinism does create a bit of confusion as there are actually numerous traditions that fall into this category, and not all of them were derived from John Calvin himself. The reason this movement came to be known as Calvinism was because Lutherans, who opposed this belief, used Calvin’s name as their designation of that form of Protestantism. Those within the tradition tend to prefer the designation Reformed.

Five Points of Calvinism
Calvinism is best known for five points that are used to characterize its most basic beliefs. These beliefs are referred to as the doctrines of grace, and are best known using the mnemonic “TULIP.” The actual origins of the five points, and the acronym itself, is uncertain, and many scholars do not like using it as Reformed theology is more complex than this designation allows. That said, it has become the standard starting point for understanding this point of view, and the variations add and subtract from this starting point.

Total Depravity – This is the teaching that because of the Fall of man, every person is in bondage to sin and is not inclined to love God because of their sin nature. As a result, individuals are incapable of making a choice to trust God for salvation.

Unconditional Election – Unconditional election is the belief that God has chosen from eternity who will be saved and who will not; he extends mercy to those he has chosen and withholds it from those he has not chosen. Those he has chosen receive their salvation through Christ alone, and those not chosen are condemned based on their deserved condemnation because of their sins against God.

Limited Atonement – This doctrine asserts that the sins of the elect were atoned for through Jesus’s substitutionary atonement by his death on the cross. The atonement is not limited because God’s power is limited, but rather in the sense that it is intended for some (the elect) but not all of humanity.

Irresistible Grace – Irresistible grace is the belief that God’s saving grace of is specifically applied to those he has determined to save (the elect) and that he will overcome any resistance they might have to following his call to salvation. Thus, when God sovereignly determines to save someone, that person certainly will be saved no matter what – since God’s sovereignty cannot be resisted.

Perseverance of the Saints – The doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints teaches that since God is sovereign and his will cannot be resisted, those God has called to salvation will continue in faith until the end. Those who seem to be believers but later fall away were either never saved or are backslidden for a time but will eventually come back to God.

Variations of Calvinism
As was alluded to above, Calvinism is not a monolithic theological point of view. There are actually a number of variations. All of them begin with the same basic core of beliefs, but add or subtract from the TULIP model in various ways.

Amyraldism
Amyraldism was named after Moses Amyraut, the person who formulated this point of view. It is also sometimes referred to as four-point Calvinism. Amyraldism is the belief that Christ’s atonement is for all who believe, but it also acknowledges that on their own, no one would believe so God had to elect those he decided should come to faith. Thus, the effect of the atonement remains limited to those who believe and is put into effect only by the sovereign grace of God. By using this tack, Amyraunt was able insert an element of free will, but also preserved the Calvinist doctrine of Unconditional Election.

Hyper-Calvinism
Hyper-Calvinism came about in part as a reaction to Amyraldism. It is the belief that God saves the elect completely through His sovereign will, and that the use of methods for expressing the faith, such as evangelism, preaching, and prayer for the lost, are useless. Hyper-Calvinism pushes the doctrine of God’s sovereignty to an extreme in a way that downplays the love of God and the necessity of evangelism.

Neo-Calvinism
Neo-Calvinism emerged from the Dutch Reformed movement. It was a type of revival movement that was started by former Dutch prime minister and theologian Abraham Kuyper. Kuyper recognized a type of deadness in the church and wanted to awaken it from what he saw as a pietistic slumber. The primary focus of Neo-Calvinism includes:
The truth that Jesus is Lord over all of creation.

• The idea that all of life is to be redeemed.
• The mandate to cultivate and develop the creation.
• The doctrine that God’s good creation has been disrupted by the Fall and will be redeemed.
• The belief that each sphere (or sector) of life has its own distinct responsibilities and authority as designed by God.
• The doctrine that God providentially sustains the created order, restrains evil and gives good gifts to all humanity despite their fall into sin, and the eventual condemnation of all who have not been redeemed.

Christian Reconstructionism
Christian Reconstructionism is a small fundamentalist Calvinist movement founded by R. J. Rushdoony that has a particular focus on how the Christian faith interacts with society. This movement tends to lean toward a postmillennial eschatology, and is inclined toward the presuppositional apologetics of Cornelius Van Til. Christian Reconstructionists believe that biblical law is the standard by which the laws of nations should be measured, and they work to conform the nation’s laws to be as close to the teachings of the Bible as possible. This movement has particularly had an influence on the Christian Right in the United States among certain people who hold to Reformed theology, and tends to support a decentralized government that results in laissez-faire capitalism. It continues to have a certain amount of influence in small Reformed denominations, and scattered adherents can also still be found in other groups.

New Calvinism
New Calvinism is another reform movement that has emerged in modern times, particularly within conservative Evangelicalism. It embraces the fundamental beliefs of 16th century Calvinism, but puts a particular emphasis on trying to be relevant to modern society. One of the distinctives of New Calvinism is that adherents have attempted to combine the Calvinist doctrine of salvation with some of the doctrines more typically associated with Evangelical churches – particularly as it relates to church ordinances and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Armenianism
Arminianism is based on the theological ideas of Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609), a Dutch Reformed theologian, and his supporters. While Arminius’ teachings held to the five sola of the Reformation (Sola Scriptura – by Scripture alone, Sola Fide – by faith alone, Sola Gratia – by grace alone, Solus Christus – Christ alone, and Soli Deo Gloria – glory to God alone), they had a slightly different emphasis than the other major Protestant figures such as Martin Luther, Huldrych Zwingli, and John Calvin. Arminius’ supporters were known as Remonstrants, named after a theological statement signed by 45 ministers and submitted to the States General of the Netherlands in 1610.

The Remonstrance was crafted at a church council called The Synod of Dort in 1618-19 and issued the Five Articles of Remonstrance. These articles asserted that:

1. Salvation on the day of judgment is possible based on the graciously-enabled faith of man. Likewise, condemnation of the unsaved, on the day of judgment, is possible based on the graciously-enabled unbelief of man.
2. The Atonement made it possible for all men to receive God’s forgiveness for sins, but that only those who actually trust in Christ receive this forgiveness.
3. Human beings are incapable of receiving salvation in their own power, and without the power of the Holy Spirit no person is able to respond to God’s will.
4. God’s grace is necessary to accomplish every aspect of salvation for a human being, but it is possible for individuals to resist the Holy Spirit.
5. Believers are able to resist sin through God’s grace, and Christ will keep them from falling away from him. It leaves open the possibility, however, that people can intentionally walk away from salvation after receiving it, or can fall away by neglecting their relationship with God.

Many Christian denominations have been influenced by Arminian views man’s free will. Some of the more notable groups include: Baptists, Methodists, and Seventh-day Adventists.

Arminian theology can be broken into two main groups; Classical Arminianism drawn from the teaching of Jacobus Arminius, and Wesleyan Arminianism that draws primarily from John Wesley. Both groups are very similar in their theology.

Classical Arminianism
Classical Arminianism is the theological system begun by Jacobus Arminius. It serves as the foundation for all Arminian systems. It’s basic beliefs include:

1. Total Depravity: Man is incapable of knowing or following God without the assistance of God’s grace.
2. Christ’s Atonement Is Intended for All: Jesus’s death was for all humanity, and he works in the life of all people to draw them to himself. Every person has the opportunity for salvation through faith.
3. Jesus’ Death Satisfies God’s Justice: The penalty for sin is spiritual death, but that penalty is paid in full by Jesus’s work on the cross for those who believe in him. Thus, Christ’s atonement is intended for all, but individuals must personally receive it for salvation to be received.
4. Grace Is Resistible: God takes the initiative in the salvation process to draw individuals to himself, and his grace is available to all people. However, grace is not imposed on individuals in a deterministic way, but they have the ability to freely accept or refuse it.
5. Man Has a Free Will to Respond to or Resist God’s Grace: Free will is both granted and limited by God’s sovereignty. God has chosen to allow people to choose whether or not to accept the gospel.
6. Election Is Conditional: God alone determines who will be saved, and he has determined that all who believe in Jesus through faith will be saved.
7. God Predestines the Elect to a Glorious Future: In Arminianism, predestination does not predetermine who will believe. Rather, it predetermines that all who believe will spend eternity with God in heaven.
8. Christ’s Righteousness Is Imputed to the Believer: Justification is by faith alone, and when individuals repent and believe in Christ, his righteousness is imputed to them for their salvation.
9. Eternal Security Is Conditional: All believers have full assurance of salvation as long as they remain in Christ. Since, however, salvation is based on faith, so is perseverance. People may turn away from Christ after being saved through a deliberate, willful rejection of Jesus, and renunciation of saving faith.

After Arminius’ death in 1609, the Remonstrants continued to hold his view on conditional security as well as his uncertainty about people being able to “fall away” from salvation.

Wesleyan Arminianism
John Wesley has probably been the most influential advocate of Arminianism since its inception. While he agreed with most of Classical Arminian theology, he did differ somewhat on three points.

1. Atonement – Rather than merely being a means for satisfying God’s justice, Wesley saw Christ’s atonement as God’s way of forgiving humans without punishing them, while still being able to maintain divine justice.
2. Possibility of Apostasy – Wesley accepted the Arminian view that genuine Christians could decide to leave the faith and lose their salvation. However, he also believed that it was possible to fall from grace due to unconfessed sin, and that those who did fall away could still be redeemed if they turned back to Christ.
3. Christian Perfection – According to Wesley’s teaching, Christians could attain a type of practical perfection in this life, though they could not accomplish actual perfection. His concept of practical perfection did not include bodily health or an infallible judgment, but did include the ability in this life to overcome all voluntary sin by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Classical Arminianism didn’t actually contemplate this wrinkle.

Other Variations
Open Theism – Open Theism is the belief that God is omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient, but that he has not completely determined the future because individuals have yet to make their free-will decisions. People who hold this position believe God partially knows the future, as in knowing all of the possibilities that exist for each person, but that he has not determined the future so that man’s free will choices are legitimately based on a free will. Open Theists still believe that God is sovereign and that he exercises his sovereignty. He does this not by predetermining every person’s actions, but by working in cooperation with his creation to bring about his ultimate will. In Open Theism, the concept of love is key. Open Theists assert that love is not genuine unless it is freely chosen.

Corporate View of Election – Some Arminians reject the concept of individual election entirely. Rather, they believe that God never chooses to elect individuals to salvation, but elects the believing church to salvation. It is a collectivist, rather than an individual, view. People enter a relationship with God not based on an individual decision to receive Christ, but on the act of joining the church which is the elect body of Christ. Christian salvation is understood to be based on God choosing in Christ a people whom he destines to be holy and blameless in his sight. It is not unlike the ancient Jewish concept that because the Jews were the chosen people of God, they were saved. To be saved based on the Corporate View of Election, individuals must be “in Christ” through faith. Thus, whenever people are incorporated into Christ by grace through faith, they come to share in Jesus’ special status as chosen of God. However, they only get to share in the benefits of God’s gracious choice when they are members of the church community.

Molinism
Molinism is named after Luis de Molina, a 16th-century Jesuit priest. It is a theological system that attempts to reconcile the sovereignty of God and the free will of man. Molinism asserts the belief that God is both completely sovereign and that man also has a free will.

Molinists distinguish between three different “moments” of knowledge – natural knowledge, middle knowledge, and free knowledge – and they speculate about how God acts in those moments. They put a particular emphasis on middle knowledge (see below).

In defining the meaning of “knowledge,” Molinism asserts that God’s knowledge consists of three logical moments along with an explanation related to how God acts in the process. These “moments” are not understood in a chronological sense, rather, they are to be understood as “logical” moments (one moment does not come before another in time, but is logically prior to other moments).

The“Moments” of Knowledge and God’s Acts
1. Natural Knowledge – Natural Knowledge is God’s knowledge of all necessary and possible things. In this “moment” God knows every possible combination of causes and effects, all the truths of logic, and all moral truths. This knowledge is not connected with God’s will, it is just his awareness of all that exists.

2. Middle Knowledge – Middle Knowledge is God’s knowledge of what a free creature would do in any given circumstance in which it could be placed. This knowledge is also not connected with God’s will, but is his simple awareness of all of the possibilities.

3. Creative Command – Creative Command is the “moment” where God actually acts. Based on his absolute knowledge of all that exists and all of the possibilities, God is able to purposefully act and intervene in his creation.

4. Free Knowledge – Free Knowledge relates to God’s decisions about what to actually create. This is his knowledge of what actually exists and is completely dependent upon his will.

Using the concept of middle knowledge, Molinists argue that God’s knowledge is such that it allows for him to be completely sovereign, but also for man to have a legitimately free will. With this, God is absolutely in control of all that happens, yet humans are not coerced as it relates to moral choices. Thus, since God has this kind of total knowledge of all possibilities, he is able to direct his creative activity by choosing what, when, and how to create in a way that it will result in acts that operate according to his ultimate desires.

We Can Agree to Disagree
The truth is, there are many verses in the Bible that speak of the sovereignty of God. Among these are verses that actually deal with the topic of election and predestination. By the same token, there are many that speak of man’s free will. Verses about free will detail proper moral actions, and they admonish human beings to make decisions that correspond with God’s will.

But the fact also exists that there is no place in the Bible that clearly lays out a definitive explanation of the interaction of God’s sovereignty and man’s free will. As with many other topics, in order to come to some kind of conclusion, it is necessary to do a systematic study of the Bible and develop a theological stance based on the overall study. And this is what Calvinism, Arminianiam, and Molinism are attempting to do.

When it comes to deciding which approach to take, most individuals tend to side with the point of view they were raised with, or which was taught them by someone they considered worthy of believing. And when a decision is made, most people have a very strong attachment to their chosen point of view.

In evaluating this doctrine, however, we need to admit that our view concerning God’s sovereignty and man’s free will is necessarily based upon a theological construct. That is not a problem for those who see all of the possibilities and make their choice based on an honest decision-making process. Typically, however, that is not the case. Usually when individuals are taught an approach by people they respect, they tend to believe it simply because they don’t know anything else – most not even realizing that there are other legitimate possibilities.

As with our discussion regarding other non-essential biblical doctrines, this explanation is not meant, in any way, to be dismissive of any particular point of view. There are very committed believers who strongly hold to each one. Rather, it is meant to give some perspective on the various possibilities, and to encourage people to come to an understanding of “why” they decide to adopt one view or another.

In dealing with this topic, as is the case with many other non-essential biblical doctrines, many Christians use their personal beliefs as a test of fellowship with other believers. And while one’s view of God’s sovereignty and man’s free will is very important, it is not important enough to become a valid wedge that causes a break in fellowship with other brothers and sisters in Christ. As with all other non-essential theological beliefs, a person can be dead wrong about this topic and still be considered a believer. It is not a necessary component of salvation.

Christian fellowship should always be based upon the understanding that everyone who knows a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ is a spiritual brother or sister in Christ. Non-essential theological beliefs should never be a barrier to fellowship. It is a wonderful thing to study the various non-essential beliefs as fully as possible, and to practice what one believes to be the true teaching of the Bible within a fellowship of believers who hold a common belief. In the process of doing that, however, it should never become a barrier to fellowship with other believers.

© 2018 Freddy Davis