Grace For All: The Arminian Dynamics of Salvation (Book Review)

John D. Wagner has produced  an updated and expanded version of "Grace Unlimited", originally edited by the late Clark H. Pinnock.  This updated version is called "Grace For All: The Arminian Dynamics of Salvation."  This newer version contains several new essays along with some changes and heavy editing of  a few essays that appeared in …

J.C. Wegner on Apostasy: An Important Warning

You can find the article at SEA here. Here is an excerpt that addresses a common complaint about the idea that a true believer can become an apostate.  I think it is something most of us can relate to as many of us have, at some point, begun down that road to varying degrees.  It …

Muppet Calvinism

A puppet representing Calvinist thought seems about right to me... Better than TULIP?

The F.A.C.T.S. of Salvation vs. The T.U.L.I.P. of Calvinism

While Calvinists like to play with flowers (or MUPPETS?), Arminians prefer to deal with the FACTS.  For an excellent and detailed summary of what Arminians believe and why, be sure to check out The FACTS of Salvation: A summary of Arminian Theology/the Biblical Doctrines of Grace!! I just wanted to share some brief notes about …

Is Philippians 1:6 A Good Proof Text For Eternal Security?

Matt O'Reilly takes a corporate view of the passage and concludes that Paul did not intend to teach individual eternal security in Philippians 1:6 The Question of Perseverance in Philippians 1:6 For a post I wrote a while back that takes a slightly different approach, but also concludes that Philippians 1:6 fails as  proof text …

A Telling and Ironic Tweet by John Piper on “Waking up in the Morning” as a Believer

Calvinist John Piper recently gave the following Tweet:  I fall asleep quietly confident that I will be a believer in the morning not because of my free will but God's free grace.  This is an obvious attack on Arminianism and those that reject Piper's Calvinistic presuppositions, though it is misplaced.  While Arminians do believe that our …

An Important Admission on Salvation Assurance from Prominent Calvinist C. Michael Patton

Excerpt: It may surprise you to know that just about every contact I have had with people who are doubting their salvation are Calvinistic in their theology. In other words, they believe in unconditional election. These are the ones who believe in perseverance of the saints. These are the ones that believe that we cannot …

Does Believing Apostasy is Possible Lead to Insecurity, Lack of Assurance, and Anxiety?

Not if it is understood properly (Biblically).  Here are some short comments from a discussion on the topic: Visitor's Question: Why should someone who has no more condemnation fear [falling away] on a regular basis? It makes no sense to me… Answer: Such a fear is a healthy concern so that such a person will …

Corporate Election Quotes

The following is a series of important excerpts from some of the best scholarly works espousing the corporate view of election.  Taken together, these quoted sections give a very detailed description of the fundamental elements of the corporate election view, answering many common questions related to the view as well as addressing and correcting common …

Does Paul Teach Unconditional Eternal Security in Philippians 1:6?

Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it in the day of Christ Jesus. Does this verse then teach that one who begins in saving faith will inevitably continue in that faith until the "day of Christ Jesus?"  The advocates of …

Does Jesus Teach Unconditional Eternal Security in John 6:37-65?

John 6:37, 44, 65 All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out...No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day...And He was saying, ‘For this …

Does Paul Teach That the Gift of Salvation is Unconditionally Irrevocable in Romans 11:29?

Romans 6:23; 11:29 For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord….For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Many see here a strong assertion of unconditional eternal security based on the fact that “the gifts and calling of God are …

Does “Eternal Life” in Passages like John 3:16 Imply That Apostasy is Impossible?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Some emphasize the fact that eternal life is eternal. It is claimed that if we could forfeit salvation, eternal life would then cease to be eternal. This …

Does 1 John 2:18-19 Support the Calvinist “Never Saved to Begin With” View of Apostasy?

1 John 2:18-19 Little children, it is the last hour and as you have heard that the Anti-Christ is coming, even now many anti-christs have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they …

Does Paul Teach Unconditional Eternal Security in Romans 8:35-39?

Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written: ‘For you sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'  No, in all these things we are more than …

Does Jesus Teach Unconditional Eternal Security in John 10:27-29?

Having examined the primary passages that teach apostasy we now examine the passages that the advocates of unconditional eternal security believe clearly support their doctrine: John 10:27-29 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them …