Arminianism: Calvinism's BIGGEST Competitor! | The Jimmy Akin Podcast

In this episode, Jimmy looks at Arminianism—the major rival to Calvinism when it comes to topics like grace, predestination, and free will in Protestant circles. There are actually more Arminians than there are Calvinists, but they aren’t as noisy. They object to Calvinism’s doctrines of Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, and Perseverance of the Saints. So what do they believe instead? And does their theology agree with Catholic teaching? Listen to this episode and find out!

[jtig]

Thanks Jimmy

I grew up in the Church of the Nazarene, which has. Wesleyan-Arminian Theology. Thanks to apologist like you, Joe Heschmeyer, and Trent Horn, I will be entering into the fullness of the Catholic Faith this coming spring

-God Bless

[jdmerrick]

As a former Methodist considering becoming Catholic, Arminianism is almost second nature to how I view God, and I struggled very much to figure out whether the first article, conditional election, was within the bounds of Catholic soteriology. I greatly appreciate your making this video that answers this question so clearly.

[borisvolbeda]

As an infant I was baptized a Calvinist, which the Catholic Church accepted when I was confirmed in 1992 (could be another video). As a teenager I started thinking about not being one of the elect. This was very disturbing to my soul. When I learned what the Catholic Church taught it was a relief to, as Scott Hahn suggests, come home. Thanks Jimmy for the reminder. "Praise the LORD, for he is good; for his mercy endures forever" Psalm 136:1

[darlameeks]

Thanks, Jimmy! I became a Catholic last year, partially because Catholicism does not conflict with my nearly life-long Arminian view of grace and salvation. I started my faith journey in the Baptist tradition at age 11, but had already started reading Scripture before that (as soon as I could read...that big, mysterious book just fascinated me, that's all). As I read Scripture for myself, I had to compare it with Baptist teachings. I recall being taught "once saved, always saved", and that it immediately didn't sit right with me. I later went to college, first at Centre College of Kentucky, and then I transferred to what is now Asbury University my sophomore year. It was Asbury College in those days. You may have heard of the great revival that occurred at Asbury last year, a move of the Holy Spirit that stirred the souls of many Catholics. The denominational make-up of Asbury's student body is still largely Methodist, or associated with Methodism (Wesleyans, Nazarites, and the Salvation Army, uniforms and all). At any rate, Asbury is theologically Arminian, and that is where I learned the difference between Catholic and Arminian thought in a formal way. I appreciate your comparison of Arminianism and Catholicism here. While we can never earn our salvation, there is nonetheless an undeniable relationship between saving faith and good works. As it is written, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life." (Eph. 2:8-10). We also access the promises of God through faith, and I rely heavily on Phil 1:6-7 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ", and Phil. 2:13 "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." If we depend on Him in faith, never doubting, He will always see us to heaven.

[heroiclives]

I am Catholic now, but as a child I was raised in the Holiness / Arminianism tradition (Church of God, Anderson IN). Great video

[Brennandh]

I too, was an Arminian prior to my conversion to Catholicism. Thanks for this review!

[trad-lite]

So happy and thankful I converted from atheism and not a protestant sect. Coming into the Church with a clean slate for understanding theology without having to re-learn how to understand theology and scripture was a blessing.

[Jon-LJsm]

Fantastic! Thanks very much! May God richly bless you and yours.

[Adam-ihd]

@Jimmy Akin. Thank you. God bless you.

[bktawiah]

Great content! Many protestants will be surprised to see how close they are to the Catholic faith!

[MarkABE]

The biggest competitor to Calvinism is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

[slm-mmi]

The effort to correctly represent all the positions in the video is very appreciated.
In my opinion, I think that as Westerners we have the intellectual "need" to build systematic theologies.
Honestly, my impression is that the first Christians did not have this concern to build an exhaustive theological system that was logically coherent in all its parts.
In the New Testament there is not that very Western concern to systematize in a theology that organizes and hierarchizes all the truths (which does not mean that they were incoherent). Christ is the center and from him, naturally, everything else radiates.
I think that in the New Testament there is a certain doctrinal tension in some points that are not resolved and it does not seem that this mattered much to the first Christians.
I think that it is important to be aware that our "need" to systematize is something cultural, not necessarily shared in the New Testament, where the concrete, the practical application, the illustration taken from daily life prevail, and not the abstract thought so characteristic of our Western thought.

[audreymarsh]

Another very interesting episode. Thank you.

[Bob.W.]

Liked your show on Pilate. This too. Thx.

[evancawley]

Very good video Jimmy. Very clear and instructive.

[timboslice]

I was raised methodist but strongly considered calvinism in whatever available form but there just wasnt a presby church anywhere near me. I would have arguments with my pastor cousin about it, he would say brother if you go to calvinism, youd be following a man. John Calvin. I said but we already follow Jacob Arminius, he said who? I said yeah the guy that came up with our current theology. He said well why arent we called arminians? I said we are by everyone that isnt arminian lol. Wesleyan’s and methodists follow John Wesley who followed Arminius. Looking back…. Its obvious tbat it was only a matter of time before i became catholic.

[robertb]

This was clear and very helpful, thanks.

[annakimborahpa]

Arminianism: Calvinism's BIGGEST Competitor! | The Jimmy Akin Podcast

Jimmy at 6:58 - 7:19: "According to the first Catholic school of thought, God predestined certain people to go to heaven before He looks at their lives and sees if they do things like believe in Jesus and cooperate with God's grace. This is equivalent to Unconditional Election and this view is held by St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, by the Thomists and by some of the older Molinists."

I OBJECT:

1. The Works of St. Augustine, Sermon 169, P. 231:

"But God made you without you. You didn't, after all, give any consent to God making you. How were you to consent, if you didn't yet exist? SO WHILE HE MADE YOU WITHOUT YOU, HE DOESN'T JUSTIFY YOU WITHOUT YOU. SO HE MADE YOU WITHOUT YOUR KNOWING IT, HE JUSTIFIES YOU WITH YOUR WILLING CONSENT TO IT. YET IT'S HE THAT DOES THE JUSTIFYING (in case you should think it's your justice, and go back to the dead losses, the wastage and the muck), for you to be found in Him not having your own justice, which is from the law, but THE JUSTICE THROUGH THE FAITH OF CHRIST, WHICH IS FROM GOD; JUSTICE FROM FAITH, TO KNOW HIM AND THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION, AND A SHARE IN HIS SUFFERINGS (Phil 3:9-10). And that will be your power, your strength; a share in Christ's sufferings will be your strength."

[Wesley Scholar Com webpage pdf 239 of 388]
*Notice the Arminian connection by way of John Wesley to Augustine's Sermon 139

2. St. Thomas Aquinas, Question 49. The Cause of Evil, Article 2. Whether the supreme good, God, is the cause of evil?

Objection 3. Further, as is said by the Philosopher (Phys. ii, text 30), the cause of both safety and danger of the ship is the same. But God is the cause of the safety of all things. Therefore He is the cause of all perdition and of all evil.

On the contrary, Augustine says (QQ. 83, qu. 21), that, "God is not the author of evil because He is not the cause of tending to not-being."

I answer that, As appears from what was said (Article 1), the evil which consists in the defect of action is always caused by the defect of the agent. But in God there is no defect, but the highest perfection, as was shown above (I:4:1). Hence, the evil which consists in defect of action, or which is caused by defect of the agent, is not reduced to God as to its cause.

Reply to Objection 3. The sinking of a ship is attributed to the sailor as the cause, from the fact that he does not fulfil what the safety of the ship requires; BUT GOD DOES NOT FAIL IN DOING WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR THE SAFETY OF ALL. Hence there is no parity.
[new advent org /summa/1049.htm#article2]

3. So Augustine's and Aquinas' understanding of predestination appears compatible with the Arminian doctrine of conditional election, but incompatible with the unconditional election of John Calvin in the Institutes of the Christian Religion:

A. Book III, Chapter 21, No. 5:

"By predestination we mean the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. ALL ARE NOT CREATED ON EQUAL TERMS, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestinated to life or to death."
[Beveridge translation, P. 568, ntslibrary website, Institutes of the Christian Religion, pdf page 576 of 944]

B. Book III, Chapter 21, No. 7:

"We say, then, that Scripture clearly proves this much, that GOD by his eternal and immutable counsel DETERMINED once for all those whom it was his PLEASURE one day to admit to salvation, and those whom, on the other hand, it was his PLEASURE to doom to destruction."
[Ibid, P. 571; pdf page 579 of 944]

4. Ezekiel 18:23, 32 (KJV):
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? ... For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.

5. And if the King James Bible was good enough for the prophet Ezekiel ...

[Adam-ueig]

In 1581 The controversy between the Dominicans and Jesuits over grace, also known as the controversy de auxiliis, was a theological debate that took place in the 16th and 17th centuries. The debate centered on the relationship between divine grace and human free will, and how God could move the human will without compromising free choice. The controversy was rooted in the teachings of St. Augustine, who never resolved the tension between God's help and human free will.
The main points of the debate were:
Theories: The Dominicans favored Bannezianism, while the Jesuits favored Molinism.
The dispute: The main question was how to reconcile the efficacy of grace with human freedom.
The outcome: In 1607, Pope Paul V prohibited further publishing on the issue without his permission, and decreed that neither side was heretical. In 1733, Pope Clement XII issued a papal bull that allowed both sides to hold their views without condemning the other. It took 52 years for Catholicism to resolve the issue that is largely comparable to the Calvinist/Arminian debate. I guess one could argue it's better or smarter to just agree to disagree but in fairness it's not like Protestant Calvinists are condemning Arminians and vice versa (both sides recognize each other as brothers).

[Digganob]

"Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

What do Calvinists have to say about verses like this? Do they think Christ was only referring to the specific people in the crowd crucifying Him who would later believe in Him? Silly fellows. I'm glad most protestants have some common sense.