What Calvinists and Arminians DO have in common

Shulamite · Feb 23, 2013

Even in "earthly" families, there can be disagreement, but they ARE family.

I wanted to start this thread primarily to focus on the areas Calvinists and Arminians DO agree and have this particular thread be a place where we can get to fellowship with one another in areas we see eye-to-eye. So I guess you could call this a place where "Guests" to this forum can see that even if we, as a family disagree on certain things, as any family can do, we are family, brothers and sisters in Christ.

1.) Jesus is the ONLY Name given men under heaven by which we MUST be saved. We both agree, right? (many in the world deny this saying there are many ways)

2.) Our very body is the Temple of the Living God. We both agree, right?
What a marvelous truth of intimacy we have with Him in the secret place.

3.) Jesus is the Head and Bridegroom of the Church, His bride, we both agree, right? (I pray the Lord shows more people this wonderful relationship.)

4.) I have shared the gospel side by side with Arminians when it comes to witnessing to a Mormon, Atheist or Jehova's Witness that Jesus is the only way and is not merely a "good man" or "prophet", but GOD HIMSELF.

5.) We both agree that Jesus IS God Himself, in the flesh. "God manifest in the flesh"

6.) We admit that we "see in part, prophesy in part as looking through a dark glass." Paul himself, said, "He had not yet arrived."

Most importantly, I did not start this thread to apologize for my Calvinist beliefs. I won't. I believe God drew me to see the Doctrines of Grace, but I started this thread, hoping that there would be a place we could come and edify one another on the things we DO agree on and guests who come can see that we are family in Christ, even if we disagree on Election and Free will.

God will reveal things to each of us in His time and in His Way.

Blessings.

p.s... feel free to ADD to the list up above that I started.

ChristianT · Feb 23, 2013

The validity of the salvation of "the other side" is equal to ours.

gmm4j · Feb 23, 2013

Great idea. Great post. I agree with all of your points. Jesus is Savior and Lord! Born of a virgin, died, buried, and rose on the third day, now sitting at the right hand of the Father and will return for His own!

Blessings!

Shulamite · Feb 23, 2013

gmm4j said:
Great idea. Great post. I agree with all of your points. Jesus is Savior and Lord! Born of a virgin, died, buried, and rose on the third day, now sitting at the right hand of the Father and will return for His own!

Blessings!

Amen!

Im glad you may enjoy this thread. I was working this morning and the Lord put this idea in my heart to start this thread! A sort of "neutral zone" so to speak!

Blessings to you too

JackSparrow · Feb 23, 2013

I don't know if all Calvinists hold to the following or all Arminians.
But I am sure many, if not most, on each side do. ( Hi-lights mine ).

Copied from
Lesson 4 â€“ The Decrees of God

"Ultimately we cannot truly solve the problem of sin’s permission since God has not revealed the details explaining what he says he has done. There is no question concerning the fact of its permission since that is directly revealed. The problem we face has to do with God’s employment of the evil deeds of creatures as a part of his certain plan. Even the Arminian concedes that God foreknows all things, including the advent of sin and its consequences. A.A. Hodge explains, “He (the Arminian) is unable as the Calvinist is to explain why God, notwithstanding that certain knowledge, did not change those conditions.”

( Anyone disagree then I suggest start another thread )

Hammster · Feb 23, 2013

I've always said that this is an in house debate amongst the brethren. Both sides do agree that faith in Christ is necessary for salvation.

Skala · Feb 23, 2013

We both agree that faith in Christ is how a man is saved

Where we differ is why any at all believe

rogueapologist · Feb 23, 2013

Shulamite said:
Even in "earthly" families, there can be disagreement, but they ARE family.

I wanted to start this thread primarily to focus on the areas Calvinists and Arminians DO agree and have this particular thread be a place where we can get to fellowship with one another in areas we see eye-to-eye. So I guess you could call this a place where "Guests" to this forum can see that even if we, as a family disagree on certain things, as any family can do, we are family, brothers and sisters in Christ.

1.) Jesus is the ONLY Name given men under heaven by which we MUST be saved. We both agree, right? (many in the world deny this saying there are many ways)

2.) Our very body is the Temple of the Living God. We both agree, right?
What a marvelous truth of intimacy we have with Him in the secret place.

3.) Jesus is the Head and Bridegroom of the Church, His bride, we both agree, right? (I pray the Lord shows more people this wonderful relationship.)

4.) I have shared the gospel side by side with Arminians when it comes to witnessing to a Mormon, Atheist or Jehova's Witness that Jesus is the only way and is not merely a "good man" or "prophet", but GOD HIMSELF.

5.) We both agree that Jesus IS God Himself, in the flesh. "God manifest in the flesh"

6.) We admit that we "see in part, prophesy in part as looking through a dark glass." Paul himself, said, "He had not yet arrived."

8.) Calvinists and Arminians both have a thoroughly inadequate conception of atonement

Hammster · Feb 23, 2013

rogueapologist said:
8.) Calvinists and Arminians both have a thoroughly inadequate conception of atonement

You can start another thread to discuss.

Ignatius21 · Feb 23, 2013

rogueapologist said:
8.) Calvinists and Arminians both have a thoroughly inadequate conception of atonement

Actually I do hope you start another thread to discuss. The fact that the nature of the atonement is never at issue among Arminians and Calvinists, but rather only its extent, is pretty significant.

I won't stir up the pot by saying they share a thoroughly inadequate concept of atonement, but I will say they share a thoroughly Latin concept of the atonement...essentially "Anselmian" satisfaction undergirded by an "Augustinian" understanding of the very essence of God and the Trinity.

But they do share a common Latin heritage, and while both grew from the seed that split off from Rome, both still maintained an essentially Roman understanding of sin, guilt, grace, punishment and merit. So when you zoom out and compare the two, I believe Arminianism and Calvinism are far more similar than they are different. Actually, the fights over TULIP are almost trivial compared to what is shared. It's like standing on two different hills while sharing the same Earth.

For instance they are far closer to each other than they are to Rome, and they are far closer to Rome than either is to Orthodoxy.

msortwell · Feb 23, 2013

Calvinists & Arminians also agree that a man WILL CERTAINLY NOT accept the gospel as truth absent of moving of the Spirit of God upon the man.

Calvinists & Arminians also agree that the Christian's life will most certainly (i.e., it MUST) bare evidence of their new birth. That is good work must certainly follow their conversion. Please note that this is NECESSARILY true ONLY IF both the Calvinists and Arminians under consideration are "five pointers" within their respective camps.

gmm4j · Feb 23, 2013

msortwell said:
Calvinists & Arminians also agree that a man WILL CERTAINLY NOT accept the gospel as truth absent of moving of the Spirit of God upon the man.

Calvinists & Arminians also agree that the Christian's life will most certainly (i.e., it MUST) bare evidence of their new birth. That is good work must certainly follow their conversion. Please note that this is NECESSARILY true ONLY IF both the Calvinists and Arminians under consideration are "five pointers" within their respective camps.

True, true. Good stuff!

Skala · Feb 24, 2013

Ignatius21 said:
For instance they are far closer to each other than they are to Rome, and they are far closer to Rome than either is to Orthodoxy.

The question is not "How close to Orthodoxy" are they, but "How close to the Bible" are they?

Ignatius21 · Feb 24, 2013

Skala said:
The question is not "How close to Orthodoxy" are they, but "How close to the Bible" are they?

Actually, the question was "What DO Calvinists and Arminians have in common." I was attempting to show that the similarities run far deeper thant the surface issues that have been brought up so far. And the plan fact is that, on the spectrum of Christian belief, the two lie so close together that they are practically indistiguishable.

Since you brought it up, we can add "16th Century presuppositions about canon, hermeneutics, authority and the essence of the Church" to the list of similarities. Or "Presuppositions that arose out of necessity following the rejection of the Roman Catholic Church."

Here is clearly not the place to flesh out your statement above. But it is so laden with presuppositions as to be meaningless without an awful lot of digging. Makes a good slogan though.

Skala · Feb 24, 2013

Ignatius21 said:
Actually, the question was "What DO Calvinists and Arminians have in common." I was attempting to show that the similarities run far deeper thant the surface issues that have been brought up so far. And the plan fact is that, on the spectrum of Christian belief, the two lie so close together that they are practically indistiguishable.

Since you brought it up, we can add "16th Century presuppositions about canon, hermeneutics, authority and the essence of the Church" to the list of similarities. Or "Presuppositions that arose out of necessity following the rejection of the Roman Catholic Church."

Here is clearly not the place to flesh out your statement above. But it is so laden with presuppositions as to be meaningless without an awful lot of digging. Makes a good slogan though.

It depends on your spectrum.

I see a spectrum with only 2 parts: synergism and monergism.

Every Christian religion falls into one of those two categories. The two are lightyears apart.

If Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism are synergistic, that means both of them are closer to Arminanism than Calvinism is to any of them.

bling · Feb 24, 2013

JackSparrow said:
I don't know if all Calvinists hold to the following or all Arminians.
But I am sure many, if not most, on each side do. ( Hi-lights mine ).

Copied from
Lesson 4 â The Decrees of God

"Ultimately we cannot truly solve the problem of sins permission since God has not revealed the details explaining what he says he has done. There is no question concerning the fact of its permission since that is directly revealed. The problem we face has to do with Gods employment of the evil deeds of creatures as a part of his certain plan. Even the Arminian concedes that God foreknows all things, including the advent of sin and its consequences. A.A. Hodge explains, He (the Arminian) is unable as the Calvinist is to explain why God, notwithstanding that certain knowledge, did not change those conditions.

( Anyone disagree then I suggest start another thread )

Sorry I do not have a problem understanding that.

JackSparrow · Feb 25, 2013

Both side believe in Saved by Grace.

God's Riches At Christ's Expense.

WisdomTree · Feb 25, 2013

If Wikipedia is to be believed, both Arminian and Calvinist (as well as Lutheran) theology on justification is that salvation is an event rather than a process.

Keachian · Feb 25, 2013

I would say that historically we have agreed on a lot of things outside of Soteriology.

Keachian · Feb 25, 2013

WisdomTree said:
If Wikipedia is to be believed, both Arminian and Calvinist (as well as Lutheran) theology on justification is that salvation is an event rather than a process.

Well that's what I see the Scriptures describing, especially with the use of ἐφάπαξ by the writer of Hebrews in regard to the atoning work of Christ which is the basis of our justification. Normally protestants in general will make a distinction between Justification and Sanctification, Justification being the one time event and Sanctification being the process by which we become more Christ like.

What Calvinists and Arminians DO have in common

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