Questions about Arminianism

[Phat8594]

Yes, but it's also a necessary consequent of God's grace and thus properly is not an object of merit.

I don't quite understand how the necessarity of faith somehow takes away the "merit" claim. After all, Adam necessarily sinned did he not? And men will necessarily sin as a result of God's active decree (I am assuming a Calvinist POV for the sake of argument here)....but those facts do not change the idea that man "merits" punishment, do they not?

Rather, I think when one looks at what faith is, we understand that by its very nature it does not merit anything....and it cannot, because it in essence is the abandoning of one's own merits, and clinging to the merits of another (Christ).

[Rdr. Arsenios]

I think that it is Faith that needs to be looked at... And this because it is being seen and used in this discussion in two very different ways that slip back and forth, and indeed I suspect are being confused, for they are not the same...

First is one's personal faith in anything - That means whatever one happens to believe in... It refers to one's usually deeply held personal beliefs... They can be about the earth, the seasons, the Greek gods and goddesses, the Bible, Christ, or anything else... This is the faith of a person, one's personal faith...

Second is the Faith of Christ, which is the Christian Faith, and it is this Faith that was given once for all to the Apostles; it is the Apostolic Faith of Christ, and is the saving Faith which Christ commanded the Apostles that they disciple in "all the nations, teaching then all that I have commanded you to be observing, and baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit..." And this by the preaching of the Gospel: "Repent and be baptized, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand! Christ died on the Cross for your sins, and overcame death by His Death and was resurrected the third day..."

The faith of Christ is acquired by being discipled in it by its Apostolic witness, and by being baptized into Christ, even into His Death, and in this one acquires across time maturity in Christ and the Faith... This acquisition of the Faith of Christ is a GREAT WORK... A labor of love... It is one thing to personally believe Christ died for your sins, and quite another to FOLLOW CHRIST and take up one's own cross and die daily to one's own sins and even for the sins of others [which the mature in Christ indeed do...].

This is why Christ told his disciples that he had much to teach them, but they were too weak to learn, until Pentacost, in which they acquired the Power of the Holy Spirit that they COULD learn... THAT learning, you see, is the acquisition of the repentance of the hard and straited gate, which leads to eternal Life, and which few find... THAT is the Faith of Christ, and it is Faith in DEEDS of Faith... Their instruction was to cloister themselves in prayer until the Holy Spirit come, which they did...

So that the Faith of Christ is one which we acquire in labors and prayers because this is the commandment of Christ... We do not thereby EARN the Holy Spirit which in those labors and prayers we ATTAIN... But without them, we do not attain what we cannot earn...

Arsenios

[RBerman]

I don't quite understand how the necessarity of faith somehow takes away the "merit" claim. After all, Adam necessarily sinned did he not? And men will necessarily sin as a result of God's active decree (I am assuming a Calvinist POV for the sake of argument here)....but those facts do not change the idea that man "merits" punishment, do they not? Rather, I think when one looks at what faith is, we understand that by its very nature it does not merit anything....and it cannot, because it in essence is the abandoning of one's own merits, and clinging to the merits of another (Christ).

I do see some "merit" in your argument!

[themuzicman]

I have some questions about Arminianism that I have been wondering about. Does Arminianism teach that salvation is accomplished by God alone and that the sinner contributes nothing to his justification?

Yes. All of the accomplishments are God's. Even our response to God's drawing is His accomplishment, as He sought it.

Does Arminianism teach that our faith and repentance are not the basis upon which we are justified?

In part. Justification come to all men (Rom 5:18) because of the one act of Christ. We receive justification when we respond to God in faith and repentance. (Rom 3:25)