Lutherans, Arminianism and Calvinism

Christians debating the differences in Christian beliefs and denominations. Faith in Jesus is not commitment to your church or denomination. It is total faith in Christ and not in a denomination or church, though you may love the church and respect and love your leaders and your denomination. But your commitment is to Christ. As Christian believers (assuming each of us are a believer), the Holy Spirit will lead each of us to the truth. Truth is often prevented if Christianity is known as a legalistic system which cause a delusion of eternal life.

Heresy is not so much rejecting as selecting. The heretic simply selects the parts of the Scripture he or she wants to emphasize and ignore the rest. Almost every cult which we are seeing around us practices this art of selecting and ignoring. Proneness to heresy is not confined to the cults. By nature, we are all heretics. People often unconsciously select for special attention certain Scriptures that they are familiar with that they forget to check to see the Scriptures for deeper study. Lack of balance scripturally is often the direct consequence of overemphasis on certain favorite passages while ignoring others that are related.

We must hold on to the knowledge that all of us are heretics by nature and can never know redeeming truth till we are enlightened and convicted by the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures. The idea that Jesus Christ has absolute and final authority over all of us in every detail of our lives is simply regardless of legalistic control by some evangelical Christians. Martin Lloyd-Jones, one of my favorite theologians said: "It is perilously close to being sinful for any person to learn doctrine for doctrine's sake."

It is no use to deny that Christ was crucified by persons who would today be called fundamentalists. This prove distressing to us who pride ourselves on our orthodoxy. God sovereignly decreed that man should be free to exercise choice that man's will is free because God is sovereign. The love of Jesus is so inclusive that love knows no boundaries. We may be disgusted with their beliefs or their lifestyles. We are often ready to condemn and turn away from them. But not Jesus, He keeps on loving them. During all of 3 years of His ministry, Jesus helped an "unworthy" person more than worthy. The great spiritual needs around us should drive us back to the gospel records of the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus. The best thing we know about our Lord and Savior is that He loves all sinners. He has always love the outcast and for that we should be glad, for we, too, were once outcasts. Calvinism is a doctrine of how we believe salvation work according to God's sovereign and the work of the Holy Spirit. Calvinism is a doctrine (not actual salvation). Only God through the Holy Spirit that saves the elect. We don't know who are elected to be saved. We just preach the Gospel to ALL and allow God handle the election part. Jesus loves everyone and did die for ALL but we have to remember that the atonement is only for the elected, those who are convicted by the Holy Spirit to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Lutheranism was all about reforming the Roman Catholic church. Luther and the reformers wanted to correct what they thought was incorrect doctrine but preserve everything else. Calvinism and the other reformers have been referred as if they want to get rid of everything catholic, whether it was good or not.

Of the three major doctrine of salvations beliefs, Lutherans, Arminianism and Calvinism.

In Arminianism and John Wesley:
1) man is free not only to reject salvation but also to accept it (free salvation) by an act of human will;
2) all people who are obedient to the Gospel according to the measure of knowledge given them will be saved (universal salvation);
3) the Holy Spirit assures man of his salvation directly, through an inner "experience" (sure salvation);
4) Christians in this life are capable of Christian perfection and are commanded by God to pursue it (full salvation).

Calvinism has summarized its position in the famous acronym TULIP, and this serves as a useful way to approach the issue (being logical Calvinism is, if nothing else, easy to follow):

T: "total depravity"
Calvinism: Man after the Fall has no ability to cooperate with God's grace in conversion

Lutheranism: Agrees with Calvinism on total depravity

Arminianism: Man after the Fall can cooperate with God’s grace in conversion

U: "unconditional election"
Calvinism: Before the world was created, God unconditionally elected some (the elect) for salvation and the others (reprobates) for damnation.

Lutheranism: Before the world was created, God unconditionally elected some (the elect) for salvation but did not reprobate (chose for damnation) any.

Arminianism: Before the world was created, God foresaw those who would choose Him of their own free will and elected them to salvation

L: "limited atonement"
Calvinism: Jesus only died for the elect, objectively atoning for their sin, but he did not die for the sins of the reprobates. Reformed churches have historically taught a "limited atonement" of Christ, i.e., that Christ's death on the cross atoned only for the sins of "the elect"--those who have been predestined from eternity to believe in Christ and will spend eternity with Him in heaven.

Lutheranism: Christ’s death objectively atoned for all the sin of the world; by believing we receive this objective atonement and its benefits. Lutherans believe that when Jesus died on the cross He atoned for the sins of all people of all time--even those who have not or will not come to faith in Christ.

Arminianism: Christ died to give all the possibility to be saved.

I: "irresistable grace"
Calvinism: In all of God's outward actions (preaching, baptism, etc.) there is an outward call which all receive, yet there is also a secret effectual calling which God gives to the elect alone. This effectual calling alone saves and is irresistable.

Lutheranism: The question is not answerable; for the elect grace will irresistably triumph, yet those who reject Christ have rejected that Grace; yet the grace is the same.

Arminianism: God gives in His outward actions the same grace to all; this grace can be resisted by all.

P: "perseverance of the saints" (sort of like "once saved, always saved.")
Calvinism: Salvation cannot be lost. Those who have truly put their faith in Christ may temporarily lose the evidence of their faith and even live for a time in grave and unrepentant sin, without losing their salvation.

Lutheranism: Salvation can be lost through mortal sin and unbelief, but this legal warning does not cancel the Gospel promise of election

Arminianism: Salvation can be lost through unrepentant sin and unbelief.

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