“Keep the main thing, the main thing.” – Michael Branch
Jesus is our foundation. “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor 3:11). As Christians, we should take our essential doctrine from Him. He taught us that all scripture should relate to TWO CORE PRINCIPLES “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets”. Essentially, love God and love others. This is the Jesus taught hermeneutic. It might surprise some that the two core principles are not “total depravity” and “unconditional election” or that they are not “whosoever will” and “humble yourself”. No, Jesus says we are to view all of scripture with particular attention to its ability to help us love.
We should not put on any other “lens” to view the bible. We should not try to understand the scriptures through a man’s intellectual construct, whether that be Arminius or Calvin. I am not saying either is right or wrong. I am saying that Jesus has taught us a better way. His way. He wants us to be one and that is accomplished through seeking Him, understanding Him, and knowing Him.
Let’s take an example that so many find hard to reconcile. Roman 8:29-30 teaches that God foreknew us, that our sanctification is predestined, and that our justification is accomplished by Him, and that our glorification is also accomplished by him. We also are told that whosoever believes will not perish (John 3:16) and that if we humble ourselves we will be saved (Mt 23:12). How do we reconcile these passages? By understanding that they are not about predestination or free will. They are about Jesus and how to love God and how to love others. It is not loving to tell a lost person that they may be one of the elect, only God knows. Nor is it loving to tell God, “Look, I picked you to run my life, now do a good job.” We are told to love the lost and call them to repentance. That we should share the good news of Jesus Christ and make disciples (Mark 16:15).
How this is accomplished might be a good conversation to have during afternoon tea with other believers but to focus on it argue about it and make it a central point of your doctrine or life is completely missing the point.
Instead of focusing on that word predestine or on that word whosoever, our focus should be on Christ in both passages. He is there in both and the thing he has done is not contradictory to itself. If we need to bend our own personal understanding of the word predestinate or our understanding of whosoever believes then we should do so because of a greater understanding of Jesus Christ and how he is leading us to love God and others more and better.
The bottom line
The bottom line is that both views are really empty and void. We do not preach Calvinism to the lost. I do not know a single good reformed preacher that actually shares the TULIP while witnessing to a lost person. In that moment he is Arminian believing in the power of the word to save. And likewise, no good Arminian worth his salt relies on the doctrines of free will while evangelizing a revival service. No, he prays for God to move, for the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of the lost. In that moment he is a Calvinist. In everyday evangelism and in ministering to each other neither doctrinal position should affect our witness. We should be following the bible’s directive to share the gospel as though the person you are talking to can be saved, and can come to a saving knowledge of Christ! Likewise, you should be praying for God to save as all salvation is from God, and depending on the Holy Spirit not your own words or powers of persuasion. In application of bringing people to God, doctrines of grace and free will are a distraction at best and possibly a hindrance.
Mixing my metaphors
When the Jailor of Acts 16 called for a light he asked the question of Paul (the writer of Romans 9) “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” Paul did not question his motives for asking, or respond that “you could do nothing, my son, it is God’s hands”. Paul without hesitation pointed to Jesus! Just as we should do: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Paul trusted God to work out the details of the ordo salutis.
While reformed theologians study ways to accuse the Arminians of Pelagianism and the Arminian scholars are working hard to put gnostic roundup on the TULIP neither is sharing the gospel and the fox is in the hen house! What should be an interesting civil discussion over coffee in your local White Horse Inn between two brothers in Christ has turned into formal debates, book tours, social media careers, and denominational splits. Let us return to the main thing: Jesus Christ and his good news of salvation for the world.
“Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” (Philippians 2:1-3)
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:17)
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