Jacob Arminius: Theologian of Grace - Keith D Stanglin and Thomas H McCall

By: Bob Bartindale

Arminius is probably one of the most influential thinkers you’ve never heard of. His insights, controversial at the time of his life, became a motivation for renewal of the church, and were a major influence on the Wesley brothers, the founders of Methodism.

Arminius was born around 1559 in Holland. At that time, the Spanish Empire were fighting to keep control of Holland and Arminius’ childhood was traumatic, including losing his entire family in a Spanish attack on his home town. Nevertheless, he completed university and eventually became a pastor, preacher and university scholar. As peace came with independence, Holland became a centre of the Reformed Church which took inspiration from Jean Calvin’s teachings in Geneva.   

The church was still working out what Calvin’s teaching meant in the lives of Christians and the mission of the church. Calvin’s emphasis had been on rediscovering the true nature of God, which had (he believed) become obscured behind the rituals, politics and corruption of the established Church. He took the Bible seriously and wanted all believers to read it and apply its teaching for themselves.

The view had developed in the Reformed churches that people were either specifically chosen to be saved (the elect) or were damned to eternal punishment. This was based on texts like Ephesians 1:11, which seemed to imply that people had no choice whether they were saved or not - God was in charge and had already made the decision for you. This view (predestination) became dominant in the Reformed Churches, although Calvin himself had very little to say on the matter.

Arminius dared to challenge this. He strongly believed that God is inherently good and that it was inconceivable that God would seek to deliberately harm his creation, for instance by condemning people to eternal punishment. This would effectively mean that God was responsible for sin, and for forcing people to commit sin. Arminius believed that God gives people the freedom to make genuine choices, and therefore to enter the kind of relationship God desires to have with his creation.  

Arminius became known as the theologian of grace, and he drew on a rich seam of Christian tradition, going back to Tertullian (c.155-220) and Augustine (c.354-430), who had both tried to explain the paradox of how God could be all-powerful, yet reign over a world that seemed intent on violence and destruction. We still struggle with the question ‘Why does God allow suffering?’ Arminius provided at least part of an answer: God is good, but people have the freedom to be bad – yet God still loves his world and offers the opportunity for redemption.

All of this created quite a stir in the Reformed Church of the day, and for a time after Arminius’ death, his followers (called Remonstrants) were banished from Holland. In due course, his ideas took hold, especially in the Church of England, where 150 years later John Wesley came across them – he even called his monthly magazine The Arminian. Today, we find Arminian ideas at the heart of Methodism, for example in our key emphasis on ‘God for All.’ We proclaim that the transforming love of God in Jesus Christ is for everyone.  No one is excluded, and everyone is welcome. 

Bob Bartindale
Bob Bartindale is a Methodist Local Preacher in the Bramhall & Wythenshawe circuit near Manchester. He is a chartered engineer and currently serves as the Officer for Local Preachers in the Methodist Church in Britain.