Jacobus Arminius

Life

Arminius was born in Oudewater in the Netherlands. He lost his father at an early age and was educated with the help of patrons. After studying at Leiden University, he went on, with the support of Amsterdam merchants, to study in Geneva and Basel. In Geneva he is reported to have studied under Theodore Beza, the successor of John Calvin. After returning home, he served as a pastor in Amsterdam from 1588, and in 1603 he became a professor of theology at Leiden University. He died in Leiden in 1609.

Ministry and Work

Arminius debated his colleague Franciscus Gomarus over predestination, the teaching that God has determined in advance who will be saved. Arminius held that God foreknew those who would believe and elected them. He also maintained that Christ's atonement was for all people and that human beings are able to resist God's grace. He nevertheless affirmed that human beings cannot do good by their own power and that God's grace must come first.

After his death, his supporters issued a five-article Remonstrance in 1610, and for this reason they came to be known as the Remonstrants. At the Synod of Dort (1618–1619), the Dutch Reformed Church rejected the Remonstrant position and adopted the Canons of Dort. The Canons subsequently became the representative statement of Calvinist soteriology.

Influence on the Korean Church

Arminius's thought reached Korea by way of John Wesley. Wesley developed Arminius's ideas around the concept of prevenient grace (the grace given to a person before he or she believes). This stream of thought is known as Wesleyan theology. The Korean Methodist Church, denominations in the Holiness tradition, and The Salvation Army, among others, stand within this tradition. Pentecostal churches are also generally regarded as close to this position in their soteriology.

By contrast, the Presbyterian churches, which are numerically strong in Korean Protestantism, mostly follow the Calvinist tradition. As a result, Arminianism is frequently discussed in the Korean church as the counterpoint to Calvinism in debates over predestination and free will and over the perseverance of the saints (the teaching that those who are truly saved will persevere in faith to the end).

Assessment

Reformed critics argue that his thought weakens the sovereignty of God and makes salvation appear to be a cooperation between God and human beings. The judgment of the Synod of Dort reflects this perspective.

The Wesleyan tradition and others sympathetic to Arminius view him differently. They credit him with seeking to account for both the goodness of God and human responsibility while upholding the priority of grace. Some scholars also point out that Arminius's own views are not necessarily identical to later "Arminianism."