James Arminius (1560-1609) *****

Born at Oudewater, the Netherlands, Arminius was educated at the universities of Marburg (1575) and Leiden (1576-81), at the academy at Geneva (1582, 1584-86), and at Basel (1582-83). He was pastor of an Amsterdam congregation (1588-1603), and a professor at the University of Leiden from 1603 until his death.

He wrote considerably both during his fifteen year pastorate and while he was a professor at Leiden. His treatise on Romans 7-7-25 depicted an awakened (vss. 12,21), unregenerate (vss. 15, 18, 24) person. He wrote a treatise on Romans 9, in which he shows by this passage, interpreted by Calvinists to teach unconditional predestination, to teach only what it actually does teach, and that is conditional predestination. One of his most significant writings is his Examination of Perkins' Pamphlet, a "conditional predestination" answer to the view of Cambridge's William Perkins. His Declaration of Sentiments of 1608, which he presented to the governmental authorities at The Hague, gave his arguments against supralapsarianism (the view that each person's destiny was determined by God prior to Adam's fall). It also sought to secure favorable status in the United Netherlands for the true teaching of conditional predestination. In addition he wrote such treatises as an apology against thirty-one incorrect representations of his views that had circulated for some time; Public Disputations; and Seventy-nine Private Disputations (a posthumous publication of his theology class notes at Leiden).

It is most interesting to point out that James Arminius started out as a Calvinist. His departure from the Calvinistic view of predestination, was brought about by the government of the United Netherlands! He was asked to defend the Calvinistic view of predestination, which at that time he concurred with. He went not to Augustine's teachings as Calvin did, but instead he went directly to God's word. To James's surprise he found that the scriptures did not defend Calvin's writings, but instead discovered the truth about predestination, a truth that would bring about much persecution for him.

Arminius was the ablest exponent of what various others had already been teaching: that God's predestination of the destiny of individuals is based on his foreknowledge of the way in which they will freely (in the context of prevenient grace) accept or reject Christ.

His teachings were promoted especially by John Wesley , Methodists and Charles finney, and, in our time, by the denominations which constitute the Christian Holiness Association.

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