Arminian

Dictionary of Biblical Words:

This term is generally applied to those who, taking their stand upon the responsibility and free-will of man deny the sovereignty and election of God. Those who take the opposite view are called CALVINISTS. The former take their name from Arminian, a Dutch divine, who died in 1609, the latter from Calvin, a French Protestant, who died in 1564: Of both it may be raid generally, they are right in what they affirm, and wrong in what they deny; for both man’s responsibility and God’s sovereignty are truths divinely revealed in the Scriptures. A child of God is therefore called upon to accept and believe both, but he is not called upon to reconcile them. To those who are exercised on this subject, we commend an article in the Young Believer, vol. i. 172. It is well to notice that responsibility and choice are generally (in Scripture) pressed on unbelievers, whereas God’s sovereignty and election are truths revealed to His children; or, as has been beautifully expressed, on the exterior of the gate of life is written, “Whosoever will may come,” while on the interior (to be read by those who have entered) is “Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.” Arminians may, therefore, be compared to people who, delighted with what they read outside, deny what is within; and Calvinists to people standing inside, and denying what is written without.