By: K. B. Napier

Arminians think they are safe by providing Biblical texts that ‘prove’ their case for free will. They believe we can obtain salvation by our own choice and that we can lose it again by our actions. The following texts are often quoted by them, so let us examine each one. We will find that they do not support the Arminian claims at all.

It should be acknowledged that my own approach to the texts is one of belief in God’s full and free Grace, including predestination, election and salvation completely and only as a free gift of God. This approach, though, is rooted in an interpretation that follows proper ‘rules’ of interpretation: that is, to discover what the meanings of the actual words in the text are and to choose the best possible meaning from a range that fits the actual context. This also means I have looked at the meanings with certain pre-defined doctrinal facts in mind, such as election and predestination. When these very clear doctrinal elements, with clear meanings, are added to the equation, the whole matter of free will can be cast aside.

It is a dual truth, if Arminianism is to be believed, that if we may choose salvation, then we may also lose it again. This text from Romans appears to support that view. But does it?

This text, speaking of the way God has temporarily removed Israel from His overall protection and love, because of their unbelief, says that gentiles were thus able to come in to the kingdom of God. However, there is a warning – not to boast in this new found status, but to be humble, for Gentiles are not of the natural olive tree. If God did not spare His own chosen people, He will not hesitate to get rid of Gentiles, who have been adopted in to the holy priesthood.

Does this mean we can lose our salvation. No it cannot mean that. Later in this section we have these words: “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.” Then, in chapter 12, we continue with a call to remain pure and holy because (‘therefore’) of the warning from God. Salvation is referred to as a gift of God. Therefore, God cannot remove salvation once it is given. And, as it has been given before the world began, it effectively means salvation has always been assured for them who are the elect. God cannot change His mind, so once saved a man cannot lose his salvation. Thus, the text cannot mean a saved man can lose his salvation.

The key to the meaning is found in Matthew 22, verses 11 – 14. The man who was cast out did not wear the wedding garment provided by the host, and though he was able to enter the wedding banquet room, he could not partake. He was, rather, thrown out by the host’s servants. “For many are called, but few are chosen.” The meaning of “thou also shalt be cut off” must be that God has called many, but only a few will be saved. It is the unsaved who are cast aside or cut off.

How do we know this? We know because in the context the writer is talking about the whole of Israel and the whole of the Gentiles. Though ‘all’ (or, ‘many’) of Israel have been ‘cut off’, some are righteous before the Lord and will enter heaven. Similarly (because it is the only real way to treat this text – like with like), God has not called all of the Gentiles to repentance, but only the elect, and will reject the rest...those who will be ‘cut off’ because of their unbelief.

The text, then, does not support the Arminian idea that we may be saved today and lost tomorrow. A wealth of texts support the opposite – that those who are saved will remain saved. The reason is that they were saved in eternity by the Lord and not by their own choice.

This text is more simple to explain than the previous text. Indeed, the meaning is given in the prior verse, 15: “If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved...” But, you might say, God says He will ‘destroy’ the man who defiles his body with outright sin. Yes, but we need to understand the meaning of ’destroy’. It means, in this context, to cause to perish on this earth.

The only alternative is to read the text as saying, “If a stranger defiles you, the temple, then he shall be destroyed.” This is a direct reference to the Jewish understanding of defiling the temple. To ‘defile’ the temple was to do something wrong to it, even in the slightest degree. It also means, in Christian terms, to lead a church or person away from the truth and from purity. The one who does this is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, to be killed.

It is my opinion that the first explanation – the destruction of the Christian’s body – is the correct one in this context. Verse 15 clearly supports this meaning. So do texts that speak of the way God sometimes judges a man or woman to die, rather than they should continue in sin. Yet, these same people will see heaven. Mark 9: 43-47 echoes this principle.

I do not know why Arminians think this text supports the idea of free will, or of loss of salvation! Rather, the text says this in paraphrase: “It is impossible for those who have been saved to return to first things again if they fall. They cannot repent unto salvation again, for the experience can not be repeated.”  Those who will be burned are those who are not saved anyway, for their ‘root’ is not of God, but of evil (hence the briers instead of good herbs). The herbs are only ‘meet for them by whom it is dressed’ (the elect).

The text makes clear that Paul was not referring to the saved, when he talks of destruction, for he says, “we are persuaded better things of you”. The only way Arminians can make the text say that we can lose our salvation, is by insisting that election and God’s grace does not exist. Note, too, how they have a selective blindness, ignoring even those verses that are adjoined, which clearly reject their claims!

1 Corinthians 9: 26, 27

The word ‘castaway’ can mean reprobate, or rejected. It can also mean to fail a test or to be not approved, or unfit. The text goes on in to chapter 10, where we see that the point Paul makes is that we should not lust after evil things. Thus verses 26 and 27 in chapter 9 is more rhetorical than actual (a favourite device found in Paul’s writings).

Even if we do not view these verses as rhetorical, we can see that Paul is saying ‘I make sure I do not do evil things, so that, after preaching the truth to others, I do not fail the test of holiness myself’.  Really, this is straightforward interpretation. It is a rule in interpretation that the most obvious meaning takes precedence.

However, the ‘most obvious’ in scripture is not always what we think it is. Rather, what is ‘obvious’ depends on our fullest knowledge of all of scripture and all of God’s declared doctrine. Arminians, because they reject election and predestination, and espouse the unbiblical notion of ‘free will’, will always be erroneous in their interpretations concerning these matters, for they begin with presuppositions that are not found in scripture and leave out teachings that are in scripture.

When looking at texts we must always begin with obvious stated doctrine. If we come across texts that appear to contradict these plain texts, then the rule is simple – we must adhere firstly to the plain texts. Any texts that are hazy to our understanding must be set aside until we gain more understanding. In this case, the plain doctrine is that we can never lose our salvation. Therefore, any interpretation that states the opposite must automatically be wrong.

Ezekiel 33:13

“When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.”

The first thing to note in this text, is that it is addressed to the entire nation of the Israelites. This is important for it refers to a nation, and not necessarily to those who are the ‘remnant’. Everything God expected from the remnant He expected from the rest, also, because Israel was a theocracy...ruled by God’s law. This immediately means the text has a limited application.

Secondly, what is meant, otherwise, by ‘iniquity’? How many ‘iniquities’ must the man commit before God does not remember anything righteous he has done? If God were to do the same with us, as Christians, then very few would ever enter heaven. Indeed, God says the opposite to this. He says that if we repent many times He will forgive many times. He does not say he will simply forget us. What if we do not repent for this or that sin? It means that we will be judged but we will still enter heaven. This has to be because the New Testament promises say so.

Thirdly, the Hebrew word for ‘death’ in this text has a temporal meaning only. That is, it refers to death of the body on this earth. I would suggest that the ‘iniquity’ here must mean something very serious (one of its meanings is to commit a violent injustice), because the word ‘death’ also bears the meaning of premature death as a punishment.

Therefore, this text has nothing at all to do with losing salvation. It is about the theocratic law which states that for certain crimes or sins men could be put to death. There is no mention at all of losing one’s heavenly position. In fact, the whole section is about how God dispenses justice and does not waiver in His purity of action. The text is merely an example of that justice. It is not, then, a proper use of scripture to make it refer to something else.

John 15: 6

“If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.”

Note, incidentally, that in the later verse 16, Jesus says, “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you...” This verse cannot sit comfortably with Arminians.

 What is meant by ‘they are burned’. It is essentially the same as the text in Ezekiel, in that it refers to people who claim one thing and do another. They claim salvation but show otherwise in their actions. So, Jesus will cast them aside on this earth. The reference to burning is not linked with hell or the fiery pit, but is used in the ordinary sense of a tree having withered branches which are cut off and discarded because they are useless. In other texts we are warned that Christians can be cast aside or even put to death by God as an earthly punishment, in order to save them from committing even more sins of the same type.

I am not sure why Arminians use this to show ‘free will’. All this text does is to show that we all sin, but that God does not sleep. He sees all and can sometimes judge men on this earth for their open sins. This is to do with following the whims of the ‘old man’, and not to do with having ‘free will’...following the old man is to be enslaved to one’s past sinfulness and ignoring conscience and the Holy Spirit.

 Jude 5

“I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.”