By Sonny Hernandez
Arminians claim to be evangelistic, engaging in what they call "soul-winning" in their communities, telling everyone they meet, "God loves you, and Christ died for you," and vilifying everyone as "hypers" who disagree with their semi-pelagian doctrines. Some moderate Calvinists, not shockingly, will even agree with this nonsense. The following five points will show how to refute the Arminian soul-winning model:
1. Prophets of God, evangelists, apostles, and Christ never told gospel haters or unconverted people in Scripture that Christ loved or died for them. The Bible does not ascribe the love of God to all men because the LORD hates the wicked (Psalm 5:5) but loves only the sheep for whom Christ died (1 John 4:10). And the Word of God does not support the heresy of universal atonement because Christ died for the sheep (John 10:11), not the goats (John 10:26).
2. The Book of Acts lists several evangelistic examples, yet no minister of God told unbelievers, "God loves you, and Christ died for you." The author never cited love, proving that witnessing does not entail telling the lost that God loves them and Christ died in their place but requires true believers to declare Christ's finished, saving, effectual, and particular death to all men.
3. Arminians believe John 3:16 gives them the authority to say to every lost person they meet, "God loves you." Yet, they ignore how "world" has several meanings. For example, in John 12, "world" (v. 19) does not refer to all men in the world but to the large group (vv. 17-18). Grammatically, in John 3:16, the adjective pas ("all") + definite article ὁ ("the") + the present active participle pisteuōn (lit., "believing") reveals the ones God loved in the world. This text rules out the non-elect because they will never believe (John 10:26; 12:39-40).
4. Arminians will twist Romans 5:8, arguing that "...Christ died for us" proves it's biblical to say to the lost, "Christ died for you." This gross view ignores the context of Romans because Paul addressed justified Christians (5:1), also known as the "...beloved of God, called to be saints" (1:7).
5. Arminians also think Paul's mention of "...Christ died for our sins" in 1 Corinthians 15:3 supports saying to unconverted men, "Christ died for you." This view ignores the context of this letter because Paul addressed believers or the "brethren" (15:1), not lost men, and included himself [see 1st person pronoun "our"] when he wrote "...Christ died for our sins," revealing Paul taught on particular redemption.
Lastly, don't be surprised if you meet so-called Calvinists who claim to believe in the "doctrines of grace" but agree with the Arminian soul-winning method of saying to unconverted men, "God loves you, and Christ died in your place." They are called Calminians.[1] And yes, like Arminians, they will label you a "hyper" if you disagree with their crypto Arminian views.
Beware of the false gospel of Arminianism! (Galatians 1:8-9).
[1] Declaring the incarnate Christ, God the Logos, and His effectual, saving, and finished work (justification, redemption, reconciliation, and propitiation) on behalf of the sheep, not the goats, is gospel preaching. Everything else is a false gospel! Many today say they proclaim "the gospel," yet the so-called gospel they teach sounds like they think Christ's death was a hypothetical atonement, or He only made men savable, redeemable, and reconcilable. Compromisers will remove the offense of the cross and lead people to think salvation is conditional upon something they must do. For example, instead of preaching what Christ accomplished and for whom [elect], they will say to the populace, "Christ will save anyone who will put their faith and trust in Him." True gospel teachers will indiscriminately tell all men about the merits of Christ alone on behalf of the elect or the Savior's perfect righteousness that God credits to the account of His particular people. I praise God for men who believe Christ resurrected for the justification of the elect and will teach the offense of the cross, not like Arminians, but like Paul and Christ.
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