You may have never heard of these terms but you most likely will know someone who holds them, maybe even yourself. I will explain.
Some say you can be Arminian and not hold to open theism. I submit to you that both always go hand in hand. You cannot be (A) without holding to (B). When armianism is carried out to its final conclusion, it must end in open theism. And all open theists are arminian.
First, by Arminian I mean the theological position named after Jacobus Arminus. Not the West Asian country of Armenia. I do not know if all from Armenia are either open theists or arnimian, my prayer is that they are opposed to both.
First I will deal with Arninianism in its usual 5 points. From Theopedia:
- Universal prevenient grace- This grace purportedly restores man’s free will which was impaired by the effects of original sin and enables him to choose or refuse the salvation offered by God in Jesus Christ.
- Conditional election- This point holds that man is the final arbiter of his election, and that God elects him on the basis of foreseen faith which is exercised by libertarian free will, thus making man ultimately decisive.
- Unlimited (or universal) atonement-Christ’s death was suffered on behalf of all men and benefits all men alike. God then elects for salvation those whom he foresees will believe in Christ of their own free will.
- Resistible grace- This point holds that God never overcomes the resistance of man to His saving grace. While both Calvinists and Arminians hold that men often resist God’s grace, Arminianism teaches that this resistance is rarely conquered by God because this would be a violation of man’s libertarian free will. The grace of God works for good in all men, and brings about newness of life through faith. But saving grace can be resisted, even by the regenerate.
- Uncertainty of perseverance- Those who are incorporated into Christ by a true faith have power given them through the assisting grace of the Holy Spirit, sufficient to enable them to persevere in the faith. However, it may be possible for a believer to fall from grace.
So basically the arminian postion holds that Christ died for every single person ever created and paid a partial price for all mankind, but His death is only effective to those who freely choose to accept it, which would them make the payment full, God did his part and man did his part. The arminian has the ability to make a right choice even though being at enmity with God and dead in sin, and they also have the ability to lose salvation.
Open Theism according to Theopedia “also called free will theism and openness theology, is the belief that God does not exercise meticulous control of the universe but leaves it “open” for humans to make significant choices (free will) that impact their relationships with God and others. A corollary of this is that God has not predetermined the future. Open Theists further believe that this would imply that God does not know the future exhaustively. Proponents affirm that God is omniscient, but deny that this means that God knows everything that will happen.”
The open theists says God does not know the future because it has not happened yet. He is open to gaining knowledge of future events as time goes on. The god of the open theist has no idea who his children are or if he will have any. He cannot know for a fact since his knowledge increases over time. He is not omniscient as scripture proclaims, but they claim god has dynamic omniscience, which is the belief that God has full knowledge of the past and immediate present, but concerning the future he only knows all possible outcomes that could occure…..Very confusing!
For the arminian this must be the final conclusion to the belief system they hold. If humans have Libertarian free will as they believe, then it logically points to God not knowing all things and being open to future possibilities. In arminianism, God cannot know who will truly be saved since the final decision is left to man. And God also cannot know who will remain saved since man can use the same free will to ultimately reject the faith he once held. God can only hope people will choose him, and He can only hope people will persevere to the end.
Within both of these theological systems exists the possibility of a sacrifice in vain. Christ could have went to the cross and died and the entirety of humanity could have been saved, and He could have died and all of humanity could have rejected Him. Both arminianism and open theism must say that God did not know the actual outcome, he knew what the possibilities were that I just pointed out, but since it was a future event and relies on man’s freewill, God could not truly know.
I believe both positions are heresy and naturally uphold each other. Scripture is quite clear that God knows all things from beginning to end, He governs all things, no one can thwart the purpose of God, and all things that come about are ordained by God before creation itself. It’s also evident through scripture that before creation God had divinely determined to have a people, and He knew them before they were, He predestined them, later calls them, justifies them and glorifies them. One cannot escape this fact that runs through the bible in many places.
But in arminianism/open theism how can God do this? How can He know these things? How can He know these people? How can the future sins that a man hasn’t committed yet be placed on Christ? Could God even be certain that the sacrifice on the cross would even happen? What if the people refused to kill Jesus? What if they all decided just to believe? What if they decided His death to be another way? None of these questions can be answered by the arminian/open theists. They can give an answer but their belief system demands that they can’t. They must admit that all things were possibilities and God was constantly working and gaining knowledge based on the actions on mankind. The future was open….even to God.
I believe these are heresies because they contradict the revelation God has given about Himself through His word and also through creation. It’s casts doubts on the omniscience of God, the Providence of God, and completely destroys the absolute Sovereignty of God.
I think it would be safe to say that most who hold to arminan beliefs do not know of open theism. And if given a definition would still say they would not hold to it. But if you were able to keep them calm enough for long enough and carry their belief out to its logical end, they will find that they are indeed open theists. The god they know of doesn’t know all things. The god they believe in must wait on man’s decision before he can act. The god of the arminian/open theist is a false god who offers no hope, and that God can only hope in man.
Psal.s 139:1-6 “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all. You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it”
Ephesians 1:11-12 “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.”
Proverbs 16:33 “The lot is cast into the lap, but it’s every decision is from the LORD”
Acts 4:27-28 “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.”
Psalm 115:3 “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”
2 Chronicles 20:6 “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.”
Daniel 2:22 “It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things;
He knows what is in the darkness,
And the light dwells with Him.”
Acys 1:7 “He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority”
Matthew 6:8 “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.”
Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
No King but Christ 