Christian Worship
Southwestern Journal of Theology
Volume 66, No. 1 - Fall 2023
Editor: Malcolm B. Yarnell III
By J. Matthew Pinson. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2022, 395pp., $27.99.
Framing the whole book regarding Arminianism, Matthew Pinson, president of Welch College in Gallatin, Tennessee, consciously demarcates the border in “the spirit of catholicity” in the evangelical landscape, away from liberal theology (13-14). Pinson unfolds the confessional differences between Arminianism and Calvinism, boosting the evangelical commitment to orthodoxy and the spirit of catholicity.
The book consists of five parts: (1) historical questions in comparing and contrasting the basic doctrines of Arminianism and Calvinism; (2) penal substitutionary atonement and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness in justification; (3) free will and irresistible grace; (4) unconditional or conditional election and the relationship between faith and regeneration; and (5) perseverance and apostasy. Calling himself a Reformed Arminian who belongs to a minority even in the Arminian community, Pinson explains that the identity of Reformed Arminianism stems from Jacobus Arminius. Arminius “was a confessionally Reformed minister to his dying day” and “publicly affirmed the Belgic Confession and Heidelberg Catechism” (13). Pinson believes “these documents [Belgic and Heidelberg] open us up to everything that is beautiful about confessional Reformed theology, because they were written before Reformed theology was ‘tightened up,’ before it morphed from a theology of sovereignty” (60).
Pinson in part two clarifies that Arminius’s doctrines of penal substitutionary atonement and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness were in line with Reformed theology (87, 106). This indicates that not all Arminians agree with the Reformed Arminians who are with Calvinists on what it means to be in a state of grace (41, 55). Throughout parts three and four, however, Pinson shows how the Reformed Arminians, like all Arminians, are different from the Calvinists regarding how one comes to be in a state of grace (83).
Pinson corrects, in part three, an assumption that Arminians believe that “some sort of natural free will or ability to respond to the gospel without special grace from the Holy Spirit.” These ideas were asserted by Pelagians and semi-Pelagians (140). Rather, Pinson contends Arminius and the confessional Arminian denominations have insisted that man’s will cannot desire God “without the interposition of special divine grace” (149). Arminians believe God’s grace reaches out to everyone, not just to particular persons of humanity (175). This concept of divine grace can be resisted by people. It is because “Scripture throughout paints a picture of a personal God who has created personal beings who think, feel, and make authentic choices. Grace is a personal dynamic between two personal beings, not a cause-and-effect relationship between a personal being and a physical object” (215).
Pinson deals also with a typical doctrine of Calvinism, i.e., unconditional election. With some biblical examples for the doctrine of unconditional election, e.g., Ephesians 1:4-11, Romans 8:28-30, Romans 9:6-23, Pinson interprets those passages in relation to eternal salvation from the point of the gospel; namely, not in a legal mindset but in an evangelical perspective that “is conditioned on one’s faith in Jesus the Messiah” (245, 272). Ultimately, Pinson says, “God’s election of individuals for eternal salvation was in consideration of the merit of Christ apprehended by faith” (254). Arminianism’s idea of conditional election of individuals affects the relation of faith to regeneration. Pinson says, “The New Testament yields the idea that repentance and faith (conversion) results in the new birth (regeneration): One becomes a ‘born-again Christian’ only as a result of repentance and faith” (294).
Both Arminianism and Calvinism seek to base their soteriology on biblical evidence. Respecting the economy of man’s salvation, within Christian orthodoxy one may sharpen his or her soteriological understanding through cross-denominational dialogue with those from a different persuasion. Pinson, from the Arminian perspective, fairly explains what historical Reformed Arminianism has believed. He has successfully delineated the doctrinal justification for the tradition derived from Jacobus Arminius. This book is a must read for those who seek to rightly understand and helpfully interact with Arminianism.
