Monday, January 13, 2014

Does an Arminian Exegete exist?

I read a post on another blog that gave some Bible verses that are most often times quoted by Reformed folks. One such Bible passage is Ephesians 1:1-13.

I will only attack his points one by one.

He says,
First, the context is not doctrinal but liturgical. Paul isn’t trying to lay down a foundation on the doctrines of predestination and election. Instead, he is using the concepts of predestination and election to praise God for the inclusion (or predestining) of the Gentiles in election.


One, I am not sure what the difference is? Whether it is doctrinal or liturgical. Our liturgy should be based on Doctrine. But, it is interesting what he says here that he praises God for the doctrine of predestination for the inclusion of the Gentiles. I am not sure what he means by predestining in the brackets. Maybe he means that God predestined before hand that the Gentiles would be saved? Calvinist would say that and more. Some people amongst both the Jews and Gentiles have been included.

Next he says,

Second, this text does not apply directly to all Christians (though indirectly it does). The text above is directly talking about the election of the Jews. God predestined the Jews to be the sons of God on this earth, and to establish them to be who the are. This is evident in verse 13 where Paul directly contrasts the “we” in the above verses with the Ephesians themselves. The text only applies to us in the sense that we are now given something that we didn’t have before: inclusion in the promises of the Jews.

This one may seem hard to tackle. It seems very viable. We, you, and they... Must be talking about Jews and Gentiles distinction! Kid in the candy store... Anyways, the point is simple he says that the text is talking about the election of the Jews... I wonder if he thought about what he just said. For one thing he said earlier that Paul was praising God for the inclusion or predestining of the Gentiles, but, here he says that Paul is talking about the election of the Jews. Also I am wondering just what he thinks about Predestination. The text says before the foundation of the world and not after... Unless Biblical words have no meaning?
Next he says that God predestined the Jews to be the Sons of God on this earth... Sure. He did. As a Calvinist I will gladly say he did such. But I won't stop there though. I will say furthermore that God had a plan or purpose to which he Created the world and that Purpose is In Christ.
Lets just say for a moment that he is right.... on this one little part about the Gentiles now being included in the promises of the Jews what does that take away? Nothing at all. Paul says in Romans 11 that the Jews were harden so that the Gentiles might be engrafted. The promises are all in Christ and not inherent to the Jews alone. As Paul did say in Romans 9 that not all are Children of Israel because they are from Israel.

He next says,

Third, the central themes here are also not election and predestination. Instead, they are revelation, redemption, and the dominion of Christ. When you begin to try and make this text to be a proof-text for Calvinism, you lose sight of Paul’s heart. 


This one I am doubly confused. The central themes are Election and Predestination. It is why Paul is blessing God because he has predestined us to be In Christ. I am not certain what he means by losing sight of Paul's heart here. When I see election and predestination being revealed in Scripture I am doubly amazed about how God would save me a sinner by His grace alone. But the words here are also complex. He says that only revelation, redemption, and the dominion of Christ are the themes but not predestination? Why? It is talked about all throughout the text.

Finally he says,

Finally, to believe in unconditional election undermines Paul’s whole point in the book of Ephesians. Paul makes his point most clearly in 3:5-6: In former generation this mystery was not made known to humankind, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that is the Gentiles have become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and sharers in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
He says that the major point of Ephesians is to show the amazement of the inclusion of the Gentiles and Jews. And although this is true as Ephesians does talk about the Mystery. But to disregard the Purpose or Plan of God is to throw out the Baby along with the Bath Water. For one thing he points out that We and You are distinct. It is true. But if he follows his case down to its conclusion then he will end up saying that the Jews were the only ones atoned for, predestined, and the Gentiles are not. His points really do not make much since. (Plus this view is not new - Barth probably had it). If anything these passages show that it has been God's primary intention to save a people amongst the Jews and Gentiles which is now being revealed. One should read Gordon H. Clark.

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