Similarities Between Calvinism And Arminianism

Calvinism and Arminianism have five disputed points between them. Calvinism is a branch of Protestantism that was founded by French theologian John Calvin. Arminianism was founded by Dutch theologian Jacobus Arminius and is based on his theological ideas. Both Calvinism and Arminianism were created roughly around the same time period. John Calvin was born in 1509 and lived until 1564 while Jacobus Arminius was born in 1560 and died in 1609. These two theological set of beliefs are very similar in some ways. Jacobus Arminius actually had a Calvinist theology teacher during his school years. Without close inspection they might be misinterpreted as being almost identical. The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century brought about a series of …show more content…
In all of these points God does the majority of the work while the man’s actions mean very little or nothing at all in their relationship with him. In some cases that seems to be beneficial to the man specifically in Perseverance where man’s salvation is sealed as long as they believe in God. God chose the people, the elect, then Jesus Christ died for their sins. The Holy Spirit then makes Jesus Christ’s death effective and brings those elect to repentance. Once the elect are brought to repentance then they willingly believe in God. In some cases though it seems like it would be detrimental or unfair to man. In the case of election man has no say in whether or not they are chosen. Either you are chosen or you are not. So therefore any virtuous acts of man really doesn’t affect whether or not they will achieve salvation. Some sinners will be chosen and some will not. Only those chosen sinners will have the privilege to repent once they are touched by the Holy Spirit. In Calvinism “Election is unconditional, man can do nothing to merit it” . God has absolute authority. Arminianists seemingly have a much less strict point of view on these five points. Throughout all of the Arminianists points man and God work together. God takes the initiative does everything he can on his end to provide salvation to man but man must also work to be worthy enough to receive this salvation. Man must respond to God in order to achieve this salvation but even then it may not be enough. It takes continuous work from man up until the very end for the salvation to be