Home |
Predestination and Free Will The reformation of the 16th Century resulted in the Lutheran, Reformed, and Anabaptist churches. Lutherans followed the teachings of Martin Luther, Reformed churches followed John Calvin, and Anabaptists followed Menno Simmons (from whose name "Mennonite" comes).
John Calvin, a reformer from Geneva, Switzerland, taught that nothing happens unless God allows it. This includes whether or not someone goes to heaven. A person will be saved only if he is predestined to be saved---if God decides in advance that salvation will be part of his destiny. The Calvinists, such as the Presbyterians, teach that salvation is the work of the Holy Spirit alone, and that the human will is incapable of cooperating.
Jacob Arminius, a Dutch Theologian, received strict Reformed training. However, he began doubting the Calvinistic teaching concerning predestination and salvation. In its place, he developed a view which combines the sovereignty of God with the free will of man. His followers are called Arminians .
The United Brethren church, as an evangelical denomination is Arminians in theology rather than Calvinist. We believe that God and man cooperate in the conversion experience. God offers salvation to man as a free gift, but the individual can respond with either "yes" or "no." He can accept the free gift, or he can reject it. This power to choose is known as free will. |
Communion: While Martin Luther led the Reformation within Germany, Huldreich Zwingli's voice arose in Zurich Switzerland.
The central teaching of Lutheranism is that man is made righteous before God through faith in Christ, whose death paid for the world's sins. but the sacraments---baptism and the Lord's Supper---play a crucial roll in offering and sealing the forgiveness of sins which Christ secured for all sinners.
Martin Luther taught that Christ was physically present in the bread and wine served during communion (the Lord's Supper). He felt that actually partaking of Christ was the strongest pledge our union with Christ and the forgiveness of sins.
Zwingli reached a different conclusion. He believed that Christ's words at the Last Supper---"This is my body" and "this is my blood"---actually meant, "this signifies my body...blood."
As an evangelical Arminian denomination, we follow Zwingli's view. We remember Christ's sufferings and death through the symbols of bread and wine (or grape juice, which is commonly used in United Brethren churches). |
Sanctification: Another Arminian doctrine concerns sanctification, which involves the believer becoming like Christ.
Wesleyanism (which emerged from John Wesley's teachings) has traditionally taught that a person is sanctified instantly through an experience which occurs sometime after salvation. This "second work of grace" enables a person to resist sinning and live a more victorious Christian life. The Wesleyan, Free Methodist, and Nazarene churches hold this view.
The United Brethren church has predominantly taught that sanctification is progressive--- that we gradually become more like Christ through a life-long process of growth which begins at conversion. We become perfect and complete only after we die and see Christ.
In our teaching, we allow for the possibility of a crisis experience of total devotion. But we do not insist that every Christian have such an experience. John Miley, an Arminian whose theology books have been used through the years in our ministerial training, says sanctification begins at conversion and is a progressive, life-long process. but he also taught that sanctification could come through a second work of grace. |
