Saturday, October 29, 2011

Common Sense Christian Understanding of the Gift of Faith - Forlines


F. Leroy Forlines offers what I have found to be one of the best concise explanations of the gift of faith in the brief statement below. It effectively silences the Calvinist harp of monergism with regard to faith and presents the common sense Christian understanding of the synergistic nature of faith.

I believe that saving faith is a gift of God in the sense that the Holy Spirit gives divine enablement without which faith in Christ would be impossible (John 6:44). The difference between the Calvinistic concept of faith and my concept of faith cannot be that theirs is monergistic and mine is synergistic. In both cases it is synergistic. Active participation in faith by the believer means that it must be synergistic. Human response cannot be ruled out of faith. Justification and regeneration are monergistic. Each is an act of God, not man. Faith is a human act by divine enablement and therefore cannot be monergistic. - Classical Arminianism: A Theology of Salvation, Forlines, ed. Pinson, Randall House Nashville, 2011, p.24

7 comments:

Pumice said...

Makes sense to me. It seems logical which is why our Reformed brothers will reject it.

Grace and peace.

Anonymous said...

I ordered Forlines' Classical Arminianism yesterday. It should arrive in a week or so.

Ken Hamrick

A.M. Mallett said...

Ken,
I have found it an excellent and quick resource. It is actually a re-edit of the applicable soteriological portions of Forlines Quest For Truth published earlier and in a larger text volume. While I am certain there will be portions you might not agree with wholly it is a good representation of classical Arminian thought.

Anonymous said...

It arrived today. Just by reading a few pages on union with Adam, union with Christ, atonement and justification, I am surprised by how similar his writing is to mine on these topics--more so than any other writer I've read. I can't wait to read the rest of the book!

Ken Hamrick

Anonymous said...

I've sent you an email on Forlines' book.

Ken Hamrick

A.M. Mallett said...

Ken,
I pulled it up but haven't had time today to go through it. I'll review what you have and reply back.

Thanks

Anonymous said...

Thanks, A. M. I look forward to hearing from you.