This week in Christian history: Pope born, theologian dies, failed End Times prophecy

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, October 17, 2021

Jacob Arminius dies – Oct. 19, 1609

A portrait of Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609), also known as James Arminius, Jakob Hermanszoon, and Jacob Arminius, the Dutch Protestant theologian who challenged Reformed Theology. | (Photo: Public Domain)

This week marks the anniversary of when Jacob Arminius, the Dutch theologian who famously opposed Calvinistic teaching on the nature of salvation, died.

A minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, Arminius eventually rejected the belief of Protestant Reformation leader John Calvin that salvation was predetermined by God.

“Arminius is very clear that man is completely lost in sin and that grace is absolutely necessary as the efficient cause of regeneration,” wrote W. Robert Godfrey of Westminster Seminary California in 2014.

“But that grace can be resisted and lost by the regenerate. The great predestinating decree of God is that all who believe will be saved and so predestination is conditional.”

The theological views of Arminius, commonly known as Arminianism, heavily influenced later Protestant leaders, especially John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.