The key difference between Arminian/non-Calvinistic and Calvinistic soteriologies is whether salvation is conditional in nature. Concerning God’s interactions or dealings with humankind, in high Calvinistic theology there is only the appearance of conditionality.
It is true that Calvinists agree with Arminians that all people without exception are to be urged to repent and believe in the good news of Jesus Christ for salvation. However, in strict Calvinistic theology, the very ‘conditions’ for attaining deliverance from the future wrath, namely repentance and faith, are (1) unconditionally and exclusively bestowed on those individuals whom God has pre-chosen for salvation, and (2) withheld from the rest of humankind. It is impossible, therefore, that the former group will fail to be saved (i.e. the elect), and impossible that the latter group will fail to be lost (i.e. the reprobate, non-elect).
Such thought is at utter variance with Arminian theology, which maintains that God has not determined which specific individuals will positively respond to the grace of God proffered through the glad tidings of salvation in Jesus Christ. Consequently, any particular human being’s failure to obey the gospel cannot find its origin in an eternal, unconditional divine decree of reprobation.
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Latest revision(s): modified punctuation in one place (2 Feb. 2022).
