Arminians and 2 Peter 2:1

By Sonny Hernandez

Arminianism is a diabolical worldview, portraying a false Christ and a different gospel. Why is Arminianism characterized as self-righteousness and the antithesis of the gospel? The response is simple: Arminians think God so loved everyone in the world, none excluded, whom He foresaw in eternity, would exercise their superstitious free will to accept a Jesus who died for all men without exception and chose them on that basis but still gives libertarian freedom to all sinners so they can deny the grace of God and thus lose their salvation.1

Arminians think their faith is meritorious or precedes regeneration and will thus say, "I accepted Jesus into my heart" or "I walked the aisle at church and attained salvation" during the so-called invitation time, commonly known as the altar call, popularized by the heretic Billy Graham. Yet, the grammar in Ephesians 1:4 easily refutes these autosoteric [self-saving] assertions: "he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world..." ("𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑡𝑜 𝑒̄𝑚𝑎𝑠 𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜 𝑘𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑙𝑒̄𝑠 𝑘𝑜𝑠𝑚𝑜𝑢"). 

Per the text above, God is the subject of 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑡𝑜 ("chosen"), while the accusative 𝑒̄𝑚𝑎𝑠 or "us" is the object of this verb, proving God completed the action, not men. Notwithstanding, Arminians will still adamantly maintain that they chose God for themselves. But Paul's use of 𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑥𝑒𝑡𝑜 ("chosen") also refutes their heresy because it's in the middle voice, linguistically revealing that God, in eternity, chose His particular people 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝐻𝑖𝑚𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓. Therefore, while Arminians will desperately attempt to elevate men's decisions above the Master's decree, God's Word stands true!

Bottom line: Men who teach freedom of the will, faith plus works, Christ died for all, God loves everyone, and universal grace for everyone do not herald the biblical gospel but the heresy of Billy Graham. Per Scripture, God loves the invisible church (Romans 5:5, 9), not those outside it. Christ died for the sheep (John 10:11, 15), not the goats (John 10:26). God gives His grace to only the elect (Genesis 6:8; Romans 3:24), not the reprobate, and has an unremitting hatred towards those whom He decreed for eternal conscious torment in eternity, before their birth or doing anything good or bad (Romans 9:11-13). God-given faith in which Christ alone is the object excludes works (Romans 3:28) and always looks to the person and work of Christ alone (Hebrews 11:1), the only basis of justification and assurance of salvation. Lastly, freedom of the will, also known as contra-causal freedom or libertarianism, derives from Satan's hell, not the Holy Scripture.2

Because Arminians serve Satan, not the Savior, they will twist the Bible just like the devil did in Matthew 4:6. As an example, 2 Peter 2:1 highlights the false prophets or the false teachers "...𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑒𝑠, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚." Consequently, Arminians grossly think this text undeniably proves Christ died for everyone or all without exception, head for head and soul for soul. Examine the following sixteen-minute video, an excerpt from one of my sermons, explaining how to interpret this passage correctly.

[1] Paul explained the implication of this false gospel and how to respond to men ignorant of God's righteousness (Romans 10:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:1-3; Galatians 1:8-9).

[2] True gospel preachers will 𝑛𝑜𝑡 offer these points to all in hopes they would accept them (Semi-Pelagianism) but 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 declare these indisputable facts to all men promiscuously and without distinction (Scriptural Preaching).