By Mark W. Christy, PhD According to 1 John 2:2, Jesus is the “propitiation” for the sins of all believers.[1] By making His atoning sacrifice on the cross, Jesus enabled God to become propitious, or favorable toward His chosen saints. Despite the biblical usage of this term, many find it to be unhelpful because it causes God to appear wrathful. This makes them feel as if pagan sacrificial rites are being invoked and worshippers are somehow being led to propitiate the gods so as to satiate t...

By Mark W. Christy In general, most Calvinists and Arminians agree, at least on the surface, that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. For this reason, some evangelical denominations, like the Southern Baptist Convention, have historically allowed both theological camps to coexist alongside one another. Despite the apparent comradery between Calvinists and Arminians, the theological fissure separating the two is now leading to increasing levels of upheaval within ...

By Mark W. Christy, PhD Today, most evangelicals believe that both Calvinism and Arminianism both arise from a common bulwark of the Reformation. This bulwark, the doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone, is indeed heralded, at least linguistically, by both sides. Even so, many scholars over the centuries have accused Arminians of being more in league with the Roman Catholics on this doctrinal issue. In this article, the writings of Arminius and Luther will be weighed ag...

By Mark W. Christy, PhD (Note: Before reading, please be aware that no one save God is like God in the ultimate sense. Nevertheless, the Bible does call upon humanity to be like God (and like Christ) in terms of their character. This article will therefore use ‘like God’ in this manner.) Classical Arminians agree with Calvinists concerning the bondage of the human will due to the original sin of Adam. Nevertheless, they disagree upon whether or not God’s prevenient (saving) grace was dist...

By Mark W. Christy, PhD Despite popular misconceptions, classical Arminians (a group that may exclude many professed Arminians in the contemporary era) have always held tightly to the doctrine of total depravity, just as all faithful Calvinists do. Both believe that the human will was placed into bondage by the sin of Adam. The issue, therefore, between these two groups is not free will; rather, it arises from the Arminian understanding of the distribution of prevenient grace (coming before ...

Mark W. Christy, PhD The notion that Jesus descended into hell may have been popularized by the Apostle’s Creed which, though not approved by a single church or ecumenical council at one specific time, “gradually took shape from about A.D. 200 to 750.[i] The phrase, “descended into hell,” first appeared in the Arian version in A.D. 360.[ii] Tyrannius Rufinus (A.D. 345 to 411) observes that the phrase did not appear in the Roman version of the Apostle’s Creed, but does say it appeared in anot...