Episode 82 - Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals: Jacobus Arminius

Today we are continuing our random march through Inter-Varsity Press' Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals. My son pulled random number 18, which lead us to page 18 in the book. Page 18 takes us to Jacobus Arminius - the founder of the Remonstrant Movement and the arch-enemy of Calvinists everywhere. That's a bit of a joke but he is the founder of one of the two primary (sorry Molinists) views on the Doctrines of Grace. He was also a pastor, a scholar, a peacemaker, and ultimately, a man who sought to defend the goodness and justice of God at all costs — even when it cost him dearly.

Transcript

Hello, and welcome to the Giants of the Faith podcast. My name is Robert Daniels and I'm your host. This is the show where we look at influential individuals from Christian history and learn a bit about their lives and impact. Today we are continuing our random march through Inter-Varsity Press' Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals. My son pulled random number 18, which lead us to page 18 in the book. Page 18 takes us to Jacobus Arminius - the founder of the Remonstrant Movement and the arch-enemy of Calvinists everywhere. That's a bit of a joke but he is the founder of one of the two primary (sorry Molinists) views on the Doctrines of Grace. He was also a pastor, a scholar, a peacemaker, and ultimately, a man who sought to defend the goodness and justice of God at all costs — even when it cost him dearly.

Arminius is a massive figure in the course of Chrisitanity and definitely a Giant of the Faith. As such, he was already on the list of future episodes but by happy chance we'll go ahead and cover him today and, Lord willing, over the next two episodes as well. The plan is to make today's episode a biographical one, the next episode to focus on the Synod of Dort, and the final one to look at Arminianism today. Hopefully it comes off this way and you find this miniseries within a series edifying.

Jacobus Arminius (also known as Jakob Hermanszoon) was born on October 10, 1560, in Oudewater, a small town in the province of Utrecht in the Netherlands. His early life was shaped by significant hardship. His father's name was Harmen, which is why Arminius is sometimes referred to as "Hermanszoon" (meaning "son of Harmen"). I could find no source that contained his mother's name, unfortunately. His family seems to have been relatively humble — his father may have been a cutler (someone who made knives and tools or even weapons). When Arminius was still a very young boy, his father died.

The Netherlands of Arminius’s youth was embroiled in the Eighty Years' War — a bloody and bitter conflict between the Protestant Dutch provinces and their Spanish Catholic overlords. Religious persecution, political oppression, and sheer devastation were daily realities. We may look at this conflict in an upcoming Bonus Episode.

In 1575, when Arminius was just fifteen, tragedy struck in a deeply personal way: Spanish troops sacked his hometown. Oudewater was devastated. Arminius's mother and siblings were killed. He was left an orphan — effectively alone in a hostile world. It’s difficult to overstate how deeply this must have affected the young Arminius. Later in life, he would write with particular sensitivity about the goodness and justice of God — themes that were anything but abstract to someone who had seen such suffering firsthand.

After becoming an orphan, Arminius found support from friends and patrons who recognized his talent. Particularly a priest named Theodorus Aemilius helped sponsor his education. A year after the sack of Oudewater, Arminius went on to study theology at the newly founded University of Leiden. Leiden was not just a place of learning, but a symbol of Dutch resistance: the city had withstood a brutal Spanish siege, and its university stood as a monument to freedom — both political and intellectual.

Here, Arminius studied under Reformed scholars deeply loyal to the theology of John Calvin. Yet even among these luminaries, Arminius stood out. So much so that the city of Amsterdam — recognizing his potential — sponsored his further studies in Geneva, under Theodore Beza, Calvin’s immediate successor.

Beza, a formidable scholar, represented a hardened Calvinism — one that increasingly emphasized the absolute sovereignty of God in predestining individuals to salvation or damnation. Arminius learned deeply from Beza. But even here, seeds of questioning began to form.

Returning to Amsterdam as a pastor in 1588, Arminius was tasked with refuting the writings of Dirck Coornhert, a critic of predestination. Ironically, in studying Coornhert’s arguments and re-examining Scripture, Arminius began to experience his own deep doubts about the traditional Calvinist view.

One passage in particular haunted him: Romans 9. Was Paul really teaching that God unconditionally elects some individuals to salvation and others to eternal condemnation, entirely apart from anything in them? Arminius later wrote in his Declaration of Sentiments, 'In regard to election and reprobation, many passages of Scripture have produced in me great anxiety.' He wrestled deeply — not dismissively. He wasn’t seeking novelty or rebellion. He was seeking faithfulness to Scripture and to the character of God. I'm not saying he found faithfulness but at least that's what his claimed motivations were.

Over time, Arminius’s theological views crystallized — though he remained cautious and measured in public. His core teachings were these:

Conditional Election: God’s predestination is based on His foreknowledge of who would freely believe.

Universal Atonement: Christ died for all, not only the elect.

Resistible Grace: God’s grace is necessary for salvation, but humans can resist it.

Possibility of Apostasy: True believers could potentially fall from grace.

In his own words, Arminius wrote 'Election is of believers, and it is the cause of faith, or of perseverance in faith and in salvation.' He insisted 'God does not deal with men as with stocks and blocks, nor does He treat them in such a manner that they cannot be otherwise than they are acted upon by Him.' In other words — we are not puppets. God’s sovereignty is not mechanical or coercive. It is loving and invites genuine relationship.

In 1603, Arminius was appointed to the theological faculty at the University of Leiden where he had a decade before been a student. His appointment was controversial from the start, as some suspected him of harboring views that strayed from strict Calvinist orthodoxy. 

Initially, Arminius was careful and somewhat cautious in his lectures, emphasizing Scripture and classical Reformed doctrines. However, as he settled into his role, he began to teach more openly about his disagreements with certain aspects of Calvinist predestination.

Arminius did not deny the sovereignty of God but reinterpreted it: he continued to argue that God's predestination was based on His foreknowledge of human faith and decisions, not an absolute decree independent of human will. This stood in contrast to the dominant Calvinist view that God had unconditionally elected some to salvation and others to damnation without regard to human actions.

As these ideas became known, Arminius faced increasing opposition, particularly from his colleague at Leiden, Franciscus Gomarus, a fierce defender of traditional Calvinist doctrine. Their disputes became widely publicized, drawing the attention of church authorities and political leaders. By 1605, tensions between Arminius and the Calvinist establishment had deepened, and efforts were made to organize a national synod to settle the growing theological division. However, political instability in the Dutch Republic, tied up with the broader conflict of the Eighty Years’ War, delayed any formal action.

In the later years of his life, Arminius worked to defend his views, emphasizing that his theology was still firmly rooted in the Reformation principles of grace and Scripture alone. He sought to portray his position as a moderate, reasonable correction to extreme interpretations of Calvinism, rather than a radical break with Protestant tradition. In 1608, he participated in a public debate with Gomarus before the States of Holland, the provincial government, where he famously declared 'I have never taught that a man can believe if he wishes... but I teach that the grace of God is necessary for every act of faith' but no final resolution was reached.

Sadly, Jacobus Arminius’ health was failing. He suffered from tuberculosis, and despite his efforts to continue teaching and writing, he grew progressively weaker. He died on October 19, 1609, at the age of 49. His death left many questions unresolved, but his followers would soon take up his cause, leading to the publication of the Remonstrance in 1610 — and the fierce debates that culminated in the Synod of Dort. Dort was a defining moment in the history of Reformed theology. Convened in the city of Dordrecht in the Dutch Republic, the synod gathered ministers, theologians, and lay representatives from across Europe to resolve the growing theological controversy within the Reformed churches. We'll get into Dort in the next episode.

Arminius has had a huge impact on Christianity over the last four hundred years. His theology became the almost default position in Protestant America and much of the Evangelical world from the 1800's onward - though we are now seeing some signs of the decline of Arminianism and the rise of Calvinism, at least in the US.

Thanks for listening. On the next episode we'll look a bit more deeply at the Synod of Dort and the immediate impact that Arminius had in Christendom. Until then, God bless.