Display of Arminianism Chapter XI
By John Owen
(Modern English)
I will conclude this discussion concerning the meritorious cause of salvation by addressing one of the most serious errors of the Arminians: their teaching that Christ is not the only and absolutely necessary means by which people are brought to eternal life.
This is the final stone they place upon the foundation of human self-sufficiency. By it, they elevate human ability to such a height that it seems complete in itself and worthy of admiration. Until these innovators began gathering materials for their own theological system by striking at the very root of Christianity, Christians universally believed the plain declaration of Scripture:
“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Their bold assertions should not frighten us away from this confession, nor weaken our defense of Christ's honor. I will be brief, because merely stating this error is almost enough to refute it in the judgment of any faithful Christian.
The Arminians teach that the patriarchs and Jews who lived before Christ came into the world were saved without any knowledge of Christ and without faith in him.
They even deny that faith in a coming Redeemer was ever commanded or required under the Old Testament.
In their Apology they state:
“There is no place in the Old Testament from which it can be shown that faith in Christ as Redeemer was either commanded or actually exercised.”
They admit only a vague and general faith in God's goodness and providence, hidden beneath types and shadows. Such faith, they say, may indirectly be called faith in Christ.
But if this is all that is meant, then it is difficult to see why many sincere pagans should not qualify as well.
Arminius himself argued that Paul's description of Abraham's faith in Romans 4 makes no mention of Christ, either directly or in any obvious indirect manner.
When confronted with Christ's own words:
“Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad” (John 8:56),
Arminius replied that Abraham rejoiced merely at the birth of Isaac, who was a type of Christ.
Such an interpretation, Owen argues, corrupts the plain meaning of the text.
The Arminians extend the same principle to the Gentile nations.
Corvinus writes that although God's covenant was not revealed to the Gentiles as it was to the Jews, they nevertheless were not excluded from the covenant of grace or from salvation. Somehow, he says, they too were called by God.
Thus salvation is granted to people who never knew Christ at all.
The doctrine eventually developed into even more radical forms.
Bertius openly denied the proposition:
“No one can be saved unless he is united to Christ by true faith.”
Venator went even further.
When asked:
“Is the life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ the only way of salvation?”
he answered:
“No.”
According to this view, people may enter Abraham's bosom without believing in Abraham's promised Seed.
They may conquer the serpent without knowing the Seed of the woman.
They may enter heaven though they never belonged to Christ's flock, never entered through Christ the door, never trusted in his blood, and never knew him as Savior.
Such people are saved without a Savior, redeemed without a Redeemer, and adopted into God's family without ever knowing the Son.
Had these statements been careless slips of the pen, they might be excused as human weakness. But they arise naturally from the entire Arminian system and are defended deliberately and consistently. Therefore Christians must regard them as dangerous and destructive errors.
According to Owen, once several Arminian principles are accepted, this conclusion inevitably follows.
First, they deny the full guilt and corruption of original sin.
Second, they make the covenant of grace universal, embracing every descendant of Adam alike.
Third, they teach that people possess within themselves the ability to come to God if only sufficient means are provided.
Fourth, they insist that God provides such means to all people.
If these premises are accepted, then the knowledge of Christ can no longer be considered absolutely necessary for salvation.
The unique glory of Christianity collapses, and Christ is reduced to merely one option among many paths to God.
Owen acknowledges that a few early church fathers made statements that seem to suggest that some pagans living according to reason might have been saved without explicit faith in Christ.
This occurred before the Pelagian controversy had forced the church to think more carefully about grace and salvation.
As Lipsius remarked, some of these writers had put on Christ without entirely putting off Plato.
Learned scholars such as Isaac Casaubon had already demonstrated the weakness of these arguments.
Whatever truth these fathers taught, their mistakes should be counted among the imperfections found in all uninspired writings.
The medieval schoolmen later debated the same question, but surprisingly reached near-unanimous agreement that salvation comes only through Christ.
Owen cites Thomas Aquinas, who even tells a story about a pagan who was saved because God had supernaturally revealed Christ to him.
The issue, however, is not whether God can extraordinarily reveal Christ to whomever he pleases.
God is free to do as he wills.
The real question is this:
Can a person, guided only by natural reason and without knowledge of Christ, attain eternal life?
Owen answers with an emphatic no.
He regards the contrary position as a Pelagian and Socinian error.
He approvingly quotes Bernard of Clairvaux:
“Many labor to make Plato a Christian, but in doing so prove themselves to be pagans.”
Owen argues that they certainly did.
From the beginning of the world God revealed a coming Redeemer.
The promise that the Seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15) was a promise concerning Christ.
The same is true of the promises made to Abraham, Jacob, David, and others.
Since believers were obligated to believe God's promises, they were obligated to believe God's promises concerning Christ.
Passages such as Isaiah 53 and Daniel 9 plainly foretold Christ's suffering and death.
Christ himself taught that Moses and all the prophets spoke of him.
Indeed, after his resurrection he rebuked the disciples:
“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:25–26).
If the prophets taught Christ's sufferings, then faith in those sufferings was required.
Simeon awaited the consolation of Israel.
The Samaritan woman expected a Messiah who would reveal God's truth and redeem his people.
Their expectations show that faith in a coming Savior existed among God's people.
Christ's own testimony settles the matter:
“Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
In Scripture, Christ's “day” often refers especially to his redemptive work.
If Abraham saw that day, he believed it.
The father of the faithful was not less believing than doubting Thomas.
Christ is called:
“The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
He is:
“The same yesterday and today and forever.”
Scripture declares:
“There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
No one has ever been saved apart from Christ's merits.
No one has ever come to the Father except through him.
Paul tells the Ephesians that before they entered God's covenant people they were “without Christ” because they were “aliens from the commonwealth of Israel” (Ephesians 2:12).
This implies that Israel's covenant already included Christ and his righteousness.
For this reason, early Christian writers such as Ignatius of Antioch and Prosper of Aquitaine taught that all the saints of the Old Testament were saved through faith in Christ.
Likewise, Eusebius of Caesarea argued that the patriarchs could rightly be called Christians in substance, though not in name.
Owen's answer is decisive: No.
If those who possessed the Law, the prophets, and special revelation still required faith in Christ, then those who lacked all these advantages certainly could not be saved without him.
Owen admits that the moral efforts of pagans were not entirely without reward.
Some received outward prosperity.
Some enjoyed a degree of inward tranquility.
Some may experience a lighter degree of punishment than others.
Yet none of this amounts to salvation.
Scripture nowhere reveals saving mercy apart from Christ.
Several biblical truths make this clear:
Without Christ, people can do nothing spiritually good.
The best works of unbelievers remain unacceptable before God.
Without faith it is impossible to please God.
Whoever does not believe stands condemned.
The blessing promised to Abraham comes to the nations only through Christ.
Christ alone is the way, the truth, and the life.
Christ alone is the door by which people enter God's kingdom.
No other foundation for salvation exists.
Owen then combines two passages from Paul:
Romans 8:30 teaches that those who are glorified are first called.
Romans 10:14–15 teaches that God's call ordinarily comes through the preaching of the gospel.
From this he concludes that salvation cannot be promised to those who remain entirely ignorant of Christ, the only Savior.
The Arminian doctrine, according to Owen, diminishes the uniqueness and necessity of Jesus Christ.
It teaches that people may reach heaven without knowing the Savior, trusting in his blood, or believing God's promises concerning him.
Against this, Owen insists that there has always been only one way of salvation:
Before Christ came, believers were saved by faith in the promised Messiah.
After Christ came, believers are saved by faith in the Messiah who has been revealed.
In every age, salvation is found only through Christ.
The object of saving faith may have been known with greater or lesser clarity in different periods of redemptive history, but the Savior has always been the same.
Owen closes with a solemn warning:
Be careful not to invent new roads to heaven for others. In attempting to create another path, you may lose sight of the true path yourself.