Biography
Jacobus Arminius was born on October 10, 1560, in Oudewater, in the Netherlands. His father, a maker of weapons, died before he was born, and his mother was left to raise the family. When Jacobus was about fifteen, Spanish soldiers massacred the inhabitants of Oudewater, and his mother was killed. He was orphaned and was cared for by a series of guardians who saw to his education. He studied at the universities of Leiden, Marburg and Geneva, where he learned under the great Reformed teacher Theodore Beza. He was a gifted student with a wide and curious mind.
He returned to Amsterdam in 1587 and was ordained as a pastor in 1588. He served the church in Amsterdam for fifteen years. He was a popular preacher, with a clear and warm style. He was also a pastor who cared for his flock. During a plague in the city, he visited the sick and the dying and was widely loved. In the course of his ministry, he preached through the book of Romans, and he began to have doubts about some of the strict doctrines of Calvinism, especially the teaching that God predestined some to salvation and others to damnation without regard to their faith.
He was asked to answer a work that argued for a stricter form of predestination, and in the course of the study, he found that he could not agree with it. He came to believe that God's election is based on His foreknowledge of those who will believe, and that grace can be resisted. He held that Christ died for all people and that it is possible for the believer to fall from grace. He taught that humans are totally depraved and cannot save themselves, and that God's grace is needed for every step. He did not deny the sovereignty of God and thought that he was holding to the biblical balance.
In 1603, he was appointed professor of theology at the University of Leiden. He lectured on the doctrine of grace, and his views came under fire from his colleague Franciscus Gomarus, who was a strong Calvinist. The two men engaged in a bitter debate. Arminius was accused of heresy and of undermining the doctrines of the church. He denied the charge and said that he was loyal to the Scriptures. He was calm and conciliatory in his conduct, though he suffered from the strain.
The dispute spread to the churches and the government of the Netherlands and divided the country. Arminius asked for a national synod to settle the matter. He did not live to see it. His health had been poor for years, and he died of tuberculosis on October 19, 1609, at the age of forty-nine. He left a wife and several children.
After his death, his followers drew up a statement of their beliefs, called the Remonstrance, in 1610. They became known as the Remonstrants. In 1618 and 1619, a national synod was held at Dort. It condemned the views of the Remonstrants and set out the five points of Calvinism, in answer. The Remonstrants were persecuted. Some were imprisoned and exiled. Yet the movement survived and influenced later Christian thought, among them John Wesley and the Methodists.
He has often been misunderstood, and some of the views attributed to him were not his own. He held strongly to the grace of God and the authority of the Bible. His life shows the cost of a conscientious search for the truth, and the way that a theologian can be maligned. His name stands for a way of understanding salvation that many Christians have held.