It would probably be more accurate to say that Christ died for all men but Atonement is only applied to those who receive it.
Thus, all men are savable, but the Atonement is only effective if accepted.
If one doesn't get under the Blood, then one stands on ones own works (Isa.64:6)
The real issue, one that few Arminians are willing to face, is the Total Depravity of Man. Man is WICKED from day one. He/she is spiritually DEAD as a doornail and needs to be "raised from the dead". This of course flies in the face that man is basically good and needs to make a "decision".
There may Arminians who believe this, but neither Arminius nor Wesley taught it.
Both held that man was totally depraved and needed God's grace to be saved.
The difference is that God's grace is given to all men and some reject it and some do not.
This rejection comes can come at various stages, at the recognition of God (Rom.1, Ps.19) or upon hearing of the Gospel (Jn.3:36)
Scripture says time and again you must be born again. Time and again God comes to people, not the other way around. Time and again the Bible says faith is a gift from God, not self manufactured. Time and again the Bible says we are "dead", yet we believe we are capable of "doing something". Time and again the Bible says our hearts are wicked and there is no one that does what is right, yet we think things to the contrary.
Well, both Arminus and Wesley believed faith was a gift of God (I will leave my personal views aside) and believed that faith was given to men but that man had the ability to reject it as well as receive it.
Thus, the differences between them and Calvin was simply the scope of the offer and irresistable grace.
Ofcourse, this then goes back to unconditional vs conditional election.
God has to regenerate the dead heart. God has to come to us and make Himself known like He did with Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Saul, David, Jeremiah, John, Peter, Paul, Cornelius, and on and on and on. And when God has regenerated the heart people dropped what they're doing and followed. This isn't only Biblical examples but I've heard countless testimonies saying the same thing that, "I was at a Billy Graham meeting and something moved me to know that I was a sinner and needed a savior....". DUH!
Adding light into a dead heart is not regeneration.
The Calvin view is that spiritual death means total absence of any will.
The will is there, but it needs light to show it an alternative to the darkness of Satan (2Cor.4:4)
Once that light is given (the Gospel), then the individual can believe the words or not.
If he rejects the Gospel, he is still an unbeliever and remains in darkness.
If he believes, he then becomes regenerate and is born again.
Regeneration is rebirth as when the world is regenerated when Christ returns (Matt.19:28)
What is really appalling to Arminians is to think that God regenerates the heart to follow Him. Yet this is what our Lord Jesus told Nicodemus needed to be done; "You must be BORN again." and Nicodemus wasn't in a position to rebirth himself. To believe one makes some sort of "intellectual" decision is to essentially deny the workings of the Holy Spirit.
What the Arminians reject (classical Arminians) is that God would choose some and not others with no objective reason.
A man is born again when the words of the Gospel take hold in his soul and he receives them as such,
Being born again not of corruptible seed,but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever (1Pe.1:23)
Faith cometh by hearing and hearing cometh by the word of God.(Rom.10:17)
There is not one verse in scripure that says that man is regenerated before he believes.
As far as Perseverance of the Saints goes, I've always felt that if God would take the trouble to save a wretched sinner like me, when I was in the depths of depravity, why would He not help me in my walk now that He's begun a "good work" in me?
Well, that is very true, but it is not 'perserverance of the saints' but the perserverance of God.
You are eternally secure once you are born again because He will finish the good work He has started (Phil.1:6) and nothing can separate you from his love (Rom.8:38-39), but it has nothing to do with you perservering, it has to do with the fact that God has sealed you for the day of Redemption, (Eph.4:30) no matter what you do (1Jn.5)
And yet that's not what Scripture says. Some vessels are made for wrath.
"Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou make me thus? Or hath no the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels fitted unto destruction: and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy which he afore prepared unto glory, even us, whom he also called." -- Romans 9:20-24
That’s one way to look at it. However it begs the question didn’t God know how many would receive salvation? Limited atonement says God knew how many.
HD-Man is WICKED from day one. FTD-“There may Arminians who believe this, but neither Arminius nor Wesley taught it. Both held that man was totally depraved and needed God's grace to be saved. The difference is that God's grace is given to all men and some reject it and some do not.”
The Bible does not support this. There are multiple examples throughout the Old Testament where God’s grace was selectively given. There is no greater example of selective grace of God in the Bible than the Passover.
Men will NEVER accept God’s grace even if it is freely offered or God “enlightens” a person. It is not in our nature which is corrupt. It’s like having an absolute passion for chocolate ice cream. If given the choice between vanilla and chocolate, a person will always choose chocolate unless the taste buds are changed to have a passion for vanilla. Some may make an “intellectual” choice for vanilla and pretend to like it but they eventually go back to their real passion-chocolate.
Such is the depravity of man according to scripture. Given a choice man will always make the wrong choice unless God steps in to change his nature to make the right choice. This is what being "born again" is all about. Once you are born again, you will freely accept God and want to drop what you are doing and follow Christ. So says the scriptures. This is how depraved man is and how great God is to want to change man.
”Well, that is very true, but it is not 'perseverance of the saints' but the perseverance of God. “
That is a much more accurate title and reflects the belief. (Seems to me I read where someone suggested the same name.) If it was up to me I would have named some of the TULIP petals differently but we probably would have ended up with TQZYW. I can’t help how they named things.
One might say that , but unfortunately that is not what the word of God says
Jhn 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Jhn 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name:
Jhn 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.