There are many points that separate these two groups of Christians. One of the points that separate these two groups is the concept of predestination and free-will. I believe the difference is rooted in how one perceives sin, blame, and action, and how those concepts are tied together into someone's understanding of who God is.
The Armenian perception is that God "knows" what's going to happen, but is not the one who "ordains" the act. My aunt and uncle put it best when they pointed out that God is a "gentleman", who is permissive in his ability to will something to happen. In terms of our responsibility, we are given the autonomy and the ability to say to God whether He can or can't do something in our lives, and we are given the power to become the ultimate cause to the end for which something becomes. This also allows us to throw the blame away from God and thus explains why we're a sinful people. Our sinfulness is our "free-will" to choose God at some points in time, and at some points not choose.
To put the Armenian belief with respect to sin, blame, and action, God does not commit sin because humans, in their ability to choose, are the ones who commit bad acts toward one another. This is often the best explanation for Christians trying to explain disasters or terrible events. The blame is on creation or human imperfection, but when good things happen God gets the credit. I believe there is an inconsistency with this perception, in that if we are just as capable to choose evil and get credit, why shouldn't we get credit for being able to choose and do good?
But if the ability to choose good was never really our own, is it safe to say apart from the source of that good, we are sinful? Isn't that the concept of total depravity? And we have to put into perspective what sin is. A Calvinist would explain God's sovereignty and maintains His position of sinless and blameless in terms of how we define sin. Sin is all forms of ungodliness (which Jerry Bridges in Respectable Sins defines as not pursuing God's glory or not mindful of God). Sin is not contained in just what we do to others, but rather when we are not about and for God, through a Biblical perspective.
Sin is our tendency to not think about God, not pursue His Glory through our actions/thoughts/words, and not delight in His being glorified. And to bring it back to God and sin, God can't sin because God is always about God, regardless of the actions He takes to do so. Sovereignty is not something we should dismiss because it could put the blame of sin on God, because it is through that sovereignty that God can be all about God. God ordaining some things to pass is not sin IF the ends to which He is doing so is His glory. That's the difference between Armenian and Calvinist perspectives: God does not sin because He does not involve Himself in our acts of sin vs. God does not sin because all things He does, He does for His glory.
No comments:
Post a Comment