I am in one sense responding to the article by Solano Portela, but in another the whole issue. Let me bring in another quote from the historical introduction to Luther’s Bondage of the Will. “Arminianism was, indeed, in Reformed eyes a renunciation of New Testament Christianity in favour of New Testament Judaism; for to rely on oneself for faith is no different in principle from relying on oneself for works, and the one is as un-Christian and anti-Christian as the other” (p. 59).
This is a statement about the Reformers as a whole and therefore it gives us a view of how they viewed the Gospel. Without question that is no longer in vogue today. The real issue, though, is what Scripture teaches on the issue. But surely we can see the trouble with an article that tells us that Reformed people who view their theology as better than that of others are guilty of pride. While that may be true in some ways and some instances, at the moment we are talking about the Gospel. Should we just accept the fact that the Arminian system denies the Gospel of grace alone even in its assertion of justification by faith alone? Should we just turn our eyes away from what Luther and the Reformers taught and then reject what they taught on the Gospel? In that case, we are no longer Reformed. Again, it is much more important to be biblical. But to be Reformed is surely to believe that the essentials of what the Reformers taught were and are biblical.
We must always be careful not to look at systems as the determiner of truth and of salvation, yet there are reasons people believe certain things and each system has elements that must be examined also. What we must do is to look at what a system really says and then ask an individual if he or she believes that. Just because a person professes to belong to one system of thought does not mean that the person understand things identically with that system. The Gospel as a belief and as expressed in a life is what must determine if a person is to be considered a believer or not. Quoting from the Banner article again, “Why can we have genuine fellowship with those who are not Calvinists? For one thing, if they are truly saved, we are brothers, children of the same sovereign God. Also even though we perceive inconsistencies in their theological structure; even though they may be proclaiming that salvation is the result of the supposed ‘free-will’ of man; in spite of all that, when they are on their knees to pray, when they are truly troubled and seeking for God, they forget their theology and pray to a sovereign Almighty God.” Frankly, this is a shocking and troubling statement in many ways.
First, it is true that we can have genuine fellowship with all those who are in Christ and even those we disagree with on some issues. But how do we know people are true believers in Christ? If truly they believe that their salvation is according to their free-will, then they do not believe in a Gospel that is all of grace. Certainly they do not believe in the Gospel of Christ alone because they are trusting in their own supposed free-will for something. If a person can trust in Christ and in his or her free-will for some element of the Gospel, then how much can they trust in their free-will and still be saved? Why not just follow the slippery slope and go back to Pelagius? Pelagianism is trusting in free-will also, but the semi-pelagians trust in less free will. Both systems of thought do not trust in grace alone. Again, I find this statement to be absolutely shocking.
Second, what we believe shows what we believe about God. It is also true that our belief system about God in reality shows the God we believe in. If we do not believe in God as He has revealed Himself, then we don’t believe in the one and true God. If we believe that the free-will of man can thwart God at even one point, are we still talking about the same God? If we believe that God cannot save man apart from the sovereign act and permission of the human will, are we talking about the same God? If a person has not been broken from his sinful pride and independence enough to trust in Christ alone for salvation, has that person truly repented from self-rule and bowed to Christ? I hope that the issue is becoming clear because evidently it is not in so many places today. The teaching of free-will is not just a minor issue and a little glitch in a theological system. It is not something that can easily be forgotten when a person bows to pray. Free-will is the core of a heart that is committed to self and what self can do. It is an island in which man will not allow God to be sovereign. It must be repented of in order to believe the Gospel of grace alone.
God Loves... Himself 
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