Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609) was a Calvinist at one time. He was a student of Beza, who was John Calvin's son-in-law. In a debate defending Calvinist views, he believed that his opponent was better able to defend the opposite views. This led him to reject some major points of Calvinism. He tried to modify certain Calvinist views so that "God might not be considered the author of sin, nor man an automaton in the hands of God" (Earl Cairns, Christianity Through the Centuries, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1954) 351.
Arminius taught that God by an eternal purpose determined to save through Christ, and the grace of the Holy Spirit, all who believe on the Lord Jesus. Believers must persevere in the faith through God's grace even to the end. Those who refuse to believe in Christ are left in their sin under the wrath of God (John 3:36).
Arminius further taught that "Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, died for all men and for every man, so that he obtained for them all, by his death on the cross, redemption and the forgiveness of sins; yet that no one actually enjoys this forgiveness of sins, except the believer, according to the word of the Gospel of John 3:16." Arminius focused upon First John 2:2 to prove his point: "And he (Christ) is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."
Arminius continued to believe that man is unable "to think, will, nor do anything good" without the saving grace of God. Man must be born again through the Holy Spirit and renewed in his will and understanding. He recognized that sin was the reason for man's inability to please God. He quoted the words of Jesus: "Without me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Arminius continued to uphold the Calvinist doctrine of total depravity. He was not Pelagian nor semi-Pelagian in his views.
Jacobus Arminius taught the prevenient grace of God. That is to say, man can only be saved if God initiates his salvation by grace. Prevenient grace precedes conversion. It is this grace that awakens man to his lost condition and need of Christ as his Savior. Thereafter conversion, the believer continues to be dependent on the grace of God in all things ascribed as good in his life. However, Arminius maintained that this grace is not irresistible. The Spirit of grace can be resisted by man (Acts 7:51; Hebrews 10:29).
Arminius did understand that certain passages taught the security of the believer (e.g., John 10:28). When it comes to such security, he taught that the grace of the Holy Spirit through the power of Christ "keeps them from falling, so that they, by no craft or power of Satan, can be misled nor plucked out of Christ's hands." However, when it came to the possibility of the believer turning away from the grace of Christ, he stated, "That must be more particularly determined out of the Holy Scripture, before we ourselves can teach it with the full persuasion of our minds" (Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom) 3:545-49.
