Jacob Arminius

Abstract

This chapter surveys the works of Jacob Arminius, a figure infrequently associated with covenant theology. Through his labors at the University of Leiden, Arminius and his colleagues continued to develop the covenant of works based upon a number of different texts and thus acted as a dissemination point for the doctrine. But the chapter also coordinates Arminius’s doctrine with the formulations of his colleagues at Leiden, Franciscus Gomarus, Francis Junius, and Lucas Trelcatius. Arminius’s doctrine was common and relatively uncontroversial. Instead, later Reformed theologians critiqued his theology because they believed his doctrine of the covenant of grace too closely resembled the covenant of works. Later theologians also critiqued Arminius’s understanding of the precise nature of Adam’s natural state, namely, that he received the supernatural grace of God.