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Rating: 
Summary: Well written, but not thorough enough.
Review: An honest Christian must be willing to examine the arguments of those who disagree with him. I desire to be an honest Christian, and as a biblical Calvinist, it is imperative that I represent the position of those Arminian minded folks who would dissent from what I believe the Bible teaches. The reformed Calvinist has the bad reputation of hunting down and slaying the "windmill" view of Arminianism. Dave Hunt's horrific book obviously offers such an easy target. An honest Christian, particularly an honest Calvinist, should avoid such vain battles, and actually interact with the Arminian's core beliefs. That is why I appreciated Robert Picirilli's book, "Grace, Faith and Freewill." He classifies himself as a Reformed Arminian, and he articulates his position well. His book lays out his case by first giving the historical background to Arminius's theology, and the Remonstrant's disagreement with traditional Calvinism. Picirilli then proceeds to outline Arminian theology and provide a biblical exegesis for his case. His book is finely written. It is not one of these pseudo-researched books against Calvinism with pages of superfluous footnotes. Larry Vance's monstrosity, "The Other side of Calvinism," basically an 800 page doorstop, comes to mind.
Moreover, I appreciate the fact that Dr. Picirilli boldly proclaims that he is an Arminian. Many of the folks writing against Calvinism put up this disingenuous aire of "I'm not an Arminian, nor a Calvinist; I only believe the Bible." That just indicates to me that such a person usually has no clue about the fundamental issues surrounding the debate. Also, I was pleased that he wrote respectfully and honestly when examining the disagreements between the two systems. His discussion didn't spiral down to a mournful remembrance of Servetus's burning, as if that event some how discredits the theology of the Reformers. He wasn't trying to hunt down any Calvinistic conspiracies with his work, and the tone he took when writing was pleasant; not the shrill, nails on the chalkboard tone of the likes of Peter Ruckman.
Then finally, I was refreshed that he bathed his book in a reasonable amount of exegetical study. The books I have read in the past critiquing and actually blasting Calvinism, are devoid of any meaningful exegesis. Some authors try to do some exegesis, but it is painfully obvious that they are ignorant of the original languages, or lacks any true theological sophistication to interact with any of the exegetical arguments of the proponents of Calvinism. Dr. Picirilli was not like this and I felt that he had some good work to consider. Where I felt that the book disappointed, however, was in two areas. First, his over all study of election, the atonement, regeneration and perseverance, operates from the presupposition of libertarian freewill; a presupposition I believe he assumes outright, with out question, before proceeding to outline his arguments. There wasn't any in-depth study on this subject, and I believe that is what he needed to establish before he could make a case for his brand of reformed Arminianism. Granted, he does discuss freewill in the section on the application of salvation, but most of his discussion was philosophical, not biblical, and what biblical study he did give to faith and belief, was neither thorough, nor compelling in my opinion. Even his lengthy study on prevenient grace, what he redefines as "pre-regenerating grace," left a lot of critical questions unanswered.
The second area I felt the book lacked was in the interaction with Calvinist writers and thinkers, particularly modern day ones. He does interact with classic Calvinistic theologies such as Berkhof and Shedd and interacts with Roger Nicole's various journal articles and books defending particular redemption. However, I believe he needed to recognize the works of Bruce Ware, Thomas Schriener, James White, John Piper, RT. McGregor-Wright, Robert Reymond, and the late James Boice to just name a few contemporary writers. In fact, I was rather surprised that he totally overlooked any reference to John Owen's Mount Everest work on the atonement. Overall, though the book is well written, it is just not thorough enough in answering solid objections of Calvinist thinkers. However, Dr. Picirilli's work is worth the time for an honest Calvinist to consider; if he desires to know the ins and outs of his opponent's beliefs. See James White's "The Potter's Freedom" for a wecomed response to Norman Geisler's Arminian positions. F
Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Defense of Reformed Arminianism
Review: Dr. Robert Picirilli is a Free Will Baptist scholar and theologian. He is a former professor of Greek and New Testament studies at Free Will Baptist College. For over 45 years he has been teaching, preaching, and writing Arminian theology. Picirilli stands for a very specific kind of Arminianism that he calls "Reformation Arminianism." This type of Arminianism holds to the following beliefs: total depravity; the sovereignty of God to control all things for the certain accomplishment of His will; God's perfect foreknowledge of, and the certainty of, all future events-including the free moral choices of human beings; the penal satisfaction view of the atonement, salvation by grace through faith and not by works, from beginning to end; and an apostasy that cannot be remedied. He demonstrates that these beliefs (apostasy being more implicitly implied than explicitly stated) are the teachings that Jacob Arminius defended from Scripture. He quotes from The Works of Arminius throughout the book and has provided a helpful index for each of these citations. This book is not filled with emotional rhetoric but is rather a simple and straightforward stating of the facts. Therefore, for some people, this will not be an "exciting" book to read. Nevertheless, it does serve in accomplishing his goal "to present both sides, so that the reader will know exactly what those issues are: to clarify understanding of both positions and help readers intelligently decide for themselves" (Forward, p. i). Picirilli begins by giving a brief biography of Arminius that helps to place the issues in their historical context. He then tackles the issues surrounding God's sovereignty, predestination, human depravity, grace, atonement, and perseverance. Picirilli takes great care in accurately representing the Five Point Calvinist position. He quotes mostly from three highly respected Calvinists: Louis Berkof, William Sheed, and Roger Nicole. I would have liked to have seen Picirilli quote from John Calvin himself, yet the people he chose are fine representatives of his theological system. Picirilli cogently defends conditional election and unlimited atonement. He wisely reminds his readers that "the extent of the atonement should be determined by Biblical exegesis rather than by the logic of one's system" (p. 90). It is Picirilli's detailed exegesis on 1 John 2:2 and 1 Timothy 2:1-6 in chapter seven that I found to be extremely valuable. He concludes this chapter with an important observation: All of us who handle God's word do well to remember that we do not honor Him with our interpretive ingenuity but with submission to what He says. To say, even to show, that a given statement can be interpreted in a certain way does us no credit at all. The question is always not what the words can mean but what they do mean, here. In 1 John 2:2 and in 1 Timothy 2:1-6, the most obvious meaning of "world" and "all men" is universalistic. In these cases, careful exegesis supports the obvious meaning. (p. 137) As to be expected, Picirilli defends the biblical doctrine of prevenient grace that Arminius so vigorously held to. He prefers to call the drawing and convicting work of God on all sinners as "Pre-regenerating Grace." I take it as simply an oversight on Picirilli's part, but he does fail to mention John 12:32 in his defense of pre-regenerating grace. This is unfortunate since this verse complements the drawing of the Father mentioned in John 6:44. In the last two chapters of the book Picirilli gives a solid defense for conditional security. There is a perceptive response that he makes "to Scriptures prized by Calvinists as teaching the necessary perseverance of the regenerate" (p. 200). He writes, Those passages, especially in the Gospel of John, which contain strong promises of (final) salvation to believers and are therefore thought to imply necessary perseverance can not be used for that purpose lest they "prove too much." . . . For example: John 5:24
He that believes...
shall not
come into condemnation John 3:36
he that believes not...
shall not
see life Grammatically, if the first means that the condition of the believer can not be changed, then the second means that the condition of the unbeliever likewise can not be changed. In fact, neither passage is even speaking to that issue. The unbeliever can leave his unbelief, become a believer, and see life-thus escaping from the promise made to the unbeliever who continues in his unbelief. Likewise, the believer can leave his belief, become an unbeliever, and come into condemnation-thus escaping from the promise made to believers who continue in faith. Each promise applies with equal force to those who continue in the respective state described. (p. 200-201) Picirilli goes on to convincingly argue from Hebrews 6:4-6 and 2 Peter 2:18-22, that these two passages describe an apostasy that can not be remedied. His careful exegetical analysis has convinced me that he is correct in his conclusion. A compelling case for holding to Classical Arminianism has been made by Dr. Picirilli. Anyone who is interested in a balanced discussion and a strongly argued case for believing in conditional election, unlimited atonement, and conditional security would do well to read this book. We need more books written from this perspective that provide a detailed exegetical defense for the possibility of apostasy.
Rating:
Summary: scholarly, insightful, and balanced look at this controversy
Review: For nearly 10 years I have been a serious student of theology. The Calvinist/Arminian issue comes up a great deal and it is important for serious students of theology to study this issue and attempt to discover the truth. In terms of background, many of the most prominent teachers of our day (RC Sproul, John MacArthur, John Piper, etc.) are diehard Calvinists so that most people are already heavily biased against Arminian theology. Because of the influence of powerful Calvinists, the word Arminian now connotes humanism, liberalism, and being generally soft toward the Bible. The goal of this book is to study major themes of Scripture (salvation, grace, faith, free will) from both the Calvinist and Arminian perspectives. It is quite systematic, yet fortunately not too long. I read Picirilli's book having previously studied Arminianism from the lens of Calvinists. It was a stunning read because I now am convinced that Arminius' views are generally mischaracterized. For example, as Picirilli shows in his book, Arminius believed in total depravity and in a substitionary atonement. Arminius was actually the star student of Theodore Beza himself, who in turn was John Calvin's disciple. After having read this book, I now understand Arminius in a very different light. On each of the points of Calvinism, Picirilli first states the Calvinist position. He is exceedingly fair and goes to great lengths to quote prominent Calvinists in order to articulate the position accurately. After doing so, he looks at the same point from an Arminian perspective. Because the author is a former professor of Greek and New Testament studies, the scholarship of this book is impeccable. His exegesis is sharp and demonstrates an extraordinary command of the Bible. It is a cool, levelheaded book that does a brilliant job at examining the issue. No matter what your theological background, you will certainly benefit from reading this fine book.
Rating: 
Summary: Recommendations
Review: For several superb works on Calvinism, I recommend the following. Search for them on the web (many free materials are available from these authors). Gordon Clark (Trinity Foundation):
- Biblical Predestination
- God and Evil Vincent Cheung (Reformation Ministries International):
- Systematic Theology
- Ultimate Questions
- Presuppositional Confrontations
Rating: 
Summary: Soteriology from the Arminian side
Review: I first ran into Picirilli when I was doing a research paper on foreknowledge and the Greek word proginwskw. He had a couple of articles in JETS that I utilized, and from there I learned that he was riding a book. I recieved it for my birthday and immediately began to read.
To begin with, I am forced to admit that for the most part all the best books on Soteriology have come from more of a Calvinist direction. However, in Grace, Faith, Free Will, Picirilli has done an excellent job and provides an excellent counter to a lot of these authors. Picirilli does not rely on "whosoever will" proof-texting, so to speak. He gives a fair hearing to the Calvninistic arguments and applies solid exegesis to controversial passages. Though not perfect by far, his book provides perhaps the best defense of Arminian soteriology.
The overall layout of the chapters is well done. His book is divided into sections of three chapters: the first chapter provides the Calvinistic viewpoint of a particular topic (e.g. limited atonement), the second chapter provides the common Arminian viewpoint, and the third chapter examines the key scriptural passages connected with that topic. The topics include total depravity, the atonement of Christ, perseverance, etc., basically all the major topics of soteriology.
Picirilli excels at understanding his opponent's arguments. As he notes early on, it is essential that one be able to lay out one's opponents' arguments in such a way that they themselves will agree that you are being fair. Unfortunately, in my opinion, while Picirilli is fair in examining the Calvinist viewpoint, he does not quote from enough modern theologions (I was, for example, hoping to see him interact some with White's The Potter's Freedom). He relies too much on the 'classic' Calvinist's such as Shedd.
Picirilli provides something that has been missing (to my knowledge) in the discussion of soteriology. He provides an in-deapth look at common Calvinistic rebuttals to common Arminian arguments (his treatment of the Calvinistic interpretation of "all" in such passages as 2 Peter 3:9 is masterful). In that sense Grace, Faith, and Free Will is essential for any serious collection of soteriology--besides arminians or "sub-calvinists" (including myself, by his definition), Calvinists will want it so they can examine and counter Picirilli's arguments. This book provides a good balance to well-written Calvinist books such as The Potter's Freedom, etc. While I certainly do not agree with Picirilli all the time, he makes a lot of good points that one might be hard-pressed to find elsewhere, and I do not hesitate to recommend this book
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best on Refromed Arminian Theology
Review: Robert Picirilli's book is one of the best books that I have ever read on Arminism. Many books seem to get caught up in debating with various Calvinistic or Arminian authors on the subject of the five points of Calvinism or the free will of man. However, this is not the case with Picirilli. He writes with a goal, a focus, and a point.
The book begins with an historical overview of the Calvinism/Arminism debate. He dives into the life of Jacob Arminius and shows that, contrary to various Calvinist historians, he was completely Reformed in his understanding of man (total depravity), God's sovereignty, and election. However, Arminius differed with his Calvinist brothers over the extent of the atonement (limited atonement), evangelism, and free will. He was not Pelagian in his thought but was Reformed and work from that understanding. Picirilli reveals that much of Arminius has been lost due to many of his followers reshaping his thoughts to become more humanistic despite Arminius refusal to do so.
The book goes on to discuss salvation from both the Calvinist and Arminian viewpoints and then Picirilli gives his own Reformed Arminian view.
The book is well written, easy to grasp, and will engage both Calvinist and Arminian readers. I highly recommend it.
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