ABSTRACT
In Paradise Lost, the fallen angels have lost the ability to penetrate the Scripture. They have no scriptural authority and become endlessly lost in theological debate. An important text in the predestination debate is Arminius’ response to Perkins’ De praedestinationis mode et ordine et de amplitudine gratiae divinae. Perkins was a renowned professor of theology at Cambridge University and followed the supralapsarian point of view in soteriology. Gomarus and Perkins divided the concept of grace into two categories, common grace and peculiar or special grace. Common grace applies to all people, whether they are elect or non-elect, whereas the latter is only for those predestined to receive it. In Arminius’ doctrine, there is therefore a distinction between believing and the ability to believe. The latter is universal, whereas coming to believe is the outcome of a process of faith, grace and human acceptance.
