Amyraut As Neo-Ockhamist

Given the above Amyraldian scheme, instead of a divine decree as being unconditional or absolute, (perhaps, in our ideas thought of as a set of such unconditional decrees) Amyraut seems to have preferred to think in terms of an antecedent will of God which could be frustrated by the will of men and women, and a consequent divine will which could not be frustrated. These differently-understood divine ’wills’ took the place of a set of absolute decrees. (So the idea of one all-encompassing decree seems to have played little or no part in his thought). The difference between ‘antecedent’ and ‘consequent’ was not merely terminological, but had the consequence of confusing the secret will of God, which can never be frustrated, (the ‘consequent will’) and the revealed will of God (the ‘antecedent will’) which of course could and was (or is being) spurned by a fallen race, according to Amyraldianism. This was, as far as I can see, a purely speculative construction, whose only biblical warrant is that it endeavours to do justice to Scriptural expressions of Christ’s death being for ‘the world’.

‐Paul Helm, Amyraut and Amyraldianism

    Post authored by:

  • R. Scott Clark
    Author Image

    R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.

    More by R. Scott Clark ›

Subscribe to the Heidelblog today!


One comment

Comments are closed.