Material heresy is forgiven with all of your other sins upon justification. During your sanctification as you mature you will repent from any material heresies you believed and conform to orthodoxy. I didn’t understand the Trinity at all as a young Christian and when I came to understand that partialism was a heresy I repented. I was a regenerated justified believer, but was wrong about the Trinity, until someone explained it in a way I could understand. A formal heretic would reject orthodoxy even after correction and discipline, proving they were false converts to begin with. (this is a general answer for all incorrect understandings that new believers might have, given they are true converts.)
Tag: formal heretic
Hyper-Arminianism, What!?
I’m a Calvinist. I get very tired of hearing people say, “Hyper-Calvinist” as if that is a thing. “…The term originated in the 19th century as a sometimes-pejorative descriptor predated by terms such as “false Calvinism” and “High Calvinism”…” People sling this pejorative around instead of just addressing the particular heresy that a person embraces while calling themselves a Calvinist. People just label them, “Hyper-Calvinist.” Do we see Calvinists labeling Arminians as, “Hyper-Arminians” if they are actually Pelagians, Open Theists, or Free Grace Movement heretics? No, we just site the specific heresy. Then, inform the heretic of their error in hopes that they are a material heretic. We hope that they would then repent and adhere to orthodoxy. Sometimes of course they will not repent. In their refusal they prove themselves to be formal heretics. Labeling a heretic a, “Hyper-Calvinist” casts Calvinists in a negative light. Often times Arminians will launch into a screed against Calvinists. They do this, because in their minds there is such a thing as a, “Hyper-Calvinist.” This artifice is a construct of a prejudicial person. The bias is one that we as Calvinists must start to debunk. We have been guilty of embracing this term. It needs to be retired from our nomenclature.
Snyder's Soapbox 