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Chapter 3
REFUTING THE ERROR SOME HINDRANCES WHICH STAND IN THE WAY OF OUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS TEACHING
"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men" (Matt. 5:13). "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his band to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that pertain unto us to glory and virtue: "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." "And besides this. giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; "And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; "And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. "For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. "But be that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. "Wherefore the rather. brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: "For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. "Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth" (2 Peter 1:3-12). "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. "For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it. to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. "But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire" (2 Peter 2:20-22). "Even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; "As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. "Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. "But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen" (2 Peter 3:15-18). Having stated the doctrine of Final Perseverance, we shall now offer our reasons for rejecting it. Any person has a right to reject any doctrine if he has what he deems sufficient evidence for so doing; he should, however, be able to state his reasons and to do this in such a manner as to appeal to the intelligence of thinking men. We shall state our reasons and leave it for the reader to decide as to their soundness or otherwise; they are threefold. 1. The doctrine is contrary to the plain teaching of the Word of God. To some, such a statement may at first be puzzling and that for two reasons, first, because those who teach it boast of their loyalty to the Scriptures and quote and place their own emphasis on a number of selected passages. We give five as samples. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand" (John 10:28). "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Christ" (Phil. 1:6). "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they may be made manifest that they were not all of us" (1 John 2:19). That surely is conclusive! How is it possible to deny the fact of unconditioned eternal security in the face of Scriptures such as these? But we do deny it, and deny it emphatically and that for two reasons, first, because of the isolation of these texts, and further, because of the interpretation, or to be more correct the misinterpretation of those who use them.
a. They are invalidated by their isolation.
No matter what the subject may be, to take a few passages from the Word of God and quote them as though they constituted its complete teaching is never convincing.
b. They are misleading in their interpretation.
We have no quarrel whatever with the Scripture passages themselves, but we do object to the interpretation that is put upon them. They are plain and simple words which if taken at their face value need not be misunderstood.
Let us examine the first passage. Here is the statement: "He that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation but is passed from death unto life." Here is the. emphasis: You have believed, therefore according to the plain statement of God's inspired Word, you have eternal life. Since this life is eternal it can never be lost, therefore you are saved for eternity. Here is the error: Such an argument, on the surface, may sound very convincing, but our friends who use it do not seem to realize that their logic carries implications which are going to cause them trouble at the other end. "Eternal life has no end," say they, "therefore you cannot lose it." "But" we answer, "it has no beginning, therefore according to such an argument you cannot get it." "Oh," say they, "it does not actually begin when we receive it, it is bestowed, God gives it." To which we reply, "whatever is bestowed may be withdrawn and its nature may yet be eternal." The expression "eternal life" is not used simply to indicate length or quantity; it has to do primarily with quality. It is the life of the Eternal. Eternal life is a bestowal conditioned by a faith relationship, and is retained only as the conditions are fulfilled. The condition here is a present-tense believing, a faith link, the implication being that to cease to believe cancels the relationship. Nowhere in the Bible are we informed that we may retain our salvation with any less degree of faith and devotion than that with which we sought and obtained it. Take the second passage. Here is the statement: "Him that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." Here is the emphasis: You have been given by the Father to the Son, otherwise you would never have come to Him. Now that you have come you can never be lost, for no matter what you do -- you may temporarily lose His smile and His favor, but you can never forfeit your position in Christ -- He will never, for any reason, cast you out. Here is the error: Our Calvinistic friends read into this passage far more than our Lord said and obviously more than He intended.
a. They read into it the divine condonation of sin
They would indicate that the same sin willfully committed by two people, one a child of God and the other a sinner, would have two different effects according to their relationship to Christ, whereas willful sin is damning in its effects no matter by whom it is committed. God's purpose and desire is to save and keep all who come to Him. He will not cast them out nor will He turn them away, but sin will separate and damn them.
b. They read into it the divine act of paralyzing the human will.
But does the entire business of our continued salvation rest only with God? Are we retained in position spiritually as a sort of lifeless log? Or is there not a union of wills here? God's side is that He will not change and will not fail us. In the text, our side is not mentioned because it is not the point that is being discussed, but who ever in his right senses would insist that every phase of truth should be packed into every verse, and because some phase was not there mentioned it had no part in the general scheme?
Christ will not cast out a trusting soul -- that is the obvious thought; but there is no continued place in the heart of God for any who cease to trust Him. "The just shall live by faith."
Take the third passage. Here is the statement: "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." Here is the emphasis: Since the life given is eternal and it is plainly declared that no man can pluck them out of His hand, they are eternally safe, no matter what they do. Here is the error:
a. They assume something that is not here said.
"They shall never perish" -- That is the divine purpose for all who trust Him. He will keep them in the shelter of His hand. "Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." No man has power to do that -- but may not that soul deliberately walk out of His hand? Has the power of the will now been so utterly destroyed that it no longer functions?
b. They overlook the qualifying utterances of the context.
It will be noted that the verse here quoted begins with a conjunction, indicating a lack of completeness and linking the thought with the utterances of the previous verse. Here it is. We intersperse in parentheses what is obviously the Master's meaning .
"My sheep hear my voice . . . and (hearing it) they follow me. And (while following me) I give unto them eternal life; and (while following me) they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
There is no promise of eternal life that is not conditioned by faith and maintained obedience. If you are obeying God and walking in all the light God gives, it is gloriously certain that you will never perish, and certainly while abiding in Him no man -- and no devil either -- will have power to pluck you out of His hand. God is determined to keep you as long as you are willing to be kept, but He will never fail to respect your will. He appealed to it when He sought to save you. He will respect it as long as you are in this world. He will never hold you an unwilling prisoner; His is a domain of free men. You are free indeed.
Having said this, however, we must now go on to say that the Arminian interpretation is far from the thought of being "Saved today and lost tomorrow as some of our Calvinistic friends so sneeringly charge. We cannot conceive of any soul consciously born again and sanctified wholly being so fickle as that. The soul most fully aware of the awful possibility of backsliding is the one who is least likely to do it. None but a fool positive would want to walk deliberately out of light into darkness, out of the glorious liberty of the sons of God into the awful bondage of sin; there are, however, those who have done it, therefore we need to take heed. There is no place this side heaven from which a saved soul may not fall, and if remaining unrepentant that soul will be finally lost.
Before leaving this section we must also say that the Arminian answer to this teaching of the unconditional security of those who have once believed is more than the mere re-interpretation of what the Calvinists claim as proof texts. There is, on the other hand, abundant Scripture evidence of the awful possibility of a saving contact with Christ, followed by a sad backsliding and a final apostasy. We shall here quote only twelve passages with brief comment, later giving a more complete list for handy reference.
"But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? In his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die" (Ezekiel 18:24). "When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby" (Ezekiel 33:18). Such passages surely require no comment. We are aware, of course, of the dispensational distinction on which our Calvinistic friends so ardently insist, but there is more than dispensational teaching here. It is a vital warning for every age. It is useless to beg the question by saying that it is his own righteousness he is said to turn from. That righteousness while maintained was sufficient to save him from the death here pronounced. "Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men" (Matthew 5:13). This was spoken by our Lord to His own disciples. He never suggested such an idea to the multitudes. These men had something to lose, and were in evident danger of losing it. "And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:62). why quibble here? In the light of general Scripture teaching, is not the truth apparent? To say "he may not be fit but will nevertheless be saved through Christ's fitness" is to take the teeth out of the passage. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned" (John 15:1-6). That expression, "Every branch in me" is arresting. Such a branch can represent none other than a true believer. These branches, if failing to bear fruit are taken away. "Taken away," say our Calvinistic friends, "to heaven." what a travesty of the majestic utterance of the Son of God! Here evidently is the thought of severance and spiritual loss. In those wonderful epistles so rich with spiritual truth, Paul the apostle also uses what, among others, is one of his favorite expressions; just two simple words appearing again and again -- "in Christ," To Paul, the fact of being in Christ meant salvation. That expression, however, is not Pauline in its origin, it is an echo of these very words of our Lord Himself which we have here considered. "Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace" (Galatians 5:4). Here is a word surely too definite to be misunderstood. "Ye are fallen from grace." Did any person ever fall from any position be had not previously occupied? And if fallen from it, could be still be in it? A fall from a ten-story window would be sufficient proof. "For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end" (Hebrews 3:14). while He has promised to keep us, our hold also has evidently something to do with it. "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame" (Hebrews 6:4-6). While here is truth which can only be satisfactorily dealt with in its wide dispensational aspect, we now read this and the two following passages for the purpose of calling attention to the fact that whatever more the writer may be intending to teach, he is conscious of the possibility of spiritual backsliding and of final apostasy. whatever we make of the passage as a whole there are some things recognized about the people here discussed which are unmistakable. They have been enlightened. They have been partakers of the Holy Ghost. They have known something of the powers of the world to come. what do these things mean? To suggest that these people are not Spirit born is to juggle with words and to trifle with things most sacred. The writer recognizes the awful possibility of such souls falling away and does not hesitate to say so. "For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10:26-29). Here is another passage surely much too clear to require comment. "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul" (Hebrews 10:38, 89). It will be noticed that this drawing back is of necessity from something and to something else. It is from the life of faith to perdition. The declaration, "We are not of them that draw back," does not indicate the impossibility of doing so, but rather suggests that there are those who are doing it. It is our determination, says the writer, not to be among them. "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these Things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fail: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:3-11). Note the emphasis here as the writer of this passage conditions the promise of a divinely kept life -- "If ye do these things ye shall never fall." Is there not here at least a suggestion that, if these things are not done, the fact of falling is within the range of possibility? The implication is inescapable. "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning. For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb. The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire" (2 Peter 2:20-22). The people here addressed are said:
a. To have a knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
b. Through that knowledge to have escaped the pollution of the world.
c. To be in danger of a possible further entanglement.
d. If later entangled, to be in danger of falling into a condition worse than before they knew anything at all of saving grace.
What else is this but a plain statement setting forth an awful possibility which only a mind prepared to bolster up a preconceived theological position by verbal juggling can attempt to refute? Added to these very pointed Scripture statements are some notable Bible examples: Angels fell -- 1 Peter 2:4; Jude 6. -- If it was possible for angels to fall, the best among men need to be careful. Our first parents fell -- Genesis 3. -- Placed in the best possible environment and with faculties unmarred, they were overcome and God drove them from their Paradise home. King Saul fell. 1 Samuel 10-16. -- Anointed by Jehovah to be king over His people, no man had a more wonderful opportunity than he, yet by reason of disobedience he forfeited all. 1 Samuel 28:15. Hear the word of Samuel as he meets Saul: "Because thou hast rejected the Word of the Lord he hath also rejected thee" (1 Samuel 15:23). Judas fell. -- John 13:8; Matthew 26:24, 25; John 17:12; Acts 1:25. A member of the apostolic band, yet now a name which is a synonym for the crowning infamy. Hymenaeus and Alexander fell. -- 1 Timothy 1:19, 20. Of these it is said that having put away a good conscience they made shipwreck. Demas fell. -- 2 Timothy 4:10. When needed most be forsook his fellow worker, having been lured away by his love for the present world. It is useless to argue as some have done, that we have no evidence that he did not finally return. We have no evidence that he did return, and that is the thing which concerns us here. The younger widows are warned lest they should fall. -- 1 Timothy 5:12. All this, and much more which any ordinary reader of the Bible may discover for himself, goes to show how contrary to the Word of God, in its clearest and widest teachings, is the pernicious doctrine of assured final salvation to any soul regardless of a watchful, prayerful, everyday vigilance, simply because of one spiritual transaction whereby the soul has at one time been born again. 2. This teaching is opposed to experience within the church of God. No man has ever been saved contrary to his own desire and against his will, neither has any man kept within the realm of saving grace who did not desire to stay there. Salvation is for intelligent agents possessed of moral freedom and capable of moral choice. The pathway of Christian experience is strewn with wreckage. Among the no hell teachings and the bloodless isms there are thousands of backslidden hearts, while out in the sinning world are heartbreaking tragedies of those who once ran well but somewhere along the line badly failed. Many who once knew the joy of pardoning grace have died in their sins. Any experienced pastor, except perhaps some theological bigot with a pet theory which blinds him to things as they really are, could give a record of cases which had begun well and showed signs of remarkable promise and then had died out. We all wish that such were not the case, but we are determined to face the truth and acknowledge things as they really are. 3. This teaching is dangerous to the people of God. We make this final statement for three reasons:
a. Such a doctrine tends to condone sin
Some horrible deeds have been committed by people so assured of their eternal standing in grace as to arrogantly declare that since their righteousness was in their Lord and not in themselves, no sin, however black, could tarnish it and no earth thing could even affect it. Unconditioned final perseverance is the parent of gross antinomianism. With such a false assurance the necessity for watchfulness is weakened, and sin is no longer seen as the damning thing which God has declared it to be.
b. Such a doctrine deludes the backslider.
In a revival meeting we witnessed the following distressing incident. A young man manifestly under conviction of sin listened to a powerful appeal and a Christian worker, concerned about his condition, pleaded with him to forsake his evil ways and return to God. Within hearing was a man, a stranger to them both, who soon joined in the conversation. "Brother," said he, "you may be saved now by simply accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour." The young man replied, "I did that a long time ago, but I am sorry to say I have not gone on with it. I have gone back into sin." "why, brother," replied the stranger, "you are still a child of God; a naughty child perhaps, but His child nevertheless. Once a son always a son, you know. That moment, away back there when you first trusted Him you were sealed for eternity, and no matter what you do you can never perish; God could no more damn you than He could damn Jesus Christ, for you and Christ are eternally one."
That young man went out to his old sins and to deeper sin insisting all the time that he was eternally secure. Had it not been for our well-meaning, but sadly deluded Calvinistic brother, better things might have been seen that night.
c. Such a doctrine damns the unwary soul.
It would not be extravagant to say that by this teaching many have been lulled to sleep and even lured to spiritual death. As one among many tragic incidents we relate the following. Only a few weeks ago in a Chicago gospel meeting we knelt at an altar of prayer facing a man and his wife who were evidently earnest -- we might almost say desperate -- in their seeking.
In answer to our question as to whether we could be of help, the man replied: "I certainly need help from somebody. Twenty years ago I knew something of God's saving power and enjoyed a good spiritual experience. Then I contacted a company of people who taught the doctrine of eternal security. Our holiness in Christ was emphasized with the accompanying insistence on our own incurable depravity. We sinned daily, they said, in thought, word and deed, but grace covered it. Gradually I succumbed to the poison and gradually lost the deep spiritual experience I had once enjoyed. Insisting on a holiness in Christ which covered my sinning I gradually drifted until today there is no more happiness in our home -- it is like hell. I want to get rid of this poisonous teaching. I want real deliverance; my wife is here beside me, we want to get back to God."
Remember! As long as any soul remains this side heaven, that soul is on probation. Salvation can never be mechanization. The will which said the first word of yieldedness is the same will that must keep yielded all the time until Jesus comes or calls.
Ah! Lord, with trembling I confess
A gracious soul may fall from grace;
The salt may lose its seasoning power
And never, never, find it more. Lest that my fearful case should be,
Each moment knit my soul to Thee;
And lead me to the mount above
Through the low vale of humble love. -- Wesley
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