Category Archives: salvation

Bounded vs. Centered Sets

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Last week, Leadership Journal ran an article by John Ortberg where he discussed a concept made popular by Paul Hiebert: bounded vs. centered sets. Hiebert was sort of the Yoda of missionary anthropology, so I’ve read lots of his writings, included his discussion of this concept. But I hadn’t really thought of it in the way that Ortberg applied it.

The idea is that instead of looking at our salvation as a bounded set (saved, not saved), we should look at it as a centered set, the center being Christ. What happens is that we start with salvation by grace, then begin to act as if we were saved by works. In Ortberg’s words:

If we treat Christianity as a bounded set, there will always be a disconnect between the gospel and discipleship. The gospel will be presented as something to get you “inside the circle.” Once you’re inside, we don’t want to say you have to do anything to stay in (that would be salvation by works). But we don’t want to say you don’t have to do anything (the triumph of entropy, or, to use a biblical word, being lukewarm, or to use a theological word, antinomianism). So we don’t know what to say.

However, if we treat Christianity as a centered set, the relationship between the gospel and discipleship becomes much clearer. The gospel is the proclamation that life with and through Jesus is now available to ordinary people. It is a free gift of forgiveness and grace that cannot be earned. If I want it, the way that I enter into it is by becoming a follower of Jesus and orienting our lives with him at the center.

There have been times on this blog where I’ve presented an idea and someone says, “So if we don’t do that, we’re lost?” That’s bounded-set thinking. We need to understand that sanctification is a continual process, the process of becoming like Christ. We should ever be working to be more like Jesus.

Now before someone points it out, yes, I do believe there is a difference between saved and not saved, that there is a boundary. The idea of the bounded set is not totally wrong. But it’s less than helpful as we examine the concept of sanctification.

I found Ortberg’s article to be thought-provoking. I hope you’ll read it.

Moving on…

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Adam and Eve driven out of gardenSo… how do we move ahead with this discussion of perseverance of the saints? For now, we don’t. That is, I feel like some good discussion has taken place. I’ve stated some of my views and had a chance to hear the views of others. I’m ready to move on to something else, but let me state a few things:
(1) I remain unconvinced by the arguments for POTS (perseverance of the saints). In a similar way, I don’t buy into predestination. Nor do I see the Bible as teaching that God controls each and every thing that happens in this world.

(2) I don’t see our understanding on this issue as a question of fellowship. There are some things in the Bible that aren’t clearly stated, and I have to believe that is because God doesn’t see it as necessary that we be in full agreement on those things.

(3) I don’t see this issue as having a practical effect on our actions. Those who believe in perseverance of the saints still believe in encouraging one another, growing in holiness, etc. Some that are smarter than I may be able to point out a difference, but I haven’t seen it.

Still, if you haven’t had enough of this discussion, take heart. Jay Guin is taking it up again. I, on the other hand, plan to move on to some other topics for now.

Revelation’s warnings about losing one’s faith

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Adam and Eve driven out of gardenOK, so I guess I did lapse into a bit of proof-texting in the last post, although that wasn’t my intention. That is, I wasn’t trying to say, “Here are these verses that trump your verses.” I was trying to show why one particular argument by Edward Fudge doesn’t hold water.

Oh, well… so be it. I didn’t express myself well. At least it gave Randall the opportunity to teach us all a bit about Calvinistic views.

Let’s take some particular examples, and see if that helps. Since I’ve been working so much with the letters in Revelation over the last few years, let’s start there. First, there’s the Ephesus church. Hard-working. Sound doctrine. But they’ve lost their first love. Because of it, Jesus says: “Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.” (Revelation 2:5) Since the lampstands are the churches themselves, Jesus is saying the church can cease to be a church. (Just as he will later refer to synagogues that aren’t really synagogues) This would necessitate the removal of these Christians from the body. How else do I say it? They would no longer belong to Christ.

Let’s skip down to the letter to Sardis. Jesus tells them: “Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.” (Revelation 3:4-5) The minority in that church are ready for Jesus’ return; most need to wake from a spiritual slumber. The ones that overcome (remain faithful, not renouncing Christ during persecution) will not have their names blotted from the book of life. What does that say about the others? That they ran the risk of that very thing, of being removed from the book of life (I gave a fuller explanation of the Book of Life in an earlier post).

Next is the letter to Philadelphia. This is a healthy church, but Jesus warns them: “I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.” (Revelation 3:11) Take your crown? The word for crown is the word for the laurel wreath given to the victor in athletic events. The church in Smyrna was told that the crown was the crown of life, that is, life would be their crown for having endured. Jesus says that if Christians don’t hold on to what they have, they can lose that crown. (It’s not the image of the crown being snatched, but of failing to win. We talk of someone getting someone else’s gold medal when the original winner is disqualified. It’s that sort of idea.)

The last church in the group is Laodicea. Note that these Christians have gotten into such a state that Jesus is asking to be let back into their lives (“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20) If they do not change their ways, Jesus will vomit them out of his mouth.

The letters in Revelation were written to prepare the Christians in Asia Minor for a time of testing, a time of persecution. They had to guard their faith, for the risk of losing it was very real. They needed to be willing to lose their lives rather than lose their faith.

Falling away from grace

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Adam and Eve driven out of gardenThe other day I posted some links to Royce Ogle’s blog where he passed on some writings by Edward Fudge. Fudge argues that passages in the New Testament which speak of falling away actually address “unbelievers who claim to be believers.” This is sort of a variation of the argumentation I addressed in the last post.

I can’t buy this reasoning either. Look, for example at the beginning of 1 Corinthians: “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours:” (1 Corinthians 1:2) Does that description not fit “the elect”? It takes some fancy word wrangling to say that some of the verses in the book apply to Christians and others apply to pseudo-Christians.

Or let’s take Galatians, for example. Fudge refers to this passage: “You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace” (Galatians 5:4) By implication, he says that this is addressed to these unbelievers in the church. Problem is, reading the verse in context pretty much rules that out. A few verses later, Paul writes: “You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?” (Galatians 5:7) These are not unbelievers, they are believers. And Paul says that it is possible for someone to keep them from obeying the truth, a fact which some Calvinists would deny.

Back in Chapter 3 of Galatians, Paul says: “Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing?” (Galatians 3:2-4) These Galatians had received the Spirit… yet it could be “for nothing.” Believers whose faith could be in vain. Further down Paul says, “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse.” (Galatians 3:10) Under a curse… but saved? Doesn’t make sense.

To the Romans, Paul wrote: “Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.” (Romans 11:22)

To the Corinthians he wrote: “No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (1 Corinthians 9:27) And: “By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:2)

To the Galatians he wrote: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

To the Colossians: “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.” (Colossians 1:22-23)

To the Thessalonians: “For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter might have tempted you and our efforts might have been useless.” (1 Thessalonians 3:5)

To Timothy: “holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith.” (1 Timothy 1:19) and “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” (1 Timothy 4:1)

I’ll leave the other letters for now. Paul writes to Christians, warning them against falling away. We should heed his warnings as well.

Blessed assurance

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Adam and Eve driven out of gardenOne problem that I have with the idea of perseverance of the saints is my own personal experience. I’ve seen committed Christians lose their faith.

The standard answer is that if they had really been Christians, they wouldn’t have lost their faith. And this does seem to have some biblical backing: “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” (1 John 2:19) Isn’t that what John is saying here?

I’m not so sure. This really seems to be more of a reference to unity in the body than to salvation. 1 John presents continuance in the body as of vital importance; many think that’s what he’s referring to in these verses: “If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that.” (1 John 5:16) Many commentators think that the sin John is referring to is leaving the fellowship (see 1 John 1:5-7)

I know that many people have been convinced that they were in Christ, yet then fell away. “How do you know they were in Christ?” Well, 1 John 5:13 says that someone can have confidence of eternal life. I just can’t see saying that everyone who ever fell was just fooling themselves about their faith.

“But you can think that you are in Christ and not really be in Christ!” Again, this seems to have some backing, reading Matthew 7:21 (a verse that has been strangely popular in some churches). Somehow, I don’t find this “assurance” very comforting. It tells me that I may believe that God has given me eternal life, but be very wrong about it. That’s blessed assurance?

I’ll stick with the confidence that as long as I continue to believe in Jesus and seek the salvation he offers, he will continue to give it to me. That’s the kind of assurance I can base my hope on. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13) That’s what I call blessed assurance