The 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.
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So… 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: