Saturday, March 27, 2010

Will It Be Jude or John? (Calvin That Is!)








The question; “Can a Christian lose their salvation?” is at best semantically confusing and at worst begs the question. The question “implies” that Christians get into some kind of spiritual wrestling match with Satan and / or his minions and, despite the Christians best efforts, have their salvation wrested from them, become disconnected to God and head screaming straight into hell itself, all very much against their will. The question should be; “Can a Christian SURRENDER their salvation after being in an absolute saved state?” When theologians approach Scripture allegorically such tail-wagging-the-dog conclusions are not only possible, they are inevitable when begging the “lose their salvation” question.

The historically great, yet biblically confused reformer, John Calvin, poured the theory that Christians could never become apostate into theological concrete where it remains until today. Many have been deceived by this doctrine during the last 500 years while the truth regarding the matter, revealed by the Holy Spirit in the book of Jude, has been rejected, overlooked and ignored. In 180 degree opposite reaction to medieval Roman Catholicism, Calvin formed a theological system now named after him, known as Calvinism. Calvinism is summed up in an acronym, “T.U.L.I.P.”
T otal Depravity – all mankind is conceived and born as sinners doomed to hell unless God “elects” them to salvation arbitrarily
U nconditional Election – some of those “totally depraved” are arbitrarily “chosen” (elected) by God for salvation while the rest are arbitrarily “chosen” (elected) for damnation, humans have no free choice
L imited Atonement – The blood of Christ, shed on the cross, is not sufficient to save everyone, just the so-called elect.
I rresistable Grace – those who have been arbitrarily chosen for salvation cannot resist the grace of God, even though they attempt to do so
P erserverance of the Saints – once those who are arbitrarily elected to salvation have been saved, they cannot never become apostate and therefore “lose” their salvation


Time and space will not allow an examination of all these theories, our immediate concern is the last leaf in the flower, as it were, “perseverance of the saints.” Can a Christian become an apostate? Can one who once was saved reject that salvation at a future point in time and re-embrace damnation? Can one who once “walks in the light as He is in the light, re-enter into “everlasting darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth?” Calvin says, “no.” To “prove” this assertion, Calvinists turn to two Scripture references. [“A text without a context is a pretext for a proof text.” – D. A. Carson Sr.] These two “proof texts” are offered up:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. – John 10:28 -29

Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. 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 might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
– I John 2:18 – 19

The Calvinist interpretation of these two verses goes like this:

1. Once a person becomes a Christian he / she is in the grasp of the Saviors hand and no one, not even Satan himself, can wrestle that person away from Christ.
2. Since said person enjoys this iron clad grasp in the Savior’s hand, he / she remains a Christian, in the hand of the Savior forever … no matter what sins that person commits, no matter what false doctrine that person embraces or teaches and no matter how much unbelief is spewed from the lips and heart of said person. Once a person is “saved,” that person can never be lost.
3. Thirdly, since it “appears” that one that was once a Christian is now spewing apostasy in word and deed it must mean that said person was never really a Christian anyway!

Now if the Scriptures had nothing else to say regarding this matter, the Calvinist would indeed have a leg to stand on. However, the Scripture has much more to say about it. First of all, salvation is conditional to on going faithfulness, repentance and confession of sins. John says the following:

This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. – I John 1:5 - 10

Continued salvation is conditional upon our dedication to walking in the light as He is in the light and confession of all our sins. “IF” we walk faithfully and confess our sins THEN we are firmly in the grasp of the Savior’s hand and no man “can pluck us out!” However, the inverse is true as well. “IF” we do not walk in the light as He is in the light and confess our sins, we surrender our salvation and can once again be lost. We can always return but should we die in the apostate state, we can still lose our souls! Having said all the above, some might still cling to Calvin in the false hope that one can “live like hell and still go to heaven.” That is where Jude comes in.

The inspired book of Jude gives us not one, not two, not three, not four but FIVE concrete examples of people once saved that consequently became lost when they embraced apostasy. These were not people who were “never really saved,” they were people who were saved by God totally, without question and without a doubt! Here are the five examples and we will rest our case!

1. Jude 1:5 – The Lord SAVED a people out of Egypt and later destroyed those who did not believe. How many of the Israelites were saved out of Egypt and were “baptized unto Moses” as they crossed the Red Sea? ALL of them! They were ALL once saved but some of them became apostate and were consequently lost. Saved people lost their salvation.
2. Jude 1:6 – There were angels in heaven who did not keep their first estate but LEFT their habitation. Saved angels, living in Heaven, willingly abandoned their positions and deserted to the enemy! Saved angels lost their salvation!
3. Jude 1:7 – The people of Sodom and Gomorrah were once saved by God via Abraham who raised an army from his own house and saved them from destruction as we read about in Genesis 14. Unfortunately, after their salvation, Sodom and Gomorrah “gave themselves over to fornication and strange flesh.” As a result, they lost their salvation and were destroyed.
4. Jude 1:12 – Jude asserts that the apostates of whom he is writing are “twice dead.” What must be true about someone who is “twice dead?” These apostates were once “dead in their sins” but they obeyed the gospel, were buried with Christ in baptism and rose again to walk in “newness of life.” These “live souls” died again when they rejected Christ and embraced apostasy. They were truly “twice dead!” An unrepentant apostate is “twice dead” and will lose his soul, just like those who rebelled in the desert, just like the fallen angels and just like Sodom and Gomorrah.
5. Jude 1:12 – Finally, Jude asserts that the apostates of whom he is writing have been “uprooted.” One must understand that a plant that is “uprooted,” must of necessity, first of all must have been “rooted” previously! The uprooted, and now unsaved, apostate was once rooted and saved – just like those who rebelled in the desert, just like the fallen angels and just like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah
.

One last observation. “IF” Calvin is right and “IF” “once saved always saved” [The Perseverance of the Saints] is a true and wholesome doctrine, then the following also must be true regarding the assertions of Jude:

1. God did not really destroy those who did not believe in the desert, its just a fable.
2. God did not really allow His angels to leave Heaven, it too, is just a fairy tale.
3. God did not really destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, it is just a “Bible story” and did not really take place.
4. Jude wasted his time writing about and warning the church regarding the apostates. After all, God will still save them in the end!
There we have it. We have a choice to make. Will we choose Calvin over Jude or will we choose Jude over Calvin? Upon that choice our souls depend!

© 2010 by Russ McCullough – All Rights Reserved - MCN: C4U9Q-J5SEG-27PHB

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Civility and Apostasy



This past week America witnessed the worst kind of vile invective back and forth the political aisle. Fowl and vulgar language turned the air blue with words our mothers once washed out our mouths for saying. Debate crossed the line and became enmity. It is all very sad and sobering.

The book of Jude is instructive for Christians in this regard. He tells us by inspiration that Christians should not issue “railing accusations” towards other people, even apostates.

Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, dusrst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke thee.” – Jude 1:9

This verse is compelling on many levels. In fact, this is the only reference we have in the Bible regarding this instance of conflict between Michael and Satan, two former brothers in heaven now adversaries. Michael remained faithful while Satan fell. We do, however, have reference to this instance in a non-biblical source, The Assumption of Moses. This book is not inspired and is not contained in Scripture, though the Holy Spirit confirms here in Jude that THIS instance did, in fact, take place. Michael and Satan DID contend and dispute over the body of Moses. Jude uses these facts to illustrate a truth for us.

The book of Jude is the only book in the New Testament devoted exclusively towards dealing with apostasy. Other books, especially the epistles of John and Peter, deal with apostasy but are not devoted exclusively to it. Jude, however, deals with it singularly, passionately and completely. Verse 9 of his letter is somewhat like a steam valve. When the steam pressure in a boiler gets too high, a steam valve is used to lessen the internal pressure, thus bringing the entire environment back into safety. The pressure in Jude brought on by “certain men (who) crept in unawares” has been brought to a fever pitch by verse 8 and threatens to explode. Instead of sending his readers in angry fury toward these false teachers, Jude illustrates that “railing accusations” are not in the appropriate communication realm of Christian men and women. God is the only judge. Only He can ascertain and judge the hearts and the motives of men. Jude says, in essence, “If Michael did not issue a “railing accusation” against Satan, the epitome of evil itself, we should not issue such railings, accusations and judgments of motive towards apostates, false teachers and anyone else with whom we disagree. We need to leave such judgments to God and God alone.

Does this leave us with nothing we can or should do when false teachers enter the flock? Absolutely not! While we are not to judge by appearance or motive, we must “judge with righteous judgment” and “speak the truth in love.”
“Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” – John 7:24
“But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the heard, even Christ:” – Ephesians 4:5

Assessing the facts of the matter, using the Word of God to teach the truth and to refute error is both allowed and expected by God. Michael did not judge the apparent motives of Satan and neither should we judge the apparent motives of false teachers, apostates and anyone else for that matter, that task will be accomplished by Christ on Judgment Day. (II Corinthians 5:10) Instead our speech should be “as apples of gold in a setting of silver.” (Proverbs 25:11) “WHY” people do what they do is between them and God alone and is not the business of man to discover. Let’s remember that our business is “WHAT’s” right or wrong, not “WHO’s right or wrong and certainly not “WHY” someone does or does not do a thing! Let’s keep our head, lower our tone, clean up our language and refuse to speculate regarding motive when dealing with our adversaries. Michael did and so should we.

Copyright 2010 by Russ McCullough - All Rights Reserved
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