We know that, during the time of the apostles, major doctrinal
errors had already begun to enter into the various ecclesias. The Greek Scriptures are full of warnings and
exhortations for believers against apostatizing and giving heed to false
teaching (1 Cor. 15; 2 Cor. 11:3-4, 12-15; Gal. 1:6-9; 3:1; 2:4; 5:4; Col.
2:8-9, 18;). This is especially the case in the later writings (1 Tim 1:3-11;
4:1-3; 2 Tim 4:3-4; 1 John 2:18-20, 24; 4:1-3; 2 Pet 2:1-3, 20-21; Jude 1:3-4).
These and other similar verses indicate that doctrinal error in the ecclesias
grew worse over time. Had Paul and the other apostles not been around to intervene and
pull up the doctrinal “weeds” that were continuously springing up, the
doctrinal problems that arose would’ve likely become far worse than they were,
and resulted in far more believers being led astray.
We
have absolutely no reason to think that the threat of deception and doctrinal
error entering and taking root in the ecclesias ended after the death of the
apostles. If there were false doctrines popping up in the
ecclesias so recently established by the apostles (and while Paul and his
co-labourers were still living), it stands to reason that the ecclesias became
even more vulnerable to being led astray during the post-apostolic era. The death of
Paul and the other apostles would’ve made the various communities of believers
far more susceptible to believing false teachings and engaging
in practices that Paul would’ve spoken or written against had he been around to
do so.
Rather than thinking that doctrinal and ecclesiastical purity would improve –
or at least stay the same – after his death, Paul seemed to believe just the
opposite (2 Tim. 2:15-18; 3:13-15).
In accord with this fact
are the following words with which Paul exhorted Timothy:
“Herald the
word. Stand by it, opportunely, inopportunely, expose, rebuke, entreat, with
all patience and teaching. For the era will be when they will not tolerate
sound teaching, but, their hearing being tickled, they will heap up for
themselves teachers in accord with their own desires, and, indeed, they will be
turning their hearing away from the truth, yet will be turned aside to myths.”
When Paul wrote the letter
in which the above exhortation is found, Timothy was dwelling in the city of
Ephesus (which was the capital of the Roman province of Asia) and ministering
to the ecclesia there, as Paul’s apostolic representative (1 Tim. 1:3).
Timothy’s duties in Ephesus included refuting false teaching (1 Tim. 1:3-7;
4:1-8; 6:3-5; 20-21) and supervising the affairs of the then-growing ecclesia
(which included matters pertaining to worship [ch. 2] and the appointment of
qualified leaders [3:1-13; 5:17-25]).
In light of Timothy’s role,
we can reasonably conclude that those whom Paul referred to as “they” in the
above passage were not unbelievers. It wouldn’t make sense for Paul to predict
that those belonging to the unbelieving world would stop tolerating “sound
teaching,” and would be “turning away from the truth.” In order for one to turn
one’s hearing away from the truth,
one has to already have one’s hearing turned toward it. Thus, it was believers
– i.e., members of the body of Christ – whom Paul had in view in this passage.
The fact that Timothy was
in Ephesus when Paul wrote to him is significant, since, in Acts 20:24-32, we
read that Paul had earlier declared the following to the elders of the ecclesia
in this city:
“But of nothing
have I a word, nor yet am I making my soul precious to myself, till I should be
perfecting my career and the dispensation which I got from the Lord Jesus, to certify the evangel of the grace of God.
And now, lo! I am aware that you all, among whom I passed through heralding the
kingdom, shall be seeing my face no longer. Wherefore I am attesting to you in
this very day that I am clear from the blood of all, for under no circumstances
do I shrink from informing you of the entire counsel of God. Take heed to
yourselves and to the entire flocklet, among which the holy spirit appointed
you supervisors, to be shepherding the ecclesia of God, which He procures
through the blood of His Own. Now I am
aware that, after I am out of reach, burdensome wolves will be entering among
you, not sparing the flocklet. And from among yourselves will arise men,
speaking perverse things to pull away disciples after themselves. Wherefore
watch, remembering that for three years, night and day, I cease not admonishing
each one with tears. And now I am committing you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to
edify and give the enjoyment of an allotment among all who have been hallowed.”
Thus, even before his
imprisonments in Caesarea and Rome took place, Paul knew that there was major
trouble looming on the horizon for the believers who belonged to the ecclesia
in Ephesus. Paul knew that an era was coming when the believers in this city
would “not tolerate sound teaching,” but would instead “heap up for themselves
teachers in accord with their own desires.” According to Paul’s prophecy in verses
29-30, these “heaped-up” teachers would be entering the ecclesia from outside
as well as arising from among the Ephesian elders themselves. It’s interesting
that, although Paul referred to the things these teachers would be speaking (in
order to “pull away disciples after themselves”) as “perverse,” it was going to
“tickle the hearing” of the believers in the ecclesia.
But what kind of “perverse
things” did Paul have in mind in Acts 20:29-30? Paul doesn’t specify here.
However, it’s significant that Paul went on
to commit the elders to whom he spoke “to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to
edify and give the enjoyment of an allotment among all who have been hallowed.”
Paul’s
emphasis on God’s grace here suggests that the “perverse things” that would
begin to be taught (and which would result in believers being led astray from
the truth) would involve, in some way, a denial of the grace of God that is
revealed in Paul’s evangel. Thus, we have good
reason to believe that these “perverse things” would, in some way, be
inconsistent with the dispensation which Paul said he got from the Lord Jesus,
and which essentially involved testifying of ”the evangel of the grace of God.”
Paul
did provide Timothy with a few details concerning at least some of the erroneous
teaching that would be associated with those believers who would be
“withdrawing from the faith.” In 1 Tim. 4:1-5 we read the following:
“Now the spirit is
saying explicitly, that in subsequent eras some will be withdrawing from the
faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons, in the
hypocrisy of false expressions, their own conscience having been cauterized;
forbidding to marry, abstaining from foods, which God creates to be partaken of
with thanksgiving by those who believe and realize the truth, seeing that every
creature of God is ideal and nothing is to be cast away, being taken with
thanksgiving, for it is hallowed through the word of God and pleading.”
The
little that Paul reveals here concerning what those giving heed to deceiving
spirits would be teaching – i.e., that believers must be celibate and abstain
from foods (which likely refers to abstinence from certain kinds of foods, such
as meat) – indicates that the “teachings of demons” that Paul had in view here
would involve what Paul elsewhere referred to as “asceticism.” In Col. 2:20-23
we read the following:
If, then, you died together with Christ from the
elements of the world, why, as living in the world, are you subject to decrees:
“You should not be touching, nor yet tasting, nor yet coming into contact,”
(which things are all for corruption from use), in accord with the directions
and teachings of men? -- which are
(having, indeed, an expression of wisdom in a willful ritual and humility and
asceticism) not of any value toward the surfeiting of the flesh.
Why
would any believers willingly subject themselves to the sort of “decrees” that
Paul had in mind in these verses? Answer: Such practices – including those
specified by Paul in 1 Tim. 4:3 – were believed by some to curb sin by
promoting self-discipline and suppressing the desires of “the flesh.” Such
decrees were all about “sin management,” and designed to enable those who
subjected themselves to them to stop sinning. And since
Paul associated these decrees with a rejection of the truth that believers have
“died together with Christ from the elements of the world” (Col. 2:20) and are
“complete in Him” (v. 10), we can conclude that the self-denying practices
against which Paul warned had, as their goal, the improving or maintaining of
the believer’s position before God. However, as A.E. Knoch rightly noted in his
remarks on Col. 2:19, “Any attempt to improve our position before God [or, I
would add, to maintain our position
before God] by physical means, whether it be an appeal to the senses or a
curbing of its normal needs, denies our completeness in Christ.”
Evidently,
then, those whom Paul predicted would be promoting the practices referred to in
1 Tim. 4:3 would be doing so out of the conviction that it would help prevent
themselves and other believers from sinning. Moreover, according to v. 1, those
who would be promoting the self-denying practices referred to in v. 3 would no
longer be in the faith (for they are referred to as “withdrawing from the
faith”). This implies that they would longer affirm one or more of the
essential elements of the evangel through which those in the body of Christ are
called and justified by God. And the fact that the decrees referred to would be
an expression of their having withdrawn from the faith suggests that their
belief was that sinning jeopardized
their justified status or position before God (and that not sinning was, therefore, essential to their being saved). In
other words, the belief of those whom Paul prophesied would be “withdrawing
from the faith” and “giving heed to deceiving spirits and the teachings of
demons” would involve the idea that the salvation of the believer depended on
something other than the saving grace
of God. This, however, is completely contrary to what Paul had taught
concerning the salvation of those in the body of Christ.
“In grace are
you saved!”
According
to Paul, every member of the body of Christ was foreknown and
designated beforehand by God (Rom. 8:29-30), chosen in Christ “before the
disruption of the world” (Eph. 1:4-5) and “preferred from the beginning for
salvation” (2 Thess. 2:13). Those chosen beforehand by God are subsequently
“called” by God through the evangel (Rom. 8:30; 2 Thess. 2:14). This “calling”
not only involves hearing the evangel, but also being graciously granted a
measure of faith to believe it (Rom. 12:3; Phil. 1:29). And, upon believing
“the word of truth, the evangel of [our] salvation,” those called are then
“sealed with the holy spirit of promise,” which is “an earnest of the enjoyment
of our allotment, to the deliverance of that which has been procured” (Eph.
1:13-14). In other words, the salvation of every believer is certain, and
cannot be lost or forfeited under any circumstances (for a more in-depth
examination of this important subject, see my two-part study “The Golden Chain
of Salvation”: http://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-golden-chain-of-salvation-study-on.html).
In accord with the above truth, we read in 2
Tim. 1:8-11 that the salvation and calling of believers is ”not in accord with our acts, but in accord with His own
purpose and the grace which is given to us in Christ Jesus before times eonian...”
Similarly, in Titus 3:3-7 we read the following:
For, we also were
once foolish, stubborn, deceived, slaves of various desires and gratifications,
leading a life in malice and envy, detestable, hating one another. Yet when the kindness and fondness for
humanity of our Saviour, God, made its advent, not for works which are wrought
in righteousness which we do, but according to His mercy, He saves us,
through the bath of renascence and renewal of holy spirit, which He pours out
on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Saviour, that, being justified in that
One's grace, we may be becoming enjoyers, in expectation, of the allotment of
life eonian.
This
is in accord with the fact that, according to Romans 11:6, grace and works are
mutually exclusive:
“Now if it is in grace, it is no longer out of works, else the grace
is coming to be no longer of grace. Now, if it is out of works, it is no longer
grace, else the work is no longer work” (cf. Rom. 4:4).[1]
Nothing
can be “of grace” and “out of works” at the same time. As soon as works of any
kind become “part of the equation” of salvation, the salvation is no longer of
grace (and vice-versa). In accord with this fact, we read the following in Eph.
2:4-9:
“…God, being rich
in mercy, because of His vast love with which He loves us (we also being dead
to the offenses and the lusts), vivifies us together in Christ (in grace are you saved!) and rouses us
together and seats us together among the celestials, in Christ Jesus, that, in
the oncoming eons, He should be displaying the transcendent riches of His grace
in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For
in grace, through faith, are you saved, and this is not out of you; it is God's
approach present, not of works, lest anyone should be boasting.
According
to what Paul wrote in these verses, the salvation that every believer in the
body of Christ will be enjoying (and which will involve God’s “displaying the
transcendent riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus”) is not
“out of” us. It is not dependent on our will or effort. Rather, this salvation
is “in grace.” It is “God’s approach present” (or “gift”), and is thus “not of
works, lest anyone should be boasting.” This is further confirmed by Romans 5:20-21:
“Yet law came in by
the way, that the offense should be increasing. Yet where sin increases, grace superexceeds, that, even as Sin
reigns in death, thus Grace also should
be reigning through righteousness, for life eonian, through Jesus Christ, our
Lord.”
For
those who have been chosen by God for the salvation referred to in v. 21 –
i.e., life eonian – God’s grace “reigns” over them. The believer cannot
“out-sin” grace; the more that he or she sins, the more God’s grace
“superexceeds” for them. For – as we’re told in Romans 6:23 – the life eonian
that every member of the body of Christ is destined to enjoy is “the gracious gift
of God…in Christ Jesus, our Lord.”
If
the belief of those whom Paul prophesied would be “withdrawing from the faith”
and “giving heed to deceiving spirits and the teachings of demons” did, in fact, involve the idea that the
salvation of the believer depended on something other than the saving grace of God, then this means that it was
simply a newer (and less “distinctively Jewish”) version of the doctrinal error
that required Paul to write his letter to the saints in Galatia. The nature of
the Galatian error was such that it led to some believers being transferred
from the evangel through which they’d been called “in the grace of Christ” to “a different evangel, which is not another” (Gal.
1:6-9). The false “evangel” to which at least some of the saints in Galatia
were being “transferred” was, apparently, a distortion of the true evangel that Paul had previously
brought them (v. 7), and which Paul had been heralding among the nations (2:2,
7).
The
nature of the error which resulted in this distortion of the true evangel is, I
believe, summarized by Paul in Galatians 3:1-3:
“O foolish
Galatians! Who bewitches you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was graphically
crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you get the spirit by works
of law or by hearing of faith? So foolish are you? Undertaking in spirit, are
you now being completed in flesh?”
Based
on what we read in these verses, the teaching that was endangering the Galatian
ecclesia involved the erroneous claim that believers had to do something to
attain and/or maintain their righteous standing (or justification) before God,
and implied a denial of the truth that the death of Christ was sufficient for
our salvation (notice Paul’s reference to Christ’s crucifixion in v. 1).
Despite the fact that the Galatian believers had received the spirit[2]
through faith in the truth of what Christ did on our behalf, they had been
“bewitched” into thinking that certain “works of law” had to be performed in
order for them to be “completed” (i.e., completed with regard to their righteous
standing before God, and – by implication – their salvation).
The
first of the “works of law” that Paul had in mind was receiving the sign of the
covenant between God and Israel (circumcision), and was an act that signified
that one was placing oneself “under the law” (Gal. 4:21) – i.e., under Israel’s
covenant-based legal obligation – and thus becoming a “debtor to do the whole
law” (Gal. 5:3).[3]
For those under this legal obligation, righteous conduct was not merely
beneficial or recommended (as Paul considered “good works” to be for all
believers); rather, they were considered mandatory,
and necessary expressions of one’s faith (apart from which the believer’s faith
would’ve been “dead” and unable to result in their salvation).[4]
Against
the idea that our justification could possibly depend on our righteous conduct,
Paul wrote the following in his letter to the saints in Galatia: “I am not repudiating the grace of God, for if righteousness
is through law, consequently Christ died gratuitously” (Gal. 2:21). In
other words, for someone to do anything (or refrain from doing something) in an attempt to attain and/or
maintain a righteous standing before God would involve “repudiating the grace
of God.” In the same letter, Paul went on to write, “Now
I, brethren, if I am still heralding circumcision, why am I still being
persecuted? Consequently the snare of the cross has been nullified”
(Gal. 5:11). For those who believe that our righteousness before God depends in
any way on something that the sinner must do (or refrain from doing), the cross
of Christ becomes a “snare” to them (i.e., it becomes something from which they
will struggle to free themselves).
Paul,
however, saw the cross of Christ as the only thing in which he could “boast”
(Gal. 6:14), for it was on the cross
that Christ accomplished the only work of obedience on which the salvation of
sinners depends. No other work is needed to complete it. Christ’s death on
the cross was an act of perfect obedience through which the justification and
salvation of all sinners was procured, and belief in this truth for eonian life
is simply not compatible with the belief that anything further must be done to
procure one’s justification and salvation. To believe that there is something
that one must now do to be “completed” with regard to one’s justification (and
in order to “guarantee” one’s salvation) is to deny the truth of the
sufficiency of Christ’s work for one’s salvation.
They shall not tolerate sound teaching
In 2 Tim. 1:15-16 we read that, during Paul’s imprisonment
in Rome, all in the province of Asia turned away from him, being ashamed of his
chain (2 Tim. 1:15-16). If anyone was more likely to become deceived by false
doctrines and led astray from the distinctive truths that Paul had labored to bring
the nations during his apostolic ministry, it was those believers who turned
away from Paul at this time. Significantly, three of the so-called “early
church fathers” – i.e., Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 70-155), Theophilus of Antioch
(died c. 180 AD) and Irenaeus of Gaul (c.
125-202 AD) – became Christians in or near the
very province in which Paul said “all” had turned away from him during his
imprisonment. And – in contrast with Paul’s teaching that the salvation of
those in the body of Christ is not based on our righteous deeds and obedience –
these church leaders taught that both faith and
righteous conduct (including the avoidance of sin) were necessary to salvation,
and that believers could, therefore, lose their salvation through disobedience.
In his “Letter to the Philippians,“ Polycarp wrote, “He
who raised Him up from the dead will raise up us
also, if we do His will, and walk in His commandments,
and love what He loved, keeping ourselves from all unrighteousness…”
(chap. 2, emphasis mine)
In his work To
Autolycus, Theophilus (who was, apparently, the first writer to have used
the term “trinity” to refer to God) wrote, “For God
made man free, and with power over himself. That, then, which man brought upon
himself through carelessness and disobedience, this God now vouchsafes to him
as a gift through His own philanthropy and pity, when men obey Him. For as man, disobeying, drew death upon himself;
so, obeying the will of God, he who
desires is able to procure for himself life everlasting. For God has given us a
law and holy commandments; and every one who keeps these can be saved,
and, obtaining the resurrection, can inherit incorruption.” (Book
II, chap. 27)
And in another place, Theophilus wrote, “He who acts
righteously will escape the eternal punishments, and he will be thought worthy of the eternal life from
God.”
Similarly, Irenaeus (who was a disciple of Polycarp, and also
made use of the works of Theophilus in his writings) wrote the following in his
work “Against Heresies”: “Christ will not die again
on behalf of those who now commit sin
because death shall no more have dominion over Him…Therefore we should not be
puffed up…But we should beware lest
somehow, after [we have come to] the knowledge of Christ, if we do things
displeasing to God, we obtain no further forgiveness of sins but rather be shut
out from His kingdom…” (Book IV, chap. 27)
Irenaeus went on to write, “With
respect to obedience and doctrine, we are not all the sons of God. Rather, it
is only those who truly believe in Him and
do His will. Now, those who do not believe, and do not obey His will, are sons and angels of the devil…Those who do not obey Him, being
disinherited by Him, have ceased to be His sons.” (Book IV, Chapter
41)
We also know that Irenaeus’ disciple, Hippolytus (c. 170-235
AD), taught that salvation required righteous deeds. In one work, Hippolytus
wrote the following:
“…the fire that is unquenchable and without end
awaits [the lovers of wickedness]. So does a certain fiery worm that does not
die and that does not consume the body, but continues bursting forth from the
body with unending pain. No sleep will give them rest. No night will soothe
them. No death will deliver them from punishment. No voice of interceding
friends will profit them. For the righteous are not seen by them any longer,
nor are they worthy of remembrance. Rather,
the righteous will remember only the righteous deeds by which they reached the
heavenly kingdom…”
Later, we find Hippolytus asking the following rhetorical
question: “…who are the ones who have reconciliation made for their sins –
except those who believe on his name and
propitiate his countenance by good works?”[5]
Although the doctrinal position affirmed by these Christian
leaders concerning the relationship between salvation and righteous conduct is completely
contrary to what Paul taught concerning the salvation of believers, their
beliefs were not considered “heretical” at that time. Instead, the doctrinal
position affirmed in the above quotes can also
be found expressed by nearly every post-apostolic “church father” whose
writings have been preserved. For example, Justin Martyr – who was born in
Samaria around 100 AD and carried out a Christian ministry in Rome (where he
was martyred in 165 AD) – wrote the following:
“…we hold this view…that each man goes to everlasting punishment or salvation according to the value of his actions.
For if all men knew this, no one would choose wickedness even for a little,
knowing that he goes to the everlasting punishment of fire…“ (The First Apology, chap. 10)
“…those who have been persuaded that the unjust and intemperate shall be
punished in eternal fire, but that the
virtuous and those who lived like Christ shall dwell with God in a state
that is free from suffering—we mean, those who have become Christians…” (The Second Apology, chap. 1)
Similarly,
Tertullian – who lived and died in Carthage (c. 160-240) – believed that
Christians had to “attain a blameless life” in order to avoid “eternal
punishment for sin”:
“We receive our awards under the judgment of an all-seeing God, and we Christians anticipate eternal
punishment from Him for sin. Therefore, we alone make a real effort to attain a
blameless life. We do this under the
influence of…the magnitude of the threatened torment. For it is not merely
long-enduring; rather, it is everlasting.” (Apology, chap. 45)
Many
more similar quotes could be provided from these and other Christian writers.
However, I think these should be sufficient to demonstrate that, by the time the apostolic era ended, the
Christian church had already begun to descend into a state of grace-denying
doctrinal apostasy in relation to what Paul had referred to as “sound
teaching.”
Moreover,
it’s further evident from a number of these quotes that, as early as the second
century AD, a belief in the endless punishment of the wicked had already gained
a foothold within Christianity.[6]
For example, Justin Martyr makes his view concerning the fate of the wicked
pretty clear with the following statement: “And that he would be sent into the fire with his host, and
the men who follow him, and would be punished for an endless duration, Christ
foretold.”
Mark
Minucius Felix (who died c. 250 AD in Rome) was even more emphatic (and sickeningly
graphic) in his affirmation of the nightmarish fate that he believed was in
store for the wicked:
“There is neither limit nor termination of
these torments. There, the intelligent fire burns the limbs and restores them.
It feeds on them and nourishes them…That penal fire is not fed by the waste of
those who burn, but is nourished by the unexhausted eating away of their
bodies.”
Based
on these quotes (and, again, many more could be provided), it’s clear that,
during the first few centuries of post-apostolic “church history,” the truth of
the saving grace of God that’s revealed in Paul’s evangel had already begun to
be denied and opposed by Christians in positions of ecclesiastical authority
and influence. Still, there is some evidence that, as late as the early fifth
century, the truth of the salvation of all mankind was more generally accepted
in at least some parts of the Christian world (at least, more so than it is
today). According to the influential Christian theologian, Augustine of Hippo
(354-430 AD), there were “very many” Christians in his day who – in contrast
with the belief of Augustine himself (but in harmony with what we find affirmed
in Rom. 11:32) – believed that God would eventually show mercy to all. In
chapter 29 of Augustine’s work The Enchiridion (written from the city of
Hippo in 420 AD), we read the following rather dismissive remarks concerning
these Christians:
It is quite in vain, then, that some--indeed very many--yield to merely human
feelings and deplore the notion of the
eternal punishment of the damned and their interminable and perpetual misery.
They do not believe that such things will be. Not that they would go
counter to divine Scripture--but, yielding to their own human feelings, they
soften what seems harsh and give a milder emphasis to statements they believe
are meant more to terrify than to express the literal truth. “God will not
forget,” they say, “to show mercy, nor in his anger will he shut up his mercy.”[7]
However,
the doctrinal position of Augustine ultimately “won the day” within
Christendom, and by the sixth century AD, the truth to which “very many”
Christians held in Augustine’s day had become almost completely eclipsed by the
grace-denying, nightmarish doctrine of “eternal conscious torment.” And ever since
this time, the majority of Christians – regardless of their ecclesiastical
background – have simply taken it for granted that most sinners will never be
saved.
The Protestant
Reformation
It’s
not uncommon among many non-Catholic Christians to consider the Protestant
Reformation as a pivotal time in church history when the most essential truths
of Scripture were recovered and “true Christianity” began to be restored in the
world. To be sure, I do believe that
this important movement was a step in the right direction. By weakening the
influence of the most established and powerful expression of Christianity’s
counterfeit church – i.e., the Roman Catholic Church – it helped clear the path
that would, over time, lead to a greater number of people coming into a
realization of the truth (although I would argue that the invention of the printing press – which greatly
contributed to the widespread and lasting impact of the Protestant Reformation
and related Christian movements – was far more important and historically
revolutionary than anything accomplished by any of the leaders of the
Reformation).
As
important as the Protestant Reformation was, however, it failed to recover the
truth of the evangel of the grace of God, and challenge the unscriptural doctrine
of “eternal conscious torment.” Instead, the most influential leaders of this
movement (e.g., Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin) left this
grace-denying doctrine fully intact. In fact, not only did these Christian
leaders retain the belief that most sinners will never be saved, but they
provided the Christian world with yet another explanation for why most sinners will never be saved.
Most
Christians throughout church history (both before and after the Protestant
Reformation) have believed that the ultimate explanation for why most people will
never be saved is to be found in the way that humans exercise their so-called
“free will.” According to this view, the “eternal destiny” of each individual
ultimately hinges on certain volitional acts made by each individual in their
lifetime. However, the system of “Reformed theology” that was developed during
the Protestant Reformation (primarily by John Calvin) attributed the “eternal
damnation” of most sinners to the sovereign will of God. According to this
view, the ultimate explanation for
why most humans will never saved is that God doesn’t want them to be saved, and never intended on saving them.
Calvin was not actually the first theologian to
believe and teach that
God unconditionally elected only some human beings for “eternal salvation”
while “reprobating” the rest of humanity to “eternal damnation” (including the
non-elect who die in infancy).[8]
Despite being most commonly associated with the theology of Calvin, this
theological position actually originated with Augustine. It was this view that
Augustine advocated in his well-known theological controversy with the
British/Celtic monk, Pelagius (a contemporary of Augustine who advocated
asceticism and “holiness,” and emphasized man’s ability to obey God and meet
the requirements of salvation through the proper use of his “free will”).
Although Augustine correctly affirmed
the scriptural truth that sinners are utterly dependent on God for their
salvation from start to finish, he incorrectly
concluded that most people would never
be saved. The combination of these two positions led Augustine to the
then-novel belief that the ultimate
explanation for why most humans will never saved (including most who die in
infancy) is the sovereign will of God. However, this particular understanding
of election and predestination didn’t really “catch on” within Christendom
until the leaders of the Protestant Reformation rediscovered it and then
incorporated it into their own theological systems.
It
should be emphasized that the primary error underlying this disturbing
theological position is not that God unconditionally elects and predestines some
people but not others. Although rejected by many Christians who believe in
“free will,” predestination and election are undeniable Scriptural truths (see my two-part study “The
Golden Chain of Salvation”: http://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-golden-chain-of-salvation-study-on.html). Nor is the
problem with Reformed/Augustinian theology found in its affirmation that
sinners are utterly dependent on God for their salvation from start to finish (which
is also completely Scriptural). Rather, the real problem with this theological
position lies in its denial of the truth that some of the sinners for whose
sins Christ died will not receive “the grace of God and the gratuity in grace, which is of the
One Man, Jesus Christ,” and shall not
be “constituted just.”
This
denial, of course, makes the Reformed theological position just another way of
denying “the saving grace of God” that “made its advent to all
humanity.” For regardless of whether one appeals to the “free
will” of human beings (as most Christians do) or to the sovereign will of God
(as “Reformed” Christians do) in an attempt to explain why most sinners will
never be saved, one is still denying
the foundational truth that “Christ died for our sins,” and is thus rejecting
the fact that all sinners are destined to obtain “the
superabundance of grace and the gratuity of righteousness.” We can therefore
conclude that the majority of Christians today – whether they’re members of the
Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church or the various churches that
have emerged since the time of the Protestant Reformation (whether
denominational or “non-denominational”) – are just as blind to the truth of the
saving grace of God that’s revealed in Paul’s evangel as were the unbelievers
of whom Paul wrote in 2 Cor. 4:3-4:
“Now, if our evangel is covered, also, it is
covered in those who are perishing, in whom the god of this eon blinds the
apprehensions of the unbelieving so that the illumination of the evangel of the
glory of Christ, Who is the Image of the invisible God, does not irradiate
them.”
[1] It should be noted that what Paul was denying was “out of works” (and was
instead “grace” and “according to the choice of grace”) in Rom. 11:5-6 was the
fact that there was a
remnant of believing Jews. Apart from God’s grace, all Israel would’ve remained
in calloused unbelief.
[2] The “spirit”
to which Paul was referring in these verses (and which the Galatian believers
received when they believed the evangel) is referred to in Ephesians 1:13-14 as
follows:
“In Whom you also–on hearing the word of truth, the evangel of your
salvation–in Whom on believing also, you are sealed with the holy spirit of
promise (which is an earnest of the enjoyment of our allotment, to the
deliverance of that which has been procured) for the laud of His glory!”
It
is this spirit which “seals” every believer when we believe “the evangel of
[our] salvation,” and is the guarantee of our eonian life (our “allotment”)
until our “deliverance” (which, in Rom. 8:23, is referred to as “the deliverance of our body”). See also 2 Cor. 1:22
and 5:1-6, where Paul used the expression “the earnest of the spirit” in
connection with our being made immortal.
[3] By “works of
the law” Paul did not have in mind only those works that we would classify as
“ritualistic” or “ceremonial.” He would’ve understood the works of the law to
include, for example, the “Ten Commandments” as well. It should also be kept in
mind that the precept in which Paul said the “entire law” is fulfilled – i.e.,
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Gal. 5:14; cf. Rom. 13:8-10) – is
among the requirements of the law given to Israel (Lev. 19:18; cf. Matt.
22:39-40). Thus, Paul would’ve included this precept as being among the “works
of the law.”
[4] This was
precisely the view affirmed by James, the brother of Jesus (see James 2).
However, as I’ve argued in greater depth elsewhere, the company of believers to
whom James (as well as Peter, John and Jude) wrote should be understood as distinct from the company of believers
to whom Paul wrote his thirteen letters. See, for example, my four-part study
“God’s Covenant People” (http://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2018/09/gods-covenant-people-why-most-believing.html), as well as
the subsequent related articles on this subject that I posted in the months of
October and November of 2018.
[5] The Extant Works and Fragment of
Hippolytus (http://www.catholiccrossreference.com/fathers/index.php/Ps%20119:137)
[6] Some scholars
believe that Irenaeus (and perhaps some other
early church fathers) believed that the wicked would ultimately be
annihilated. Although this belief is certainly less nightmarish and
soul-crushing than the doctrine of endless torment, it is still contrary to the
truth of the saving grace of God. And regardless of whether Irenaeus believed
in annihilation or eternal torment, the following quote indicates that
Irenaeus denied that all would ultimately be saved:
“Those, therefore, who cast away these
aforementioned things because of apostasy are in fact destitute of all good.
So, they experience every kind of punishment…Now, good things are eternal and
without end with God, and therefore the
loss of these things is also eternal and never-ending.”
[8] Like Augustine before him, Calvin believed that only some infants (those who were elect)
would be saved, and that all non-elect humans who died in infancy (which Calvin
probably understood to be the majority) were just as hell-bound as those who
reached adulthood. As disturbing and depraved as this belief was (and is), at
least Calvin – unlike many Calvinists and other Reformed Christians after him –
was being consistent here. For more on this subject (including quotes from
Calvin, for those who can stomach them), see my 2014 article, “Reformed
Theology and the Doctrine of Election” (http://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2014/06/reformed-theology-and-doctrine-of_7974.html). See also
the follow-up article, “The Truth about Election” (http://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-truth-about-election.html).