Originally posted by Preach the Word:
"Person believes in Christ. He is eternally saved. He didn't earn it and he cannot work to keep it.
Now, this person does good works (by faith) and God is using it to sanctify him.
The good works that a Christian does are God's means of (final) salvation.
People are initially but not totally saved at the point of repentance and faith. If you still sin, you are not finally saved. Good works is used by God to sanctify a person and grow more Christ-like."
The "means of salvation" view was started by Thomas R. Schreiner of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Ardel B. Caneday of Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota.
They wrote a book together entitled "The Race Set Before Us".
Here are some quotes from their book that will give a general idea of what they are saying:
They give a good general description of the various views on perseverance:
"
Loss-of-salvation view. They say, “The racetrack represents salvation. Christians may abandon the race and lose salvation. The prize is eternal life.”6 This is Arminianism.
Loss-of-rewards view. “The racetrack represents salvation.7 Christians may abandon the race and lose rewards. The prize is not salvation but rewards.”8 This is the Free Grace position. The authors cite Grace Evangelical Society, Zane Hodges, The New Scofield Reference Bible, R. T. Kendall, Charles Stanley, Erwin Lutzer, Michael Eaton, John Hart, and me as advocating this position.9
Tests-of-genuineness view. The authors say that this is “one of the most common views in evangelicalism today.”10 “The racetrack represents salvation. To abandon the race proves one was never saved. Christians run with their back toward the goal11 to assess their progress on the track. The prize is salvation, eternal life. Warnings and admonitions call for retrospective and introspective self-examination to assess whether one is already saved.”12 This is the traditional Reformed view, also known as Lordship Salvation.
Hypothetical-loss-of-salvation view. The authors do not devote much space to this view “because this interpretive viewpoint emerges principally in discussions of warnings in Hebrews.”13 This view is a mix between views one and three. “The racetrack represents salvation. One who is already saved cannot abandon the race. The prize is salvation, eternal life. Warnings and admonitions only caution what would happen if one could fail to endure to the end."
They call their view the "
God’s means-of-salvation view".
Here is how they define their view:
"
God’s means-of-salvation view. The racetrack represents salvation. If one abandons the race one will not receive the prize. The prize is salvation, eternal life. Warnings and admonitions call for faith that endures to receive the prize."
The "
Loss-of-rewards view" of rewards view could also be called the "
Once Saved, Always Saved" or true "
Eternal Security" position.
I believe whole heartedly the scriptures teach the "
Loss-of-rewards view".
The Prize is not salvation - it is rewards.
I am not being saved - I am saved because I realized I was sinner and in need of Savior, I repented of my sins and trusted in shed blood of Christ for my salvation - not works I had done or would do in the future. The moment I trusted Christ as Savior and invited him into my heart he "
set his seal of ownership" on me and "
put his Spirit" in my heart "
guaranteeing what is to come."
II Corinthians 1:21-22(NIV)
"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."
Ephesians 1:13-14(NIV)
"
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory."
What is the "work" that Christ called us to?
John 6:28-29(NIV)
"Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.""
The only "work" I must do to enter the kingdom of heaven is trust in Christ.
I understand the motive behind Piper's, Schreiner and Caneday's work and Macarthers's work. They are try to motivate people to righteous walk - close relationship with the Lord.
Here is the problem - they are using fear as the motivator for righteous living - this is unbiblical - "
Christ's love compels us" as Paul wrote in II Corinthians - not fear. Now their is a respectful "fear of the Lord" taught throughout the scriptures - but this is not a scary movie kind of fear - but one of respect and admiration.
II Corinthians 5:14(NIV)
"
For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died."
So how do we motivate people to live Godly lives?
II Timothy 4:8(NIV)
"
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."
Godliness benefits me now and later. If I walk close with the Lord my temporal life right now will be blessed. I know the riches of God's blessings each day of my life.
I Corinthians 3:11-15(NIV)
"
11For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames."
The foundation is Jesus Christ - this when I trusted Christ as my Savior and was saved, this foundation is permanent and cannot be moved.
Now I can choose what I will build on that foundation, whether I will join a local body and be baptized, whether I will serve in my church and witness to others. But even if someone does not build much on this foundation - he will still be saved, although he will not receive rewards.
Lets just look at a couple of statements from these Schreiner and Caneday's work to see how unbiblical this view of eternal security(or really no security) is:
"
Almost all Christians think of salvation exclusively in terms of the past. Believers often say, “I have been saved,” or ask someone else, “Have you been saved?” We will argue that most evangelical Christians do not use the word salvation as it is usually used in the Bible, where the term denotes our future salvation. Hence, the emphasis of the biblical text often gets lost when we speak about salvation."
My salvation is not "
future" Paul wrote that when I "
believed"(past tense) I was "
included"(past tense) in Christ and I was "
marked"(past tense) with the "
seal"(another sign of permanence) of the Holy Spirt. He is my guarentee of my future with Christ - not my good deeds I do after salvation.
Consider some other statments from them on works related to the salvation of the believer:
"
Paul does not guarantee that believers will inherit the kingdom regardless of how they live. He warns that those who succumb to the flesh will not enter the kingdom."
"
The exhortation of Romans 8:13 [“For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live”] is still needed for Christians. Paul warns us that if we succumb to the desires of the body we will die. In order to live, that is, to obtain eternal life, we must slay the deeds of the body by the power of the Spirit."
"
Righteous living is necessary to obtain entrance into the kingdom of Jesus Christ."
"
James also conceives of salvation as future. He exhorts his readers to “humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you” (Jas 1:21 NIV). The idea is not that they are saved but that the Word is able to save them. Apparently, the work of salvation is not completed, since the Word planted in them must be given free reign so that they will ultimately experience salvation."
"
We must run the race with dogged determination to obtain the prize of eternal life, and it takes remarkable discipline and training to make it to the end."
"
Since the writer [of Hebrews] portrays the Christian life as a race needing gutsy endurance and a training ground in which discipline is meted out, we are correct in saying that obtaining the eschatological prize takes ardent effort. There is no call to passivity here!"
So it takes "
ardent effort" to win the prize of salvation ah?
Romans 9:14-16(NIV)
"
What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moses,
"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."
The scriptures clearly condemn this teaching. That is why at the beginning of this thread I said I saw little difference between the perseverance of the saints doctrines of the Calvinist(or variations on it) or Arminian camps.
A closing though - many heresies have grown up in Christianity as overeactions to other heresies. Many good intentioned theologians like Macarther and Piper and the rest so like minded have good intentions. But their good intentions to draw people to a closer walk with the Lord and righteous living have resulted in them formulating unbiblical doctrines.
Just some things to chew on.
IFBReformer
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