Apostasy
Does Paul Teach Unconditional Eternal Security in Romans 8:35-39?
Submitted by Ben Henshaw on Thu, 05/17/2012 - 6:02amRomans 8:35-39
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For you sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Does Jesus Teach Unconditional Eternal Security in John 10:27-29?
Submitted by Ben Henshaw on Tue, 05/15/2012 - 6:36amHaving examined the primary passages that teach apostasy we now examine the passages that the advocates of unconditional eternal security believe clearly support their doctrine:
John 10:27-29
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.
Does 1 John 2:18-19 Support the Calvinist "Never Saved to Begin With" View of Apostasy?
Submitted by Ben Henshaw on Fri, 05/11/2012 - 1:48pm1 John 2:18-19
Little children, it is the last hour and as you have heard that the Anti-Christ is coming, even now many anti-christs have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be manifest, that none of them were of us.
Debunking the False Faith View of the Hebrews Warning Passages
Submitted by Ben Henshaw on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 9:02amBelow are some comments I made long ago in my perseverance series against the idea that the writer of Hebrews is addressing his warnings of falling away to those whose faith is not genuine, or describing those with non-genuine faith. My comments are followed by more recent comments by Scot McKnight against O’Brien’s false faith interpretation. The specific language of the warnings and the way the believers are described and addressed simply will not allow for the false faith interpretation. The writer of Hebrews is describing genuine believers who have fallen away from faith and salvation and admonishing those with genuine faith to endure less they too fall way and forfeit salvation.
From: Perseverance of the Saints Part 10: Examining Wilderness Typology
1 Corinthians 15 and the Claims of Calvinism
Submitted by Ben Henshaw on Mon, 03/05/2012 - 2:39pmCalvinism as a system claims that God reprobated a large segment of mankind so that they can never be saved. [1] It further claims that the atonement is for this reason limited only to the elect who alone will benefit from the atonement and be saved (with no possibility of falling away). In such a system Jesus died only for the sins of the elect. If this is the case it seems that many passages of Scripture are disingenuous in commanding all people everywhere to repent and believe on Christ when repentance is impossible for reprobates and Christ did not die for them anyway (For more on that see here).
Scot McKnight, A Brief Response to Some Calvinistic Views of the Warning Passages
Submitted by SEA on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 11:55amIn a blog post entitled, “Warning Passages Ahead: Brief Response,” (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2012/01/16/warning-passages-ahea...) top notch Arminian-ish New Testament scholar Scot McKnight has responded to the view of top notch Calvinist New Testament scholar Peter O’Brien on O’Brien’s view of the warning passages in Hebrews (O'Brien has written a major commentary on Hebrews). In the comment section on the post, McKnight also responds very briefly but incisively to the view of Calvinist New Testament scholars Thomas Schreiner and Ardel Caneday (see comment numbers 5 and 8).
Scot McKnight, "Calvinism: My History 7"
Submitted by SEA on Mon, 01/16/2012 - 7:24amFollow the link to view part 7 of distinguished New Testament scholar Scot McKnight's personal testimony of coming out of Calvinism for a more biblical evangelical view and his discussion of the warning passages in Hebrews: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2011/12/16/calvinism-my-history-7/ .
Scot McKnight, "Calvinism: My History 6"
Submitted by SEA on Thu, 01/12/2012 - 8:28amFollow the link to view part 6 of distinguished New Testament scholar Scot McKnight's personal testimony of coming out of Calvinism for a more biblical evangelical view and his discussion of the warning passages in Hebrews: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2011/12/16/calvinism-my-history-6/ .
Scot McKnight, "Calvinism: My History 5"
Submitted by SEA on Wed, 01/11/2012 - 8:16amFollow the link to view part 5 of distinguished New Testament scholar Scot McKnight's personal testimony of coming out of Calvinism for a more biblical evangelical view and his discussion of the warning passages in Hebrews: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jesuscreed/2011/12/14/calvinism-my-history-5/ .
Brian Abasciano, "Acts 27 and the Possibility of Apostasy"
Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 01/06/2012 - 9:03amBy Brian Abasciano
One of the strongest arguments that true believers in Christ can forsake faith in Christ and so perish is that Scripture warns believers against forsaking their faith and the accompanying consequence of perishing. There is no point in warning someone against doing something he knows he cannot do and suffering consequences he knows he cannot possibly experience. But some Calvinists appeal to the shipwreck story of Acts 27 in order to support the claim that it is reasonable to issue warnings or take them seriously when God has already guaranteed that a given action and its threatened consequence will not happen (see, e.g., Thomas R. Schreiner, “Perseverance and Assurance: A Survey and a Proposal,” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 2 (1998) 32–62 [55]). The argument is basically that in the situation described by Acts God had promised that all who sailed with Paul would survive, and that Paul’s later warning that the sailors trying to escape must stay in the ship for his companions to survive shows that Paul considered it reasonable to issue a warning when he knew that its threatened consequence could not happen. But this argument is unconvincing.
