Dear Friends,

     Perhaps the first and most central responsibility of faithful Bible study is to seek the intended meaning of the inspired author of the writings. What did the Holy Spirit intend by this passage in its context? How do we bring that intended meaning across the centuries and apply it to our present life today? A major hurdle in our Bible study, catalyzed by centuries of errant teaching that pours false meaning into Scripture instead of drawing the pure true waters of gospel truth from Scripture, requires us to distinguish Biblical lessons related to God’s working of grace from passages that inform and direct our discipleship. If we confuse the two, we fall into an ancient heretical teaching that attributes at least part of the eternal salvation responsibility to man instead of honoring God alone for its accomplishment. We thus transform the joy of discipleship into the impossible task of performance-based religion, all for the objective of gaining our own eternal salvation. Other-focused Biblical discipleship is horribly disfigured into a “What’s in it for me?” self-centered religion. And God who alone saves His people from the eternal consequences of their sins is robbed of His glory in that central saving work. Ah, but in the end detractors shall fail, and God shall prove His own victory.

     It seems like just a few years ago that I was referred to as the “boy preacher.” I was ordained in my teen years. Where have those years gone? It is such a short time! I can recall in my youth wishing my life away; when will I ever reach a certain age threshold? I measured time in minutes and hours. Today time seems to be flying; I measure it in weeks, months, and years, and they fly by with ever-increasing rapidity. “What time is it?” is truly a central question for me! How much time do I have left? When will I walk into the pulpit that last time? Will I know it is the last time and be able to tell my beloved friends at the church where I’ve served for most of my ministry a proper “Goodbye”? Or will illness descend unexpectedly on me and cut that opportunity short? What time is it? Ah, what a question.

     More important to our faith than the application of this question to our chronological age is Paul’s application of it to our faith. At a time when the Roman Christians should have been stable, mature, and strong in their walk of faith, they were faltering over ideas that should not have given them a moment’s pause. Paul could have logically told the Romans the same idea that we find in the Hebrew letter, “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.” (Hebrews 5:11)

     This week pause from whatever occupies your time. Spend a few hours—yes, hours—reflecting on the real “time” of day you sense in your personal walk of faith and your personal spiritual maturity and stability in your faith. What time is it?

God bless

Joe Holder

What Time is it?

"And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. (Romans 13:11-14) "

     As a child I occasionally heard my father nudge his children to stop delaying our chores and get them done with a clearly impatient “It is high time you do your chores.” In Paul’s writings here the term more likely refers to appropriateness than to impatience. There is a distinctly logical rational basis for godly wisdom and decisions in the life of a believer in Christ. Any other choice or decision would be illogical and unreasonable. The discerning Christian makes decision based on the teaching of Scripture and typically will increasingly discover this prevailing rational and wise enlightenment of Scripture to our daily lives. Remember, Paul’s word “reasonable” in Romans 12:1 communicates this truth. Making Biblical decisions in our daily life is the only logical, rational—reasonable—basis for what we choose to do. God did not inspire and preserve Scripture to give us a long list of equally acceptable options. He gave us His Word as an exclusive directive for the way we are to live our lives. Choosing those instructions and living by them will bring blessings, abundant and rich. Choosing to ignore them will just as surely bring God’s judgments and chastening. Thus to do anything other than live by Scripture’s teachings is neither logical nor reasonable.

     Paul here is not teaching the Romans about how they might gain eternity. He is not teaching them about how those who are dead in sins become living children of God. He is teaching born-again, living children of God what they need to do to “wake up” and start living their faith. We might describe this passage as a “wake up call” to the Roman believers.

…now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

Paul expected—and Scripture teaches—that believers in Christ should cultivate their godly appetites and graces so that they grow stronger and more discerning in their faith and walk. Scripture never permits us to become complacent or backsliding. We may do so, but we cannot pursue such a course with either God’s or His Book’s approval. Although I greatly respect the incredible impact the Reformers made on historical Christianity, I must also observe that in some key areas of Biblical faith they demonstrated their uninspired humanity and failed to preserve the very “sola Scriptura,” “Scripture alone” transformation that they sincerely sought. In two areas they confused concepts taught in Scripture rather than clarifying them; 1) they “morphed” justification by faith so as to confuse the Biblical term and truth, in the process failing to distinguish between God’s exclusive work of justifying undeserving sinners by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ from the ethical walk of faith that Scripture commands as the obedient lifestyle of God’s regenerate, chosen children (The New Testament consistently uses “justified by faith” or equivalent terms in reference to a regenerate elect person’s discipleship, not to our eternal salvation; the Reformers, likely intending to use the term to distinguish their beliefs from Roman Catholic salvation by works, redefined the term to refer to their whole belief system regarding eternal salvation), and 2) they equally confused the Biblical distinction between God’s sovereign preservation of His chosen people in the secure—eternally secure—grace of the Lord Jesus Christ with the Biblical exhortation to regenerate believers to “persevere” in their faith and good works.[i] It is this second confusion that I here address.

     Scripture only uses “perseverance” one time, Ephesians 6:18, and in that passage the word is used as an exhortation to the Ephesians, not in any way teaching a divine decree that causes or ensures the faithful obedience of those whom God has regenerated by grace. Thus when the Reformers taught that divine grace irresistibly causes every regenerate elect person to “persevere” increasingly in faith and holiness, they “morphed” divine “preservation” in the work of Christ with the exhortation of Scripture to regenerate believers so that they actually set the stage for their own nemesis who would shortly challenge their teachings. Arminius may well have learned his opposing ideas to the Reformation from the Jesuit Luis de Molina, but he almost succeeded at derailing and destroying the Reformation, something that the Roman Church failed to do through the Inquisition. Arminius turned the Reformers’ own inconsistencies back on them.

     When Paul wrote, “

…now is our salvation nearer than when we believed…

” he was not referring to the Romans going to heaven when they died. He was rather referring to a logical and seasonal (“high time”) point in the life of the Roman believers when, by time and prior teaching in the gospel, they should have been stronger in their faith and walk than they were. But they were not stronger, and Paul wrote the Roman letter to guide them back to the correct path, not put them on the path to heaven when they died. The Romans had not lost their eternal salvation; they were not “…dead in trespasses and sins…” (Ephesians 2:1); they were asleep instead of being awake and active in their faith. They were so sleepy that they had failed to recognize the incredible theological difference between legalism and God’s grace, between salvation by a synergy of grace and human works and salvation by grace alone. They were so sleepy that they were seriously entertaining a reversion to a hybrid view of faith that was neither consistent with Mosaic Law or with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul in the Roman letter sounds an alarm in their ears, a “wake up” call to get their attention.

… let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.

Notice the consistent form of Paul’s exhortation, “Let us….” When Scripture refers to God’s eternal work of grace within His chosen people, it always refers to that work as something that God has done, not as something that we are to do. This is—at its heart—the dilemma of the Reformers to which I referred earlier in their confusing of eternal truth with discipleship truth. When Paul, this same inspired author, reminded the Thessalonians of what God in sovereign grace had done for their eternal salvation, notice his language.

And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:10)

     Notice the clarity of Paul’s point. It was not the Thessalonians who cooperated with God in accomplishing their eternal security. Rather it was God who alone “…delivered us from the wrath to come.” He delivered us from that coming wrath; we did not deliver ourselves, nor did we cooperatively assist God in this deliverance. It was—first to last—God’s delivering work.

     In contrast our study lesson deals with Paul’s urgent exhortation to the Romans to “Wake up,” and start walking the walk of their professed faith. He admonishes them to put off certain sinful attitudes and behaviors, while at the same time putting on other godly attitudes and behaviors. The inspired author of Hebrews (likely Paul) makes the point clearly.

But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. (Hebrews 6:9)

     The attitudes and behaviors here admonished do not cause, but rather “accompany” salvation. They are logical “companions” of salvation, not its cause nor its instrument.

But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

To “put on” is a reference to clothing, something to be worn, not a reference to God’s internal change that He effects in the new birth when He writes His laws in our hearts and minds. We could logically enlarge the title to our study from “What Time is it?” to “What Time is it—and What Will you Wear?”

     A major objection offered by those who do not believe the Biblical doctrines of grace against those who do is that a belief in salvation all by divine grace and wholly apart from human contribution or cooperation will encourage a sinful or careless lifestyle. Interestingly that is precisely the same objection that Paul’s critics raised against him. (Romans 3:8) We are thus challenged with no subtlety whatever by Paul’s reference. Do we wish to stand in our beliefs with Paul or with his critics? If I am preaching salvation by human cooperation with God, no one would ever consider accusing me of teaching “Let us do evil that good may come.”

     What clothes do we wear in our daily life? We may well “dress up” in more ways than one for Sunday church, but do we wear the same clothes during the week when the contractor shows up at our home and tells us that he made a mistake that will cost us more money than we budgeted? What clothes do we wear when someone cuts us off on the freeway and we must hit our brakes and make emergency evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision? What clothes do we wear when a retailer with whom we do business tried to charge us an inflated price for the merchandise we wanted to purchase?

     There are clear—and Biblical—ethical attitudes and behaviors that logically accompany a belief in the doctrines of grace. Are we wearing them, or are we still trying to wear those old worn out and inappropriate rags that we wore before divine grace changed our hearts and sent us down a new godly path? Paul doesn’t tell us that God shall certainly change our clothes; he rather instructs us to put off those old clothes and put on our new “grace clothes.” Grace gives us a new wardrobe. Are we wearing it? Are we awake in our faith or asleep?

Elder Joseph R Holder

Gospel Gleanings

Document http://www.salvationbygracealone.com/gospelgleanings/07202008.html

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[i] This footnote will briefly describe the distinction between the two Biblical doctrines referenced and the distinctly different doctrinal belief set forth by the Reformers regarding those doctrines. While criticizing the Reformers’ beliefs, I also highly commend and admire them, given the age in which they lived and the background from which they came. The proverbial “bottom line” regarding them is quite simple. They were brilliant and insightful, but they were not inspired, nor were they flawless in their beliefs.

Justification by Faith

The New Testament consistently uses this term or its equivalent in a context of discipleship. God’s previously born-again, elect children are admonished to walk by faith in God as taught in Scripture. When they do so against all kinds of difficulty and opposition, they are said to be “justified by faith.”

The Reformers redefined this term away from discipleship and embraced in it their concept of salvation, eternal salvation from sin, as contrasted with the Roman Catholic Church’s view of salvation by works. As “Reformation” theology unfolds, it typically embraces a form of gospel instrumentality in the new birth. The unregenerated (not yet born again) individual is required to hear the gospel, and even to believe it prior to regeneration. The basis on which this person embraces the gospel the Reformed teacher typically calls “saving faith,” meaning that the sinner’s response is essential for the sinner to become born again. At times these teachers will embrace a form of deterministic fatalism and say that God decrees (or ordains or some similar word) our “saving faith,” so God gets all the glory for our salvation, even though He requires us to exercise “saving faith” prior to the new birth and as a necessary “instrument” to attain the new birth. Thus the “morphed” Reformation doctrine mingles and confuses discipleship, faithful obedience to the gospel that occurs after the new birth, with the divine process by which God causes the new birth. According to Scripture (John the third chapter and Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus as just one Biblical example), God effects the new birth wholly apart from anything we do, so the Reformation idea of “saving faith” being exercised by a person prior to the new birth is wholly void of Biblical support. It in fact attempts to blend salvation by works with salvation by grace, but then justifies its hybrid or “morphed” concept by alleging that God causes our acts of “saving faith.”

Perseverance vs. Preservation

The New Testament repeatedly and consistently teaches that God in grace shall surely “preserve” His chosen people in Christ, preventing the loss of even one of them from eternal ruin. The New Testament (King James translation—I feel no need to correct it or to retranslate it!) uses “perseverance” one and only one time in the sixth chapter of Ephesians. In that context the word appears as part of Paul’s exhortation to the Ephesians to continue faithful and diligent in their prayers.

The historical concept of God “persevering” in His faithfulness to preserve His elect in Christ from any danger of eternal ruin or loss is redefined by typical Reformation teachers to refer to a hypothetical supposition that all “really” born again individuals shall surely by divine cause and grace “persevere” in their faith and grow continually closer to God till they die. Literally, the word means to continue faithful, steadfast, and unwavering in one’s active faith. If you ever have a doubt or waver in your walk of faith, you did not in that instance “persevere.” Thus the concept of perseverance here referenced fits neither the Biblical reference nor the literal definition of the word.

The Reformed teaching regarding this doctrine alleges that all “true” elect shall “persevere” in faith and holiness, ever growing closer to God in faith and obedience till they die. If a person falters or stumbles along the way, the indoctrinated “perseverance teacher” stands always nearby and eager to pass sentence, “If you are really born again, you will remain faithful. If you falter or walk away, I can’t give you any assurance that you were ever born again in the first place.” This attitude first reveals an obsessive eagerness to judge another person’s eternal state. Secondly, it presumes that the person who either gives or withholds assurance is entitled to do so. In fact Scripture teaches that God, not man, gives us assurance of our salvation, so the basic premise of “morphed perseverance” is flawed and attempts to supplant God’s exclusive prerogative.

More importantly, this doctrine in its “morphed” form fails the test of Scripture. Spend just a brief time studying the lives of Biblical saints. Select only the men and women whose lives leave no doubt that they were God’s chosen vessels of mercy. What does Genesis 25:5-6, the last two verses prior to the record of Abraham’s death, say about Abraham’s “perseverance”? Study the life of Gideon; he even appears in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews as an example of faith, but what do you discover in the Old Testament about the closing chapter of his life? Did he “persevere” based on the typical definition of this “morphed doctrine”? Other examples abound. If I read the life of Lot in Genesis, his closing chapter ends in abysmal disgrace. If I accept this description of his life, I don’t really like the man, and I certainly do not respect him. Yet Peter refers to an earlier time in Lot’s life and describes him as a righteous man who was vexed with the sin of his culture. Was Lot “really one of God’s elect,” or was he merely a pretender? Will I accept Peter’s conclusion or reject Peter’s point in favor of a doctrine that fails both the Biblical and the dictionary test of its meaning?

What is the basic truth of Scripture regarding this question? Simply stated, Scripture teaches unequivocally that God through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ shall “preserve” all of His elect so that at the final moment of Judgment Day, He will present every one of them—not even one missing—to the Father, all preserved from loss and kept for the Father’s eternal praise. What about Biblical perseverance? It is presented in Scripture as an admonition to all who are committed to their walk of faith. Keep on keeping on in your faith, in your faithful walk, and in your prayers. But it is never presented in Scripture as a robotic, divinely caused state of all “true believers” who shall supposedly grow ever closer to God in their life and walk right up to the day they die.

Back to the closing of our study this week, what wardrobe are you wearing, “grave clothes or grace clothes,” to borrow a Warren Wiersbe cliché?