The
Statement of Basic Beliefs
by the
Members of the Restored Hope Network
Presupposes
the Inseparability
of Faith
and a Spirit-Led Life,
Not a
Rejection of the Doctrine of Eternal Security
by Prof. Robert A. J. Gagnon, Ph.D.
Sept. 1, 2012
For a PDF
version with pagination go
here.
Occasionally someone interested in joining the Restored Hope Network
wants to know if rejecting a doctrine of eternal security is a
requirement of membership in RHN. In short: It isn’t.
The
first point of “The Statement of Basic Beliefs by the Members of the
Restored Hope Network” reads:
1. Sexual purity is a life-and-death
matter. Sexual holiness for Christians matters to such an extent
that a sexually immoral life can get even self-professed Christians
excluded from the kingdom of God.
The phrase
“self-professed Christians” leaves ambiguous the question of whether we
are talking about actual believers or only those who falsely profess to
be so. Those who adopt an eternal security view but recognize that a
transformed life is a necessary byproduct of saving faith can sign the
doctrinal statement in good conscience.
The
only persons who would have problems with the statement are those who
hold an extreme version of the eternal security doctrine. This version
says: It is legalism to warn self-professed believers who engage
unrepentantly in egregious immorality such as homosexual practice that
such behavior is indicative of those not walking by faith and thus in
danger of being excluded from God’s kingdom. This extreme variation of
once-saved-always-saved favors assuring such persons that they will go
to heaven irrespective of whether their life is primarily led by the
Spirit or by sin.
Genuine saving faith necessarily expresses itself in a transformed life.
To say “I have faith” is to say “I no longer live but Christ lives in
me” such that I now “live for God” (Gal 2:19-20). Even John Calvin, no
slouch when it came to advocating the eternal security of the believer,
could say: “Those in whom the Spirit does not reign do not belong to
Christ; therefore those who serve the flesh are not Christians, for
those who separate Christ from His Spirit make Him like a dead image or
a corpse. . . . Free remission of sins cannot be separated from the
Spirit of regeneration. This would be, as it were, to rend Christ
asunder.”
Prof.
Michael Horton (Ph.D., Oxford University) of Westminster Seminary in
California, a Calvinist theologian who supports the eternal security of
the believer, states:
It is
as unloving to hold out hope to those who embrace a homosexual lifestyle
as it is to assure idolaters, murderers, adulterers, and thieves that
they are safe and secure from all alarm…. Paul’s point is clear: For
Gentiles, sexual immorality (including homosexuality, within proper
social boundaries) is normal, but to take that view is to exclude
oneself from the kingdom of Christ. A proud sinner defiantly ignoring
the lordship of Christ while professing to embrace him as Savior is
precisely what Paul says is impossible. These passages do not threaten
believers who struggle with indwelling sin and fall into grievous sins
(see Romans 7 for that category); rather, they threaten professing
believers who do not agree with God about their sin…. [By] refusing to
agree with God about the nature of such behavior as sinful, those who
embrace sexual immorality as a lifestyle reject the gospel. One cannot
even seek forgiveness for something that one does not regard as sinful
in the first place…. We dare not try to cut Christ in pieces, as if we
could receive him deliverer from sin’s guilt but not from its dominion,
or as Savior but not as Lord” (“Let's
Not Cut Christ to Pieces,”
Christianity Today online, 7/12/12).
Scripture
is quite clear on this point (translations below are mine from the Greek
text):
1a. Paul on the Spirit-led life: “So then, brothers (and sisters),
we are debtors not to the flesh, (that is,) to live in conformity to the
flesh. For, if you continue to live in conformity to the flesh, you are
going to die. But if by (means of) the Spirit you are putting to death
the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are being led by
the Spirit of God, these (very ones) are sons (and daughters) of God”
(Rom 8:12-14).
“Do
not be deceiving yourselves: God is not to be mocked, for whatever a
person sows, this also he (or she) will reap, because the one who sows
to his (or her) own flesh will, from the flesh, reap (a harvest of)
destruction; but the one who sows to the Spirit will, from the Spirit,
reap (a harvest of) eternal life. And let us not be bad in doing what is
good for in due time we will reap (our harvest), if we do not slack off”
(Gal 6:7-9).
Since
it is in Scripture, surely we all have to agree that self-professed
believers who “continue to live in conformity to the flesh” and think
that they will live forever deceive themselves for they will die and not
inherit eternal life; that only those who “are being led by the Spirit
... are children of God.”
1b. Paul on sexual ethics: “If you are being led by the Spirit you
are not under (the jurisdiction of) the law. Now the works of the flesh
are apparent, which are (of the following sort): sexual immorality (porneia),
sexual impurity (akatharsia), licentiousness (aselgeia),
idolatry … and the things like these, about which I am telling you
beforehand [i.e., before God’s day of judgment], just as I told you
beforehand [i.e., when I was personally with you] that those who do such
things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal 5:18-21).
“Or
do you not know that unrighteous people will not inherit God’s kingdom?
Do not be deceiving yourselves: Neither the sexually immoral, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ‘soft men’ (malakoi; i.e. men who
feminize themselves to attract male sex partners), nor men who lie with
a male (arsenokoitai) … shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor
6:9-10).
“Sexual immorality (porneia) and sexual impurity (akatharsia)
of any kind … must not even be named among you, as is proper among
saints…. Know this indeed, that every sexually immoral person (pornos)
or sexually impure person (akathartos) … has no inheritance in
the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty
words, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the
children of disobedience” (Eph 5:3-6).
“For
you know what instructions we gave to you through the Lord Jesus. For
this is the will of God: your holiness [or: sanctification], that you
abstain from sexual immorality (porneia), … because the Lord is
an avenger concerning all these things, just as also we told you before
and were charging (you before God). For God did not call us to sexual
impurity (akatharsia) but in holiness [or: sanctification]. For
that very reason the one who rejects (this instruction) rejects not a
human being but God who gives the Holy Spirit to you” (1 Thess 4:2-8).
Since
it is in Scripture, surely we all have to agree that self-professed
believers who live unrepentant, sexually immoral lives “will not inherit
the kingdom of God”; that leaving the jurisdiction of the law is
dependent on “being led by the Spirit”; and that “deceiving yourselves”
includes thinking that believers can engage in serial-unrepentant sins
of an egregious sort and get away with it. Surely we all have to agree
that self-professed believers who do not “abstain from sexual
immorality... reject ... God who gives the Holy Spirit to you” and cause
God to respond to them as an “avenger.”
2.
1 John: “If we say that we have partnership with him and are walking
in darkness, we lie and do not have the truth; but if we are walking in
the light as he himself is in the light we have partnership with one
another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin”
(1:6-7). “The one who says, ‘I have come to know him,’ and is not
keeping his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him.... By
this we know that we are in him: The one who says that he remains in him
ought—just as that one (Jesus) walked—also himself to walk like this”
(2:3-6). “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in
him” (2:15). “If you know that he is righteous, you know that also
everyone who does what is righteous has been born from him” (2:29). “No
one who remains in him keeps on sinning [i.e. as a pattern of life]; no
one who keeps on sinning has seen him or has known him. Little children,
let no one deceive you: The one who does what is right is righteous,
just as that one (Jesus) is righteous. The one who keeps committing sin
is from the devil, for from the beginning the devil is sinning....
Everyone who has been born from God does not keep on committing sin [as
a pattern of life] ... because he has been born from God. By this the
children of God and the children of the devil are evident: everyone who
does not do what is right is not from God, also the one who does not
love his brother” (3:6-10). “We know that we have transferred from death
to life because we love the brothers… No one who hates his brother...
has eternal life remaining in him.... By this we will know that we are
from the truth and will persuade our heart before him” (3:14-20). “The
one who keeps his commandments remains in him and (Christ) himself in
him” (3:24). “We know that everyone who has been born from God does not
keep on sinning (as a pattern of life)” (5:18).
Since
it is in Scripture, surely we all have to agree that self-professed
believers who walk in darkness, who continue sinning as a defining
feature of their life, who are not keeping God’s commands, or who love
“the world” with its lusts have no partnership with Christ, do not
remain in Christ and God, remain in death and have not transferred to
life, are not in the light, have not come to know God, do not love God,
are from the devil rather than from God, are liars, and have no basis
for reassuring their heart that they belong to Christ. Christ’s atoning
blood does not continue to cleanse their sins; the truth and the love of
the Father are not in them.
3.
James: “What is the benefit, my brothers, if someone says that he
has faith but (that same someone) does not have works? His faith cannot
save him, can it? ... Faith, if it does not have works, is dead by
itself.... I will show you my faith from my works. Do you believe that
God is one? You do well. And the demons believe—and shudder.... Faith
apart from works is barren.... You see that [in the case of Abraham]
faith works together with his works and (that) from the works faith was
brought to completion.... For as indeed the body without spirit is dead,
so also faith without works is dead” (2:14-26).
Since
it is in Scripture, surely we all have to agree that self-professed
believers who claim that they have saving faith in Christ but do not
exhibit the works which characterize such faith really have only dead
faith.
4.
Hebrews: “For if we keep on sinning willfully [or: deliberately,
intentionally] after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there is no
longer left a sacrifice for sins but a fearful prospect [or:
expectation] of judgment and a raging fire that is about to consume the
adversaries. Anyone who set aside the law of Moses “dies” without mercy
“on (the testimony of) two or three witnesses” [Deut 17:6]. How much
worse punishment [or: vengeance, retribution] do you think will be
deserved by the one who trampled under foot the Son of God and regarded
as unholy [or: profane; literally: common, ordinary] the blood of the
covenant by which he was made holy [or: sanctified] and insulted the
Spirit of grace?” (10:26-27, 29).
Since
it is in Scripture, surely we all have to agree that self-professed
believers who willfully persist in a life of sin have “outraged the
Spirit of grace” and face “a fearful prospect of judgment.”
5.
2 Peter: Warns about some who “entice with licentious desires of the
flesh those who barely escaped from the ones living in error, promising
freedom to them, though they themselves are slaves of corruption—for by
whatever one has been defeated [or: overcome], to this one has been
enslaved. For if, after escaping the defilements of the world through a
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and becoming entangled
again in these, they are defeated [or: overcome], the last circumstances
have become for them worse than the first. For it would be better for
them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it,
to turn away from the holy commandment that had been transmitted to
them.” (2:18-21).
Since
it is in Scripture, surely we all have to agree that self-professed
believers who return to the forms of immorality that they engaged in as
an unbeliever are in a worse state now than before coming to a knowledge
of the truth.
6.
John of Patmos, Revelation: “[The risen Christ says:] ‘To … the
church in Ephesus…. You abandoned your first love. So remember from
where [i.e. from what high state] you have fallen and repent and do the
first works. But if (you do) not, I am coming to you and I will move
your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent…. To the one who
conquers I will give to him to eat from the tree of life, which is in
the paradise [or: garden] of God’” (2:1, 4-7).
“[The
risen Christ says:] ‘To … the church in Smyrna…. The devil is about to
throw (some) of you into prison in order that you may be tested; and you
will have distress [or: oppression, affliction, tribulation] for ten
days. Become faithful to the point of death and I will give to you the
wreath [or: crown] of life…. The one who conquers shall certainly not be
harmed from the second death’” (2:8, 10-11).
“[The
risen Christ says:] ‘To … the church in Pergamum…. You did not deny your
faith even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was killed
among you…. But I have against you a few things, that you have there
(some) holding to the teaching of Balaam [i.e., the Nicolaitans], … [who
teach you] to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual
immorality…. So repent. But if (you do) not, I am coming to you quickly
and I will make war with them with the sword of my mouth…. To the one
who conquers I will give to him (some) of the manna that has been kept
hidden and I will give to him a white stone…’” (2:12-17).
“[The
risen Christ says:] ‘To … the church in Thyatira…. I have against you
that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and
she teaches and deceives [or: misleads, leads astray] my slaves [or:
servants] to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to
idols. And I gave her time to repent, and she is not willing to repent
from her sexual immorality. Take notice: I am throwing her onto a bed
and those who are committing adultery with her into great distress [or:
affliction, tribulation] if they do not repent from her works … and I
will give to each of you according to your works [i.e., what your works
deserve]…. And to the one who conquers and who keeps my works until the
end I will give to him authority over the nations’” (2:18, 20-23, 26).
“[The
risen Christ says:] ‘To … the church in Sardis…. You are dead. Become
watchful [or: on the alert, awake] and firm up [or: steady] the
remaining things that were about to die, for I have not found your works
complete in the sight of my God…. Repent. So if you do not become
watchful, I will come like a thief…. The one who conquers in this way …
I will certainly not blot your name out from the Book of Life…’” (3:1-3,
5).
Since
it is in Scripture, surely we all have to agree that self-professed
believers who turn to idolatry or sexual immorality, or otherwise deny
their faith, and do not repent will not inherit eternal life.
7.
Jesus: “From their fruits you will know them. Grapes are not
gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they? In this way every
good tree makes good fruit but the poor quality tree makes bad fruit. A
good tree is not able to make bad fruit, nor a poor quality tree good
fruit. Every tree that does not make good fruit is being cut down and
thrown into the fire. So then, from their fruits you will know them. Not
everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of
heaven but (rather) the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your
name and didn’t we cast out demons in your name and didn’t we do many
deeds of power in your name?’ And then I will declare to them publicly,
‘I never knew you. Depart from me you who do the work of lawlessness.’
So .... everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will
be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the
rain came down and the rivers came and the winds blew and struck at that
house, and it fell and its fall was great!” (Matt 7:16-27).
Jesus’ interpretation of his ‘parable of the sower’: “And these are the
ones sown on the rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately
receive it with joy, and they have no root in themselves but are lasting
for a time. Then, when distress [or: trouble, affliction] or persecution
arises because of the word, immediately they fall away [literally: are
stumbled or tripped up, i.e., to their ruin]. And others are those sown
among the thorns: these are the ones who heard the word and the concerns
of the age [or: world] and the deception [or: seduction, lure] of wealth
and the desires [Gk. epithumiai; normally: sexual desires] for
other things come in and choke the word and it becomes unfruitful” (Mark
4:16-19; compare 13:13: “But the one who endures to the end—this one
will be saved”).
“I am
the true vine and my Father is the one who works the soil [i.e., farmer,
vine-grower, gardener]. Every branch in me that is not bearing fruit he
takes away [or: removes; i.e., cuts off] and every one that is bearing
fruit he prunes [literally: cleanses; i.e., clears of superfluous
growth] in order that it may be bearing (even) more fruit…. Remain in me
and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit from itself if it is
not remaining in the vine, so neither (can) you if you are not remaining
in me…. because without me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain
in me he is thrown out like the branch and dries up and they gather them
and throw them into the fire and they are burned” (John 15:1-6).
In a
context discussing sexual sin: “If your right eye threatens your
downfall, pluck it out and cast it from you. For it is better for you
that one of your members be lost and not your whole body be thrown into
hell. And if your right hand threatens your downfall, cut it off and
cast it from you. For it is better for you that one of your members be
lost and not your whole body depart to hell” (Matt 5:29-30).
Also,
to the woman caught in adultery: “Go, and from now on no longer be
sinning” (John 8:11). Compare John 5:14: “No longer be sinning lest
something worse happen to you,” namely, forfeiture of eternal life
(5:24-29).
Since
it is in Scripture, surely we all have to agree that self-professed
believers who call Jesus “Lord” but do not bear the fruits of a
transformed life will be turned back by Jesus on the Day of Judgment
with the words, “I never knew you,” and will go to destruction. This
includes sexual sin which threatens one’s downfall. We cannot deny the
words of Jesus. Sexual immorality can get self-professed believers
excluded from the kingdom of God.
Conclusion: The ideas that one’s faith is known by one’s fruit and
that serial-unrepentant sexual immorality of an egregious sort is a
prime indicator of a life not lived by faith are foundational concepts
in New Testament teaching. Both those who think that one can never lose
salvation and those who think that one can fall away from the faith are
able to agree (indeed, must agree) on this point.
However, we do not want to admit to membership anyone who thinks it a
good idea to assure homosexually active “gay Christians” (or any
self-professed believers engaged in any kind of severe sexual
immorality) that their behavior is no impediment to inheriting the
kingdom of God. Paul, following Jesus, repeatedly warned self-professed
Christians not to engage in grossly immoral patterns of behavior because
those who did so were at high risk of being excluded from God’s kingdom.
This is a historical fact and not up for debate (i.e. that Paul issued
such warnings is self-evident from his own statements in Scripture, some
of which I cite above). The position that self-professed believers can
lead their life “in the flesh,” under the primary controlling influence
of sin, and need not walk by the Spirit or be led by the Spirit (as if
faith were a mere intellectual assent to the truth rather than a
holistic life reorientation) is a heretical, anti-Christian position
repeatedly contradicted in Scripture.