CHAPTER
11 THE CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH'S VIEW OF THOSE WHO WILL BE LOST
[In
this chapter we present the concluding evidence for Biblical Fact
# 2 (See Chapter 2).]
In 1980 the CHRISTIAN REFORMED CHURCH adopted a biblical
description of all those who will be finally lost. From this we
may legitimately conclude that all other human beings will be saved.
What the CRC did is parallel to the premise developed in this essay:
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Who
Will Be In Heaven? By Dr. Leroy
Garrett
I once did an essay on three surprises that we may encounter in
heaven. One surprise might be all the people that will be there
that we supposed would not be there. Another might be the absence
of those we were sure would be there. The biggest surprise of all
might be that we ourselves are there! The last surprise would come
from our incessant doubts of our own salvation during our earthly
pilgrimage. God's grace is greater than our insecurities!.
While the Bible does
answer the question as to who will be in heaven, we might best get
our answer indirectly — by identifying those who will not be in
heaven. Since the Bible makes it clear who will be finally lost,
we may rightly conclude that everyone else will be in heaven. Because
certain texts clearly state Christ died for everyone [See Chapter
1] we may conclude that everyone will be in heaven — except those
that the Bible declares will be finally lost.
I place this proposition
on the table for your consideration: The Bible teaches that those
who will be lost are those who knowingly and persistently to the
end of life reject such light as God has given them. They are the
disbelievers and the disobedient — those that hear and understand,
but reject and disobey. They are not unbelievers.
Unbelievers, for the purpose
of this essay, are those who never hear and never understand for
lack of opportunity. They will be judged by such light as they have.
God does not condemn the blind for not seeing — except those who
are willfully blind and refuse to see.
Rahab is a good example of
what I mean. Be prepared to greet Rahab in heaven. Even though a
harlot and an unbeliever (in God as revealed in the Scriptures),
the writer of Hebrews enrolls her among the faithful — because she
responded to such light as the God of heaven gave her.
If it is a list of the lost you want, the Scriptures provide that
too. Rev. 22: 15 names those who will not be in heaven. They are
identified as "dogs (the abominable), those who practice magic
arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone
who loves and practices falsehood.”
There are other lists of those who will
be lost. Jude has his list that includes "all the ungodly who
commit ungodly deeds" (Jude 15). Paul has his list: sexually
immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexual offenders, thieves, greedy,
drunkards, slanderers, swindlers (1 Cor 6:9-11). Jesus has his:
sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly (Mark 7;21-22).
It is understood that these are those who
persisted in such sins to the end, always unrepentant.
All the others will be in heaven.
Leroy
Garrett
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In
1977 the late Dr. Harry Boer submitted a serious charge against
the teachings of the creeds of the church. “The heart, the soul,
the essence, the sine qua non” (Boer's words) of his complaint was
that the Canons of Dort teach that: "a segment of mankind .
. . is consigned to everlasting damnation before they ever came
into being” (p. 497*).
Boer's complaint
was a well structured summary of an objection that has been raised
against Calvinism for hundreds of years. An historic formulation
of this complaint is that Calvinists teach that God at times consigns
infants "only a span long" to everlasting damnation. Because
this charge has often been alleged against Calvinism a committee
of well qualified theologians and philosophers was appointed to
study Boer's complaint. After three years of study they submitted
their report (Report 30) to the 1980 Synod of the Christian Reformed
Church.
REPORT 30
Whatever
else Report 30 (pp. 486 – 558*) may or may not say, it gives a resounding
“NO” to the notion that the Canons of Dort teach that a "segment
of mankind . . . is consigned to everlasting damnation before they
ever came into being." The very first ground for rejecting
Boer's complaint states: "The Canons of Dort do not teach .
. . " that God has "consigned certain human beings to
damnation APART FROM any merit or demerit on their part" (p.
76* emphasis added). This is a direct refutation of Boer's complaint.
What
did Synod 1980 intend by the phrase - "APART FROM any merit
or demerit on their part”? This phrase can not refer to the
"merit or demerit" attributable to the whole human race
by their identification with the first Adam. If there are persons
who are consigned to damnation SOLELY on the basis of their sin
in Adam (original, inherited sin), then Boer's complaint is valid.
Then a "segment of mankind . . . is consigned to everlasting
damnation before they ever came into being."
THE
LIGHT SHED BY REPORT 30
The
following quotations from Report 30 tell us what “merit or demerit
on their part” refers to:
The basis or cause of condemnation (consignment to
hell, eternal death) is said to be: man's "sin" (pp. 516,
517); "sin and unbelief" (seven times, pp. 516, 517, 522,
548 [twice], 553, and 554)." "God consigns to destruction
only on the basis of what that person does and whatever evil actions
that person performs" (p. 521). "So can we say that God
rejects only those who reject him? Most emphatically we can"
(p. 521). "Damnation is a response to the evil the 'reprobates'
do" p. 522). "They themselves are the agents of unbelief"
(p. 530). An agent is one who acts for himself or for another person.
This
elucidation continues -- "God condemns to destruction only
those who do, in fact, sin and exhibit unbelief" (p. 530).
"Human beings are condemned only on the basis of what they
actually do in history" (p. 530). "Those not selected
have disqualified themselves through their sins" (p. 537).
"The condition of the non-elect results from their unbelief"
(p. 538). "Condemnation, however, is to be found solely in
the persistent unbelief and sin of those so condemned" (p.
553).
The preceding two paragraphs
establish beyond all doubt that “merit or demerit on their part”
refers to the “willful, persistent sin” committed by the person
consigned “to damnation.” No one is consigned to damnation APART
FROM such individual, willful, persistent sin.
The entire
Report was referred "to the churches for elucidation of the
teaching of the Canons on election and reprobation. --adopted"
(p. 76*). What the Christian Reformed Church confesses relating
to "the teachings of the Canons on election and reprobation,"
is to be understood in the light that is shed by Report 30.
I consider it providential
that my book, Unconditional Good News (Eerdmans, 1980),
appeared in print the very same week that Report 30 was referred
“to the churches for elucidation of the teaching of the Canons on
election and reprobation.” The quotations from Report 30 (above)
clearly show that Report 30 and my book both reach this same conclusion,
namely, that “No one will be finally lost APART FROM individual,
willful, persistent sin on the part the person consigned to eternal
death.”
A GOOD AND NECESSARY IMPLICATION OF REPORT 30
I had been studying this subject for 16 years in preparation
for the publication of my book when Report 30 appeared in the Agenda
for Synod 1980. Therefore I instantly recognized what Report 30
was saying and the many good and necessary implications that follow
from the report's conclusion. This conclusion directly refuted Boer's
complaint that a "segment of mankind . . . is consigned to
everlasting damnation before they ever came into being."
Boer's complaint and Report 30's
conclusion can not both be true. By referring the entire report
"to the churches for elucidation of the teaching of the Canons
on election and reprobation” Synod told Dr. Boer that he had misconstrued
the teaching of the Canons of Dort.
I seriously doubted that either the
committee members who wrote Report 30 or the synodical delegates
recognized the many good and necessary (the unavoidable) implications
that flow directly from the conclusion of Report 30. If "God
consigns to destruction only on the basis of what that person does
and whatever evil actions that person performs" (p. 521*) and
the many other similar statements found in Report 30 are valid,
then the most obvious implication of Report 30 is that no one dieing
in infancy would be “consigned to destruction.”
Therefore I wrote an overture that was adopted by Classis Chicago
South and was sent to Synod 1980 (Overture 23, Acts of Synod 1980,
pp. 592 – 594*). The overture warned Synod 1980 that if they adopted
Report 30's understanding “of the teaching of the Canons on election
and reprobation” then “the church will, for the first time, accept
the doctrine of the salvation of all who die in infancy” (p. 593*).
In addition to
writing Overture 23, I sent a letter to each of the Study Committee
members pointing to what I called an "ambiguity" in their
report. I used the word "ambiguity" in deference to the
scholarship of the committee members. I did not want to tell them
point blank that there was a good and necessary implication of their
report that they had not considered. I received the following response
from Dr. Nicholas Wolterstorff (a member of the study committee).
Notice it is dated June 9, 1980, a day when Synod 1980 was still
in session. I have Wolterstorff's permission to make this letter
public.
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Calvin College
EST. 1876
June 9, 1980
The Rev. Neal
Punt
Christian Reformed Church of Evergreen Park
9547 S. Homan Ave.
Evergreen Park, IL 60642
Dear Rev. Punt,
The ethics pertaining to individual members of
a synodical study committee are not very clear to me. Perhaps they
aren't very clear to anyone! But I trust that I'm not going outside
the bounds of those ethics in composing this response, purely as
an individual and without talking to my committee members, to your
communication sent to our study committee.
In working on the report with the committee,
and in composing part of the report myself, I throughout worked
with the conviction that the Canons teach that it is only on the
basis of actual individual sin that a person is condemned, not on
the basis of original sin. You are quite right to read the report
along those lines. This clearly, does have the implication concerning
the salvation of infants that you point out. Obvious as it is however,
once it is pointed out, I didn't notice this implication, nor do
I remember any committee member pointing it out.
In the quotations you give from some of
your own theological work, you make some interesting suggestions
about the difference between "being under the sentence of death"
and "the actual implementation of that sentence." Those
are suggestions that I hope our community reflects on in the coming
years.
So I guess I would have said about our
report not that it has an ambiguity in it, but rather that it has
an important implication that the committee has not reflected on.
But I do think that on the most charitable, and not implausible,
reading of Dordt, all they meant by "passing some by in electing"
is electing not all. I would myself prefer putting the situation
your way, “All persons are elect in Christ except those who the
Bible declares will be lost." But Dordt's phraseology is, in
my judgment, at least compatible with that.
Let me add my Thank You for the seriousness
with which you have taken the committee's work, and the good spirit
in which you have raised some important questions about it. And
let me do what I can to encourage you to think through some of these
issues, and publish them for the consideration by the church.
With all best wishes, (signed) Nicholas Wolterstorff
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REPORT 30 WAS CONFIRMED
BY SYNOD 1981
The decision
of Synod 1980 was appealed to Synod 1981. As a delegate to Synod
1981 I called attention to Overture 23 that was sent to Synod 1980.
I also read Dr. Wolterstorff's letter on the floor of Synod 1981.
Thus the delegates to both of these synods knew, or should have
known, what light Report 30 shed on "the teaching of the Canons
on election and reprobation." Synod 1980 adopted and Synod
1981 confirmed Report 30 as an "elucidation of the teaching
of the Canons on election and reprobation.”
This elucidation
confirms that, "Condemnation [consignment to hell] is to be
found solely in the persistent unbelief and sin of those so condemned"
(p. 553*). This is, consequently, the synodically approved understanding
“of the teaching of the Canons on election and reprobation” (p.
76*).
This understanding “of the teaching
of the Canons” is the premise of Evangelical Inclusivism, namely,
that “All persons will be saved except those who the Bible declares
will be finally lost.” Therefore I can and do say that this is the
perspective of the Christian Reformed Church on the doctrine of
“election and reprobation.”
The report that Synod 1980
referred to the churches and the premise of Evangelical Inclusivism
do not constitute a change in or revision of the creeds of the church.
They are “an elucidation of the teaching of the Canons on election
and reprobation.” Neither Report 30 nor Evangelical Inclusivism
impinge in the least bit upon any of the doctrines represented in
the acronym TULIP, that is: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election,
Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace and Preservation of the Saints.
As members of the Christian
Reformed Church we can rejoice in and work out all the good and
necessary implications of Evangelical Inclusivism. That no one is
ever sent to Hell solely on the basis of their sin in Adam, APART
FROM willful, personal and final rejection of or indifference to
the revelation God has given of himself to him or her, is the perspective
of Evangelical Inclusivism. This is the synodically approved "teaching
of the Canons on election and reprobation.” And as Dr. Garrett says
in his essay, from this we can conclude that “All the others will
be in heaven.”
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All page references are to the 1980 Acts of Synod of the Christian
Reformed Church.
Contact the author, Neal
Punt , at: whenindoubt1@charter.net
©
2007 by Northland Books. Box 63 , Allendale MI 49401. Unlimited
permission to copy and distribute this document without altering
text is hereby granted if this source is acknowledged.
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