Indeed, prudence requires that in certain
situations such persons should not be addressed as "children
of God." That does not mean we should not view them and relate
to them as such, or that we should not call them "to repentance"
on the bases of Premise B).
PUTTING
INTO WORDS BELONGS TO THE ESSENCE OF A BIBLICAL COVENANT
My friend is correct, there is
"a covenant line" that comes to expression today in the
visible church. In a post-graduate course, the late Dr. John Murray
(Westminster Seminary, Philadelphia), reviewed every instance where
the word "covenant" is used in both the Old and New Testament.
Murray concluded that the following definition applies to every
one of these uses: "A covenant is an oath-bound commitment
or promise, usually accompanied with a sign." Putting
into words, expressing, verbalizing belongs to the essence
of the biblical idea of covenant. The Bible, unlike modern legal
codes, knows nothing of an unexpressed or implied covenant.
It is either expressed, verbalized, put into words or it is not a
covenant according to biblical usage.
Therefore there are two distinct
and essential elements involved in God’s covenant
of grace. First, there is the disposition of grace. Secondly, there
is the matter of making explicit, putting into words, this attitude
or disposition of grace. It is only when both of those
elements are present that the "covenant of grace" is established.
Most legal systems recognize that there are such things as non-verbal
or implied covenants. The Scriptures know of no such thing!
It was only to Abraham and his
descendants that God’s disposition of grace was made explicit,
expressed in words (Gen. 17). The covenant of grace was thus established
with Abraham and his seed. This "covenant line" initiated
with Abraham continues in the visible church today. Does this mean
that Abraham and his descendants (the visible church, the covenant
community) are the only recipients of God’s saving grace? Not
at all.
NON-EXPRESSED,
NON-VERBALIZED, IMPLIED GRACE
Although not expressed, God’s
saving grace is implied in the words spoken to "the serpent."
"I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your
seed and her seed" (Gen. 3:15). The "seed of the women"
is all persons. She is "the mother of all living"
(Gen. 3:20). There is "enmity" (hostility, antagonism),
placed there by God, between Satan and "the seed of the woman,"
that is, all persons. Satan hates all those created in the image
of God.
This "enmity" comes
to its ultimate expression in the doing and dying of the "last
Adam" who, like the "first Adam," stands in the place
of the "seed of the women" (all persons). "He [Jesus
Christ] will crush your head" (Gen. 3:15). All persons are beneficiaries
of this crushing blow except those who willfully, persistently and
finally choose to align themselves with Satan and to live apart from
God (See Posting # 3). They are those who will be lost, "the
seed of Satan." They will share his fate.
How it is possible for mere creatures
to turn themselves over to Satan, or why anyone would choose to do
so, is lost in the "secret power of lawlessness" (2 Thess.
2:7). How many do so, and precisely who they are, will not be known
until "the last day" when the Good Shepherd separates the
sheep from the goats. The lines of demarcation are not seen today.
There will be many surprises (Mat. 25:31-46). We can not even
identify those who reject Jesus and the words he speaks as those who
will be lost. "As for the person who hears my words but does
not keep them, I do not judge him . . . There is a judge for the one
who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which
I spoke will condemn him at the last day" (John 12:47, 48).
COVNENANT
BLESSINGS
Four infants were baptized yesterday
(8/4/02) in the morning service. What a tremendous advantage they
have over against millions of other infants born within the past few
weeks. God's attitude of grace toward these infants will be
verbalized, expressed, made known to them. The parents of these
baptized infants and the members of the church took vows to see to
it that these infants would be instructed (Deut. 6:7) in the Christian
faith. These children will be "entrusted with the very words
of God," "the oracles of God." Baptism, the sign and
seal of God’s attitude and disposition of grace, was also administered
to them.
This does not mean that only
among these children and others, either born or brought into "the
line of the covenant," will salvation be found. In the closing
portion of Romans 2 Paul speaks of the fact that both those who were
circumcised (Jews) and those not circumcised (Gentiles) could either
break the law or be praised by God. Both covenant people and those
outside that covenant fellowship (the covenant line) are treated in
the same way (Romans 2:25-29).
"No wonder Paul asks, ‘What advantage, then, is there in
being a Jew or what value is there in circumcision?’ (Rom.3:
1)." The question is "What advantage is there in being in
‘the covenant line’?" We do no injustice to
Rom. 3:1 by asking the question this way, "What advantage, then,
is there in being a Christian or what value is there in baptism?"
What advantage is there in either being born into or as an adult participating
in the covenant community?
THE
ADVANTAGE OF COVENANT MEMBERSHIP
Paul answers this question in
Rom. 3:2 is: "First of all" ("chiefly" or "most
importantly") the Jews (the covenant people) "have been
entrusted with the very words (the oracles) of God." God’s
attitude of grace, reconciliation and peace was declared, verbalized,
expressed, made known to them. The Old Testament, "the very words
(the oracles) of God" had been given to them. Today, "the
very words (the oracles) of God," both the Old and the New Testaments
are "entrusted" to the Christian community and to their
children after them (the covenant line). What a tremendous
advantage! But Paul does not say, and the Bible never says,
that the advantage of being "in the covenant line" is that
God’s saving grace is found only among covenant people and all
others are objects of God’s wrath.
Paul could and did say that Christ
"came and preached peace to you who were far away [Gentiles,
"non-covenant people"] and peace to those who were near
{Israelites, those who were in "the covenant line"] because
both were reconciled "to God through the cross"
(Eph. 2:11-22). God’s attitude and disposition of grace
is extended to covenant members and those outside the covenant line.
However, this grace is only made known by "the very words of
God" to those who are in the covenant community.
GOD'S
ATTITUDE OF GRACE TO BE EXPRESSED, PROMCLAIMED, TO ALL PERSONS EVERYWHERE
"God
was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
not counting
men's sins against them. And he
committed
to us the message of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 19).
The first and foremost of three
biblical facts that are the basis of Biblical Universalism is: "The
so-called 'universalistic' texts speak of a certain-to-be-realized
salvation as Calvinist have consistently maintained and they do so
in terms of all persons as Arminians have always affirmed"
(Posting #2). If it were not for the exceptions that we know
about from the broader context of the Scriptures (Posting #3) we would
have to conclude that everyone will be saved.
In his rebuttal my good friend
did not so much as acknowledge the existence any of the so-called
"universalistic" passages! For far too long theologians
and others have been unwilling to accept what the so-called universalistic
texts clearly say. Therefore I had to conclude my reply to my very
dear friend with some of the following rather stout quotations and
observations.
I say this as graciously and
yet as pointedly as I can: "Calvinist discard the ‘all
men’ aspect of these texts and Arminians close their eyes to
the ‘will be saved’ element of these passages. Without
realizing it, both of these schools of thought have permitted their
theology to determine what these texts may say. Yet both sides agree
that the Scriptures as written ought to shape their theology!"
THE
COVENANT LINE DOES NOT RESTRICT THE "UNIVERSALISTIC" TEXTS
The covenant community of believers
and their children have had God's attitude of grace expressed, verbalized
to them. This places an obligation upon them to be witnesses
to that grace. It does not mean that God's attitude of grace
is limited to "the covenant line."
EVANGELLICAL INCLUSIVISM is the teaching that all persons are elect
in Christ except those who the Bible expressly declares will be finally
lost, namely, those who ultimately reject or remain indifferent to
whatever revelation God has given of himself to them whether in nature/conscience
or in gospel presentation.
Evangelical
Inclusivism is based upon these three biblical facts:
1) The so-called "universalistic"
texts speak of a certain-to-be-realized salvation as Calvinist
have consistently maintained and they do so in terms of all persons
as Arminians have always affirmed (Posting No. 2).
2) We
must accept the so-called "universalistic" texts as
written. We may allow only those exceptions that are necessarily
imposed upon these passages from the broader context of the Scriptures
as a whole (Posting No. 3).
3) All
persons, except Jesus Christ, are liable for and polluted by the
imputed sin of Adam (original sin). However, the Scriptures do
not teach or imply that anyone is consigned to eternal damnation
solely on the basis of their sin in Adam APART FROM actual, willful
and persistent sin on the part of the person so consigned (Posting
No. 4).
Return
to Postings
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2003 by Northland Books. Box 63, Allendale MI 49401. Unlimited permission
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