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May 27, 2008 Calvinists Now Openly Teaching Works Salvation
Topic Started: Jun 5 2008, 07:33 PM (168 Views)
lightninboy

May 27, 2008
Calvinists Now Openly Teaching Works Salvation

Have you heard of a 2006 book called Did Jesus Teach Salvation by Works? It is by Dr. Alan Stanley. Actually the book is his doctoral dissertation that he did at Dallas Theological Seminary.

This past Sunday I gave two messages on current trends in Lordship Salvation and I used Stanley’s book to illustrate two major trends. One those trends is the open proclamation of salvation by works by Reformed Lordship Salvation advocates.

In this book Stanley doesn’t say that we are saved by faith alone but the faith that saves is not alone. That is a clever saying that essentially teaches works salvation, but in a clever way. Stanley comes out openly and says things such as the following:

“When judgment day comes (Matt 7:22-23) it will not be sinners who enter into the kingdom but the righteous. This distinction is important to make for it is only once anyone is in a relationship with Jesus that they are able to produce the kind of righteousness required to make it into the eschatological kingdom (i.e., post-conversion works). This does not mean that one is self-righteous but neither does it mean that one simply has righteousness as a gift from God” (Stanley, Salvation by Works, p. 328, emphasis his).


“The ongoing nature of salvation can be seen throughout the NT. And yet churches today, for some reason, appear oddly oblivious to the idea that salvation is a process in any sense of the word. Rather most probably think of salvation as a one-time decision, as I once thought myself…Salvation is multifaceted and when all its facets are comprehensively in view it can legitimately be understood as a pilgrimage” (Stanley, Salvation by Works, p. 153). “There are, in my view, passages that appear to teach the eternal security of believers…We might say that He knows who are His. However, there are also passages—especially John 15:1-6; 1 Corinthians 15:2; Colossians 1:13; Hebrews 3:6, 14—that teach the possibility of forfeiting salvation through lack of endurance. These passages appear to teach anything but eternal security. However, in these instances the perspective in view is not God’s but ours. The NT writers do not know for sure who are God’s. Hence in a pastorally appropriate way they urge their readers on to endurance” (Stanley, Salvation by Works, p. 327, emphasis added).


I could give more examples. The clear answer that Stanley gives to the title of his book is Yes, Jesus did teach that works are a condition for salvation from eternal condemnation. That Reformed Lordship people are openly saying this is both extremely troubling and encouraging. It is troubling since it so far off the mark. It is encouraging since this makes clear what we’ve been saying all along. People steeped in works salvation teaching will hopefully become open to the grace of God for no one can be born again by some works pilgrimage. The Lord may actually use this open teaching of works salvation to bring more people to faith in Christ as they become frustrated by their inability to achieve a personal righteousness worthy of kingdom entrance.

Increasing in Him,
Bob_Wilkin
No I will not, No I will not
Not go quietly
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lightninboy

Responses to “Calvinists Now Openly Teaching Works Salvation”

1. jreitman Says:
May 30th, 2008 at 6:45 am
I think it is interesting that Stanley also wrote a tract in 2003 entitled How Good is good enough? the same kind of argument as Josh McDowell’s classic, More Than a Carpenter. In Stanley’s booklet he mentions nothing about “faith that saves is not alone.”

I am convinced that teachers like Stanley look at passages that teach the contingency of rewards on our works, such as Phil 2:12, or passages that teach endurance (as in the third quote above), and jump to the conclusion that works necessarily accompany salvation.

The problem is two-sided. One has to do with our definition of salvation: If the NT teaches that the bema is one “facet” of our salvation (and I think a good case can be made that Phil 2:12-16 refers to that particular “facet”), then salvation is indeed “multifaceted”; I don’t think that Free Grace people should get caught arguing that “salvation” in that sense is only one-dimensional—referring only to our imputed righteousness.

The other problem has to do with the notion that if “entrance” into the Kingdom is completely free, people who have believed in Jesus for eternal life will have no incentive to persevere in good works, and the NT has plenty of clear imperatives enjoining good works. So when teachers like Stanley take these texts to teach the Calvinistic doctrine of perseverance, it may be perceived by pastors to have the added perk of providing that incentive. This of course turns out to be fool’s gold, because all it does is rob people of their assurance, as Free Grace authors have argued so well.

I think a better tack to take in response to the kind of teaching Stanley exemplifies above is to first openly acknowledge that many NT texts do in fact teach the contingency of some aspects of salvation, as Rene Lopez has pointed out so well in his Romans Unlocked, and then to explore along with these authors why faith can seem to “die” after people have believed in Jesus for eternal life (as Stanley seems to teach is the only criterion in his 2003 booklet).

I wonder if Free Grace advocates need to be more forthright in acknowledging the NT texts that obviously teach the contingency of “salvation” on some evidence of righteousness but then show how this can only be sustained by faith alone, as confident believers are led by the Spirit. We might get more mileage in dialogue by pressing Lordship advocates to grapple with the contingency and incentive of rewards than by questioning their “salvation.”

Such dialogue usually ends up raising the question of the proper incentive for good works, and I find that I get further in such discussions by looking at works as a response to God’s daily invitation to participate in what he is already doing, rather than something we as his children have to “hatch” daily to “stay on his good side” or convince ourselves that we are still saved. These kinds of “good works” are really only possible when we are secure and sure (that has a nice ring to it) that we are in his family and can trust the Father’s invitations to be fundamentally good and redemptive and always in our own best interests.

How do we know what the Father is up to? That is an issue of receptivity to the Spirit’s speaking his daily invitation.

2. dreiher2 Says:
May 30th, 2008 at 7:40 am
2 FYI - ANDY Stanley wrote “How Good is Good Enough,” and Andy is FG just like his father.

It is ALAN Stanley who is teaching the works stuff.

As far as the rest of the argument. . . OK. However, most Lordship folks see “Salvation” as a great big circle with a ton of definitions in it. They claim that it is one package. . . past, present and future cannot and past should not be taken out and looked at under a microscope. They blend everything together into a garble that is impossible to apply to anyone.

In my conversations with Lordship inclined folks at my church, many of them never even considered the issue of multiple meanings of salvation! People just buy a line that they hear and have nothing to back it up with. I have found that most people in church can not make a good exegetical argument about anything. They just parrot a few proof texts they hear from radio preachers, books & tapes and that settles it. “After all _________ {fill in the blank with a popular Lordship person} says it is true and he has a Doctorate and is on the radio and writes books so it must be true.”

- Don

3. mreeds Says:
May 31st, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Bob, I heard about a very interesting comment you made recently to a gentlemen named Tom Winkleman. Apparently you said that there is no passage in Scripture that makes the Gospel clear and that your not sure Jn 3.16 really say’s ‘you have eternal life”. If you don’t mind can you clarify on this serious claims.

4. dwags4him Says:
June 1st, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Great thoughts James!

One passage that I have found provides an easy segue into the importance of obedience is John 1:12.

‘But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.’

Taking the family analogy, it is clear that one enters the family of God (and therefore His kingdom) by received/believing in Him.

Now, as a Wagner, I am a part of my family no matter how I act. I might obey my parents’ wishes, or I might choose to do my own thing. No matter how good or bad I am, I never cease being a Wagner. I can no more reverse my relationship to my parents than I can change my DNA. It is set and secure.

But, using the same imagery, I can have a miserable relationship with my parents or a great one, and that aspect of my relationship hinges on HOW I act as a Wagner, not if I am one. One relationship is based on blood, and the other on behavior.

Christ foreknew us, snatched us, shed His blood for us, set His Spirit as a down payment of the redemption of our body that awaits, and supplies ample grace to do what pleases Him at any time.

But we can, just as Adam and Eve (who were placed in the most perfect circumstance imaginable), choose to disobey.

I also tell my students this….

A born-again believer can fall into sin and renounce Christ and still wind up in His kingdom because of Christ’s blood. But never for a single moment will the Spirit indwelling that believer give him/her a moment’s peace. A Christian can sin…but they can never sin and have the peace of God. And the guarantee of divine discipline in one’s life spoken of in Hebrews is in no way exciting to me.

When said that way, my perserverance buddies have little to say because they realize that I am not empowering sin as a lifestyle, but rather showing that it is absolutely opposed to the abundant life Christ came to give.

Praise the Lord, for His lovingkindness endures forever!

5. Bob_Wilkin Says:
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
The author I was speaking about is a different Stanley, Alan, not Andy. Andy Stanley wrote How Good Is Good Enough. Alan Stanley, no relation, wrote Did Jesus Teach Salvation by Works.

6. jreitman Says:
June 2nd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Oops! (Sorry, Bob…I should have suspected something else was wrong, namely my lack of awareness!)

7. Erin Says:
July 29th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
It is very tragic that Alan Stanley and others teach this stuff, which is a direct contradiction against the free grace truth of the Gospel.

Some people recently sent me some very upset posts because I said Alan Stanley’s book is basically a book that is attacking the Biblical Gospel truth. Here is my response to them:

The fact is clear. Eternal life is by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Either it is by works or it is by faith. Eternal Life and Discipleship are two distinct matters. Jesus promised in John 5:24 that those who believe in Him for eternal life will NEVER come under eternal condemnation, the issue of Hell or Heaven has been settled. Conditional verses regarding our obedience and works do not have to do with our eternal destiny. They have to do with our rewards and whether or not we will be among the close-rulership in the Kingdom Structure. That is the point of 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. Paul himself under the Divine inspiration of God the Spirit says of the believer who was a saved person but who lived for self rather than Christ, HE HIMSELF WILL BE SAVED, SO AS BY FIRE. This is clear once saved always saved in your eyes and you refuse to see. Stop mixing up Justification with Sanctification.

Romans 4:5 states to him who does not work but BELIEVES ON HIM who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness! How much clearer does it have to be?

God bless you Bob and all here who defend the free grace truth, I love you my family in the Lord!
Edited by lightninboy, Dec 23 2008, 10:23 PM.
No I will not, No I will not
Not go quietly
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