This is such a crucial reality for believers to understand as they cling to Jesus and follow him! I have mentioned this before, and we will come to it again, but it is not enough to say that God promises to save us not only now, but also forever, in the future--because that leaves a lot of time in between! And unless you hold to the loss of rewards view and think that apostasy from Jesus and falling away from faith doesn't mean anything (eternally) significant, then "once saved, always saved" just doesn't cut it. That's why it isn't the fifth point of TULIP--the "perseverance of the saints" is. Namely, all those chosen by God and who belong to His Son will infallibly be protected (through faith!) for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time.
That's why it is essential to see that God promises not only that He has saved and will save on the last day all those who belong to Him, but also that He will sustain, guard, keep, protect and preserve them until the end so that they do not deny Jesus but stay faithful to him, thus receiving the prize and the inheritance. I have mentioned a number of passages earlier in the summer that I believe teach this (Philippians 1:6, I Thessalonians 5:23-24, Romans 5:9-10, Romans 8:28-39, Jude 24-25, etc.). But I have totally forgotten about I Corinthians 1:8-9. Listen to this promise--and realize it is given to a church that, on the surface, would appear to be the most "unspiritual", "unsanctified" group of Christians we know of in the NT! Which simply means that it is grounded in God's power and faithfulness, and not in our ability or performance or willpower.
"I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge-even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you-so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord."
Notice, lastly, that there are no "ifs" attached to this promise. That doesn't mean perseverance and faith and obedience aren't necessary to be saved--they are. But it does mean that the promise is not based on anything inherent in them. Instead, it is actually perseverance and faith that are based on the promise that God will see us through to the end.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Thursday, July 19, 2007
What Does 1 John 3:20 Mean?
This is a very familiar passage in a very famous letter:
"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us."
What does the phrase in italics mean, in light of the surrounding context? It is not immediately obvious, and I have a feeling that many Christians assume a meaning that is not likely. What do you think it means?
"Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us."
What does the phrase in italics mean, in light of the surrounding context? It is not immediately obvious, and I have a feeling that many Christians assume a meaning that is not likely. What do you think it means?
Why Scot McKnight Is Not A Calvinist
Answer: The Warning Passages in Hebrews
http://www.jesuscreed.org/?p=1396#comments
This is an older post on Dr. McKnight's popular blog, JesusCreed, written shortly after that Christianity Today cover article on young Calvinists came out a few months ago. McKnight taught for many years at one of the leading evangelical seminaries in the world, Trinity, and now teaches at North Park University. I really like McKnight in many ways--he is very genuine, passionately committed to Christ and to the gospel, has maintained a high view of Scripture even at the top levels of critical scholarship, and is clearly a dear brother in Christ and transparently lives out the gospel better than many who call themselves Calvinists. He's a little too sympathetic to those who want to downplay historic biblical orthodoxy at times for my taste, but I consistently sense that he is willing to follow the Scriptures wherever they lead. In this post--which, if you have the time, I also encourage you to read through some of the comments (including some by Scot), in which The Race Set Before Us is mentioned a few times--it becomes clear that a main reason many reject Calvinism is because it seems to downplay seriously the force of the warnings and the reality of apostasy from the faith and the consequences professing believers will experience. This, in my mind, heightens the sense of responsibility we should have to be balanced in proclaiming both the promises and sovereign grace of God, and the warnings and the eternal judgment they actually (and not hypothetically) threaten on all who say "Lord, Lord" but do not do what He commands--without using either to cancel out or diminish the others. If you read through the comments, it also becomes crystal clear how crucial it is to have a basic grasp of "compatibilism." I'd love to hear your thoughts.
http://www.jesuscreed.org/?p=1396#comments
This is an older post on Dr. McKnight's popular blog, JesusCreed, written shortly after that Christianity Today cover article on young Calvinists came out a few months ago. McKnight taught for many years at one of the leading evangelical seminaries in the world, Trinity, and now teaches at North Park University. I really like McKnight in many ways--he is very genuine, passionately committed to Christ and to the gospel, has maintained a high view of Scripture even at the top levels of critical scholarship, and is clearly a dear brother in Christ and transparently lives out the gospel better than many who call themselves Calvinists. He's a little too sympathetic to those who want to downplay historic biblical orthodoxy at times for my taste, but I consistently sense that he is willing to follow the Scriptures wherever they lead. In this post--which, if you have the time, I also encourage you to read through some of the comments (including some by Scot), in which The Race Set Before Us is mentioned a few times--it becomes clear that a main reason many reject Calvinism is because it seems to downplay seriously the force of the warnings and the reality of apostasy from the faith and the consequences professing believers will experience. This, in my mind, heightens the sense of responsibility we should have to be balanced in proclaiming both the promises and sovereign grace of God, and the warnings and the eternal judgment they actually (and not hypothetically) threaten on all who say "Lord, Lord" but do not do what He commands--without using either to cancel out or diminish the others. If you read through the comments, it also becomes crystal clear how crucial it is to have a basic grasp of "compatibilism." I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Reflecting On Fallen Runners
My aim is for this to be a kind of brief summary post, listing the various reasons I do not believe that true, authentic believers who have been forgiven, justified and saved can ever fall way into destruction and be lost. And therefore, anyone who fails to endure and persevere--in faith--throughout the race which is set before us demonstrates by their falling away that they never were savingly called by God.
1.) I John 2:19 "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us."
2.) Matthew 7:21-23, where those who show up on the last day and say "Lord, Lord" (that is, they are professing Christians and not atheists or Muslims, etc.) and are rejected and condemned because they did not do the will of the Father, are told by Jesus that "I never knew you." Not just now, not just at a certain point when you fell away or lost your faith, but I NEVER knew you as my own.
3.) The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15). Read together in all three gospels in which it appears, this parable makes it clear that true faith which receives the word in a good heart both bears fruit and perseveres, while those who fall away either did not understand or had no root in themselves. While not explicit, the impression given is surely no that the other three soils got off to a good start and were genuine, but only later problems arose. Instead, from the very beginning the word did not take root to grow.
4.) The Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30). Here those who confess Jesus with their lips and who claim to belong to Him are--as so often in Jesus' parables--divided up into two groups, the wheat and the weeds or tares. Explicitly, the weeds in the field (i.e. professing believers who are not genuine and who will not be saved on the last day) are said to be planted by the "enemy" (Satan), and not by the good sower. However, on the last day (see Matthew 7, Matthew 25, etc.) these two groups--which are so often difficult or even impossible to distinguish now--will be separated before the judgment seat of God. However, there is no hint here that those who will be shown to be weeds on the last day started off as wheat or changed their course or identity halfway through. The opposite, in fact, is the case: they were planted as weeds from the beginning. Moreover, it is also significant that Matthew places this parable immediately after the parable of the sower, thus showing that the three "bad" soils that hear the word but fall away were never, indeed, "good" soils but instead never belonged to Jesus.
5.) The Promises of God: Passages such as Philippians 1:6; Romans 5:1-11; Romans 8:28-39; John 6:37-40, 44, 54; 10:27-30; I Thessalonians 5:24; II Timothy 4:18; Hebrews 10:39, etc. Simply put, these passages just cannot be understood within any framework that teaches that true believers who belong to God can fall away and perish. Thus, if Hymenaeus or Alexander or Demas or Judas were genuine believers who later fell away and forfeited their salvation, these promises cannot be trusted. We will always inevitably add the totally unwarranted "if" to them like John Wesley (See TRSBU, p. 22, also footnote 6)
6.) All true believers have the Spirit (Romans 8:9, etc.). And the Spirit is the downpayment and guarantee of our future inheritance, which is being kept for us and cannot be lost (see II Corinthians 1:22, 5:5, Ephesians 1:13-14, I Peter 1:3-5). God's preservation of them through faith will uphold them through all trials and keep them from stumbling.
7.) There are no "drop outs" in between the "already" and "not yet". Many passages teach this, such as Romans 5:9-10, Romans 8:28, Ephesians 2:4-8, Philippians 1:6, etc. Yet this is exactly what the loss of salvation view must hold to--that there really are people who experience the "already" of being forgiven, justified, saved, adopted, brought from death to life, and somehow become unforgiven, unjustified, unsaved, unadopted, and who regress back from life into death again. Yet there clearly are no passages in the NT which ever teach or even come close to inferring such a thing. Instead, present possession of the "already" of salvation always acts as a guarantee of future participation in the "not yet." We who have now received the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15) are waiting eagerly and confidently for our (future) adoption as sons (Romans 8:23).
8.) Denies the Assurance of Salvation: Of course, we have yet to discuss this topic and we are coming to it soon. But regardless of the difficulties that surround the doctrine of assurance, it seems radically clear that the NT writers not only think that it is possible for believers to have assurance of salvation, but even expect them to pursue it and experience it. I am writing these things that you might know that you have eternal life. However, if a true believer can lose their salvation by an act of their own will, then for all practical purposes there is no way I can ever really have any kind of assurance at all. For my will triumphs over God's grasp of me. My hold of Him takes priority over His hold on me. And therefore, I can only trust His promises as far as I can trust my own willpower and endurance. Which is not very far when life becomes hard and the power and desire of sin rears its ugly head. It is not a coincidence that the doctrine of assurance has never been a firm reality in Arminian theology.
9.) The Case of Judas' Apostasy: We saw last night the vast differences between Peter and Judas. Though both commit similar acts of treason and betrayal, and deny their Lord, Peter repents and is restored and Judas is not. We are given several insights into this in the NT. First, though Satan has asked permission to sift (plural!) YOU like wheat--the disciples, at least Peter and Judas--Jesus has prayed for (singular!) YOU, Peter, and when (not if) you get back up and start running again, turn and strengthen your brothers. Thus the intercession of Jesus is the difference between Peter and Judas. Second, the gospels make it clear all over (for instance, John 6:70-71) that Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas did not belong to him, but that Peter is in another class. Lastly, John 17:6-12 is crystal clear: "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled."
1.) I John 2:19 "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us."
2.) Matthew 7:21-23, where those who show up on the last day and say "Lord, Lord" (that is, they are professing Christians and not atheists or Muslims, etc.) and are rejected and condemned because they did not do the will of the Father, are told by Jesus that "I never knew you." Not just now, not just at a certain point when you fell away or lost your faith, but I NEVER knew you as my own.
3.) The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15). Read together in all three gospels in which it appears, this parable makes it clear that true faith which receives the word in a good heart both bears fruit and perseveres, while those who fall away either did not understand or had no root in themselves. While not explicit, the impression given is surely no that the other three soils got off to a good start and were genuine, but only later problems arose. Instead, from the very beginning the word did not take root to grow.
4.) The Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30). Here those who confess Jesus with their lips and who claim to belong to Him are--as so often in Jesus' parables--divided up into two groups, the wheat and the weeds or tares. Explicitly, the weeds in the field (i.e. professing believers who are not genuine and who will not be saved on the last day) are said to be planted by the "enemy" (Satan), and not by the good sower. However, on the last day (see Matthew 7, Matthew 25, etc.) these two groups--which are so often difficult or even impossible to distinguish now--will be separated before the judgment seat of God. However, there is no hint here that those who will be shown to be weeds on the last day started off as wheat or changed their course or identity halfway through. The opposite, in fact, is the case: they were planted as weeds from the beginning. Moreover, it is also significant that Matthew places this parable immediately after the parable of the sower, thus showing that the three "bad" soils that hear the word but fall away were never, indeed, "good" soils but instead never belonged to Jesus.
5.) The Promises of God: Passages such as Philippians 1:6; Romans 5:1-11; Romans 8:28-39; John 6:37-40, 44, 54; 10:27-30; I Thessalonians 5:24; II Timothy 4:18; Hebrews 10:39, etc. Simply put, these passages just cannot be understood within any framework that teaches that true believers who belong to God can fall away and perish. Thus, if Hymenaeus or Alexander or Demas or Judas were genuine believers who later fell away and forfeited their salvation, these promises cannot be trusted. We will always inevitably add the totally unwarranted "if" to them like John Wesley (See TRSBU, p. 22, also footnote 6)
6.) All true believers have the Spirit (Romans 8:9, etc.). And the Spirit is the downpayment and guarantee of our future inheritance, which is being kept for us and cannot be lost (see II Corinthians 1:22, 5:5, Ephesians 1:13-14, I Peter 1:3-5). God's preservation of them through faith will uphold them through all trials and keep them from stumbling.
7.) There are no "drop outs" in between the "already" and "not yet". Many passages teach this, such as Romans 5:9-10, Romans 8:28, Ephesians 2:4-8, Philippians 1:6, etc. Yet this is exactly what the loss of salvation view must hold to--that there really are people who experience the "already" of being forgiven, justified, saved, adopted, brought from death to life, and somehow become unforgiven, unjustified, unsaved, unadopted, and who regress back from life into death again. Yet there clearly are no passages in the NT which ever teach or even come close to inferring such a thing. Instead, present possession of the "already" of salvation always acts as a guarantee of future participation in the "not yet." We who have now received the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15) are waiting eagerly and confidently for our (future) adoption as sons (Romans 8:23).
8.) Denies the Assurance of Salvation: Of course, we have yet to discuss this topic and we are coming to it soon. But regardless of the difficulties that surround the doctrine of assurance, it seems radically clear that the NT writers not only think that it is possible for believers to have assurance of salvation, but even expect them to pursue it and experience it. I am writing these things that you might know that you have eternal life. However, if a true believer can lose their salvation by an act of their own will, then for all practical purposes there is no way I can ever really have any kind of assurance at all. For my will triumphs over God's grasp of me. My hold of Him takes priority over His hold on me. And therefore, I can only trust His promises as far as I can trust my own willpower and endurance. Which is not very far when life becomes hard and the power and desire of sin rears its ugly head. It is not a coincidence that the doctrine of assurance has never been a firm reality in Arminian theology.
9.) The Case of Judas' Apostasy: We saw last night the vast differences between Peter and Judas. Though both commit similar acts of treason and betrayal, and deny their Lord, Peter repents and is restored and Judas is not. We are given several insights into this in the NT. First, though Satan has asked permission to sift (plural!) YOU like wheat--the disciples, at least Peter and Judas--Jesus has prayed for (singular!) YOU, Peter, and when (not if) you get back up and start running again, turn and strengthen your brothers. Thus the intercession of Jesus is the difference between Peter and Judas. Second, the gospels make it clear all over (for instance, John 6:70-71) that Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas did not belong to him, but that Peter is in another class. Lastly, John 17:6-12 is crystal clear: "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled."
Warnings in the Apostolic Fathers
Last night in class I read the account of Polycarp's martydom and of his faithful endurance until the end, not denying Christ but rather confessing him even under persecution. This account comes from a group of writings that are known today as the "Apostolic Fathers." This refers to early Christian writers such as Clement, Ignatius, Polycarp, and Barnabas, who lived in the first several centuries after the close of the New Testament canon. They wrote several centuries before Augustine, and thus their writings are the earliest extant Christian writings we possess outside of the New Testament. For instance, most scholars date the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians to about 96 A.D.! I highly recommend taking the time to read through these valuable writings at some point, and seeing how the gospel and the Christian life and nature of the church was understood by the first generations of Christians. I've linked to the book Early Christian Writings below.
In reading through these letters recently, I have been struck at how the various writers make use of warnings to exhort and encourage and rebuke the believers they are writing to. I'll try to make note of some of these warnings here in the near future. For now, I'll just point out several things that all of the warnings I have seen in these writings have in common. First, they are all addressed to believers with no hint that the writer believes they may be fakes or that warnings imply that those being exhorted may not actually be genuinely saved. In fact, these early writers often make the explicit point that they are writing the warnings for themselves as well. Second, the warnings are radically future oriented. The crown of life and the prize of salvation and similar images are referenced often, and made conditional on perseverance and endurance in discipleship. Third, these writers conceive with crystal clarity that the prize at stake in enduring to the end is salvation, and what is threatened is final condemnation and judgment. There is simply no way a "loss of rewards" view can be read out of these letters. Eternal life is what is at stake. Here are a few quotes from the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians:
"Besides these men of saintly life [i.e. Old Testament examples, and Peter and Paul], there are many more of the elect who have undergone hardships and torments instigated by jealousy, and provide admirable object lessons for ourselves. There were women, hounded by jealousy...who endured fearful and diabolical tortures, yet in spite of their bodily frailty they finished the race of faith unshaken, and received their noble reward...Now, all this is not being written as a warning to you alone, my dear friends, but for a reminder to ourselves as well, because we too are in the same arena and have the same conflict before us."
"Lot, for his hospitality and his piety, was brought safely out of Sodom, when fire and brimstone were raining down in judgment on all the region about. Moreover, on that occasion the Lord made it plain that, while He never forsakes those who place their hopes in Him, He visits pains and penaltieson the rebellious; and as a sign of this, Lot's wife, who had accompanied him in his flight, but later changed her mind and fell out with him, was turned into a pillar of salt to this day. That was to let all men see how doubt and distrust of God's power to bring a judgment upon themselves, and become a warning of future generations."
"Take care then, my friends, lest, if we fail to conduct ourselves worthily of Him and to do what is good and acceptable to Him in amity together, all this beneficence of His should turn to our condemnation."
"Therefore, since there is nothing He does not see and hear, let us approach Him with awe, and have done with this hateful fondness for mischief-making, so that we may find shelter in His mercy from the judgment to come...Then let us strain every nerve to be found among those who wait in patience for Him, so that we too may earn a share of His promised gifts. And how is this to be done, my friends? Why, by fixing our minds trustfully on God; by finding out what is pleasing and acceptable to Him; by doing whatever agrees with His perfect will; by following the paths of truth. Wickedness and wrongdoing of every kind must be utterly renounced; all greed, quarreling, malice and fraud, scandals and backbiting, enmity towards God, glorification of self, presumption, conceit, and lack of hospitality; for men who do such things--and not only men who do them, but men who consent to them--are held in detestation by God."
"Then let us show ourselves obedient to His all-holy and glorious Name, so that we may escape the doom that was pronounced of old by wisdom upon the ungodly, and may dwell in trustful reliance on the most sacred Name of His majesty. Be counseled by us, and you will have nothing to regret. As surely as God lives, as Jesus Christ lives, and the Holy Spirit also (on whom are set the faith and hope of God's elect), so surely the man who keeps the divinely appointed decrees and statutes with humility and an unfailing consideration for others, and never looks back, will be enrolled in honor among the number of those who are saved through Jesus Christ, by whom is God glorified forever and ever, Amen. But if there are any who refuse to heed the declarations He has made through our lips, let them not doubt the gravity of the guilt and the peril in which they involve themselves. For our part we will take care to be innocent of any such offense; and we will entreat the Creator of all things with heartfelt prayer and supplication that the full sum of His elect, as it has been numbered throughout all the world, may ever be preserved intact through His beloved Son Jesus Christ, by whom He has called us out of darkenss to light, and from ignorance to the clear knowledge of the glory of His name."
All of these quotes come from pp. 23-47, in Early Christian Writings:
In reading through these letters recently, I have been struck at how the various writers make use of warnings to exhort and encourage and rebuke the believers they are writing to. I'll try to make note of some of these warnings here in the near future. For now, I'll just point out several things that all of the warnings I have seen in these writings have in common. First, they are all addressed to believers with no hint that the writer believes they may be fakes or that warnings imply that those being exhorted may not actually be genuinely saved. In fact, these early writers often make the explicit point that they are writing the warnings for themselves as well. Second, the warnings are radically future oriented. The crown of life and the prize of salvation and similar images are referenced often, and made conditional on perseverance and endurance in discipleship. Third, these writers conceive with crystal clarity that the prize at stake in enduring to the end is salvation, and what is threatened is final condemnation and judgment. There is simply no way a "loss of rewards" view can be read out of these letters. Eternal life is what is at stake. Here are a few quotes from the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians:
"Besides these men of saintly life [i.e. Old Testament examples, and Peter and Paul], there are many more of the elect who have undergone hardships and torments instigated by jealousy, and provide admirable object lessons for ourselves. There were women, hounded by jealousy...who endured fearful and diabolical tortures, yet in spite of their bodily frailty they finished the race of faith unshaken, and received their noble reward...Now, all this is not being written as a warning to you alone, my dear friends, but for a reminder to ourselves as well, because we too are in the same arena and have the same conflict before us."
"Lot, for his hospitality and his piety, was brought safely out of Sodom, when fire and brimstone were raining down in judgment on all the region about. Moreover, on that occasion the Lord made it plain that, while He never forsakes those who place their hopes in Him, He visits pains and penaltieson the rebellious; and as a sign of this, Lot's wife, who had accompanied him in his flight, but later changed her mind and fell out with him, was turned into a pillar of salt to this day. That was to let all men see how doubt and distrust of God's power to bring a judgment upon themselves, and become a warning of future generations."
"Take care then, my friends, lest, if we fail to conduct ourselves worthily of Him and to do what is good and acceptable to Him in amity together, all this beneficence of His should turn to our condemnation."
"Therefore, since there is nothing He does not see and hear, let us approach Him with awe, and have done with this hateful fondness for mischief-making, so that we may find shelter in His mercy from the judgment to come...Then let us strain every nerve to be found among those who wait in patience for Him, so that we too may earn a share of His promised gifts. And how is this to be done, my friends? Why, by fixing our minds trustfully on God; by finding out what is pleasing and acceptable to Him; by doing whatever agrees with His perfect will; by following the paths of truth. Wickedness and wrongdoing of every kind must be utterly renounced; all greed, quarreling, malice and fraud, scandals and backbiting, enmity towards God, glorification of self, presumption, conceit, and lack of hospitality; for men who do such things--and not only men who do them, but men who consent to them--are held in detestation by God."
"Then let us show ourselves obedient to His all-holy and glorious Name, so that we may escape the doom that was pronounced of old by wisdom upon the ungodly, and may dwell in trustful reliance on the most sacred Name of His majesty. Be counseled by us, and you will have nothing to regret. As surely as God lives, as Jesus Christ lives, and the Holy Spirit also (on whom are set the faith and hope of God's elect), so surely the man who keeps the divinely appointed decrees and statutes with humility and an unfailing consideration for others, and never looks back, will be enrolled in honor among the number of those who are saved through Jesus Christ, by whom is God glorified forever and ever, Amen. But if there are any who refuse to heed the declarations He has made through our lips, let them not doubt the gravity of the guilt and the peril in which they involve themselves. For our part we will take care to be innocent of any such offense; and we will entreat the Creator of all things with heartfelt prayer and supplication that the full sum of His elect, as it has been numbered throughout all the world, may ever be preserved intact through His beloved Son Jesus Christ, by whom He has called us out of darkenss to light, and from ignorance to the clear knowledge of the glory of His name."
All of these quotes come from pp. 23-47, in Early Christian Writings:
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