Introduction by Kirk R. MacGregor - James Clarke and Co Ltd

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Introduction tion of the elect, without controlling with certainty the necessary means on which the outcome depends. The systematic nature and logical consistency of Calvin’s model rendered it a quite attractive export to Reformed communities in the Netherlands, France, and Scotland. Moreover, in England the traditional quasi-Catholic exterior of the church received new life from the Calvinist doctrinal stream. This stream’s perception of biblical fidelity led opponents of the Anglican Church who migrated to the New World, notably the Puritans and Particular Baptists, to place perseverance of the saints at the center of their theology. Perseverance of the saints emerged to a position of prominence across the American religious landscape as a result of the First (c. 1730–1760) and Second (c. 1800–1830) Great Awakenings, nineteenth-century evangelical revivalism characterized by Charles G. Finney (1792–1875) and Dwight L. Moody (1837–1899), and the Princeton school of Calvinist orthodoxy (c. 1810–1920). Starting among the Calvinistic Dutch Reformed and Presbyterians of the middle colonies, the First Great Awakening spread to Congregationalist New England through the efforts of Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), arguably the foremost American theologian. In his sermons and treatises, Edwards emphasized the sovereignty and the love of God, maintaining that all who have embraced Christ are continually and infallibly drawn by God’s love to himself and to his service over the course of life. 1 Although unabashedly Reformed in his conviction that those who embrace Christ were first predestined to do so, Edwards’ message, echoed as it was by Particular (or Regular) Baptist preachers, gradually became attached in the popular mindset to the notion of conversion: once individuals passed out of “nominal Christianity” through born-again experiences where they, by repentance and faith, became new creatures in Christ, they were forever sealed by the Holy Spirit for the day of salvation. By the time of the Second Great Awakening, pastors and theologians without Reformed persuasions proclaimed a new variant on eternal security representing a theological halfway house between synergism and monergism, where those who freely chose to respond to God’s prevenient grace are then supernaturally preserved in faith until beatitude. This variant arose as a regular ingredient in the frontier preaching of camp meetings and tent revivals, alongside the Reformed model of perseverance which received fresh propagation at the hands of Princeton SAMPLE 1. Cairns, Christianity, 367. xviii © 2011 James Clarke and Co Ltd
Introduction Theological Seminary professors Archibald Alexander (1772–1851), Charles Hodge (1797–1878), A. A. Hodge (1823–1886), and Benjamin B. Warfield (1851–1921). In the twentieth century, a third view of eternal security began to take shape which depended entirely on justification rather than on sanctification, often referred to by its proponents and detractors under the moniker of “once saved, always saved.” Expanding upon the forensic justification introduced by Luther and codified by his successor Philip Melanchthon (1497–1560), this model avers that eternal security constitutes, within the internal logic of the Trinity, part of God the Father’s decision to declare the believing sinner at the moment of personal faith “not guilty” on the basis of the infinite penalty that God the Son has paid on the sinner’s behalf. Not only is this verdict irreversible, but, owing to the majesty of God’s grace, it persists for all eternity regardless of how the individual proceeds to behave or even whether the individual renounces faith in Christ. Unlike the Reformed and the Second Great Awakening insistence that assurance of salvation and personal holiness of life amount to two sides of the same coin, proponents of this third view radicalize the Reformation maxims of sola gratia and sola fide by distinguishing between repentance and faith (through which grace comes), denying the necessity of the former at any point in life but affirming the necessity of the latter at some point in life for eternal salvation. Earl D. Radmacher expounds this perspective with all-desirable clarity: Don’t confuse justification and sanctification. Tell unbelievers that if they simply believe in Christ they will at that moment have eternal life. That is justification by faith alone. . . . If an unbeliever asks if he must give up his sinful ways to have eternal salvation, tell him no. The only condition is faith in Christ. Tell him, however, that sin never pays, for the believer or the unbeliever, and that he should turn from his sinful ways whether or not he is convinced that Jesus gives eternal life to all who merely believe in Him for it. . . . Believe. Not repent. Not believe plus repent. Just believe. It’s that simple. 2 SAMPLE Accordingly, this model assigns to repentance a primarily ethical function, where repentance focuses more on the horizontal dimension of social influence than the vertical dimension of union with God. 2. Earl D. Radmacher, “Salvation: A Necessary Work of God,” in Understanding Christian Theology, gen. eds. Charles R. Swindoll and Roy B. Zuck (Nashville: Nelson, 2003), 944. xix © 2011 James Clarke and Co Ltd
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Introduction by Kirk R. MacGregor - James Clarke and Co Ltd

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