One of the courses I taught at Trinity, NT 612, included a survey of the book of Hebrews. In addition to teaching Hebrews there, once or twice I taught Advanced Exegesis and we marched through the entirety of the Greek text of Hebrews. The courses energized me deeply, and the students were alert to the significance of the topics we were discussing. (Not that any of us stayed alert when we talked about Melchizedek.)

One of the focal points of my lectures was the Warning Passages, texts that are one of high Calvinism’s (or at least monergism’s) biggest challenges. If it can be established that genuine believers can fall away and lose their salvation then any sense of effectual grace or perseverance (as God’s preservation) are undone. There are five of warning passages. I’d like to copy them all into this post but it would take up too much space. Here are the passages:

1. Hebrews 2:1-4
2. Hebrews 3:7–4:13
3. Hebrews 5:11–6:12
4. Hebrews 10:19-39
5. Hebrews 12:1-29

Of these, #3 gets all the attention, and especially 6:4-6, which follows:

4 For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, since on their own they are crucifying again the Son of God and are holding him up to contempt.

These verses deserve all the attention they get, but the others deserve more than they are getting.

What happens to Calvinism if those who lose their salvation in Hebrews are genuine believers?

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This will be our last in this series, and it merges with the series I began Monday and will continue later today. Michael Horton, in the last chapter of his book, For Calvinism , does a “SWOT” analysis of (high) Calvinism. A SWOT analysis is from organizations and businesses for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. I’m so out of the business world I didn’t know what this was so I’m glad he explained it. I applaud Horton’s candor and objectivity in this chp.

What are the strengths of Calvinism? What are the weaknesses of Calvinism? One rule: you can’t say a weakness without also giving a strength. (Fair enough?)

Here are his major categories for the SW, but I want to say one up front: the Calvinist movement scorches the superficiality of theology in far too much of American evangelicalism. And because it is theologically robust it attracts thinking young evangelicals, and many of them know of no other places to camp.

Intellectual boldness and cold intellectualism: education and the intellectual life, from church to community to universities, have been important to the Reformed/Calvinist movement. Horton observes that it can lead to smugness and arrogance, that heart is often neglected (sermons can seem like lectures and church services an exam), that sometimes it has caught the precision bug, and sometimes the doctrines leave people as cold as ice. And he argues the five points must not be divorced from the drama, the doctrines, the doxology and discipleship.

Love for truth and factionalism: love of God is the aim but sometimes Calvinism, Horton observes, is love for what is right and not enough for God or neighbor. Often there is a line in the sand drawn: those who get it and those who don’t, and some passionate Calvinists think they alone get it. He mentions that Clowney said Calvinists are the only ones proud of total depravity, and I have said it that they who believe most in total depravity seem to think it has influenced their system the least. Horton’s engaging in friendly fire. [Read more...]