Not long ago I received the October 2011 issue of The Banner of Love, a Primitive Baptist monthly periodical. On the cover is a brief article entitled ‘The Gospel of Jesus Christ’ by Elder Cleveland Bass in which he gives his view of Romans 1:16. For those who perhaps are not familiar with time salvation, this will serve as a pretty good sampling of what the heresy teaches. In short, it is a doctrinal novelty invented to give an alternate answer to those passages in the Bible which are actually teaching the gospel-means pattern for salvation. This, however, will become evident as the article is read.
I of course shall follow the article with my own observation.
Elder Bass wrote:
“Paul says in Rom. 1:16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto Salvation to everyone that believeth.
Notice that the gospel is the power, not a power, but Is the power of God, not the power of man. The gospel has power not to save eternally, but to save timely. First Thess. 1:5 For our gospel came not unto you in Word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance to those who believe. It saves the believer, not the unbeliever.
The gospel never has and never will save one eternally. It is for our salvation here in time, and for our benefit while we live here. It teaches us how great things the Lord has done for us, how he gave his life for us that we might live with him in glory. It teaches us how that we ought to live and server Him because of what he has done for us.
In order for one to be taught the things of nature, he must have natural life, so in order for one to be taught spiritual things, he must have spiritual life. God calls men to preach the gospel and tells us what the Gospel is for in Eph. 4:11 And he gave some apostles; some, prophets; and some, evangelists, and some pastors and teachers (12) For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ (13) Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ (14) That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. The gospel teaches the child of God, comforts the broken hearted. Instructs us in the way we should go.
It never will give life to anyone, but brings that life to light. Thank the Lord for giving us the gospel of truth while we live here in this evil present world. Amen."
What Bass writes here is typical argumentation from one within the conditional time salvation camp. It includes the usual superficial one-liners which they incessantly repeat in order to propagate their theory and, at the same time, attack the Calvinism that they detest. He begins by erecting their traditional straw man argument by claiming a gospel-means salvation would be accomplished by ‘the power of man’, and dismisses it based on his false assumption.
Herein lies the whole problem. Our ultraists feel that if an instrument is used in the accomplishment of divine purposes then the transaction ceases to be of God or executed by His power. According to this system, the way to relieve this difficulty is by reducing the text from treating of an eternal application to a temporal one. Hence, his statement follows: “The gospel has power not to save eternally, but to save timely". By doing this, it is thought that any “Arminian” features are thereby removed from the text. Such argumentation, however, places Bass and advocates of time salvation in quite a predicament. By such handling of the scriptures, they are (whether aware or not) nevertheless still teaching the very thing that they are attempting to avoid! By his own admission, any saving done by the gospel is through the POWER OF MAN! According to his system, God is NOT THE SAVIOR in any salvation which comes by the gospel! MAN IS!
Such heresy!
Our observations substantiate what critics of this doctrine have often pointed out. The Primitive Baptists’ beloved time salvation doctrine is nothing more than an Arminian system expressed on a temporal scale; and in proclaiming it, they manifest themselves as “timely Arminians”! Such a label is something which they definitely would want to avoid, but as long as they continue to equate instrumental with efficient causes, the charge is unavoidable.
Bass then inscribes the cliche expression that never fails to surface when Hardshells address Romans 1:16. I cannot recollect how many times I've heard this one-liner uttered in sermons.
"It saves the believer, not the unbeliever".
He, like all other advocates of time salvation, make a play in this passage on the order in which salvation appears in relation to faith. In their minds, a person becomes a believer (below the level of consciousness) apart from any gospel influence. This "believer" then, if blessed to come under the gospel sound, can be saved temporally after he has already been saved eternally. One of the root problems with this reasoning is the failure to take into account final salvation. A study into the tenses of salvation is definitely in order for these innovators. Just because salvation is mentioned as taking place AFTER coming to faith is no warrant to construct it into an optional temporal framework. We could say that the “resurrection will save everyone that believeth”. Because the resurrection takes place AFTER one comes to faith, would you argue that a “temporal resurrection" was under consideration? No. On the day of the resurrection final salvation shall be received by those who have already been brought to a saving faith in Christ! They "believe to the saving (final - KF) of the soul" (Heb. 10:39).
Continuing with his cliché one-liners, Bass then states that "the gospel never has and never will save anyone eternally". What a statement! Why is it, sir, that the gospel cannot do so? Is it because the Spirit does not accompany the Word when declared? Or is the Holy Spirit limited in His power to execute something of an eternal nature? Or doth the Father lack the power to carry it to His people?
To think that the application of scriptural truth has never contributed to the salvation of a single soul who has ever been born is absolutely unthinkable! Instead, he says it is for our salvation here “in time”, or expressed another way, “while we live here”. These are two clichés which I used to hear repeated over and over again in the pulpit. A minister is practically guaranteed an “Amen” from the congregation every time he uses these worn-out expressions. Worse still is the fact that they are unclear and, therefore, deceptive phrases. It may lead one to conclude that simply because something takes place “in time” that this must mean it only applies to time, which is not true. We reply by saying that Jesus died “in time” and that regeneration, justification, sanctification, and conversion all take place “while we live here”, but the benefits of these blessings extend outside of time. The truth is that God’s elect are saved in time for all eternity! Unless, however, one understands what Hardshells mean by these clichés he shall probably get confused.
An explanation as to the purpose of the gospel is then given by the author. He states:
“It teaches us how great things the Lord has done for us, how he gave his life for us that we might live with him in glory. It teaches us how that we ought to live and server Him because of what he has done for us.”
And again:
“The gospel teaches the child of God, comforts the broken hearted. Instructs us in the way we should go.”
Correct. The gospel does do the things. Then why do I respond to it, you ask? Because this is what he feels is the ONLY thing it does. No one denies that the gospel instructs in righteousness, or that it comforts those with broken hearts. However, these particular purposes of the gospel are mentioned in order to detract the reader into thinking that it does that and nothing more! We would like to ask the elder what took place when Ezekiel preached to dry bones? Did Ezekiel instruct them in righteousness “while we live here” or comfort them by discoursing on election and predestination? Was not, rather, something else demonstrated under the sound of preaching? Indeed, what purpose did the gospel play on this occasion? We let God's Word speak here.
“…O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live” (Ezekiel 37:4-5)
When Hardshells place emphasis on secondary purposes of the gospel, it is in reality done in an attempt to deny that there is a greater, primary purpose. Thus, in their attempted answers to the purpose of God's Word focus is always upon such verses as Eph. 4:11-14 mentioned by the elder above, whereas little to no attention is paid to those which are exhortative in their nature in showing the way of salvation or in producing the same.
In closing, Bass states another cliché one-liner used to deny the gospel means pattern of salvation:
“It never will give life to anyone, but brings that life to light.”
His thought is derived from 2 Tim. 1:10 in which Paul writes that salvation “…is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”.
To help their case, Hardshells place an ordo salutis spin on the passage and claim that Paul is saying that the gospel does not bring life, but only brings it to the light of understanding. But the problem is that Paul is not inscribing an ordo salutis text. Instead, he is saying that with the advent of Christ came a fuller revelation of the gospel into the New Testament age as compared to a lesser view of it under the Old. Christ HATH brought life and immortality to light! It is not Christ is NOW IN THE PROCESS of doing so upon each and every case of regeneration. The question as to whether life preceeds light in the happenings surrounding regeneration is a profitable discussion, but the point is that it should not be argued from this passage. However, even if it could be proven that life preceeds light, a Hardshell difficulty remains. We would ask the elder “Does the light necessarily follow the giving of life? You see, the Hardshell tenet is purported to be “life before light” or “regeneration before faith, when it reality it is “life and NEVER light” and “regeneration and NEVER faith” with multitudes of God’s elect.
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