Uprooting Hardshellism (2)

 

Consider this post a follow up to my post of this same title written May 12, 2015 (See here).

"But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." (II Thess. 2: 13-14 kjv)

"Primitive" or "Old School" or "Hardshell" Baptists teach that it is not necessary for a sinner to believe in Christ or the gospel to be saved. I know this for a fact because I was an elder with the "Primitive Baptists" for many years and my father was a leading elder with them for well over fifty years. You can also read their literature and see where they say this very thing. In chapter thirteen of my series "The Hardshell Baptist Cult" (See here) I cited from Elder S. A. Paine (1874-1910), one of the best debaters for the Hardshells, who said the following about faith and whether it is a condition for salvation. It is from a published book titled "Writings of S.A. Paine" (which I got a copy of back in the 1970s when I was a young Hardshell minister). In it Paine wrote:

"If it is by faith, it is also by works...If by faith, it must be by a perfect faith, or we have a perfect effect (salvation) suspended upon an imperfect cause or condition. If faith is made perfect by works, and a perfect faith is a condition of salvation, it follows that works is [sic] also. But the Bible declares it is not by nor of works, therefore the theory of faith as a condition cannot be true." (WRITINGS OF S. A. PAINE, page 20).

The Primitive Baptist Library's web page says this about one of Paine's debates:

"1909 Elder S. A. Paine (Primitive Baptist) vs. Haywood F. Oliver (Church of Christ), at Oglesby, Texas, Feb. 9-12, 1909. 1st. The scriptures teach that God gives spiritual or eternal life to alien sinners independent of any conditions to be complied with by them." (See here)

Paine affirmed this proposition and so he denied that faith was a condition of salvation.

They also have him listed as having a debate in 1911, but that cannot be true since he died in 1910. Paine had several debates in his short life.

From the above we see where Paine plainly affirmed that faith was not necessary for salvation. 

In order to "get around" texts that affirm that salvation is through faith (such as Eph. 2:8), the Hardshells argued that there are two kinds of salvation in the bible, an eternal salvation and a "time salvation." The latter they said involved being delivered from many hurtful things in the life of a child of God and that many of these temporal deliverances were conditioned upon faith. But, eternal salvation, they argued, did not require faith nor any other condition. However, the above text cannot be so twisted and distorted.

First, it cannot be argued that the "salvation" of the text is a time salvation, i.e. a salvation not necessary for being saved eternally, because the salvation is that salvation to which they had been chosen to from the beginning.

Second, this salvation is "to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Obtaining the glory of Christ cannot denote a temporary good. Paul says the same thing when he wrote the following to Timothy: "Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." (II Tim. 2: 10 kjv) This verse is akin to our opening text. Both mention salvation and glory and the means (the calling that comes through the preaching of the gospel). But, in the latter verse Paul speaks of the chosen obtaining "the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory."

Third, though the text is not saying that the choice to salvation by God was "through" a "belief of the truth," yet it does say that the salvation to which the elect ones were chosen to obtain involves conditions, one being "sanctification of the Spirit" and the other "belief of the truth." H. Boyce Taylor (1870-1932) was an ardent opponent of Hardshellism's tenet which denied that faith was a condition of salvation. I wrote the following post and cited what Taylor said on this point. (here) Said Taylor:

"The second heresy of Hardshellism is like the first, a half-truth. They teach the doctrine of personal, unconditional, eternal election. That is the truth, but not all the truth on that subject...But they warp and wrest and twist that truth and make it teach a lie, namely, that if God elected a man unto salvation, he will be saved, whether he ever hears the gospel or not. The God, who elected the men unto salvation, also elected the means for their salvation. To preach the personal election of men, as Hardshells do, and leave out or deny the divinely chosen means, is not only not the truth, but is a wicked perversion of the truth." 

"Or take this passage in II Thes. 2:13-14: "But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ". Paul again tells the whole truth about election: There is eternal election, from the beginning; personal election, "you"; unconditional election, "God chose." But that is only half the truth. God's election was "unto salvation." This salvation was not unconditional, but was "through the sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." This unconditional election was unto a conditional salvation to which the elect were called by the gospel...These unconditionally elected ones could only obtain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ through a conditional salvation to which they were called by the gospel."

The word "belief" in the text is from the same Greek word for "faith." Faith is belief. Although Hardshells cannot use the "time salvation" escape hatch on this text, yet, many Hardshells found another way to "get around" or "explain away" texts like the above which show that faith is essential for salvation. Since they cannot credibly say that the salvation of the text is a mere optional "time salvation," they will try another tactic, which is to redefine the meaning of "faith." Some will say that this faith is a "latent," "dormant," "hidden," or "seed" faith, which means a person may have this faith without it really believing anything, and a person will not even know that he has it, all of which is quite ridiculous. Some, like Elder Zach Guess, will define "faith" as meaning "the ability to have faith," which also is quite ridiculous. I wrote about his view in this post (See here), and cited these words of Guess:

"There is much misunderstanding in the religious world about "faith" or "belief." Many preachers will say that salvation is by grace but that a person must "put his trust in Jesus Christ" or "believe in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior" or "have faith in Jesus Christ" before he can be saved."

"It should be obvious that PISTEUO and PISTIS are cognate words. This means that they were derived from a common original form or root. One is a verb; the other is a noun. Simply put it means that "to believe" is "to exercise faith." "Faith" is "the ability to believe." So, if one believes, he is exercising the faith which he already has." 

"In short these verses say that God gives the individual faith when He saves him. Faith, as used here is almost a synonym for spiritual life."

We see that Guess denies that a person must put his trust or faith in Christ to be saved. He also defines "faith" as "the ability to have faith," which is ridiculous. In saying this he also contradicts the definition of faith that he gives from Greek scholars Thayer and Vine. He cites them as follows:

"The Greek word most commonly translated "believe" in the New Testament is PISTEUO. The meaning is "to believe, be persuaded of, to place confidence in." (W. E. Vine). Thayer gives the meaning as follows: "of the conviction and trust to which a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative and law of his soul." When the object of believing is Jesus Christ, Thayer says that it is "a conviction, full of joyful trust, that Jesus is the Messiah."

The Greek word most commonly translated "faith" in the New Testament is PISTIS. The meaning is "firm persuasion." (W. E. Vine). Thayer says of this word that "when it relates to God, PISTIS is the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ-Heb. 11:6." He says that, "in reference to Christ, it denotes a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation."

It is after giving these definitions of faith that he says "faith" means "the ability to believe." Quite bewildering!

Others of them, like some of the older Hyper Calvinists, and those who are reluctant to say that sinners are saved and justified by faith, will say that when texts say people are saved by "faith" that "faith" in those texts means the object of faith, which is Christ. So, if I say people are saved by Christ through faith I will be saying that people are saved by Christ through Christ. Guess, in the above, indicated also that "faith" meant "eternal life." But again, that is ridiculous. Paul, in writing to Timothy, spoke of those who "believe on him (Christ) for everlasting life." (I Tim. 1: 16) This disproves his saying that faith means eternal life.

Since most Hardshells today are believers in "kjv onlyism" they must accept that "belief" is in the text we are examining. Also, they must deal with the fact that the apostle says "belief of the truth." What "truth"? Surely it is the gospel truth as the text indicates. 

Another difficulty in our text is the fact that the text not only says that the salvation to which people have been chosen to obtain is through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth but that people are "called" to this salvation "by the gospel," which is another truth that Hardshells reject. Paul says of the salvation to which the Thessalonian Christians were chosen -- "whereunto he called you by our gospel." 

Now I call upon every Hardshell who reads this to come and correct me and explain to me how the text does not uproot Hardshell beliefs about salvation.