We have previously discussed our disagreement with both contrasting doctrines of irresistible grace by the Calvinists and the doctrine of prevenient grace by the Wesleyans. These are both extreme views which assume that God can only act one way and is never flexible. Furthermore, they are founded on shaky theological frameworks as we shall discuss. We firmly believe that the Bible record continuously demonstrates the universal agape love of God which mandatorily necessitates the complete autonomy of genuine free will of which is clearly violated by irresistible grace. We also believe that the Bible record demonstrates that God is so wise and omniscient (which we define as NOT including foreknowledge) that he will rarely, if ever, misread the minds of men so as to dispense prevenient grace which will be rejected anyway.
Let us make it clear at this point and before we go any further, that the theological foundations of Covenant-Relationship Theology which CrossCulture Community espouses has numerous similarities to Wesleyanism and would be mistaken as such if not for those minor Wesleyan beliefs that we believe do not have firm footing on the declared and revealed Word of God and could be for the most part, intelligent opinions simply formulated to respond mostly to theological debates.
The CrossCulture theological framework would be defined as Covenant-Relationship theology derived from our declared Divine purpose to the best of our synthesis of Scripture inductively.
We affirm continuously, almost catechismically, that God's "declared" purpose in history is for him to create a people of faith who would willingly love him the way He loves them. This, in fact, is the CHIEF END OF GOD, a critical doctrine that no other theology has seemed to declare, much less, figure out. Calvinism, for example, declares a chief end of man but no chief end of God. We shall have a separate blog on this.
The Covenant-Relationship theological framework biblically accepts that those who will enter the kingdom of God are a minority in creation: the remnant from the Old Testament and the book of Romans and the few according to Christ himself who will chose the narrow way. The Minority truth is the key to the answers to these theological debates. Once we accept that the Bible does confirm that only a minority will be saved, the next question is why? Here are some answers and there may be more from Scripture:
Now to our main subject.
Acccording to Diane Leclerc, author of popularly used textbook, Discovering Christian Holiness, Wesleyans are inclusivists meaning they believe that "someone could reach eternal salvation without having the opportunity to know Christ's gospel. This is a function of prevenient grace." They appeal to Paul's discussion in Romans where Paul states that everyone will be judged according to the light revealed to them. Of course, most Wesleyans believe that this is pure theory because in reality all men are sinful
But the biblical prerequisites for salvation are violated:
This discussion highlights the problem of not having a clear concept on the chief end of God. Wesleyans and Arminians believe in the love of God, that God is love and that love even defines God. However, this makes their implicit divine purpose something like: God created man to share his love or to express his love. However, that yields more questions than answers, like "Why would a loving God...?".
In contrast, the Calvinists chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. This implies (since they did not declare it) that the chief end of God is to get glory and to be enjoyed by those who give him glory. This is pathetic. So we have a highly egoistic God who has no goal of relating to his creation for as long as he gets glory. This God does not really care about the heart of man for as long as he gets glory. I know that such is not the intent of those who formulated the Westminster Confession or the Heidelberg Confession. However, it clearly shows that they do not possess a clear picture of God's relation to his creation that is biblical and makes sense, hence they cannot articulate something that makes sense and can be reasonably verified by basic human experience. Furthermore, they distort the kind of kheced love God has for his people and the kind of agape love he has for the whole world. They fall prey to the main flaw of Calvinism in that it is totally inflluenced by Hellenistic philosophy with absolutely no Jewish flavor. Christ and Paul being a Jew has absolutely no bearing or influence on their Biblical interpretations.
Finally, let's look at the conversation between Jesus and a Lawyer just before the Lord narrates the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-28 to address the pointed question: "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Christ's unhesitatingly confirms obedience to the Great Commandment which starts by loving God. What God? Any God from whatever light of knowledge a person who has NEVER heard about the RIGHT God can muster? That directly contradicts even foundational Wesleyan theology! Wesley even claims that we cannot truly biblically love anyone unless it comes as a result of loving the ONE TRUE God first, and not just any "God".
Given this obvious handicap, how can those who have not heard but have reached the level of accountability for sin be saved?
Let us make it clear at this point and before we go any further, that the theological foundations of Covenant-Relationship Theology which CrossCulture Community espouses has numerous similarities to Wesleyanism and would be mistaken as such if not for those minor Wesleyan beliefs that we believe do not have firm footing on the declared and revealed Word of God and could be for the most part, intelligent opinions simply formulated to respond mostly to theological debates.
The CrossCulture theological framework would be defined as Covenant-Relationship theology derived from our declared Divine purpose to the best of our synthesis of Scripture inductively.
We affirm continuously, almost catechismically, that God's "declared" purpose in history is for him to create a people of faith who would willingly love him the way He loves them. This, in fact, is the CHIEF END OF GOD, a critical doctrine that no other theology has seemed to declare, much less, figure out. Calvinism, for example, declares a chief end of man but no chief end of God. We shall have a separate blog on this.
The Covenant-Relationship theological framework biblically accepts that those who will enter the kingdom of God are a minority in creation: the remnant from the Old Testament and the book of Romans and the few according to Christ himself who will chose the narrow way. The Minority truth is the key to the answers to these theological debates. Once we accept that the Bible does confirm that only a minority will be saved, the next question is why? Here are some answers and there may be more from Scripture:
- Minority because of free will: man is given the ultimate choice apart from God's manipulation
- Minority because mans wants a flashy and charismatic King, not a humble servant
- Minority because the gospel is foolishness to the majority
- Minority because only a few desire a holy life
- Minority because many choose to believe only what they see
- Minority because only few are ready to suffer for the gospel or for Christ
- Minority because only a few can truly love God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength
- Minority because only a few can truly love their neighbor the way God loves their neighbor
- Minority because many do not desire to carry the cross and follow Christ
- Minority because many like intellectual faiths or religions and true Christianity is even for the unlearned
- Minority because only a few would be truly guilty enough to deserve the death penalty or jail if the state desires to outlaw Christianity
- ...and the list goes on but you know where we are going with this. The greatest human enemy is free will which is not free once God chooses to manipulate it and hence our disagreement with both irresistible grace and prevenient grace
Now to our main subject.
Acccording to Diane Leclerc, author of popularly used textbook, Discovering Christian Holiness, Wesleyans are inclusivists meaning they believe that "someone could reach eternal salvation without having the opportunity to know Christ's gospel. This is a function of prevenient grace." They appeal to Paul's discussion in Romans where Paul states that everyone will be judged according to the light revealed to them. Of course, most Wesleyans believe that this is pure theory because in reality all men are sinful
But the biblical prerequisites for salvation are violated:
- Forgiveness for being sinful is required for salvation. Only sinlessness passes the measuring rod of God for heaven. No man, other than the Incarnate Christ, is sinless. So all men fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Hence the only way man can be justified in God's sight is through God's forgiveness and man's volitional and conscious acceptance of forgiveness. How can there be forgiveness apart from the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ? How can this blood sacrifice be appropriated if there is no knowledge of the Gospel at all?
- The incarnation of Christ was done to fulfill the law and to complete the requirements of salvation. If prevenient grace (which we do not believe in) saves those without Christ, then that makes the incarnation, death and resurrection of Christ utterly useless events and God wasted his time. Well, at least God is timeless in a sense...
- Wesleyans may now claim that at least salvation is easier to attain with Christ so his incarnation is not necessarily useless. But this violates the words of Christ that the gate that leads to eternal life is narrow EVEN WITH CHRIST. Recall the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man. The man pleaded Abraham to send someone from the dead so that his brothers will believe. What was Abraham's response? Even if somebody rises from the dead, they will not believe. True, because despite all the evidences for Christ's resurrection, only a few are inclined to believe. Majority will not believe.
- Last but not least, what is the use of the name of Christ declared by Peter in Acts 4:12, "And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Wesleyans have to declare openly that this verse of Scripture has no use in soteriology.
This discussion highlights the problem of not having a clear concept on the chief end of God. Wesleyans and Arminians believe in the love of God, that God is love and that love even defines God. However, this makes their implicit divine purpose something like: God created man to share his love or to express his love. However, that yields more questions than answers, like "Why would a loving God...?".
In contrast, the Calvinists chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. This implies (since they did not declare it) that the chief end of God is to get glory and to be enjoyed by those who give him glory. This is pathetic. So we have a highly egoistic God who has no goal of relating to his creation for as long as he gets glory. This God does not really care about the heart of man for as long as he gets glory. I know that such is not the intent of those who formulated the Westminster Confession or the Heidelberg Confession. However, it clearly shows that they do not possess a clear picture of God's relation to his creation that is biblical and makes sense, hence they cannot articulate something that makes sense and can be reasonably verified by basic human experience. Furthermore, they distort the kind of kheced love God has for his people and the kind of agape love he has for the whole world. They fall prey to the main flaw of Calvinism in that it is totally inflluenced by Hellenistic philosophy with absolutely no Jewish flavor. Christ and Paul being a Jew has absolutely no bearing or influence on their Biblical interpretations.
Finally, let's look at the conversation between Jesus and a Lawyer just before the Lord narrates the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-28 to address the pointed question: "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Christ's unhesitatingly confirms obedience to the Great Commandment which starts by loving God. What God? Any God from whatever light of knowledge a person who has NEVER heard about the RIGHT God can muster? That directly contradicts even foundational Wesleyan theology! Wesley even claims that we cannot truly biblically love anyone unless it comes as a result of loving the ONE TRUE God first, and not just any "God".
Given this obvious handicap, how can those who have not heard but have reached the level of accountability for sin be saved?
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