Permission granted by Michael Morrison, editor.
From Cross Road Supplement 10/25/96
Question: The Worldwide Church of God has traditionally preached that if people die not having heard the gospel, that God will give them an opportunity to accept or reject it in the resurrection. Do we still teach this?
It is the position of the church that God will make fair and just provision for people who do not hear the gospel in this life. In other words, we retain the essence of our historical teaching on this point. However, we do not teach any dogmatic timing of when or how God will do this (e.g. the second resurrection, 100 years, etc.).
We believe that those who die in this life without knowing the gospel will be presented with the gospel when they come face to face with the risen Lord at their resurrection. They will be judged on the same basis as we are - on whether they give their allegiance and faith to Jesus Christ. As our Statements of Beliefs says, "Unrepentant sinners are those who deliberately and ultimately reject the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. (emphasis added).
We base our belief on the verses that God is not willing that any perish (we see this as God's desire that none perish eternally) but that all come to repentance (though we understand that not everyone will conform to God's desire.) We do not believe that God has decreed before all time who will and will not be lost.
Question: Does the church understand grace to be a permanent condition (i.e., "once saved always saved") or is it possible for apostasy to happen? Some scriptures appear to back up the "always saved" position while some seem to point to the possibility of voluntary rejection.
That's right and that's why we are not coming down on either side of this issue as a test of fellowship or a required belief for members.
Our position is this:
This subject is similar to the already/not yet aspect of the kingdom and of salvation. We are secure, yet in the fight. If we could see with God's perspective it would all make sense. But from our human viewpoint, it seems like a paradox.
The comforting thing is: We do not have to go around worrying, "What if I fail? What if I fail?" We have already failed. Jesus is the on who saves us, and he doesn't fail.. Can we fail to accept him? Yes, but we haven't failed to accept him. Once we accept him, the Holy Spirit lives in us, conforming us to his image. We have joy, not fear. We have peace, not anxiety.
When we believe in Jesus Christ, we stop worrying about whether we'll "make it." He "made it" for us. We rest in him. We quit worrying. We have faith and trust in him, not in ourselves. So the question of whether I can lose my salvation no longer bothers me. Why? Because I believe Jesus' work on the cross and his resurrection is all I need. God doesn't need my perfection. I need his, and he has given it to me as his free gift through faith in Christ. We won't fail, because it doesn't depend on us.
Hebrews 10:26-31 appears to be on of the most important scriptures that should be addressed on any discussion of the subject.
This verse, as well as other Hebrews scriptures raises the issue. This question is how to interpret it - who is he talking to, what is the nature of the "belief", and what have they accepted. The point of the whole book is belief in Christ as the totally sufficient sacrifice for sins. There are no competitors. Faith must rest in him alone. The solution to the questions of verse 26 lies in the last verse of the chapter: We are not among those who shrink back and are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.
Question: What does the Church teach about "eternal security"?
Our position is that no one can snatch those God gives to Christ out of his hand. In other words, if your faith is in Christ, you cannot be lost.
The question is: can a person lose his or her faith in Christ? The book of Hebrews indicates that there are people who have at least an initial "faith" who can be in danger of losing it. But that is just the point. The only way to lose salvation is to discard the only Way to salvation: faith in Jesus Christ.
The book of Hebrews is primarily about the sin of unbelief in God's redemptive work in Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 1:2; 2:1-4; 3:12, 14; 3:19-4:3; 4:14, etc.). Hebrews 10 gets into it dramatically with verse 19, stating that we have confidence and full assurance through Jesus Christ. Verse 23 exhorts us to hold fast to our confession. As long as we hold fast to the confession of our hope - our faith in Christ's atonement for our sins and our hope of new life in him, our allegiance to him, we are fully secure.
Why? Because Christ is faithful.
So we are warned not to spurn the Son of God (verse 29). Verse 39 then encourages us, "But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and are saved." Some shrink back and are lost, but hose who remain in Christ cannot be lost.
Often, those who use the slogan "once saved always saved" are not clear about what they mean. It does not mean that a persons can say a few words about Christ and then go live a life committed to sin and still be guaranteed salvation. Real faith means allegiance to Christ, and that means we no longer life for self, but for the Savior. A person who lives a life committed to sin is demonstrating that he or she does not have faith in Christ.
The bottom line is, we are safe in Christ (Hebrews 10:19-23). We have full assurance of Faith in him, because it is he who saves us. We don't have to worry, "Am I going to make it?" In Christ we have assurance - we are his and are saved, and nothing can snatch us out of his hand. The only we way we could be lost is to spurn his blood, deciding we really don't need him after all and that we are sufficient to ourselves - and if we did that, we wouldn't really care about being saved anyway. As long as we remain faithful in Christ, we have assurance that he will complete the work he has begun in us.
From Cross Road Supplement 5/15/97
Comment: I read with interest the article on millennial viewpoints. It stressed the need for ministers to believe in three basic things --- the return of Jesus Christ, the judgment and the eternal kingdom. Could you please give an exposition of the church's position on the judgment?
Response: Our position is roughly this: Jesus will return and judge the nations. Those who have done evil (his enemies) will receive condemnation. Those who have done good (his friends and allies) will receive life (John 5:28-29). That's what judgment is.
Humans were created to dwell in righteousness in the glorious presence of God. The worst of all possible punishments for humans is to be unable to live in his presence. Those who receive life will abide in the presence of Christ forever, serving him as a kingdom of priests (Rev. 1:6; 14:4). The condemned will not be in the presence of God, but will suffer eternal destruction, that is, the destruction of the age to come (which is not yet describable for us mortals in the present age --- it might be annihilation, or it might be something else. Whatever it is, we don't believe that the caricature of literal physical burning in a literal fire is an accurate way to understand the biblical teaching about hell). We believe that the Bible is plain on the fact that everybody will be judged.
We believe the details of life after the judgment are not clear in the Bible. We know all we need to know: To be on God's side is immeasurable good. To be an enemy of God is immeasurably bad.
Mike Feazell
Comment: I recently had to conduct a funeral for a person who did not attend any church and who was not interested in God. It was reassuring to the family that Christ died not only for our sins but the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2) and that he came not to condemn the world but to save the world --- and that this man would meet a loving, patient, merciful and just God who did not wish that anyone would perish. It is a message of tremendous hope!
But what is the future of those who knowingly reject God --- will they live a life of eternal misery, or will they die? Mr. Armstrong taught that the first lie Satan fed humankind was that they would not die, that they could live forever even if they rejected God.
Response: People who are cut off from God are in fact dead. Jesus said that people who believe in him pass from death to life (John 5:24; cf. Eph. 2:1). Even though we are physically alive, we are spiritually dead until we are brought to life in Christ. Adam and Eve died, just as God said, when they took the fruit. Although they continued to breath and be conscious, they were dead. As a natural result of their spiritual separation from God, Adam and Eve eventually died physically, too.
The Bible speaks of death in two ways: 1) physical death and 2) the condition of people who are not reconciled to God. Romans 6:23 says that the wages of sin is death. Mr. Armstrong, like a number of other interpreters, understood this to mean physical death --- complete lack of life, rather than life separated from God.
Romans 6:23 also says that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Eternal life is not the same as physical life. It is a different quality of life --- the "life of the age to come" (the Greek word for "eternal" refers to an "age") --- and God has already given this kind of life to those who love him. It is the new life with a new self, created in the image of Jesus, into whom we continually grow and into whose image we are continually transformed by the Holy Spirit. Believers enter that life now, and it extends forever. Bodily immortality is added to it at Jesus' return.
Romans 6:23 presents a contrast, between death and eternal life. The interpretive question is this: Is the contrast between physical death and physical life, or is it between spiritual death (alienation from God) and spiritual life?
Eternal death --- death "of the age to come" --- is not the same thing as physical death. The fact is, we do not know the nature of that death. Some interpreters say that it means annihilation; others conclude that it may be a state of conscious existence continually separated from the presence of God. Eternal death is spoken of in three ways: eternal judgment (Heb. 6:2), eternal punishment (Matt. 25:46) and punishment of eternal fire (Jude 1:7). In each case it is speaking of the judgment of the age to come, the punishment of the age to come and the punishment of the fire of the age to come. The age to come is not the same as this age. We don't know the details of it. So to assume that it will correspond exactly to what we understand of the nature of the physical world in this age is an unproven assumption.
I believe that people err when they conclude that the eternal punishment will be physical fire and physical pain in a neverending timeline. Our understanding of fire, pain and time may be inadequate when we discuss the age to come. The language of the Bible makes it plain that the worst thing that can happen to God's creatures is to be cut off from him. We don't know how that plays out, and we most likely are not able to understand it on this side of glory.
Hebrews 10:28-31 indicates that the eternal punishment will be worse than the physical death experienced by the Israelites. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." However, I doubt whether annihilation, as we understand it, is all that fearful to some people. Some writers have suggested that there will be some pain and punishment first, appropriate to the sinfulness of the person, and then annihilation. But the bottom line is that we cannot be dogmatic about the details.
We should be dogmatic about the essentials: The reward of the saints is glorious beyond imagination; the destruction of the enemies of God is tragic beyond description.
Mike Feazell
Comment: I recently went to a meeting with other evangelical ministers and the topic of who would be saved came up. They presented a situation of a lady who died in the Bahai faith without ever knowing of Christ. A Christian doctor was present, but because the Bahai people were there, he could not speak of Christ to her before she died. He felt guilty and perhaps responsible for the eternal separation she may suffer because he did not say anything about Christ to her.
I suggested that maybe this lady was never called and did not have her chance to accept or reject Jesus Christ, and that she might in the future. Some of the ministers became quite upset at such a suggestion. I asked about the millions of kids living in the sewers of Brazil who are dying. One of the ministers said that we should mobilize the church and bring the gospel to them so that they would have the chance to accept Christ.
Response: That's a nice sentiment, but what about those who have already died? And even if we mobilized, we could not get to every child. If we really believed that millions of people were going to eternal torment because we didn't work harder, we could not sleep or eat or even go to church without feeling horribly guilty that we weren't preaching to the street kids of Brazil.
Thankfully, Christ doesn't depend on us to save people. Certainly, he uses his people to bring others to him, and he takes that very seriously, and so should we. But he doesn't depend on us. Our salvation and the salvation of everyone else is in God's hands, not ours.
Comment: I understand some of the scriptures that are used to say that this is the only day of salvation, such as Hebrews 9:27 and 2 Corinthians 6:2. Other scriptures give more hope, such as 1 John 2:2, Romans 5:18-19, 1 Corinthians 15:22 and John 1:29. Romans 11 seems to talk about a great plan of salvation. Ephesians 1 is also a very encouraging chapter for mankind as it reflects the magnificent work of the Father in Christ.
Response: Another encouraging scripture is 1 Timothy 2:3-4: "God our Savior...wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth." And 2 Peter 3:9: "The Lord is...patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."
Acts 10:34-35: "How true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." Followed by verse 43: "Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name." But Peter does not say that they must believe in him before they die.
The Bible tells us all die, and then the judgment. People are judged on the basis of whether they believe in and bow to the Lamb of God. We believe those who haven't previously been called will be able to believe then, when confronted with the glorified Christ, for whom they were made.
Evangelical ministers may assume that the Bible says that people can believe in Jesus Christ only before they die. We disagree with them on this point. We believe some people are called to faith before they die, and that the others will be called to faith at the judgment. In either case, the basis of the judgment is the same: belief in Jesus, being a friend of Jesus rather than an enemy, having allegiance with or being in rebellion against Jesus --- there is no middle ground.
While the Bible clearly says that there is no name under heaven by which anyone can be saved other than the name of Jesus, nowhere does the Bible say you must know that name before you die. If so, what of David, Daniel, Elijah, etc.? They will come up and be delighted to know and worship Jesus. We believe the same will be true, as Peter indicated, of people in all nations. What men's hearts will do when confronted with the risen Lord on his throne of judgment, when all pretense is stripped away and the real self is laid bare, is something only God knows. Some will no doubt hate the Lord. But we believe many will love him.
Comment: To limit God to the salvation of those who have known Christ in this life is limiting God. I did not argue with the ministers in the meeting, but I expressed my hope that this would not create a rift in our relationship, as we all believed that the way to salvation is through Christ, faith in him, etc. One of the ministers, although he did not agree, mentioned that John Stott agreed with our belief.
Response: Also Michael Green, whom I quoted in the March 18 Cross Road Supplement on this point. Also, C.S. Lewis, Clark Pinnock and others. After you have read Green, you could also read The Openness of God, by Clark Pinnock et al. This will give a detailed explanation of the relevant verses. It helps us see that God is not planning to doom most of his creation forever --- he is redeeming them as his sons and daughters.
Mike Feazell