Matt Pavlik

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Salvation is by faith alone both before and after God causes a person to become born again. There is nothing within a person that God counts as righteousness before being saved. After a person is saved, there is only the work of Jesus Christ that keeps the person saved.

J.H. Oliphant, in Chapter 16 of his book, shows that although Methodists, as a people, do teach the possibility of apostasy, their published confession of faith denies the doctrine of apostasy. He contrasts Articles 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12 of their formal theology with their everyday practical theology.

Article 7 – Original Sin

Original sin standeth not in the following of Adam (as the Pelagians do vainly talk), but it is the corruption of the nature of every man, that naturally is engendered of the offspring of Adam, whereby man is very far gone from original righteousness, and of his own nature inclined to evil, and that continually.

Article 7

Look closely at these words. “His very nature is involved in sin, and because of the corruption of his nature, he is inclined to sin continually. Here is total depravity, undeniably. He is not partially inclined to sin, but he is continually so; no intermission. As the water is continually rushing down the channel of the Ohio, so his nature is unceasingly rushing him headlong in sin, and if left to himself he is certain of destruction. Outside influence must interpose; grace must arrest him; unconditional election by grace only will reach his case.

Article 8 – Totally Depraved

The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself, by his own natural strength and works, to faith, and calling upon God; wherefore we have no power to do good works, pleasant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will, and working with us, when we have that good will.

Article 8

Who ever heard the utter helplessness of man more fully set forth than it is here? “Cannot turn and prepare himself by his own strength and good works?” If he cannot turn himself, and he is ever turned, what will turn him? Is it true that God must turn him, and yet cannot keep him turned? How does this article say he is turned? “The grace of God by Christ preventing us, that we may have a good will.” Then he cannot have a good will only as grace gives it to him.

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

Phillipians 2:13 NLT

But Article 8 not only tells us that God must work in the sinner a good will, but “work with him when he has that good will.” How can one fall from grace when God works in him a good will, and works with him while he has that good will?

Surely, if he ever should lose that good will, it would be while God was working with him. Paul was persuaded that where God had begun a good work he would perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. This was Paul’s opinion — reader, is it yours?

No one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me makes them want to come. But if they do come, I will raise them to life on the last day.

John 6:44 CEV

Therefore, man cannot have this will, unless it is produced in him of God. He never will be inclined to God; never truly repent of sin; never love God, nor his cause; never hate sin and long for holiness, unless God Almighty works in him the will. I ask in all candor, how can someone lose his salvation if God works in him while he has the will? If the working of God gave the will, cannot the working of God keep the will? If I take the city, can I not keep it? Can the man become worse than he was before he received the will? God gave him the will without any merit or good works, and now will God forsake, desert, and leave him because he still sees no merit in him? This article, fairly examined, proclaims the biblical, Calvinistic theology.

Article 9 – By Faith Alone

We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by faith, only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort.

Article 9

This article cannot harmonize with conditional salvation, or apostasy either. It says we are counted righteous, “only for the merit of our Lord Jesus Christ.” If this is the only ground of justification, where is the room for conditions of losing salvation? This article sets forth the only hope of poor sinners — the righteousness of Jesus. It points every sin-ruined, sin-condemned sinner to Jesus and tells him that though sin has ruined him, and all his works are evil, and though there is not one good trait in or about him, yet there is hope for him.

It discards all good works and bad works as a ground of salvation and lifts the eyes of every forlorn sinner to Jesus, who constitutes the whole and sole ground of hope for any or all of Adam’s race. It declares that God accounts us righteous for the merit of Christ, and I am sure that if God accounts us righteous for the merits of Christ, he will not account us unrighteous, because there is still no merit in us. He will not first clothe us in Christ’s merit, and then unclothe us; but once clothed, there is no reason why we shall ever be unclothed.

I heartily join in the thought that we “are justified by faith only” — faith in Jesus as the only sure, eternal ground of hope. We have sinned, to be sure, but he has paid all our debt. We are daily going into debt, but He is our husband, and our growing debt is constantly met by Him.

Article 10 – Works Follow Faith but Never Precede Them

Although good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s judgment; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and spring out of a true and lively faith, insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree is discerned by its fruit.

Article 10

This article lays the sure foundation for the final perseverance of every Christian. According to this article, good works are not the cause of faith. They have no more to do in procuring either faith or justification than the fruit has to do in producing the tree that bears it. Neither do good works continue one in faith, any more than the fruit continues the life of the tree that bears it. How astonishing that one will profess to believe this article, and live in a church that publishes it as a part of their faith, and yet believe it is possible to lose salvation.

John Calvin never uttered a sentiment more foreign to apostasy than this article. Faith is the only root from which works grow; and works, therefore, have no more to do in procuring faith or justification, than the fruit has in producing the twig that bears it, or the sap that gives it its growth, or the root of the tree.

Who made the tree, and who alone can make trees? It was God, and He also gives us faith and justifies us for the merits of Christ alone, and not for any works or merit found in us. This is biblical truth, and true according to this article, yet it doesn’t seem to be taught in a modern Methodist church (proof forthcoming). Can a tree bear good fruit this year, and bad next? Only God can change its nature; and so with his people, all their good works have nothing to do with changing their nature. Works follow after being born again and, therefore do not, in the least measure, procure that birth.

Where is the good sense in saying that men are justified, not for any merit or works of their own, but for the sake of Christ alone, and yet advocate the doctrine of apostasy? All these articles make salvation to be as wholly of the Lord as the resurrection of the body, and our obedience as a consequence of salvation. This is sound and wholesome. It is a rock as firm as the everlasting hills on which we may put our feet with security.

Some claim that anyone who faithfully preaches against apostasy and the sentiments of these articles tends to licentiousness. The particular point here is, that if you preach to saints that they are infallibly secure, it will cause them to become careless and neglectful.

This argument is founded on simple ignorance and has been referred to in several places in the New Testament. It was to this very class of persons that Peter referred when he said:

For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

1 Peter 2:15-16 ESV

These ignorant and foolish men are those who think it dangerous to preach the final perseverance of saints; they think that the saints must be scared into obedience. It was in reply to this very doctrine that Paul spoke, when he said, “What, then, shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace?” In another place, he answers, “How can we, that are dead to sin, live in it any longer?”

Paul here shows that the motives to obedience are from quite a different source than the fear of apostasy. “How can we, who are dead to sin, still live in sin?” If there were no hell or devil, we would still be inclined to serve God. It is from choice we serve him, and our greatest grief is that we cannot serve and love him better.

Why are genuine Christians so intent, both day and night, in serving God; why are they continually lifting His name on high? Surely they are not afraid of losing their salvation. If the advocates of the God-dishonoring doctrine have impressed it upon the minds of saints below, certainly it has never been advocated in Heaven. If you were to tell the guests of Heaven that they are secure and cannot fall, and therefore they need not concern themselves about the praise of God, they would doubtless tell you that if they had a million times the capacity to praise him, all should be employed; and the more you cry to them that they are secure, the louder would they praise him for that security.

Saints on earth should and do praise God for the immutable security He has thrown around them. Have not the saints on earth tasted Heaven’s blessing? If God has loved me and gave his Son up to death for me, and loved me and cared for me all the days of my wicked life; forgiven all my sins, and gave me a standing in Christ; adopted me into his own family, and sealed me unto the day of redemption with the Holy Spirit of promise, will all this tend to make me neglectful? No, never.

If you are a Christian it would stir you up to serve him who has done so much for you. Look over the country, and ask why our best citizens do not steal. Is it because there is a law to punish them? No. If there were no law they would not steal; and if you know of one who thinks that he would steal if there were no law, you had better not give him too good a chance, law or no law.

Likewise, if you know of one professed Christian who thinks it would be unsafe to tell him that he cannot lose his salvation because he would “tend to licentiousness,” consider whether his heart is right in the sight of God.

Parents reward their children with kind words of approval when they obey them; but when they disobey, they do not kill nor disinherit them. It is utterly unnatural to disinherit a child for any cause. So good works are pleasing to God, understanding they cannot make up for sin, nor endure the severity of God’s judgment; and he that obeys God will be rewarded even here; his cup will often run over with joy; while the disobedient one will be cast down, become barren and unfruitful, and even be delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Article 12 – Once Saved, Sin Does Not Disqualify Anyone

Not every sin willingly committed after justification is the sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. Wherefore, the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after justification. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and, by the grace of God, rise again and amend our lives. And therefore they are to be condemned who say they can no more sin as long as they live here; or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent.

Article 12

This article declares that we all sin after justification, yet these sins are not unpardonable. I grant that we all sin, and therefore have reason to be a praying people as long as we live, and also need to repent daily; every Christian realizes that this is not a perfect state. It also says, that if we depart from grace and fall into sin, we may, by God’s grace, arise and amend our lives. This does not say a man can fall beyond the grace of God, but virtually denies it, for it teaches that by God’s grace, they may arise, amend their lives, etc.

A different section of the Book of Discipline (Of Sanctification?) teaches that God by His grace, gives the ability to love God, and in this, the plain teaching is that the grace of God may reinstate whoever departs from the right way. All these articles put together, crush the doctrine of apostasy, and are an eternal veto against it and salvation by works of any kind, good or bad.

Methodist Practical Faith Contradicts Their Declaration of Their Faith

As we have seen, the traditional Methodist doctrine says much to support salvation being by faith only and not by works. However, as J.H. Oliphant has uncovered, the actual beliefs of the Methodist church have drifted into nonsensical contradictions. The following is a perfect example of double-speak that attempts to count two contradictory statements as both true:

In our Wesleyan-Arminian theology, as in all mainstream Christian theology, salvation still isn’t ours to possess. It is always and only God who saves. In that sense we cannot “lose” salvation. But we can “fall away” from it. Or to use another metaphor, we can move so far from the saving streams of God’s love and power that we parch and spiritually die.

Rev. Taylor Burton-Edwards

We are born into this world spiritually dead. God saves us, making us spiritually alive in Jesus Christ. Having been made spiritually alive, there is nothing with the power to cause us to die once again.

Rev. Taylor also seems to think a significant number of protestants teach that everyone who professes to be a Christian will be saved. Calvinists do not believe that by saying “magic words” someone is saved for all eternity. The time on earth will prove whether a person is truly saved. Ultimately, God knows those who are His. But Calvinists do teach that if people are genuinely born of God, they will be preserved by God for eternity.

We’re not reducing salvation to a propositional transaction, as some forms of American Protestant proclamation have done, so that once we believe and say certain things, no matter what else happens, we “have” salvation and can never “lose” it.

Rev. Taylor Burton-Edwards

Not All Who Profess Christ Have Genuine Faith

All of this reinforces to me that there are many people out there who lack understanding of what the Bible teaches. They have given in to worldly, humanistic wisdom that denies God’s sovereignty, and places man’s so-called “free will” (man’s sovereignty) above God’s. For those who have a genuine faith in Christ, never lose heart or doubt the day of your salvation. God is mighty to save you!

This is post 24 in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While sections are the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
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Reading time: 7 minutes

Everyone will not be saved, but those who are saved cannot be lost. Salvation is priceless like a fine pearl or a hidden treasure. Those who have it, value it above all else and act accordingly in the primary aspects of life. Jesus contrasts two groups of people in Matthew 25. Five virgins are respectful, prepared, and discerning; they are wise by the Spirit of God. But the other five virgins are impulsive, entitled, and careless; they are foolish, lacking God’s Spirit. In this parable, God only saves the wise.

Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.

Matthew 25:1-4 ESV

So, the foolish did not prepare to endure to the end, like the wise.

Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’

Matthew 25:7-9 ESV

God Does Not Save the Unprepared

Some believe this text teaches it is possible to lose salvation. They tell us that all of the virgins are saints, the lamps are the hearts of God’s people, and the oil is the grace of God; and when the lamps of the foolish virgins went out, they lost their salvation. The first objection to this interpretation is that the text says, “They took no oil with them” and if the oil is grace, they had no grace, to lose.

Whether they had “no oil,” or “not enough oil” makes no difference. The result is the same. God says to both, “I do not know you.” The foolish ones did not think to take (enough) oil to last however long was needed. They were not thinking about heaven, but only the immediate circumstances in this life. They did not have in mind what was necessary for eternal life and were unprepared. It is not like they had sufficient oil, but then decided to dump it out to forfeit their inheritance. No! They were insufficient from the very beginning.

The foolish virgins said their lamps had gone out. Certainly, their lamps were never properly lighted for someone heaven-bound. They were insufficiently prepared from the beginning because only a genuine Christian will persevere until the end. A lamp without oil will not burn long; likewise, a profession without grace will not last long.

Afterward the [foolish] virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’

Matthew 25:11-12 ESV

And, this is even more strongly stated earlier in Matthew, where amazing spiritual works do not guarantee anyone entrance into heaven:

On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Matthew 7:22-23 ESV

No doubt these foolish virgins thought their lamps would burn long enough, and felt secure and ready for the approach of the bridegroom. “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). They thought they were standing complete in Him, and felt that all was well, but when the cry was heard, they found, to their astonishment and grief, that they were unprepared. All their hopes had been built on the sand.

These foolish virgins more closely represent the unsaved who are only professors. They were among the ten virgins, so unsaved professors are in the church. They thought their lamps would keep burning, so carnal professors have a form of Godliness but are strangers to its power. They were disappointed in the end, so all mere professors will be astonished when they hear it said, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).

God Saves by Oil not by Works

Oil represents the Spirit of God. To be content without oil, therefore, means to rely on some other working for salvation. These foolish virgins thought they had been doing all that was necessary. Perhaps they lived under the impression that salvation was by works, and their lamps would be kept fueled by their works. But to their astonishment, in the presence of the assembled world, God himself will say, “Depart; I never knew you.” All your profession was without real knowledge of Him; you flattered yourselves that you were earning Heaven and His approval by your works, while your works were at best fifthly rags.

The righteousness of the best of men will not bear the test here; the righteousness of God is all that will pass. The fools were professors, but not clothed in Christ’s righteousness, which is the “wedding garment.” They have ever trusted in their works, while nothing but grace will save sinners.

The five wise virgins had their own oil. The foolish virgins lacked their own and so attempted to borrow others, which was impossible (verse 9). People will not be saved by borrowing another’s righteousness, except if it is Christ’s righteousness.

If these ten virgins represent the church, and all of them were Christians, it appears the visible church would be composed entirely of Christians. But since a large part of the professed followers of Jesus are utter strangers, having never been broken in heart for sin, or brought low at the feet of Jesus, nor been true mourners, or truly contrite in heart, yet seem to have more assurance than those who have felt what is it to be sinners. How many professors are there nowadays, who are even leaders in their churches, and yet not safe in the common business of life, whose words cannot be relied on by anyone, when there is anything at stake?

It does seem fitting that these wise and foolish virgins should represent the whole church. The foolish virgins are so foolish as to be content without enough oil; likewise, thousands in the church are foolish as to be content, though they have not even tasted that God is gracious. Only the people who have truly experienced God’s grace are aware of having been heavy-laden souls and guilty, condemned sinners before God.

It does seem from this that many poor, deluded souls will believe to the very last that their lamps are burning and that they are ready to meet God, and shall learn that all their hopes were vain. What a disappointment to fully believe that many wonderful works will save you, and in the end, when you need everything, to find you have nothing.

What a pity that so many of our preachers, instead of preaching the plain, simple gospel of Christ in its raw power, are declaring that salvation is by works, and in this way turning the minds of the people from Christ, and fixing their confidence in duties. Let each of us ask ourselves the question. Have I the real grace of God, or am I a mere Christian in name only? Have I real hope, and can I give a reason for that hope? Is all my hope fixed on God? Do I trust him for every grace?

These five virgins were foolish. It is said in Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” If these virgins were foolish, they were not wise, and if the first principle of wisdom is to fear God, these foolish virgins did not fear him and therefore were not real Christians. I fully believe that all who do not fear God are unconverted, and I am not arguing that unconverted ones cannot be lost. Thus, we have seen that the parable of the virgins cannot be made to teach apostasy.

This is post 23 in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While sections are the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
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Reading time: 7 minutes

Adam was at first good, and very good. But he fell into sin and experienced spiritual death. He broke like a jar of clay. Some believe this to be an instance of apostasy. The following shows this cannot be possible.

Adam Did Not Lose His Salvation When He Fell

Adam did not have salvation before the fall, so he could not have lost it. God brought Adam (and Eve) into this world differently than all following humans. God created them directly but the rest of us were brought into this world through physical birth. Adam was created without sin but with the potential for sin. The rest of us are born into sin without a choice in the matter. We don’t only have the potential to sin, we are born spiritually dead, sinning from the beginning. Adam knew what it was like to be without sin but he did not know what it is like to be immune to sin because he always had the potential to sin.

Although Adam was good, he was but a natural man. God formed his body from the dust, perishable. But when God raises a person, the body is spiritual, imperishable.

So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

1 Corinthians 15:42-49 ESV

Adam was under the law, while saints are not under the law, but under grace, and sin shall not have dominion over them (Romans 6:14). God does not impute sin to saints.

In Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

2 Corinthians 5:19 ESV

God considers the saints as righteous without them performing any works. David calls the saints blessed because their sins are never counted against them (Romans 4:6-8). So he does not impute sin to his people, and he did impute sin to Adam. We know this because Adam died spiritually and God removed him from the garden.

Christ dwells in His saints, but He did not dwell in Adam. “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4 ESV). “He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:11 ESV). Many passages show that Christ dwells in his people; and there is no evidence that he did dwell in Adam, for before the fall there was not (yet) the need of a Christ.

Saints do not stand justified for their righteousness, while Adam’s only hope was in his record of keeping the law.

God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

1 Corinthians 1:28-30 ESV

Therefore, Christ is the righteousness of saints. No human can boast in their righteousness but must rely solely on Christ’s. The saints’ justification comes from God, not by any self-effort.

But in that coming day
    no weapon turned against you will succeed.
You will silence every voice
    raised up to accuse you.
These benefits are enjoyed by the servants of the Lord;
    their vindication will come from me.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!

Isaiah 54:17 NLT

Saints Cannot Lose Their Salvation

Saints are not vulnerable to sin like Adam because they have experienced a spiritual rebirth. If Adam’s righteousness had been of the Lord, and if Christ had been his righteousness, he would not have fallen; but such was not the case with him, and therefore he fell; yet such is the case with saints, and therefore, they will not fall.

Saints are inclined to keep the law, or to do the will of God; for God works in them both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). If God had worked in Adam to do His pleasure, the result would have been different. God not only makes His saints sufficient to meet the demands of the law, but He also keeps them to that standard by His Holy Spirit dwelling in them. They are shielded, so that the wicked one cannot touch them.

Christ is the strong tower into which the righteous run and are safe. He is the rock of ages and is to them a high rock in a weary land. God has appointed salvation as walls and bulwarks around the saints.

I have never heard an argument made in favor of apostasy, without a false foundation: that salvation is by works. The Bible abounds with obvious contradictions of this position. Have you ever heard any man defend the doctrine of apostasy, urging that it is by works that we become saints and continue to be saints, but also admit that there is no merit in works and that all the merit is in Christ? What a messy contradiction.

If salvation is by works, then Christ’s blood is to be of no avail, and the whole plan of salvation is a failure. If by works, then Heaven could be empty, and hell full of the purchased by the Savior’s blood. No matter how often or how positively God’s word says it is not of works, despite all this, the advocates of apostasy invariably declare salvation to be of works.

How shocking the thought that a man may miss Heaven, though he has

• been redeemed by the blood of Christ.
• been born of the Spirit and incorruptible seed, even born of God.
• in him the very Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead.
• Christ within him and his life hidden with Christ in God.
• eaten the Savior’s flesh and drank his blood.
• drank of the water of life.
• been built upon Christ as a sure foundation.
• been joined to him as a wife to a husband.
• rejoiced in the thought that the God of the whole earth is his shepherd and that he shall not want.
• said with joy, The Lord is my rock and my fortress, my deliverer and my God, my strength in whom I trust, my buckler and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

Despite all this, some believe he may lose his salvation and go to hell forever. How discouraging such an idea would be to those who are weak, who say, “When I would do good, evil is present with me. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?” If there is a doctrine calculated to starve the weak, to discourage mourners in Zion, to fill the wicked with carelessness on this subject, this is the doctrine. Who could or would with courage seek the blessing of salvation, if the odds are a thousand to one against remaining saved?

Thankfully, the Bible is clear that salvation is for eternity. This never means that saints can sin as much as they want–that would be the attitude of the unsaved. Only the saved, by God’s power, leave behind the constant desire to sin.

This is post 22 in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While sections are the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
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Reading time: 4 minutes

Genuine servants will inherit God’s kingdom; false servants receive nothing but ongoing suffering. Therefore, knowing what distinguishes a true servant from a false one is of utmost importance.

Matthew chapter 25 illustrates the differences between genuine and false believers. A careful interpretation of Jesus’s parables will show the contrast between these two groups. God’s plan for life and redemption focuses on sorting people by their conversion status.

True Servants are Active

In the parable of the ten virgins (v. 1-13), the five faithful virgins act decisively on their convictions. They know God is real and prepare accordingly.

In the parable of the talents (v. 14-30), the two faithful servants also act decisively. They use the abilities God has given them, having the faith to produce results.

During the final judgement (v. 31-46), the sheep actively lived out their faith by ministering to others.

False Servants are Passive

In the parable of the ten virgins (v. 1-13), the five foolish ones lacked conviction. They could not see the reason to be prepared until it was too late to avoid destruction.

In the parable of the talents (v. 14-30), the fearful servant lacked understanding. Being an imposter, he did not know how to use his talent. So he could only make excuses when the master returned.

Finally, during the final judgement (v. 31-46), the goats did nothing to demonstrate the genuineness of their faith–because they had none.

Jesus Contrasts His Servants

I agree with most of Oliphant’s writings, but occasionally he misinterprets scripture, as with Matthew 25:14-30. According to him, all three servants are believers, with God only disciplining the third servant for his lack of productivity.

Let us inquire what is meant by this parable. It is used to define something about the kingdom of heaven, the church. And, by a little thought, you will observe that they were his servants, without these talents; for, “He called his own servants to him and delivered to them his goods.” Then, if they were his servants before they received the talents, they were not the servants of the wicked one; consequently, these talents were some gifts or graces he bestowed, not to make them his servants, or according to their needs, but “according to their abilities.”

Oliphant page 101

However, there are several reasons this interpretation isn’t the best:

• Every person God has created is a servant. A person can be a servant, but not be saved.
• The place of “outer darkness with weeping and gnashing” is most often used to describe the place of eternal torment.
• The context of this parable is between the other two parables, which make sharp contrasts between the eternally saved and the eternally condemned.
• The master calls the servant “wicked.”

But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.

Matthew 25:26-27 ESV

The master cuts right through the excuses to expose the true condition of his heart. A genuine believer would have at least invested the money to collect interest. But this man had a wicked heart that resulted in slothful behavior. He had no care or concern for building God’s kingdom.

I certainly agree with Oliphant in his conclusion, that a truly saved person cannot lose his salvation. But in this case, we differ on what the scripture teaches. Either way, the point is that Matthew 25 does not teach that a person can lose salvation. It teaches that true believers will naturally act on the faith that God provides, while false believers, those who only profess Jesus in name, will not act for the simple reason that they do not hold enough conviction to motivate them to action.

What are we to do with such tough parables? True believers do not need to panic because they will consistently desire to grow God’s kingdom. They can be discouraged, but not without the hope of eternal life. They can be unproductive for a season, but cannot help but bear fruit because they are connected to the true vine. All you need to ask yourself is, “Am I willing to use whatever God has given me to serve His purposes?” God then works in the willing heart to produce many times over in fruitfulness.

This is post 21 in a series; you can read the previous post.
https://www.bibleref.com/Matthew/25/Matthew-25-30.html
https://archive.org/details/doctrineoffinalp00olip/page/100/mode/2up
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Reading time: 7 minutes

Are infants born qualified for heaven but then as they grow up, they become involved in sin and lose salvation? If so, it could be claimed that every person who crosses the supposed “line of accountability,” loses salvation. I do not believe infants can lose their salvation any more than adults. No one can be saved without being born again.

Original Sin is Highly Relevant To Infants and Adults Alike

The doctrine of original sin is that at the moment of conception, every human already has a sinful nature. Paul describes the Ephesians as having been children of wrath by nature like everyone else (Ephesians 2:1-3) so that their nature must be changed. A clean thing cannot be brought out of an unclean thing; infants born of women are unclean. David says:

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies.

Psalm 51:5, 58:3 NIV

These references are sufficient to prove that infants are not holy by birth. If they are by nature children of wrath, then, by nature, they are unfit for Heaven. Our Savior taught that none can see or enter the kingdom of God, except they be born again.

Some people might object: “Doesn’t God grant infants an exception?” Answer: No, because if adults are saved by being born again, and infants without it, then we have two ways of salvation — one for infants and one for adults — while the Bible speaks of but one way, Christ. The important reason why people must be born again is that their nature must be changed. It is not the change of conduct that results in salvation, but the change of nature.

Certainly, infants, as to nature, are like the parents and therefore need as great a change of nature as the parents. Christ came to save sinners; if infants need saving, they must start as sinners. “He shall save his people from their sins;” and if infants are a part of His people, they have sins, otherwise He could not “save them from their sins.” If they have sins and are sinners, they need to be “cleansed from all sin,” as much as you or I. As to anything we can see about them, they seem innocent, but they are “by nature children of wrath.”

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.

Romans 3:23, 5:12 NIV

Here we learn death to be a fruit of sin, and as infants are subjects of death, evidently, they are sinners, and as such need “washing,” “cleansing,” “purifying,” “being born again of incorruptible seed,” just as all others do who shall be saved. Therefore, if you can learn how any one person (descended from Adam) is saved, you will know how all people are saved.

The only difference between infants and adults is infants are not developed. If you could impart to infants your physical maturity, you would see that their nature is evil as fully as your own. The tender, smooth sprout of the thorn only needs age to manifest its nature. The same is true of children; age does not give them a different nature, it only develops the nature they have. I hope I have now said enough to show that infants are not, by natural birth, fit for Heaven. They need a spiritual birth. If there is any other way for Christ’s atonement to reach us, I have not learned that way.

Infants Can Become Born Again Because of Christ’s Atonement

God is able, because of Christ’s atonement, to prepare infants for His service as adults.

he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

Titus 3:5 NIV

John the Baptist praised God before birth, and certainly this is evidence that the Spirit can regenerate infants so they can love God. “He that loveth is born of God.” As we have before seen, it is by being born of God that the church is prepared to love and serve Him. Now if all infants are not born of God, then all infants are not fit for Heaven.

Nicodemus (and anyone else) needs to be born again. But if he had been born again in infancy, then he would have needed a third birth; and who ever read of such a thing as a third birth? If all infants were born again and afterward lose salvation, then it follows that every adult who experiences the new birth is born a third time. The idea of a third birth is nowhere hinted at in the bible; neither is there the shadow of testimony that all infants are born of the Spirit. Therefore, the claim that infants lose their salvation when they become adults has no support.

Let us consider the following things: Saints are spiritual, having been born of the Spirit. Have we any evidence that infants are so? He that loveth God is born of him. Saints do this; have we any evidence that infants do? “This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” Saints do this, and there is no evidence that infants do.

The case of John the Baptist is recorded, not as an ordinary one, but as an extraordinary one, and therefore is no evidence that God deals so with all infants. But I may properly ask, did John lose his salvation? I see no evidence of it. And if all infants, as John was, are born of the Spirit, then universal salvation is the consequence; for that which is born of God, is born of incorruptible seed—so it cannot become corrupted again.

The whole notion of infant fitness for Heaven is based on the opinion that God has two methods of saving — one for adults, and one for infants. There is no foundation for such an opinion in the Bible. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one way,” and Christ that way. Regeneration and spiritual birth are that way. The result being, that in Heaven, all are to see and be like Christ. Christ is the pattern after which all are to be formed.

Remember that the atonement (reconciliation), and the receiving of it, are two things.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 5:11 ESV

This is spoken about our conversion, and says, “Now received;” showing that:

1. It is one thing for there to be an atonement, and another to receive it.
2. They had not received it earlier.

If they had received it in infancy the words would have been, “again received.” Apostasy and its advocates are hard-pressed when they attempt to sustain their system by such arguments as this. There isn’t one solitary passage that teaches us that infants are spiritual, or that they know God, or that they have been born again, or that they are believers; and in contradiction to many scriptures, that substantially tell us, that they are unfit for Heaven; and in contradiction to the Savior, who taught that all, who see or enter the kingdom, must be born again.

This is post 20 in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While sections are the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
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Reading time: 7 minutes

Some people argue that Judas was a saint, an apostle, and a Christian for all intents and purposes; and that he lost his salvation and went to hell. But as we will see, it is clear that he never had a saving faith. God keeps and protects anyone with genuine faith by His power (1 Peter 1:5).

There are two classes of wicked men spoken of in the scriptures. One of these classes is called sinners. They readily claim no allegiance to Jesus.

“If the righteous are barely saved, what will happen to godless sinners?”

1 Peter 4:18 NLT

The other is called “hypocrites,” “Pharisees,” “false teachers,” “false prophets,” and “wolves in sheep’s clothing.” They are the tares that grow among the wheat. They have a form of godliness, but know not the power of it; if possible, they would deceive the elect. They are also called “professors” because they claim to be of the faith, but in reality, are not true believers.

Simon Magus was among the saints, and yet he was in the gall of bitterness and bond of sin. The magicians in Moses’ day did very much like Moses; when they cast their rods down, they became serpents and many other wonders they wrought, yet they knew not God. Piety has been counterfeited, and every feature of faith has been abused in this way since the world began. We learn from 1 Corinthians 13, that men may speak with the tongues of men and angels, have the gift of prophecy, understand all mysteries and knowledge, and have all faith so that they could remove mountains, and after all this be nothing.

Judas: A Christian In Name Only

Charity seems to be needed to give real value or importance to the other gifts or graces. There is no evidence that Judas ever had this charity. Judas was undoubtedly chosen to the office of an apostle, took part in the ministry, and was numbered with the twelve. He may have had all the qualifications spoken of in 1 Corinthians 13 except charity.

Some people claim that when Satan entered him, he lost his salvation (John 13:27) but when you consider John 12:6, you will see he made a complaint when the ointment was poured on our Savior, saying it should have been sold and given to the poor. He said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he carried the bag. So he cared not for the poor long before Satan entered him.

By examining Matthew 26:14, you will see that Judas made sale of Jesus before Satan entered him. It would seem that Satan entered him, not to give him the will to do the deed, but to nerve him; for he had before this sought to betray him. Long before this was said of him, “He cared not for the poor;” so that if he was a Christian earlier, he cared not for the poor, and he had sought opportunity to betray the Lord.

Christ says, “Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil!” (John 6:70). He spoke of Judas, who should betray Him, being one of the twelve. Here Christ calls him a devil, at least from seven to nine days earlier, for it was he that should betray Him. So, how can any honest man say he was a Christian?

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

Acts 4:27-28 NIV

Here the whole work of the crucifixion was a subject of divine appointment; not to be done by Christian hands, but by “wicked hands.”

The part Judas took was important because it was fit for a devil more than a meek and lowly follower of Christ. Therefore Judas, “a devil,” was the man “that should betray Him.” This same Judas was seen and known by the Lord hundreds of years before, and pointed out as the traitor; and he then said of him, “Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein.” He is also said to have fallen, that he might go — where? — to his own place; therefore, if he went to hell, hell was his own place, and his own place before he fell.

Our Savior did not need anyone to testify to Him of what was in man, for He knew all things. He therefore knew that Judas would betray Him; for God had pointed him out as the betrayer long ago. To say Christ did not know this is to trample upon His perfections. To say He loved and trusted Judas as a Christian is to say that He loved the man who would betray Him, being a poor covetous wretch who did not care for the poor. Yes, even more, and if possible worse, it is to say He loved as a Christian one that He calls a devil.

You cannot say that Christ did not know he would betray Him, for that would make Him ignorant, not only of what was in man but of the scriptures; for Judas had been pointed out by the prophets. His being visibly a servant of God is no proof that he was a good man, and even now one’s being a professed minister of Christ is no evidence that he is a good man. Bad men always were, and always will be, in the church. It is not my business to show why they are there, but we all know that bad men always have been allowed to be in the church.

If our Savior needed to be betrayed by one in His church, there was at least a necessity that there should be one “son of perdition” in the church, and Judas was that one. God always has fulfilled His purpose with wicked men. Pharoah filled an important place in the world’s history. Haman, Herod, Pontius Pilate, Judas, and the wicked rabble, who, like so many jackals, were thirsting after the blood of Christ, were but making manifest the will of God in the salvation of sinners; and yet there is no proof that any of them were saints.

Like Joseph’s brothers, they all meant it for evil, but God Almighty meant it for good. The rage of the multitude, the criminality of Judas, the timidity of Pilate, and the heartlessness of Herod, all in their place, were but unfolding the purpose of God, as His hand and counsel had determined. “Oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God; how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”

Unlike Judas, Genuine Believers Will Persevere

John speaks about the difference between genuine believers and mere professors.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

1 John 2:19 ESV

Now, what conclusion are we forced to concerning this text? He says, “if they had been of us, they would have continued with us.” We cannot doubt that John believed that every real child of God would persevere to the last.

The sentiment of final perseverance is interwoven with every principle of the faith. To deny it is to strike at the heart of the Christian faith. It is a fearful attack on the whole plan of salvation and especially the death of Christ. It substantially puts the success of heaven’s plan of salvation upon the puny arm of man. Poor, fallen, sinful, corrupt man, is to determine the greatest question ever thought of. It is for him to say whether the blood of Jesus is to be a failure; whether all the good designs of God are to be accomplished; whether the Spirit’s work shall be a failure.

Those who have realized the Spirit’s power know that He controls our hearts, and brings us into love and affection for Christ. Oh, how fully our confidence is destroyed in self and lifted up in the Lord; and I certainly think that every Christian feels that it can only be the goodness of God that keeps him. Christian reader, if your continuance in the faith was left for you to make sure, you would certainly fail.

This is post 19 in a series; you can read the previous post. This post started as the public domain works of J. H. Oliphant. While sections are the same in many ways, I modernized the language and added my thoughts to provide greater clarity for my readers.
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