Dr. James R. White is the director of Alpha and Omega
Ministries, author of over twenty books, an apologist who has done at least
one-hundred-and-fifty formal, moderated debates, is the host of the radio show,
The Dividing Line, and is a longtime proponent of Lordship Salvation. On
The Dividing Line, on 8/13/2015,[1]
Dr. White devoted an episode to critiquing a youtube video put out by Dr.
Robert N. Wilkin of the Grace Evangelical Society, an organization that has
been promoting the gospel of Free Grace for decades. In this article I will be
responding to what I consider to be the most egregious errors made by Dr.
White. In doing so I intend to demonstrate that Dr. White, though confident in his
position[2],
is woefully ignorant of what Free Grace actually teaches.
Spellcheck
The first
thing I’d like to point out is that Dr. White misspells Dr. Wilkins’ name in
the title of the episode. On youtube it reads, “Bob Wilkins, False Faith,
Lordship, and Assurance”. But his name is “Wilkin”, not “Wilkins”.
Considering that Dr. White has debated Dr. Wilkin I’d expect him to at least
get his name right.
Deathbed Puritans
Dr. White
didn’t seem to like Dr. Wilkin’s reference to the Puritans fear and utter lack
of assurance on their deathbeds. Dr. White simply sneered and scoffed and
dismissed it as irrelevant, citing as a counter-example a personal friend of
his who apparently did died with assurance.
Can the
Puritan’s crisis of faith really be brushed aside as irrelevant? Does Puritan
lack of assurance still affect people today? Consider the following evidence.
The November/December 2014 edition of Grace in Focus[3]
contains an interview with Dutch Reformed scholar, and Old Testament professor
at Protestant Reformed Seminary, Dr. David J. Engelsma.
Dr. Engelsma was interviewed by
Shawn Lazar about his booklet, The Gift of Assurance.[4]
According to Engelsma, the Puritans “went wrong by denying assurance of
salvation is of the essence of faith itself. That is the crucial issue.”[5]
This is a crucial issue because it causes doubts to fester, something Engelsma
has seen personally. “For example, I have a large contingent of relatives who
are, in fact, believing people, and godly in their lives. Some have never
missed a church service in 80 years. Nevertheless, under the influence of this Puritan
theology, they have lived all their lives doubting their salvation. And
because they lack assurance, they never dare to take the Lord’s Supper. I have
sat with them on their death beds, and watched as they died in terror,
afraid of being damned. And after they were laid in the casket, their relatives
were in terrible distress and despair over their loved ones.”[6]
(Italics not in original)
As you can see this is not simply
an issue about what the Puritans believed hundreds of years ago. Their theology
continues to plague people today. Is the fact that people are so unsure of
their own salvation that they forsake the Lord’s Supper and die in terror
something that can be reasonably shrugged off? I think not. What would Dr.
White say to the ongoing reality of Puritans dying with no assurance? Dr. White
used to be a hospital chaplain, what would he say to one of Dr. Engelsma’s
dying relatives?
Scapegoating
Dr. White is also guilty of a
common Lordship tactic: blaming Free Grace for (just about) everything wrong in
Christendom, specifically nominal Christianity. Lordship Salvationists love
to claim that the reason people who profess faith in Christ, and yet live like
the devil is because Free Grace punches their ticket to heaven, thereby giving
them a license to sin. But is Free Grace really the culprit?
Well, according to a 2001 Barna
Group survey, “Just three out of every ten Americans [who attend church]
embrace the traditional Protestant perspective that good works cannot earn a
person salvation.”[7] Seven out of
ten Christians who attend church explicitly believe in
works-righteousness! Considering these statistics which understanding of the
gospel sounds like the root-cause of this phenomena: Free Grace, or Lordship
Salvation? To pose the question is to answer it, and yet Lordship Salvationists
continue to blame Free Grace with no evidence (that I’ve ever seen, at least)
being cited. Pretty amazing stuff, folks.
We see from empirical data that
Free Grace isn’t to blame for carnal Christianity, but what happens when
Lordship Salvation is the proposed solution? Lordship Salvationists attempt to
remedy this problem by promoting good works as necessary evidence of one’s
salvation. What kind of discernable affect has this had on Christian culture? According to another Barna study, “The
findings reveal that most self-identified Christians in the U.S. are
characterized by having the attitudes and actions researchers identified as
Pharisaical.”[8] Hmm…so
telling people to focus on their works causes them to act like Pharisees? Who’d
a thunk it?
Though Dr. White blames nominal
Christianity on Free Grace, citing his personal experience in a Southern
Baptist church, empirical data (a bit broader than personal experience)
contradicts that accusation.
Getting your ticket to heaven punched
Another common accusation made by Lordship
Salvationists, and repeated by Dr. White, is the claim that Dr. Wilkin, and
other Free Grace people, think that people are saved by reciting a prayer,
walking down an aisle, checking a box, etc. All of which are represented as
people getting their tickets to heaven punched and receiving their license to
sin.
This has been the consistent form of
misrepresentation put out by Lordship Salvationists. Here’s two examples: John
MacArthur writes, “Contemporary Christians have been conditioned to believe
that because they recited a prayer, signed on a dotted line, walked an aisle,
or had some other experience, they are saved and should never question their
salvation.”[1] David Platt
has likewise written, “Do not be deceived. Your relationship with Jesus and
your status before God are not based on a decision you made, a prayer you
prayed, a card you signed, or a hand you raised however many years ago.”[2]
As you can see, this a common accusation made by
Lordship proponents. If only they were actually familiar with Free Grace
literature, and Dr. Wilkin’s literature in particular, they would know not to
embarrass themselves with blatantly false accusations. Free Grace proponents in
no way, shape, or form suggest that assurance of one’s salvation is based upon
reciting a prayer, or going through any other motions. Here are three reasons
as to why this is not the case.
1. Our assurance rests on the promises in God’s
word, not our experiences. Dr. Wilkin devotes a whole chapter to this in
his book, Secure and Sure,[3]
a book I can only assume Dr. White has never read. At the end of that chapter
Wilkin states, “Certainty comes from God’s Word. Stand on His promises to the
believer. Then you will be sure and you will also be grateful to God and highly
motivated to live for Him.”[4]
As you can see, Wilkin does not place assurance on one’s past experiences, as
is often alleged by Lordship Salvationists, but on the eternal promises of
God’s word.
2. The basis for our assurance is not on any past
experience, but on our present faith. Once again, Dr. Wilkin has a whole
chapter about this in Secure and Sure.[5]
This is how that chapter begins, “Have you ever met someone who was looking to
some past experience as the basis of their assurance? They prayed some
prayer and put the date in their Bible. They walked an aisle after a
particularly moving sermon. They made a commitment to Christ around a campfire
– all meaningful experiences as the time to be sure.”[6]
(Italics not in original) This chapter opens with Dr. Wilkin directly
addressing the topic that Lordship Salvationists so often falsely accuse Free
Grace people of promoting. Does Dr. Wilkin promote basing our assurance on a
prayer we once prayed?
He continues, “But there are some problems we
encounter when we base our assurance on a past experience.”[1]
Uh-oh, doesn’t sound like Wilkin’s a fan of past experiences! “The first
difficulty”, according to Wilkin is, “that assurance comes from God’s Word, not
from our experiences.”[2]
Another problem is, “Since assurance is based on what I believe now, not on
what I believed in the past, then if I am confused now, I lack assurance.”[3]
He concludes that chapter by admonishing us to “Give up trying to figure out
when you were born again.”[4]
(Italics in original)
3. We are saved by our faith, and reciting a
prayer, etc. is NOT faith! In Dr. Wilkin’s work he explicitly rejects the
“sinner’s prayer”, and anything other than a simple faith in Jesus Christ to
receive the free gift of eternal life. For example, “It’s interesting to note
that there is not one account in Scripture where Jesus or His apostles ever
told anyone to pray a prayer for everlasting life.”[5]
And, “That brings us to walking an aisle. I think it’s safe to assume
that many people go forward at churches and evangelistic rallies without ever
understanding and believing the saving truth of the gospel.”[6]
(Italics not in original) One more example, “Contrary to popular understanding,
none of the following are a part of or a synonym for saving faith: believing
general Bible truth, promising to serve God, praying, walking an aisle, being
sorry for your sins, turning from your sins, inviting Jesus into your heart,
believing with a special kind of faith, doing good works, or having heart
faith.”[7]
The reason that none of these activities count as
saving faith, as stated earlier, is because they aren’t! As Wilkin puts
it, “There is only one truth that will save: Jesus’ guarantee that anyone who
believes in Him for eternal life has it.”[8]
Therefore, as you can plainly see, the Free Grace position generally, and
specifically as expressed by Dr. Wilkin, does not assure people of their
salvation by telling them to place their assurance on a past experience of
reciting a prayer, walking down an aisle, or any other meaningless activity. I
would really appreciate it if Dr. White, and others would actually familiarize
themselves with the Free Grace position stop grossly misrepresenting it.
False
Faith
Another false accusation about Dr. Wilkin made by
Dr. White on The Dividing Line is that Free Grace people have no concept
of a false profession of faith. Dr. White baselessly asserts this because he’s
laboring under the false impression that we believe that any kind of vague
affirmation of Jesus is good enough to get out tickets to heaven punched. This
accusation is false because we believe that people are saved by believing in
Jesus alone for the free gift of eternal life. If someone says they believe in
Jesus for eternal life, but also think they need to have good works,
then they don’t have saving faith because they’re not believing in Jesus alone,
to receive eternal life as a gift, they’re still trying to earn it by
their works. As we saw earlier, according to Barna at least 70% of Christians
are in this category! That’s a lot of false profession!
What does Wilkin say? Once again, in Secure and
Sure, he devotes a whole chapter to this topic.[9]
Here’s how that chapter begins, “Do you believe that there is such a thing as a
false profession of faith in Christ? I do.”[10]
Once again, another false accusation of Dr. White could have been avoided, if
he was familiar with Dr. Wilkin’s work.
1 John
Dr. White attempted to demonstrate the biblical
“truth” of Lordship Salvation from the book of 1 John, but the way in which he
went about interpreting 1 John demonstrated his profound ignorance of the Free
Grace interpretation, or that a Free Grace interpretation even exists.
Dr. White turned to 1 John 5:13, which reads, “These
things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that
you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe
in the name of the Son of God.”[11]
Dr. White argues that this verse is the purpose statement of 1 John, which
means this verse is meant to communicate what the entire letter is about. This
would mean that the entire letter is meant to tell us how we can know that we
have eternal life. This would then function as a proof-text for Lordship
Salvation since 1 John is admonishing us to love God, obey his commandments,
love our brothers in Christ, etc., and if the whole letter is about how we can
know we have eternal life we would have to fulfill all these
requirements in order to have assurance, hence Lordship Salvation.[12]
The problem with Dr. White’s treatment of 1 John is
that he simply asserts his interpretation as obviously true, and gives no
“meaningful interaction”[13]
to the Free Grace interpretation of 1 John. I can’t imagine why since I know
Dr. Wilkin offered multiple ways to understand 1 John when he debated Dr.
White, so he’s certainly aware that other interpretations exist.
There are, in fact, good reasons to reject Dr.
White’s assertion that 5:13 is the purpose statement of 1 John. The phrase
“These things I have written to you” is found in two other verses. 1 John 2:1
states, “My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not
sin.” Why isn’t that the purpose statement of 1 John? Am I supposed to believe
that John wrote this letter to tell people they can totally stop sinning? Of
course not, because he goes on to say in the same verse, “If anyone sins, we
have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.” He likewise
states in 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us.” And in verse 10, “If we say that we haven’t sinned, we
make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” So that obviously isn’t the
purpose statement, and yet John said, “I write these things to you so that…”
The other example is in 2:26, “These things I have
written to you concerning those who would lead you astray.” These are three
very different purposes, being told not to sin, being warned about those who
would lead us astray, and being told how to know we have eternal life, are
three very different statements, they can’t all be the purpose of the whole
letter of 1 John, and yet they all say it’s why John has written to them.
So, how do we find the right purpose statement?
There is another candidate. 1 John 1:3-4, “that
which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have
fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father, and with his
Son, Jesus Christ. And we write these things to you, that our joy may be
fulfilled.” Dr. Wilkin points out, “Note that this time John refers to what we
write. In the other three examples John used the first person singular…I
believe John uses we in First John 1:3-4 to set it apart from the other
three statements. Additionally, in 1:3-4 John is emphasizing that he is
speaking for the entire band of apostles.”[14]
(Italics in original)
1 John 1:3-4 makes better sense as the purpose
statement of the letter since it’s distinguished from the other verses by
speaking on the behalf of the other apostles, instead of from the first person
singular perspective. Another good reason is, “It is found in the opening
verses of the book, which is where purpose statements for letters were normally
found in that day.”[15]
If 1 John 1:3-4 is the purpose statement instead of 5:13 that makes a huge
difference in how you read 1 John! Instead of being about how to know you have
eternal life, it’s about how to gauge your level of fellowship with God.
I would also argue that taking 1:3-4 as the purpose
statement makes much better sense of 5:13, whereas making 5:13 the purpose
statement makes no sense with the rest of the book. Let’s look at that passage
in context.
1 John 5:9-13, “If we receive that witness of men,
the witness of God is greater; for this is God’s testimony which he has testified
concerning his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in
himself. He who doesn’t believe God has made him a liar, because he has not
believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. The testimony
is this, that God gave to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who
has the Son has the life. He who doesn’t have God’s Son doesn’t have the life.
These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to
believe in the name of the Son of God.”
So if we just walk through the passage, what does it
say? We begin by seeing that since we receive the witness of men, we also need
to receive the witness of God, since his witness is greater. In fact, not only
is God’s witness greater, but anyone who doesn’t believe is to make God out to
be a liar. So pay attention, because as Christians we don’t want to make God a
liar. God’s testimony is that he has already given us eternal life, so it’s
something that we presently possess. This life is in Jesus, therefore all who
have Jesus, have eternal life, but all who don’t have Jesus don’t have eternal
life. Okay, that’s simple enough, but for that to be meaningful we need to know
how we can have Jesus and thereby have life. So John tells us how by telling us
that it’s because of our faith in Jesus that we can know (right now!)
that we have (also right now!) eternal life.
Here’s the point: if 1:3-4 is the purpose statement,
then when John writes, “These things I have written to you…” in 5:13, the
“these things” is referring not to the entire letter, but to the
immediate context of what he’s talking about. This harmonizes perfectly with
the letter as a whole. The letter is about how to have fellowship with God.
What’s essential to having proper fellowship with God? Assurance of salvation!
What does 1 John 5:9-13 do? Assures us that we can know we have eternal life
right now by our simple faith in the name of the Son of God, thereby giving us
a foundation for right fellowship with God! Makes perfect sense.
Now lets’ assume 5:13 is the purpose statement of
the letter, and then compare it with the rest of the letter. 5:13 tells us that
we can know we have eternal life because we believe in Jesus, but if the
purpose of the whole letter is to tell me how I can know I have eternal life
then what about the following verses?
2:15, “Don’t love the world or the things that are
in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him.”
2:29, “If you know that he is righteous, you know
that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.”
3:6, “Whoever remains in him doesn’t sin. Whoever
sins hasn’t seen him and doesn’t know him.”
4:8, “He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God
is love.”
5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his
commandments. His commandments are not grievous.”
According to these couple of verses, assuming that 1
John is trying to communicate how I can know I have eternal life, in order to know
that I have to not love the world, practice righteousness, not sin, love (but
not the world!), and keep God’s commandments. That’s a lot more than just
believing in the name of the Son of God!
Do you see the problem? According to Free Grace 1
John is about fellowship. 5:13 grounds our fellowship with God in our assurance
that we have eternal life right now by simply believing in the name of the Son
of God. The rest of the letter gives us ways by which we can gauge our
fellowship with God, such as keeping his commandments, practicing
righteousness, loving, etc. Lordship Salvation turns 1 John into a
self-contradiction by saying on the one hand we can know that we have eternal
life by our faith, but we also have to love God, not remain in sin, practice
righteousness, keep the commandments, etc. and if we’re not doing all of
those things we have good reason to question our salvation. But that
interpretation makes 5:9-13 contradicted by the rest of the letter!
Another glaring problem with Dr. White’s use of 1
John 5:13, is, as I already pointed out, that verse plainly states that we can
know right now that we have eternal life, and we can know that simply by our
faith in Jesus Christ. This is a perfect summary of the Free Grace position. As
a Calvinist Dr. White doesn’t think that anyone can really know with
100% certainty that they’re saved in this life, because perseverance in the
faith until the end of one’s life is a requirement for salvation. Therefore,
for Dr. White to even cite this verse is to refute his own position.
Here’s just one more problem. 1 John 3:14, “We know
that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. He
who doesn’t love his brother remains in death.” Here’s why this is a problem,
this verse clearly says that I have brothers in Christ, because the only way
that a person can not love his brother in Christ is if he has a brother
in Christ. In this verse John is clearly assuming he’s talking to saved
people telling them to love their brothers in Christ in order to have fellowship
with God. This verse cannot be about determining one’s salvation, because if it
was John wouldn’t assume that his readers are already in Christ.
Therefore, this verse clearly contradicts Dr. White’s interpretation of 1 John.
For all those reasons Dr. White’s appeal to 1 John 5:13
to disprove Free Grace and vindicate Lordship Salvation utterly fails. I also
shouldn’t fail to mention that, once again, Dr. Wilkin devotes a whole chapter
to 1 John in, Secure and Sure.[16]
James
2:24
Dr. White also alleges that Dr. Wilkin, and Dr. Zane
Hodges are incapable of interpreting James 2. He suggested to his audience that
they look up youtube videos of Hodges and Wilkin to see for themselves how
badly they interpret that passage. He never quoted them, or even attempted to
demonstrate in what way his interpretation is any better. He simply asserted
that their interpretation must be really bad. Though he also said that he might
have to devote an episode to going over James 2 more in depth. I know Zane
Hodges has a commentary on the Book of James, so if Dr. White does address this
in a later episode I hope he familiarizes himself a little more with the Free
Grace position, and quote from Hodges, or Wilkin accurately so I don’t have to do
this again.
I have one question for Dr. White (or any Lordship
Salvationist) when it comes to James 2, specifically James 2:24. According to
the typical Lordship Salvationist his position does not constitute
works-righteousness, because he does[17]believe
in justification by faith alone, but after one is justified, made
righteous, saved, etc. he will necessarily produce good works in his
life. This is normally expressed in pithy catch-phrases such as, “faith is the
root, but works are the fruit” and “you are justified by faith alone, but not
by a faith that is alone”, etc.
You understand the distinction, yes? According to
their position you are justified by faith alone, a part from works, but
after, and only after you are justified you’ll necessarily produce good
works. Okay? So, let’s say you’re talking to a Lordship Salvationist and he
explains his position to you in like manner, so you ask him to show you a verse
that proves his position from Scripture, and he takes you to James chapter 2.
This confuses me, because what does James 2:24 say? “You see then that by
works, a man is justified, and not only by faith.”
Do you see a problem? You ask the Lordship
Salvationist to show you a verse that demonstrates that one is justified by
faith, but after that works will necessarily follow. Instead he takes you to a
verse that says man is justified by works and not by faith alone! This
verse directly contradicts Lordship Salvation, and yet it’s every Lordship proponent’s
go-to proof-text! Can someone please explain this to me?
The
Great Debate
Many times throughout the episode Dr. White referred
to his 2005 debate with Dr. Wilkin in haughty terms. He accused Dr. Wilkin of
behaving childishly, and, as he typically does, assumed himself the victor.
Seeing as Dr. White can hardly be considered an impartial observer of the
debate, seeing as he was a participant, what do people who weren’t in the
debate think?
According to Dr. Zane Hodges Dr. White seemed “unfocused”
and “upset”.[18] According
to one of Dr. White’s avid fans, “Again and again, I kept waiting for him to
nail Dr. Wilkin’s hide to the wall with solid exegesis and straightforward
argumentation. This did not happen as much as I felt it should. It appeared
that Dr. White failed to sufficiently prepare for this debate, merely picking a
couple of data-points and ‘winging it’ from there. Hardly indicative of the
quality of his past work and impressive reputation.”[19]
Another person says, “James White got flustered while Wilkin was confident and
cheerful.”[20] Though Dr.
White paints the debate as if he easily and obviously won hands-down, that
version is not so obvious to everyone who’s seen it, including myself.
In conclusion, Dr. James White devoted an episode of
The Dividing Line to reviewing a youtube video by Dr. Robert Wilkin. I appreciate
him doing so, because I appreciate discussion on this topic. Unfortunately Dr.
White displayed a shallow understanding of Free Grace. Having simply parroted
common straw man arguments it seems to me Dr. White has developed his
(mis)understanding of Free Grace from how it’s caricatured by Lordship
Salvationists, rather than from original sources. This is especially embarrassing
considering Dr. White’s reputation as a thoroughly prepared and well-researched
apologist. What a shame. I can only hope that when Dr. White addresses this
topic in the future, and we know he will, he’ll do a little more homework.
[1] Ibid. Pg.
37.
[2] Ibid. Pg.
37.
[3] Ibid. Pg.
40.
[4] Ibid. Pg.
42.
[5] Ibid. Pg.
38.
[6] Ibid. Pg.
38.
[7] Bob Wilkin. Confident
in Christ. Pg. 9.
[8] Ibid. Pg.
10.
[9] Chapter 10,
“Will the Real Christian Please Stand Up?”. Pg. 81-92.
[10] Secure
and Sure. Pg. 81.
[11] All Bible
quotations are taken from the World English Bible (WEB).
[12] Did I base
the name of my blog on a Lordship Salvation proof-text? OOPS!
[13] His
favorite catchphrase.
[14] Secure
and Sure. Pg. 125-126.
[15] Ibid. Pg.
125.
[16] Chapter 15:
“Testing First John”. Pg. 121-129.
[17] No, he
doesn’t.
[19] Ibid.
[20] http://www.christianforums.com/threads/james-white-vs-robert-wilkin-debate.1678293/
[1] John
MacArthur. The Gospel According to Jesus. Pg. 38.
[2] David Platt.
Follow Me. Pg. 24.
[3] Chapter 2,
“God’s Word: The Source of Assurance”. Pg. 23-28.
[4] Bob Wilkin. Secure
and Sure. Pg. 28.
[5] Chapter 4,
“Present Faith: The Basis of Assurance”. Pg. 37-42.
[6] Ibid. Pg.
37.
[2] Though,
oddly enough, not his salvation.
[3] The magazine
of GES.
[5] Grace in
Focus. November/December 2014. Pg. 11.
[6] Ibid. Pg.
11.
[7] Bob Wilkin. Secure
and Sure. Pg. 92.
