Thinking on Scripture with Dr. Steven R. Cook Dr. Steven R. Cook

The Content of Saving Faith
     Eternal salvation has always been by grace alone through faith alone; however, the content of faith (i.e., what is believed), has changed throughout the ages. According to Arnold Fruchtenbaum, “Indeed, there always was, always is, and always will be only one means of salvation: by grace through faith.”[1] Though grace and faith are constants, the content of faith has changed over time, depending on what God revealed to each person or generation, as divine revelation came in stages. William MacDonald sates, “From Adam to Christ, God saved those who put their faith in Him on the basis of whatever revelation He gave them. Abraham, for example, believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness (Gen 15:6).”[2] According to Norman Geisler, “the revealed content of the gospel varied from age to age in the progress of revelation.”[3] Charles Ryrie notes, “The basis of salvation is always the death of Christ; the means is always faith; the object is always God (though man’s understanding of God before and after the Incarnation is obviously different); but the content of faith depends on the particular revelation God was pleased to give at a certain time.”[4] Thomas Constable adds, “The basis of salvation is always the death of Christ. No one is saved except by what He accomplished at Calvary. The requirement for salvation is always faith. It is never works. The object of faith is always the Person of God. The content of faith is always a promise from God.”[5] The following examples demonstrate that the content of faith has changed over time.
     First, after the historic fall of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:1-7), the content of saving faith was God’s promise of an offspring of Eve who would crush the head of the serpent. In the presence of Adam and Eve, God told Satan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel” (Gen 3:15). This is commonly regarded as the protoevangelium; that is, the first gospel message. The crushing of Satan’s head—a fatal blow—was accomplished by the Lord Jesus at the cross where He triumphed over sin and death. How much Adam and Eve understood about this prophecy is not known. However, it is assumed they trusted God at His word concerning the future offspring that would crush the serpent’s head. Shortly after giving the promises, God killed an animal, which meant shedding its blood,  and made clothes from its hide and gave it to them to wear (Gen 3:21). Arnold Fruchtenbaum notes, “The covering of animal skins, which required the shedding of blood to give them the atonement, replaced the covering of fig leaves. Then the verse states: and clothed them. Physically, He clothed their nakedness, but spiritually, He also covered their sin by making for them their atonement.”[6] And according to Charles Ryrie, “When Adam looked upon the coats of skins with which God had clothed him and his wife, he did not see what the believer today sees looking back on the cross of Calvary.”[7]We should not assume that Adam and Eve understood the death, burial, and resurrection of Messiah. What they understood was God’s promise of a future offspring who would crush the serpent, and then they witnessed God killing an animal, taking its skin, and making clothing for them. When they believed God’s promise and accepted His provision, it resulted in their salvation.
     Second, in the book of Genesis we have the record of Abraham’s salvation. Moses wrote that Abraham “believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness” (Gen 15:6). The content of Abraham’s faith was the promise of God concerning the Abrahamic covenant (Gen 12:1-3), especially as it related to God giving him a biological descendant (Gen 15:1-6). Abraham accepted God’s promise as true and reliable, which meant he trusted in God Himself. And when Abraha

The Terms of Salvation
     God requires that certain information be received and believed before He saves someone. This means saving faith requires content. From the divine side, God has done several things to bring about our salvation. From eternity past it was planned by God the Father (Eph 1:4; 2 Tim 1:9; 1 John 4:9-10, 14), executed in time by God the Son (John 3:16; Mark 10:45; Luke 19:10), and applied to those who believe by God the Holy Spirit (John 3:6; 1 Cor 12:13; Gal 3:27; Tit 3:5; 1 Pet 1:3). It was necessary that God the Son come into the world in hypostatic union, as undiminished deity and perfect humanity (John 1:1, 14; Col 2:9; Heb 1:8; 10:5; 1 Pet 2:24), be born of a virgin (Isa 7:14; Luke 1:30-35), live a sinless life (2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22; 1 John 3:5), willingly go to the cross (Isa 53:10; John 10:11, 17-18), die a penal substitutionary atoning death on behalf of all humanity (Rom 5:8; 1 Cor 15:3-4; Heb 2:9; 10:10-14; 1 John 2:2), and be buried and resurrected on the third day (Matt 16:21; Rom 6:9; 1 Cor 15:3-4; 12-20). This was done to satisfy God’s righteousness and justice regarding our sin (Rom 3:25; 1 John 2:2), and to display His love for us as lost sinners for whom Christ died (John 3:16; Rom 5:8). This was necessary because we are totally corrupted by sin and helpless to save ourselves (1 Ki 8:46; Eccl 7:20; Isa 59:2; 64:6; Rom 3:10, 23; 5:12; Eph 2:1-2; Jam 1:14-15), and if God had not acted in love (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9-10), we would all be damned forever to the lake of fire (Rev 20:15).
     God, who is infinitely loving, good, and gracious, offers us salvation freely, as a gift (Rom 3:24; 6:23), by grace (Eph 2:8-9), and conditions it on faith alone in Christ alone (John 14:6; Acts 4:12), and “not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:9; cf., Rom 11:6). According to Lewis Chafer, “salvation in all its limitless magnitude is secured, so far as human responsibility is concerned, by believing on Christ as Savior. To this one requirement no other obligation may be added without violence to the Scriptures and total disruption of the essential doctrine of salvation by grace alone.”[1] Charles Ryrie adds:
"More than 200 times in the New Testament, salvation is said to be conditioned solely on the basis of faith—faith that has as its object the Lord Jesus who died as our substitute for sin (John 3:16; Acts 16:31). Salvation is a free gift; therefore, any statement of the terms must carefully avoid implying that we give God something. He gives it all; we receive that gift through faith (John 1:12)."[2]
John Walvoord states:
"The terms of salvation are limited to faith in Christ because of the inadequacy and insufficiency of any other approach. Salvation is pictured therefore as a gift (Rom 6:23), as obtained by those “dead through … trespasses and sins” (Eph 2:1). Salvation is therefore not a work of man for God or a work of God assisted by man, but rather a work of divine salvation effective on those who are willing to receive Jesus Christ as Savior."[3]
J. Dwight Pentecost states:
"The gospel is characterized by its simplicity. When the Apostle Paul declared the terms of salvation to the Philippian jailer, he said “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved …” (Acts 16:31). The Apostle Peter, speaking concerning salvation, declared, “… there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12)—none other but the name of Jesus. Sinners, confronted with their need of salvation, frequently stumble over the very simplicity of the salvation which God offers. Since Satan cannot take away anything from the conditions of salvation or the plan of salvation—for God has already reduced it to an irreducible minimum—if Satan is to confound the minds of the sinners he must do so by addition, not subtraction. If conditions were placed by God to salvation, Satan might take away those conditions s

Unlimited atonement is the view from Scripture that Jesus died for everyone, and even though His death is sufficient to save everyone, the benefits of the cross are applied only to those who believe in Him as Savior. In contrast to this is the teaching of limited atonement, that Christ died only for those whom God has elected to salvation. Though there are Christians who hold to limited atonement, and have written well on other theological matters, it is the view of this writer that they err on this subject, relying more on human logic than the testimony of Scripture. Arnold Fruchtenbaum states, “Those who hold to limited atonement do not come to their conclusion based upon the exegesis of Scripture because the fact is that there is no passage anywhere in the Bible that says He died only for the elect…The defense for limited atonement is not based upon exegesis; it is based upon logic.”[1] According to David Allen:
"Limited atonement is a doctrine in search of a text. No one can point to any text in Scripture that states clearly and unequivocally that Christ died for the sins of a limited number of people to the exclusion of others. Most Calvinists admit this. Alternatively, a dozen clear texts in the New Testament explicitly affirm Christ died for the sins of all people, and another half dozen plus that indirectly suggest it."[2]
     Jesus’ atonement for sins is the basis for reconciliation, because God has judged our sins in the Person of Christ who died on the cross in our place. Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29), and “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4), and “who gave Himself as a ransom for all” (1 Tim 2:6), and tasted “death for everyone” (Heb 2:9), and “is the Savior of all men, especially of believers” (1 Tim 4:10), “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men” (Tit 2:11), and “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world” (1 John 2:2; cf., 1 John 4:10), and “the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14). Peter wrote of “false prophets” and “false teachers” who “deny the Master who bought them” (2 Pet 2:1).
     Because Christ died for everyone, everyone is savable. But though the death of Christ is sufficient to save everyone, only those who believe will benefit from His work on the cross. And when people believe in Jesus, accepting the fact the He died for their sins, was buried, and raised again on the third day, they receive forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43; Eph 1:7), the gift of righteousness (Rom 5:17; 2 Cor 5:21; Phil 3:9), and the eternal life (John 3:16; 10:28). Human volition is the key, as “God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent” (Acts 17:30). This means they must not trust in themselves or any system of good works to save, but trust in Christ alone to save.
     Biblically, we should understand that Jesus is the God-Man (Isa 7:14; John 1:1, 14; Heb 1:8), that “in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Col 2:9). Furthermore, He was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary (Isa 7:14; Luke 1:30-35; Gal 4:4), was born without the taint of sin and lived a sinless life (2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22; 1 John 3:5), which qualified Him to go to the cross and pay the ransom price for our sins by means of His shed blood (Mark 10:45; 1 Tim 2:6; 1 Pet 1:18-19). When the divinely appointed time came for Him to go to the cross (John 12:23; 13:1), Jesus willingly went and died in our place and paid the penalty for our sins (John 10:18; Rom 5:8). Peter wrote, “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God” (1 Pet 3:18). After Jesus paid for our sins, “He said, ‘It is finished!’ And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit” (John 19:30). Jes

As a Christian, it is possible to have correct thinking (orthodoxy) and not live by it. James wrote, “To one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin” (Jam 4:17). There are times when believers know God’s Word, but because of negative volition, do not apply it.

     Total depravity is the biblical doctrine that sin permeates all aspects of our being—mind, will, and sensibilities, and renders us helpless to save ourselves. It does not mean we are as bad as we can be, for there are many moral unbelievers in the world. Being contaminated by sin means whatever morality we produce can never measure up to the perfect righteousness God expects. Is there any person who can say, “I have cleansed my heart, I am pure from my sin?” (Prov 20:9). The answer is an emphatic No! The human heart is corrupt, for “the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick” (Jer 17:9). And “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins” (Eccl 7:20), and “There is none righteous; not even one. There is none who understands; there is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become useless. There is none who does good, there is not even one” (Rom 3:10-12; cf. Rom 8:8). Some might argue that we can perform good works and help to save ourselves. This is wrong. Scripture states, “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God” (Isa 59:2), “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away” (Isa 64:6). Salvation does not come by human works; rather, we are “justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (Rom 3:28), and salvation comes “to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly” (Rom 4:5), and we are “not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified” (Gal 2:16), “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9), and God “has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity” (2 Tim 1:9), and “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (Tit 3:5). By human standards, even the worst person can do some good. But human estimation is lower than God’s estimation and it is God’s standards that define what is truly good. According to Charles Ryrie, “Total depravity must always be measured against God’s holiness. Relative goodness exists in people. They can do good works, which are appreciated by others. But nothing that anyone can do will gain salvational merit or favor in the sight of a holy God.”[1]
Calvinist View of Total Depravity
     For Calvinists, total depravity means total inability. They regard people as totally unable to respond to the things of God; like a physical corpse. Notable scholars such as B. B. Warfield, R. C. Sproul, John Piper, Wayne Grudem, John Frame, John MacArthur, and J. I. Packer hold this view. B. B. Warfield wrote, “nothing is more fundamental in the doctrine of the Reformers than the complete inability of man and his absolute need of divine grace.”[2] John Frame states, “We can never come to God out of our own resources. We are helpless to do anything to save ourselves. This condition is sometimes called total inability” (italics his).[3] J. I. Packer states, “Total depravity entails total inability, that is, the state of not having it in oneself to respond to God and his Word in a sincere and wholehearted way (John 6:44; Rom 8:7–8).”[4] That is, lost sinners cannot respond to God at all, as they are spiritually unable (dead) to respond apart from God’s granting life and the ability to believe.

     Our salvation is necessary because of the problem of sin. The word sin is found throughout Scripture, and both the Hebrew and Greek share the same basic meaning. The Hebrew word chata (חָטָא) means “to miss the target, or to lose the way,”[1] and the Greek word hamartanō (ἁμαρτάνω) is defined as “miss the mark, err, or do wrong.”[2] In Judges 20:16 the Hebrew word is used of skilled soldiers who do not miss their target, and in Proverbs 19:2 of a man who hurries and misses his way.[3] Sin is when we transgress God’s law and depart from His intended path.[4] The apostle John states, “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). Sin is a failure to conform to the holy character of God, a deviation from His righteous will.
     Divine laws are a reflection of the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God may be defined as the intrinsic, immutable, moral perfection of God, from which He commands all things, in heaven and earth, and declares as good that which conforms to His righteousness and as evil that which deviates. God’s character is the basis upon which all just laws derive; either divine laws from God Himself or human laws which conform to His righteousness.[5] Merrill F. Unger states:
"The underlying idea of sin is that of law and of a lawgiver. The lawgiver is God. Hence sin is everything in the disposition and purpose and conduct of God’s moral creatures that is contrary to the expressed will of God (Rom 3:20; 4:15; 7:7; Jam 4:12, 17). The sinfulness of sin lies in the fact that it is against God, even when the wrong we do is to others or ourselves (Gen 39:9; Psa 51:4)."[6]
Robert B. Thieme Jr. states:
"Man’s sin is disobedience to, or falling away from, God’s perfect standard and expressed will. Regardless of the sinner’s action or intent, all sin is ultimately directed against God (Gen 39:9; Psa 51:4). The temptation for sin comes from the sin nature, but only when volition consents is the sin committed. Knowingly or unknowingly, man transgresses divine standards because he wills to do so."[7]
The First Sin
     God is sovereign and permits sin, but is never the author of it. Sin is the expression of a creaturely will that is set against God. The first sin occurred in heaven, by Lucifer, an angel of the class of cherubim.  Scripture reveals that Lucifer “had the seal of perfection, and was full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (Ezek 28:12). Lucifer personally served in the presence of God (Ezek 28:13-14), until he sinned. God said of him, “You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you” (Ezek 28:15). Being the first creature to fall away from God, his sin was purely volitional and self-actuated, as there was no temptation or sin apart from the first sin he committed. And the first sin he committed was a mental attitude sin, as God says of him, “You were internally filled with violence, and you sinned” (Ezek 28:16). Satan’s violence was connected with his pride, as the Lord states, “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor” (Ezek 28:17). Satan is brilliant in mind and appearance, but his pride is his weakness, as it corrupts his ability to reason. And Satan, having an inflated sense of himself, thought he could be God, and sought to usurp the Lord’s place over the creation (Isa 14:12-14). Satan also convinced a third of the angels to follow him in his rebellion (Rev 12:4, 7). Satan operates from a base of power, which takes priority over all else. And he will employ reason to the degree that it accommodates his power; however, if his power is threatened, he will abandon reason and resort to lies, manipulation, and brute force if needed.
The Fall of Humanity
     Satan’s kingdom of darkness was expanded to include the earth when he persuaded Adam and Eve to follow him rathe