Who Will Be Saved?: Defending the Biblical Understanding of God, Salvation, and Evangelism

by Paul R. House (Editor), R. Douglas Geivett (Contributor)

Of the many doctrinal challenges facing the church today, the most critical may be opposition to the traditional, biblical view of God and the doctrine of salvation. For centuries Christians agreed that God is sovereign, that He does not change, that He is both kind and all-powerful. Yet in recent decades process theologians have regularly depicted God as a constantly evolving deity, and postmodernists have defined Him in diverse, even contradictory ways. A number of scholars--some with evangelical roots or affiliations--have even gone so far as to claim that salvation may come through other religions and not exclusively through a conscious personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Given these internal and external challenges, evangelical Christianity must reassert the inerrant, biblical definition of God and the doctrine of salvation, and do so in a way that is convincing in our postmodern setting. That is the goal of Who Will Be Saved?

Some of the most significant figures in evangelical theology--including Carl F.H. Henry, D. A. Carson, and R. Albert Mohler--explore the traditional view of salvation through a contemporary lens, beginning with the doctrine of God as the author of salvation. They then move on to the pressing matters confronting Christians today--the exclusivity of Christianity, the work of the church, our evangelism strategies--that are driven by one's conclusions about the doctrine of God. The biblical response to inclusivist perspectives presented here will empower Christians to faithfully and convincingly continue declaring the gospel message in these postmodern times.

240 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2000

About the author

Paul R. House teaches at Beeson Divinity School of Samford University (Birmingham, Alabama). An Old Testament scholar, he has taught previously at Taylor University, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Wheaton College.

Reviews

[Steven H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A CRITICAL SERIES OF ESSAYS AND DISLOGUES ABOUT INCLUSIVISM, UNIVERSALISM OPEN THEISM

The editors/authors of this 2000 book state in the Preface, "today's church faces doctrinal challenges from a variety of places on a variety of issues... This book seeks to address these challenges by examining the biblical definition of God, salvation, and the Gospel and its propagation." The book includes eleven essays (including a "Dialogue on inclusivism" with Clark Pinnock, and a "Forum Discussion on Inclusivism" including Carl F. Henry) on the topics, "Who Saves?"; "Who Will be Saved?" and "How Shall the Lost Hear the Gospel?"

One of the authors states, "inclusivist methodology sometimes includes emotional arguments that have little or no evidential basis. For instance, in this section Clark Pinnock asks why Doug Geivett cannot be more open to the possibility of more persons being saved. Of course, this question is not an argument. It is a less-than-subtle attempt to make those who disagree with inclusivism appear small-minded... The issue is not who loves people more; the issue is whose interpretation of Scripture is most accurate." (Pg. 78)

One essayist states, "Another problem with the doctrine of universalism is that it ignores the Bible's emphasis on the decisive nature of this life's decision... There is not suggestion of a 'second chance,' much less of a successful one, in [Gal 6:7, 2 Cor 5:10, Mt 25:46, Lk 16:26, Heb 9:27]. Eternal destinies are decided in this life. The doctrine also undercuts the significance of real moral choices in this life... Finally, if everyone will eventually attain salvation, then there is no motivation to preach the Gospel or to pray for the conversion of those who do not yet know Christ." (Pg. 96-97)

Pinnock admits, "It would be nice to be able to be more precise in explaining how a saving yet non-Christian faith works... I wish we knew more about it than we do. Nevertheless, the fact remains that Scripture supports the position that it is possible (however it may be possible) to have faith on the basis of an uncertain amount of revelational information... If something is actual, it must be possible. We do not have to know how it works in order to acknowledge it." (Pg. 124)

A Forum participant says, "This does not mean, of course, that there is no value or truth in non-Christian religions, but rather that such systems are unable to lead anyone to salvation---because of their own falsity as well as human fallenness." (Pg. 147)

Another essayist concludes, "This volume has demonstrated that doctrinal compromise marks virtually every area of the current evangelical theological landscape, from the de-emphasis of the classical understanding of the doctrine of God to current missiological practice... the reorientation of the doctrines of God and anthropology in recent evangelical scholarship has paved the way for the now infamous Openness of God movement as well as other 'post-conservative' forms of evangelical theology... the evangelical church needs a reaffirmation of the traditional thesis concerning the doctrine of salvation, as well as a new emphasis on the biblical portrait of God and his relationship with human beings." (Pg. 209)

This volume will be helpful to all evangelicals struggling with the "new" doctrines being currently discussed.