Transcript

ANNOUNCER: What is meant by inheriting salvation in Hebrews 1 and is it the same as reaping eternal life in Galatians 6? How can eternal salvation be a present position and also a future reward? A couple of questions we’re going to tackle here on Grace in Focus. We are glad that you’re with us today, friend. Grace in Focus is a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Our website is faithalone.org and we would love for you to have our subscription-free magazine. It comes out six times per year. It is also called Grace in Focus. With great articles, full color, full-length magazine, yours free. The only thing you need to pay is postage if you live outside of the lower 48 United States. Otherwise it’s free, we want you to have it, get signed up today at faithalone.org. 

Now with today’s question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilkin and Sam Marr. 

SAM: All right, Bob. We’ve got another question from Hayden, we’re picking up where we left off last time. This question is in Hebrews. I believe he is asking about Hebrews 1:14 where it says, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?” And his question is, does inherit salvation there, Is it analogous to reaping eternal life or laying hold of eternal life, which could be dealing with eternal rewards rather than salvation? 

BOB: Okay. So let me give some background to the question because Hayden is asking an advanced question that not everyone would be aware of. In fact, most people, unless they’ve read a lot of Zane Hodges or read a lot of things written by Grace Evangelical Society, they may well not be familiar with this. 

There’s two types of references to eternal life in the New Testament. One is eternal life as a present possession, like John 3:16, “Whoever believes in Him should not perish, but has everlasting life.” John 6:47, “He who believes in Me has everlasting life.” John 5:24, “He who hears My word and believes in Me has everlasting life, shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” So everlasting life is the present possession of the believer. 

But there’s a handful of verses that speak of everlasting life as a possible future reward. Maybe you can look, Sam, at a couple of these. Look at Galatians chapter 6, verses 7 through 9. And that’s where we get the expression “reaping everlasting life” or eternal life that Hayden mentioned. 

SAM: Galatians 6:7 says, “Do not be deceived. God is not mocked for whatever a man sows that will he also reap.” Eight is, “For he who sows to his flesh, will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life.” 

BOB: And then verse 9? 

SAM: “And let us not grow weary while doing good for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

BOB: So according to verse 9, if a believer loses heart, we’re not going to reap everlasting life. And in order to reap everlasting life, we can’t grow weary, we’ve got to persevere. So this is not everlasting life as a present possession. This is everlasting life as a possible future reward. Zane Hodges in his discussion of this calls this “a full-orbed experience of everlasting life.” That is a full expression of this. 

There’s also, Hayden mentioned laying hold on eternal life. If you have your Bible there, Sam, look at 1 Timothy chapter 6. And in 1 Timothy 6, first Paul tells Timothy to lay hold on eternal life. And then he tells Timothy to charge rich believers with laying hold on eternal life and storing up a good foundation for the life to come. 

SAM: 1 Timothy 6 verse 12, he says, “Fight the good fight, lay hold on eternal life to which you are also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

BOB: So Timothy already had everlasting life. Laying hold on everlasting life is something different than having it. And by the way, if you go on a few verses later in 1 Timothy 6, he talks about challenging rich believers to lay hold on eternal life. What is that, is it around verse 18 or something like that? 

SAM: 18, “Let them do good that they may be rich in good works ready to give, willing to share.” 

BOB: Notice, does he say anything about lay hold on eternal life? 

SAM: “Storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life.”

BOB: So laying hold on eternal life is being rich in what, good works? And also that they’re laying hold on eternal life. Oh, and they’ve got a good foundation for the life to come? So clearly there are some passages that refer to it as a fullness of reward. Another one is Matthew 19:29, which is after the rich young ruler passage where the rich young ruler goes away sadly and Peter says, well, we’ve done all that, what is there for us? And I think it is in the Matthew 19:29 where he says, you’ll receive a thousand times as much in this life. 

SAM: Yeah, “Everyone who’s left houses or brothers or sisters or fathers or mother or wife or children or lands for My name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.” 

BOB: And inherit, that’s a future inheritance. Now coming back to Hebrews 1:14, he talks about the fact that angels are ministering spirits sent out for those who are about to inherit salvation. That’s normally understood to say that angels are for all Christians. That’s not, in my opinion, what it means. 

Paul Tanner in our commentary in the Grace New Testament Commentary argues that this is referring to the salvation which overcoming believers will receive. In other words, you will inherit a full experience. In fact, he thinks, and so does Zane Hodges, that 1:14 goes back to 1:9. Can you read Hebrews 1:9, comparing Jesus with his companions? SAM: “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness. Therefore God, your God has anointed you with the oil of gladness more than your companions.”

BOB: So Jesus is the one who is anointed with the oil of gladness in the greatest extent. But His companions are also going to be anointed with this oil of gladness. And in fact, the word “companions” is the Greek word metachoi. And it occurs throughout Hebrews to refer to those who will co-rule with Christ. 

So I think in answer to Hayden’s question, those who will inherit salvation, in my estimation, does refer to those who will lay hold on the eternal life. It does refer to those who will reap eternal life. But it’s not equivalent to John 3:16 or any evangelistic passage. 

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SAM: We have another question from Hayden, sort of a statement, sort of a question. He says, I feel quite alone in the faith when I consider how few people believe in Jesus for everlasting life, which can never be lost. How should I rightly view this situation? And now, I mean, I just from my experience, it’s kind of disheartening sometimes to look at churches I’ve been to, people I’ve been with and realize a lot of these people don’t have assurance. They don’t understand the clarity of the gospel. 

BOB: Hayden is describing what it’s like to suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ. A lot of people think wrongly that we have no opportunity to suffer for Christ because nobody’s throwing us in prison and nobody’s killing us, at least they are if you’re in Nigeria, They are if you’re in certain countries. But if you’re in the United States or Australia, probably nobody is overtly attacking you for your Christian faith. But to be isolated like this and to be cut off from not only all of the unbelievers that are in your country, but now you’re also cut off from all the professing Christians that are in your country so that it’s a very small group of people who hold to what we call the focused free grace position. 

In my estimation, that is suffering for Jesus, that is something which is rewardable because I get emails a lot and calls and letters from people around the world who feel like there is no church within a hundred miles of them that’s clear. Sometimes no church within more than a hundred miles and I urge them to start their own church and that’s I think ultimately where we’re going to need to go with this, but it’s a tough slog because even within people who name the name of Jesus, most of them hold to works salvation or lordship salvation. 

And so when you present them with the idea that it’s simply by faith in Christ, apart from repentance, apart from commitment, apart from perseverance or obedience, it’s just the moment you believe in Jesus, you’re secure forever and failure is possible in the Christian life and that the Bible has a lot to say about eternal rewards and accountability, it makes you rather unpopular and you’re like Tom Hanks in Castaway.

You really have a restricted group and I personally feel that to some extent. I mean, I’m blessed to be here where I work with people who hold to the grace position. I’m in a church with Philippe Sterling, where we’re that way. We just got a new couple and the couple left a church over these issues because they talked to the pastor and the pastor basically invited them to leave because they didn’t hold to the five points of Calvinism and they didn’t hold to the points that what he was saying and so he didn’t want them there. And that’s a sad thing. I’m glad they’re now with us and they’re glad they’re with us. But that’s suffering for Jesus. 

And so Hayden, this is an opportunity for you to realize that isolation you feel is something rewardable. Remember in 2 Peter 2, it’s around verse 7, Peter talks about the fact that Lot’s righteous soul was tormented night and day with the wickedness around him?Ttalk about being a Castaway. There were only a few righteous people in all of Sodom. He, his wife, and his two daughters and that was it when it came time to rescue, those were the only four rescued and the wife ended up turning back. So we might say we don’t even know if she was righteous. 

So the whole thing, I guess what I’m saying is I feel for you Hayden, but evangelize people around you, disciple people around you, start your own home church, get four people, six people, eight people. And keep that church going and you guys will encourage one another and this is, I think what we’re going to see if we want to see a worldwide movement of clarity and evangelism and discipleship, we need to plant a lot of small home churches of 8, 10, 15, 20 people. Not shooting for big buildings and big budgets. 

Anyway, think about it, pray about it, but thank you Hayden for all your questions and I encourage all of you to send in your questions to radio@faitholone.org and keep them simple because we love simple questions and in the meantime, let’s keep grace in focus. 

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Now friend, we’re delighted that you’ve joined us all this week and now we want to wish you a very pleasant weekend and we’re hoping you’ll come back next week and join us again. And in the meantime, let’s keep grace in focus.