Commenting
on the eisegesis of the Gospel and Epistles of John by proponents of Eternal
Security, Dale Moody wrote that they:
. . . really
misinterpret the Johannine passages by reading them through the colored glasses
of tradition. The Johannine writings do have a great emphasis on God’s
preservation of those who abide in Christ, but one may cease to abide in
Christ. In their game of theological chess the trick question is often put: “can
a person be unborn?” John 3:3-8 is usually in mind. They would never say that a
friend who died “got unborn.” The trick question grew up by ignoring the plain
statement in 1 John 5:16 which teaches that it is possible for a Christian
brother to die a spiritual death. This is not a case like 1 Corinthians 11:30.
Death in 1 John 5:16 has the same meaning as in 3:14. It should be noted that
John 3:16 speaks of those who do not perish as those who continue to believe. The
Greek tense behind believeth is present linear, not past and punctiliar.
The next move is almost sure to be John 5:24,
which speaks of those who believe as passing from spiritual death to eternal
life so that they will not come into judgment, but again it must be pointed out
that 1 John 5:16 says one can pass from eternal life back into death (cf. 1 Jn.
5:11-13). They work with the false assumption
that the adjective “eternal” is an adverb as if it says the brother eternally has
life. It is the life that is eternal, no one’s possession of it. Eternal life
is the life of God in Christ the son of God, and this life is lost when one
departs from Christ (cf. Jn. 5:26). Eternal life is possible only in the Son of
God.
The third move is to John 6:37 where it is
said: “All that the Father gives me will come to me and him who comes to me I
will not cast out.” True! Those who come or keep on coming will not be cast
out, but Judas was given to Jesus by the Father, yet he became the son of
perdition (John 17:12). That is precisely the teaching of John 6. After the
threefold promise that he will at the last day raise up those given by the Father
(6:39, 40, 44), “many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with
him” (6:66). Simon Peter then speaks for those who did not go away, for to do
so would forfeit eternal life, and Judas is singled out as one among the Twelve
who was to go back into perdition (6:67-71). The whole of John 6 is built on
the model of the Israelites who got all the way to Kadesh-barnea and turned
back to perish in the wilderness. That is why there is the frequent reference
to murmuring against Christ (Jn 6:41, 43, 61; cf. 1 Cor. 10:10 based on Exod.
16:7, 8, 9, 12; Num. 14:27; 17:5, 10).
Eternal life
is the life of those who continue to follow Jesus. No one can retain eternal
life who turns away from Jesus. John 10:28 is frequently used as a security blanket by those who
ignore many of the New Testament warnings about going back or falling away, but
a literal translation of 10:27-28, all of the sentence, hardly needs
explanation, for it is a promise to those who continue to follow Jesus. Not for a moment do I doubt this literal translation: “My sheep keep on hearing my voice,
and I keep on knowing them, and they keep on following me: and I keep on giving
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them
out of my hand.” Some read the passage as if it says: “My sheep heard my voice,
and I knew them, and they followed me, and I gave to them eternal life.” The
verbs are present linear, indicating continuous action by the sheep and by the
Shepherd, not the punctiliar fallacy of the past tense.
Obviously, those who follow Jesus will not
perish, but what about those disciples who “drew back and no longer went about
with him?” The allegory on Jesus as the Vine and the Father as the Vinedresser in
John 15:1-11 answers that question: “Every branch of mine that bears no fruit,
he takes away . . . If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch
and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned”
(15:2, 6). Surely one will not appeal to some passage like 1 Corinthians 3:15
to prove the words in the Gospel of John mean nothing more than the loss of
reward by a saved person, yet that is just what is done to defend the dogmatic
theory of eternal security, which is never mentioned in the New Testament. It
would hardly make sense for Jesus to say he taught his disciples to keep them
from “falling away” (16:1) if it were not possible for them to fall away.
In the Letters of John the strong emphasis in
the Gospel of John on God’s preservation of believers who abide in Christ is
continued, but there is still the possibility of mortal sin (1 Jn. 5:16). 1
John 2:19 is also used as a security blanket to cover all cases that depart
from following Jesus and the Christian fellowship. It is often read as if it
says the antichrists “went out from us” because “they never were of us,” but
the Greek would also allow for the interpretation and translation that they “went
out from us because they were no longer of us.” In fact, that is the
interpretation A.T. Robertson gives to the passage. IT is true that one does
not continue in sin as long as the seed (sperma)
of God abides in him (1 Jn 3:9), but the words of Jesus must remain in him (cf.
Jn. 15:7) (The Letters of John, p.
111). (Dale Moody, The Word of Truth: A
Summary of Christian Doctrine Based on Biblical Revelation [Grand Rapids,
Mich.: Eerdmans, 1981], 356-57, emphasis in bold added)
With respect
to A.T. Robertson, here is his comments on 1
John 2:19:
From us (εξ ημων) --of us (εξ ημων). The same idiom, εξ and
the ablative case (ημων), but in
different senses to correspond with ἐξῆλθαν (they went out
from our membership) and ουκ ησαν (they were not of us in
spirit and life). For ex in the sense
of origin see John 17:15 , for εξ in the sense of likeness, John
17:14 . For if they had been of us (ει γαρ εξ
ημων ησαν). Condition of second class with ει and
imperfect tense (no aorist for ειμι). They would have continued (μεμενηκεισαν
αν). Past perfect of μενω,
to remain, without augment, with αν in
apodosis of second-class condition. With us (μεθ
ημων). In fellowship, for which see μετα in John
1:3 . They had lost the inner fellowship and then apparently voluntarily
broke the outward. But they went (αλλ).
Ellipsis of the verb ἐξῆλθαν above, a common habit (ellipse)
in John s Gospel ( 1:8 ; 9:3 ; 13:18 ; 15:25 ). That they might be made manifest (ινα
πανερωθωσιν). Purpose clause with ινα and
the first aorist passive subjunctive of πανεροω,
for which verb see John 21:1 ; Colossians 3:4 .
See 2 Corinthians 3:3 for the personal construction with οτι as here. They all are not (ουκ εισιν
παντε). Not just some, but all, as in 2 Corinthians 2:21 ; 2 Corinthians
3:5 . These antichrists are thus revealed in their true light.