Customer Reviews

The Race Set Before Us: A Biblical Theology of Perseverance & Assurance

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This work attempts to address, as the sub-title indicates, the Scripture's teaching on perseverance and assurance. In doing this, it responds to four current positions: 1) the loss-of-salvation view, 2) loss-of-rewards view, 3) tests-of genuineness view, and 4) hypothetical-loss-of-salvation view. A major focus of the book is the examination of key, so-called "warning passages" found in the New Testament. Although, in the end, the book traces through many elements of biblical theology and presents a full-orbed view of our salvation.

In the midst of these various interpretations, Schreiner and Caneday set out to demonstrate the true function of the warning passages found in Scripture. They seek to accomplish this through an exegesis of the text that is not conducted through the lens of a theological system. In the end, the authors believe that warnings found in Scripture serve as God's means of preserving those whom He has chosen for salvation and predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son (cf. Rom 8:29-39). Schreiner and Caneday successfully argue that it is God who gives us the faith to believe and that it is God who sustains us through the Christian life. And yet we are exhorted to live in a godly manner, imitating Christ. God challenges us to this through the warning passages.

Against some of their critics, Schreiner and Caneday DO NOT advocate a works salvation. They do in fact hold to a salvation, through grace, by faith alone. This is obvious from their Reformed (and I believe correct) reading of the Scriptures. Being faithful to the biblical text, the authors also believe that Christians are called to live holy lives (While Paul calls the sinning Corinthians "saints" he also spends two letters - possibly four - exhorting them to godliness). While some dismiss justification as not having any future aspect, they fail to properly understand justification altogether. Justification is part of Paul's (and the rest of the New Testament writer's) understanding of the already/not yet tension - the kingdom of God has come, but is not yet consummated (see below). This tension runs through the whole of the New Testament and is crucial for understanding it. In regards to justification per se, the justification that we now enjoy is in fact God's future declaration brought into the present. At the end, believers will be declared "justified" (a legal term) before the throne of God and enjoy entrance into the kingdom of God.

Schreiner and Caneday have produced an excellent, scholarly and pastorally-encouraging book on the subject of biblical perseverance and assurance. It is a book that deals honestly with the text and does it justice with its interpretation. It is a book that allows the believer to be both exhorted to holy living by the words of Scripture and take comfort that God has His children in His protective grip throughout the race set before them.

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Already/Not yet - The "already/not yet" tension is best described as the tension that exists between the overlap of two ages of salvation; the future has "already" invaded this age (Matt 12:25), but is still "not yet" fully realized (Matt 6:10). In the Old Testament, the coming of Messiah was seen as the beginning of the Age to Come (Isa 29; 35). In the New Testament, we see the Age to Come is preempted by a period of the already/not yet (Rom 8). There is a sense in which the future is here, and yet it is not yet fully realized - there is an overlap of the ages. Understanding the already/ not yet tension also affects the way we understand the doctrine of justification. Justification is a primarily the legal aspect of an individual's salvation. It is the declaration of God that the person is righteous. This is the verdict of the future judgment of the individual that has come into the present. Yet there is tension here. While the individual is declared righteous, the NT anticipates that believers will sin and they do. Believers are declared righteous but still live in this present age of already/ not yet tension where sin has not been finally dealt with. Thus, believers have not had the stain of the Fall completely wiped away from their lives. Although we are already a new creature (2 Cor 3), we have note yet arrived at what we will ultimately be (Heb 10). God is presently making us holy (John 17). In the already/not yet tension, we are living between the ages. We have already died to sin, but have not yet had the sin destroyed from our bodies. We still have to fight the world, sin, and temptation (1 John 2). When Christ comes to retrieve His bride, the process will be completed and we will be perfectly sanctified (1 Thess 5).

I will agree that I was pretty harsh and hasty with my previous review and I apologize to the authors for writing that review without careful consideration of their arguments (hence, my revised review). After reading this book over and over again I have come to the conclusion that the authors do an admirable job staying true to the text without letting dogmatic presuppositions guide their exegesis. Even though the approach of the authors may make many Reformed people uncomfortable Schreiner and Caneday do a remarkable job staying true to the text. Their discussion of the other four views of warning passages (loss-of-salvation, loss-of-rewards, tests-of-genuineness, and hypothetical view) in chapter 1 is decent and fair. In chapter 2, their description of salvation using five metaphors (deliverance, renewal, family, cultic, and legal) is thought-provoking and fully captures the various dimensions of eternal life (e.g., salvation is both a present and future reality). Chapter 3 deals with the nature of saving faith. The authors do a good job explaining the Christological nature of true faith and how this faith produces obedience and perseverance. In fact, I found their discussion of true faith encouraging since they do a good job showing how God-given faith overcomes the most difficult situations in life (something that we need to hear often). Chapter 4 is a major part of their book and is highly exegetical and biblical in nature. I found their explanations of the common warning passages (e.g., Matt 10:22 [24:13]; Mark 13:13; some Pauline passages; Heb 3:1-4:13, 6:4-8, 10:19-39) quite convincing and they do not resort to dogmatic reductionism (like saying that the warning passages address false Christians rather than true Christians). However, their explanations of Rom 2:6-16 and 1 Cor 9:27 may find no supporters among those who hold to "faith alone"--which is understandable. In general, though, I found their exegesis and explanations of the warning passages in this chapter to be quite faithful to the text. Chapter 5 deals with fallen runners. They discuss Israel's apostasy as an example for modern Christians to heed (a discussion which I found very good), biblical examples of apostasy (like Alexander, Hymenaeus, Philetus, and Demas), and the different responses of Judas and Peter. Like good Calvinists, they argue that apostates apostasize because they were never spiritually drawn by God in the first place (and those who do persevere do so because of God's grace). Chapter 6 deals with how believers persevere in the midst of obstacles and tribulations. Going through various passages (in Peter's, John's, Jude's, and Paul's writings) they argue that those who fail to persevere will not be saved, but those who do persevere do so by God's grace. Chapter 7 deals with assurance. The authors do a good job showing how God's promises is the primary factor in giving believers assurance (while the fruit of the Spirit and the witness of the Spirit also strengthen our assurance--without all the unhealthy introspection attached to it). However, many strict Reformed evangelicals will have problems with some of the conclusions reached by the authors (e.g., "...righteous living is necessary to obtain entrance into the kingdom of Jesus Christ," p. 290; and their explanations of 2 Peter 1:5-11 and James 2:24). The last chapter (8), deals with God's sovereignty and man's responsibility in the Christian race. I found their section of perseverance and election (pp. 318-330) to be one of the best defenses of Calvinism I've read (also pp. 135-139). The authors argue that perseverance and election do not contradict each other, but that our election is the cause of our perseverance.

Having said all that about the book, there are some shortcomings. The authors give very little attention to how justification by faith alone (and Christ's righteousness) play a role in their system of salvation. When it comes to the discussion of faith they try to equate "faith alone" with "faithfulness" or obedience (pp. 95-98). Also, in regards to how one becomes forensically righteous before God they remain vague and ambigious (they discuss this theme only in pages 75-79). In addition, major parts of their discussion on this topic deal with the transformational, relational, and renewal aspects of our salvation with scant attention given to the forensic aspect (pp. 48-71). In fact, all they state is that "rightousness is fundamentally forensic" (p. 78). Is this Christ's perfect righteousness or our "faith" rightousness? How does this initial forensic righteousness in Christ fit in with their view of the necessity of personal obedience for future justification (in fact, the authors say things that seem to contradict the typical Protestant view of justification on pages 164-167)? This lack of an indepth discussion of how their view of "present" and "future" justification ties in with Christ's obedience and imputation is a major weakness of the book. However, I would highly recommend this book because it is a very stimulating and thought-provoking discussion on the subject of perseverance.

Most of us have our own explanation of why the New Testament promises us that God holds us secure in his hands, but also threatens us with his punishment if we turn away.

We also have our views on why the New Testament teaches salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, yet also tells us that God will judge everyone's works, and that without holiness no one will see him.

In this helpful book, Caneday and Schreiner examine 4 popular theories, while also proposing a fifth. Schreiner is a disciple of John Piper: if you have read his books, especially Future Grace, you will already know the explanation the book presents.

What I like about this book is that it makes sense of the whole NT and does not try to view its message through a narrow lens. The writers have done a great job of making sense of the promises *and* warnings we find in the NT.

... they are faithful to Reformed theology, while still making sense of NT teaching on doing good works.

This is an encouraging book which will stimulate all God's children to persevere and keep running the race to the very end, knowing that they do so because it is God who is energising them.

After hearing that this book was essentially the book to read concerning the doctrine of final perseverence, I was excited to read this book and hoped to be intellectually stimulated by their arguments even though I, as a Catholic, don't see eye-to-eye with their viewpoint. There were several strong points to their arguments, but ultimately those were concerning points which I was already in agreement with the authors.

To start, I thought the authors made excellent points with the irenic tone of the book, the necessity of enduring faith and obedience. This is a topic in which polemics frequently get very nasty, very quickly and the book wisely avoided this route and sought to go for the hard biblical evidence. Secondly, they did a good job of debunking the major planks of the "free grace" position (only a single act of faith secures salvation forever, sans obedience love and even continuing belief). Its nice to see Protestants affirm the fact that Jesus wasn't kidding when he told the rich young man he had to obey the commandments to inherit eternal life or that people have to "endure to the end" to be saved.

Moreover, I thought the authors did an excellent job of pointing out that salvation in the New Testament is primarily an escahtological event rather than a one-time occurance.

So why the 3 star review?

Basically, if you wanted to be convinced of the truth of the Calvinist doctrine of perseverence than this is probably not the book for you. The authors spend most of their time debunking the "free grace" position than actually proving the case for eternal security. Consequently, their reading of Romans 8:29-39 and John 6 & 10 go basically unchallenged when there are perfectly logical explanations for each text.

In addition, the main framework with which they view salvation (the already/not-yet tension in soteriology in the NT) is primarily viewed in contrast to the free grace position. The authors don't show how their view of the tension contrasts with those who deny Perseverence of the Saints, but still agree that such a tension exists. Frankly, I cannot see how they find any "not-yet" in their tension when all that falls in that category inevitably will happen. This leads the authors to numerous vacillations between the trying to keep the unconditional election unconditional and the contional perseverence conditional. It ultimately leads them to make the conditional perseverence clauses subservient to the unconditional promises (something the authors repeatedly condemn Arminians and "free grace" theologians for).

The use of warning and admonition texts was also extremely selective, as one reviewer noted. This becomes painfully obvious when the author, while pointing to the enduring nature of the faith in Hebrews 11, fails to note the faith that failed to endure to the end, that of Israel (hebrews 11:29). This also colors their view of the NT texts that speak of Israel's apostasy.

Finally, there is a problem with this book that invariably follows any attempt to focus on one of the 5 points independent of the other 5. Since they are so logically tight, the points don't make much sense outside the other 5. But since the authors are conentrating on the fifth point, the authors have to assume a lot of things with out properly establishing them or answering counter arguments (i.e. calvinist predestination, limited atonement and the penal substitution theory).

As a brief side note, the anti-sacramental leanings so color their view of the Scriptures that they make incredible gaffes in scholarship. After quoting John 3:5-6 they say it is obvious that people cannot see the kingdom of God without being born by the Spirit (*slaps forehead*).

While it is well written and interesting. Ultimately the vacillating back and forth with "already/not-yet" falls on its face when they discuss election. However, it is still an interesting book and is well worth the money no matter what view you hold. Another interesting thing that will certainly cause more controversy with Protestants in the future is their view of good works. While they affirm that faith is the only thing that can make us right with God, they also say that good works are necessary for inheriting the kingdom of God. The authors maintain there is no contradiction, but don't attempt to deal with this in detail. This leaves me interested to read more of what they have to say about justification.

I consider this book to be a valuable piece of Biblical scholarship. Whatever one's theological position is on eternal security they should take the time to digest what these two authors present, for Proverbs 18:17 says, "The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him." (NIV) For what specific reasons do I deem this book 5-stars?

1. The tone is irenic. 2. Chapter one: Their goal is to present the four dominant views that people hold concerning eternal security in a manner that does justice to such positions. They present the positions objectively. I believe they succeed in doing this. Misrepresentation is not an attribute of this book. They present a fifth view in this chapter also which they explore throughout the remainder of the book. 3. The book interacts extensively with other positions. Therefore, the reader gains quite an insight into the other paradigm's thinking without reading all the various books. 4. I think the authors rightly focus on the "already not yet" aspects of salvation. 5. I think their doctrine of perseverance and assurance is an accurate representation of what Scripture teaches as a whole. 6. It is clearly written.

I highly recommend this book. As a result of thinking through perseverance and warning, I struggle with how the doctrine of justification and perseverance correlate- how condemnation can be possible for those who have an imputed alien righteousness (1 Corinthians 11:32)? The authors do interact with this to some degree, but more could have been said. I wouldn't call this a complaint, but a desire. Justification is not the main focus of this book.

Schreiner and Caneday make their contribution here to the questions surrounding the interpretion of biblical `warning texts.' They contend that warnings in Scripture actually serve to *help* the believer endure `until the end' in faith and obedience. Hence this book refrains from assuming that warnings serve mainly to explain what is and isn't possible for a Christian, and instead understands the warnings to have a primarily transformative purpose. That is, we must see the warnings as being meant to foster the behavioral changes they demand. Another way of saying this would be that we can view warnings as performing the `reproof' and `correction' roles that Paul ascribes to `Scripture' in 2 Tim 3.16.

The authors argue that warnings `extend the initial call of the gospel' throughout the believer's life after conversion. Schreiner and Caneday view assurances and warnings as two sides to the same coin, inspiring confidence for endurance on the one hand, and warning against failure to endure on the other. While warnings do reveal that salvation will be granted only to those who endure in faith and obedience, this doesn't at all imply that they're meant to indicate whether the Spirit-indwelt person can actually fail to endure. The authors hold that warnings do not function to verify whether a believer may `lose salvation.' It is rather the popular contemporary debate over `keeping/losing salvation' that shades many interpretations of warning texts. Assuming that warnings have to establish or disallow a necessary permanence of conversion, interpreters and readers create a polarized debate in which nearly every party (the authors outline four) seems to marginalize one dimension of biblical evidence in favor of another. Such are the results obtained by the rigid insistence that warnings must explain whether salvation may be `lost.'

Pace this conviction, which to me reflects an overly constricted surface reading of biblical texts, Schreiner and Caneday advocate an approach that makes no such assumption about Scripture's warnings. Instead, they argue that warnings should be understood as statements intended by their authors to correct wrong behavior and induce enduring obedience of God. Warnings therefore aren't contradictory to God's grace for perseverance. Quite the contrary, warnings actually constitute an active and effective *part* of His work of grace, because they perform a continual transforming work in all who are indwelt by God's Spirit. Additionally, warnings don't call the believer to examine his present behavior and make a determination about whether or not his initial conversion was `genuine.' They rather call the believer to continue in faith and obedience, looking to the crucified and risen Christ for hope and strength, in view of the eschatological reward that `God has promised to all who love Him' (Jas 1.12; 2.5).

I believe Schreiner and Caneday have successfully grasped the bigger picture which motivated the earliest leaders of the apostolic faith. There is more to the biblical witness than `logical facts' that seek merely to explain what is and isn't true. The NT writings weren't composed by men sitting behind desks in comfortable studies, hidden safely behind the walls of universities in `free' countries, interested merely in finding solutions to abstract problems and contriving intellectual assurances for people whose struggles climaxed in seeking romantic relationships and social acceptance. The apostolic leaders were confronted with radical, profound problems, often consisting in grueling and ominous sufferings. Yet they knew that the restoring work of God in creation, initiated at the cross, concretizes in the changed lives of those whose hearts He has circumcised by His Spirit. They thus faced a leadership challenge of tremendous proportions. How can obedient behavior be fostered in people who face severe consequences for that very behavior? God, who will judge the world in righteousness, demands righteousness of those who would desire to be saved, not condemned, by His judgment (1 Jn 3.4-15). What tool is there for a leader that will operate in harmony with God's Spirit and gospel to inspire enduring courage and strength in single-minded submission to God?

Schreiner and Caneday find the answer to this question lies not only in Scripture's promises, but also in its warnings. Since the warnings extend the gospel's initial call to faith, the same faith that affirms God's promises also affirms His warnings, spurring obedient action in the believer. It is the unbeliever, not the believer, who will ignore Scripture's warnings and persist in sin. It is the believer, not the unbeliever, who will benefit from Scripture's warnings, being corrected and saved by them (Jas 1.18, 21). Warnings reinforce faith's massive vision of reality that concerns God and His work in this universe. The end is not yet, nor is death the end of all things. God is operative in creation at every instant, preparing all things for His end purposes: wickedness for punishment, righteousness for vindication; destruction of the corrupt and futile universe, renewal and establishment of God's good order. Justice will prevail, and paradoxically is prevailing now, even through the injustice of this world (divinely used to incapacitate corrupt `flesh'; 1 Pet 4). Endurance, even when it obtains persecution and death, is victory because it establishes that the individual's stance is with God, not against Him. To abandon faith and obedience is to join with the world against God. By contrast, God and His reward are found only by those who persevere in seeking Him. This warning-revealed reality countermands insistences of dying `flesh' that there are valid excuses for giving up on faith and obedience, and strengthens agreement with God's Spirit that righteous behavior is what must persist in this life. And all the while, the Spirit's empowering work concretely demonstrates the sufficiency of divinely promised grace for all endurance. The guarantee of the promise is realized through the work of the warning. Thus faith's victory arises from faith's vision of reality.

Just as such reality was instrumental for apostolic leaders in inspiring firm, enduring faith and obedience, likewise Schreiner and Caneday capitalize on it to challenge believers today to an endurance of apostolic quality. Book strongly recommended!

Perhaps the best book I've read on Calvinism in conjunction with a serious study in biblical theology is Tom Schreiner and A.B. Caneday's The Race Set Before Us. This is a carefully reasoned and trenchantly argued book that is perhaps the best in print on the subject of perseverance and assurance from the Calvinist perspective. The meticulous attention paid to different viewpoints, the thorough exegesis, and the pastoral sensitivity make it a "must read" for anyone in search of real and weighty answers to the vexing problems listed above. The authors do not make the error in the argument from grace that so many Calvinists do in that they treat the sanctification and the perseverance of the chosen believer true to compatibilist terms that dignify his or her responsibility in salvation.

In summary, the book's argument seeks to make sense of the biblical warnings against falling away (see Rom 8:13; 11:17-24; I Cor 9:27; Gal 5:4; Col 1:23; I Thess 3:5; I Tim 1:19-20; II Tim 2:17-18; Heb 6:4-6; 10:26-31; Jas 5:19-20; II Pet 2:20-22), and criticizes three popular views of perseverance and assurance common among Christians as well as a fourth that is idiosyncratic to certain thinkers in the scholarly world. The first of which they repudiate is the simple "loss of salvation" view, which means what it says: genuine believers are able to lose their salvation by failing to persevere. Second is the "loss of rewards" view, which simply entails the loss of certain benefits in heaven, though not salvation, if one walks away from the faith. Third is the "test of genuineness" view which is the view of John Owen where a believer devises a system of biblical "tests" that looks for true signs of faithfulness. Falling away proves one never was genuinely regenerated in the first place. The fourth view is the so-called "hypothetical view" that only imagines the idea of a believer falling away, yet maintains the reality of which an impossibility.

Schreiner and Caneday give serious arguments demonstrating flaws in each of these views, if not dismantling them entirely, and present their own view of the warnings: the "means of salvation view" (pp. 38-40). In this view the warnings are the means of eliciting faith in God's promises, and do not imply the possibility of having salvation and falling away from it. No true believer will fail to heed the warnings, thus rendering them compatible with God's sovereign election and human responsibility. The warnings, then, function as a means of God's grace to the elect that only the elect are able to heed via the sovereign grace of God. The solution is ingenious because it directs the believer and unbeliever to the promises of God through the warning passages and honors the responsibility of the believer to persevere in believing them.

While I did not come to agreement with the authors in the end, I am thankful for their work. It had the profound effect of giving me pastoral comfort in a time introspection and anxiety. Their's is a book that ought to be read and read again for a mature look at what the New Testament says about perseverance and assurance.

Simply put, if you read only one book on Christian sanctification this year, make this the one! It is with few reservations that I recommend this profound work; not many other books have impacted my thinking about the Christian life to quite the same degree since I read J.I. Packer's "Knowing God" in 1991. The main thrust of the book is to answer the question, "If Christians have assurance from God that they are secure in their salvation, how are they to understand the numerous warnings from Scripture which seem to indicate otherwise?" In dealing with this question, the authors describe - and refute - four typical positions (some of which, incidentally, are held by "Calvinists" as well as "Arminians"!) and then present their own, which in my mind is more faithful to the whole counsel of Scripture. Be warned: this is pretty heavy stuff, but if serious Christians read and reflect upon it sincerely and prayerfully, I'm confident that their discernment, and appreciation of God's sovereign wisdom, will grow considerably.

The Race Set Before Us was, hands down, the most important book I read in 2001 (out of over four dozen). It is the best theological study on perseverance, assurance, and eternal security that I have ever read. For fellow John Piper fans, this book is the academic counterpart to Future Grace. What Future Grace (a book I call a "field manual for living the Christian life") does practically, The Race Set Before Us does on a more scholarly level (but make no mistake, it is also intensely practical, if you care about making it to heaven!).

Schreiner and Caneday build this book around the biblical metaphor of running a race. An outline of the contents: chapter 1 answers "what is there to win or lose?" Is it merely earthly blessings or eternal rewards, or is eternal life itself? Chapter 2 is a crucial look at "our present and future salvation." This chapter is paradigm shifting, as the authors look at the many facets of salvation and pull them together into one unified reality. Chapter 3 is on "the necessity of obedient faith" and examines the various biblical metaphors for faith. Excellent! Chapter 4 is probably the most important chapter in the book, examining the nature of biblical warnings. Chapter 5 reflects on fallen runners and the nature of apostasy. Chapter 6 looks at how to finish the race by grace. Chapter 7 is on assurance and chapter 8 on "who are those who run to the end and win?" dealing with unconditional election.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. Pastors need to read this. It takes a person deep into the fabric of Scripture, modeling careful and precise exegesis. One of the most important sermons I preached this year was born from this study. I urge you to get this book and mine these truths for yourself!

Schreiner's little book The Race Set Before Us is based on his lectures and it is also a condensation of his larger book on the subject. It's very pastoral and hands on, very practical, and very honest. He takes the tack that the warnings in Hebrews and other New Testament texts are legitimate warnings for believers to shape up or be shipped out, so to speak. Yet he also contends that true believers in Christ will eventually heed these warnings, and that these are the very texts that God uses to encourage believers to persevere.

Those who do fall away were not true believers to begin with, based on Schreiner's reading of 1 John 2:18-19 and Matthew 7:21-23

The book is written in a way where people will be encouraged and will understand the doctrine of security or perseverance. Thumbs up!