Berkouwer
recognized that the deterministic interpretation of election has, for
many, proved to be an obstacle to faith - "the confession of divine
election did come to the fore in a very direct pastoral way; people in
the congregations have been plagued by questions concerning election and
human responsibility, questions about the certainty of one's own
salvation" (A Half Century of Theology, p. 78). Berkouwer's approach
need not be dismissed as a denial of election. He does, however, offer
us a reinterpretation - "We knew we had to go further - in concern for
the heart of the church - than the construction of defensive syntheses"
(A Half Century of Theology, p. 89).
A response to a comment by G. R. Osborne on Berkouwer’s understanding of the doctrine of final perseverance
In his contribution to Clark Pinnock (editor), Grace Unlimited (1975), G. R. Osborne states that Berkouwer, in Faith and Perseverance, pp. 9-10, “speaks of the time less ness of the doctrine of final perseverance, founded on ‘the richness and abidingness of salvation” (p. 188, emphasis mine). This single-sentence comment on Berkouwer’s view hardly gives a fair indication of the type of thinking found in Chapter 1 of Berkouwer’s Faith and Perseverance - “Time li ness and Relevance” (pp. 9-14, emphasis mine). Berkouwer insists that “the living preaching of the Scriptures, which offer no metaphysical and theoretical views about … ‘permanency’ as an independent theme in itself, does nothing to encourage ‘a continuity which is … opposed in any way to the living nature of faith” (p. 13). Berkouwer stresses that “The perseverance of the saints is not primarily a theoretical problem but a confession of faith” (p. 14) and that “The perseverance of the saints is unbreakably connected wi...
Comments
Post a Comment