As Berkouwer's thought moved
from abstract concept towards the person and work of Christ in whom the
grace of God is clearly revealed, he found that he was not denying the
free sovereignty of God but rather recognizing its character as the free
sovereignty of grace (A Half Century of Theology, p. 102). He described
the direction of his thought thus: "the reconsideration of election has
tended ... not in the direction of a double decree that merely waits to
be executed, but in the direction of grace as the nature, the character
of election" (A Half Century of Theology, p. 102). He gave this summary
of his understanding of election: "anyone who expects salvation from
grace rather than works is set immediately within the sphere of
election; but he need not encounter alongside or over election in grace a
decision that was made in a hidden decree" (A Half Century of Theology,
p. 102).
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...
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