Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 15
May 16, 1963
NUMBER 3, PAGE 13d

"Life In The Son"

Robert H. Farish

Robert Lee Shanks, a Baptist preacher whose father before him was also a Baptist preacher, has written a powerful refutation of the Calvinistic doctrine, so popular with Baptists, known as "the final perseverance of the saints," "the impossibility of apostasy," or "once in grace, always in grace."

Mr. Shanks examines the passages which Baptists, and others who accept this doctrine of Calvinism, rely upon in their attempts to prove the unconditional security of the child of God. He also introduces "warning passages" and shows that there is real danger or these warning passages are absurd.

There are so many quotable passages that it is difficult to quote from the book and at the same time stay within the bounds of "brief quotations included in reviews." The following is "picked up" rather than "selected" from a host of others just as rich.

"The great promises of the faithfulness of God in performing His work of grace in our hearts by His Spirit until the day of Jesus Christ (such as Phil. 1:8, I Cor. 1:8, II Thess. 3:3, I Thess. 5:24, and II Tim. 4:18) all assume a corresponding faithfulness on the part of man. To suppose that there are no qualifications attached to such promises, simply because they are not expressly stated in the verses themselves, is as unwarranted as to assume that all the world must be saved because John 3:17 declares that "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved." We are not at liberty to accept John 3:17, while ignoring verse 18 and a multitude of other passages of Holy Scripture. Let us not insist that the whole of God's revelation be compressed into a single verse. Philippians 1:13 and kindred verses do not stand alone."

This book is worthy of more than a casual reading. It should be seriously studied.