Four Views on the Warning Passages in Hebrews

by Herbert Bateman

Publisher:

Kregel

, 2007

Overview

Using the popular four-views format, this volume explores the meaning of the five warning passages in the book of Hebrews to both the original readers and us today. Each of the four New Testament scholars present and defend their view and critique the view of their interlocutors. This unique volume will help readers better understand some of the most difficult passages in all of Scripture.

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Key Features

• Contains four exegetical presentations, each of which are followed by three responses
• Offers reflections by George H. Guthrie
• Provides irenic presentations on the warning passages in Hebrews

Contents

• A Classic Arminian View
  • Classical Reformed Response
  • Wesleyan Arminian Response
  • Moderate Reformed Response
• A Classical Reformed View
  • Classical Arminian Response
  • Wesleyan Arminian Response
  • Moderate Reformed Response
• A Wesleyan Arminian View
  • Classical Arminian Response
  • Classical Reformed Response
  • Moderate Reformed Response
• A Moderate Reformed View
  • Classical Arminian Response
  • Classical Reformed Response
  • Wesleyan Arminian Response

Top Highlights

“Finally and probably the most challenging issue is this: if they are true believers eternally secure in their salvation, how do we account for the apparent danger of these believers ‘rejecting’ God’s Son and the subsequent danger of incurring God’s punishment? For instance, each warning passage has an exhortation followed by a dire consequence (2:1, 3; 3:12, 16–19; 4:1, 11; 10:23–25, 26–27, 30–31; 12:25, 29).” (Pages 25–26)

“Of these five warning passages, two invoke the need to hear or listen to God’s message (2:1–4; 12:14–29), while two others generate an emotive need and explicit expectation to trust and obey God (3:7–4:13; 10:19–39). At the heart of these warning passages is Hebrews 5:11–6:12.” (Page 28)

“The warnings in Hebrews about falling away and the exhortations to endure are intended to urge the readers to maintain faith in Christ’s high priestly work, not to provoke fear that they may lose their standing with God, nor primarily to test the genuineness of their faith.⁹⁹ Nevertheless, those who repudiate Christ thereby give evidence that they have never partaken in the benefits of Christ’s cleansing sacrifice, and the writer wants his readers to see the consequences of this in starkest terms, be motivated to endure by God’s grace, and so show themselves to be true ‘partakers of Christ.’” (Pages 218–219)

“So the conclusion can be stated as the more likely of several viable options: Hebrews is describing a very real danger of apostasy that true believers can commit, and if they do so it is an unpardonable sin from which there is no possibility of repentance, but only of eternal judgment.” (Page 128)

Contributors

• Grant R. Osborne
• Buist M. Fanning
• Gareth L. Cockerill
• Randall C. Gleason

Product Details

• Title: Four Views on the Warning Passages in Hebrews
• Author: Herbert Bateman
• Series: Viewpoints
• Publisher: Kregel
• Print Publication Date: 2007
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Pages: 480
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Bible. N.T. Hebrews › Criticism, interpretation, etc
• ISBNs: 9780825421327, 0825421322
• Resource ID: LLS:FRVWSPSSGSHBRWS
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T00:07:24Z

About Herbert Bateman

Herbert W. Bateman IV (PhD, Dallas Theological Seminary) has taught Greek language and exegesis for more than 20 years. He is currently professor of New Testament studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Bateman is the author or editor of many works on the General Epistles, including Charts on the Book of Hebrews, Four Views on the Warning Passages in Hebrew, and a forthcoming commentary on Jude and 2 Peter.