Another chance?

This question was brought to my attention a couple of days ago: Is there any other chance for people who did not hear the gospel and died already, do they have a second chance after death?

First, there are a lot of people who are much, much smarter than I am who have attempted to answer this question. The recommended search keywords to use are: "doctrine second chance," "second probation," etc.

One such resource can be found here, it was written by John M. Frame. This is the complete URL: http://www.frame-poythress.org/frame_articles/1984Second.html

I was taught that the first thing to consider when trying to answer a question is to find out "the question behind the question."

1. Was the question raised out of concern that God may be deemed unfair for sending people to hell without allowing them to hear the gospel?

If so, here are a few points to consider:

a. John 3:18 and similar passages teach that Jesus is the only way to salvation, but people are not condemned to hell for not believing in Jesus. Actually, they are already condemned because of their sin.  (Rom. 3:23; 5:12-17; 6:23)

b. In fact, if ignorance if a better chance to enter heaven, we might as well engage in a gospel cover-up program. Let's stop evangelism, burn all Bibles, and close all churches. After a certain period, no one would have heard of Christ and everyone will be one their way to heaven because it would be much easier to accept the gospel and believe in Jesus in the environment of after death when one has experienced eternity.

c. According to the Scripture, no one can claim innocence because "He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation,  that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us" (Acts 17:26-27).

d. Why do we stop at second chance? Third chance, anyone? Fourth? One hundredth? It would get more ridiculous as we went on and on. This go against all the urgency to proclaim the gospel and the call to righteous life as taught by the Bible. If there is a second chance, one would break free of all moral constraints and do whatever one heart desires.

2. Was the question raised because of texts like Matt. 12:32; I Pet. 3:19; 4:6 were interpreted to be teaching a second chance death?

First, let's take a look at Matt. 12:32,

Matthew 12:32   "Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. (NASB)

Matt. 12:32 does not say that any sins will be forgiven after death, only that some will not be. Let me explain what I mean, from the context it is clear that the Pharisees are ascribing to Satan what the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ, is healing the a demon-possessed man. And the Pharisees did it willfully and deliberately.

Instead of supporting the second chance doctrine, this passage actually teaches that for the Pharisees, that was their only chance.

Next, let's take a look at I Pet. 3:19; 4:6,

1 Peter 3:18-20   18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;  19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison,  20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. (NASB)

NAU 1 Peter 4:6 For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as men, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God. (NASB)

These are two of the most difficult verses in the Scripture, from the time of Clement of Alexandria, about A.D. 200, till now, there have been multiple different interpretations on these verses. But our focus will be on whether these verses teach the doctrine of second chance as claimed by its supporters.

Consider this list of points, which by no means is complete:

a.  3:19: What is mean by the word also? Please see the sequence of action words "put to death," "made alive," (3:18) and "went and made proclamation (or preached)." These are references to Christ's death on the cross, resurrection, and post-resurrection activities (before His ascension).

b. 3:19: There word translated "made proclamation" or "preached" is the Greek word kerysso, which elsewhere in the New Testament is used in relation to preaching of the Gospel and also proclaiming something. It is very interesting that this word is only used once in the book of 1 Peter. The same thing can be said about the Greek word used in 4:6 (and 1:12, 1:25), euangelizo. It can mean just to proclaim a good news but in New Testament it would be almost always be translated as proclaiming the Gospel of Christ. To those who tend to want to interpret this verse as teaching a second chance for salvation, this is not enough to persuade them. Because of that, let me add this point. I find it strange that Peter was not interested in defining the content of the preaching in 3:19.

c. 3:19: Who are the spirits now in prison? They were once disobedient during the days of Noah.  If there is a second chance, why is it only given to those in the days of Noah? This just does not fit into the context.

d. 3:19: There is no forgiveness for the sin of deliberate disobedience (Heb. 6:4-6; 10:26).

e.  3:19: The story of the rich man and Lazarus clearly shows that there is no second chance after death, man's destiny is sealed (Luke 16:19-31).

f. 4:6:  As have been mentioned above, this verse was translated correctly in relation to the preaching of the Gospel, but pay attention that the verb "preached" is in past tense. In Greek, it is in the aorist tense which points to a completed event in the past. NIV translates this verse by adding the word now to the phrase those who are now dead to emphasize that the recipients of the Gospel was once alive but now dead.

g. 4:6: The point of 4:4-5 is that people will be judged for their actions while living, whether they are living or dead. For those who rejected Christ will be punished and for those who accepted Christ will be rewarded, regardless whether they are living or dead.

h. 4:6: though they are judged in the flesh as men, the persecutors thought that by punishing believers to the point of death, they (the believers) deserved it and were defeated. Not so, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God, which means in God's eyes, they (the martyred believers and those who died a natural death) are living in the spirit eternally because of what the Gospel has done to their lives. Note the contrast of one-time past-tense of "judged" and "present and on-going tense of "live."

To rightly interpret 3:19, one has to really pay attention to the context, this passage covers v.8 through 22. Peter was addressing believers who were suffering because of their faith. Peter reminded them of Christ and everything He had done to them and the hope for the coming victory of Christ (v.22). Believers were saved because of all Christ has done, is doing, and will do (v.21).

This is what I think is the interpretation of 4:6: The believers who were still alive when Peter wrote this book were concerned about the believers who have died, especially those who died not of persecution, because they thought that death is punishment for sins (Gen 2:17; 3:19; Rom 5:12;6:23). Peter is trying to tell them that in God's eyes these dead believers are alive in the spirit forever because the Gospel has been preached to them and they were saved because of their faith in Christ. God will judge all the living and dead people and this judgment is imminent, urgent and final.

Therefore, I do not think the doctrine of second chance is able to find any support from the Scripture.

 

~oOo~

Genesis and Paganism

I am pretty sure those of us with children have been asked all kinds of question. However, I don't think many of you have been asked this particular question (please let me know if this is not the case): "What is paganism?" It came from the backseat of our car, from our 6-year-old daughter.

My smart wife, as usual, quickly deflected the question to me. "Papa, why don't you answer this?" After a brief thought, I said that different people define it differently but from the perspective of the Scripture it just means that all other worship that is not directed toward God the Father.

It has been a couple of weeks since and after doing a little research on the Net, I found this definition of pagan from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:

1: heathen 1 ; especially : a follower of a polytheistic religion (as in ancient Rome)

2: one who has little or no religion and who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods : an irreligious or hedonistic person

3: neo-pagan (a person who practices a contemporary form of paganism (as Wicca))

According to Bruce Waltke in his book, An Old Testament Theology, the creation narrative in Genesis was written to:

Israel in the Wilderness, who was on their way from Egypt to Canaan, both places saturated with pagan mythology. In their annual rites, the practitioner re-enact their pagan creation myths, hopeful to have the land and womb fertile and fruitful for coming year. The human actually have the tools and means to manipulate the divine sphere. Moses presented a revolutionary message, one that went against the dominating messages of the cultures. One that presented a personal God, uncreated, creating order out of chaos. Human was created under the Sovereign dominion of God.

Israel in Babylonian Exile, the creation narrative, though part of the original Mosaic core of material, likely reached its final form during Israel's exile in Babylon. Deities with names like: Marduk (the creator and chief deity), Adal (the storm god), Ishtar (the fertility god), Tiamat (the ancient goddess Tiamat who was destroyed by Marduk and her carcass was made into heaven and earth).

The Genesis 1 creation narrative is directed toward the harmful (toward biblical faith) ancient and modern pagan ideas. Waltke then quoted H. Conrad Hyer who said that each day of creation dismisses an additional cluster of deities (the gods of light and darkness, gods of sky and sea, gods of earth and vegetation, gods of sun, moon, and star), takes away associations with divinity from the animal kingdom, empties human being of any intrinsic divinity.

Modern paganism has six faces:

1. Materialism, since the Enlightenment, is the common view. It is the philosophical theory that regards matter and its motions as constituting the entire universe; all phenomena, including those of the mind, are regarded as due to material causes.

2. Since everything is material, then this leads to empiricism, insists that all knowledge is based on observation, experimentation, and verification, this has led to belief in a self-sufficient universe that can be understood on its own terms, without any need of the transcendent or God.

3. Materialism and empiricism led to determinism, and understanding of reality as mechanical and valueless. The origin of life and the nature of our humanity are determined by natural causation.

4. Secularism, is a system of political or social philosophy that embraces materialism, empiricism, and natural causation and rejects all forms of religious faith and worship in the public sphere.

5. Secular humanism, any system or mode of thought or action in which human interests, values, and dignity predominate. It does not acknowledge God and God's ownership of the created order.

6. Post-modernism or New Ageism is a return to old-fashioned paganism with a modern twist. Eastern religions (Taoism, Buddhism, and to a degree Hinduism) was appropriated and their terms were distorted with Western concepts. Personal "spirituality" replaces the personal God.

Genesis 1 comes with two clear messages: (1) God, the uncreated, almighty sovereign Creator has created the universe and the living beings, creating order out of chaos, over against the Egyptians who thought that anything outside of Egypt was in chaos, (2) the humans are created to worship the Sovereign Creator.

 

~oOo~