The following "Question" was asked by an attendee at the 2003 Shepherds' Conference (a ministry of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California), and was "Answered" by John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed from the CD, #SC1007, titled "General Session #5 John MacArthur - Q&A." A copy of the CD, cassette tape, or MP3 can be obtained by going to: www.shepherdsconference.org ©2003. All Rights Reserved. Grace Community Church.
Questioner
In your message, you had referenced several times—this
“transdispensationalized” idea, and who are its proponents? And does this kind
of inclusivism mean that someone has abandoned the gospel?
John MacArthur's Answer
Yes, the question about—I did make reference to the phrase, “transdispensationalism,”
almost sort of throwing it away; at the same time, I know it provoked some
discussion and thought. It is a term that, to my knowledge, has only been used
by one person, and that person is Tony Evans in a book entitled Totally Saved.
That book came out, I think, in the year 2002; it was published by Moody Press.
It is a book that endeavors to give a very, very simple and basic understanding
of salvation.
At the end of the book, there is a chapter in which the question comes up about
people who have never heard the gospel. And, in that section, Tony writes that
people who never hear the gospel, if they will accept whatever light they have,
God will acknowledge that as sufficient for their salvation. That, in itself, is
a—that is a departure from historic Christian gospel. We would say that if
someone lives up to the light they have, then the Lord, who is not limited in
His capacity to deliver the truth, will bring the full light—and that no one
could ever be saved apart from Christ.
This is more of the thing that Tony Campollo says, that people are being saved
by Jesus who don’t even know there is a Jesus. This is that “wider mercy” view
as it’s called. This is also under what has been termed “natural theology”: that
natural theology will lead someone to God, and if the person doesn’t have access
to the gospel, then God’s not going to hold them responsible for what they don’t
know.
And that’s essentially the argument of this book, that in the world, there are
going to be people who never hear the gospel, and they are not going to reject
the light they have. They’re going to accept the light they have, and God will
count that as sufficient to save them.
And then comes the interesting comment that He does this by
transdispensationalizing them. That is, treating them as if they were living in
another dispensation. Obviously, there is no biblical defense for that, and none
is attempted in the book—none. There isn’t even a verse to defend that.
Furthermore, living up to natural human light, apart from the revelation of the
true and living God, wouldn’t save anybody in any dispensation. But, it is a
very—it is a very strange thing and, to this degree, to the degree that He gives
salvation to those who have never heard the gospel, it’s a departure from what
we believe the scripture teaches.
And this is part of a pretty big movement. Carleton Pierson came up with a form
of this view; you know, he’s the charismatic preacher in Tulsa. He came up with
this idea, which really reaches almost to universalism where very few people are
going to go to hell: all over the planet, people are doing the best they can to
live up to whatever information they have, and God counts that as enough. And
there was a curiosity to me that Oral Roberts University could see the error of
that, put him off their board, and made his church off limits to students. So,
this is a serious issue.
There was a radio interview that followed that book that’s available. You can
get the transcript of that radio interview, in which the host was interviewing
Tony Evans and said to him, “You’re saying, if a Hindu looks up and says, ‘I
know you’re up there somewhere. I don’t know who you are, but I’d really like to
know you,’ God will count that as sufficient as salvation?” And the answer to
that was “Yes.”
So, this is a strange and serious departure from the gospel. And it is
part—well, I haven’t heard the term transdispensationalism anywhere—this is a
part of a bigger trend. I did two messages on this called “No Gospel, No
Salvation”, so if you want treatment of that, you can get those two tapes, “No
Gospel, No Salvation”.
Natural theology is enough to damn you; it’s not enough to save you. So
that’s—and you know, you sort of shake in your boots when you realize that this
doesn’t cause a horrific outcry everywhere. It just sort of slides in under the
radar and nobody wants to make much of it. So that’s why I say—there’s a reason,
men, why I come to a meeting like this passionate about protecting the gospel.
There’s a reason Al comes with that same ringing theme in his heart. We’re out
there. We’re hearing. We’re reading. We’re being exposed to this. And this is
the frightening reality of our time, that the gospel is definitely under siege.
It’s under assault. And it doesn’t seem that people even care, people who should
care.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur's Questions and
Answers" by:
Tony Capoccia
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