ABC’s of the Gospel Book Review : Part Two

Chapter Four – All Mankind Has Been Saved

In chapter four Martin uses quite a few verses that have the word “all”  in them to attempt to prove universal salvation. Jn3:16,17, Jn6:37,39,Jn12:31-33,I Timothy 2:36 etc. He is correct in pointing out that salvation is by grace,and not by works. However, the Scriptures he uses prove the complete work of the cross and the Scriptural basis for the atonement being ” unlimited” in the sense that all sin was dealt with. He ignores the many verses that talk about mankind being an “enemy” of God, of the necessity of repentance, of the need to be born again,and many other verses that do not fit his theology. Mr.Martin ignores the context of much of what he writes about, and thus comes to the wrong conclusion in regard to salvation.

Chapter Five – The Legal Position of Mankind Today

This seems to be the chapter that shows his major differences with the World Wide Church of God. He shows why Christians are no longer bound to keep the ceremonial law because of our position in Christ. His problem again, is in applying verses that are written to Christians to all mankind. He attempts to qualify this obvious absurdity by saying, ” While all mankind are legally redeemed by the blood of Christ and are now reckoned to be ” in Christ”, only we whom God has seen fit to reveal this glorious truth  ( John 6:44,65) are able to take advantage of it.” (p.51)  Every doctrine that he attempts to teach and write on is affected by his belief in a universal salvation. But what about liars,blasphemers etc.?

Chapter Six – Adulterers,Thieves, Liars, Whoremongers, Will Not be in the Kingdom of God

Martin teaches that those who don’t believe in  the gospel will not be resurrected until ” the fullness of times” after the Kingdom phase is over. Those who God considers ” worthy” will live during the Kingdom phase, the rest will remain in the grave. Martin also takes the opportunity to teach that there is no punishment for sin in hell,reiterates all mankind is saved,thus the great need is to live ” like they are members of the family of God and not in a barbaric and uncivilized manner”.( p.61) Notice that Martin never deals with the root cause of evil – the sin nature of  man. Because he believes that all are saved in Christ, he cannot deal with the real issues facing humanity. We need a new birth, a new nature,and without repentance and faith, and a work of the Holy Spirit it will not happen.

Chapter Seven – God’s Use of Evil and the Allotment

He starts well, by emphasising that God is Almighty,but tends toward hyper-Calvinism in stating that God is ” ultimately responsible for it (evil)(p.64)He quotes several scriptures to the effect that God creates and uses evil in any way he wants. He does qualify his statements by saying that evil is not sin. God cannot sin, or break His law. This chapter is a bit nebulous, and needs some fleshing out.The weirdest part of the chapter is the teaching that all people are chosen in a lottery whether they will be those who believe, or those who don’t live up to” the family’s” standards. God conducted a ” divine lottery”, before the foundation of time, thus those who believe, believe by grace, and those who don’t are still supposed to learn about good and bad.

Gods choice and sovereignty are deep subjects that require much more time and space than this review can give. The God of the Bible, the  Father,Son, and Holy Spirit knows the end from the beginning. Within God’s plan is the perfect outworking of His sovereignty and human responsibility. The Lord works in the midst of evil, He works out His purposes throughout history,and there is nothing arbitrary in His decisions. Martin’s doctrine of ” the lottery” evidently comes from the Greek word Kleronomeo which means, ” to receive by lot,then in a more general sense, to posses oneself of, to receive as ones own, to obtain.”(Vines-p.598) As Vines points out, the verb is used of  – birthright, that which is received as a gift, as a reward,the kingdom of God. The noun is sometimes used for the word inheritance, a portion, a share. Greek and Hebrew words often have multiple meanings that must be determined by context. Martin ignores context so that he can make his peculiar doctrines seem more reasonable.