Conclusion
Wayne Grudem is an established scholar of the first rank. He has degrees from Harvard (A.B.), Westminster (M.Div.), and University of Cambridge (Ph.D. in New Testament). His best-selling Systematic Theology has sold over 400,000 copies. He regularly publishes books with Crossway and Zondervan on a wide variety of subjects.
However, while Grudem is an expert in several theological fields, in 5 Ways he addressed a subject he does not know very well. He knows Reformed Theology. But he doesn’t know FGT, and it is evident in his book.
If you were evaluating FGT for yourself, where would you start? What would be your standard?
For Grudem, the standard was tradition and on consensus theology. How does FGT stand up the historic Protestants? From the very first chapter, Grudem did not center his discussion on the Bible.
Is that the right way to decide whether a theology is true?
If theology can be rejected by being inconsistent with the scholarly consensus, then FGT is adokimos, disapproved.
If theology can be rejected because it does not agree with Reformed theology, then FGT is kaput.
If quoting verses without any discussion proves your case, then FGT is dead in the water.
But, if theological truth is established by careful exegesis of the Word of God, then FGT has a chance.
Grudem does not carefully exegete the Word of God in 5 Ways.
Most of the time he doesn’t even try. He simply quotes verses and assumes that his point is proven.
That won’t convince any who hold to FGT. We are fierce Biblicists. Our standard is the Word of God. Our consciences are bound by that Word. If the Word says it, that settles it. But it takes effort to determine what the Word says. Proof-texting is not good enough. Assuming the truth of traditional Protestant interpretations is not good enough. We have been spoiled by men like Darby, MacIntosh, Chafer, Ryrie, Hodges, Thieme, and so many more who carefully defended what they were saying from God’s Word.
I doubt that studious Reformed people will be convinced by Grudem’s arguments either. If they come to 5 Ways already believing in Lordship Salvation, then they might well leave with that view intact. But they will surely notice that Grudem does not try to explain why FGT believes what it does. Grudem does occasionally quote FGT authors. I hope that some Reformed readers will be curious enough to follow up on those quotes, and study FGT works for themselves, to come to their own conclusions about who has the better Biblical argument.
I respect Wayne Grudem as a scholar and a one committed to pleasing the Lord Jesus Christ. However, 5 Ways reveals some major blind spots in both his thinking and his understanding of God’s Word. It was intellectually lazy for him not to at least summarize our arguments and explanations. That is not up to the standards of his other books.
Readers may be interested to know that I wrote a chapter-by-chapter, section-by-section response to John MacArthur’s, The Gospel According to Jesus (TGAJ) called A Gospel of Doubt.[1]While John MacArthur is a pastor and not an academic theologian, I believe he did a better job of defending Lordship Salvation than Grudem. If you want to read further on this subject, I would recommend reading those two books.
Readers may be interested in my personal theological journey. In my youth, I held to extreme Arminian theology. I believed in sinless perfectionism as the condition for staying saved. Until age twenty I believed that once you were good enough to be saved (by repenting and committing your life to Christ over the course of years of spiritual pilgrimage), you had to live a sinless life to stay saved. Only by the grace of God did I learn the message of Eph 2:8-9 over five sessions with Warren Wilke, a Campus Crusade for Christ staff member at my college, U. C. Irvine.
My life was radically changed when I was set free from legalistic bondage, insecurity, and spiritual death. I went from pre-med to pre-ministry.
Since then, I have devoted my life to telling people about the free gift of everlasting life.
I have found that certainty of my eternal destiny drives me to give my all for Christ each day.
I’ll be sixty-six next month. I could retire. But I hope to keep working full-time into my eighties or nineties. I love telling people about the free gift of everlasting life to all who simply believe in Jesus for it.
If you lack certainty of your eternal destiny, would you pray about it? Would you ask God to show you if it is possible?
I recommend you read John’s Gospel, one chapter per day, prayerfully. Pay attention to how Jesus evangelized. Note what He said. Note the promises He made about everlasting life. Who gets that life? On what condition? When do you get it—now or in the future? Can it be lost?
But whatever you do, do not take the words of men as the basis of your faith. The basis of your faith should be the Word of God. Neither Grudem nor I am worthy of your trust. We are not infallible. The Lord Jesus Christ is. So check out what He said. Carefully.
May God bless you as you seek the truth! Remember, He is a rewarder to those who diligently seek Him (Heb 11:6; Acts 17:11).
[1] Robert N. Wilkin, A Gospel of Doubt: The Legacy of John MacArthur’s The Gospel According to Jesus (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2015).