- Nobody can confess Jesus as Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3).
- All people will, at some time or another, confess Jesus as Lord (Phil. 2:9-11).
- Therefore, all people will confess Jesus as Lord by the Holy Spirit.
- Anyone who confesses Jesus as Lord by the Holy Spirit will be saved (Romans 10:9).
- Therefore, all people will eventually be saved.
Objection: Perhaps the Philippians passage should not be read as saying that all people will confess Jesus as Lord, but merely that all people ought to confess Jesus as Lord. The verse is then merely a statement of divine intentions, not a prediction of what will actually happen at the end of days.
Response: This objection is based on the ambiguity of the English word "should," which is often used to render the relevant passage. In this case, the context—an allusion to Isaiah 45:23—makes it clear that the verse is speaking of a real future event. Paul alludes to the same passage in Romans 14:10-12, where he clearly understands it as promising a future occurrence. A number of translations simply do away with this ambiguity by translating the relevant word as "will"; for instance, the (in)famously literal NASB (see here). It is also worth knowing that this same ambiguity of wording appears in John 3:16, with the same result: some translations (such as the RSV) render the word as "should," while others (such as the NASB) render it as "will." But of course, in that case nobody doubts that it means "will." If one favors a different interpretation in the case of Phil. 2:9-11, the onus is on them to explain why.
Another objection—that the people in Phil. 2 might be confessing out of fear, rather than joyfully affirming the Lordship of Jesus—is dealt with quite well in Hronich's presentation (beginning at 29:00); as such, I will not deal with it here, except to note that it seems to be ruled out by (1) and (3), which entail that all people who confess Jesus as Lord are doing so by the Holy Spirit.
Could we not take aim at the fourth premise instead? Perhaps some who confess Jesus later apostatize, thereby losing their salvation. All that Romans 10:9 teaches is that all who confess will be saved, but it does not teach that all who confess will always be saved.
ReplyDeleteOf course, in light of the second premise, we would say the future salvation of the unrepentant is guaranteed; however, again, what reason do we have for thinking their salvation is eternally secured?
Also, with respect to the last paragraph, the verb which indicates the proclamation of Jesus' lordship in Philippians 2:11 is ἐξομολογέω. In the New Testament, ἐξομολογέω always means a voluntary and spontaneous, and not forced, confession. So their confession would not be made out of fear :)
It's certainly true that those who confess Christ in this lifetime can apostatize. However, I don't think there's any indication that the people in Phil. 2 will do so; the impression given in the text is one of a final, complete victory for Christ. The same is true of the passage in Isaiah 45 which is being referenced: the text is clearly speaking of a final conversion at the end of the world.
DeleteI agree wholeheartedly about the verb in Philippians 2:11. I directed the reader to Hronich's presentation, where basically the same point is made, so I think we're in agreement there.