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Can Only God Save? (Endnotes)
1. Dart cites Bultmann’s research to support this connection between his idea of “Christianity” (orthodox tradition) and Gnosticism:
Christianity asserts that humanity cannot redeem itself, that is “save” itself from the world and the powers that hold sway in it. In this concept, primitive Christianity was greatly influenced by Gnostic ideas, said Bultmann. “Man’s redemption,” he wrote, “can only come from the divine world as an event, according to both the Gnostics and the Christians.”
Rudolf Bultmann, Primitive Christianity in its Contemporary Setting (The World Publishing, Cleveland, 1956), pp. 162-171. John Dart, op. cit., The Jesus of Heresy and History, p. 39. Close
2. Ibid., p. 57. The following quote from Dart is an example of scholarly belief that the God of the Bible was unknowable: “In the wisdom genre, God tended to be more inscrutable for humans. ‘ He is removed into the distance and placed high above earthly concerns so that His acts in history and His acts of creation become veiled,’” writes Kurt Rudolph, citing Job 28 and Proverbs 30:1-4. Close
3. Dave Hunt, The Berean Call, April, 1999. Close
4. In Defense of the Faith (Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR, 1996), p. 50. See Appendix A for our response to some of the verses he cites, many of which involve the Granville-Sharp “Rule.” Close
5. God is both the Author of the plan of salvation and an active player in our salvation. For example, God, the Father, is called “savior” in 1 Tim. 1:1, 2:3, 4:10; Titus 3:4; Jude 25. Jesus Christ is called “savior” because he is the agent who carried out God’s plan, and without whom it could not have come to pass. See Appendix A (Luke 1:47). Close
6. See Appendix A (Gen. 16:7-13). Close
7. Perhaps the clearest example of this is in Exodus 17:14b, where God clearly says, “I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” But He did not mean that He would do so Himself without human agency, as is revealed in Deuteronomy 25:19, when Moses says: “When the Lord your God gives you rest from all the enemies around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget!” 1 Samuel 15 also verifies that the blotting out of the Amalekites was to be accomplished by the Israelites with God’s help. They could not sit back and let God do it, even though His utterance in Exodus 17:14 could have been interpreted that way. Close
8. See Appendix A (Acts 7:45). Close
9. For a more technical discussion of another fallacy employed in this argument, see Appendix K, “Undistributed Middle.” Close
10. One particularly enthusiastic supporter of incarnational theology strongly affirms that the Incarnation is the foundation of the faith: “He did not become less God because of the incarnation, God manifest in the flesh is the foundation of Christianity. That one should be the God-man is the great mystery of our faith.” W. E. Best, Christ Could Not Be Tempted (W. E. Best Book Missionary Trust, Houston, TX, 1985), p. 8. Close
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