Justice is done

J. I. Packer:

Christian fairy tales, with savior heroes and plots that end in what Tolkien called a eucatastrophe – whereby things come right after seeming to go irrevocably wrong. Villains are foiled, people in jeopardy are freed, justice is done, and the ending is happy...The gospel of Christ is the archetype of all such stories. Paganism unleavened by Christianity, on the other hand, was and always will be pessimistic at heart.

Roger Nicole:

Mysteries represent a tremendously optimistic outlook on the place of justice in life. In mysteries the guilty are always brought to justice, which is not always the case in life at this level. It will be the case at the last judgement. But at this level there are people who escape the tentacles of the law. But the mystery situation demands there be a sleuth to bring the criminal to justice. That is the thing that is so deeply satisfying. Every time the force of justice wins.

Preservation of the saints

The last point is called "the perseverance of the saints", and the emphasis is upon the truth that those who have been won by the grace of God will not lose out but will be preserved by God's grace to ultimate salvation. It means that it is not possible for one who is truly regenerate so to fall out of the reach of divine grace as to lose salvation altogether and finally be lost.

The advantage of this formulation is that there is, indeed, a human activity in this process. The saints are active. They are not just passive. In a true sense they are called upon to persevere. 

But there is a devastating weakness in this formulation in that it suggests that the key to this perseverance is the activity of the saints. It suggests that they persevere because they are strong, that they are finally saved because they show that kind of stability and consistency which prevents them from turning back into their original wickedness. 

This is never the case. The key to perseverance is the preservation by God of his saints, that is, the stability of his purpose and the fixity of his design. What is to be in view here is not so much the perseverance of those who are saved, but the perseverance of God with the sinners whom he has gloriously transformed and whom he assists to the end. We ought to talk about "God's perseverance with his saints". That is the thing that we need to emphasize. Roger Nicole, "Calvinism: the five points," Standing Forth (Mentor 2002), 434-35.

The five points of Calvinism

http://journal.rts.edu/article/from-the-archives-the-five-points-of-calvinism/

Justification by Faith Alone

http://www.rts.edu/Site/Resources/M-L/docs/Nicole_Justification_MLSpring08.pdf

Remembering Roger Nicole

Here are John Frame's reflections on the passing of Roger Nicole (posted with permission):

Remembering Roger Nicole

This morning, the email announcement came that Roger Nicole had passed away, yesterday, Dec. 11, one day after his 95^th birthday. He was a great man. A Swiss Baptist, he studied at Gordon-Conwell (I think before they added Conwell) and doctored at Harvard. He taught at GCTS for many years, leaving there maybe twenty years ago to teach at RTS. He was unhappy with the administration of GCTS. When I met him in 2000, he greeted me very warmly, said that his years at RTS were the best years of his career. I would say the same about my ten years here.

            He taught and wrote about all theological topics. The atonement and biblical inerrancy were his particular specializations. He also had some neat lectures on the five points of Calvinism. He always thought of great ways of illustrating theological topics. Some years ago he spoke at CPC, comparing the fall of man to the fall of the two towers of the World Trade Center.

After I arrived at RTS, when he was in his eighties, he fought one more battle, to rid the ETS of Open Theists. He liked my work on that and visited my office often to share his thoughts and writings on the subject.

            Annette, his wife, died maybe five years ago. He lived at an assisted living place in Altamonte. This past year he recovered from a fall and surgery. His mind was often sharp even in his last week, but he went in and out of mental coherence. Dan Wright, our former reference librarian, was Roger’s best friend, stayed with him constantly at times.

            Roger loved the Lord, was uncommonly gracious to all. Everyone was his “dear brother.” We loved him dearly and will miss his kind presence. 

My statement on Roger Nicole’s Passing

December 16, 2010

I am so thankful for Roger's ministry. For many years I had read his works and heard of his great teaching, but I did not meet him until 2000, when I became his colleague. He greeted me warmly on my arrival at RTS, said that his years at RTS were the happiest of his professional life, a sentiment that is now mine as well. Though he was well into his 80s when I met him, he was engaged in a full-scale project, the elimination of open theism from the Evangelical Theological Society, a project I supported. He came by often during those years, and we had many discussions of his writings and mine on the subject. Though this was indeed a theological battle, both his friends and opponents commended his graciousness and kindness. Roger always listened, tried to find common ground, tried to express love and respect to his opponents. Though I was in my sixties, I looked to him as a father in the faith and as a model for my own spiritual walk. We did not always agree, but Roger was always my chief example of how to disagree without being disagreeable.

May God comfort his family, all our colleagues and friends with the sure hope of the resurrection. Indeed, Jesus lives, and so shall we.

~ 

John Frame,

Oviedo, Florida