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" A case for mixed -audience with reference to the warning passages in the book of Hebrews "
C. Adrian Thomas
B. M. Fanning
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Latin Dissertation
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| Language of Document
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English
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| Record Number
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55155
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| Doc. No
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TL25109
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| Call number
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3217228
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| Main Entry
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C. Adrian Thomas
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| Title & Author
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A case for mixed -audience with reference to the warning passages in the book of Hebrews\ C. Adrian Thomas
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| College
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Dallas Theological Seminary
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| Date
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2006
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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2006
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| Page No
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372
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| Abstract
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The warning passages in Hebrews have long been a source of irritation in the old Calvinistic-Arminian debate. But the difficulties they pose reach back to the earliest Christian times. As the history of their interpretation (see chap. 2) shows, there has been no lack of proposed solutions; and yet both the exegetical-theological debate and the personal anxiety among Christians over them continue. The purpose of this dissertation is not to add an entirely new proposal to the existing list, but to lend exegetical support to the traditional Calvinistic view that the warnings in Hebrews are addressed to false professors. Specifically, it argues that the best way to understand these passages is to view them in the context of a mixed-community. That is, the author of Hebrews writes under the assumption that his community, like any other NT community, is a professing community which consists of both true and false believers, and in which profession must be tested. This further means that profession is not necessarily a sign that one possesses saving faith. A mixed-community in this context, therefore, is one in which both true and false profession are present. After the preliminary issues in chapter 1, chapter 2 surveys the history of interpretation, showing that the same basic theological/interpretative issues continue to attend these passages, even among the five main views currently in contention. Chapter 3 is an attempt to define more clearly the "dreaded sin" that the warnings have in view. This is important because the way we define this sin affects the way we construct our view of the warnings, and this has lead to much misunderstanding and abuse throughout the history of the church. Chapter 4 forms the core of this work. It provides several lines of exegetical defense for our thesis, and discusses at length the author's view of saving faith. Both exegetically and theologically, the author provides an overall paradigm for understanding the warning passages. That is, saving faith is persevering faith, and perseverance in the faith professed in Jesus is evidence that one has saving faith. The key point of this paradigm is that it gives credence to the fact that false profession is not an artificial creation but an exegetically legitimate category within the Christian community. Chapter 5 summarizes the discussion and provides several theological and practical conclusions.
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| Subject
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Philosophy, religion and theology; False profession; Hebrews (letter to the); Mixed-audience; Saving faith; Warning passages; Bible; Theology; 0321:Bible; 0469:Theology
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B. M. Fanning
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Dallas Theological Seminary
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