The Collected Writings of James Leo Garrett Jr., 1950–2015: Volume Four: Theology, Part I

By James Leo Garrett, Jr. and Dr. Robert B. Stewart

James Leo Garrett Jr. has been called "the last of the gentlemen theologians" and "the dean of Southern Baptist theologians." In The Collected Writings of James Leo Garrett Jr., 1950-2015, the reader will find a truly dazzling collection of works that clearly evince the meticulous scholarship, the even-handed treatment, the biblical fidelity, the wide historical breadth, and the honest sincerity that have made the work and person of James Leo Garrett Jr. so esteemed and revered among so many for so long. Volume 4 is the first of two volumes that will contain his theological essays. Spanning sixty-five years and touching on topics from Baptist history, theology, ecclesiology, church history and biography, religious liberty, Roman Catholicism, and the Christian life, The Collected Writings of James Leo Garrett, Jr., 1950-2015 will inform and inspire readers regardless of their religious or denominational affiliations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: May 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781532607394

James Leo Garrett, Jr.

James Leo Garrett Jr. is Distinguished Professor of Theology, Emeritus, at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of a major two-volume work, Systematic Theology: Biblical, Historical, and Evangelical (Wipf & Stock, 2014), the monumental Baptist Theology: A Four-Century Study (2009), and numerous other books and articles. He currently lives in Nacogdoches, Texas.

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The Collected Writings of James Leo Garrett Jr.,

1950–2015

Volume 4: Theology, Part I

James Leo Garrett Jr.

Edited by

Wyman Lewis Richardson

and Rick Willis

Foreword by

Robert B. Stewart

The Collected Writings of James Leo Garrett Jr.,

1950–2015

Volume

4

: Theology, Part I

Copyright ©

2020

James Leo Garrett Jr. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers,

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8

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, Eugene, OR

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.

Resource Publications

An Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers

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paperback isbn: 978-1-5326-0738-7

hardcover isbn: 978-1-5326-0740-0

ebook isbn: 978-1-5326-0739-4

Manufactured in the U.S.A.

01/30/20

A Reappraisal of Chalcedon by James Leo Garrett Jr. used by permission of Review and Expositor. Copyright

1974

.

Historical Theology, 1945–1965 by James Leo Garrett Jr. used by permission of Southwestern Journal of Theology. Copyright 1965.

The History of Christian Doctrine: Retrospect and Prospect by James Leo Garrett Jr. used by permission of Review and Expositor. Copyright 1971.

Image of God by James Leo Garrett Jr. excerpted from Handbook of Themes for Preaching, edited by James W. Cox. Copyright 1991. Used by permission of Westminster John Knox Press.

Image of God by James Leo Garrett Jr. used by permission of Taylor and Frances Group, LLC. Copyright 1990.

Justification by James Leo Garrett Jr. used by permission of InterVarsity Press. Copyright 1990.

Millennium by James Leo Garrett Jr. used by permission of Broadman Press. Copyright 1958.

New Dimensions in Patristic Theology, 1980–1995 by James Leo Garrett Jr. used by permission of David Dockery. Copyright 1998.

Preface by James Leo Garrett Jr. used by permission of Broadman and Holman. Copyright 2010.

Restitution and Dissent among Early English Baptists: Part One by James Leo Garrett Jr. used by permission of The Baptist History and Heritage Society. Copyright 1977.

Restitution and Dissent among Early English Baptists: Part Two: Representative Late Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Century Sources by James Leo Garrett Jr. used by permission of The Baptist History and Heritage Society. Copyright 1978.

Satan by James Leo Garrett Jr. used by permission of Taylor and Frances Group, LLC. Copyright 1990.

Studies of the Sixteenth Century Protestant Reformation: The Literature in English, 1946-1966 by James Leo Garrett Jr. used by permission of Review and Expositor. Copyright 1974.

Three Present-Day Goliaths: Toynbee, Tillich, MacQuarrie by James Leo Garrett Jr. used by permission of Western Recorder. Copyright 1972.

Gratefully dedicated

to the memory of

Dr. Ray Summers,

my teacher of the New Testament (Greek and English)

and my colleague at

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

and Baylor University.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Foreword

Preface

Editors’ Introduction

Theological Issues

Millennium (1958)

Salvation: A Babel of Answers. (1961)

Three Present-Day Goliaths (1972)

God’s Loving-Giving Nature (1988)

Justification (1990)

Image of God (1990)

Satan (1990)

Image of God (1991)

Preface for Whosoever Will (2010)

Historical Theology

Luther’s Developing Doctrine of Baptism (1964)

Historical Theology: 1945–1965 (1965)

Studies of the Sixteenth-Century Protestant Reformation: The Literature in English, 1946–1966 (1967)

The History of Christian Doctrine: Retrospect and Prospect (1971)

A Reappraisal of Chalcedon (1974)

Restitution and Dissent among Early English Baptists: Part I (1977)

Restitution and Dissent among Early English Baptists: Part II—Representative Late Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Century Sources (1978)

Life of Luther (date unknown)

New Dimensions in Patristic Theology, 1980–1995 (1998)

Bibliography

Foreword

Little did I know that registering for a course in Cult Theology with James Leo Garrett Jr. would change the course of my life. When I began my studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1986 , I had no intention of earning a doctorate of any sort, much less becoming a professor myself. Leo Garrett’s influence in my life was a major influence in redirecting my perception of God’s plan for my life. I first met Leo Garrett at a party for the staff of Roberts Library of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. My wife, Marilyn, worked with his wife, Myrta, in the serials department of the library. I recall several student workers whispering as they spoke of him as if in awe. After he introduced himself to me, I found myself wondering why they were seemingly so intimidated by such a sweet man. I would soon learn the reason.

Every student in every class taught by Leo Garrett was challenged; they were also blessed. His knowledge of all the subjects on which he taught was voluminous and precise. His lectures were delivered seemingly without him needing to stop to catch his breath, hence his nickname of Gatling Gun Garrett. But the feeling that I had as a student under him was not one of fear or intimidation but instead one of respect and inspiration. I remember well a day in Systematic Theology II when a student asked a question that started with, Didn’t Calvin say . . .? Garrett’s answer to the student was, I believe that I have read everything that John Calvin wrote, and I don’t remember anything like that. I thought to myself, "Everything that John Calvin wrote?" The atmosphere one breathed in from studying with Leo Garrett was one of unrelenting precision and thoroughness. Those of us who were privileged to study with him owe him a debt that cannot be repaid directly to him, but we can endeavor to repay it indirectly as we teach those who study with us with the same precision and care. In fact, we should feel a moral obligation to do so.

One moment that caught me off guard was when he called me aside on the final day of class in Systematic Theology and offered me the opportunity to grade for him. Perhaps no student in the history of Southwestern was more overjoyed to be asked to enter into a time of indentured servitude. A revealing memory I have from my time as his grader is of him calling me into his office and telling me how disappointed he was with how one of his theology classes had performed on a midterm exam. It was as though he held himself responsible for their poor performance. He saw his role as a professor as one of academic discipleship. I was stunned when he asked my advice as to how he could responsibly bring their grades up on the final. I was surprised but extremely pleased when he listened to a suggestion I made and adapted the course to implement it. His primary concern was to teach to the best of his ability, not to Lord it over lowly students. I pray that that is my primary desire as a professor as well.

Gentleman is a word that comes to mind when thinking of Leo Garrett. On Wednesday morning, March 9, 1994, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary President Russell Dilday was fired by the trustees of the seminary. The attitude of most of the students and faculty was one of anger and dismay. Some, however, were jubilant and triumphant. Nobody seemed to have moderate feelings on the matter. The Theology of Augustine seminar that Dr. Garrett taught was scheduled to meet that afternoon. I remember well his words to us that afternoon. He said that it was a moment of deep grief for him and encouraged us to trust in God, and then put his head in his hands and began to weep. No anger, no triumphalism, no attacks on anyone’s character. We prayed together and then left because at that point none of us was emotionally capable of spending three hours discussing Augustinian theology. This depth of character and well of concern, coupled with his refusal to attack anyone regardless of their position on a controversial matter, led to Leo Garrett being held in high esteem by those on both sides of our denominational controversy.

Arguably the most difficult classes I had at Southwestern were with Leo Garrett; there is no doubt, however, that his classes required the most reading. He believed that one had no right to write on a subject if one had not read the primary sources in the field thoroughly. Furthermore, not only must one read the relevant material, one must understand it well enough to be able to place it in the context of that particular individual’s life’s work and also to place his life’s work in the broader context of the history of Christian thought. Simply put, Leo Garrett understood that history matters. For this reason his two-volume Systematic Theology not only serves to situate doctrines into their respective categories but also to place significant thinkers related to particular doctrines into their respective eras in the development of the doctrine being considered. In many ways it is as useful as a sourcebook, or starting point, for deeper research on a doctrine as it is as a systematic treatise. His faculty address History of Christian Doctrine: Retrospect and Prospect, delivered in Alumni Chapel at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Louisville, Kentucky, October 14, 1969—and included in this volume—is a masterful demonstration of both the depth and breadth of his understanding not only of Christian history but also of how the presuppositions of historians impact their writings on doctrinal development.

Reflecting back on those days when I first began to think that perhaps God was leading me into the PhD program, I recall being not only surprised to find myself at such a point—remember that when I started seminary I certainly had no intention of doing so—but also lacking confidence that I would be able to complete the course. My journey into and through the program was thus a pilgrimage that I took one step at a time. I told myself that I would take the Graduate Record Exam and if I did not make the required score, then that would be a word from God that I was not to pursue a doctoral degree. I would take the entrance exam and if I failed, then I would know that God had other plans for my life. On and on I traveled through the process. Each step of the way was one of trust. But the reason that I applied for admittance into the program in the first place was that every day I came home from class eager to read more and to study theology more deeply. Eventually I realized that I would be reading the same books and studying the same topics even if I were not a PhD student. Such was the impact that Leo Garrett had on my life; with or without a terminal degree I knew that for the rest of my life I would be a student of theology.

Reliable is a word that well describes Leo Garrett’s teaching style. He could be counted on to assign an enormous amount of reading in any class he taught. Additionally, you could be certain that you would be directly questioned at any point on anything covered in the assigned reading. In fact, in some classes you could see that he was working his way around the room. For this reason it was sometimes uncomfortable being one of his students. But it was never unfair. We need to be held accountable to do what is right. I can say for certain that I would not have studied as hard as I did if I had not known that each and every day might be the day that he looked in my direction and said, Mr. Stewart, tell us about . . .

Every doctrine must be tested and supported by Scripture. All of us as Baptist theologians give lip service to this truth but this is easier done in principle than in practice—especially when the doctrine being discussed is one which tends to stir the emotions. Garrett was no hypocrite. The question of the destiny of the unevangelized serves to offer an example of how he allowed the authority of Scripture to dictate how he would handle what is for many a controversial issue. Fair-minded scholars have taken differing positions on this question, some being inclined to soteriological exclusivism, others to soteriological inclusivism, and still others to soteriological universalism, to name only a few broad positions on a spectrum.¹ While respecting each person’s right to hold one’s own view on the matter, and seeking to understand their reasons for doing so, Leo Garrett understood the matter as one of what the Bible permitted us to teach, and put it thus.

We have no permission to tell the Muslim, Buddhist, or Hindu that he/she can be reconciled to God through a savior other than Jesus. We have no mandate to tell any human that the Logos for certain apart from any gospel story will eternally save him. . . . We have no right to say what God in his free and sovereign grace can or cannot do, or will or will not do, in freely bestowing and lavishing his grace. But our proclamation must be clear: Jesus is the only Savior of humanity!²

I recognize myself as somewhat of a theological amphibian in that I teach in two fields: philosophy and theology. As a class philosophers are prone to speculate about matters that Scripture does not directly address. For this reason I am grateful for his commitment to biblical authority because I am regularly reminded that although such speculation is often theologically profitable, it must never go against the clear teaching of the Bible.

Too many scholars are prone to isolation; they insulate themselves from the outside world, even from the local church. Such was never Leo Garrett’s practice. At heart he was a true Baptist, and as such committed to the local church in practice as well as in theory. For Leo Garrett the local church was the instrument through which God would change the world by making disciples and sending out ministers and missionaries to fulfill our Lord’s great commission (Matt. 28:18-20). So I was not overly surprised when in 1995, over lunch at an associational Sunday School training conference, he informed me that he and Myrta were now part of a church plant led by a pastor 10 years my junior. He shared excitedly about the joy he received from teaching a Bible study for young couples. For this reason and more it was appropriate that the Festschrift for him was entitled The People of God: Essays on the Believers’ Church.³ Simply put, Leo Garrett believed that to be a Baptist scholar one must be active in a local church, not simply affirm the local church in one’s theology of the Church.

This foreword is my attempt to honor the man who inspired me to a life of scholarship to the glory of God. Such an offering in no way compares to the debt that I owe James Leo Garrett Jr. The Lord knew the impact that Leo Garrett would have on my life even though I did not. I am profoundly grateful for the encouragement he gave me and for how he believed in me even when I was fairly certain that his confidence was misplaced. The legacy of Leo Garrett lies not only in the pages of this volume and the others that make up The Collected Writings of James Leo Garrett Jr. but also in the lives of his students. I am just one of the many that were blessed by studying under Leo Garrett. Those who read the writings in this collection will be similarly blessed in some small way. As I reflect on Leo Garrett’s influence on my life, I am reminded that one hallmark of Baptist theology is that God’s reconciling work accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus is wholly undeserved. There is a word for God’s undeserved favor, and it is in fact the word that keeps coming to my mind as I think of James Leo Garrett Jr: that word is grace!

Robert B. Stewart

Professor of Philosophy and Theology

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

October 2019

1

. For a more extensive though still not all inclusive sampling of positions presently held on the matter, see Stewart, Can Only One Religion Be True?: Surveying the Answers,

1

-

16

.

2

. Garrett, Should Southern Baptists Adopt the Synod of Dort?,

191

.

3

. Basden and Dockery, The People of God: Essays on the Believers’ Church.

Preface

During most of the years of my teaching at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary ( 1949 – 59 , 1 980 – 97 , post-retirement 1997 – 2003 ) and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary ( 195 9 – 73 ), I taught both systematic theology (Christian doctrines) and historical theology (history of Christian doctrines). This meant that by virtue of that dual teaching responsibility I was largely delivered from the stance of the New Testament and our time, sustained by leap-frogging over twenty centuries. Thus any constructive effort in systematic theology attempted by me was always undertaken with an awareness of the creeds, confessions of faith, and writings of theologians of the past. This volume is reflexive of that reality in that the writings included are drawn from systematic theology and historical theology

Dr. James Leo Garrett Jr.

Distinguished Professor of Theology, Emeritus

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Nacogdoches, Texas

August 2019

Editors’ Introduction

When I (Wyman Richardson) was a student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, I recall being aware of the significance of the moment when a representative from Eerdman’s Press presented Dr. Garrett with a recently published copy of volume two of his Systematic Theology in a chapel service. I would go on to use the second volume in Dr. Garrett’s Systematic Theology II class that very year. Since that time, it has become not at all uncommon for me to turn to the two large volumes of the Systematic Theology in sermon preparation work. I know that in those works I will discover a very helpful and balanced survey of whatever doctrine I am considering as it has been present in the various ages of the church’s history. It is with great excitement, then, that Dr. Willis and I present the smaller theological works contained in this fourth volume of The Collected Writings of James Leo Garrett Jr., 1950 - 20 15 . This volume, and the next, will stand, we hope, as helpful supplemental volumes to Dr. Garrett’s Systematic Theology .

I am grateful for the smaller pieces in the first section of the book. I believe these chapters may be most suitable for teaching in a small group or Sunday School settings.

Of particular interest to the reader will be Dr. Garrett’s Life of Luther, found in the second section of the book. It was originally scheduled to appear as part of Broadman Press’s Shepherd’s Notes series. When that series was canceled, however, the work was unable to make its way to the reading public. For this reason, Dr. Willis and I are quite pleased to make it available for the first time.

The essays in this volume range from very accessible theological overviews and summations to highly detailed handlings of theological considerations both historical and proper. The editors dare say that the contents of this volume are quite impressive and helpful. The reader will find here much that is interesting, thought provoking, and informative. The reader will also encounter in striking display those same qualities that have made the work and person of James Leo Garrett so very enduring, encouraging, and worthy of deep and reflective consideration.

I would like to thank, first, Rick Willis for his tremendous work on this volume. He has done a great job and his help has been invaluable. I am also grateful to Dr. Garrett for granting my request to bring co-editors onboard to help with a few of the volumes thereby expediting the completion of this eight-volume project. I would also like to thank Lisa Kelley and Audra Murray, members of Central Baptist Church in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Their fingerprints are on all of these volumes and their typing work on these pieces has been a great help. Also, my mother, Diane Richardson, of Sumter, South Carolina, has once again provided sorely needed proofreading assistance. I cannot thank her enough. Finally, my wife, Roni Richardson, and our daughter, Hannah, remain constant sources of encouragement.

On 12 April 2018, I (Rick Willis) attended James Leo Garrett Day at Baylor’s Truett Seminary. The Waco event was an occasion to honor one of Baylor’s distinguished alumni and to hear him lecture again. Many years had passed since I last saw Dr. Garrett, but when he saw me he greeted me by name and confirmed that I was still serving as a pastor in Lampasas—characteristically interested in keeping tabs on his former student. His lecture on Anabaptists, Global Missions, and Christian Unity inspired all of us in attendance and challenged us to mature and sacrificial discipleship rooted in the past and hopeful for the future. It was a great day.

At the same event I learned that many of Dr. Garrett’s writings were being assembled into a multi-volume collection. Such a repository of Dr. Garrett’s careful scholarship, reverence for our Triune God, and devotion to the mission of the churches was a thrilling prospect. I bought volume 1 that day. I also felt compelled to contact the editor, Wyman Richardson, and offer my help with an index or anything I could do to lighten the heavy load of such a huge project. When Wyman invited me and two others to co-edit remaining volumes with him, I could not have been happier for the chance to honor our teacher and promote his work in this way.

In the present volume, Dr. Garrett’s close attunement to scripture and his breadth of command in historical theology are on full display. We can particularly celebrate bringing his superb and previously unpublished survey of the life and writings of Martin Luther onto these pages. This book is rich in bibliography resources for the scholar and student. It provides reliable guidance for ministry and church life. It exemplifies approaching theological issues in a reflective and irenic spirit—so needed today in advancing the cause of Christ in the spirit of Christ.

I am grateful to Dr. Richardson for giving me the privilege of joining him in editing this volume, and to Dr. Garrett for graciously welcoming me into the project. May the work bear fruit as described by Jesus, Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old (Matt 13:52 NASB).

Wyman Richardson

Pastor, Central Baptist Church

North Little Rock, Arkansas

January 2020

Rick Willis

Pastor, First Baptist Church

Lampasas, Texas

Epiphany 2020

I.

Theological Issues

1

Millennium (1958)

¹

MILLENNIUM. The term applies to that doctrine which constitutes an interpretation of the thousand years mentioned six times in Rev 20 : 2–7 . The term itself is derived from the Latin, mille anni , thousand years, a translation of the Greek, chilia ete . Biblically, the concept is rooted in intertestamental apocalyptic literature, and historically, it has had various interpretations.

Premillennialism, expounded by certain early Christian fathers, teaches that Christ’s second advent will precede a reign by Christ upon the earth for one thousand years, together with two or more resurrections and two or more judgments. Pretribulational dispensational premillennialism, such as that taught by the Plymouth Brethren and appearing in the Scofield Reference Bible, differs from historic premillennialism in its doctrine of two comings, in the first of which Christ is to deliver Christians by the rapture from the tribulation period; it differs also in its seven-period interpretation of history and stress upon the postponement of the kingdom. Postmillennialism, which is somewhat similar to the medieval pure church expectation of Joachim of Floris and the Franciscan Spirituals and was first articulated by Daniel Whitby (1638–1726), teaches that a thousand years of peace and righteousness on the earth, inaugurated by the power of the gospel, will be followed by Christ’s second advent, one general resurrection, one general judgment, and the eternal order.

Still another interpretation is amillennialism, teaching that the thousand years is not a future era of earthly history and that Christ’s second advent, the resurrection, and the judgment will terminate history and inaugurate eternity. Amillennialism consists of at least two types, the Augustinian view, which interprets the millennium as the interadventual or Christian era, and the view of Theodor Friedrich Dethlof Kliefoth (1810–95), that it is the eternal, heavenly state itself.

Not until the 20th century has millennial doctrine become a major issue among Baptists. Certain English Baptists participated in the Fifth Monarchy Movement (c. 1649–61), and a few American Baptists became followers of William Miller’s Adventism. Major Baptist confessions prior to this century did not define or articulate the doctrine. Baptists in the contemporary period tend principally toward premillennialism or amillennialism.²

1

. This article appeared in Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists,

2

:

857–58

.

2

. Allis, Prophecy and the Church. Carroll, Revelation. Chafer, Systematic Theology, vol.

4

. Charles, A Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life. Jones, The Things that Shall Be Hereafter. Kromminga, The Millennium in the Church. Ladd, Crucial Questions about the Kingdom of God. McDowell, The Meaning and Message of Revelation. Rutgers, Premillennialism in America. Scofield Reference Bible. Summers, Worthy Is the Lamb.

2

Salvation: A Babel of Answers. (1961)

³

Saved by His power divine,

Saved to new life sublime!

Life now is sweet and my joy is complete,

For I’m saved, saved, saved!

—Jack P. Scholfield

The words of the song fade away. In the quiet moments that follow one begins to think. What is salvation? What does this word mean to my fellow students on the campus? When I speak of being saved, what meaning do I convey to others? Indeed, there is a babel of answers as to what salvation is, how it is received, and what its effects and demands are. Among the answers given are the following:

Salvation According to the Church of Christ

Most churches which today bear the name Church of Christ are historically descended from the thought and work of Alexander and Thomas Campbell, Scotch-Irish immigrants to the United States who renounced their Presbyterianism and, after a brief identification with the Baptists, established a Christian unity and restoration movement. At the end of the nineteenth century a division occurred among these churches, and the two religious bodies known today as the Disciples of Christ and the Church of Christ resulted.⁴

According to the Church of Christ, faith in Jesus Christ does not procure salvation unless one has further acts of obedience.⁵ Nineteenth-century leaders of the Campbell movement stressed five essentials: faith, repentance, baptism by immersion, remission of sins, and the gift of the Holy Spirit.⁶ A more common contemporary answer is that in addition to belief in Christ, repentance, confession of faith, and baptism by immersion are necessary to salvation.⁷ Thus water baptism is for (in order to obtain) the remission of past sins.⁸ Baptism brings the formal remission of sins.⁹ Since the time of the death of Christ, it has been absolutely necessary for salvation.

Faith, according to the Church of Christ, is chiefly the acceptance of the credibility of the biblical record in its witness to Christ.¹⁰ Salvation is, accordingly, not wrought directly by the Holy Spirit in a person-to-person confrontation or experience. The Holy Spirit worked to inspire the Scriptures but relies upon the biblical record for the salvation of present-day Christians.¹¹ Some members of the Church of Christ have insisted that salvation is limited to members of the Church of Christ, and they are most emphatic to claim that the Church of Christ does not constitute a denomination.¹²

Mormon Doctrine of Salvation

Mormonism, or the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, is the product of the teaching of its founder, Joseph Smith, and other leading Mormon teachers such as Sidney Rigdon and Brigham Young. Its sacred books include in addition to the Bible the Book of Mormon, Doctrines and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price.

According to Mormon doctrine man is a union of a pre-existent spirit with a body.¹³ The fall of man, which thrust him into mortality, brought to his posterity ills and imperfections. Yet, Mormons teach, men will be punished for their own sins, not for Adam’s transgression.¹⁴ Thus salvation is necessary.

Salvation is now available to all men. According to the Mormon Articles, salvation is through the atonement of Christ and also by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.¹⁵ Emphasis has fallen upon the laws and ordinances. These are listed as faith in Christ, repentance, baptism by immersion, and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Spirit.¹⁶

According to Mormon theology, salvation will be available in the future to all men. Mormons have two distinctive practices which undergird their gospel of the dead. One is the practice of baptism for the dead, which they claim to be based upon 1 Cor 15:29. Such a baptism may be for those who have refused the gospel or for those who have never heard it. In itself it cannot guarantee salvation, since the other essentials enumerated above must be present.

The other distinctive Mormon practice is sealing for eternity, which is not the same as plurality of wives but involves a sealing of man and woman for eternity. Mormon doctrine makes heavenly bliss of women dependent upon a relationship to a man. Furthermore, Mormonism rejects everlasting punishment. There are, however, levels or degrees of eternal salvation. Some will be on the celestial level and will be gods, prerequisite for which is sealing for eternity. Other levels include the terrestrial and the telestial, which will be future abodes on other planets.

Mormons look to the establishment of a millennial kingdom through the return of Christ. The tribes of Judah (Jews) are to be gathered to holy Jerusalem (Rev 21:10), that is, literal Jerusalem. The tribes of Israel (the rest of mankind who are heirs of promise) are to be gathered to new Jerusalem (Rev 21:2), that is, Independence, Missouri. The gospel is to be preached to all who live or who have died without obeying the gospel.¹⁷

Unitarian Doctrine of Salvation

Modern Unitarianism, although historically rooted in the antitrinitarianism of sixteenth-century Europe, is essentially non-Christian. The non-Christian sources of its teaching have been acknowledged.¹⁸ Since the rise of the Free Religion Association in 1867, American Unitarianism has become increasingly naturalistic and non-Christian.¹⁹ Throughout its history it has been noncreedal, stressing practical morality rather than theological affirmation. However, theological presuppositions underline Unitarian teaching.

According to modern Unitarianism, man does not need divine salvation from sin. American Unitarianism arose on the rejection of Calvinistic views of original sin and of Christ’s atonement as much as on a pronounced rejection of the Trinity and the deity of Christ. Man, according to Unitarianism, is a creature of God. He is neither good nor evil—he is a creature of great potentials.²⁰ He is a being, imperfect but progressive, with native capacity for the discovery of truth, for moral development, for religious feeling, and for the outgrowth of sin.²¹ Man has been imperfect, but he has stumbled on through ignorance and waywardness, on through sorrow and superstition, on to higher civilization and nobler character. That he has more good than evil is evident by the fact of creation, for otherwise creation would be a horrible blunder.²² Man must stand on the ground of his own self-respect.²³

Salvation, a term scarcely used by contemporary Unitarians, is man’s own achievement—the turning of the penitent heart through divine disciplines to its better estate.²⁴ Unitarians do