The Effective Warning

Imagine, for a moment (because it requires extensive imagination), that I am a wealthy fellow who decides to build a wonderful house at the top of a tall mountain. Of course, I have to get to my house, so I build a road from the bottom to the top. The mountainside is steep in places, so the road is actually somewhat dangerous. To preclude any problems, then, I put a sign at the bottom of the road. "Caution! Dangerous Road! If you don't drive carefully, you could go off the road!" You know ... bright yellow sign ... reflective lettering. You can't miss it. Well, in the entire time that I own the house I have many visitors, but not one ever goes off the road. What, in this imaginary scenario, do you conclude? Would you say, "Oh, he lied. No one went off the road, so it couldn't happen."? Or would you conclude that the warning was effective and just because no one did go off the road is no reason to assume that no one could go off the road -- no reason to conclude that my warning was a false one?

There is a fascinating passage in Acts. You know the story. Paul has been arrested in Jerusalem and is being sent to Rome for a hearing with Caesar. On the journey, the ship encounters bad weather. So bad is the storm that the crew and the passengers begin to worry about survival. But one morning Paul announces to everyone the good news:

"Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.' So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island" (Acts 27:22-26).

Well, there it was, the assurance from God Himself that no one would die in this storm. The outcome was sure. The ship would be lost, but everyone was certain to survive.

An odd thing, though. The story continues with a twist. After 14 nights of storm and no relief in sight, the crew started to panic. They headed for the life raft intending to escape with their lives. Read what Paul says next: "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved" (Act 27:31). Okay, now, see? This is confusing. Paul had a very clear statement from God. No one would die. Now he has a warning. If the crew leaves, "you cannot be saved." If the sailors escaped, everyone would die. How was that possible? Paul already had God's word on it that everyone would live.

Well, the centurion listened, the soldiers cut loose the life boats (Acts 27:32), and, although the ship was lost, "all were brought safely to land" (Acts 27:44).

Here we have the effective warning. Like my imaginary caution on that winding road, Paul gave an actual caution. When he gave it, he knew the outcome. There was no way, in the final analysis, that anyone would die. So what do we conclude? As in my imaginary version, you can conclude that Paul lied. He knew no one would actually die, so the warning was bogus. Or you can conclude that, just because no one did die is no reason to assume it wasn't a valid warning. Instead, the warning was genuine ... but effective.

You see, just because the outcome was certain didn't mean that it was not possible for them to die if they violated Paul's warning. It simply meant that God knew before Paul gave the warning what the response to the warning would be. God knew (more likely assured) that the warning would be effective. That is, if the sailors had left the ship, everyone would have died ... and God would have been wrong in His assurance to Paul that no one would have died. In human terms, that was "possible". In God's terms, it didn't happen.

There is one particular discussion topic that bears the very same earmarks ... the topic of whether or not a believer can lose his or her salvation. One side points to the promises that the outcome is certain, passages like John 5:24 ("He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.") or Philippians 1:6 ("He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.") or Jesus's assurance that "no one will snatch them out of My hand" (John 10:28). (Trust me ... there are lots of these promise passages.) The other side is not unbiblical. They point out the warnings -- the genuine biblical warnings -- about what will happen if you transgress this or that. You'll find lots of these as well, such as Hebrews 6:4-6 ("It is impossible ... to restore them again to repentance...") or John 15 ("If anyone does not abide in Me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned."). Perhaps, after having seen my imaginary sign story or, better yet, Paul's genuine warning in the face of a genuine guarantee from God, you might begin to see what is going on here. One set of passages gives the promise of the outcome: "There will be no loss of [eternal] life among you." The other set of passages gives the immediate warning: "Unless [you] stay in [Christ], you cannot be saved." And we have our dilemma. We can assume that one set of passages or the other (or both) are simply wrong ... or we can assume that we have genuine warnings that effectively produce the result God intends in the final outcome, and both sets of passages are accurate.

You choose.