| Overview: The Purpose of the Epistle | | The Message and the Warnings: Four Views | | Summary Verses and Thematic Development | | The Summary Verses | | Summary of the Summary Verses | | The Thematic Development of Hebrews | | The Thematic Development of the First Two Chapters | | Analysis of the Evidence | | "Salvation" in the Epistle to the Hebrews |
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SUMMARY OF THE SUMMARY VERSES:
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Theological Position |
Prohibited by the Language of the verse |
Total points for |
Total points against |
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Inheritance View |
None |
49 |
0 |
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Perseverance of the Saints (Calvinism) |
Four of the eight summary verses categorically prohibit the Calvinist view |
9 |
58 |
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Arminian |
None |
8 |
9 |
Each summary verse ranged from -10 to 10 in it's support of a particular theological heuristic. Out of these eight summary verses, therefore, the lowest possible score would be negative eighty (-80) and the highest possible score would be to eighty (80).
The inheritance view is strongly inferred by the language of these verses (garnering 48, with no negative points weighing against that total. It is never categorically prohibited by any of these verses, nor is there a single term or nuance that even weights against the inheritance position. It is clearly superior to the Calvinist and Arminian interpretation of these summary verses.
The aggregate "Arminian" score is a negative one (-1), showing that the theme of the Epistle to the Hebrews, as presented repeatedly within the summary verses, is almost neutral, neither prohibiting, nor specifically advancing this theological.
The aggregate score for the Calvinist position is negative 49 out of a maximum possible negative score of -80. This included four verses which included language that was categorically incompatible with the Calvinist position. This is not to say that Calvinism is right or wrong. What it does say, however, is that, if the doctrine of the "perseverance of the saints," is be true, must be shown to be so from somewhere else in Scripture. There is no support for this doctrine in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
It is noteworthy that, although Calvinists commonly regard their position as more "intellectual" than Arminianism, the Calvinist position is, by far, the weakest interpretative framework for the summary verses of Hebrews. None of the above verses categorically prohibits the Arminian view (although the use of the term "reward" in Hebrews 10:35-36 comes close), and the pros and cons are nearly equal in weight for an Arminian interpretation of the summary verses. The Calvinist view, on the other hand, is categorically impossible in fully half of these verses, and the "cons" outweight the "pros" by a ratio of more than six to one.
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Summary of the Summary Verses |
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