Logos Bible Software has done yet another great disservice to the church by offering a commentary on Hebrews written by a 19th-century proponent of universal salvation, and justification by faith plus works.

From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Logos Bible Software has done yet another great disservice to the church by offering a commentary on Hebrews written by a 19th-century proponent of universal salvation, and justification by faith plus works.

In the past we have published articles critical of the popular Logos Bible Software, because of its management's decision to put aside any pretense of genuine Protestantism, and become a theological chameleon. In 2011 we explained why we had ceased offering Logos products in our online resource store.

A Decision Confirmed

A year later our decision was confirmed when Logos hired a Roman Catholic product manager who immediately began pushing additions to the Logos library from Vatican sources, under the slogan ad majorem Dei gloriam ("For the greater glory of God"), which is the motto of the Jesuits, a virulently anti-Protestant religious order within Roman Catholicism - who now for the first time in history have one of their own on the papal throne. One of the first of the new wave of Catholic books added to the Logos collection was Queen Mother: A Biblical Theology of Mary's Queenship.

Logos president Bob Pritchett wrote to us protesting our description of the company as having become "a willing missionary arm of the Vatican," but subsequent release of many more Romanist additions to the Logos Library only confirmed that observation.

Logos has also added a 34-volume collection of the works of Anglican bishop N. T. Wright of "New Perspective on Paul" infamy. Wright, along with Rome, teaches salvation commencing with water baptism and justification by faith plus works. Some (including the late D. James Kennedy) were deceived into support of Wright because he took a strong stand in defense of the historicity of the bodily resurrection of Christ. But as we observed, it is not enough for a man to oppose some element of bad theology. We can be deceived if we only look at what a man says he is against. We must also look carefully at what he himself actually believes.

Another Apostate Theologian

Logos' January 2014 electronic newsletter gives yet another example of their continued merchandising of apostasy. Their free book of the month for January was the Hebrews volume of the Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges. Their advertisement said,

F. W. Farrar analyzes the Greek text, offering his observations on the core questions that surround the book: who wrote it, and when? He also examines Hebrews' theology and canonicity. Don't miss your chance to get this book for free!

What Logos neglected to tell their readers is that Frederick William Farrar (1831-1903), an Anglican cleric who rose to be Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, was an early and strong promoter of the heresy of "Christian universalism" or "universal reconciliation" - the false doctrine that all human beings will eventually be saved, even after death. He called the doctrine of the eternal punishment of the lost an "abominable fancy." His book Eternal Hope,¹ comprising five sermons he preached on the subject at Westminster Abbey in 1877, was one of the publications in which he set forth his views.

Rome's "False Doctrine...Has Many Secret Friends!"

Sound men in the Church of England, such as Bishop J. C. Ryle, publicly opposed Farrar. Ryle called Farrar's "Eternal Hope" a "false hope" and defended the Biblical doctrines of the eternal punishment of the lost, and no opportunity for repentance after death, but only their appearance before the judgment seat of Christ to hear their sentence of eternal death pronounced. Ryle rightly asserted that "our state in the unseen world of eternity depends entirely on what we are in time." Farrar claimed not to believe the Roman doctrine of purgatory, but Ryle observed, "I fear the false doctrine of Romish purgatory has many secret friends even within the pale of the Church of England!"²

It is noteworthy that Farrar's book on Hebrews began with a repudiation by its editor of the authentic or Received text of the Greek New Testament, and an embrace of the counterfeit, eclectic text of Westcott and Hort that is based on text sources long ago rejected by the true church as unauthentic, but retained by Rome.

Farrar also promoted a heterodox view of justification by faith. He asserts that when the Apostle Paul speaks of "justification by faith" in his epistles he has in mind "life in Christ, the absolute personal communion with His death and resurrection" and that the writer to the Hebrews is asserting that "the upright man shall be saved by his faithfulness."³ These are also the heresies of present-day faith-plus-works teachers such as N. T. Wright, Norman Shepherd, and Richard B. Gaffin, Jr., who echoes some of Farrar's phrases when he writes of salvation by means of an "existential union" with Christ commencing with water baptism, and culminating in a so-called "second justification" based on works at the Last Judgment.

A Danger to the True Church

We could say much more about Farrar's theology, but these points suffice to draw a conclusion: A man who believes these things is an infidel, and has absolutely nothing to say to the true Church of Jesus Christ. Farrar's teachings echo the errors of Roman Catholicism. He has helped to lead many astray, including growing numbers of present-day Hyperdispensationalists who have embraced his error of "universal reconciliation." No such man could possibly truly understand the inspired words of the writer to the Hebrews concerning the person and work of Christ, or teach them properly:

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost [in the original, save perfectly and completely] those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the people's, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. (Hebrews 7:25-27)

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation. (Hebrews 9:27-28)

Logos Bible Software has done yet another great disservice to the church by presenting Farrar's heretical book as a valuable treasure to be read and studied by the undiscerning.

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1).

 

 

References:

1. Frederick W. Farrar, Eternal Hope: Five Sermons Preached in Westminster Abbey, November and December, 1877 (New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1878).

2. John Charles Ryle, Thoughts On Immortality, With Some Remarks on Canon Farrar's 'Eternal Hope' and Kindred Subjects (London: William Hunt & Co., 1883), pages 36 and 38.

3. Farrar, pages xli - xlii. These page numbers are from the original volume, those in the Logos edition vary slightly.

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