I just learned that Zane Hodges has passed away. He was well-known for advocating that one need not persevere in the faith in order to be saved. He also favored the Majority Text over eclectic texts of the New Testament.
Dr. Daniel Wallace was one of his students and has posted some fascinating reflections on Hodges’s life. His remarks about Hodges’s relationship to S. L. Johnson are particularly interesting.
“Zane Hodges (1933–2008)” – by Daniel Wallace (Parchement and Pen)
4 Comments
Lou Martuneac
Greetings:
I read your comments at Brother Wallace’s blog. Glad you responded well to him.
I am one who rejects both the Lordship Salvation (LS) of John MacArthur and the Crossless Gospel (CG) of Zane Hodges.
IMO, LS errs by addition and the CG errs by subtraction.
As for Hodges, his final article, which one man in the other referenced is titled, The Hydra’s Other Head: Theological Legalism encapsulates what will be the lasting and defining legacy of Zane Hodges. It exemplifies his slide into an ever deepening hole of reductionist heresy in regard to the content of saving faith. This is link is the first in an on going series that addresses the Hydra’s Head article by Hodges.
http://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2008/10/zane-hodges-legalism-is-not-very-nice.html
and one more-
http://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2008/10/stakes-through-heart-of-zane-hodgess.html
In short, Hodges (and Wilkin/GES) taught that a lost man does not have to be aware of, know, understand or believe in the deity, death and/or resurrection of Christ, but can still be born again.
Here are a few links to articles that address this issue:
1) The multi-part series by Ps. Tom Stegall titled, The Tragedy of the “Crossless” Gospel. These are in PDF form.
http://www.duluthbible.org/246451.ihtml
2) One of my many articles on the Crossless Gospel
http://www.indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2007/12/is-crossless-label-right-label.html
3) The Heresy of the CG Verified & Affirmed
http://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2008/05/heresy-of-crossless-gospel-verifed-and.html
Finally, let me assure you that the teaching of Hodges’s and Wilkin’s reductionist view of the content of saving faith does not represent or speak for the broad cross section of Free Grace people. The GES, under Hodges’s reductionist assault on the Person and finished work of Jesus Christ was major reason for the GES having become a rapidly shrinking cell of theological extremists. See-
http://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2008/05/is-re-defined-free-grace-theology-free.html
And in the spirit of balance, here is one of my articles on Lordship Salvation. See-
http://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2008/07/summary-of-lordship-salvation-on-single.html
Kind regards,
LM
Richard Kline, Th.M
I take issue with LM’s quote that Professor Hodges believed that “a lost man does not have to be aware of, know, understand, or believe in the deity, death, and/or resurrection of Christ, but can still be born again.
Sorry, LM, I was there during the 1980’s at DTS, and I saw how they were dealing with John MacArthur/Lordship Salvation, etc. I had the privilege of studying with Zane Hodges. He never taught what you quoted. He was a solid grace man, no more, no less. Your information is incorrect.
Lou Martuneac
Brother Richard:
I’m sorry, but you are in (partial) error. Hodges did teach and his GES followers do in fact believe the lost can be born again apart from knowing, understanding or believing in the Lord’s deity, death and/or resurrection.
Hodges’s view was no fully evident in the 80’s. However, with his Deserted Island scenario from the 2000 article How to Lead people to Christ it was fully evident.
Hodges corrupted the gospel of grace through an egregious form of reductionism. He stripped the Gospel of grace of the necessary content of saving faith. This is an irrefutable fact that can be verified by his own and many of the GES articles.
His legacy is a tragedy of a Crossless gospel. His final article The Hydra’s Other Head: Theological Legalism eliminated any remaining doubt that he had fallen into gross doctrinal error.
I have provided the links to articles that document, with commentary, the reductionism of Hodges and various GES men.
LM
Lou Martuneac
Richard/All:
The best series written on the Crossless gospel of Hodges and GES is by Pastor Tom Stegall. It is tiled, The Tragedy of the “Crossless” Gospel.
This series has been expanded into a new book, The Gospel of Christ: A Biblical Response to the Crossless Gospel Regarding the Contents of Saving Faith.
You can download it at the Grace Family Journal and download it in PDF form. Just look for each of the nine parts and download as you go. They clearly show the reductionist non-saving teachings that were originated by Hodges and are propagated solely by the GES.
LM