Charles Ryrie on Repentance and Faith, Pt. 3

Ryrie’s view that “Every Christian will bear spiritual fruit. Somewhere, sometime, somehow”[1], is also supported by the parable of Jesus in Luke 8:4-15, often referred to as “The Parable of the Sower” (although I would maybe call it “The Parable of the Soils” because it really is about 4 types of soils). But regardless of what title we give to it, look at the types of soils that Jesus talks about in verses 12-15. Jesus says that “the seed is the word of God” (v. 11). Then Jesus goes on to describe the four types of soils:

1) The first type of soil is clearly a picture of the unsaved person (Lk. 8:12). This is the soil located beside the road. And Jesus explains and says that “those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they may not believe and be saved.” So this type of soil represents the unsaved person. I think there is agreement even from Calvinists on this. So there is really no debate on that among Calvinists and Free Grace people, at least from everything that I’ve heard. The debate centers more around the next two types of soil. So now let’s look at the next type of soil.

2) The second type of soil is the rocky soil (Lk. 8:13). Jesus explains and says, “And those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away” (Lk. 8:13). Jesus says that these people “receive” and “believe” the Word of God, i.e. the gospel message (cf. Rom. 10:16-17). Now let’s compare Scripture with Scripture. Who are those who “receive” and “believe” the Word of God? John 1:12 says, “But as many as RECEIVED Him [the Word], to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who BELIEVE in His name” (Jn. 1:12). And not only that, but they “receive the word with joy” (Lk. 8:13). So that’s a fruit, is it not? The Bible says, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, JOY, peace,” etc. (Gal. 5:22). According to the Bible, “joy” is a fruit of the Spirit! So those on the rocky soil not only got saved, but they also had fruit: “joy”! You say, “Yes, but they fell away.” Quite true, but that only highlights the fact that Calvinism is unbiblical, because “let God be true and every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4). What do I mean? Well, think about it: These people on the rocky soil are clearly believers according to the testimony of the Word of God, and yet Jesus says that they fell away.[2] So in other words, Jesus is saying that true believers can fall away! But John Calvin says that it’s impossible for true believers to fall away; Calvin says when that happens it shows they were never really saved. So we have Jesus teaching one thing, and Calvin another. And when it comes to Jesus vs. John Calvin, who’s right? Obviously Jesus is right and Calvin is wrong. Calvinists twist the Scriptures and say, “Well this type of soil was never saved because they fell away.” Well, as William Tyndale would say, “That’s measuring the yardstick by the cloth; that’s backwards!”[3] First God is true, and the Bible is true; and we measure man’s teachings by the Bible, not the Bible by man’s teachings. That’s backwards! So my point is that this second type of soil was fruitful: the believers had “joy”, and this supports Ryrie’s statement that “Every Christian will bear spiritual fruit.”

3) The third type of soil is the thorny soil (Lk. 8:14). Jesus says that, “the seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.” Notice that Jesus doesn’t categorically say that there was “no fruit” – but rather He says there was “no fruit to maturity”! So there was fruit, it just didn’t grow to maturity. If you look at the parallel passages in Matthew 13:22 and Mark 4:18-19, Jesus says that the Word of God in this person’s life “becomes unfruitful” (Matt. 13:22; Mk. 4:19), indicating that it was at first fruitful. It was initially fruitful. So this also supports Ryrie’s statement that “Every Christian will bear spiritual fruit.”[4] Ryrie doesn’t say, “Every Christian will bear spiritual fruit to maturity.” He just says they will bear spiritual fruit “Somewhere, sometime, somehow.” And that’s exactly the picture that Jesus gives to us!

4) The fourth type of soil is the good soil (Lk. 8:15). Jesus says that “the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.” So notice that Jesus qualifies it and says that these people “bear fruit with perseverance.” This is in contrast to the two previous types of soils (Lk. 8:13, 14), because although they did bear fruit, it was not “with perseverance” (Lk. 8:15). So this fourth type of soil bears fruit to maturity. And this also supports Ryrie’s statement that “Every Christian will bear spiritual fruit.” That’s my point. The rocky soil had fruit (Lk. 8:13). The thorny soil had fruit (Lk. 8:14). And the good soil had fruit (Lk. 8:15). They all had spiritual fruit! So again, what Jesus says in “The Parable of the Soils” supports Ryrie’s statement that “Every Christian will bear spiritual fruit. Somewhere, sometime, somehow.” 

 

 

References:

 

[1] Charles Ryrie, So Great Salvation (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1989), p. 45.

 

[2] See Dr. Constable’s Notes on Luke. Commenting on Luke 8:13-14, Constable is correct to point out that: “In both cases, in rocky soil and among thorns, there was some initial faith in Jesus, and later a turning away from Him in unbelief. Jesus said that they believed: they were saved. Jesus did not say they lost their salvation. That is impossible (cf. John 10:28; Rom. 8:31-39). He said they turned away in unbelief, that is, they believed for a while and then stopped believing. ‘Believers are held by the promise of God, not by their own faithfulness or by the endurance of their faith. … Eternal salvation occurs the moment that a person believes the promise of the gospel. Thus it cannot and does not depend on continuing to believe the gospel.’ [Robert N. Wilkin, Confident in Christ, p. 28.] In Jesus’ day, some people genuinely believed on Him and then had doubts (e.g., John the Baptist). Jesus used the phrase ‘fall away’ (Gr. skandalizomai) of ‘anyone’ in 7:23: Anyone is capable of doing this. Luke used a different Greek word here (8:13, aphisteme), but only because he preferred it, not because it has a different meaning. Today, true believers sometimes stop believing what they previously believed because of information they receive that convinces them their former faith was wrong (e.g., youths who abandon their faith in college; cf. 2 Cor. 11:3). Luke’s treatment of this passage shows his concern about apostasy (i.e., departure from the truth) under persecution. Those of us who have grown up in ‘Christian’ countries sometimes fail to appreciate the fact that genuine Christians have renounced their faith in Jesus under severe persecution (e.g., Peter, though his failure was short-lived). We may tend to think that people who do this were never genuine believers. That may be true in some cases. However, we need to remember that for every Christian martyr who died refusing to renounce his faith—there were other believers who escaped death by renouncing it. To say that their behavior showed that they never truly believed is naive and unbiblical (cf. 19:11-27; 2 Tim. 2:12-13; 4:10a).”

[3] Notice what William Tyndale says in this regard: “No, they say, the Scripture is so hard, that you could never understand it except by the doctors. That is, I must measure the yardstick by the cloth. Here are twenty cloths of diverse lengths and of various breadths: how shall I be sure of the length of the yardstick by them? I suppose, rather, I must be first sure of the length of the yardstick, and thereby measure and judge the cloths. If I must first believe the doctor, then the doctor is true first, and the truth of the Scripture depends of his truth; and so the truth of God springs from the truth of man. Thus Antichrist turns the roots of the trees upward. What is the cause that we damn some of Origen’s works, and allow others? How do we know that some is heresy and some is not? By the Scripture, I believe. How do we know that St. Augustine (which is the best, or one of the best, that ever wrote about the Scripture) wrote many things that are amiss at the beginning, as many other doctors do? Truly, by the Scriptures – as he himself well-perceived afterward, when he looked more diligently at them, and revoked many things. He wrote of many things which he did not understand when he was newly converted, before he had thoroughly seen the Scriptures; and when he followed the opinions of Plato, and the common persuasions of man’s wisdom that were then famous.” (William Tyndale, The Obedience of a Christian Man, published in the year 1528.)

[4] Some examples that Ryrie gives of "spiritual fruit" are: 1) having "peace with God" (Rom. 5:1) as a result of justification; therefore every believer has this fruit! This "spiritual fruit" (i.e. "peace", cf. Gal. 5:22) is distinct from outward good works. 2) the angels in heaven "rejoicing" after a person gets saved (see Luke 15:7, 10). This is also "spiritual fruit" (i.e. joy, cf. Gal. 5:22) that results from the believer's faith in Christ; this "spiritual fruit" is distinct from outward good deeds. But in this case it produces good deeds in heaven (not even necessarily in the life of the believer) because the angels in heaven rejoice!