A Book Recommendation
Kenneth W. Yates
Hebrews: Partners with Christ
(244 pages)
Free Grace Commentary Series
Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2019
Price: $22.00
The author, “Kenneth W. Yates, (DMin, Erskine Seminary; PhD, Dallas Theological Seminary), is Editor of the Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society and pastor of Little River Baptist Church in Jenkinsville, SC” (Yates, Hebrews, back cover). Yates writes with a pastor’s heart making Hebrews both accessible and applicable to the flock.
Most commentaries on Hebrews come from one of two reformed traditions, either Calvinism or Arminianism. While the Arminian knows he has eternal life, his concept of that life includes the possibility of losing it due to apostacy. On the other hand, the Calvinist, convinced eternal life cannot be lost, never knows whether or not he has believed with the right kind of faith (saving faith). For centuries these two traditions have held hostage the book of Hebrews.
Yates acknowledges that eternal life can never be lost. On the other hand, the warning passages in Hebrews are not hypothetical in nature for the believer (Calvinism), instead they present the very real possibility of the believer losing something (Arminianism), but not eternal life.
If we are going to properly understand the message of the book of Hebrews, we must clearly understand two basic truths of Scripture. The first that the believer in Jesus Christ has been eternally saved once and for all. The second is that the eternally saved believer can fail and fail miserably. (Yates, Hebrews, 219)
According to Yates, the author of Hebrews reveals that failure in the Christian life entails the loss of reward and more specifically the opportunity to be partners with Christ. This commentary is a delightful ray of light in the otherwise dark theological continuum between Calvinism and Arminianism.
Frank Tyler