Discuss this article.
In 1900, a 29-year-old man entered the ministry as a Presbyterian pastor. From 1914 until 1924, he traveled as a popular Bible lecturer. In 1924, this man founded Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) where he served as president until his death in 1952. His eight-volume Systematic Theology was published in 1948 as the first dispensational, premillenial systematic theology. His name is Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer.
Chafer and others associated with DTS are the chief proponents of so-called easy-believism. Easy-believism teaches conversion through faith alone. It denies that repentance and surrender to Christ are components of salvation. Christian scholars associated with DTS such as John Walvoord, J. Dwight Pentecost, Merrill Unger, Howard Hendricks, Haddon Robinson, Zane Hodges, Charles Ryrie, etc., have promoted this doctrine within Evangelicalism. Evangelical leaders read these men’s writings and use them in their Bible schools and churches.
Before Chafer, another man’s Systematic Theology was found on evangelical bookshelves. This man served as a Baptist pastor from 1861 until 1872, when he was installed as president of Rochester Theological Seminary. He served at this post until his death in 1921. He is Dr. Augustus Strong. His Systematic Theology,first published in 1907, represents evangelical thought prior to the rise of dispensational, premillenial theology. Strong’s soteriology stands in contrast to Chafer’s easy-believism.
This article will compare the teachings of easy-believism (Chafer) with the traditional evangelical view of salvation (Strong). The two battlefields in this soteriological war are repentance and submission to Christ.
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