In memoriam: Zane Hodges (1932–2008)
November 24, 2008
Hodges passed away this weekend. He was a pastor and Greek scholar. A brief eulogy is posted by Bob Wilkin here.
Comments
3 Responses to “In memoriam: Zane Hodges (1932–2008)”
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Zane Hodges did NOT Finish Well!
In my opinion it is not fitting to give the late Zane Hodges an honorary eulogy at all. Those who disagreed with him concerning his teachings on the Gospel late in his life were not merely having “theological disagreements” with him.
Hodges gutted and stripped the Gospel of its essential content of saving faith (the Person and work of Christ). His interpretation of the Gospel came to be known and accurately defined as the Crossless Gospel. It is not that Hodges denied that content himself, but that he asserted that a person could be saved while disbelieving the content of the Gospel. And if the Gospel and its content are one and the same (and they are), then Hodges was in effect asserting that one could be saved while disbelieving the Gospel. He did not finish well!
I don’t think you could pick a subject more important than the Gospel to err on, and tragically Hodges erred severely concerning it. His death saddened many, but those who rejected his reductionist assault on the content of saving faith we hoped and prayed he would change his mind and come back to true doctrine.
We wanted him to finish well, but we can’t let the emotion of his passing sentimentalize his life in our eyes, no matter what help some of his writings may have been to us in understanding certain passages of Scripture.
In the same way we do not condemn a repentant sinner for his past wicked deeds, we should not be celebrating a man who fell away from the faith because of his past good work.
LM
Thanks for your comment, Lou.
You wrote: “It is not that Hodges denied that content himself, but that he asserted that a person could be saved while disbelieving the content of the Gospel.”
Do you have a reference from Hodge in which he says explicitly that one can disbelieve the content of the Gospel and be saved?
I thought that the typical accusation was that he stripped the gospel down to a matter of saving faith in its content, and de-emphasized the need for works after conversion.
Thanks.
Chris
Hi Chris:
There are many quotations from Hodges, Wilkin and his followers that insist the lost can be saved apart from knowing, understanding or believing in the deity, death and/or resurrection of Christ. You have to press them to admit the lost who openly reject these truths can be born again. I have samples, but prefer to send them via e-mail so as not to draw public attention to the bogs that advocates the Crossless gospel of Hodges, Bob Wilkin and the GES.
One important note to help with your question is that Hodges, Wilkin, GES teach that there is no technical meaning for, or specific message called “the Gospel” the lost must believe to be born again. You will need to read the series, The Technical Meaning of the Term, “THE GOSPEL.”
Here are a few samples of how Hodges has stripped the necessary content of saving faith. Zane Hodges wrote a two part series titled How to Lead People to Christ. Part 2 is located in the Spring 2001 issue of the Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society.
Hodges makes it clear that the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is the normal context of his gospel presentation, but it is not a necessary part of the content of saving faith today. Following are a few excerpts from Hodges:
“The gospel message about the death, burial, and resurrection is the normal context for our presentation of this core objective. But at the end of the day, anyone who trusts Christ for eternal life is born again.” (JOTGES 14:1, Spring 01, p. 10)
“In recent years I (Hodges) have become aware of a way of presenting the gospel invitation that troubles me. I believe I have heard it from my earliest years, and I admit it didn’t really bother me for a long time. Now it does. I have heard people say this: ‘In order to be saved you must believe that Jesus died on the cross.’ . . . . usually implied is the idea that Christ’s work on the cross is sufficient to provide for our salvation. Thus they mean to say that we are trusting in the sufficiency of his work of atonement. Let me be honest, I don’t like this way of presenting a gospel invitation.” (p. 11)
“People are not saved by believing that Jesus died on the cross; they are saved by believing in Jesus for eternal life . . . Let us always point men to Christ Himself as the object of faith, rather than to some concept that must be theologically clarified before it can really be understood.” (pp. 11-12)
“The simple truth is that Jesus can be believed for eternal salvation apart from any detailed knowledge of what He did to provide it.” (p. 13).
Brother George Zeller wrote, “This teaching is serious and cuts to the very heart of the gospel (1 Cor. 15:3-4). There are those even within the free grace group who are very concerned about Hodges’ teaching on the gospel….”
Visit The Teachings of Zane Hodges. Here you will find some teachings by Hodges that have a number of pastors/teachers concerned.
LM