(notably Albert Barnes). The author
is also careful to provide the original
meaning and context of specific key
terms employed in some of these
passages, and after presenting all his
biblical evidence for the possibility of
falling away from the faith, Kioulacho-
glou concludes his book by addressing
the most common objections he has
found while teaching this view of
salvation.
Kioulachoglou’s examination
of apostasy and backsliding in The
Warnings of the New Testament stacks
evidence with persuasion. Rather than
becoming tangled with the history and
the polarizing opinions concerning
these two subjects, the book is devoted
unswervingly to “tell it like it is” and
to show how Jesus and the Apostles
address falling away from the faith
and its dire consequences. This work
is currently available as a free PDF on
the Journal of Biblical Accuracy website,
while its eBook and printed versions
can be acquired on Amazon.
APOSTATIZING AND BACKS-
LIDING IN TOUGH TOPICS
Losing salvation and apostatizing are
included in Sam Storms’ Tough Topi-
cs, which argues for the Calvinist view
of eternal security. Storms relies hea-
vily on the concept of unconditional
election of the predestined saints as
described in Romans 8, as well as Je-
sus’ sayings as recorded in John 6, to
prove that losing salvation is impossi-
ble. The theologian also uses John 10,
Philippians 1:6 and Jude 24-25 to su-
pport his claim – passages addressed
by Kioulachoglou as some of the most
common objections to backsliding. In
turn, Storms claims that Hebrews 6
and 10 – two passages that Kioulacho-
glou presents as “warnings” – do not
actually advocate apostasy, devoting a
section of his book to this argument:
“whereas all true Christians have been
enlightened, not all those who are en-
lightened are true Christians.” Kioula-
choglou counters this by presenting
Albert Barnes’ take on Hebrews 6, whi-
ch backs up the Greek author.
As made plainly clear in the review’s
introduction, the subject of apostasy
is a divisive one. The possibility of its
fruition and the consequences of such
have been debated for several centu-
ries, with no end in sight. That being
said, this is not a subject to be ignored;
a careful cross-examination of both
authors’ works may enlighten different
people in different ways – and that is
fine, as long as Christians do not forsa-
ke the brotherly love they are suppo-
sed to share with one another.