The debate really revolves around how we start reading into those words of Jesus. One camp will say that if the person does not persevere, he was not saved in the first place. The other will say that a person who does not persevere to the end was a Christian when he was perseveriing but gave it up.
From Love, Prayer and Forgiveness: When Basics Become Heresies[/I
from Chapter 4 Sin and Silence, click on my name/my homepage for description of the book and amazon link to
...Too often, we as Christians lack a sense of urgency. We
are too consumed with just existing in a busy world. Unlike
the world’s search and rescue teams, who know that time is
critical for survival, we ignore the seriousness of the situation.
Some of us seem oblivious to the fact that there is a crisis.
One pet theology that re-enforces the lack of urgency
stems from good intentions. But while holding onto some
truths found in the New Testament, it fails to hold onto other
essentials. The holy conjunction is lost. And, thus, it distorts
an historic doctrine—the perseverance of the saints.
Its good intention lies in giving assurance to those who
struggle with their sense of being saved. Today, many seasoned
Christians will tell those who make a profession of
faith (whether by a prayer or by going forward at a church
or crusade) that they have eternal security. A popular slogan
rings out: “Once saved, always saved.”
And other Christians will assure those who have been
baptized and confirmed that they are heaven bound no matter
what may follow. Though many of these converts might
never live by faith, this assurance will again be affirmed at
their funerals.
But a new idea enters here. By leaving out New
Testament essentials, these teachings depart from the historic
Christian faith. This new idea leaves behind the holy
conjunction; it fails to hold essentials together. Faith and
obedience are sundered; forgiveness and repentance divided.
While some differences arise among great saints of the
past, like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Wesley, they
all agreed that we are saved by faith alone through God’s
unmerited grace. On this point, Wesley said of Calvin, “I do
not differ from him an hair’s breadth.”4
So, too, the seasoned Christians mentioned above affirm
this. But where is the difference?
Martin Luther observed that “the world and the masses
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are and always will be unchristian, although they are all baptized
and nominally Christians. Christians, however, are few
and far between . . .”5
Luther pointed to “the divine promise which says: ‘He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved’ [Mark 16:16].”6
(Note the holy conjunction.) But he also warned, “Unless
faith is present or comes to life in baptism, the ceremony is
of no avail; indeed it is a stumbling-block not only at the
moment we receive baptism but for all our life thereafter.”7
John Calvin affirmed, “Only if we walk in the beauty of
God’s law do we become sure of our adoption as children of
the Father.”8 (What a contrast that is with the assurances
given by those who march under another banner.)
Furthermore, he wrote:
The apostle denies that anyone actually knows
Christ who has not learned to put off the old man,
corrupt with deceitful lusts, and to put on Christ.
External knowledge of Christ is found to be
only a false and dangerous make-believe, however
eloquently and freely lip servants may talk about
the gospel.
The gospel is not a doctrine of the tongue, but
of life.9
The key point here is succinctly summed up by J. I.
Packer: “Scripture holds out no hope of salvation for any
who, whatever their profession of faith, do not seek to turn
from sin to righteousness (1 Cor. 6:9-11; Rev. 21:8).”10
We need to read and hear Jesus’ parable of the sower.
(Christians ought to read and know God’s word.) Here,
Jesus speaks of the different types of soil upon which the
seed of the gospel falls. The seed falls on the footpath, on
shallow, rocky soil, on ground infested with thorns, and on
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good ground (Mat. 13). The hard footpath will not even
grow a plant, but on the shallow, stony soil, the plants spring
up immediately, but because of the shallowness, they have
no deep root and wither away in the sun.
Jesus tells us, “He who received the seed on the stony
places, this is he who hears the word and immediately
receives it with joy, [he may readily run forward at an altar
call] yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a
while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of
the word, immediately he stumbles “ (Mat. 13:20-21).
About the ground with thorns, Jesus says, “He who
received the seed among the thorns is he who hears the
word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of
riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful” (Mat
13:22). The thorns choke out life. (We remember what Jesus
said about dead branches on the vine: they are cut off and
gathered to be burned.)
Here, confusion rushes in when those in this modern,
once-saved-always-saved camp assure these sad cases of
people that they have eternal security. (Just as the evangelical
churches of Joy and Mary did for them.)
Right here lies the critical point of difference between
the historic doctrine of the perseverance of the saints and
this modern notion, which reigns under the banner of “once
saved, always saved.” Both will agree that God’s elect cannot
be lost; but those with this new notion will assure someone,
anyone, who makes an initial profession of faith that
they have eternal security. And their positive assessment
regarding the salvation of these hearers will never change,
not even when the roots shrivel and the thorns choke the life
out. The initial response (profession) rather than the life of
endurance (perseverance) stands as their criteria. (As a
result, they often fail in exhortation, and they often remain
silent, except to assure Christians like Joy and Mary that
they are heaven bound.)
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But Jesus said, “He who endures to the end will be
saved” (Mat. 10:22).
Calvin, one unflinching champion of the perseverance of
the saints, clearly taught this. Expositing this parable of the
sower, he speaks of the “temporary faith” of the one who
receives the word with joy:
They lack a living feeling (affectus) to confirm
them in steadfastness. . . . For unless the Word
penetrates the whole heart and puts down deep
roots there will be no steady flow of moisture to
make faith persevere. . . . let us realize that nothing
is done until faith has gained a firm strength. . . .
these are called ‘temporary’, not only because they
fall away in temptation after being professed disciples
of Christ for a time, but also because they
themselves think that they have a true faith. . . . But
we must know that they are not truly born again of
incorruptible seed, which does not fade away, as
Peter says (1 Pet. 1.4).11
As F. F. Bruce has pointed out, “The perseverance of the
saints is a biblical doctrine, but it is not a doctrine designed
to lull the indifferent into a sense of false security; it means
that perseverance is an essential token of sanctity.”12
That means that if you do not have the essential evidence,
the perseverance, then you do not have the salvation
either. And no faithful servant would affirm to those who are
committing high-handed sin (whether it be pursuing homosexual
unions or divorcing a spouse for unbiblical grounds)
that they have eternal security.
This does not mean that we, as Christians, never stumble.
J. I. Packer writes, “Sometimes the regenerate backslide
and fall into gross sin. But in this they act out of character,
do violence to their own new nature, and make themselves
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deeply miserable so that eventually they seek and find
restoration to righteousness. In retrospect, their lapse seems
to them to have been madness.”13
But we may never know which ones will return and which
ones will continue toward destruction. (Only God knows.)
Only perseverance at the end of the course will reveal it. So,
we give warning and exhortation to return as God commands
us. We listen to his word: “Exhort one another daily . . . lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin”
(Heb. 3:13). We do not banter around vain slogans, but center
our gaze on God’s holy word. There he gives us assurance
when our hearts cry out, “Abba, Father.”
False security flows from much of today’s slack teaching—
the result of slack learning. (Many would be astounded
if they read Calvin’s words which are quoted above.) And in
our slackness we progress to dullness and, in the end, many
are lulled to sleep, listening to the winds of the times.
Not only are the indifferent lulled to sleep, but so, too,
are the would-be search and rescue teams in the churches.
Their sense of urgency evaporates. The rescuers never leave
the headquarters building. They have no sense that the hiker
truly may be lost. Such sin is just a common, everyday
occurrence in a world where the salt has lost its flavor.
Silence surrounds the lost hiker. The mountain of sin
appears deceptively friendly to the one who holds a bogus
ticket for a free ride out of the wilderness on a helicopter
that will never leave base.
Today, in our evangelical circles, hosts of Christians hold
to a distorted, modern version of the perseverance of the
saints. They do so with an admirable motive of giving comfort
and assurance to new Christians, assurance that God is
faithful to his chosen people. He is not fickle. What he says,
he will do; we may count on it. Our salvation depends on his
free, unmerited grace, not on working our way to heaven. We
may be assured that “whosoever will, may come.”
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But in the New Testament (and Old), assurance and
warning go hand in hand. In his first epistle, John assures his
fellow Christians that they can be confident of their salvation:
“Now by this we know we that we know him, if we
keep his commandments.”But, “he who says, ‘I know him‘,
and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth
is not in him” (1 John 2:3, 4).
As J. I. Packer affirms, “Only those who show themselves
to be regenerate by pursuing heart-holiness and true
neighbor-love as they pass through this world are entitled to
believe themselves secure in Christ.14
“The idea that there can be saving faith without
repentance, and that one can be justified by embracing
Christ as Savior while refusing him as Lord, is a destructive
delusion.”15
Today, those Christians, especially leaders, who so
emphasize God’s great grace that they fail to seek out and
warn those Christians who go astray, have blood on their
hands. “But if the watchman sees the sword coming and
does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned,
and the sword comes and takes any person from among
them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will
require at the watchman’s hand” (Ezek. 33:6).
The failure to speak out and warn those who are going
astray flows from a false gospel. Dietrich Bonhoeffer
described it thus:
That is what we mean by cheap grace, the
grace which amounts to the justification of sin
without the justification of the repentant sinner
who departs from sin and from whom sin departs.
Cheap grace is not the kind of forgiveness of sin
which frees us from the toils of sin. Cheap grace
is the grace we bestow on ourselves.
Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness
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without requiring repentance, baptism without
church discipline, Communion without confession,
absolution without personal confession.
Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace
without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living
and incarnate.16
. . . But those who try to use this grace as a
dispensation from following Christ are simply
deceiving themselves.17
You mean God didn't change the way of doing things from the Old Testament to the New? I think He did. In the old testament, salvation was only offered and available to the children of Israel. At times others were drafted in, but those were rare occasions. When they were drafted in, they had to live as an Israelite to maintian their status. Today, salvation is offered to everyone through faith. That's a pretty big change. The statement "God does not change" does not apply here. That statement only applies to His character. God is not going to one day become evil or sinful. God's character does not change, but the way he does things do. So therefore, there are several dispensations of how God judges the world. Today we are in the Day of Grace. The day of Wrath, coming up, will be a little bit different.
