Christians and perseverance

[Cajun Huguenot]

​

Baptist and Reformed Christians agree with one another that someone who is truly born again will not become unsaved. Most of our Baptists brethren call their understanding of this teaching "eternal security of the believer" or "once saved always saved" (OSAS). I am, like many Reformed Christians, uncomfortable with those phrases for a number of reasons.

One reason that I don't care for those terms is they can lead to a false sense of security. Someone may have walked an aisle, said a sinners prayer and been baptised but then they never produce any of the spiritual fruit that must come with being born a new creature in Christ Jesus. Such a person may think they have a "get out of hell free card," But if they were to study the Scriptures they would see the many warnings in God's Word about being presumptuous about such things.

The Holy Scriptures are very clear that those who are "new creatures in Christ Jesus" will be about doing good works and that those who are truly born again WILL endure or persevere in the faith to the end.

I am much more comfortable with the phrase "perseverance of the saints" because it gives biblical security to those that are saved, but it rightly will not allow for presumption of salvation for someone who is not seeing the fruits of the spirit in their life.

I am not going to attempt to prove that one cannot truly loose salvation, because both Reformed and Baptist Christians agree on that. What I hope to show is that if we are saved we will persevere in the faith.

And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. (Matt. 10:21-22)

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (Matt. 24:9-13)

What are the implications of the Word's of Jesus in these verses above? Is Jesus just being rhetorical or is what He says an important warning to His people? I believe it is the latter. The true believer must endure (persevere) in the faith. Anyone who claims Christ, but does not persevere will be lost and rejected on the Last Day.

Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed. (Acts 14:22,23)

Notice in the verse above that we are talking about Disciples of Christ and that they are being exhorted to "continue" in the faith.

Q: Is this simply a rhetorical point, or is it as the Arminian believes a warning against loosing salvation?

A: It may be the case that both possibilities are wrong, and the Reformed view is a third (and far better) option. The disciples in the New Covenant Church are made up of believers and unbelievers (born again and those not born again) just as we find from Genesis forward through Revelation. If looked at that way the Arminian argument looses all its weight, but it also shows why the OSAS phrase is poorly worded.

If we look at these New Testament warnings in the context of the whole Bible (all of the Scriptures) we will find that this is a constant theme of the writers of Scripture from Genesis to the end of Revelation.

My Baptist brethren cannot make good (logical/contextual) sense of these verses and numerous others, because (I believe) he has mistakenly, and far too drastically cut the New Testament Scriptures away from the Old Testament. He seems to have forgotten that the Bereans looked in the Old Testament to see if what Paul preached, in the New Covenant era, was so. They would certainly have seen that God's covenant people had always included wheat and tares.

For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. (Rom 11:21,22)

Q: Who is Paul writing these words to?

A: He tells us at the beginning of this epistle. Paul is writing, “To all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.” But notice Paul has just told these Christians that God had broken off unbelieving Jews from the olive tree (covenant people of God) and has grafted believing Gentiles into the covenant people of God (the Olive tree). He then warns them to "take heed lest he also spare not thee" and again to "continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off."

Q: How can these words make sense in the OSAS position?

I don't believe they can make sense from the strict OSAS view. They do make sense from an Arminian position, but the Arminian has plenty of other Scriptures that will not allow for his position either.

Is there a contradiction in the Word of God? Certainly not!! But if we hold closely to the OSAS or full the Arminian positions, then we must live with a contradiction. Both schools of thought must ignore large segments of the Bible to continue with their chosen doctrinal position. The Reformed/Covenantal position takes the numerous proof texts of both these schools of thought seriously without dismissing one set or the other, and without doing exegetical gymnastics to explain them away. Both the proof text of the OSAS individual and the proof text of the Arminian position fit nicely together when looked at covenantally.

If you hold to OSAS you must ask yourself how is it that Paul, writing to saints, can say "take heed lest he also spare not thee" and "thou also shalt be cut off." What is it that saints can be cut off from? What were the Jews cut off from?

I hope you will look carefully at the other Scriptures that follow and see if they can easily fit into the OSAS position without some serious qualifications.

In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister...(Col. 1:22, 23)

Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; (Heb 2:1-3)

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end... (Heb. 3:12-14)

Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. (James 5:19,20)

There are many more verses that seem to be problematic to the OSAS position. If there are any questions on this matter I will happy to try and address them further.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

 

[Look Homeward Anglican]

I have gotten into arguments over this with friends and family members, and normally by the time it's all said and done I am able to see both sides of it so clearly that the argument disappears from me. I have Presbyterian relatives who say "once saved, always saved" -- but when you really get down to what that means, they tend to recognize a real need for deliberate perseverance (that's what I like to call it) in which they actively choose to behave in ways that would make some think they were trying to "earn" something -- even though they aren't. I am sorry if that sounded confusing, it's made my head fuzzy just thinking about it.
Ultimately, I do believe that God already knows the outcome of all people and all things, so in a way it is as though some people are chosen and destined to persevere, so given that, I have no trouble with it at all.

 

[CoffeeSwirls]

RC Sproul replaces the word "Perseverence" with "Preservation" to show that it is not our efforts that maintain salvation, but God's grace. At no time are we ever worthy of salvation, no matter how hard we try to persevere. However, God will preserve His people to the end. Does that help?

 

[Cajun Huguenot]

RC Sproul replaces the word "Perseverence" with "Preservation" to show that it is not our efforts that maintain salvation, but God's grace. At no time are we ever worthy of salvation, no matter how hard we try to persevere. However, God will preserve His people to the end. Does that help?

We persevere because the Holy Spirit is working in us "both to will and to do of his good pleasure." We do persever but this too is by God's soverign grace.

Kenith

 

[AndOne]

Kennith -

Nice to see you here again bro! I have never had a problem with the acronym OSAS or the term "eternal security" - and I still don't quite frankly. But you do make some very good points in your post.

Ultimately the true believer is "always saved" - and in the true believer's case there is no such thing as a "false sense of security."

The KEY - is trusting God - that is it. When temptation comes - or when sin rears its ugly head - then I MUST go to God - its my only hope - my only grace. All the verses you quote are indeed relevant and I am not going to refute a single one of them - I just think its important to remember that all goodness, all righteousness, all acts of mercy, love, compassion, etc - are God's alone. It is the believer's responsibility to go to God for them - that is his/her only responsibility - since he/she doesn't have it in themselves to do these things. Sanctification is God's process - not ours... I believe its important to keep that in perspective...

Just my 2 cents...

 

[Cajun Huguenot]

Kennith -

Nice to see you here again bro! I have never had a problem with the acronym OSAS or the term "eternal security" - and I still don't quite frankly. But you do make some very good points in your post.

Ultimately the true believer is "always saved" - and in the true believer's case there is no such thing as a "false sense of security."

The KEY - is trusting God - that is it. When temptation comes - or when sin rears its ugly head - then I MUST go to God - its my only hope - my only grace. All the verses you quote are indeed relevant and I am not going to refute a single one of them - I just think its important to remember that all goodness, all righteousness, all acts of mercy, love, compassion, etc - are God's alone. It is the believer's responsibility to go to God for them - that is his/her only responsibility - since he/she doesn't have it in themselves to do these things. Sanctification is God's process - not ours... I believe its important to keep that in perspective...

Just my 2 cents...

Hello my good friend,

I agree with what you say (your two cents), but years ago I became uncomfortable with OSAS. I have seen it used by those living for years in blatant, unrepentent sin to express confidence in a salvation that they very likely did not have. Perseverance is, I believe a far better (and more biblical) phrase, that does justice to the warnings that we find in Scripture.

These warnings are given to God's Covenant people in the New Covenant. I think the modern OSAS teaching does not do justice to these verses. THe Arminian who denies that we can have security does not do justice to those verses that teach such security.

I believe only a covenantal understanding of Scripture can make sense of both set of texts. Remember Calvinists have always said that the 5th point is Perseverance of the saints and not OSAS.

I hope that further clarifies what I wrote.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

 

[eutychus]

I think one of the bigger things that's missed with the concept of OSAS is that salvation is solely an event in the past, instead of something that is being fulfilled with perseverence in an already-but-not-yet fashion. Instead of looking at salvation as a future reward, we look at it as something that has already been captured.

 

[AndOne]

I think one of the bigger things that's missed with the concept of OSAS is that salvation is solely an event in the past, instead of something that is being fulfilled with perseverence in an already-but-not-yet fashion. Instead of looking at salvation as a future reward, we look at it as something that has already been captured.

The problem with this - is that salvation is something that is not captured - but received. It is a GIFT - and there is nothing that we can do to earn or MAINTAIN it.

I do look at salvation as a gift already received - and perhaps that is why I am not uncomfortable with the terms OSAS or eternal security. I think to view it any other way is dangerous - because you are immediately in the mind-set that you must do something to maintain it.

Sanctification is a process that begins after salvation - not during it - otherwise it is nothing more than semi-pelagion, works-based religion. I can't look at salvation as a future reward and honestly believe it is a gift. To do so is unscriptural.

"I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me" (Rom 10:20, quoting Isa. 65:1).

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8)

"What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7)

"But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Cor. 15:10)

 

[cygnusx1]

Elisha Coles the Puritan used a forcible argument from the less to the greater, the substance of which shall here be given. Since the Lord made good His word in things of a lower consideration, how much more will He in the eternal salvation of His people. If certain persons were destined by Him to eminent service in this world, notwithstanding the greatest of difficulties and natural impossibilities which stood in the way to obstruct it, how much more certain is the accomplishment of His purpose concerning those vessels of mercy which He has ordained for heavenly glory! God promised Abraham that his seed should have the land of Canaan (Gen. 12:7). Years passed and when little short of a century his wife was still barren, but a miracle was wrought and Isaac was born. Isaac married and for twenty years his wife remained childless, when in answer to prayer the Lord gave her conception (25:21). They had two children but the Lord rejected the elder, and the younger to whom the promise belonged was in daily danger of being killed by Esau (27:41), and to save his life he fled to Padanaram.

While in Padanaram Laban dealt harshly with him, and when he decided to return home his father-in-law followed him with evil intentions, but the Lord interposed and warned him in a dream (Gen. 31:23, 24). But no sooner had Jacob escaped from Laban than Esau comes against him with four hundred men, determined to revenge his old grudge (32:6), but the Lord melted his heart in a moment and caused him to receive Jacob with affection. When Simeon and Levi so highly provoked the Canaanites there appeared to be every prospect that Jacob and his family would be exterminated (34:25), but the Lord caused such a terror to fall on them that they touched not a single one (35:5). When a seven years famine came on the land, threatening to consume them, by a strange providence the Lord provided for them in Egypt. There, later, Pharaoh sought their destruction; but in vain. By His mighty power Jehovah brought them forth from the house of bondage, opened a way through the Red Sea, conducted them across the wilderness and brought them into Canaan. Shall He do less for the spiritual seed of Abraham to whom He has promised the heavenly Canaan for an everlasting heritage?

Joseph was one whom the Lord would honor, and in several dreams intimated he should be exalted to a position of dignity and preeminence (Gen. 37). Because of that his brethren hated him, determined to frustrate those predictions and slay him (v. 18). And how shall Joseph escape? for they are ten to one and he the least. In due course they cast him into a pit, where it seemed likely he must perish; but in the good providence of God some Midianites passed that way ere any wild beast had found him. He is delivered into their hands and they bring him to Egypt and sell him to the captain of Pharaoh’s guard — a man not at all likely to show kindness to him. But the Lord is pleased to give him favor in his master’s eyes (39:3, 4), yet if Joseph’s hopes now rose how quickly were they disappointed. Through the lies of his mistress he was cast into prison, where he spent not a few days but many years. What prospect now of preferment? Nevertheless the counsel of the Lord was made good and he became lord over Egypt!

God promised the kingdom of Israel unto David and while yet a youth he was anointed to it (1 Sam. 16:13). What! notwithstanding all interveniences? Yes, for the Lord had said it and shall He not do it! Therefore if Saul cast a javelin at him, unsuspected, to nail him to the wall, a sharpness of eye and agility of body shall be given him to discern and avoid it (18:11). If he determined evil against him, Jonathan is moved to inform him (19:7). If he send messengers to Naioth to arrest him, they shall forget their errand and fall a prophesying (2 0-24). If he be in a city that will betray him, and no friend there to acquaint him of his peril, the Lord Himself is his intelligencer and sends him out (23:12). If Saul’s army encompasses him about and no way to escape is left, the Philistines invade his land and the king turns away to meet them (vv. 26, 27). Though there were not on earth to deliver "He (said David) shall send from heaven and save me" (Ps. 57:3). Shortly after Saul was slain and David came to the throne!

http://www.pbministries.org/books/p...rity/sec_02.htm