Perseverance is not the same as Preservation, seriously you can't be arguing that they are the same thing?
Here's my take on the issue, I also do not view the two concepts as being the same. Although the terms are not synonymous, there appears to be a very close correlation. The confusion, debate, and difficulty here centers around just how a person perceives and defines that correlation/relationship.
What does that correlation/relationship look like? My position is ... since God has promised to preserve all born again believers, they will [inevitably] persevere in the faith ... by faith.
On the other hand, those who believe that some genuine believers will forfeit their justified status [i.e. - "lose" their salvation] view this perseverance as [conditional] rather than [inevitable]. That is to say, many of those L.O.S. ["Loss Of Salvation" advocates] disagree with my position by asserting that God will preserve [only] those born again believers who persevere in the faith ... by faith.
My response to those of the L.O.S. persuasion is that this is not an "either/or" scenario, but rather one of "both/and". So yes, I agree will the L.O.S. assertion with this one addendum ... all genuine believers will persevere. Both points [listed below] need to be acknowledged. Failure to do so results in setting scripture against scripture rather than reconciling those two streams of scriptural truth.
(1) We must persevere in the faith ... by faith in order to enter heaven (2 Tim.2:12; Heb.3:14;10:26). Not to persevere is to perish.
(2) God will preserve us in the faith even though at times we may doubt and wander from the path of righteousness. He will always remain true to his promise by ensuring that none of His children will fall so far as to finally and forever fail [everlastingly perish]. God will preserve us, we will in fact persevere, we will endure in the faith... by faith.
Jude 1:1-2,"Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ:"
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24," Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it."
God doesn't simply require holiness; He promises it to all of His sons and daughters. If you know that you are in fact a child of God, if you have been born-again, then you can rest knowing that you will persevere. As Dr. Kenneth Keathley said, "perseverance should be viewed more as a promise than a requirement." The necessary conditions/requirements/fruits/works mentioned throughout scripture will be manifested and produced in all true believers by the Holy Spirit. They will exist as the inevitable by-product of the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit and the new nature/heart miraculously delivered at the new birth (John 3:3-8; Titus 3:5).
Titus 3:5," not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,"
Many have greatly underestimated, and failed to grasp the magnitude of the renewing, regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, and His radical transformational effect upon the believer's nature. The Apostle Paul regards this change from sin to righteousness, from bondage to freedom, from death to life, as summed up in one definite act of the past; potentially available to all men in Jesus' sacrificial death and resurrection, and actualized (effectual) in each individual when they place their trust in Christ's atoning work.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21,"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."
What is the condition of renewal? ‘If any man be in Christ’-how distinctly that implies something more than human in Paul’s conception of Christ. It implies personal union with Him, so that He is the very element or atmosphere in which we live. And that union is brought about by faith in Him.
How does such a state of union with Christ make a man a new creation? It gives a new aim and center for our lives. Then we live not unto ourselves; then everything is different and looks so, for the center is shifted. That union introduces a constant reference to Him and contemplation of His death for us, it leads to self-abnegation.
It puts all life under the influence of a new love. ‘The love of Christ constraineth.’ As is a man’s love, so is his life. The mightiest devolution is to excite a new love, by which old loves and tastes are expelled. ‘A new affection’ has ‘expulsive power,’ as the new sap rising in the springtime pushes off the lingering withered leaves. So union with Him meets the difficulty arising from inclination still hankering after evil. The new love gives a new and mighty motive for obedience.
That union breaks the terrible chain that binds us to the past. ‘All died.’ The past is broken as much as if we were dead. It is broken by the great act of forgiveness. Sin holds men by making them feel as if what has been must be-an awful entail of evil. In Christ we die to former self.
That union brings a new divine power to work in us. ‘I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’ It sets us in a new world which yet is the old. All things are changed if we are changed. They are the same old things, but seen in a new light, used for new purposes, disclosing new relations and powers. Earth becomes a school and discipline for heaven. The world is different to a blind man when cured, or to a deaf one,-there are new sights for the one, new sounds for the other. All this is true in the measure in which we live in union with Christ.
Ezekiel 36:26-28,"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and [cause you] to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God."
This wonderful promise to the nation of Israel was cut at Calvary, and the wonderful promise to give His people a new heart and put a new spirit within is fulfilled in the life of (all - Jew or Gentile) who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of their soul and the Mediator for their sins. <
What Does Ezekiel 36:26 Mean? >
Hebrews 8:10,"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." <
Heb 8:10 Cross References (34 Verses) >
Romans 8:30,"Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified."
John 10:26-28,"But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand."
John 6:39,"This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day."
Now the Lambs book in which I am written in no one has ever according to the word of God been blotted out of. Just because we personally believe you can lose your salvation or you can't is just that. Its a personal belief that is not scriptural. Am I always saved or can I lose my salvation. WHY would any believer have these thoughts? I don't. As if my salvation is some how based on my actions? The simple fact anything God gives He never takes it back. Then man pops up "doesnt mean we can't give it back". Sure why not you show me tell me how you as man can give back undo what only a GOD can do. Undo as in that new man which after God is "created" in "righteousness" and true "holiness". Please share how you can undo that new created spirit that was once dead.
