In his commentary on Hebrews, chapter 6, John Calvin made the following observation:
“…the grace of God is offered to us in vain, except we receive the promise by faith, and constantly cherish it in the bosom of our heart.”
This small quote packs a punch. The Reformation doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, is much maligned and little understood today. But Calvin’s words hit to the essence of it. By faith, we receive God’s promises, and then we continually cling to them throughout our lives. True believers, will constantly cherish God’s promises. And that is the mark of their genuine faith.
Consider the following verses:
- One is reconciled according to Col. 1:23 “if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard….”
- “the gospel… preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word… preached to you””unless you believed in vain.” 1 Cor. 15:1-2
- Some “believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away” Luke 8:13
- In contrast to that, Mark 13:13 says “the one who endures to the end will be saved.”
- John 8:31 says “if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples”
- And Rom. 8:13 says “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh, you will live”
- And 1 John 2:3 counsels us “by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments”
Ultimately this perseverance is energized by the Spirit and accomplished by God Who is completing the work He began in us. But Phil. 2:12-13 teaches us that we still need to cooperate in this work: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”
A few of my previous posts deal with this topic at more depth. Most notably is my post Once Saved, Always Saved?!?! Also check out the posts in my category “Perseverance“.
Bob,
Don’t think I will ever buy into calvinism, again I don’t care what men say Calvin, Piper, Graham – I care about what thus saith the Lord. Now all of the above have great teachings and I can learn some things from them, however I never give them some undeserved prominent position, they are simply sinful creatures made from dust like you and I.
I just picked up my bible and looked at your first two bible references and just can’t buy what you are selling. First of all coming from a calvinist point of view v-22 says you were reconciled by Christ’s physical body, and then why, to present you holy in His sight w/out spot or blemish and free from accusation. Forget what I believe about the verse. How does a calvinist read the above and having faith that they were predestined, believe they have to really work on it (faith) so that they will make it. I don’t understand it from your perspective! Forget my perspctive. I am always yelling to anyone who will listen to me about context, I know you are way smarter than me, so I know you are aware that we absolutely can’t understand God’s precious Word w/out context. When we just throw out a verse like you have above we can prove just about anything. I do realize you were trying to use these verses to support Calvin’s comment, but still. Also read the introduction to the book. “To the Holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colosse” so whatever that v-23 is saying it certainly does not mean that if they don’t “continue in the faith” they are going to hell. Also v-12-14 “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Man that will preach, He has brought “ME” into the kingdom of the Son “ME” Praise His Holy Name!! I’ll take it I can’t get enough of it, I accept it through faith by grace. This verse tells me I’m redeemed and not only redeemed but I am forgiven. Wow, this is some goooood stuff!
I was planning on breaking down the next verse, that one is very simple. Maybe I have time. Basically if they believed that salvation message that Paul preached to them they were saved, conversely if they didn’t continue to believe, then they apparently believed in vain. I mean really if you don’t believe you don’t believe! Does that make sense. If you had been there and heard Paul’s sermon and said yea that sounds pretty good, then go on about your business and not continued to believe, you were never genuinely saved to start with. (think IFB walking an aisle, saying a prayer ABC salvation w/out sincerely believing) those folks were never saved to start with, the exact same thing here.
Hey I read alot of stuff on here and I do learn alot, also really enjoy the KJV only debate blog, they are some smart cats over there, so I mostly just read and don’t comment, its above my pay grade.
Greg
Greg,
I don’t want to endlessly argue with you for no reason. I think you aren’t understanding what I’m saying, and you’re grasping a bit to force context to make these verses not say what they do.
Now to be clear, I’m not saying that we add works in order to perfect our salvation. I’m saying that without works we can’t have confidence we truly experienced salvation.
There is a “holiness without which no man can see the Lord”. And we are to strive for it (Heb. 12:14). True saving faith, is the kind that lasts and the kind that produces love and works. James 2 teaches the same thing here. 1 John over and over again says our assurance comes from our manner of life. “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself even as He is pure” (1 John 3:3).
Perseverance says that all true believers do persevere in faith and works. That is the mark of their faith. If we abide in Christ, we produce fruit. If we don’t produce fruit, we can’t say we’re in the Vine. And even more, we will be cut off and burned (John 15:1-8).
This is the same kind of thing taught in Heb. 5:9 that Jesus “became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him”. And also in John 3:36: “whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” There it is clear that disobedience contrasts with faith. So as Romans teaches there is an “obedience of faith”. Without it, we have no grounds for assuming our professed faith is genuine. Jesus of course, teaches that there will be some who have faulty assumptions in the last day. Matt. 7:21-23 are sobering words:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'”
They are judged for their lawlessness and for not doing God’s will. This jives too with Rom. 2:6-10.
Now once again, it is not our own works which save us. But our good works flow from the faith we have in Jesus and from transformed hearts and lives which evidence Jesus’ work. Jesus who started this work in us, will bring it to completion. We will thus work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, even as God works in us that which is pleasing in His sight.
The result is that when we believers do good works, we say like Paul, that it was not us, but the Grace of God in us (1 Cor. 15:10). The practical upside of this is that we are never permitted to just rest on our assumptions of some past belief we had. We keep pressing on to know God, we keep preaching the Gospel to ourselves of total acceptance with God because of Jesus’ blood and rightousness. We love God, and communion with Him, abiding in His son and thereby bear forth fruit. As 2 Peter 1 teaches, we prize the promises, add to our faith virtue, knowledge, etc., and thereby make our calling and election sure.
This is how we “examine [ourselves], to see whether [we] are in the faith.” (2 Cor. 13:5)
Doing all this is what is meant repeatedly in Revelation 2 and 3 by “overcoming”. We overcome “by the blood of the Lamb” as chapter 12:11 teaches. But only the overcomers, “eat of the tree of life” (2:7), only they “will not be hurt by the second death” (2:11), they have “a new name” (2:17). They have “authority over the nations” and have Jesus rule with them (2:26-27). They are the ones whose names are never blotted out of the book of life (3:5). They are the ones who are pillars in the temple of God (3:12). They also are granted to sit with Jesus on His throne (3:21).
I could go on and on, and men of old did. I understand your reluctance to base your faith in man. But God gifted the church with teachers. And He also promised that the church would be preserved through all ages. Therefore it behooves us to respect the teachings of ages past, and sit at the feet of men of God respected down through the ages. You will find that this doctrine of perseverance was a much loved and treasured concept for hundreds of years.
Blessings in Christ,
Bob
There I did it again, I went way longer than I wanted to Greg. I used to not “get” Calvinism, and I used to be leery of it too. Actually the label is not what I’m after, anyway. I just don’t want you to misunderstand what I’m saying. And I do think what I’m saying has the ring of truth.
Thanks for commenting and I’m glad you’re benefiting from the other blog too.
Love you in Christ,
Bob
Bob,
Nor do I want to endlessly argue, and I must remember I am a guest on your reformed site. I know you feel that you have “evolved” from the position I stand for, but truly that doesn’t mean you are right.
We don’t see the scriptures the same at all. I came out of a strict IFB church, and those standard sets of beliefs, many of which are just fine and biblical, however on many things I just didn’t see the same biblical support. Now what I did was start to delve into “What thus saith the Lord” and I feel what you did was to “find” an organization that explained many of these things for you.
Matthew 7:21-23 This bunch were never christians! Not even close. Think “wolves in sheep’s clothing”
Romans 2:5-10 v-5 says that these guys had “unrepentant hearts” and then v-8 says they reject the truth. Bob, these guys aren’t saved! These verses don’t support the idea that they were “perservering” for the faith and then found lacking. They weren’t even close to being saved!
Thank you but I’ll sit at the precious blood-stained feet of Jesus and learn from Him, if a man teaches something worthwhile, then I will respect it and learn from it. You know scriptures tells us to be careful about who we follow and to try the spirits.
I’m thankful for “the day” that Jesus Christ became my Saviour. I called upon Him to save me just as the whole new testament teaches. Anyone can have this Precious Saviour by merely calling on Him to save you by grace through faith. Think that the atoning sacrifice is not for everyone? 1 John 2:2 “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but for the sins of the whole world.” (in its perfect context)
Oh friend, I am hid with Christ in God, no man is able to pluck me out of His hand. I agree with Paul when he said “these things I write unto you that you may “KNOW” that you have salvation.
According To His Mercy,
Greg
Greg,
I totally agree. They were never saved at all! 1 John 2:19 fixes that firmly for me. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t feel saved or assume they were at one time.
People do fall away. 1 John 2:19 tells us to view those people as ones who never had saving faith at all. But having faith means we should bring forth “fruits meet for repentance” Matt. 3:8.
God causes those who believe to persevere and have evident works. Do you dispute that? God causes true believers to have evidence of their salvation by lifestyle changes and love for the brethren. 1 John 3:17 says “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” I agree. Without visible evidences of faith, how can we assume it is there?
Bob,
When I first began to look into the calvinist belief system many years ago, I would jokingly say that I was a 1-point calvinist, because I certainly believed in eternal security. However as time passed I realized I didn’t believe in “perserverence of the saints” at all, what I believed in was “preservation of the saints by God Almighty” I am totally reliant on God’s preserving power to keep me, and can only trust in Him to do so. “Not by works of righteousness which (I) have done but according to His mercy He has saved me” (and keeps me)
We have already covered and agreed with one another some time ago that we are saved unto good works. Its kinda like baptism (works) its an outward demonstration of an inward decision. James says it the best, “Faith without works is dead” and I agree completely.
Funny, we come close in our beliefs, but don’t quite get there, but I love you anyhow.
Greg
Thanks Greg.