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Primum Mobile is a quarterly web magazine. This issue and all its contents are © Copyright 2004-2009 by the editors. All rights reserved.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.
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Perseverance of the Saints
by Paul Lytle
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
-Philippians 1:6
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
-1 John 2:19
Can I spend my whole life in faith
and still go to Hell because of a slip before I die,
or does Jesus hold tightly to those He has saved?
The next question we come to, again, naturally flows out of the discussion. Can we lose our salvation?
I recently read Robert Heinlein’s Job: A Comedy of Justice, which is meant to be a critique of Christianity. But the basis of the novel (and therefore the critique) was that a person’s state of grace fluctuates nearly moment by moment, and if you don’t repent (literally) within moments of dying, you’d go to Hell.
If Heinlein were right in this, he would have a really great criticism of Christianity. If my salvation depends wholly on me repenting of my most recent sins before dying, chances are I won’t make it. I could spend my whole life in service to the Church and the poor, but if I stub my toe right before I die and curse, then I’m in trouble.
But it doesn’t work this way. If Heinlein had better understood the Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints, maybe he wouldn’t have thought so little of Christianity as to write the novel against us.
If our salvation depended on our will, it would be easy to accept that this salvation could be lost. After all, the will of man is a fickle thing and easily changed. We probably have all seen someone who had attended church for ages suddenly fall away or switch religions to Mormonism or something like that. That is the will of man. Left to myself, I could very well become a Hindu on my death bed. Would that mean that I was no longer saved?
But as we have seen in the previous essays, our salvation depends solely on Grace. It is by the will of God that we are saved. It is by the work of the Spirit that we are changed. Can we lose our salvation when it is God who authored it?
The answer of Scripture is clearly “No.” We cannot lose our salvation. Let’s look again at Romans 8:28-30:
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
We are fickle, yes. We are constantly changing. It would make sense then to believe that we could just turn away from God, because that’s what we do. We dump girlfriends, switch electric companies, and change jobs. We are good at changing.
But God does not change. Jesus is not fickle, and it is upon His shoulders our salvation rests. He is the one who authored it, and He will perfect it. “Those whom he justified he also glorified.” There is no condition there; it is a fact. If He saved you, you will see Him in eternal life.
This won’t make sense unless you understand the other doctrines we’ve looked at in this issue. If you understand that there is nothing we can do to please God alone (Total Depravity); that God chooses us not based on anything we do or are, but based on His own goodness (Unconditional Election); and that once His Spirit regenerates our hearts, we will fall at His feet in worship (Irresistible Grace) — only then will you understand how it can be that a fickle heart will not waver in salvation.
Here’s the point (and this is the point of all these doctrines): Our salvation is by God’s doing, for His own Glory (“soli Deo gloria”), and from His Grace alone (“sola gratia”).
How could His Grace fail? How could His love not be enough? Don’t get too caught up in thinking about this from a human point of view. You may be thinking, “How is that possible? How can someone else keep me from slipping?” But that is to think of God as a man. Naturally, I cannot personally keep you in the faith. But God is not a man to be limited in such ways. He keeps us because that’s what He intended from the beginning.
He wrote our names in the Book of Life from before the foundations of the world, by the Blood of Christ were we purchased, by the Spirit our hearts were softened to His Word, and in Grace we were saved. How then could the efforts of the Trinity be thwarted?
The glorious truth of the resurrected Christ is that He loses none that the Father claims for Him. In our own fallen ways, we have rebelled against God. In our lies we have betrayed His truth. In our lusts we have mocked His love. In our greed we have scorned His sacrifice. We deserve death for these crimes, but Jesus took our place upon the Cross.
Our salvation does not depend on our ability to remain faithful, but on His ability to remain faithful. I praise God for this truth, for I stumble every day. I stumble all the time, but Jesus never does. So praise God that my salvation rests in Him rather than in me!
What I Am NOT Saying
What I am absolutely not saying is this — that those who prayed the sinner’s prayer as a child and then go about their lives in sin and pride and greed and lust can expect to get to Heaven upon dying. This teaching is a cancer in the Church right now. Churches don’t seem to care about where you go as long as you pray those words like a pagan mantra at least once. But that is not what the Bible says.
Not everyone who goes to church today is a Christian. We have too long taught that the Sinner’s Prayer can save us as though it were some sort of incantation. The work of the Spirit changes us, and without the fruit of that Spirit we cannot claim to truly have faith in Jesus (1 John 4:20, 1 John 3:9, Matthew 7:21-23, Matthew 3:10, Luke 6:43-44, John 15:5, John 8:31, 1 John 2:19, Luke 9:62, etc.).
I do not have time to go into this in detail, though I recommend John MacArthur’s The Gospel According to Jesus to all Christians. Better yet, read the Word carefully, and you will clearly see that with faith comes a change in us that results in works. We are not saved by works (perish the thought!), but saved by Grace and then set aside for works (see Ephesians 2:9-10).
The truth is this — the man who says he knows Jesus but has not been forever changed by that experience has probably never met Jesus. Jesus is not some guy you can meet at a party and then walk away, barely thinking of the meeting again. If you have met Him, you will know it!
If you do not show fruit, then you probably do not have saving faith, and you cannot expect to be preserved for the last days. Remember, even the demons believe He was who He claimed to be (James 2:19), but they are certainly not saved. That sort of faith that acknowledges the truth but does not bring about repentance and surrender will do nothing for you. Examine yourself and seek repentance to be sure.
Scriptural Support
Jesus’ statements about Himself tell us something interesting. His plain words state that those who believe will find eternal life. We find no hint that there may be some who believe, but then fall away and find themselves in damnation.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
-John 5:24
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
-John 6:47
These are those given to Jesus by the Father, and Jesus does not lose any of them.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
-John 10:27-29
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
-Philippians 1:6
Jesus’ death upon the Cross guarantees our salvation for all time.
For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
-Hebrews 10:14
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.
-1 John 5:13
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
-John 3:36
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
-Romans 8:1
Jesus intercedes with the Father on behalf of those who believe. It is the strength of Jesus that keeps us from failing.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.
-Isaiah 53:12
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
-1 John 2:1
Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
-Hebrews 7:25
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.
-Luke 22:31
Again, the Bible is clear that God is the one who maintains us, not our own efforts, and God does not fail.
He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail.
-1 Samuel 2:9
Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
-Psalm 31:23
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
-1 Peter 1:3-5
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.
-Jude 1:1
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,
-Jude 1:24
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
-Romans 8:29-30
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-Romans 8:38-39
No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
-1 Corinthians 10:13
Those who fall away from the faith probably never had it in the first place.
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
-1 John 2:19
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.
-1 John 3:9
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.
-1 John 5:4
We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
-1 John 5:18
Objections
I became a Christian as a child, then fell away and was “carnal” for many years. Later in life, I rededicated my life and began following Him. Would I have gone to heaven had I died before rededication?
Most likely, your “rededication” was actually when you came to faith for the first time. Once you taste Jesus, you will be forever changed, and so these converts who fall away and go back to their own lives probably never knew Jesus.
Some people claim that they are “carnal Christians,” or people who have trusted Jesus for salvation, but go about their own lives without being changed. While it is true that we are all, at one time or another, carnal (that is, sinful), it is not our permanent state. The Spirit is regenerating us, and while it may be slow and painful, it is happening. Those without the Spirit are unregenerate. They may even think they are Christians, but do not know the Lord.
You may ask, how long can a Christian really be in sin before turning back to his first love? I cannot say for sure. We cannot judge a person’s heart, but only his fruit. If someone professes Christ, but that decision is so unimportant that it changes him none, it was probably not a real experience with Jesus. If we can see growth, that is fruit, even if it is slow, then we can be hopeful of the Spirit’s work in that person.
I am one of those people who “professed” Jesus as a child, read my Bible, obeyed the Commandments as best as I could, and even witnessed to some. But Grace had made no change in me. I was trying to earn my way to heaven with works. I had not experienced Jesus; I was trying to get to God by following the rules. I was not a child of God.
Others make that profession and then go upon their way like nothing happened. In that case, “nothing” is exactly what happened. They are probably not children of God.
So if I cannot lose my salvation, can I sin all I want?
Technically, yes. But if you actually want to, you may not be saved at all. Again, encountering Christ changes us forever. We are a new creation in Him. As an immature Christian, we may still entertain many sins, but the Spirit will be moving us ever toward Christ. If you get excited by the idea that you can sin all you want and not have to worry about eternity, it makes me wonder if you ever really repented of your sins in the first place, for why would someone who has come to understand the terribleness of his own sin, who has fallen upon his knees before Christ for mercy, then go running back to those damning sins?
I mess up a lot. How can I remain in grace when I so often sin?
Because you are not the one holding you in grace — Jesus is. Remember, we are not saved of our own strength or righteousness, but His. And as we are saved in His righteousness, so too are we maintained in that righteousness.
The Gospel is not just for the lost. We don’t give up on His Blood just because we become Christians. He is still there as our advocate. Are you messing up in your Christian walk? So am I. By the Blood of Christ we will be glorified, and only by His Blood.
My wife and I have a phrase we use when one of us messes up. If we feel guilty about something that happened, we will say, “Jesus died for that too,” as a reminder that He has taken all of our sins and nailed them to the Cross.
What about Hebrews 6:4-6, which says: “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt”? Doesn’t this say you can lose your salvation?
This is a very difficult passage (partially because the writer of Hebrews is weaving together several thoughts and points in and out in this section, and partially because the theology is meaty), yet in my study, I cannot come to the conclusion here that we are talking about Christians who have fallen away. The key to the passage is how he ends the section in verse 9, “Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things — things that belong to salvation.”
I believe the writer here is dealing with one of the common threads that weaves throughout Hebrews: there are Jews who are very knowledgeable of the Old Testament, and in that way they have tasted the heavenly gift, but are unsure about Jesus.
Remember that John states: “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19).
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