PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
The fifth of the Five Points of Calvinism is “Perseverance of the Saints”. Next to the doctrine of “Limited Atonement” (third point), this point attracts much criticism. Many conservative Christians will have no qualms subscribing to “Total Depravity”, “Unconditional Election”, and “Irresistible Grace”. But when it comes to this point of “Perseverance of the Saints” (which gives rise to the commonly quoted expression, “Once saved, always saved”), they tend to see it as a doctrine that promotes licentiousness and sin in people’s lives. Thus, they like to emphasize on believers persevering in faith through their efforts, rather than God preserving them from falling away. Contrary to the objections raised, this doctrine (which teaches the permanency of our salvation) actually stirs many believers to live an obedient life out of gratitude to the Lord because of the assurance of salvation it gives to the believer. This doctrine is based on the unchangeable character of God and His dealings with man, which are evident from the teachings in Scripture.
IMMUTABILITY OF GOD
In Malachi 3:6, God declares, “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” If God by His very nature is immutable, we can be sure that He will not reject those whom He has accepted in the first place. Christians are bestowed the privilege to be children of this unchangeable God, who has taught us to call Him “Our Father”. He is not a father who adopts children and forsakes them at will. We consider earthly parents who forsake their children as wicked persons. But God is a loving Heavenly Father. In Psalm 27:9–10, the psalmist confesses that even if “my father and my mother forsake me”, God will not forsake him. As God’s children, we have the assurance that since God is unchangeable, He will not forsake us.
IMMUTABILITY OF GOD’S PROMISES
God is not only immutable, He is also omnipotent. The all-powerful God can fulfill what He promises. Our salvation is a fulfillment of God’s immutable purpose and promise as revealed in His Word. “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel (which includes His promises), confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” (Hebrews 6:17–19a). Admittedly, certain promises of God are dependent on man’s obedience and perseverance. For instance, God promised the Land of Canaan (with all its abundance) to the Israelites, hinging on the condition of obedience to God’s law (cf. Deuteronomy 28:8–13). But certain promises of God are unconditional.
When we examine the promises of God concerning salvation, they are unconditional. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9). God promises and gives salvation as a free gift to us, based solely on the merits of His Son. If we deserve anything at all, it is death, for the wages of sin is death (cf. Romans 6:23). But eternal life is a gift of God, which comes to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. To drive home the utter assurance of our eternal security, Jesus who is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8) has also declared, “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28). O what assurance to us as “heirs of (God’s immutable) promise”!
IMMUTABILITY OF GOD’S COVENANT
The realization of God’s redemptive plan for mankind is also a fulfillment of His covenant promises. In His covenant with Abraham, God said, “I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee” (Genesis 17:7). This covenant was unconditional. When the covenant ratification was done (which involved walking through the midst of cut-up carcasses of animals), God alone “passed between those pieces” (Genesis 15:17). This would indicate that He alone would fulfill it, and that it was not dependent on the faithfulness of man. We, as God’s redeemed, are inheritors of the spiritual blessings of this covenant, which entails Abraham’s descendants becoming “a great nation”, and through Abraham’s “seed”, “shall all families of the earth be blessed” (cf. Gen 12:2-3). Thus, through the Promised Seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, salvation has come to mankind.
With biblical hindsight from the New Testament, in this covenant of grace that God made, Christ is our mediator and surety (Hebrews 7:22). By fulfilling the demands of the law and taking our punishment upon Him in offering up Himself as a substitutionary sacrifice,
Christ has procured the forgiveness of our sins (cf. Hebrews 7:26–27). This unconditional covenant of grace established by God guarantees that those who are part of this covenant will be preserved to the end, not because of their merit but by the “sure mercies’’ of God.
Now, there are some who fail to grasp this fifth point of Calvinism, for they think that “salvation can be lost”. They commonly cite Hebrews 6:4–6—“For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” These verses seem to talk about “those who were once enlightened (by the Spirit)” facing a possibility of falling away permanently. This ambiguity must be interpreted in the light of what is clear and explicit in the rest of Scripture, for Scripture must be allowed to interpret Scripture. The writer of Hebrews is not stating an actual case in point here. He is merely using this rhetorical argument to highlight the absurdity or impossibility of regenerate Christians falling away permanently. The fact that the writer is arguing this way actually shows his confidence in the preservation of the saints—for “he (God) which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).
CONCLUSION
This doctrine of our eternal security brings much comfort and strength to us in our day-to-day lives. In times when we go through great trials in our life and are tempted to doubt our salvation, it is a great comfort to be assured that God will cover us with “his feathers” and we can rest “under his wings”. His unchanging “truth (which includes His promises) shall be [our] shield and buckler” (Psalm 91:4).
St Ambrose, an eminent church father, once asked, “Can He (God) abandon those whom He has honoured with His mighty benefits even to the point of their reward? … God the Father Himself, who has bestowed His gifts—can He make them void? Can He exile from His paternal love and favour those whom He took up by way of adoption? … Can Christ then condemn you, when He redeemed you from death and offered Himself on your behalf, and when He knows that your life is what was gained by His death?”. Without hesitation, his answer was pointed: “Let us not be afraid that anything can be denied us … So long and continuous has it been, and so abundant, that God first predestined us and then called us. Those whom He called, He also justified; those whom He justified, He also glorified (Romans 8:30)”.
In other words, those whom God has called to be saved, He will save to the uttermost—even unto the glorification of their bodies in heaven. O what glorious doctrine this is—the “Perseverance (i.e. Preservation) of the Saints”!
This article is from Bible Witness Magazine Volume 23 Issue 6, “Five Points of Calvinism by Rev Sujith Samuel “.
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