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Perseverance of the Saints
( Is it the Doctrine of Eternal Security? )
by Tony Warren


    There are those who seem to be infatuated with convoluting and over complicating the litigation of scripture, and attempt to make an artificial distinction between the doctrine of 'eternal security' and that of 'perseverance of the Saints.' But in truth that is like trying to find a difference between us being washed in the blood of the lamb, and Christ having died for our sins. i.e., they are both speaking of the same thing. We should not be confused or puffed up in reading long platitudinous essays purporting distinguishing qualities. The fact that the Saints will by the Spirit of God persevere 'is' eternal security.

2nd Corinthians 1:21-22

We persevere because God by His Spirit has sealed or secured us eternally. You can't have one without the other. By the common understanding of any language, to persevere (continue in a state of Grace) is to be continually/eternally secured. Despite all the recent attempts by some theologians at separation, there is no need for any distinction. All who are truly in Christ persevere because they are secured eternally. Anything less is Salvation by works. There is not one man, woman or child who will be lost from the ranks of those called of God who have had their sins forgiven (been saved). Because if one is eternally secure, He cannot fall, and thus by definition must persevere. Else eternal doesn't mean 'lasting eternally' and we are all just playing word games. A Saint is either eternally secure, or else he is not a Saint and has not been made Holy and unblamable before God. Everlasting life is not temporary, nor fleeting, it is eternal.

John 3:36

A true believer has been eternal life. It's not a future gift, it is something that has already been secured for him by the work of Christ. Therefore, how could this Saint not persevere after he has received it? It makes no sense. He has died and was risen that we have eternal redemption in His blood.

Hebrews 9:12

We have complete assurance of Salvation because Christ has purchased every single 'true' believer. It is by His work that we persevere. And indeed this promise of God of confirmation is an integral part of true Christianity.

1st Corinthians 1:6-9

There is a reason God strengthens us, makes us stabilized unto the end, and He says it's to make us blameless in the day of the Lord. It's not established until the day we fall, it's established unto the end. That word confirm is the Greek word [bebaioo], meaning to stabilize or to establish. It's from the root [bebaios] meaning to firm up or make steady or sure. That's what God who is faithful did for us. Those who endure (persevere) are blameless before the lord, and Christ is our strength in this endurance. He confirms us (establishes us) unto the end that we 'will be' presented blameless before God.

The truth is, he who has no 'assurance of Salvation,' will go through His whole life in insecurity questioning his relationship with God, and in a real sense unconvinced that God was telling the truth when He 'Promised' us that He would never leave nor forsake us. For you cannot have that assurance when you are not sure that Christ has obtained an eternal redemption for us wherein He will always be with us as he declared. If there were even a chance of us losing our Salvation, God would not have provided a seal of the promised by the Spirit, nor declared He would not forsake us. For His promises are true.

Hebrews 13:5

Since when does "I will never leave you" re-translate to "I'll indeed leave you if you don't keep up?" It seems that it is since man decided to make his own 'private interpretations' of scripture references.

Matthew 28:20

Since when does "always" re-translate to mean, "just for a season, and only if you endure?" Again, it seems it's when man decides to make his own 'private interpretations' of scripture. This is the kind of re-interpretations we're supposed to believe, while disbelieve the testimony of the scriptures themselves. How can God say we are made perfect forever, if we have to earn our Salvation by our endurance? If that were true, then God's statements are false.

Hebrews 10:10-14

Are we by the sacrifice of Christ perfected for ever as God's Word declares, or are we merely working to see if we can be worthy and merit Salvation? We can't have it both ways. The fact is, in order for one who has become a true Christian to lose their Salvation, Christ (who dwells within each and every one of them) must forsake them and leave them. And that is something that He has faithfully "Promised" that He will never do. But you see this is the shakey foundation upon which many build their doctrines of works, rather than Grace. Of lost salvation, rather than of an eternally purchased inheritance. These who deny this rest upon the island of 'ignoring' all other scriptures which show their theory contradictory, and bask in the darkness of 'out of context' references. But every doctrine which is not a true doctrine does the same thing. When we takes verses out of context, and then ignore all others verses which would show these verses misapplied, we have no solid foundation. Anyone who truly believes on Christ has Him dwelling within them, and they build upon the Solid Rock from which they shall never fall. And whosoever does, has life everlasting.

John 3:16

We who actually believe in the Word (All the Word, not just select verses) have the assurance of Salvation. For it is God's Word itself which teaches that when a person is truly Saved, he is eternally Saved. Which means he is in no danger of ever losing what he himself didn't secure. God Himself secured us.

Ephesians 4:30

Ephesians 1:13 That Greek word Sealed there is [sphragizo], meaning to stamp as secured. Clearly, believers are secured by the Holy Spirit of God, not by their own works, and so how could they suddenly find themselves unsecured? And note carefully that it is until the redemption of the purchased (purchased in the blood of Christ) possession. It is absolutely ludicrous to take this verse and claim that it really means we are not secured by the Holy Spirit until the day of Redemption. Indeed, it would be tortuous of God's Word to do so. Christ went to prepare a place of inheritance for us, but He also sent the Holy Spirit to seal (secure) us unto the day of our redemption of that Purchased inheritance. Nothing could be plainer. Again note, Holy Spirit of Promise. God does not break His promises. Man assuredly does, but God does not. We are by His power Sealed, preserved unto the day of the consummation. Christ sent the Comforter to us precisely to assure perseverance and preserve us in Him.

Jude 1

2nd Timothy 4:18 We're sanctified, made holy, and preserved unto the kingdom of God. This is not man's best guess here, or our assumption, or our speculating (as so many others do) this is the faithful testimony to what God has clearly said. And He has said it again, and again, and again. It's not ambiguous, neither is it drawn from some some obscure references, this doctrine is all throughout scripture. Indeed it makes one wonder how anyone can hold to any other position considering all the scriptures addressing this. Every single Christian whom God hath Chosen, will not only be drawn to come, but will persevere so that not one of them will be lost.

John 6:37

In No Way will Jesus cast anyone out who has come to Him. We have 'Peace' with God and 'Safety' in Christ that we are totally Secure in the Kingdom. Our inheritance has already been bought and paid for. When the unregenerate stand before throne of God at Judgment, they will be cast out into the lake of fire. But Jesus will in no way cast out those who had part in the regeneration unto new life. Every one of them are secure and not one of them is going to be cast out. Not because of any alleged non-endurance, or because of non-perseverance, or lost salvation. Not one will be cast out because all their sins were atoned for, not some of them.

When we study scripture carefully, it becomes quite clear that those who stand before God and are cast out, Jesus declared that He never knew them. So how can some people insist that at one time Jesus knew them, and then they lost their Salvation? You see the tangled web they weave by 'ignoring' pertinent scriptures? Jesus is not a Liar! If He had known them by their once being Saved, and then having fallen away, why would Jesus say I never knew you? Like all the other arguments, it makes absolutely no sense at all. It's totally illogical and contradictory to God. One may not like the term, 'Once saved, always Saved,' but it is nothing less than the gospel truth. These people who stand before God 'professing' to be Christians and God rebuking, saying He never knew them, obviously were never born from above. They merely took Christ's name, but they never had a personal relationship with Him. Jesus Himself Proves this.

Matthew 7:20-23

Sure, they called Him lord, sure they took His name, sure they claimed to be working to His glory, but the bottom line is Jesus never knew them. They were liars deceiving themselves that they were Christian, but they they didn't build their house upon the Solid Rock of the Word of God. And in the end, that house was bound to fall. If you'll read that whole Chapter of Matthew 7, you'll see that's exactly what Jesus says of them. They were those who would not listen to the Word of God, and who built their house upon sand and shifting dirt. The House fell when the winds blew because it was not established upon God's word. Read it yourself. Likewise those who hear and keep the Word, are likened unto those who build their house upon the Solid Rock. A house that will never fall. That was their assurance of Salvation. The fact that they built upon the Word of God is how they knew they were truly a Christian and that God Knew Them. They didn't 'ignore' the Word they heard like the others in the parable. Therefore, they truly knew Christ and He them. Exactly as we are bluntly told in 1st John.

1st John 2:3

Strong words! People claiming they're Christian (know Christ) but whom God says won't keep His Word are merely liars who know not Christ. Hereby means 'this is how' we know. By Keeping (as opposed to ignoring) God's Word. Guarding it from loss. When true Christians sin (and we do), they don't try to pretend it's not a sin, they repent and confess their sins. When these others sin, they 'pretend' it's not really a sin because scripture doesn't really mean what it says. i.e., they ignore scripture (God's Word) and build upon sand rather than the Solid Rock. We're secure, for we have the 'evidence' of Salvation which is obedience to God's Word. They are not, for they have the 'evidence' of rebellion against God's word. And the evidence (hereby) that we know we know Him, is our guarding from loss (keeping) the commandments of God. We are the lawful man who keeps the laws of God, they are the lawless man who forsakes it. As it is written, a tree is known by it's fruits.

Either people were never Saved in the first place and Jesus never knew them, or Jesus knew them and He will confess them before His Father. The only other alternative is 'Blasphemy,' where Jesus knew them before when they were Saved and then lied and said He didn't know them at the throne after they (allegedly) lost their Salvation. Of course that is Heretical, but that is in essence what people say when they claim Christ knew some, and then they fell away and lost their Salvation. It's makes God a liar who is not the good shepherd which watches over His sheep and secures them unto the day of redemption.

Jude 1:24

Our God is a God of power, not an idle God who sits twiddling His thumbs worried that some will not make it. Will He dwell in every believer and yet do nothing to secure him? God forbid, we were made faultless or blameless by the blood of Christ, and we do the will of God because Christ dwells within us (Philippians 2:13). We remain faultless, for not one was washed clean of sin in vain. But don't take my word for it.

John 10:27-29

Never means Never. It doesn't mean sometimes, as these who follow the 'lost Salvation theory' must conclude. They will never perish, therefore they will never fall from Salvation. They will always persevere. They have eternal security that no man can pluck them out of God's hand, be he a false prophet, a deceiver or Satan Himself. There is none greater than God, therefore they can never be deceived by others to fall from His seal of security. Who of us would think that we worship an ambivalent, idle, by-standing God? No, we worship a "sovereign" God of Power. Therefore He doesn't wait for us to move (our own works) He move us, and we hear His voice and follow him and do His will. Just as that Chapter clearly says. We will persevere because nothing and no one can keep us from the love our God has shown us.

Romans 8:38-39

That about covers it all. In short Nothing can separate us from the Love of God. Yet we're told to believe that the Christian can indeed be separated from the Love of God. By powers, by creatures, by life, by deceivers, and by themselves. The question is, who are we going to believe in all this? The words of men, or the Word of God which says over and over again that we cannot and will not be abandoned by God. What is our Authority, the Word of God or the word of man?

When professed Christians deny eternal security, they are making an attack upon the very gospel itself, for one must believe in the perseverance of the saints in order to accurately teach a gospel of Grace. Let's face facts, when we get right down to the basics of the 'we can lose our salvation,' camp, it's fundamental cornerstone is the belief that ultimately we retain our Salvation by our 'own work' in enduring. But the problem is, a work of enduring or maintaining favor of God is not Grace. It's the merit system, which God has warned us cannot be Grace. God's Word makes it perfectly clear that merit has nothing whatsoever to do with our Salvation. To deny this is to deny Grace. We don't aquire Salvation by merit, we don't have Salvation by our merit, and we certainly don't keep Salvation by our merit. Therefore this, 'we must endure to the end in order to be Saved,' doctrine is bankrupt. No we 'who' endure to the end will be saved. Again, anything less is nothing more than a works Salvation system, dressed up to look like Grace.

Titus 3:5

It's by His sovereign Mercy, His Sovereign good pleasure and favor. That's Grace. And so to suppose that we must merit keeping it by our own enduring is not only unbiblical, it's anti-Biblical. A free gift means it cannot be taken away, else it was not free. It was not given based on merit, so how could it be taken away based on merit. That's what these people don't seem to understand. Furthermore, the gift itself is declared everlasting.

Romans 5:18

Romans 6:23 If we had to work to keep it, it would not be a free, and everything in the scriptures would be a lie. It was unto justification of life. So how then can one stand before God unjustified? The Gift wasn't life based upon our enduring. The Gift itself is eternal life. And we have been given it, not 'will' be given it. Not of works, but Grace.

Ephesians 2:8-9

This gift doesn't remain because of our works meriting it by enduring. No, we endure because our merit is in Christ who gave it to us. He has become our strength. Not will, but has. Note that when God speaks about our having eternal life, He speaks in the present tense (hath, have, etc.), as something that we already possess, not something that we're working towards getting. If we had to work or endure to keep our Salvation, this would make null and void countless scriptures proclaiming Salvation cannot be by merit. That is why it's present tense. we 'have' everlasting Life.

1st John 5:24

John 3:36 It's not something that we're going to get after we merit it by enduring, it's something which has been purchased for us, and that God wants us to "know" that we have.

1st John 5:13

Moreover, Salvation is an event, a new birth, not something which is over a long period of time or a drawn out process. It's an an event in real time. Just as your birth happened on a certain time and day, so does the second birth (regeneration) unto new Life. We may not know exactly when that time or day was, but Salvation was a gift given you by God. A gift determined to be given you long before you were born.

2nd Corinthians 6:2

John 3:3 1st Peter 1:23 This is what Salvation is. It's not something that after we endure ten or twenty years, or sometime down the road, or whenever we meet the lord we'll be given. According to God it's something we have now, and when we meet the Lord will be the consummation of our gift. The Redemption of the purchased possession. We are born from above and in that new birth, we live forever. So how could one not persevere in life? It's an impossibility given the scripture.

1st John 3:2

1st Peter 1:5 Are we kept by the power of God, or is it all just words and we're kept by our own work of endurance? The real question is, do we believe what God says, or follow after man's theories?

Jude 24

If we be in Christ, it is He who will keep us from falling. If not, we shall fall because no one can endure by their own power. It is not possible to do so. But with God, all things are possible.


CONCLUSION

We've seen many of the scriptures which show clearly that once one has been born from above, they can never be unborn. They have an eternal inheritance in heaven, and God promises that that inheritance is secured for them until the day of redemption. So the question again is, do we actually believe all these scriptures?

1st John 5:10

Everlasting life, or temporary life? Washed clean of all sins or just some sins? Enduring, meriting Salvation, or Salvation meaning enduring? We shall run and not be weary, or we will walk and maybe faint? He'll never leave us or He'll abandon us if we aren't careful? These are the type of questions we ask because they illustrate just who is saying what, and just who is making it all a lie. And that's the bottom line. In the end (as always), it comes down to the common denominator. Will we believe the Word of God, or follow the tradition of our teachers. As for me and my house, we will serve the lord. For when God Saved us, he has Saved us forever. Nothing can take us from what God has given, not even ourselves, and no one can snatch us out of our God's hands. For He is mightier than All.

Ecclesiastes 3:14

While there is no distinction between perseverance of the Saints and Eternal Security, there most certainly is a distinction between Perseverance of the Saints, and Perseverance of those who call themselves Christian. Saints, and those who call themselves Christian are not the same. Saints are the sanctified of God, those made Holy in the blood of the Lamb. While those calling themselves Christian can be anyone. The problem often arises when those who call themselves Christian do not Persevere, thus some people see this as evidence Perseverance of the Saints is a faulty doctrine. Not so. Since those who fall were never washed in the blood of Christ, never made eternally clean, they thus do not qualify as Saints. Indeed, their non perseverance is evidence that they were not truly Saints. As demonstrated in verses such as,

1st John 2:19

They were not of us and then fell away from being of us. This verse tells us that if they were of us, they would have continued with us demonstrating that they were. But that is why they grew weary and went out from us. To make manifest that they were really not part of the Body. Had they been they would wait upon the lord, and renew their strength, they would mount up with wings like eagles, they would run and not been weary, they would have walked and not fainted. But they were not truly Saints so they grew weary and eventually left the body. They had no root in Christ, the strength which would cause them to endure. Enduring has nothing to do with our works, but with the work which Christ has done for us. We persevere because we are in Christ, and it is He who sustains us, and not ourselves.

1st Corinthians 1:6-8

Some people have the misguided idea that the doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints promotes irresponsibility in Christians. i.e., it might cause them to sin knowing they have no condemnation. Nothing could be further from the truth. We all fully recognize the responsibility that is ours to walk in a manner which is consistent with the Word, and to test to see that we are of the faith as we make our calling and election sure. But the real love of God's Grace is that if we truly be in Christ, He will see us through to the end as He abideth for ever to make intercession for us.

Hebrews 7:24-25

We don't sin because we can, we have no sin because He washed it all away, and made us a new creature who abhors sin. We have received a new will, and in it an ernest desire to do the will of God. Show me a man who sins because He thinks he can do it with impunity, and I'll show you a man who is not a Saint. In point of fact, those who believe in 'eternal security or perseverance of the Saints' are generally some of the most faithful Christians you'll find. He that has been born from above (a saint) is a New Creation, a new man in Christ. He's not the old man to continue in his old ways because He has Grace. That's ridiculous, and addressed clearly in Romans.

Romans 5:21

Romans 6:1-7 When we become a Saint, we become a new man, the old man being crucified. Shall we continue in sin knowing Grace abounds? God Forbid! That's not the evidence of a Saint, that's the evidence of one who is not a Saint. So those who make this claim that the doctrines of Grace causes men to sin with impunity, are way off the mark. They neglect to take into account that true Salvation is much more than profession of being a Christian. It's being born a New creation in Christ, wherein we never want to sin again. Not wherein we rejoice that we can sin anytime we want with impunity. That is not a Saint. A Saint has eternal security which is why he will persevere. Separating one from the other is like separating Christ's work from Grace. It cannot be done. For you can't have one without the other, they are inherently 'synonymous.'

May the Good Lord who is Gracious above all, guide you into the truth of His holy Word.

Peace,

Copyright ©1999 Tony Warren
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Created 4/12/99 / Last Modified 6/18/01
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