Perseverance of the saints
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Perseverance of the saints (or preservation of the saints or eternal security) is a controversial Christian doctrine which maintains that none who are truly saved can be condemned for their sins or finally fall away from the faith. The doctrine appears in two different forms: (1) the traditional Calvinist doctrine found in the Reformed Christian confessions of faith, and (2) the non-traditional doctrine found in some Baptist and other evangelical churches. In a sense, both can describe Christian believers as "once saved, always saved", but the two forms attach a different meaning to the word saved — namely, whether or not it necessarily involves sanctification, the process of becoming holy by rejecting sin and obeying God's commands. Because of this difference, traditional Calvinist Christians tend to prefer the historical term "perseverance of the saints", which is one of the five points of Calvinism, and advocates of the non-traditional doctrine usually prefer the less technical terms "eternal security", "unconditional assurance", and "once saved, always saved" to characterize their teaching. The two views are similar and often confused, and though they reach the same end (namely, eternal security in salvation), they reach it by different paths. Non-traditionalists seek to moderate the perceived harshness of Calvinism as it is found in the Reformed confessions and to emphasize that salvation is not conditioned on performing good works. Traditional Calvinists maintain that the non-traditional doctrine ignores certain key Bible passages and would be rejected by Calvin and the Reformed churches, which have both firmly advocated the necessity of good works and with which non-traditionalists seek to align themselves historically to some degree. Other Christians such as Roman Catholics and Arminians reject both versions of the doctrine.
The traditional doctrineThe Reformed tradition has consistently seen the doctrine of perseverance as a natural consequence to its general scheme of predestination in which God has chosen some men and women unto salvation and has cleared them of their guilty status by atoning for their sins through Jesus's sacrifice. According to these Calvinists, God has irresistibly drawn the elect to put their faith in himself for salvation by regenerating their hearts and convincing them of their need. Therefore, they continue, since God has made satisfaction for the sins of the elect, they can no longer be condemned for them, and through the help of the Holy Spirit, they must necessarily persevere as Christians and in the end be saved. Traditional Calvinists also believe that all who are born again and justified before God necessarily and inexorably proceed to sanctification. Indeed, failure to proceed to sanctification in their view is evidence that the person in question was not truly saved to begin with. Proponents of this doctrine distinguish between an action and the consequences of an action, and suggest that after God has regenerated someone, the person's will cannot reverse its course. It is argued that God has changed that person in ways that are outside of his or her own ability to alter fundamentally, and he or she will therefore persevere in the faith. Theologian Charles Hodge summarizes the thrust of the Calvinist doctrine (Systematic Theology, 3.16.8):
On a practical level, Calvinists do not claim to know who is elect and who is not, and the only guide they have are the verbal testimony and good works (or "fruit") of each individual. Any who "fall away" (that is, do not persevere unto death) must not have been truly converted to begin with, though Calvinists don't claim to know with certainty who did and who did not persevere. The non-traditional doctrineThe non-traditional doctrine has been espoused by Charles Stanley, Norman Geisler, Zane C. Hodges, Bill Bright, and others. This view, like the traditional Calvinist view, emphasizes that people are saved purely by an act of divine grace that does not depend at all on the deeds of the individual, and for that reason, advocates insist that nothing the person can do can affect his or her salvation. The non-traditional doctrine views the person's character and life after receiving the gift of salvation as independent from the gift itself, which is the main point of differentiation from the traditional view, or, in other words, it asserts that justification (that is, being declared righteous before God on account of Christ) does not necessarily result in sanctification (that is, a progressively more righteous life). The doctrine sees the work of salvation as wholly monergistic, which is to say that God alone performs it and man has no part in the process beyond receiving it, and therefore, proponents argue that man cannot undo what they believe God has done, even by denying the very existence of that God. By comparison, in traditional Calvinism, people, who are otherwise unable to follow God, are enabled by regeneration to cooperate with him, and so the traditionalists see themselves as mediating between the total monergism of the non-traditional view and the synergism of the Wesleyan, Arminian, and Roman Catholic views in which even unregenerate man can choose to cooperate with God in salvation. The traditional doctrine teaches that a person is secure in salvation because he or she was predestined by God, whereas in the non-traditional view, a person is secure because he or she has believed the Gospel message (Dave Hunt, What Love is This, p. 481). Evangelical criticismProponents of the non-traditional view sometimes label themselves as moderate Calvinists, by which they usually mean they drop at least one of the five points of Calvinism (most often, limited atonement) and make some other modifications to the Calvinistic system. In this context, the modification they advocate is that a person's status before God does not necessarily influence his or her life, a belief which is sometimes referred to as carnal Christianity. Traditional Calvinism has uniformly asserted that "no man is a Christian who does not feel some special love for righteousness" (Institutes 3.6) and has rejected carnal Christianity as a form of antinomianism. Thus, these Calvinists claim that the moderationists deviate too widely from Calvin and the accepted Reformed doctrine to be called Calvinists at all. Arminianism has likewise rejected the non-traditional Calvinist view for the opposite reason: namely, that the view denies the Arminian doctrine that true Christians can lose their salvation (see conditional preservation of the saints). History of the doctrineThe traditional doctrine is one of the five points of Calvinism that were defined at the Synod of Dordrecht during the Quinquarticular Controversy with the Arminian Remonstrants, who objected to the general predestinarian scheme of Calvinism. Wesleyanism agrees with Arminianism that true Christians can fall away, but they disagree over whether or not such fallen Christians can return again to salvation (Wesleyans believe they can, and Arminians deny that they can). The traditional doctrine of perseverance is articulated in the Canons of Dordrecht (chapter 5), the Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter XVII), the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith (Chapter 17), and may also be found in other Reformed Confessions. Nonetheless, the doctrine is most often mentioned in connection with other salvific schemes and is not a major locus of Reformed systematic theology (for instance, it does not even get a subheading in the three volume Systematic Theology by Hodge). It is, however, seen by many as the necessary consequence of Calvinism and of trusting in the promises of God. Traditional Calvinism voiced its opposition to carnal Christianity and the non-traditional doctrine in the recent controversy over "Lordship salvation". Biblical evidence for the doctrineIn addition to fitting neatly in the over-arching Calvinist soteriology, traditionalists and non-traditionalists alike find specific support for the doctrine in various passages from the Bible (all quotations are from the ESV):
Difficult passagesCalvinists freely admit that their interpretation is not without difficulties. One apparent consequence is that not all who "have shared in the Holy Spirit" (Acts 10:44-48) are necessarily regenerate. This is a consequence Calvinists are willing to accept since the Bible also says that King Saul had the "Spirit of God" in some sense and even prophesied by it (1 Samuel 19:23-24; 11:6; etc.) but was not a follower of God. Calvin says, "God indeed favors none but the elect alone with the Spirit of regeneration, and that by this they are distinguished from the reprobate.... But I cannot admit that all this is any reason why he should not grant the reprobate also some taste of his grace, why he should not irradiate their minds with some sparks of his light, why he should not give them some perception of his goodness, and in some sort engrave his word on their hearts" (Commentary on Hebrews 6:4). Some challenge the Calvinist doctrine based on their interpretation of the admonishments in the book of Hebrews, including Hebrews 2:1-4; 3:6,12-14; 4:12-13; 12:25-29, but especially Hebrews 6:4-12 and 10:26-39. The former passage says 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" that, when they "fall away," they cannot be "restored to repentance." The latter passage says that if one continues in sin, "no sacrifice for sins" remains for that person but "only a fearful expectation of judgment" (vv. 26b-27a). The author of Hebrews predicts grave punishment for one who has "has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace" (v. 29). The debate over these passages centers around the identity of the persons in question, and while opponents of perseverance identify the persons as Christian believers, Calvinists suggest several other options:
Some other passages put forth against the Calvinist doctrine include:
In general, proponents of the doctrine of perseverance interpret such passages, which that encourage the church community to persevere in the faith but seem to indicate that some members of the community might fall away, as hortatory rather than objective in character. That is, they view the prophets and apostles as writing "from the human perspective," in which the members of the elect are unknowable and all should "work out [their] own salvation" (Philippians 2:12) and "make [their] calling and election sure" (2 Peter 1:10), rather than "from the divine perspective," in which those who will persevere, according to Calvinism, are well known. The primary objection to this approach is that it might equally be said that these difficult passages bear the objective meaning while the passages urged to support this doctrine of perseverance are hortatory in a positive sense, revealing God's perpetual grace towards believers. Objections to the doctrineThe primary objection lodged against the doctrine is that such teaching will lead to license. That is, objectors contend that if people know they can never lose their salvation they will feel free to sin without fear of eternal consequences. Traditional Calvinists contend that this charge is justly leveled against the non-tradition doctrine, which doesn't see sanctification as a necessary component of salvation, and in the controversy over Lordship salvation, traditional Calvinists argued against the proponents of the non-traditional doctrine. Traditional Calvinists, and many other non-Calvinist evangelicals, posit that a truly converted heart will necessarily follow after God and live in accordance with his precepts, though perfection is not achievable, struggles with sin will continue, and some temporary "backsliding" may occur. Arminian viewThe central tenet of the Arminian view is that believers are preserved from all external forces that might attempt to separate them from God, and further that God will not change His mind about their salvation, but that these same believers can themselves willingly repudiate their faith (either by a statement to that effect, or by continued sinful activity combined with an unwillingness to repent). Thus, their salvation is conditional on remaining faithful. Traditional Calvinists do not dispute that salvation requires faithfulness, and the point of difference between these Calvinists and Arminians is over whether God allows true Christians to fall away. Non-traditional Calvinists agree with traditional Calvinists that salvation cannot be lost but with the Arminians that true Christians can finally repudiate their faith. Roman Catholic viewCalvinists, in common with most other Protestant groups, rely on sola scriptura, a doctrine which sees the authority of tradition as derivative and secondary, rather than on par, with that of the Bible, whereas the Roman Catholic interpretation of the Bible rests on the teaching of the Magisterium. Thus, Catholics often argue against the doctrine of perseverance because it seems to originate outside the received tradition of the Church. During the Counter-Reformation, Jansenist Catholics put forth an alternate understanding of the accepted tradition and especially of St. Augustine's doctrines of original sin and predestination, but the Jansenist interpretation of the scriptures and tradition, which naturally results in a doctrine of perseverance similar to the Calvinist's, was ultimately rejected by the Church. The twenty-second Canon of the Decree Concerning Justification of the Council of Trent (Sixth Session, 13 January 1547) has this to say regarding perseverance: "If anyone says that the one justified either can without the special help of God persevere in the justice received, or that with that help he cannot, let him be anathema." The Catholic Encyclopedia describes the doctrine as synergistic (rather than monergistic): "[T]he power of perseverance is neither in the human will alone nor in God's grace solely, but in the combination of both, i.e., Divine grace aiding human will, and human will co-operating with Divine grace." The Catholic view differs from that of the Calvinists less than it may first appear, for Calvinists claim that they do not reduce man to a volitionless puppet and can thus agree that, after regeneration, divine grace aids human will and human will cooperates with that grace (compare Phil. 2:12b-13). The point of distinction is in whether God permits men to "fall away." Roman Catholics affirm that they can, and Calvinists, as described above, deny that they can if they are truly regenerate because, it is claimed, God keeps them from it. Lutheran viewLike both Calvinist camps, confessional Lutherans view the work of salvation as monergistic in that "the natural [that is, corrupted and divinely unrenewed] powers of man cannot do anything or help towards salvation" (Formula of Concord: Solid Declaration, art. ii, par. 71), and Lutherans go further along the same lines as the non-traditional Calvinists to say that the recipient of saving grace need not cooperate with it. Hence, Lutherans believe that a true Christian (that is, a genuine recipient of saving grace) can lose his or her salvation, "[b]ut the cause is not as though God were unwilling to grant grace for perseverance to those in whom He has begun the good work... [but that these persons] wilfully turn away..." (Formula of Concord: Solid Declaration, art. xi, par. 42). ReferencesTraditional Calvinist view
Non-traditional Calvinist view
Arminian view
Confessional Lutheran view
Multiple views
External linksTraditional Calvinist view
Non-traditional Calvinist view
Arminian view |
