Theo1689
Well-known member
This last of the "5 Points" is "perseverance of the saints", or as some of us prefer, "preservation of the saints". There are three main positions concerning this issue:
1) "Perseverance of the saints" - true believers will continue in the faith, without fully or finally falling away;
2) "Once saved, always saved" - Once someone believes is saved, they will never lose their salvation, and in fact have a "license to sin", which never jeopardizes their salvation. This position is often held by groups who believe you can have Jesus as your Saviour, but don't have to hold Jesus as Lord. This is "anti-Lordship salvation", which John MacArthur has written against. (This is not the position I'm defending.)
3) Once can lose their salvation after being saved.
A couple of comments before we look to Scripture. First, it has been said by those on both sides that the Five Points stand together or fall together. The existence of the first four points affirms the truth of the fifth. Second, a good portion of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), which is largely Arminian, holds to eternal security. They hold to this doctrine because even though it doesn't fit with the rest of their doctrines, they recognize it as Biblically true.
Matt. 1:21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Christ will not merely "try" to save His people, He WILL save His people.
Luke 15:4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
The classic "shepherd" description. If we "fall away", Christ doesn't simply let us go, He goes after us and returns us to the fold. We are HIS. And He will never lose any of His sheep.
Luke 15:8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’
Same thing with the coin typology.
John 5:24 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.
We "have" eternal life. If we can lose it, we never "had" It, or else it wasn't "eternal".
We have "passed from death to life". So if we fall away, do we die again? If we come back, are we re-re-born? Not according to Hebrews.
John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
There is an unbreakable chain here.... drawn - come - raised up. Those whom the Father draws WILL be raised up to eternal life.
John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 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.
Rom. 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Rom. 8:29 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. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Another unbreakable chain, from foreknown --> predestined --> called --> justified --> glorified.
Rom. 8:38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 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.
1Cor. 1:8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He WILL sustain us, guiltless.
Eph. 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Eph. 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Phil. 1:6 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.
Col. 3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
1Th. 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
2Tim. 4:18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
1Pet. 1:3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pet. 1:23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
2Pet. 3:8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
This is actually a wonderful proof-text teaching limited atonement, AND perseverance of the saints". The Lord is not willing that any of the beloved perish, and so they never will. But sadly, Arminians are so keen on denying limited atonement, so they project a unversal atonement interpretation onto this pasage which destroys the original truth.
1John 2:19 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) "Perseverance of the saints" - true believers will continue in the faith, without fully or finally falling away;
2) "Once saved, always saved" - Once someone believes is saved, they will never lose their salvation, and in fact have a "license to sin", which never jeopardizes their salvation. This position is often held by groups who believe you can have Jesus as your Saviour, but don't have to hold Jesus as Lord. This is "anti-Lordship salvation", which John MacArthur has written against. (This is not the position I'm defending.)
3) Once can lose their salvation after being saved.
A couple of comments before we look to Scripture. First, it has been said by those on both sides that the Five Points stand together or fall together. The existence of the first four points affirms the truth of the fifth. Second, a good portion of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), which is largely Arminian, holds to eternal security. They hold to this doctrine because even though it doesn't fit with the rest of their doctrines, they recognize it as Biblically true.
Matt. 1:21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Christ will not merely "try" to save His people, He WILL save His people.
Luke 15:4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
The classic "shepherd" description. If we "fall away", Christ doesn't simply let us go, He goes after us and returns us to the fold. We are HIS. And He will never lose any of His sheep.
Luke 15:8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9 And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’
Same thing with the coin typology.
John 5:24 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.
We "have" eternal life. If we can lose it, we never "had" It, or else it wasn't "eternal".
We have "passed from death to life". So if we fall away, do we die again? If we come back, are we re-re-born? Not according to Hebrews.
John 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
There is an unbreakable chain here.... drawn - come - raised up. Those whom the Father draws WILL be raised up to eternal life.
John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 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.
Rom. 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Rom. 8:29 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. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Another unbreakable chain, from foreknown --> predestined --> called --> justified --> glorified.
Rom. 8:38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 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.
1Cor. 1:8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He WILL sustain us, guiltless.
Eph. 1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Eph. 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Phil. 1:6 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.
Col. 3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
1Th. 5:23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.
2Tim. 4:18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
1Pet. 1:3 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1Pet. 1:23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;
2Pet. 3:8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
This is actually a wonderful proof-text teaching limited atonement, AND perseverance of the saints". The Lord is not willing that any of the beloved perish, and so they never will. But sadly, Arminians are so keen on denying limited atonement, so they project a unversal atonement interpretation onto this pasage which destroys the original truth.
1John 2:19 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.