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Perseverance of the saints (also called preservation of the saints[1]) is a Christian teaching that asserts that once a person is truly "born of God" or "regenerated" by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they will continue doing good works and believing in God until the end of their life.
Sometimes this position is held in conjunction with Reformed Christian confessions of faith in traditional Calvinist doctrine, which argues that all men are "dead in trespasses and sins", and so apart from being resurrected from spiritual death to spiritual life, no-one chooses salvation alone. However, it must be distinguished from Arminianism, which also teaches that all men are "dead in trespasses and sins", and could not respond to the gospel if God did not enable individuals to do so by His prevenient grace.[2]
Calvinists maintain that God selected certain individuals for salvation, before the world began, and that he subsequently irresistibly draws only these selected individuals to faith in him and his son, Jesus. In support of this, they interpret John 6:44 as a statement that only those pre-ordained for belief in God are drawn to him, with an irresistible grace, as opposed to the Arminian interpretation that all are drawn to him by his prevenient grace, which individuals may resist. Calvinists also use their interpretation of Ephesians 1:4 and Philippians 1:4 in the writings of the apostle Paul as indication that God chose believers in Christ before the world was created, not based upon foreseen faith,[3] but based upon his sovereign decision to save whomever he pleased to save.[4]
The doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints is distinct from the doctrine of Assurance, which describes how a person may first be sure that they have obtained salvation and an inheritance in the promises of the Bible including eternal life. The Westminster Confession of Faith covers Perseverance of the Saints in chapter 17, and Assurance of Grace and Salvation in chapter 18. Perseverance of the Saints is also distinct from the related doctrine of eternal security, the former indicating security of sanctification/condition while the latter indicates security of (forensic) justification/salvation.
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See also: History of Calvinist-Arminian debate |
Church Father Augustine of Hippo taught that some of those whom God chooses to save by regeneration through water baptism are given, in addition to the gift of faith, a gift of perseverance ("donum perseverantiae") which enables them to continue to believe, and precludes the possibility of falling away.[5][6] He developed this doctrine in De correptione et gratia (c. 426–427 CE), explaining why some regenerated infants persevere in faith and good works, while others fall away from the faith.[7] Perseverance of the saints also predates Calvin in the teachings of Jovinian.[8]
The traditional Calvinist doctrine is one of the five points of Calvinism that were defined at the Synod of Dort during the Quinquarticular Controversy with the Arminian Remonstrants, who objected to the general predestinarian scheme of Calvinism. Arminianism teaches that salvation is conditioned on faith, therefore perseverance of the saints is also conditioned.[9]
The traditional Calvinist doctrine of perseverance is articulated in the Canons of Dort (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 focus of Reformed systematic theology. It is, however, seen by many as the necessary consequence of Calvinism and of trusting in the promises of God.
| The Five Points of Calvinism |
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| (TULIP) |
| Total depravity |
| Unconditional election |
| Limited atonement |
| Irresistible grace |
| Perseverance of the saints |
The Reformed tradition has consistently seen the doctrine of perseverance as a natural consequence to predestination. According to Calvinists, since God has drawn the elect to faith in Christ by regenerating their hearts and convincing them of their sins, and thus saving their souls by his own work and power, it naturally follows that they will be kept by the same power to the end. 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. Calvinists believe this is what Peter is teaching in 1 Peter 1:5 when he says that true believers are "kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." Outside Calvinist denominations, this doctrine is widely considered to be flawed.
Calvinists also believe that all who are born again and justified before God necessarily and inexorably proceed to sanctification. Failure to proceed to sanctification in their view is considered by some as evidence that the person in question was never truly saved to begin with.[10] 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 has been changed, that "old things pass away" and "all things are become new," as it is written in 2 Corinthians 5:17, and he or she will as a consequence persevere in the faith.
The Westminster Confession of Faith defined perseverance as follows:
They whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved. ─Westminster Confession of Faith (chap. 17, sec. 1).[11]
This definition does not deny the possibility of failings in one's Christian experience, because the Confession also says:
Nevertheless [believers] may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins; and for a time continue therein; whereby they incur God's displeasure, and grieve his Holy Spirit: come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts; have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded; hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves (sec. 3).[11]
Theologian Charles Hodge summarizes the thrust of the Calvinist doctrine:
Perseverance…is due to the purpose of God [in saving men and thereby bringing glory to his name], to the work of Christ [in canceling men's debt and earning their righteousness ], to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit [in sealing men in salvation and leading them in God's ways], and to the primal source of all, the infinite, mysterious, and immutable love of God.[12]
— Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, 3.iii.ii.viii
On a practical level, Calvinists do not claim to know who is elect and who is not, and the only guide they have is the verbal testimony and good works (or "fruit") of each individual. Any who "fall away" are assumed not to have been truly converted to begin with, though Calvinists do not claim to know with certainty who did and who did not persevere.
Essentially, Reformed doctrine believes that the same God whose power justified the Christian believer is also at work in the continued sanctification of that believer. As Philippians 2:13 says, "It is God who is at work in you, both to will and work for His good pleasure"; thus, all who are truly born again are kept by God the Father for Jesus Christ, and can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but will persevere in their faith to the end, and be eternally saved. While Reformed theologians acknowledge that true believers at times will fall into sin, they maintain that a real believer in Jesus Christ cannot abandon one's own personal faith to the dominion of sin, basing their understanding on key scriptural passages such as Christ's words, "By their fruit you will know them"[13] and "He that endures to the end will be saved."[14] Similarly, a passage in 1 John says, "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God."[15] The person who has truly been made righteous in Jesus Christ did not simply have faith at some point in life, but continues to live in that faith ([16]). This view understands that the security of believers is inseparable from their perseverance in the faith.[a]
The Free Grace or non-traditional Calvinist 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 (contrary to Calvinism) insists that nothing the person can do can affect their salvation. In the Free Grace view, saints can fall away (stop persevering) in both conduct and faith yet remain eternally secure.
Both traditional Calvinism and traditional Arminianism reject Free Grace theology.[b][c] The former believes Free Grace to be a distorted form of Calvinism which maintains the permanency of salvation (or properly speaking, justification) while radically divorcing the ongoing work of sanctification from that justification. Reformed theology has uniformly asserted that "no man is a Christian who does not feel some special love for righteousness" (Institutes),[19] and therefore sees Free Grace theology, which allows for the concept of a "carnal Christian" or even an "unbelieving Christian", as a form of radical antinomianism. Arminianism, which has always believed true believers can give themselves completely over to sin, has also rejected the Free Grace view for the opposite reason of Calvinism: namely, that the view denies the classical Arminian doctrine that true Christians can lose their salvation by denouncing their faith.[d]
Free Grace theology maintains the middle ground of the permanency of salvation seen in Calvinism with the maintained belief that a believer can still give up their faith, choosing to live a life of unbelief. Both Calvinists and Arminians appeal to Biblical passages such as 1 Cor. 15:2 ("By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain"), Hebrews 3:14 ("We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first"), James 2:21–22 ("faith without works is dead"), and 2 Tim. 2:12 ("If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us").
Some Calvinists admit that their interpretation is not without difficulties. One apparent consequence is that not all who "have shared in the Holy Spirit"[20] 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,[21] but was not a follower of God. Calvin says,
Some challenge the Calvinist doctrine based on their interpretation of the admonishments in the book of Hebrews, including several passages in the Book of Hebrews,[23] but especially Hebrews 6:4–12 and Heb 10:26–39.[24] 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."[25] 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."[26] The author of Hebrews predicts grave punishment for one who "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."[27]
The debate over these passages centers around the identity of the persons in question. While opponents of perseverance identify the persons as Christian believers, Calvinists suggest several other options:
In general, proponents of the doctrine of perseverance interpret such passages, which urge the church community to persevere in the faith but seem to indicate that some members of the community might fall away, as encouragement to persevere rather than divine warnings. 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"[28] and "make [their] calling and election sure,"[29] rather than "from the divine perspective", in which those who will persevere, according to Calvinism, are well known. The primary objection to this Calvinist approach is that it might equally be said that these difficult passages are intended to be divine warnings to believers who do not persevere, rather than a revealing of God's perpetual grace towards believers.
Hebrews 6:4–6 is said by some[30] to be one of the Bible's most difficult passages to interpret, and may present the most difficulty for proponents of the Eternal Security of the Believer. The passage is understood by some to mean that "falling away" from an active commitment to Christ may cause one to lose their salvation, after they have attained salvation either according to the Reformed or Free Grace theology. However, numerous conservative Bible scholars do not believe the passage refers to a Christian losing genuinely attained salvation.
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. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
The primary objection put against Perseverance of the Saints is that its teaching may lead believers to sin freely, if they know they can never lose their salvation, without fear of eternal consequences. Traditional Calvinists see this charge as being justly leveled against the Free Grace doctrine, which does not see sanctification as a necessary component of salvation, and in the controversy over Lordship salvation, traditional Calvinists argued against the proponents of the Free Grace 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.
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Main article: Conditional preservation of the saints |
The central tenet of the Arminian view is that although believers are preserved from all external forces that might attempt to separate them from God, they have the free will to separate themselves from God. Although God will not change his mind about a believer's salvation, a believer can willingly repudiate faith (either by express denial of faith or by continued sinful activity combined with an unwillingness to repent). In this manner, salvation is conditional, not unconditional as Calvinism teaches.
Traditional Calvinists do not dispute that salvation requires faithfulness. However, Calvinists contend that God is sovereign and cannot permit a true believer to depart from faith. Arminians argue that God is sufficiently sovereign and omnipotent to embed free will into humanity, so that true Christians may exercise free will and fall away from the saving grace they once possessed.[e]
The 22nd 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." In this canon, the Council reaffirmed that perseverance absolutely requires divine help—a divine help that is fully sufficient.
Respecting these parameters, Catholics can have a variety of views as regards final perseverance. On questions of predestination, Catholic scholars may be broadly characterized as either Molinists or Thomists. The views of the latter are similar to those of Calvinists, in that they understand final perseverance to be a gift applied by God to the regenerated that will assuredly lead them to ultimate salvation. They differ from Calvinists in but one respect: whether God permits men to "fall away" after regeneration. Thomists affirm that God can permit men to come to regeneration without giving them the special gift of divine perseverance, so that they do fall away. Calvinists, by contrast, deny that an individual can fall away if they are truly regenerate.
Like 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",[37] and Lutherans go further along the same lines as the Free Grace advocates to say that the recipient of saving grace need not cooperate with it. Hence, Lutherans believe that a true Christian – in this instance, 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…"[38]
Free grace advocates criticize perseverance of the saints, because they claim that perseverance puts assurance in good works.[39] Free grace advocates believe that believers are promised eternal security, but that God does not promise perseverance.[40] However, those who do not persevere will face temporal discipline and loss of rewards.[41]
This table summarizes the views of four different Protestant beliefs.
| Calvinism | Lutheranism | Arminianism | Free Grace |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perseverance of the saints: the eternally elect in Christ will certainly persevere in faith.[42] | Falling away is possible,[43] but God gives gospel assurance.[44][45] | Preservation is conditional upon continued faith in Christ; with the possibility of a final apostasy.[46] | Falling away from the faith is possible, however God promises eternal security.[39][40] |