Calvinism Defended:
Perseverance of the Saints
By
This is the sixth section of the e-mail exchange I had with Bill, an individual who objected against Calvinism. Click here to go back to the contents, or here to go to the full 88 page exchange.
In this part of the exchange, I continue with the exposition of key texts related to each of the 5 points of TULIP. Having addressed Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, and Irresistible Grace, and I am now addressing Perseverance of the Saints.
My second e-mail response continued:
Perseverance
of the Saints (Preservation of the Saints):
Those
who are regenerated and justified must,
and will, persevere in the
faith, being preserved by the power of God.
Salvation is all of grace from start to
finish. Jesus is both the author,
and the finisher
of our faith.
Verses:
2
Timothy 2:19 “Nevertheless, the firm
foundation of God stands, having this seal, “The Lord knows those who are
His…”
-- The foundation of our
salvation is not our fickle and weak “freewill,” rather, it is the Lord God
Almighty Himself. The Lord has
staked out His very reputation on the fact that those He saves are eternally
saved and secure in Him, as we will see in the passages that relate to the New
Covenant (Jer 31:31-34; Ezek 36:26-28). And
notice, the seal is “The Lord knows those who are His.”
This ties once again into election.
Who are those that are His? Jesus
tells us: “All
that the Father gives Me…” (John 6:37).
They are His “brethren,” the “children
whom God has given [Him]” (Heb 2:13, 17).
It is His church which He purchased with His own blood (Acts 20:28), and
the elect, who will be gathered from one end of heaven to the other (Matt
24:31). It is the sheep that Jesus
speaks of John 10, to whom Jesus gives eternal life, and they shall never
perish. It is those who are chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world who have been predestined to the
adoption as sons by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of His will, and
have been sealed in the Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance.
Thus, to understand any part of salvation, especially perseverance, we
must have an understanding of the eternal plan of God, for perseverance is
rooted in election, accomplished at the cross of Christ, and applied by the Holy
Spirit.
John 10:14-30 “14
I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.
15 As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My
life for the sheep. 16 And other
sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will
hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
17 "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I
may take it again. 18 No one takes
it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have
power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."
19 Therefore there was a division again among the Jews because of these
sayings. 20 And many of them said, "He has a demon and is mad. Why do you
listen to Him?" 21 Others said, "These are not the words of one who
has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?" 22 The Shepherd Knows
His Sheep Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. 23
And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon's porch. 24 Then the Jews surrounded
Him and said to Him, "How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the
Christ, tell us plainly." 25 Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you
do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of
Me. 26 But you do not believe,
because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.
27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither
shall anyone 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 My Father's hand. 30
I and My Father are one." In this
passage, Jesus, referring to His
sheep, says:
1) He knows them, and they know Him (v.
14).
2) He lays down His life for them
(v. 15).
3) The reason those He was addressing did
not believe is because they were not His sheep (v.26).
4) His
sheep hear His voice and follow Him (v.27).
5) He gives them eternal life, and they
shall never perish (v. 28).
How many of His sheep does Jesus
give eternal life? All.
Is there ever a time when any of His sheep shall perish?
No. Jesus then tells us why
this is so in verse 29, “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater
than all…” The sheep (not the goats) have been given to Jesus by the
Father, and their salvation is an absolute certainty because it is God who
initiates, accomplishes, applies, and preserves it. In John 6:37 Jesus said, “All
that the Father gives me will come to Me…”
The “all” spoken of here are the sheep spoken of in John Chapter 10.
Every single person that the Father gives to Jesus will, not
might, come to Him, and those who come to Him will, not might,
be raised up the last day, and it is the giving of the Father that precedes
the coming (i.e., saving belief) of the sinner.
Jesus then says in verse 29 that the will
of the Father is, “that of all He has given Me, I should lose nothing, but
should raise it up the last day.” How
many of His sheep does Jesus lose? None.
Can God fail to bring about what He has purposed or planned from all
eternity? God forbid!
God is greater than all (yes, even man’s fickle and feeble free will).
Jesus’ words demonstrate that far from being a cooperative venture
whereby God helps us, in essence, to save ourselves, salvation is the sovereign
work of a sovereign God from start to finish. All those who have been chosen in
Christ from all eternity (i.e., all that the Father has given to Jesus) will,
not might be saved.
Rom 8:28-30 “28 And
we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those
who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also
predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the
firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also
called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He
also glorified.” The Apostle Paul speaks powerfully to these themes in
Romans 8:28-30, which, as noted earlier, has been referred to by many
commentators as the golden chain of salvation--a chain that cannot be broken
because it was created and is maintained by a sovereign God. Paul says that
those called according to God’s purpose are those whom God foreknew and
predestined. Who are those He
foreknew and predestined? It is the
sheep that were given to Christ by the Father “before the foundation of the
world” (Eph 1:3). It is these
that He calls, and this calling is effectual; it never fails to bring about
God’s desired effect, as Paul says, “whom He called, He also
justified.” Paul then tells us that all those that God justifies, He
glorifies. Paul says in Rom
8:31-33, “If God be for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how
shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”
The “us” and the “all” that Paul is referring to is those whom
Paul has been talking to and about, the elect, as Paul’s states clearly in
verse 33, “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?
It is God who justifies.” Justification
is linked directly to Christ’s work of atonement, and Christ’s work of
atonement is linked particularly to the elect, Christ’s sheep.
As Jesus said, “I am the Good Shepherd, and I know My sheep, and am
known by My own…and I lay down My life for the sheep…”
It is by Christ’s atoning grace that He purchases His sheep, and
procures all things related to their salvation.
He has set His love on His sheep from and for
all eternity.
With that concept in mind, I noted earlier that the
Lord has staked out His very reputation on the fact that those He saves are
eternally saved and secure in Him, as can be seen in the New Covenant.
In Jeremiah 31:31-34, the Lord says:
"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a
new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah
-- not according to the covenant that I maade with their fathers in the day that
I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which
they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the
covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the
LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it
on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be
My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his
brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of
them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity,
and their sin I will remember no more."
(emphasis mine)
While
Israel prostituted herself and broke the stipulations of the covenant of her
marriage with Yahweh, God nevertheless remained faithful to Israel.
Israel broke the Mosaic Covenant, and demonstrated to the entire world
that there is none righteous, no not one. Their
law-breaking and inability to keep even the smallest portion, or simplest term
of the covenant, was a demonstration to all of humanity that we are all
law-breakers, hopelessly condemned by the law, and as such we are in desperate
need of a Savior (see Gal 3:22-24. God
then unveils a part of His redemptive plan that was conceived from all eternity,
and reveals it to an Old Testament prophet named Jeremiah, and reveals what
would next ensue in redemptive history.
Where we continually fail to meet the terms and conditions of the
covenant, God Himself would fulfill the covenant, and He Himself would actually
work in His people in such a way as they would forever be called His people.
This all pure monergism.
The
prophet Ezekiel speaks of this New Covenant in similar terms:
“I
will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart
of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit
within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments
and do them.” (Ezek 36:26-28).
Notice
in both Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the active agent in this process is
God. God will
put His law in their minds. God
will write it on their hearts. God will be their God, and they
shall be His people. God will give
the person a new heart. God
will remove the stony heart. God
will put a new spirit within the person.
God will put His Spirit within the person.
God will cause the person to
walk in His statutes! Commenting on
this passage, the great Baptist preacher from the 19th century, C.H.
Spurgeon wrote”
“You see, it is all “I will,” and “I will give,” and “I
will take away.” This is the royal style of the King of kings, who is able to
accomplish all His will. No word of His shall ever fall to the ground. The Lord
knows right well that you cannot change your own heart and cannot cleanse your
own nature, but He also knows that He can do both. He can cause the Ethiopian to
change his skin and the leopard his spots. Hear this and be astonished: He can
create you a second time; He can cause you to be born again. This is a miracle
of grace, but the Holy Ghost will perform it.” (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, All
of Grace : An earnest word with those who are seeking salvation by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Published in electronic form in 1996 by Christian Classics
Foundation. Whitaker House: Springdale PA, p. 30).
One more thought here: there is
not one mention of human of “free will!”
Not one! God, not man, is
that sole efficient cause and agent of salvation.
The myth of “free will” as it is commonly understood is essentially
demolished here by God. Synergism
is once again shown to be what it truly is:
pure humanism (and, in the final analysis, atheism).
But
how is this New Covenant put into effect? Jesus
tells us:
“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it,
and gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat; this is My body."
Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying,
"Drink from it, all of you. For
this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for
the remission of sins.” (Matt 26:26-29).
Notice, it is Jesus’
sacrifice that would put this new covenant into effect.
This means that everything related to that covenant is by the Blood of
Jesus. God has determined to do
things in the New Covenant, and the means by which He determined to bring do
those things was by the blood atonement of Christ. Thus, God will
put His law in their minds, by
the cross of Christ. God
will write
it on their hearts, by
the cross of Christ. God
will be their God, and they shall be His people, by
the cross of Christ. God will give the
person a new heart, by the cross of Christ.
God will remove the stony heart, by the cross
of Christ. God will put a new spirit within the
person, by the cross of Christ. God
will put His Spirit within the person, by the cross of Christ.
God will cause the person to
walk in His statutes, by the cross of Christ!
This means that every jot and tittle of our salvation was wrought for us
by Christ alone on the cross. Our
salvation is wholly owing to the eternal decree of God and the sacrifice of
Christ on the cross. The very faith
that we possess, and the very ability we have to turn from our wretched way to
God, i.e., repentance, are themselves therefore something that Christ secured
for us on the cross, and bestows upon us as an absolutely free gift.
In short, those who have been chosen
by God from all eternity, and for whom Christ died, and for whom the Spirit
regenerated, are saved and will endure to the end. Salvation is of
the Lord from start to finish. What
Christ begins, He always succeeds in finishing. Many profess to be Christians, but only those who are truly
born again (i.e., the sheep) will endure to the end. Those who fall away only display the fact that they were
never Christ’s sheep. Salvation
is rendered certain by God’s sovereign will: All God has determined to save will
be saved (John 6:37-40), and God’s sovereign power: He raises His people from
spiritual deadness to spiritual life (Eph 2:1-9), and He preserves His people by
His sovereign power (Rom 8:28-39); to Him alone be all
of the glory. We were not able to
initiate salvation or saving faith (Christ is the author of
our faith), and the only reason we persevere to the end is because Christ is the
finisher of our faith. Salvation is all of grace from start to finish.
Not only
have I now quoted an abundance of texts to support the position, but, you never
did respond to many of the Scriptural citations that I provided in my first
e-mail, nor did you interact with the larger argument found in the article that
you read that precipitated your first e-mail.