The Perseverance of the Saints: A Defense of the Reformed Doctrine

The issue of perseverance has been an area of heated discussion for centuries. Men have hashed over and over questions like: How much does man contribute to salvation? How much does God contribute? Is perseverance unto the end a work for man to accomplish, or is it within the scope of God’s grace that man live a holy life? In recent decades, a new view has come onto the scene; one that puts a whole new twist on the perseverance debate. Now one must even ask whether or not one must persevere to the end in order to enter Heaven. Although these issues are difficult to answer, they are highly practical and must be handled with extreme care. An answer to this crucial subject must be sought out diligently, for one’s stance on it may affect one’s assurance of salvation, one’s view on the relationship between faith and repentance or even affect a person’s practical holiness. Thus, the issue of perseverance is highly practical for the obvious reason that it entails the relationship between one’s practical life and salvation.

When the honest student of scriptures carefully studies the relevant passages, the answer becomes clear: Perseverance is a necessity for the Christian life, but is the fruit of saving faith and thus does not add to one’s justification. Thus the precious Reformed doctrine of Sola Fide can be maintained while recognizing the fact that there is a holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14).

The scriptures are unequivocally clear that justification is by faith alone. This is indeed the central thrust of Paul’s argument in Romans and numerous other passages. The truth of justification by grace through faith in Christ is clearly set forth thus:

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.—Romans 3:23, 24, 28

A man is certainly justified before God by faith alone. By “justification” we mean the act of being made righteous in God’s sight. Once one is justified, he is made right with God for all eternity; there is no way that he may ever lose this, for he has achieved peace with God (Romans 5:1). Thus, on that basis Paul can conclude that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38, 39). This one-time finished act Paul contrasts with striving to be justified by the law, which every man is condemned by. Because every man is found guilty under the law, Henry writes,

Must guilty man then remain totally under wrath? Is there no hope? Is the wound become incurable because of transgression? No, blessed be God, it is not…there is another way laid open for us, the righteousness of God apart from the law (1760).

This “righteousness of God” is based in Christ’s penal substitution on the cross and is received by faith alone.

A word should here be said about the nature of faith. It has generally been accepted in the protestant church that faith is a passive instrument with which one accepts the salvation offered in the cross (see Horton 87). Also, because justification is ultimately an act of God (Romans 3:24, 8:33), it then follows that faith is a divine gift. This is made clear through passages such as John 1:12, 13, 2 Peter 1:1 and Ephesians 2:8, 9. Thus, Paul can say that there is nothing in the believer’s life that makes justification something that is owed to the sinner—not even faith (Romans 4:1-4). It will be demonstrated later that all of salvation, not just justification, is by God’s free grace.

Thus the beautiful doctrine of man’s enduring peace with God becomes clear. Does it then follow that good works have no sure place in the Christian life? Surely not! The scriptures make abundantly clear that good works are a necessity to the Christian life, but do not contribute to one’s standing before God. This is set forth in innumerable passages of scripture, and we will start with Paul’s great treatise on soteriology; Romans.

Romans six begins Paul’s discourse on sanctification. He begins the chapter by asking a very important question: “Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” The inquiry is very important, for Paul has just made an extensive and strong argument for salvation by grace through faith. He tells us in Romans 5 that where sin increased, grace increased all the more. One must then wonder, “With all of this grace can we just have a heyday with our sin?” Paul answers almost with disgust: “May it never be!” To understand why this is so, an examination of his argument is in order.

The apostle explains that we will not continue in sin because we are dead to sin. Such a statement is very strong and implies finality. He argues that not only are we dead to sin, but we are alive to God. The language that he uses implies that this is our nature, not some requirement looming over our heads. One commentator writes,

Paul’s great concern is that those who have been justified have been justified unto holiness. We have not been justified by our holiness or through our holiness but unto it so that we might grow in conformity to the image of Christ (Sproul).

Sanctification is a natural outgrowth of salvation. Why is this so, though? Paul argues that it is because of our union with Christ in His death and resurrection. In verse four he says that as we died to sin through the death of Christ we will walk in “newness of life” through the power of His resurrection. The effects of this death to the old self and new spiritual life are then laid out before us clearly in Paul’s argument: We are set free from the slavery of sin (vv. 6); sin is no longer our master (vv. 14) and we are slaves of righteousness rather than slaves of sin (vv. 18-23).

Some very important observations are needed. Notice that Paul does not say that we are freed from sin, for no one this side of eternity has experienced complete freedom from sin. Rather, through our union with Christ, which takes place at the moment of salvation, we are freed from slavery to sin. Jesus says that “everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34), thus we must be set free from that slavery. When we are regenerated and given new life in Christ, we are then dead to sin and we now live to God; the bonds are loosed and we are free to serve God.

Although we no longer are slaves to sin, we are still in a struggle against sin. Thus, there is a very important already/not yet element to the Christian life: We are already free from slavery to sin by virtue of our new spiritual life, but there remains a remnant of the sinful nature (called “the flesh”) that wars within us and thus we are not yet completely free from sin. Understanding this truth is critical to understanding numerous Biblical texts, such as Colossians three when we are told that we have put off the old man and put on the new man and yet we are told to continually practice these things.

Also we must be sure to notice what now happens to us since we are not slaves to sin. The text does not teach us that we are now free to live neutrally, but we are now slaves of righteousness (vv. 18-23). This means that in our old life before salvation our lifestyles were marked by sinfulness, but in our new life in Christ our lives will be marked by righteous living.

Romans six teaches us the critical truth that the Christian is a new creature and new creatures live a different way. In closing, we must remember that holiness in the Christian life is not a legalistic requirement that binds the believer, but according to Paul it is a natural outgrowth of genuine salvation. Through this truth justification by faith alone is proven to be true while recognizing that holiness does have a place in the Christian life.

There is a plethora of other scriptures that clearly teach this truth, and space prohibits a defense of each one. The reader is directed to passages such as Matthew seven and James two in which works are shown to be a definite necessity in the Christian life

Two more critical texts will be examined to show that they are a defense of the Biblical doctrine. First, Romans 7:14-25. In this text Paul comes to something of a climax regarding sanctification and begins a discourse on the conflict between the sin nature and the new spiritual life of the believer. This passage is significant, for it has often been used as support for the belief that a Christian can live in continual carnality, but the text surely does not support such a notion. It clearly tells us that there is a battle within Paul between the law of his mind (inner, regenerate man) and his flesh. This, however, is not true of the average “carnal Christian” who simply lives in continual sin. There is a real difference between a Christian who sins against his own nature but has a struggle with old fleshly desires and an unregenerate man who is simply being who he is when he sins. Commenting on verse 22 and the fact that Paul delighted in God’s law, Gill writes, “This an unregenerate man cannot do…it can never be delighted in by him” (474). Thus the man described in Romans seven cannot be a Christian livin in continual sin with no battle nor desire to stop.

Lastly, the entire book of First John tells us that there are very important tests of a true Christian. Some that are brought out include walking in the light (1:5-7), hatred for the world (2:15-17), obedience (2:3, 4) and perseverance in doctrine (2:24, 25). These are all evidences that someone has the new life in Christ that every true believer has.

The scriptures are clear that holiness is a promise of the Christian life; every true Christian lives in a lifestyle of following and serving Christ although not perfectly. Though holiness will occur, a Christian’s salvation through faith in Christ cannot ever be lost; he is eternally secure. There are two alternatives to this view: One claims that salvation is secure and justification cannot be lost, however a Christian may or may not persevere to the end. The other group contends that once justified one must persevere through his own efforts in order to be saved—if he doesn’t, his salvation will be lost. There are fallacies within both of these camps that must be brought to light.

The belief in carnal Christianity is a departure from Biblical Christianity. This view asserts that one is eternally secure upon profession of faith, thus one may live like a demon and still go to Heaven when he dies. Some even claim that if one departs from the faith he will still be saved on the Day of Judgment.

The primary argument used to support this position is that salvation must be by faith alone. However, proponents of carnal Christianity modify the sense in which salvation by grace through faith has historically been understood. Those who strongly held to Sola Fide during the Reformation still believed that good works were necessary to the Christian life, as many scriptures so plainly teach (Matthew 7, the entire argument of First John). However, the Reformers understood that no one is made right with the Lord by good works, whether totally or partially. Rather, one is made right with God (and thus saved) by the one-time act of justification by faith. The good works in one’s life do not add or take away from a man’s standing before God (i.e. they are not meritorious), rather they are a result of the changed heart within a believer and God’s keeping grace.

Charles Stanley, in his book “Eternal Security: Can You Be Sure?,” defends his understanding of the believer’s security. He comments,

Once good works are introduced into the salvation process, salvation is no loner by faith alone; it is by faith and works (Stanley).

In Stanley’s view, for salvation to be non-meritorious works must be an option for the believer—they cannot be a necessity. Thus everyone who makes a profession of faith in Christ must be saved; there is no such thing as false faith in this view; for faith has essentially no outward evidences except a profession with the mouth. This flies in the face of Jesus’ clear teaching in Matthew seven in which there are myriads of professing believers who say “Lord, Lord!” on judgment day and Jesus’ response is shocking—“Depart from me, I never knew you…” And what is the characteristic of these professing believers that discredits their confession of faith? “You who practice lawlessness” (Matthew 7:23). Thus there is a thing such as “spurious faith” as this passage clearly teaches. Those who profess Christ and yet practice lawlessness as a style of life will not enter Heaven. Is this because they did not have meritorious works necessary to be saved? No, but as we have demonstrated, the supernatural work of salvation results in good works due to a new nature. Thus John can conclude of those who depart from the faith—

They went out from us, but they were not really of us; For if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us (1 John 2:19).

Many of those who espouse the doctrine of carnal Christianity would actually assert “Oh no, they may have gone out from us, but they are still of us!” and assert that those who apostatize are actually still saved. This is surely not the scripture’s teaching, however.

In defense of his view of assurance, Stanley interestingly quotes 1 John 5:13 which states that John was writing the book that the readers would know that they have eternal life. But Stanley does not show us why what John had written supports his view. In the context of 1 John, the writer presents a series of tests by which one may know that they have eternal life (some stated above), a concept completely contradictory to Stanley’s view of eternal security.

One might ask, “If works ultimately have nothing to do with salvation, then what is the motivation for living a holy life?” For proponents of this view, it is the fact that one who does not choose to “make Jesus Lord” loses out on his rewards. The support for this is found in 1 Corinthians 3:12-23. The Scofield Study Bible makes clear its position on this text: “God, in the N.T. scriptures, offers to the lost, salvation; and for the faithful service of the saved, rewards” (Scofield 1515). This interpretation, however, is a tremendous abuse of the text and it ignores its context. It is not speaking of the rewards of Christians in light of their sanctification but of rewards for ministers in light of building their ministries on Christ. This is so unmistakable through a consistent reading of the context that it is hard to understand how so many miss this. From the beginning of the book Paul contrasts the preaching of the foolishness of the cross with the wisdom of the world and in rebuking the Corinthians’ partiality of teachers goes into the analogies of 3:5-10 and 3:12-23. In both analogies the ones planting, watering and building are Bible teachers, not carnal Christians. Thus the text teaches us that if a minister builds his ministry on man’s wisdom instead of Christ he will lose his reward. The text simply is not giving doctrine concerning sanctification.

Sanctification is essential to the believer, and yet it is not meritorious. To claim that sanctification is merely an option by trying to preserve the doctrine of salvation by faith alone is to go beyond the boundaries of scripture into dangerous man-made theological territory.

On the other hand, there is another branch of Christianity that preserves the necessity of sanctification while denying its surety. This view, which could be called full Arminianism (for both of these views espouse a belief in free will) asserts that one will lose his salvation if he does not persevere to the end. Thus, in this system the doctrine of salvation by grace alone is truly infringed, for if I must keep myself saved of my own free volition, I have much to boast about before God in eternity. Evans comments,

From this, we understand that no one claiming to be a Christian can expect to go to Heaven just because he has believed. His belief has to develop into a godly lifestyle reflective of the redemptive work of Christ (Evans).

For those who hold to this view, in order to be saved there is something that we must do—actually, there is a lot that we must do. In order to be saved we need to persevere, and this is thoroughly our work to do; for if it were God’s work that we persevere all saints surely would. This stance focuses much on the conditions of scripture and asserts that since there are conditions to be met then our work must come into play.

The scriptures make clear, however, that salvation is all of grace. Merit and grace cannot mix, and to do so is to return to Rome in their view of salvation. How do we reconcile these things, then? I think Philippians 2:12, 13 answers this question—

So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

This passage teaches us that when I work out my salvation it is nothing more than the result of God working within me to produce the desires and works that are in accordance with His good pleasure. It becomes clear, then, that the only way to maintain salvation by grace alone without denying the necessity of perseverance is to adhere to a Biblical view of God’s sovereignty in all things. If perseverance is my work, I must have merit; but if salvation is all of God; including perseverance, the believer has no other response than to praise Him for His marvelous grace.

These views are both utterly lacking in maintaining the Biblical view of perseverance. We cannot emphasize one side of the coin over the other—Both the security of the believer as well as the necessity of perseverance are true. The only view that does justice to all of the Biblical data is the Reformed view.

Contrary to these unbalanced standpoints, the Reformed understanding of perseverance known as “the perseverance of the saints” does justice to all of scripture. It maintains salvation by grace through faith while understanding that sanctification is essential. One commentator explains the doctrine thus—

The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints does not maintain that all who profess the Christian faith are certain of Heaven. It is saints—those who are set apart by the Spirit—who persevere to the end (Steele 64).

Thus, perseverance is essential to the Biblical understanding. However, perseverance is not meritorious, as Calvin put it in explaining the relationship between faith and repentance—

A man is justified freely by faith alone, and yet that holiness of life, real holiness, as it is called, is inseparable from the free imputation of righteousness (III.I.I).

This is how one balances the texts concerning perseverance and salvation by grace alone.

There is a fundamental difference that exists between the Reformed view and the other two views that is essentially at the root of what divides them. That difference is the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. The only way one can espouse the Biblical view of perseverance is to acknowledge that God is sovereign in every stage of salvation—faith, repentance, justification, sanctification. The difference between the viewpoints runs much deeper than merely methods of interpretation, then; it goes as deep as the very nature of God and His kingly rule over creation. Thus James White can say concerning sovereignty, “This is why we must affirm without apology the truth of the perseverance of the saints. We persevere because it is God’s will that we do so” (White & Hunt). If one holds to the free will of man, either sanctification is an option due to man’s will or one’s salvation can be lost if he does not exercise his will to be sanctified. When one understands that salvation is of the Lord, however, it becomes possible to bind together the doctrine of grace and the doctrine of perseverance.

Bad theology leads to bad practice, and good theology leads to good practice. The belief of carnal Christianity leads to false professions and shallow faith, and the belief of conditional salvation leads to a loss of security and assurance. The application of the Biblical view is simple: Be what you are. Through God’s miracle power of regeneration we are new creatures who are empowered to live the life that God has for us. When we understand that we learn that we simply need to live in accordance with the new life that God has given us. This is the thrust of Paul’s arguments in numerous scriptures in which there is a connection between who we are and the command to live in accordance with it. We have been given the spirit of truth, we must now walk in Him. For the born again believer, God’s commands are not burdensome; for His law is written on his heart (Ezekiel 36:25-27) and we are given the divine promise that Christ will preserve us in Him and keep us from sin (1 John 5:18). May we who have been given hearts of flesh, the Spirit to bear witness and the free gift of justification learn to serve and honor the God who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Heavenly places (Ephesians 1:4).