Introduction:
Can a Christian lose their salvation? For many this simple question seems to have an obvious answer. You may hear someone say “of course they can, Paul tells us that people can ‘make shipwreck of their faith’ (1 Timothy 1:18-20) so obviously Christians can lose their salvation. Someone else might just as easily answer “of course not, Jesus himself teaches that he will never cast out his sheep and repeatedly says that he will raise them up on the last day” (John 6). Another might say “Christ might never cast a believer out, but Hebrews 6 clearly shows us that a Christian can walk away from their salvation.” Or a little closer to home, someone might say “obviously a Christian can lose their salvation, I lived through the deconstruction movement and watched as several people I knew deconstructed and totally abandoned their faith.”
The answer seems to come quick to so many people either from the scriptures themselves or from our lived experience in the world. The problem is that the answers that seem quite obvious to us so quickly often conflict with the answers that seem equally obvious to others. For some of us, myself included, we reject the answer that once seemed so obvious to us personally. We are all on a journey and I recognize that we are not all at the same point on our journey, so this is simply my attempt to explain how it is that I moved from thinking that the answer to this simple question was that a Christian walk away from their salvation to the opinion that those in the fold of Christ’s true church are eternally secure because the Holy Spirit will preserve their faith until the end.
Historical Background:
Like most theological questions, this is a question of what the scripture says and more specifically what it means. Some will say that the perseverance of the saints is a new doctrine introduced during the time of the Reformers in the 16th century and not even all of the Reformers held to it. The Reformed among us would also point out that this idea is very clearly taught by The Apostles Paul and John as well as insinuated by other New Testament writers but this is, after all, what the whole debate is about so we will put that aside for now and come back to it later.
If the perseverance of the saints is a new doctrine that only first came on the scene in the 1500’s, can we really confidently teach that this is, in fact, what the Bible teaches if the whole church prior to the 16th century missed it? The truth, however, is that the historical background to this question is far more complicated and messy than that. Prior to the time of the Reformation those who taught this idea include Johannes von Saupitz (1460-1524), Johann Ruchrat von Wesel (died 1481), John Wycliffe (1320 – 1384), Gregory of Rimini (1300 – 1358), Thomas Bradwardine (1300 – 1349), Ratramnus (died 868), Gottschalk (808 – 868), and notably Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430). This is an incomplete list, but I include it to show that the notion that this is a doctrine that was new in the 16th century Reformation is simply not true. This has been something discussed and debated since the dawn of Christianity.
This doctrine did, however, become a big point of division and debate in the time of the Reformation, and not just between Protestants and Roman Catholics, but also between different groups of Protestants. Luther believed that a Christian couldn’t lose their salvation through sin but could abandon their salvation through unbelief or apostasy while early Reformed Protestants taught that a true Christian could not lose or abandon their faith. In the late 16th and early 17th century the teachings of the Dutch preacher Jacubus Arminius started gaining popularity causing controversy within Reformed theology over several points of soteriology. This controversy took form in 1610 with the submission of the Remonstrance to the Dutch States General in 1610. The Remonstrance was a document that took signed by 45 Dutch ministers that contained the Five points of Remonstrancewhich challenged the traditional Reformed soteriology of the time [a]. It was to these five points of Remonstrance that the Synod of Dort would respond with what we know today as the Five Points of Calvinism. For this discussion, let’s look at the fifth point in particular:
“That those who are incorporated into Christ by true faith, and have thereby become partakers of his life-giving Spirit, have thereby full power to strive against Satan, sin, the world, and their own flesh, and to win the victory; it being well understood that it is ever through the assisting grace of the Holy Ghost; and that Jesus Christ assists them through his Spirit in all temptations, extends to them his hand, and if only they are ready for the conflict, and desire his help, and are not inactive, keeps them from falling, so that they, by no craft or power of Satan, can be misled nor plucked out of Christ’s hands, according to the Word of Christ, John 10:28: “Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” But whether they are capable, through negligence, of forsaking again the first beginning of their life in Christ, of again returning to this present evil world, of turning away from the holy doctrine which was delivered them, of losing a good conscience, of becoming devoid of grace, that must be more particularly determined out of the Holy Scripture, before we ourselves can teach it with the full persuasion of our mind.”
[b] The Creeds of Christendom
While not a full denial of the Preservation of the Saints, the Remonstrance articulated that the issue must be more closely examined in the scriptures before they could teach it with “full persuasion”. In response to this point the Synod of Dort, in the first article of the fifth section declared:
“Whom God calls, according to His purpose, to the communion of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and regenerates by the Holy Spirit, He delivers also from the dominion and slavery of sin in this life; though not altogether from the body of sin and from the infirmities of the flesh, so long as they continue in this world.”
Today, this is known as the doctrine of the “Perseverance of the Saints” or sometimes the “Preservation of the Saints” and is the “P” in the famous Calvinist acrostic TULIP. Though there are many who are not strictly Calvinists who would also agree on this point. This division between the Articles of Remonstrance and the Synod of Dort on this point is a debate that has continued among Protestants to this day. Having looked at the historical backdrop for the doctrinal debate, let’s now turn to the pages of Holy Scripture.
The Positive Biblical Case:
Throughout the text of the New Testament we find many places where the Preservation of the Saints is directly taught and many more where it is indirectly taught, but we also find places where it seems to be denied. This is why Christians can read the same Bible and arrive at different conclusions on this topic. The progressive or deconstructionist might look at the data and conclude that the Bible is not “univocal” on the subject and conclude that the teachings of the Scripture contradict each other. This is not an option for someone who wants to remain within Christian orthodoxy. Christians have always believed that the scriptures are the inspired words of God and thus there cannot be contradiction in them. When the whole of Scripture is taken together I believe that it becomes clear what Jesus and the writers of the New Testament collectively taught on this subject and the apparent contradictions disappear.
There are of course many passages in the scriptures that are relevant to the discussion, and this is meant to be a short piece, not a full book, so I will start by addressing the passages that seem to offer the strongest support for the perseverance/preservation position as well as what I believe to be the passages that are used to raise the strongest objections to that position.
The Gospel According to John
In chapter six of John’s Gospel, Jesus teaches some things that are hard for people to accept and “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John 6:66). At a first glance this might sound like a win for the Arminian camp. This chapter ends with not only crowds around Jesus but disciples who are leaving him but I it is probably one of the places in Scripture that teaches most directly on the subject of God’s preservation of his people.
In the beginning of chapter 6 Jesus has just miraculously fed thousands of people (v. 1-15) then he met his disciples while walking on the water as they were going to Capernaum overnight (v. 16-21). Now the next morning and the crowd that he fed on the previous day comes looking for him. When the crowd finds Jesus he rebukes them saying “you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” (v. 26) He goes on telling them not to work “for food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life.” (v.27) They then demand a sign from Jesus and ask him to give them more food by telling Jesus that their “fathers ate the manna in the wilderness”. This response is shocking for a few reasons. First Jesus had just performed a sign for this very same crowd at the beginning of chapter 6 where he gave them food to eat and second, Jesus had just rebuked them for seeking only physical food. They tried to hide their desire for physical goods behind a spiritual guise by asking Jesus to perform another sign to prove who he was. Jesus then responds to them saying that his Father was the one who gave the manna and now his Father is giving Jesus as “the bread of God” “who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (v. 33) Not understanding him they ask for this bread and Jesus says:
“I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
John 6:35-40
In verse 36, Jesus says “whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” There is no qualifier here; whoever comes to Christ will never be cast out. Jesus also says “All that the Father gives me will come to me” (v. 37) and goes on to say that he has come to do the will of the Father which is “that I should lose nothing of all that [the Father] has given me”. He continues on and says “everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life” (v. 39) and twice he states unconditionally about those who come to him that “I will raise him up on the last day” (v. 39, 40).
Reading on into the next few verses we see “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” (v. 44) Again, Jesus is saying those who come to him will be raised up on the last day with no conditions; it doesn’t say “And I will raise him up on the last day if they continue in the faith.” There are no qualifiers on it. All who come to Christ will be raised up on the last day. Shortly after this Jesus tells them “whoever believes has eternal life.” (v. 47) He didn’t say “whoever believes will have eternal life”, meaning in the future, but rather it is something that we have now. He goes on to tell them to eat his flesh and drink his blood, “Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (v. 54). Again, with no conditions, we have Jesus saying that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood has “eternal life” and Jesus himself will raise him up on the last day. And again, in verse 58 he says “Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (v. 58).
He says over and over and over again “whoever believes in me has eternal life”, “whoever eats this bread has eternal life”, and “I will raise him up on the last day”. Yet, he never once stopped to clarify any of his statements by adding any conditions like “if they remain faithful” or “if the hold fast until the end”. The overall teaching of John 6 seems to be that those who believe are those whom the Father gives to the Son, they are given eternal life, and the Son “raises them up on the last day”. There are no conditions anywhere in this chain. It seems that all who are given to the son are kept by the son and raised up on the last day.
So what of the disciples who leave? Is it not true that at the end of this very teaching “many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him”? (v. 66) Jesus addresses that to, when he is starting this teaching he addresses these disciples directly saying, “But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe” (v. 36) and again just before they leave he says “there are some of you who do not believe” (v. 64) and John tells us that “Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe” (v. 64).
After many of his disciples left, Jesus turned to the twelve and asked them if they wanted to leave as well. Peter replies for the group that Jesus has “the words of eternal life” and that they believe, but even then, Jesus tells them that he chose them, but “one of you is a devil.” Jesus knew who the disciples where who didn’t believe. There were many who followed Christ on the earth who later left him and Jesus attributes it to them not believing; he doesn’t attribute it to them believing only for a short time and then falling away or getting disheartened or losing their faith, but rather this passage tells us that they did not believe “from the beginning” (v. 64).
This means that there were many in the visible group of Jesus’ disciples who were never truly believed in him. In Christian theology we make a distinction between the visible and the invisible church. The visible church is all people who make a profession of faith and belong to a group, denomination, church, etc. where we can identify them as a Christian. The invisible church is the whole collective of people who genuinely believe the gospel and have repented and trusted in Christ for salvation. Usually those in the invisible church belong to the visible church and hopefully those in the visible church also belong to the invisible church, but clearly from this passage we can see that this is not always the case. This passage shows us that there are those who we would identify as Christians who make a profession of faith, look like they are following Jesus, and are part of a visible group of Jesus’ followers, but never truly believed. This passage, where Jesus himself is specifically identifying why some of his own disciples are leaving him, is one of the strongest sections in scripture for the Reformed (perseverance) side of the debate. I started with this passage because it is Jesus’ teaching on the subject and I believe it gives us a solid framework from which to interpret the rest of the Biblical data.
As we keep reading through John’s Gospel, we get to chapter ten where Jesus is walking through the temple at the Feast of Dedication and a crowd of Jews gathers around him to ask if he really is the Christ or not. Jesus replies:
25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 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.
John 10: 25-29
Here he tells them that he already told them he was the Messiah but they don’t believe because they are not his sheep. He goes on to say that he gives his sheep “eternal life”, they will “never perish”, and “no one will snatch them out of [his] hand” and later “no one will snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” Here, Jesus teaches quite plainly that a Christian (his sheep) will not perish or be lost.
This also is consistent with the pattern we saw in John 6 where the Father gives the sheep to the Son and we remember in John 6 that the will of God is that Christ will “lose none” of those given by the Father (John 6:39). Some would object here and say that Jesus later says that Judas was given to him and then lost when he is praying, “I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” (John 17:12). This objection doesn’t work though, because we read earlier in John that Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas didn’t believe and would betray him (John 6:64). Judas was never a true follower of Christ.
What about in John 15 when Jesus repeatedly tells his disciples to abide in him? Does this not imply that someone can be in Christ and then fall away or be cut off like the branches in John 15? This is a fair objection, but already in John’s gospel Jesus has told his disciples “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32) Here again, we can see Jesus making the distinction that those who abide are his true disciples. This means that when we come to John 15 and read Jesus telling us to abide in the vine, we should read the vine as the visible church and those who abide as the true church. Just as “not all who descend from Israel belong to Israel” (Romans 9:6) so not all who are in visible church are truly Christians. By professing ourselves to be Christians, we have taken the name of Christ; let us ensure that we have not taken it in vain!
The First Epistle of John
Sticking with the writings of the Apostle John, we encounter a situation in John’s first epistle where he is addressing antichrists who have gone out from the church. In this context, don’t think that an antichrist is one specific end times person that many equate to the beast of Revelation, rather John identifies and antichrist as anyone who “denies the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22). In response to these people who have gone out from the church John says
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 John 2:19
Here John explicitly says that those who went out from the church denying God were never really of the church. They never really believed, repented, and trusted in Christ. They were part of the visible church and would have been identified by the world and even the believers around them as Christians, but they were not of the true church; they never really believed so they left.
The Epistles of Paul
As we read through the epistles of Paul we continue to see this consistent teaching that those who really believe and trust in Christ are not lost. In Romans, one of the most explicit explanations of the offer of salvation to all people, we come across what some have referred to as the “Golden Chain of Redemption”
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.
Romans 8:29-30
We see that those God foreknew he predestined, those he predestined he called, those he called he justified, and those he justified he glorified. This is called the “Golden Chain of Redemption” because each word is linked to the next like chain links. Whatever is true of one group is unconditionally linked to all of the other groups. There are no qualifiers; nobody is lost along the way. Logically, you cannot have someone in this chain who was foreknown or predestined who isn’t justified or glorified. All who God foreknew received final salvation and none were lost along the way.
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church we read that when we “believed in [Jesus], [we] were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it” (Ephesians 1:13-14). The seal imagery comes from the ancient world when kings or nobles used to seal documents by pressing their signet ring into hot wax that sealed the document closed to guarantee to the people that this was in fact a true command or message from the one whose name it bore. If believers are sealed by the Holy Spirit, who is also our guarantee, is it reasonable to think that God will fail to what he has guaranteed? In Philippians, Paul tells us that “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion” (Philippians 1:6). In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul tells his readers that “our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end” (1 Corinthians 1:7-8). In his first letter to the Thessalonians Paul prays “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.” And to make sure we don’t interpret that as wishful or hopeful thinking he adds “He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24)
What then are we to make of all of the warnings in Paul’s letters? Does this same apostle not tell us to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12)? Indeed he does, but the sentence doesn’t end there. It goes on to say “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (v. 13) Our “working out our salvation” is what we mean when we use the term perseverance but this is only possible because “God is working in [us]” which is what we mean when we use the term preservation.
Paul also warns us the Corinthians to
“5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”
2 Corinthians 13:5
Note he didn’t say “examine yourself to see if you will leave the faith”, or “examine yourself to see if you have enough strength to stay in the faith”, rather he acknowledges that even among the Christian church there are those who are not really in the faith and in whom Christ Jesus does not dwell and his call is for them to see that through self-reflection and then, if found to not be in the faith, repent and place their faith and trust in Christ. This warning is consistent with what we have seen elsewhere in the New Testament and the teachings of Jesus.
We see in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians that there are even those within the church who think they are Christians but are not. “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12) There are those who “think” that they stand but fall. That is to say, there are those within the visible church who have made a profession of faith are publicly aligned with Christ and they would identify as such but they fall away because they merely “thought” that they stood in the faith but they were really not in the faith and so they didn’t endure until the end.
What about those Paul warns us have “made shipwreck of their faith” (1 Timothy 1:19-20)? Paul even mentions Hymenaeus and Alexander whom he has “handed over to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme.” Clearly they have lost their faith, have they not? We could take this passage to mean that but to do so would contradict the rather clear teachings of Jesus throughout John’s gospel as well as the other statements of Paul that we have seen. There are certainly true Christians who have serious falls into sin at times and nonetheless meet the grace of God and don’t fall away from the faith entirely. That may be what Paul has in mind here because he ends on a hopeful not “that they may learn not to blaspheme”. On the other hand, we don’t really have much background on these two individuals and we don’t know their stories other than what we read right here so it would be irresponsible to throw out the rest of the Biblical teaching on the matter because of what may or may not be meant in this passage.
The Strongest Biblical Objections:
The most convincing objection from the text of scripture comes from the book of Hebrews. This passage was the main reason that changing my own mind on this doctrine took so long because at a plain reading of it, it does seem to be contradicting the Biblical teachings we have just covered.
4 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, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 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.
Hebrews 6:4-6
This seems like it very clearly is teaching that people who have “shared in the Holy Spirit” and “tasted the heavenly gift” can have a falling away after which it is impossible for them to be restored. How can we possible say that a true believer can never lose their salvation if the author of Hebrews is saying that they can?
Is this actually referring to true believers though? Or is it referring to people who have been a part of the Christian community for an extended period of time but never truly were in the faith? Unbelievers who have been a part of the visible church have “been enlightened” because they have heard the gospel. They have “tasted the heavenly gift” because they have had the Eucharist or Holy Communion. They may not have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of them but they have “shared in the Holy Spirit” at least in one sense because God has promised that where two or three are gathered together then he is in the midst of it. They have certainly “tasted the goodness of the word of God” because they have read and heard it many times because of the community they are a part of.
I now think that this can and should be taken as a warning to those who are a part of a Christian community who have never repented, surrendered their lives, and trusted in Christ for salvation. It is a warning that hearing the word of God day in and day out, participating in the life of the community of believers, and sharing in the benefits of the church of God while never responding to the message will actually harden people to the gospel message. When we hear the story of Jesus many times, it can lose it’s shock and we can fail to see just how necessary it is. The old saying “familiarity breeds contempt” rings true here as well, the more times we hear the gospel and do nothing, the more comfortable we are hearing the gospel and not responding to the message. That is why it becomes “impossible” for them to be restored again to repentance.
In light of the clear teachings of the rest of the New Testament it seems that, although this does seem to be a difficult objection, this is the only way that we can take this passage without contradicting the teachings of Jesus, Paul, John, Luke, etc.
Conclusion:
The consistent teaching of Scripture throughout all of the New Testament seems to be that Christ will not lose anyone of his sheep that are given to him by the Father. Jesus is the Good Shepherd (John 10:11) and we can trust that he will complete what he started in us. This does not mean that we have a “license to sin” or we can live however we want. There are many repeated warnings throughout the scriptures that warn us to abide in Christ, and to ensure we are in the faith, and to bear fruit. These warnings however do not mean that we can lose our salvation or walk away from our status as sons in the family of God, rather they are there to help us see the difference between a person who merely thinks that he believes in Christ and someone who actually has trusted in Christ with everything.
Jesus says “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) The repeated warnings written to churches throughout scripture are there to remind us that there are those who look like they are Christians, even think themselves to be Christians, and are not. We are to examine ourselves with this in mind to see if we are truly following Christ for who he is or if, like the disciples who left in John 6, are simply in it for the temporal benefits that we can gain.
The Perseverance of the Saints leaves us no room for boasting because we know that we only persevere because we are preserved by the Holy Spirit. This is not something that we can use to look down on others who have fallen away, apostatized, or deconstructed their faith. This is simply a truth that reminds us that when we believe and trust in Christ, we are safe in his hands and as Christ himself says repeatedly throughout John’s gospel, we can rest assured in the hope that Christ himself will raise us up on the last day! Far from being an obscure theological point of debate, this doctrine should be a source of amazing encouragement to us as we ponder the fact that our standing before God, which was given as a free gift of God’s grace, will be sustained by God’s grace and the Holy Spirit himself working in us. Jesus is our good shepherd and we can rest assured that he will never lose us; even if we wander away like the sheep in the story, Christ himself will come looking for and ultimately find his sheep.
All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
John 6: 37
Sources:
All Scripture Quotations Taken from the English Standard Version Translation of the Bible
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/Arminianism
- Phillip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, Volume 3, Baker Books, Grand Rapids, MI: 1996. Pages 545ff. https://www.theopedia.com/five-articles-of-remonstrance
- https://prts.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Canons-of-Dort-with-Intro.pdf
