Perseverance of the Saints
Perseverance of the Saints is a doctrine which states that the saints (those whom God has saved) will remain in God's hand until they are glorified and brought to abide with him in heaven. Romans 8:28-39 makes it clear that when a person truly has been regenerated by God, he will remain in God's stead. The work of sanctification which God has brought about in his elect will continue until it reaches its fulfillment in eternal life (Phil. 1:6). Christ assures the elect that he will not lose them and that they will be glorified at the "last day" (John 6:39). The Calvinist stands upon the Word of God and trusts in Christ's promise that he will perfectly fulfill the will of the Father in saving all the elect.http://www.reformed.org/calvinism/index.html
Many believe you can "lose" or "give back" salvation, a sort of cosmic abortion, if you will. Does that even make sense? If God begins something, He completes it (Phil 1:6) so if you "become" unregenerate, you were never His to begin with. (1 John 2:19)
It is possible to torture the text to make it confess all sorts of things... true, I see it all the time. The ones most guilty of such butchery are the ones who are most convinced that they can lose their salvation and that they chose God in order to be saved. God didn't leave such important work in our own hands to mangle, to manipulate salvation out of Him, and then later toss aside saying "I can decide to do whatever I want because God gave me that choice". My husband says: "If you have the power to choose to be saved, you also have the power to lose it." (see John 10:29)
" All the angels, and Adam, received from their Creator holy natures; yet our first father and the fallen angels show that they could totally fall away into sin. No one in himself is absolutely incapable of sinning, except the unchangeable God. Converted men, who still have indwelling sin, must certainly be as capable of falling as Adam, who had none. We believe that the saints will certainly stand, because the God who chose them will certainly hold them up." Link
Do we really believe we are better than Adam and Eve and the holy angels of God to keep our own salvation secure? In the gospel of John chapter 6 we see many who followed after Jesus turn away from Him and follow Him no more (John 6:66) after He told them
John 6:65 And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." (KJV)
This is one of the most comforting aspects of the fact that it is God who saves us and God who keeps us saved....so why do so many reject Jesus at His word?
John 6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
John 6:64a But there are some of you who do not believe."(KJV)
ohhhh.....yes, I see.
Read the links for more indepth study:
http://www.reformed.org/calvinism/index.html
http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/dabney/5points.htm
A couple of posts ago I stated I would talk about our Total depravity (the "T" in TULIP)....I forgot....so I'll go into that next time :)
Amen! to this. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, I made up a brochure on this topic for our church, looking at it from a different angle, and saved it on a blog. Curious to hear your opinion!
http://salvationsecurity.blogspot.com/
Hi Peggy, ok, I'll check it out :)
DeleteThose were nice Peggy, thanks! I also love looking up original Greek and Hebrew words.
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