Perseverance

Back when I was a 4-point Arminian, I called myself a "Calvinist" because, like so many others, I believed that once you had your salvation, there was nothing you could do to lose it. Of course, that's not "Calvinism," but it was the best thing I knew. As I came face to face with the issues, I found it wasn't quite so easy.

Thomas Schreiner and Ardel Caneday addressed this problem in their book, The Race Set Before Us. You see, the question isn't as simple as either side would like you to think. On one hand we have very clear, unequivocal warnings in Scripture: "Test yourself and see if you're in the faith" (2 Cor. 13:5). "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12). "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments" (John 14:15). "Make your calling and election sure" (2 Peter 1:10). And then there are those deeply disturbing passages in Hebrews 6 and 10 that are just too heavy to ignore. It seems as if the entire book of 1 John was written on this topic. Over and over we are warned to keep a watch on ourselves lest we fall away. And what is the standard thing to test? Well, there are lots of things, I suppose, but for the most part it's quite clear: fruit. Check your fruit. Check your actions. Does your faith have works? (If not, it's dead.) Are you bringing forth works in keeping with repentance? Work, work, work!

Over against this largely works-based means of maintaining your salvation, we have the promises. These promises are hardy. Jesus assures us that "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 10:29). "No one" qualifies as an absolute. John the Baptist said, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life" (John 3:36). "Has" is a present tense that precludes "will have" or the more questionable "may receive." How does one "have" eternal life but lose it? Paul tells the Philippians, "I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" (Phil. 1:6). Jude prays "to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy" (Jude 1:24). These absolutes are predicated on God, not His followers. To deny them and claim that salvation can be lost would seem to deny God Himself.

So we're faced with this dilemma. There are "work out your salvation or else" warnings and "you can be confident of your security in Christ" assurances. What do we do? One side carefully and wisely picks up those warning passages and urges us all not to get too cocky. "Beware!" they cry. "You can lose it!" And anyone who suggests otherwise is a heretic. The other side boldly grabs onto the assurance passages and says, "Relax! You have nothing to worry about! And those wicked terrorists that say otherwise are confused at best and heretics at worst." Does anyone but me see a problem with this?

Schreiner and Caneday try to address this issue, but you have to know that it's a difficult thing to manage. I read it and I didn't really grasp it. To the question, "Can you lose your salvation?" they answer, "Yes!" To the other side who cries, "Are you saying Christians lose their salvation?" they reply, "No!" "Okay," you reply, "now I'm lost." And it is a difficult problem for us to grapple with. We've seen what it's like to take one side against the other. It's called "contradiction." Is it possible to actually take both sides as your own?

When I mull it over, I come to the same conclusion Schreiner and Caneday came up with. I also think it's the same conclusion Paul came up with. In fact, it seems to me to be the only possible conclusion -- both are true. You can try to explain them away, but it's so much work that it just doesn't seem to be the case. And, really, I don't know why it's such a problem for Calvinists (the real ones, not the 4-point Arminians like I was). We believe in divine election. We believe in irresistible calling. We affirm that a person must have faith and choose Christ, but we hold that God is the first cause. He gifts us with faith and gives us a new nature and we then do the right thing. Now, what does Paul tell the Galatians?

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Gal. 3:2-3).

It's a rhetorical question. We are perfected in the same way that we receive the Spirit. How do we receive the Spirit? By faith. How do we receive faith? By God's direct and immediate involvement. So, we receive the Spirit by God's intimate work in His elect. And Paul says that we go on that way. We are perfected in the same way. We are perfected by faith which is a product of God's intimate work in His elect.

Let's try this another way. You who are the elect ... did you choose Him or did He choose you? You must rightly answer "Yes." So, could you have refused? The right answer is "Yes, but it wouldn't happen." God chooses whom He will choose and they will certainly come to Him. They could refuse, but they won't. Why, then, is it so confusing when we simply continue that for the rest of the question? Those who come to Him -- could they refuse to stay with Him? When it is suggested "Yes," the Calvinist shouts, "Heretic!" Why not the very same answer? "Yes, but it won't happen." This allows for the very real possibility that the warning passages raise as well as the certain assurance that the promise passages offer. In fact, just as God uses means such as prayer, evangelism, and the preaching of the Word to bring people to Him, He can use the warnings of "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" as a means of keeping His own in the faith. Is that so far-fetched? To some, it seems it is. But it doesn't seem like the Calvinist should think so.