Preservation and Perseverance
Scripture Reading: John 16:1-15
I believe that the saved will not lose their salvation. Some call this “once saved, always saved.” I’m not a fan of that language. It tends to create a belief that one merely needs to pray a prayer, walk an aisle, go through the baptismal waters, or participate in some other ritual of conversion and then, no matter what they do from that point forward, they have punched their ticket to heaven. I think the older language of “perseverance of the saints” is better.
It is better because it acknowledges the need for perseverance in faith. Perseverance implies trials and temptations. Perseverance implies that one stays faithful and true to the confession. It removes the option of making a profession of faith and then falling away and still having some loved one declare you saved the day of your funeral because somewhere in some past time you said you believed. But “perseverance of the saints” also claims that those that are saints do persevere.
Perseverance of the saints is not dependent on the saints alone. Saints persevere because Christ preserves them. That is, Christ keeps his own in the faith. He empowers them to persevere. The small epistle of Jude ends with this encouraging truth. Jude’s main message is about false faith and professing Christians falling away. Jude ends his letter though with a word of praise unto “Him who is able to keep you from falling…” We are kept from falling away, held fast to Christ, and able to persevere because Christ preserves us.
And Christ uses means to do this. We see this in John 16:1 where Jesus tells the disciples, “I have said all these things to keep you from falling away.” He goes on to warn of coming persecution. That persecution could have the effect of eroding or even collapsing the disciples’ faith. But Jesus gives them teaching. He builds them up in the truth. And those words of Jesus would be the means through which Jesus preserves them in faith.
I believe the saved will be saved and not lost. They will persevere until the end. And they will persevere because Christ preserves them. And Christ preserves them in their faith through various means he provides – His word, the church, the Spirit, prayer, the ordinances… While this is not the sole purpose of these gifts of our Lord, our perseverance is one of the things these gifts of Christ accomplish in his saints.