Calvinism: Perseverance of the Saints
August 2023
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There are multiple doctrinal errors of what became known as Calvinism. In past articles, I addressed some of Calvin’s errors, and this month we’ll deal with the “P” in TULIP Perseverance of the saints, wherein Calvinists teach that Christians must endure to the end to show that they are really saved, which means no person can fully know for sure if he is saved until he dies. (TULIP is an acrostic that summarizes the points of Calvinism: Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, and Perseverance of the saints.)
However, Scripture makes it very clear that believers do know that they have eternal life when they believe: “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (I John 5:13).
Contrary to what most people think, John Calvin didn't teach eternal security at all. Calvin insisted that believers must persevere in works if they are to remain in grace. Calvin believed that the elect will persevere in faith and continue in grace to their ultimate final salvation. Eternal security is better understood to mean the preservation of the saints, not the perseverance of the saints. To “persevere” is works salvation. This is a dangerous heresy because it eliminates the free gift of eternal life. There is no delay period or testing period before we receive it. We receive eternal life the very moment that we trust Christ as our personal Savior to forgive our sins.
Romans 5:15 and Romans 6:23 declare that eternal life is a gift from God. Romans 5:15 even calls it a “free gift.” Man’s works and efforts have absolutely nothing to do with God’s salvation.
John 3:16 is so clear on the matter of salvation, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If a lost sinner simply believes on Christ, he or she will be saved.
I do not accept the unbiblical heresy by Calvin that we should persevere to the end to be saved. In Calvin's commentary on I John 3:9, he alludes to the word perseverance and states clearly, “the hearts of the godly are so effectually governed by the Spirit of God, that through an inflexible disposition they follow his guidance …. the power of the Spirit is so effectual, that it necessarily retains us in continual obedience to righteousness.”
His misunderstanding of the sovereignty of God forsakes him from having the correct object of faith and proper obedience to the faith. Instead of a believer obtaining the grace of God through the work of the Holy Spirit, who exclusively works through the finished work of the cross, Calvin sets the course of his adherents to failure by frustrating the grace of God.
UNCONDITIONAL ETERNAL SECURITY
It is necessary for me to briefly expose this error as well. Many believe that once we are saved we can never be lost again. Although we do have eternal security, it is not unconditional. The “proof” text used by adherents to unconditional eternal security is in John 10:27-29: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”
They emphasize the latter part of verse 28, “neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” This verse deals with another person, or even Satan, trying to take one of Christ’s. It makes no mention of one backsliding or turning from his faith. True it is that no man can pluck them out of the Father’s hand, but it is clear in Scripture that one can walk away.
Here are some Scriptures that bear witness to ones who were saved but led astray by doctrinal or moral error into apostasy:
• “And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church …. For I know this, that after my departing grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of you own selves men shall arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” (Acts 20:17, 29-30)
• “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.” (I Tim. 1:18-20)
• “But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.” (II Tim. 2:16-18).
• “O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called: Which some professing have erred concerning the faith.” (I Tim. 6:20-21)
• “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” (II Peter 3:17).
• “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction” (II Peter 2:1).
• “Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. “Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.” (II John 1:8-9)
• “But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die” (Ezek. 18:24-26).
I will address the origins of Augustinian/Calvinist teachings in future articles.
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