1. Statement of the Doctrine. 2. Perseverance Does
Not Depend Upon the Person's Good Works But Upon God's Grace. 3. Though Truly
Saved the Christian May Temporarily Backslide and Commit Sin. 4. An Outward
Profession of Righteousness Not a Guarantee That the Person Is a True
Christian. 5. Arminian Sense of Insecurity. 6. Purpose of the Scripture
Warnings Against Apostasy. 7.Scripture Proof.
1. STATEMENT OF THE DOCTRINE
The doctrine of the Perseverance of the
Saints is stated in the Westminster Confession in the following words: "They
whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by
His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace;
but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved."1 Or
in other words we believe that those who once become true Christians cannot
totally fall away and be lost, --- that while they may fall into sin
temporarily, they will eventually return and be saved.
This doctrine does not stand alone but is a
necessary part of the Calvinistic system of theology. The doctrines of
Election and Efficacious Grace logically imply the certain salvation of those
who receive these blessings. If God has chosen men absolutely and
unconditionally to eternal life, and if His Spirit effectively applies to them
the benefits of redemption, the inescapable conclusion is that these persons
shall be saved. And, historically, this doctrine has been held by all
Calvinists, and denied by practically all Arminians.
Those who have fled to Jesus for refuge have
a firm foundation upon which to build. Though floods of error deluge the land,
though Satan raise all the powers of earth and all the iniquities of their own
hearts against them, they shall never fail; but, persevering to the end, they
shall inherit those mansions which have been prepared for them from the
foundation of the world. The saints in heaven are happier but no more secure
than are true believers here in this world. Since faith and repentance are
gifts of God, the bestowing of these gifts is a revelation of God's purpose to
save those to whom they are given. It is an evidence that God has
predestinated the recipients of these gifts to be conformed to the image of
His Son, i. e., to be like Him in character, destiny, and glory, and that He
will infallibly carry out His purpose. No one can pluck them out of His hands.
Those who once become true Christians have within themselves the principle of
eternal life, which principle is the Holy Spirit; and since the Holy Spirit
dwells within them they are already potentially holy. True, they are still
exercised by many trials, and they do not yet see what they shall be, but they
should know that that which is begun in them shall be completed to the end,
and that the very presence of strife within them is the sign of life and the
promise of victory.
In regard to those who become true
Christians, but who, as the Arminians allege, fall away, why does God not take
them out of the world while they are in the saved state? Surely no one will
say that it is because He can not, or that it is because He does not foresee
their future apostasy. Why, then, does He leave these objects of His affection
here to fall back into sin and perish? His gift of continued life to these
Christians amounts to an infinite curse placed upon them. But who can really
believe that the heavenly Father takes no better care of His children than
that? This mistaken doctrine of the Arminians teaches that a person may be a
son of God today and a son of the Devil tomorrow, that he may change from one
state to another as rapidly as he changes his mind. It teaches that he may be
born of the Spirit, justified, sanctified, all but glorified, and that even
then he may become reprobate and perish eternally, his own will and course of
conduct being the determining factor. Certainly a sovereign loving God would
not permit His ransomed children to thus fall away and perish.
In addition to this, if God knows that a
certain Christian is going to rebel and perish, can He love him with any deep
affection even before his apostasy? If we knew that some one who is our friend
today would be led to become our enemy and betray us tomorrow, we could not
receive him with the intimacy and trust which otherwise would be natural. Our
knowledge of his future acts would in large measure destroy our present love
for him.
No one denies that the redeemed in heaven
will be preserved in holiness. Yet if God is able to preserve His saints in
heaven without violating their free agency, may He not also preserve His
saints on earth without violating their free agency?
The nature of the change which occurs in
regeneration is a sufficient guarantee that the life imparted shall be
permanent. Regeneration is a radical and supernatural change of the inner
nature, through which the soul is made spiritually alive, and the new life
which is implanted is immortal. And since it is a change in the inner nature,
it is in a sphere in which man does not have control. No creature is at
liberty to change the fundamental principles of its nature, for that is the
prerogative of God as Creator. Hence nothing short of another supernatural act
of God could reverse this change and cause the new life to be lost. The
born-again Christian can no more lose his sonship to the heavenly Father than
an earthly son can lose his sonship to an earthly father. The idea that a
Christian may fall away and perish arises from a wrong conception of the
principle of spiritual life which is imparted to the soul in regeneration.
2. OUR PERSEVERANCE NOT DEPENDENT ON OUR
OWN GOOD WORKS BUT ON GOD'S GRACE
Paul teaches that believers are not under
law, but under grace, and that since they are not under the law they cannot be
condemned for having violated the law. "Ye are not under law but under grace,"
Rom. 6:14. Further sin cannot possibly cause their downfall, for they are
under a system of grace and are not treated according to their deserts. "If it
is by grace, it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace," Rom.
11:6. "The law worketh wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there
transgression," Rom. 4:15. "Apart from the law sin is dead" (that is, where
the law is abolished sin can no longer subject the person to punishment), Rom.
7:8. "Ye were made dead to the law through the body of Christ," Rom. 7:4. The
one who attempts to earn even the smallest part of his salvation by works
becomes "a debtor to do the whole law" (that is, to render perfect obedience
in his own strength and thus earn his salvation), Gal. 6:3. We are here
dealing with two radically different systems of salvation, two systems which,
in fact, are diametrically opposed to each other.
The infinite, mysterious, eternal love of
God for His people is a guarantee that they can never be lost. This love is
not subject to fluctuations but is as unchangeable as His being. It is also
gratuitous, and keeps faster hold of us than we of it. It is not founded on
the attractiveness of its objects. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but
that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins," I
John 4:10. "God commendeth His own love toward us, in that while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by His blood,
shall we be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if, while we were
enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more,
being reconciled, shall we be saved by His life," Rom. 5:8-10. Here the very
point stressed in that our standing with God is not based on our deserts. It
was "while we were enemies" that we were brought into spiritual life through
sovereign grace; and if He has done the greater, will He not do the lesser?
The writer of the book of Hebrews also teaches that it is impossible for one
of God's chosen to be lost when he says that Christ is both "the Author and
Perfecter of our faith." We are there taught that the whole course of our
salvation is divinely, planned and divinely guided. Neither the grace of God
nor its continuance is given according to our merits. Hence if any Christian
fell away, it would be because God had withdrawn His grace and changed His
method of procedure ---or, in other words, because He had put the person back
under a system of law.
Robert L. Dabney has expressed this truth
very ably In the following paragraph: "The sovereign and unmerited love is the
cause of the believer's effectual calling. Jer. 31:3; Rom. 8:30. Now, as the
cause is unchangeable, the effect is unchangeable. That effect is, the
constant communication of grace to the believer in whom God hath begun a good
work. God was not induced to bestow His renewing grace in the first instance,
by anything which He saw, meritorious or attractive, in the repenting sinner;
and therefore the subsequent absence of everything good in him would be no new
motive to God for withdrawing His grace. When He first bestowed that grace, He
knew that the sinner on whom He bestowed it was totally depraved, and wholly
and only hateful in himself to the divine holiness; and therefore no new
instance of ingratitude or unfaithfulness, of which the sinner may become
guilty after his conversion, can be any provocation to God, to change His
mind, and wholly withdraw His sustaining grace. God knew all this ingratitude
before. He will chastise it, by temporarily withdrawing His Holy Spirit, or
His providential mercies; but if He had not intended from the first to bear
with it, and to forgive it in Christ, He would not have called the sinner by
His grace at first. In a word, the causes for which God determined to bestow
His electing love on the sinner are wholly in God, and not at all in the
believer; and hence, nothing in the believer's heart or conduct can finally
change that purpose of love. Is. 54:10; Rom. 11:29. Compare carefully Rom.
5:8-10; 8:32, with the whole scope of Rom. 8:28-end. This illustrious passage
is but an argument for our proposition; 'What shall separate us from the love
of Christ?"2
"God's love in this respect," says Dr.
Charles Hodge "is compared to parental love. A mother does not love her child
because it is lovely. Her love leads her to do all she can to render it
attractive and to keep it so. So the love of God, being in like manner
mysterious, unaccountable by anything in its objects, secures His adorning His
children with the graces of His Spirit, and arraying them in all the beauty of
holiness. It is only the lamentable mistake that God loves us for our
goodness, that can lead any one to suppose that His love is dependent on our
self-sustained attractiveness."3
Concerning the salvation of the elect,
Luther says, "God's decree of predestination is firm and certain; and the
necessity resulting from it is, in like manner, immovable, and cannot but take
place. For we ourselves are so feeble.' that if the matter were left in our
hands, very few, or rather none, would be saved; but Satan would overcome us
all."
The more we think of these matters, the more
thankful we are that our perseverance in holiness and assurance of salvation
is not dependent on our own weak nature, but upon God's constant sustaining
power. We can say with Isaiah, "Except Jehovah of hosts had left us a very
small remnant, we should have become as Sodom, we should have been like unto
Gomorrah." Arminianism denies this doctrine of Perseverance, because it is a
system, not of pure grace, but of grace and works; and in any such system the
person must prove himself at least partially worthy.
3. THOUGH TRULY SAVED THE CHRISTIAN MAY
TEMPORARILY BACKSLIDE AND COMMIT SIN
This doctrine of Perseverance does not mean
that Christians do not temporarily fall the victims of sin, for alas, this is
all too common. Even the best of men backslide temporarily. But they are never
completely defeated; for God, by the exercise of His grace on their hearts
infallibly prevents even the weakest saint from final apostasy. As yet we have
this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power
(or the glory) may be of God, and not from ourselves (II Cor. 4:7).
Concerning his own personal experience even
the great apostle Paul could write: "The good which I would I do not; but the
evil which I would not, that I practice. But if what I would not, that I do,
it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me .... I find then the
law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present. For I delight in the law
of God after the inward man; but I see a different law in my members, warring
against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of
sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am I who shall deliver me out
of the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then
I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve the law of God; but with the flesh
the law of sin." Rom. 7:19-25. In these lines every true Christian reads his
own experience.
It is, of course, inconsistent for the
Christian to commit sin, and the writer of the book of Hebrews says that those
who do sin "crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open
shame" (6:6). After David had committed sin and had repented he was told by
the prophet Nathan that his sin would be forgiven, but that nevertheless
through it he had "given great occasion to the enemies of Israel to
blaspheme," II Sam. 12:14. David and Peter fell away temporarily, but the
basic principles of their natures called them back. Judas fell away
permanently because he lacked those basic principles.
As long as the believer remains in this
world his state is one of warfare. He suffers temporary reverses and may for a
time appear to have lost all faith; yet if he has been once truly saved, he
cannot fall away completely from grace. If once he has experienced the inner
change which comes through regeneration he will sooner or later return to the
fold and be saved. When he comes to himself he confesses his sins and asks
forgiveness, never doubting that he is saved. His lapse into sin may have
injured him severely and may have brought destruction to others; but so far as
he is personally concerned it is only temporary. Paul taught that the life
work of many people should be burned since it is constructed of wrong
materials, though they themselves shall be saved "so as by fire," I Cor.
3:12-15; and it was this teaching which Jesus brought out in the parable of
the lost sheep which the shepherd sought and brought back to the fold.
If true believers fell away, then their
bodies, which are called "temples of the Holy Spirit," would become the
habitations of the Devil, which of course would make the Devil rejoice and
insult over God (I Cor. 6:19). "The Christian is like a man making his way up
hill, who occasionally slips back, yet always has his face set toward the
summit. The unregenerate man has his face turned downwards, and he is slipping
all the way," - A. H. Strong. "The believer, like a man on shipboard, may fall
again and again on the deck, but he will never fall overboard."' -C. H.
Spurgeon.
Each one of the elect is like the prodigal
son in this, that for a time he is deluded by the world and is led astray by
his own carnal appetite. He tries to feed on the husks, but they do not
satisfy. And sooner or later he is obliged to say, "I will arise and go to my
father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in
thy sight." And he meets with the same reception, tokens of unchanging love;
and a father's welcome voice echoes through the soul, and melts the heart of
the poor returning backslider, ---"This my son was dead, and is alive again;
and was lost, and is found." Let it be noticed that this is a thoroughly
Calvinistic parable in that the prodigal was a son, and could not lose that
relationship. Those who are not sons never have the desire to arise and go to
the Father.
Our judgments may at times be wrong, as was
that of the bewitched Galatians (3:1); and our affections may cool, as in the
Ephesian Church (Rev. 2:4). The Church may become drowsy, yet her heart awakes
(Song 5:2). Grace may at times seem to be lost to a child of God when it is
indeed not so. The sun is eclipsed, but regains its former splendor. The trees
lose all their leaves and fruit in winter, but has fresh buddings with the
spring. Israel flees once, or even twice, before her enemies, and yet they
conquer the land of promise. The Christian, too, falls many times, but is
finally saved. It is unthinkable that God's elect should fail of salvation.
"There is no possibility of their escaping the omnipotent power of God. so
that, like Jonah, who fled from the will of God, which was to carry the
message to Nineveh, yet was pursued even into the belly of the fish by the
power of God until he willingly obeyed God's command, so they will eventually
return to the Saviour, and after confession receive pardon for their sins and
be saved."4
4. AN OUTWARD PROFESSION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
NOT ALWAYS A PROOF THAT THE PERSON IS A TRUE CHRISTIAN
We have no great difficulty in disposing of
those cases where apparently true believers have gone into final apostasy.
Both Scripture and experience teach us that we are often mistaken in our
judgment of our fellow men, that sometimes it is practically impossible for us
to know for certain that they are true Christians. The tares were never wheat,
and the bad fish were never good, in spite of the fact that their true nature
was not at first recognized. Since Satan can so alter his appearance that he
is mistaken for an angel of light (II Cor. 11:14), it is no marvel that
sometimes his ministers also fashion themselves as doers of righteousness,
with the most deceptive appearances of holiness, devotion, piety and zeal.
Certainly an outward profession is not always a guarantee that the soul is
saved. Like the Pharisees of old, they may only desire to "make a fair show in
the flesh," and deceive many. Jesus warned His disciples, "there shall arise
false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so
as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect," Matt. 24:24; and He quoted
the prophet Isaiah to the effect that, "This people honoreth me with their
lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, Teaching
as their doctrines the precepts of men," Mark 7:6, 7. Paul warned against
those who were "false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into
apostles of Christ," II Cor. 11:13. And to the Romans he wrote, "They are not
all Israel, that are of Israel: neither, because they are Abraham's seed are
they all children," Rom. 9:6, 7. John mentions those who "call themselves
apostles, and they are not," Rev. 2:2; and a little later he adds, "I know thy
works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and thou art dead," Rev. 3:1.
But however effectively these may deceive
men, God all the time knows "the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and
they are not, but are a synagogue of Satan," Rev. 2:9. We live in a day when
multitudes claim the name of "Christian," who are destitute of Christian
knowledge, experience, and character, - in a day when, in many quarters, the
distinction between the Church and the world has been wiped out. Like Samuel,
we are often deceived by the outward appearance, and say, "Surely the Lord's
anointed is before us," when if we really knew the motives behind their works
we would conclude otherwise. We are often mistaken in our judgment of others,
in spite of the best precautions that we can take. John gave the true solution
for these cases when he wrote: "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 they might be made manifest that they all are not of us," I
John 2:19. All of those who fall away permanently come under this class.
Some persons make a great profession of
religion although they know nothing of the Lord Jesus in sincerity and in
truth. These persons may outstrip many a humble follower in head-knowledge,
and for a season they may quite deceive the very elect; yet all the time their
hearts have never been touched. In the judgment day many of those who at some
time in their lives have been externally associated with the Church will say,
"Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons,
and by thy name do many mighty works?" And then He will reply to them, "I
never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity," Matt. 7:22,23; which,
of course, would not be true if at some time He had known them as real
Christians. When every man shall appear in his own colors, when the secrets of
all hearts shall be manifest, many who at times appeared to be true Christians
will be seen never to have been among God's people. Some fall away from a
profession of faith, but none fall away from the saving grace of God. Those
who do fall have never known the latter. They are the stony-ground hearers,
who have no root in themselves, but who endure for a while; and when
tribulation or persecution arises, straightway they stumble. They are then
said to have given up or to have made shipwreck of that faith which they never
possessed except in appearance. Some of these become sufficiently enlightened
in the scheme of the doctrines of the Gospel that they are able to preach or
to teach them to others, and yet are themselves entirely destitute of real
saving grace. When such fall away they are no proofs nor instances of the
final apostasy of real saints.
Mere church membership, of course, is no
guarantee that the persons are real Christians. Not every member of the Church
militant will be a member of the Church triumphant. To answer certain
purposes, they make an outward profession of the Gospel, which obliges them
for a time to be outwardly moral and to associate themselves with the people
of God. They appear to have true faith and continue thus for a while. Then
either their sheep's clothing is stripped off, or they throw it off
themselves, and return again to the world. If we could see the real motives of
their hearts, we would discover that at no time were they ever actuated by a
true love of God. They were all this while goats, and not sheep, ravening
wolves, and not gentle lambs. Hence Peter says of them, "It has happened unto
them according to the true proverb, The dog turning to his own vomit again,
and the sow that had been washed to wallowing in the mire," II Peter 2:22.
They thereby show that they never belonged to the number of the elect.
Many of the unconverted listen to the
preaching of the Gospel as Herod listened to John the Baptist. We are told
that "Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and
kept him safe. And when he heard him he was much perplexed; and he heard him
gladly," Mark 6:20. Yet no one who knows of Herod's decree to put John the
Baptist to death, and of his life in general, will say that be was ever a
Christian.
In addition to what has been said it is to
be admitted that often times the common operations of the Spirit on the
enlightened conscience lead to reformation and to an externally religious
life. Those so influenced are often very strict in their conduct and diligent
in their religious duties. To the awakened sinner the promises of the Gospel
and the exhibition of the plan of salvation contained in the Scriptures appear
not only as true but as suited to his condition. He receives them with joy,
and believes with a faith founded on the moral force of truth. This faith
continues as long as the state of mind by which it is produced continues. When
that changes, he relapses into his usual state of insensibility, and his faith
disappears. It is to this class of persons that Christ referred when He spoke
of those who receive the Word in stony places or among thorns. Numerous
examples of this temporary faith are found in the Scriptures and are often
seen in every day life. These experiences often precede or accompany genuine
conversion; but in many cases they are not followed by a real change of heart.
They may occur repeatedly, and yet those who experience them return to their
normal state of unconcern and worldliness. Often times it is impossible for an
observer or even the person himself to distinguish these experiences from
those of the truly regenerated. "By their fruits ye shall know them," is the
test given by our Lord. Only when these experiences issue in a consistently
holy life can their distinctive character be known.
5. ARMINIAN SENSE OF INSECURITY
A consistent Arminian, with his doctrines of
free will and of falling from grace, can never in this life be certain of his
eternal salvation. He may, indeed, have the assurance of his present
salvation, but he can have only a hope of his final salvation. He may regard
his final salvation as highly probable, but he cannot know it as a certainty.
He has seen many of his fellow Christians backslide and perish after making a
good start. Why may not he do the same thing? So long as men remain in this
world they have the remnants of the old sinful nature clinging to them; they
are surrounded by the most alluring and deceptive pleasures of the world and
the most subtle temptations of the Devil. In many of the supposedly Christian
churches they hear the false teaching of modernistic, and therefore
unchristian, ministers. If Arminianism were true, Christians would still be in
very dangerous positions, with their eternal destiny suspended upon the
probability that their weak, creaturely wills would continue to choose right.
Furthermore, Arminianism would logically hold that no confirmation in holiness
is possible, not even in heaven; for even there the person would still retain
his free will and might commit sin any time he chose.
By comparison the Arminian is like the
person who has inherited a fortune of, say, $100,000. He knows that many
others who have inherited such fortunes have lost them through poor judgment,
fraud, calamity, etc., but he has enough confidence in his own ability to
handle money wisely that he does not doubt but that he will keep his. His
assurance is based largely on self-confidence. Others have failed, but he is
confident that he will not fail. But what a delusion is this when applied to
the spiritual realm! What a pity that any one who is at all acquainted with
his own tendency to sin should base his assurance of salvation upon such
grounds! His system places the cause of his perseverance, not in the hands of
an all-powerful, never-changing God, but in the hands of weak sinful man.
And does not the logic of the Arminian
system tell us that the wise thing for the Christian to do is to die as soon
as possible and thus confirm the inheritance which to him is of infinite
value? In view of the fact that so many have fallen away, is it worth while
for him to remain here and risk his eternal salvation for the sake of a little
more life in this world? What would be thought of a business man who, in order
to gain a few more dollars, would risk his entire fortune in some admittedly
questionable venture? In fact, does it not at least suggest that the Lord has
made many mistakes in not removing these people while they were true
Christians? The writer, at least, is convinced that if he held the Arminian
view and knew himself to be a saved Christian he would want to die as soon as
possible and thus place his salvation beyond all possible doubt.
In regard to spiritual matters, a state of
doubt is a state of misery. The assurance that Christians can never be
separated from the love of God is one of the greatest comforts of the
Christian life. To deny this doctrine is to destroy the grounds for any
rejoicing among the saints on earth; for what kind of rejoicing can those have
who believe that they may at any time be deceived and led astray? If our sense
of security is based only on our changeable and wavering natures, we can never
know the inward calm and peace which, should characterize the Christian. Says
McFetridge, in his very illuminating little book, Calvinism In History, "I can
well conceive of the terror to a sensitive soul of dark uncertainty as to
salvation, and of that ever-abiding consciousness of the awful possibility of
falling away from grace after a long and painful Christian life, which is
taught by Arminianism. To me such a doctrine has terrors which would cause me
to shrink away from it for ever, and which would fill me with constant and
unspeakable perplexities. To feel that I were crossing the troubled and
dangerous sea of life dependent for my final security upon the actings of my
own treacherous nature were enough to fill me with a perpetual alarm. If it is
possible, I want to know that the vessel to which I commit my life is
seaworthy, and that, having once embarked, I shall arrive in safety at my
destination." (P. 112.)
It is not until we duly appreciate this
wonderful truth, that our salvation is not suspended on our weak and wavering
love to God, but rather upon His eternal and unchangeable love to us, that we
can have peace and certainty in the Christian life. And only the Calvinist,
who knows himself to be absolutely safe in the hands of God, can have that
inward sense of peace and security, knowing that in the eternal counsels of
God he has been chosen to be cleansed and glorified and that nothing can
thwart that purpose. He knows himself to be held to righteousness by a
spiritual power which is as exhaustless and unvarying as the force of
gravitation, and as necessary to the development of the spirit as sunshine and
vitamins are to the body.
6. PURPOSE OF THE SCRIPTURE WARNINGS
AGAINST APOSTASY
Arminians sometimes bring forth from the
Scriptures the warnings against apostasy or falling away, which are addressed
to believers, and which, it is argued, imply a possibility of their failing
away. There is, of course, a sense in which it is possible for believers to
fail away,---when they are viewed simply in themselves, with reference to
their own powers and capacities, and apart from God's purpose or design with
respect to them. And it is admitted by all that believers can fall into sin
temporarily. The primary purpose of these passages, however, is to induce men
to co-operate willingly with God for the accomplishment of His purposes. They
are inducements which produce constant humility, watchfulness, and diligence.
In the same way a parent, in order to get the willing co-operation of a child,
may tell it to stay out of the way of an approaching automobile, when all the
time the parent has no intention of ever letting the child get into a position
where it would be injured. When God plies a soul with fears of falling it is
by no means a proof that God in His secret purpose intends to permit him to
fall. These fears may be the very means which God has designed to keep him
from falling. Secondly, God's exhortations to duty are perfectly consistent
with His purpose to give sufficient grace for the performance of these duties.
In one place we are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart; in
another, God says, "I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in
my statutes." Now either these must be consistent with each other, or the Holy
Spirit must contradict Himself. Plainly it is not the latter. Thirdly, these
warnings are, even for believers, incitements to greater faith and prayer.
Fourthly, they are designed to show man his duty rather than his ability, and
his weakness rather than his strength. Fifthly, they convince men of their
want of holiness and of their dependence upon God. And, sixthly, they serve as
restraints on unbelievers, and leave them without excuse.
Nor is any more proven by the passages,
"Destroy not with thy meat him for whom Christ died," Rom. 14:15; and, "For
through thy knowledge he that is weak perisheth, the brother for whose sake
Christ died," I Cor. 8:11. In the same manner the influence of a particular
person, when looked at merely in itself, might be said to be destroying our
American civilization; yet America goes ahead and prospers, because other
influences more than offset that one. In these passages the principle asserted
is simply this: Whatever their divine security, the responsibility of the one
who casts a stumbling block in the path of his brother is not decreased; and
that anyone who does cast a stumbling block in the way of his brother is doing
all he can towards his brother's destruction.
7. SCRIPTURE PROOF
The Scripture proof for this doctrine is
abundant and clear.
"Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness
or peril, or sword? Nay, In all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life,
nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor
powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord," Rom.
8:35-39.
"Sin shall not have dominion over you: for
ye are not under law, but under grace," Rom. 6:14. "He that believeth hath
eternal life," John 6:47. "He that heareth my word, and believeth Him that
sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out
of death into life," John 5:24. The moment one believes, eternal life becomes
a reality, a present possession, and not merely a conditional gift of the
future. "I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat
of this bread, he shall live forever," John 6:51. He does not say that we have
to eat many times, but that if we eat at all, we shall live for ever.
"Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but
the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing
up unto eternal life," John 4:14.
"Being confident of this very thing, that He
who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ,"
Phil. 1:6. "Jehovah will perfect that which concerneth me," Ps. 138:8. "The
gifts and calling of God are not repented of:' Rom. 11:29. "The witness is
this, that God gave unto us eternal life," I John 5:11. "These things have I
written unto you that ye may know that ye have eternal life," I John 5:13.
"For by one offering He bath perfected for ever them that are sanctified,"
Heb. 10:14. "The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me
unto His heavenly kingdom," II Tim. 4:18. "For whom He foreknew, He also
foreordained .... and whom He foreordained, them He also called; and whom He
called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also
glorified:' Rom. 8:29. "Having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through
Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will," Eph.
1:5.
Jesus declared, "I give unto them (the true
followers, or 'sheep') eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one
shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who hath given them unto me, is
greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand,"
John 10:28. Here we find that our security and God's omnipotence are equal;
for the former is founded on the latter. God is mightier than the whole world,
and neither men nor Devil can rob Him of one of His precious jewels. It would
be as easy to pluck a star out of the heavens as to pluck a saint out of the
Father's hand. Their salvation stands in His invincible might and they are
placed beyond the peril of destruction. We have Christ's promise that the
gates of hell shall not prevail against His Church; yet if the Devil could
snatch one here and another there and large numbers in some congregations, the
gates of hell would to a great extent prevail against it. In principle, if one
could be lost, all might be lost, and thus Christ's assurance would be reduced
to idle words.
When we are told that "There shall arise
false Christs, and false prophets, who shall show great signs and wonders; so
as to lead astray, IF POSSIBLE, even the elect," Matt. 24:24, the unprejudiced
believing mind readily understands that it is IMPOSSIBLE to lead astray the
elect.
The mystic union which exists between Christ
and believers is a guarantee that they shall continue steadfast. "Because I
live, ye shall live also," John 14:19. The effect of this union is that
believers participate in His life. Christ is in us, Romans 8:10. It is not we
that live, but Christ that liveth in us, Gal. 2:20. Christ and the believers
have a common life such as that which exists in the vine and the branches. The
Holy Spirit so dwells in the redeemed that every Christian is supplied with an
inexhaustible reservoir of strength.
Paul warned the Ephesians, "Grieve not the
Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption," Eph.
4:30. He had no fear of apostasy for he could confidently say, "Thanks be to
God who always leadeth us in triumph in Christ," II Cor. 2:14. The Lord,
speaking through the prophet Jeremiah said, "I have loved thee with an
everlasting love," 31:3, --- one of the best proofs that God's love shall have
no end is that it has no beginning, but is eternal. In the parable of the two
houses, the very point stressed was that the house which was founded on the
rock (Christ) did not fall when the storms of life came. Arminianism sets up
another system in which some of those who are founded on the rock do fall. In
the twenty-third Psalm we read, "And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever." The true Christian is no temporary visitor, but a permanent dweller
in the house of the Lord. How those rob this psalm of its deeper and richer
meaning who teach that the grace of God is a temporary thing!
Christ makes intercession for His people
(Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25), and we are told that the Father hears Him always (John
11:42). Hence the Arminian, holding that Christians may fall away, must deny
either the passages which declare that Christ does make intercession for His
people, or he must deny those which declare that His prayers are always heard.
Let us consider here how well protected we are: Christ is at the right hand of
God pleading for us, and in addition to that, the Holy Spirit makes
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered, Rom. 8:26.
In the wonderful promise of Jer. 32:40, God
has promised to preserve believers from their own backslidings: "And I will
make an everlasting covenant with them, and I will not turn away from
following them, to do them good; and I will put my fear in their hearts, that
they may not depart from me." And in Ezek. 11:19, 20, He promises to take from
them the "stony heart," and to give them a "heart of flesh," so that they
shall walk in his statutes and keep his ordinances, and so that they shall be
His people and He their God. Peter tells us that Christians cannot fall away,
for they "by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready
to be revealed at the last time," I Peter 1:5. Paul says, "God is able to make
all grace to abound unto you; that ye, having always all sufficiency in
everything, may abound unto every good work," II Cor. 9:8. He declares that
the Lord's servant "shall be made to stand; for the Lord hath power to make
him stand," Rom. 14:4.
And Christians have the further promise,
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is
faithful, and will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but
will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to
endure it," I Cor. 10:13. Their removal from certain temptations which would
be too strong for them is an absolute and free gift from God, since it is
entirely an arrangement of His providence as to what temptations they
encounter in the course of their lives, and what ones they escape. "The Lord
is faithful and will establish you and guard you from the evil one," II Thess.
3:3. And again, "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear
Him and delivereth them," Ps. 34:7. Amid all his trials and hardships Paul
could say, "We are pressed on every side, yet not straightened; perplexed, yet
not unto despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed;
.... knowing that He that raised up the Lord Jesus Christ shall raise us also
with Jesus," II Cor. 4:8, 9, 14.
The saints, even in this world, are compared
to a tree that does not wither, Ps. 1:3; to the cedars which flourish on Mount
Lebanon, Ps. 92:12; to Mount Zion which cannot be moved, but which abideth
forever, Ps. 125:1; and to a house built on a rock, Matt. 7:24. The Lord is
with them in their old age, Is. 46:4, and is their guide even unto death, Ps
48:14, so that they cannot be totally and finally lost.
Another strong argument is to be noticed
concerning the Lamb's book of life. The disciples were told to rejoice, not so
much over the fact that the demons were subject to them, but that their names
were written in the Lamb's book of life. This book is a catalogue of the
elect, determined by the unalterable counsel of God, and can neither be
increased nor diminished. The names of the righteous are found there; but the
names of those who perish have never been written there from the foundation of
the world. God does not make the mistake of writing in the book of life a name
which He will later have to blot out. Hence none of the Lord's own ever
perish. Jesus told His disciples to find their chief joy in the fact that
their names were written in heaven, Luke 10:20; yet there would have been
small grounds for joy in this respect if their names written in heaven one day
could have been blotted out the next. Paul wrote to the Philippians, "Our
citizenship is in heaven," 3:20; and to Timothy he wrote, "The Lord knoweth
them that are His," II Tim. 2:19. For the Scripture teaching concerning the
book of life, see Luke 10:20; Phil 4:3; Rev. 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12-15; 21:27.
Here, then, are very simple and plain
statements that the Christian shall continue in grace, the reason being that
the Lord takes it upon Himself to preserve him in that state. In these
promises the elect are secured on both sides. Not only will God not depart
from them, but He will so put His fear into their hearts that they shall not
depart from him. Surely no Spirit-taught Christian can doubt that this
doctrine is taught in the Bible. It seems that man, poor, wretched and
impotent as he is, would welcome a doctrine which secures for him the
possessions of eternal happiness despite all attacks from without and all evil
tendencies from within. But it is not so. He refuses it, and argues against
it. And the causes are not far to seek. In the first place he has more
confidence in himself than be has any right to have. Secondly, the scheme is
so contrary to what he is used to in the natural world that he persuades
himself that it cannot be true. Thirdly, he perceives that if this doctrine be
admitted, the other doctrines of free grace will logically follow. Hence he
twists and explains away the Scripture passages which teach it, and clings to
some which appear on the surface to favor his preconceived views. In fact, a
system of salvation by grace is so utterly at variance with his every-day
experience, in which be sees every thing and person treated according to works
and merits, that he has great difficulty in bringing himself to believe that
it can be true. He wishes to earn his own salvation, though certainly he
expects very high wages for very sorry work.
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