The basic question we are discussing is this: “Can a true child of God lose his salvation and be eternally lost?” Historically, some Christians known as Arminians answered “yes,” and another group of Christians called Calvinists answered “no.” The Arminian reply was consistent with the basic premise of that theological system. It holds that the one decisive factor in any individual’s conversion is the sinner’s free-will choice to accept Christ. The Arminian correctly and logically reasoned that if a sinner’s free will could begin salvation, then that same free will could choose to end salvation. If the system based on free will is correct, then it indeed logically follows that a Christian can choose to quit following Christ, just as he chose to follow him in the first place. If the one is true, the other is also true. If you will your way in then you can will your way out.

The Calvinist was just as consistent and logical as the Arminian, but since the basic presupposition of his system was different, he naturally came up with a different answer. The Calvinist held that what God’s sovereign grace and power began, it will also finish. A true Christian will be kept by the power of God and be given grace to persevere to the end. It is essential to understand that, at that point in history, all Christians, both the Arminians and Calvinists, agreed that only those who persevered in faith would ultimately reach heaven. A true Calvinist today is far closer to a historic Arminian in his understanding of the nature of saving faith than he is to the “eternal security, anti-Lordship” position.

Both of these groups quoted texts of Scripture that appeared to prove their particular position. The Arminians quoted texts such as the following to prove that one can lose his salvation:

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. (Heb. 6:4-6 NKJV)

And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. (Matt. 10:22 NKJV)

The Calvinists countered with verses in accordance with the following to prove that a Christian cannot lose his salvation.

For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:38-39 NKJV)

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. (John 10:27-29 NKJV)

Today, most discussions about this subject are of a totally different nature than they were historically. The current tendency is to start in the middle of the subject and then proceed to go round and round in useless arguments. The discussion of this subject has radically changed in the last one hundred years. As mentioned above, it must be emphasized that in the beginning of this dispute, both Calvinists and Arminians agreed that only those who persevered unto the end would be saved. Both sides accepted Matthew 10:22 at face value. The Calvinist insisted just as strongly as the Arminian that one had to endure to the end, or he would indeed be lost. The argument was not over the necessity of perseverance but over the certainty of it. The point of disagreement was whether all Christians would be able to persevere unto the end. The doctrine of free will forced the Arminian to believe that some Christians would not be able to hold out and could, with their free wills, turn back to unbelief and be lost. The doctrine of free and sovereign grace forced the Calvinist to say, “We agree that only those who persevere to the end will be saved, but we also insist that God’s grace and power will enable all true believers to persevere.”

I am sure the reader will notice that I use the phrase “the perseverance of the saints” and not “eternal security.” I assure you that the choice of words is deliberate. If we understand three vital points, we will not only understand the biblical doctrine of perseverance; we will also see how radically different that doctrine is from the idea of eternal security as it is believed and taught by most evangelicals today. Here are the three key questions:

1. Exactly what, or who, is a true Christian? 
2. How does a person become a true Christian? 
3. How does any individual know for sure that he is a true Christian? 

We could ask these same questions another way: 

1. Are you truly converted? 
2. Who told you that you were converted? 
3. Will your salvation enable you to endure to the end? 

As you can see from the questions, the doctrine of perseverance is tied very closely to both the nature of salvation and the assurance of salvation.

Let’s start with the first question, and discuss what we mean by the word Christian. We should get the drowning man safely onto the beach before we start arguing about happens to him if he falls back into the water. Before we argue about whether a true Christian can be lost, let’s be sure we all agree on what kind of person we are calling a true Christian.

We are now confronted with the major problem in trying to answer the basic question. Even if we prove that a true child of God can never lose his salvation, we have really not answered the question or solved the real problem. The issue now becomes, “Exactly who is a real child of God?” As already mentioned, in the days when Arminians and Calvinists were arguing about losing one’s salvation, they never argued about the necessity of the perseverance of the saints. Both groups taught that perseverance was absolutely essential to salvation. Historically, all evangelicals held that there were only two spiritual classifications of people. There were saved people and lost people. There were Christians, and there were non-Christians. All of that changed a little over a hundred years ago, and we are now told that there are two radically different kinds of Christians. There are “carnal” Christians, and there are “spiritual” Christians. The basic difference between these two clearly defined groups is that one group acts as if they are Christians, and the other one acts exactly like lost, or natural, men. The carnal Christians are said to be just as saved and just as eternally secure as the spiritual Christians. A carnal Christian will make it to heaven “by the skin of his teeth,” but lose all his rewards. (This gross error is based on a wrong interpretation of 1 Corinthians 3:11-15). We will examine this theological shift in more detail in Appendix Four. For now, we are going to reject this two-fold division of Christians, and say that (1) all Christians are carnal in that they are not sinlessly perfect, and (2) all Christians are spiritual in that they are born of the Spirit, live in the Spirit, and walk—with varying speeds—in the Spirit. Carnality and spirituality are both qualities of degree, and all Christians without exception have varying degrees of both carnality and spirituality.

Definition of Terms

Perhaps it would be wise to explain a few different terms that are used when discussing this subject. Some people have said, “I do not believe in the perseverance of the saints; I believe in the perseverance of the Savior.” I also believe in the perseverance of the Savior. However, I believe his perseverance includes the fact that he prays that I will be given grace to keep persevering in faith. The proof of the Savior’s perseverance in my behalf is that God does indeed give me the grace to persevere.

Other people say, “I do not believe in the perseverance of the saints; I believe in the preservation of the saints.” This is merely another way to express that which was previously stated. Every time I hear this statement, I think of a pickle in jar. It is preserved. The people who talk about preservation versus perseverance are usually teaching that once a man “accepts Christ,” he is put into a jar of grace, the lid is sealed, and no matter what he does, he can’t get out of the jar. Sadly, I am not caricaturing. That is exactly what the eternal security position means by preservation.

Let’s begin with some basic foundation blocks. Our first question then is this: “Exactly who is a true child of God?” It would be both interesting and profitable to look at the many verses of Scripture that describe true Christians. They are designated as saved ones, called ones, elect ones, sheep, disciples, believers, children of God, brothers of Christ, etc. However, we will only look at two texts of Scripture that I think best describe a true Christian. The first is 2 Corinthians 12:2. Notice the following descriptive phrase: 

I know a man in Christ… (II Cor. 12:2 NKJV)

That is the best description of a true child of God that I know of in the entire Bible. We cannot describe a true Christian in terms of his theological understanding. A wicked man may declare the truth of sovereign grace, but his theological knowledge about sovereign grace will not put grace into his heart. A man may be a member of the best and most orthodox church and still be as lost as the Devil. A man may go forward in a revival meeting, memorize John 3:16, be baptized by immersion, and still be headed for hell. In other words, theology, church membership, outward life style, and a testimony of faith all put together do not make or keep anyone a child of God.

To be “in Christ” means that a man is joined to Christ in spiritual life and union through a spiritual birth. It means that Christ lives in him, and he lives in Christ. A man in Christ is a living part of a new spiritual creation. Something has happened to him that produces a genuine transformation and change from the old creation of Adam into the new creation of Christ (See 2 Corinthians 5:17).

There is no other literature in all of the world’s history that uses this phrase to describe the relationship between two people. It does not matter if it is poetry, prose, or history, nor does it matter in what time period it was written or in what language it was written. Never was it recorded that one person was “in” another person. This can only be understood when we grasp what happens when a sinner is truly “born from above.” A real and vital union occurs, and this union is described from two different perspectives. The sinner is said to be “in Christ” (Col. 1:2), and Christ himself is said to be “in the sinner” (Col. 1:27). Paul describes this reality as being part of a “new creation” (II Cor. 5:17) and a “new man” (Eph. 2:15). It should be evident that such a union does not take place because someone walks down the aisle to the front of the church and utters a prayer and memorizes a verse of Scripture. We are talking about the result of a spiritual encounter that produces a radical change in the relationship between two persons.

What we insist on is obvious: a person cannot get “out of Christ” if he was never “in Christ” in the first place. Everything is going to hinge on what it means to be in Christ and what happens to a sinner when he is baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit—and every Christian without exception has been baptized into Christ.

The second verse we want to look at explains what happens in every true conversion. The text shows how the gospel affects every part of man’s being. Notice how the sinner’s mind, will, and affections are all involved in conversion:

But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed [the will] from the heart [the affections] that form of doctrine [the mind] to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Rom. 6:17, 18 NKJV)

Notice that conversion always begins with acknowledging that God is the sole author of this work. “God be thanked” must always precede every single blessing we receive. Paul does not start by saying, “You are to be congratulated for giving God a chance.” Likewise, Paul emphasizes that we were “delivered to the truth.” He does not speak in this text about the truth being delivered to us, which, of course, truly happened, but he speaks here of God’s sovereign grace and power delivering us over to the power of truth. Paul never misses an opportunity to emphasize sovereign grace!

The next thing to note is the change of masters, the transfer from our slavery to sin to our slavery to righteousness. Any person who is a “slave to sin” has never obeyed the gospel. The purpose of God in electing grace and particular redemption is to deliver his people from their bondage to sin. To think of people being both saved and still slaves of sin is contradictory. Please note that slavery to sin does not mean that saints do not sin or that they may not have besetting sins. It means that sin is not their master in the sense that they are no longer the willing slaves of sin. Likewise, being a slave of righteousness does not mean sinless perfection, but it does mean a willing change of ownership from self to Christ.

Now notice exactly how this transforming work of conversion takes place:

(1) The mind is illuminated with the truth.

(2) The heart, or affections, is penetrated by the truth.

(3) The will is liberated by the truth.

All three of the above must be involved in true conversion. If only the emotions are stirred, and a decision of the will is made based only on the emotions, there will be no true conversion. The individual cannot possibly make a valid spiritual choice while he is ignorant of what is involved in the choice he is making. This is the great tragedy of many “converts” in mass evangelism meetings. Many people sincerely make a decision, but unhappily very soon thereafter they make another decision to deny the first decision. What the emotions and will can do in their own power, they can also undo. With such pseudo-conversions, generally the problem lies not with the sincerity of the individual but with the content of the message. More often than not, the true gospel was not being preached. The listener had no clear knowledge of what or for whom he had decided. In reality, he was emotionally manipulated.

Likewise, if a person is merely intellectually convinced (as were many of the Pharisees) of the historical truth of the claims of Christ, he may decide to believe in Christ in the same way as he decides to believe that Columbus discovered America in 1492. Such a person may sincerely “take up Christianity,” but, as Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “he was never taken by Christianity.” There is a great difference between those two things. The Reformed faith appeals to the mind. When correctly understood, it can run any and every philosophy off the campus. The Reformed faith will stand on its own as a valid world and life view. However, it can be held and taught as merely the correct philosophy of life. If the gospel of sovereign grace has not penetrated the very heart of a person, his decision to “accept the Reformed faith” is merely mental assent to the truth, and that is not the same as saving faith.

What are the specific truths that must illuminate the sinner’s mind and penetrate his affections? There has to be recognition of God as holy and sovereign. This will produce a realization of actual sin and of being lost. There must then be an understanding of the gospel of God’s amazing grace in Jesus Christ. The birth of the Son of God for sinners, his death to pay for our sins, and his glorious resurrection and ascension to the Father’s right hand must be understood. We must grasp the cradle, the cross, and the crown of Christ. God does not save men in a state of total ignorance about either himself or their own miserable estate. The gospel is good news and must be heard, understood, and believed with the mind and felt, in some degree, with the heart.