Having considered sanctification, growth in grace, and its decline due to spiritual maladies, it is necessary that we add to this a consideration of the perseverance of the saints in grace. When considering this from God’s side, it is called a keeping (τηρεῖν, terein) John 17:15, φυλάσσειν (phulassein) John 17:12, φρουρει-ν, (phrourein) 1 Pet 1:5, στηρίζειν, (sterizein), that is, to strengthen 2 Tim 3:3, and βεβαιῶν (bebaion), that is, to confirm (1 Cor 1:8). When considering this from the side of believers, it is denominated ὑπομονή, (hupomone), that is, to continue Rom 2:7, and steadfastness (Luke 8:15). In considering this matter, four things are to be noted: 1) in whom something is preserved, 2) what is preserved in them, 3) the cause and means whereby preservation occurs, and 4) its purpose.
Believers are the Objects of Divine Preservation
First, believers are the persons who are preserved; and it is in them that something is preserved. God maintains and preserves everything He has created. God also preserves good angels in their confirmed state—they being referred to as the elect (1 Tim 5:21). Our reference here is, however, to the preservation of the elect, the regenerate, the true believers—viewing them as being in the church militant upon earth and as being under assault by their enemies: the devil, the world, and the flesh. Since the believer’s renewal is but in part, he sins daily. These sins, strictly speaking, are worthy of reprobation, and believers, when left to themselves, do not have sufficient strength to preserve themselves, their faith, or their spiritual life. They would succumb to the assault of the enemy. Nevertheless, they are preserved, but by a strength which comes from without. “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation” (1 Pet 1:5); “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down” (Ps 37:24).
By this power spiritual life and faith, bestowed upon them by the Spirit of God in regeneration, are preserved. It can be that spiritual life is so besieged by opposition and becomes so weak, that for a season it only manifests itself by a looking on high, a sigh, an inclination toward God, or an affection for God. Yes, a believer can faint, so to speak, so that spiritual life does not manifest itself at all for a season. However, spiritual life in its essence that is, union with Christ, will remain. It will never disappear. “Whosoever is born of God … his seed remaineth in him” (1 John 3:9).
The only cause of their steadfastness is the omnipotent and faithful God. That God is able to preserve spiritual life in them is a certainty for all. Of His willingness to preserve them, the Lord Jesus assures us: “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day” (John 6:39). That He will do so, is evident from the promises: “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation” (Heb 6:17-18). Peter states that God in actuality does so: “Who are kept by the power of God” (1 Pet 1:5).
Means Employed by God for Preservation
Just as the Lord works all things in the realm of nature by way of means, God likewise uses means in the work of grace. He also does so in preserving His saints. This is not to suggest that there is efficacy in the means or in the use of those means by believers. Rather, both the use of the means and the outcome of their use are dependent upon the Lord alone. “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13); “Without Me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5). The means God uses for the preservation of His own are, among others:
(1) Instruction and direction by means of the Word: “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to Thy word. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps 119:9,105);
(2) Comforting and quickening promises: “This is my comfort in my affliction: for Thy word hath quickened me. Unless Thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction” (Ps 119:50,92).
(3) Stirring exhortations: “Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith” (Acts 14:22); “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation” (Matt 26:41).
(4) Admonishing reproofs: “Rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith” (Titus 1:13); “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3); “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die” (Rom 8:13).
(5) The rod of chastisement: “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes” (Ps 119:71); “… He (chastens us) for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness … afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness” (Heb 12:10-11).
(6) Sacramental sealing: “Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4); “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (1 Cor 10:16).
(7) The use of the keys of the kingdom when they grievously depart from the way. “To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor 5:5).
The purpose for which believers are preserved is salvation itself. “Moreover whom He did predestinate … them He also glorified” (Rom 8:30); “Who are kept by the power of God … unto salvation” (1 Pet 1:5). God’s ultimate objective is the manifestation of His goodness, longsuffering, faithfulness, immutability, wisdom, and power. “When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day” (2 Thess 1:10).
From that which has been said it is evident that the perseverance of the saints is a gracious and powerful operation of God whereby He preserves the spiritual life and faith in the truly converted in such a fashion that it can neither self-destruct, nor be extinguished or removed by their enemies: the devil, the world, and the flesh. Instead, they will most certainly attain to eternal felicity.
Just as other truths have always had and still have their opponents, also this doctrine, so full of comfort, has its opponents. Yes, all parties within the church which to a greater or lesser degree deviate from the truth—such as Papists, Socinians, Anabaptists, Arminians, and even Lutherans—are opposed in one way or the other to the perseverance of the saints.
Question: Can those who are truly regenerate and are true believers apostatize as far as spiritual life and faith are concerned, and perish?
Answer: All other sects resolutely answer in the affirmative. The Lutherans confess that true believers can completely lose spiritual life and faith; however, God will restore them from this state of death and most certainly save them. They hold to a full apostasy, but not a final apostasy. The others hold to a full and final apostasy of the saints. We reject both the full and final apostasy of the saints, and confess that spiritual life in its essence, even though its manifestation may for a season be impeded to a greater or lesser degree, always remains in believers, and that they will most certainly be led to the state of felicity.