Pastor Williams,
It’s a little tough to read your responses interlaced with Stan’s questions. Next time consider using the “quote” feature, bracketing what you are responding to with quote tags.
All of your objections to Christian perseverence can be answered simply by reading what the apostle John said about those who “fell away” from belief in Christ:
“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 it might become plain that they all are not of us.” (1 John 2:19 ESV)
It is possible to profess faith in Christ without being born again, and therefore it is possible to “depart the faith”. But those who persevere are God’s elect, being born again of the Holy Spirit to a faith that is completely the work of God--work that cannot fail. Perseverence is therefore evidence that our faith is genuine, while “falling away” is evidence that it is not.
No doubt some of the difficulty comes in seeing Scripture through a human-centered rather than a God-centered perspective. As humans, we are inclined to make God’s grace subject to our acceptance or rejection of it. But from God’s perspective, His purposes cannot be frustrated and His sovereignty is without question. By adopting a human-centered view, some of the greatest promises of Scripture are greatly distorted, rendering them impotent of their power.
To illustrate this, let’s take a look at some of the Bible’s greatest promises, with a human-centered perspective added in blue text.
Psalm 138:7-8 “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever as long as I do not put an end to it.”
Isaiah 14:27 “For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who, but a determined man, will annul it?”
Isaiah 46:10 “My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose unless it is frustrated by man...”
Jeremiah 32:40 “I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me unless my everlasting covenant fails or the fear of me is not great enough to keep them from turning.”
John 1:12-13 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God, while also retaining the right to be ‘un-born’.”
John 4:14 “...but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, until he decides something else tastes better...”
John 5:24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life, unless he later shows a preference for death, at which point his request will be honored.”
John 6:39 “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day, unless I lose sight of them in the meantime.”
John 13:1 “...when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end, contingent upon their ability to keep themselves in his love until the end.”
John 8:34-36 “Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever unless he decides to be a slave. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed, until you decide to renounce your freedom.”
John 10:28-29 “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will 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 the Father’s hand, except in special cases where the pardoned sinner desires to reinstate his death sentence.”
John 14:16-17 “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever (unless you’d rather not have a Helper), even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you, until you decide to evict him.”
John 17:12 “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, so long as they are able to keep themselves from being lost.”
Galatians 4:7 “So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God until you decide to become a slave again or give up your inheritance.”
1 John 3:1 “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are until we give up our adoption into His family.”
1 John 3:9 “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God, and will remain this way until he decides to be ‘un-born’.”
1 John 5:11-13 “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life in theory, as long as you are able to sustain your belief.”
Romans 8:30 “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified, until the justified sinner declares himself to be unjustified, overpowering the grace of God.”
Romans 8:38-39 “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation except for ourselves, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 9:16 “So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy (unless your will is stronger than God’s).”
1 Corinthians 1:4-8 “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge–even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you–so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end unless you stop him from sustaining you, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1 Corinthians 6:17 “But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him, until the union established by God is dissolved by the sinner.”
1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it unless you allow your temptation to overcome His faithfulness.”
2 Corinthians 1:21-22 “And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee until the guarantee expires or until you do something that isn’t covered by the guarantee.”
Ephesians 1:13-14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession (or until the guarantee expires)–to the praise of his glory.”
Ephesians 2:4-6 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved–and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus unless you decide to unseat yourself and cast yourself from heaven...”
Colossians 2:13 “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, except those trespasses which are willfully performed and cannot be covered by the blood of Jesus.”
1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it unless his faithfulness fails or you overrule him.”
2 Thessalonians 3:3 “ But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one unless the evil one is more powerful than God or you decide to overturn His faithfulness.”
2 Timothy 4:18 “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom unless his rescue effort fails or I decide not to be rescued.”
1 Peter 1:3-5 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time unless you decide, after receiving the abundance of God’s riches in Christ, that the gift is no longer of value.”
1 Peter 1:22-23 “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable (so long as you continue cultivating it), through the living and abiding word of God...”
Hebrews 10:12-14 “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified, unless those who are being sanctified can nullify the atoning sacrifice.”
Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful unless we waver.”
Hebrews 13:5 “I will never leave you nor forsake you unless you forsake me.”
Jude 1 “To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept (as long as they keep themselves on the path) for Jesus Christ”
Philippians 1:6 “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ, unless you put a stop to it.”
Philippians 4:2-3 “I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord. Yes, I ask you also, true companion, help these women, who have labored side by side with me in the gospel together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life unless some unforseen future event results in their names being removed.”
It is painful for me to even look at the Scriptures in this way, but this is how we must read them if we believe that God’s grace is not powerful enough to save us and keep us saved.
Greg
