(In reply to “S. A. D.”)
Dear Friend,
Your letter treats of a deeply important subject—far too important indeed to be disposed of in a few hasty lines under the head of “Correspondents.” The question of final perseverance, though, in our judgment, a very simple one, has perplexed a great many; and the questions which you introduce to our notice, and the passages of Scripture which you adduce, furnish abundant proof that your own mind is not quite clear or settled on the point. It may be, however, that the object of your communication is rather to superinduce such a discussion of the doctrine, in the light of holy Scripture, as may prove helpful to others, than to obtain any aid for yourself. However this may be, we are always happy to give our readers and correspondents the benefit of any light with which the Lord may have graciously favored us, in reference to subjects of common interest to all lovers of truth.
In seeking, then, to reply to your interesting letter, we have three things to do, namely, first, to establish the doctrine of final perseverance, or in other words, the eternal security of all Christ’s members; secondly, to answer the questions which you have given us, and which we take to be those usually or frequently put by the opposers of the doctrine; and, thirdly, to expound those texts which you have quoted, and in which you seem to find considerable difficulty. May the Holy Spirit be our teacher, and may He give us minds entirely subject to Scripture, so that we may be able to form a sound judgment on the question now before us.
1. And, first, as to the doctrine of final perseverance; it seems to us exceedingly clear and exceedingly simple, if only we look at it in immediate connection with Christ Himself. This indeed is the only true way to look at any doctrine. Christ is the soul, center, and life of all doctrine. A doctrine separated from Christ becomes a lifeless, powerless, worthless dogma—a mere idea in the mind—a mere item in the creed. Hence, therefore, we must look at every truth as it stands connected with Christ. We must make Him our point of view. It is only as we keep near to Him, and look at all points from that one grand point, that we can have a correct view of any point. If, for example, I make self my point of view, and look from thence at the subject of final perseverance, I shall be sure to get a false view altogether, inasmuch as it then becomes a question of my perseverance, and anything of mine must, necessarily be doubtful.
But if, on the other hand, I make Christ my viewing point, and look at the subject from thence, I shall be sure to have a correct view, inasmuch as it then becomes a question of Christ’s perseverance, and I am quite sure that He must persevere, and that no power of the world, the flesh, or the devil can ever hinder His final perseverance in the salvation of those whom He has purchased with His own blood, seeing “He is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him.” This, surely, is final perseverance. It matters not what the difficulty, or what the hostile power may be. “He is able to save to the uttermost.” The world, with its ten thousand snares, is against us; but “He is able.” Indwelling sin, in its ten thousand workings, is against us; but “He is able.” Satan, with his ten thousand devices, is against us; but “He is able.” In a word, it is Christ’s ability, not ours; it is Christ’s faithfulness, not ours; it is Christ’s final perseverance, not ours. All depends upon Him, as to this weighty matter. He has purchased His sheep, and surely He will keep them to the best of His ability; and, seeing that “All power is given unto him in heaven and on earth,” His sheep must be perfectly and forever safe. If aught could touch the life of the feeblest lamb in all the flock of Christ, He could not be said to have “all power.”
Thus it is immensely important to consider the question of final perseverance in inseparable connection with Christ. Difficulties vanish. Doubts and fears are chased away. The heart becomes established, the conscience relieved, the understanding enlightened. It is impossible that one who forms a part of Christ’s body can ever perish; and the believer is this, “ We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” (Eph. 5:3030For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (Ephesians 5:30).) Every member of the body of Christ was written in the book of the slain Lamb, before the foundation of the world, nor can anything or anyone ever obliterate that writing. Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ saith, in reference to those that are His; “ 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, devil or anyone else) pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all; and no man (οι/δεις) is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” John 10:27-2927My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. (John 10:27‑29).
Here, then, most assuredly, we have final perseverance, and that moreover, not merely the perseverance of the saints, but of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Yes, dear friend, this is the way we would have you view the matter. It is the final perseverance of the Holy Trinity. It is the perseverance of the Holy Ghost in opening the ears of the sheep. It is the perseverance of the Son in receiving all whose ears are thus opened. And, finally, it is the perseverance of the Father, in keeping, through His own name, the blood-bought flock in the hollow of His everlasting hand. This is plain enough. We must either admit the truth—the consolatory and sustaining truth of final perseverance, or succumb to the blasphemous proposition that the enemy of God and man can carry his point against the Holy and Eternal Trinity. We see no middle ground. “Salvation is of the Lord,” from first to last. It is free, unconditional, everlasting salvation. It reaches down to where the sinner is in all his guilt, ruin, and degradation, and bears him up to where God is, in all His holiness, truth, and righteousness, and it endures forever. God the Father is its source, God the Son is its channel, and God the Holy Ghost is the power of application and enjoyment. It is all of God, from beginning to end, from foundation to top-stone, from everlasting to everlasting. If it were not so, it would be presumptuous folly to speak of final perseverance; but, seeing it is so, it would be presumptuous unbelief to think of aught else.
True, there are great and manifold difficulties in the way—difficulties before, and difficulties after conversion. There are many and powerful adversaries; but that is the very reason why we must keep the question of final perseverance entirely clear of self and all its belongings, and make it repose simply upon God. It matters not, in the least, what the difficulties or the adversaries may be, for faith can ever triumphantly inquire, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” And, again, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. 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 powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 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. 8:35-3935Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor 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. (Romans 8:35‑39).
Here, again, we have final perseverance taught, in the clearest and strongest way possible. “Not any creature shall be able to separate us.” Neither self, in all its forms, nor Satan, in all his wiles and machinations, nor the world in all its allurements, or all its scorn, can ever separate the “us” of Rom. 8:39,39Nor 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. (Romans 8:39) from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. No doubt persons may be deceived, and they may deceive others. Spurious cases may arise; counterfeit conversions may take place. Persons may seem to run well for a time and then break down. The blossoms of spring time may not be followed by the mellow fruits of autumn. Such things may be, and, moreover, true believers may fail in many things. They may stumble and break down in their course. They may have ample cause for self-judgment and humiliation, in the practical details of life. But, allowing the widest possible margin for all these things, the precious doctrine of final perseverance remains unshaken—yea untouched, upon its own divine and eternal foundation. “I give unto my sheep eternal (not temporary or conditional) life, and they shall never perish.” And again, “Upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” People may argue as they will, and base their arguments on cases which have come under their notice, from time to time, in the history of professing Christians; but, looking at the subject from a divine point of view, and basing our convictions on the sure and unerring word of God, we maintain that all who belong to the “us” of Rom. 8, the “sheep” of John 10, and the church” of Matt. 16, are as safe as Christ can make them, and this we conceive to be the sum and substance of the doctrine of final perseverance.
2. And now, dear friend, we shall, in the second place, briefly and pointedly reply to the questions which you have put before us.
1. “Will a believer be saved, no matter into what course of sin he may fall, and die in?” A true believer will, infallibly, be saved; but we consider that salvation includes not only full deliverance from the future consequences of sin, but from the present power and practice thereof. And, hence, if we find a person living in sin, and yet talking about his assurance of salvation, we look upon him as an antinomian and not a saved person at all. “If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.” The believer may fall, but he will be lifted up; he may be overtaken, but he will be restored; he may wander, but he will be brought back, because Christ is able to save to the uttermost, and not one of His little ones shall perish.
2. “Will the Holy Spirit dwell in a heart where evil and unholy thoughts are indulged” The body of the believer is the temple of the Holy Ghost. (1 Cor. 6:1919What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:19).) And this precious truth is the solid ground of exhortation to purity and holiness of heart and life. We are exhorted not to grieve the Holy Spirit. To “indulge” evil and unholy thoughts is not christian walk at all. The Christian may be assaulted, grieved, and harassed, by evil thoughts, and, in such a case, he has only to look to Christ for victory. Proper christian walk is thus expressed, in John’s first epistle, “We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” (Chap. 5:18.) This is the divine side of the question. Alas! we know there is the human side likewise; but we judge the human side by the divine. We do not lower the divine to meet the human, but ever aim at the divine notwithstanding the human. We should never be satisfied with anything lower than 1 John 5:1818We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. (1 John 5:18). It is by keeping up the true standard, that we may expect to raise our moral tone. To talk of having the Spirit and yet “indulge” in evil and unholy thoughts is, in our judgment, the ancient Nicolaitanism, (Rev. 2:6, 156But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. (Revelation 2:6)
15So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. (Revelation 2:15)) or modern antinomianism.
3. “If it be so, then will not people say, they may live as they like? “Well, how does a true Christian like to live? As like Christ as possible. If one had put this question to Paul, what would have been his answer? 2 Cor. 5:14, 15,14For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (2 Corinthians 5:14‑15) and Phil. 3:7-14,7But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:7‑14) furnish the reply. It is to be feared that the persons who ask such questions know but little of Christ. We can quite understand a person getting entangled in the meshes of a one-sided theological system, and being perplexed by the conflicting dogmas of systematic divinity; but we believe that the man who draws a plea from the freedom, sovereignty, and eternal stability of the grace of God, to continue in sin, knows nothing of christianity at all, has neither part nor lot in the matter, but is in a truly awful and dangerous condition.
As to the case which you adduce, of the young man who heard a minister stating in his sermon that, “Once a child always a child,” and who took occasion from that to plunge into, and continue in, open sin, it is only one of thousands. We believe the minister was right in what he said, but the young man was wrong in what he did. To judge the words of the former by the acts of the latter is utterly false. What should I think of my son if he were to say, “Once a son always a son, and therefore I may proceed to smash my father’s windows and do all sorts of mischief?” We judge the minister’s statement by the word of God, and pronounce it true. We judge the young man’s conduct by the same rule, and pronounce it false. The matter is quite simple. We have no reason to believe that the unhappy young man ever really tasted the true grace of God, for if he had, he would love and cultivate and exhibit holiness. The Christian has to struggle with sin; but struggling with it and wallowing in it, are two totally different ideas. In the one case, we can count on Christ’s sympathy and grace; in the other, we are actually blaspheming His name by implying that He is the minister of sin.
We consider it a very serious mistake to set about judging the truth of God by the actings of men. All who do so must reach a false conclusion. The true way is just to reverse the order. Get hold of God’s truth first, and then judge everything by that. Set up the divine standard and test everything thereby. Set up the public scales and weigh every man’s load therein. The scales must not be regulated by each man’s load, but each man’s load tested by the scales. If ten thousand professors were to fall away and live and die in open sin, it would not shake our confidence in the divine doctrine of final perseverance. The self-same word that proves the doctrine to be true, proves them to be false. “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.” (1 John 2:1919They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. (1 John 2:19).) “The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. And let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” 2 Tim. 2:1212If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: (2 Timothy 2:12).
(To be continued if the Lord will)