Again, deal with the verses. How do you explain them?
I wrote this for another thread, but I don't believe you saw it because (I don't believe) you weren't reading the thread at the time. Either way, here's how I answer your question:
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[T]he Bible seems to have two type of passages, some suggesting that real Christians can fall away from the faith, and others suggesting that real Christians cannot fall away. I've become convinced that genuinely converted people who have experienced true forgiveness and reconciliation with God
cannot fall away from the faith. Rather than call it "once saved, always saved," however, I fall into the camp of people who believe it is better called,
"Perseverance of the saints." "Once saved, always saved" sounds like a person can be saved, turn away from Christ, live like the devil, and go to heaven.... But "perseverance of the saints" suggests that if someone is really saved, then they will persevere in the faith and, although they may suffer some backslidings throughout their lives, they will ultimately persevere in the Christian faith and way of life, and finally go to heaven when they die.
That said, ... the key to getting a good handle on Scripture's teaching is to do some systematic theology and offer an account of the doctrine that makes sense of all the passages on the topic -- both those that seem to support and undermine the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. So, here's what I'm going to do:
First, I'm going to offer a more thorough account of the doctrine.
Second, I'm going to a Biblical defence of the doctrine using, importantly, passages that are typically used to defend both sides of the "once saved, always save"/"perseverance of the saints" debate.
1. The thorough account of the doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints
If someone is genuinely regenerate (i.e., born again/converted), this person is a true Christian in union with Christ. Christ has committed Himself to this person with the purpose of saving him or her. No matter what happens in this person's life, Christ will never let him or her commit the unpardonable sin and Christ, through the power of His Spirit, will ultimately bring him or her back from any backslidings, etc. Christ began the good work in this person, and Christ will finish it.
It is also a fact of life, however, that many people who are not genuinely regenerate (i.e., born again/converted) can be virtually indistinguishable from the real Christian in all points
except regeneration and perseverance (and whatever property of true, saving faith it is that guarantees the believer's perseverance). These people are, during the time that they are "Christian", correct to believe that if they continue on this path until they die, they will be saved. They really do believe in Christ. They really have repented of sin. They really have been sanctified by the Spirit. And so on.
But they do all of this deficiently because they do it all in a way that will end up being temporary.
So, what we have, here, are two types of "Christians": 1) persevering Christians and 2) temporary "Christians." If we could take snapshots of their lives at different times, they are indistinguishable. If we asked whether they would both be on the true path to heaven during their "Christian" periods, we would answer that, yes,
if they all persevere like they are now, they would go to heaven. As a result, whether or not a person is a genuine persevering Christian or a false, temporary "Christian", it is true to say that, "If they persevere, they will be saved; if they fall away, they will be damned." And, for our own practical purposes, we must say the same about ourselves: if we fall away from the faith, we will be damned; but if we persevere, we will be saved.
Consequently, and importantly, this truth that we will be damned if we fall away from the faith is often used by God as a motive for His true converts to repent of sin and persevere in the faith. In other words, even though God has guaranteed the persevance of true Christians, there is no excuse for them to be presumptuous in thinking they will go to heaven even if they live in sin and godlessness. If they wander into sin, they will lose the assurance of their salvation (they don't lose their salvation, just the subjective feeling of confidence that they are saved). Yet, despite all of this, we can be fully persuaded and 100% confident that no true Christians will fall away from the faith -- they will all certainly be saved in the end.
The account of the perseverance of the saints that I just introduced above contains five significant doctrines:
Doctrine 1. All true Christians -- genuinely born again -- will persevere in the end and be saved.
Doctrine 2. There are temporary "Christians" who are at times virtually indistinguishable from true Christians, except their faith and repentance lacks a persevering character.
Doctrine 3. Both true Christians and temporary "Christians" will be saved if they persevere in their faith until the end, and both would be damned if they ultimately fell from their faith.
Doctrine 4. It is appropriate, at times, for true Christians to be motivated to persevere by a fear of falling away.
Doctrine 5. Assurance (or subjective confidence) that we are saved is a function of (determined in part by) our present way of life, whether it furnishes evidence of perseverance or not.
2. Defending the 5 doctrines of this account of the Perseverance of the Saints
So, here's the Biblical defence of these doctrines:
Doctrine 1: All true Christians -- genuinely born again -- will persevere in the end and be saved.
This doctrine is taught in a variety of places, but here are a few compelling ones:
Passage 1. 1 John 2:19: "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 manifest that they were not all of us."
The conditional in red is very important. It clearly tells us that if someone is one of God's people, he or she will continue with God's people. And the claim is strengthened by the text in blue. After all, if it is true that "if someone is one of God's people, he or she will continue with God's people," then we may infer that if someone leaves God's people,
then they were not truly one of God's people in the first place. So, this passage teaches Doctrine 1: All true Christians -- genuinely born again -- will persevere in the end and be saved.
Passage 2. Philippians 1:4-6 "Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."
This passage shows that Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, could be confident of a specific truth: if God has begun a good work of saving someone with the Gospel message (i.e., they are regenerated or born again), then He will perform that good work in the person until the last day. In other words, if God gives the gift of true salvation, He also gives along with it the gift of perseverance unto the end. While 1 John 2:19 is a stronger passage than this one when it comes to supporting Doctrine 1, this is still compelling -- especially when we know from 1 John that true Christians will continue with us.
Passage 3: Romans 5:8-10, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life."
This is an argument from the greater to the lesser. Roughly, this: if God did some greater (or harder, more impressive, etc.) thing, then we know He will do some lesser (or easier, more commonsense, etc.) thing. In this case, Paul effectively reasons like this:
1. It is a much harder thing (psychologically) to save an enemy than it is to save your friend.
2. God initially saved us when we were His enemies -- He reconciled us to himself.
3. So, now that we are His friends, we know that He will do the much easier (psychologically) thing, and save us -- His friends.
From this, then, we know that if someone has been genuinely reconciled to God by the cross of Christ -- i.e., is a true Christian -- then God will ultimately save us on the last day.
There are many other passages that confirm this first doctrine, and some will come up below as I discuss the other doctrines in question. But this is sufficient for now.
Doctrine 2: There are temporary "Christians" who are at times virtually indistinguishable from true Christians, except their faith and repentance lacks a persevering character.
Passage 1: John 2:23-25, "Now when he [i.e., Jesus] was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day,
many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.
But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of men: for he knew what was in man."
In this passage, we see what happens when people believe in Christ but not with a persevering faith. These Jews were among those same people who turned away from Christ later. They believed in His name, but Jesus "did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men." Notice, here, that there is a difference between saving faith and non-saving faith. Christ knows this difference, too, and when someone exercises faith in Him that is deficient in some important way -- and certainly if it isn't the kind of faith that will stay loyal to Christ for life -- Jesus does not commit Himself to the person. In other words, they aren't saved. So, here, we see that you can have believers who do not qualify as true Christians because Christ, in His omniscience, knows there is a present or future deficiency in their faith. These are temporary "Christians."
Passage 2: Hebrews 6:4-9, "For
it is impossible for those who were
once enlightened, and have
tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made
partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have
tasted the good word of God, and the
powers of the world to come,
if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak."
In this passage, we see (in purple) that there are people who have been elightened and made partakers of the Holy Ghost, who have repented, and who have tasted the good word of God, the heavenly gift, and the powers of the world to come. In other words, these people sound a lot like Christians. In fact, they sound a lot like us if we
are Christians. And (in green), we see that if they fall away from this state of grace, it is impossible for them to be renewed again unto repentance. So, here is the threat of genuine apostasy (or falling away) for these people. And it sounds like the unpardonable sin, in fact, since there's no hope of salvation after this falling away has taken place. It appears to be the unpardonable sin. However, if you look at the red, we see that Paul (or the author of Hebrews) realizes that people who have all of these blessings (listed in purple), if they fall away, were never saved. Why? In the red text (v. 9), he says that he is persuaded that true Christians won't fall away. "We are persuaded of
better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak." In other words, Paul is saying, "Though there are people who will fall away from all the blessings listed here, and though they may appear to be true Christians, they aren't. But I believe you are, beloved. And, as true Christians, I'm persuaded you won't fall away because you have true salvation, and perseverance accompanies true salvation. So don't be
too discouraged by this warning."
More passages can be supplied for this, but this is enough. This is long enough as-is.
Doctrine 3. Both true Christians and temporary "Christians" will be saved if they persevere in their faith until the end, and both would be damned if they ultimately fell from their faith.
While this is true, all true Christians will in fact persevere, and all the temporary "Christians" will fall short of salvation in some way. That said, here are a couple texts that show this:
Passage 1: John 8:30-32, "As he spake these words,
many believed on him. Then said Jesus
to those Jews which believed on him,
If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
Here, we see a group of believing Jews. They heard Jesus, and they were convinced to believe on Him. But Jesus distinguishes between His disciples in general and His "disciples indeed" -- basically, true disciples and mere believers. What is the difference between the two? It isn't what they're doing now. It is what they do in the future:
"If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed." Persevering faith distinguishes the two. But when they both are new believers, they both need to realize that
if they fall away, they will be damned; but if they continue in His word, they will be saved." That's Doctrine 3.
Passage 2: Ezekiel 3:20-21, "Again,
when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning,
he shall die in his sin, and his rightesousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Nevertheless,
if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and
he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul."
In this passage, we see real and temporary "Christians" grouped together without distinction as the "righteous" -- clearly meanigng these are people with faith, repentance, and some degree of sanctification. If they persevere in this "righteousness," they will be saved. If they turn from this "righteousness," their righteousness will be forgotten and they will die in their sins. Again, this is Doctrine 3.
Doctrine 4. It is appropriate, at times, for true Christians to be motivated to persevere by a fear of falling away.
Passage 1: Colossians 1:21-23, "And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet
now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in his sight:
if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister."
This is directed to people who are reconciled to God through the death of Christ. In particular, they will be presented on the last day as holy, blameless, and spotless in the sight of God...
if they continue in the faith. Will they actually persevere? If they are reconciled by the death of Christ, then yes. That's what we saw under Doctrine 1 when we discussed Romans 5 -- if God reconciled us when enemies, then he will certainly save us now that we are friends. But, still, we ought to keep in mind that we must continue in the faith "grounded and settled," if we want to be go to heaven.
Passage 2: 1 Corinthians 9:27, "But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:
lest that by any means, when I have preached to others,
I myself should be a castaway."
Here, we see that the fear of being a castaway is a motive for Paul to live a godly, persevering life. He doesn't want to fall short of full perseverance. All Christians at times may be similarly motivated to persevere by recognition that failing to persevere will be our damnation.
Doctrine 5. Assurance (or subjective confidence) that we are saved is a function of (determined in part by) our present way of life, whether it furnishes evidence of perseverance or not.
Since a true Christian and a temporary "Christian" -- a fake all along, really -- can appear indistinguishable to our (human) eyes, how can we be sure that we're real Christians rather than fakes? Well, since the difference between the two is primarily that the faith of the true Christian is a persevering faith, we woule expect our assurance of salvation to depend on evidence that we're growing in grace -- i.e., walking like persevering Christians. And that's what we find in Scripture.
Passage 1: 2 Peter 1:5-11, "And beside this, giving all diligence,
add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For
if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things in blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren,
give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ."
Here, Peter tells believers to give "all diligence" to grow in the graces and virtues that I highlighted in purple. If these virtues and graces are in you and increasing ("abounding"), then you're going to be a fruitful Christian. Those who don't have these things, however, are falling and forgetting that they were purged of their old sins. They are straying from Christ and in danger of damnation. So, how do you make "sure" that you're among the called and elect that inherit eternal life? That is, how do you go to bed at night with confidence that you're a true Christian? You (see the red) give diligence to grow in these graces and virtues (see purple).
