The Necessity of the Doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints

By Mark W. Christy, PhD

Multiple times during Christ’s earthly life, he warned that some who came to Him were not truly His followers. In Matthew 7:21, He says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”[i] In this text, Christ plainly connects true salvation with obedience to the will of God. This truth, for many people, has proven too difficult to bear because it places one’s eternal security seemingly beyond one’s grasp.

To resolve this dilemma, many prefer to hold tightly to a one-time decision whereby they made some form of profession of faith in Christ. Unfortunately, this decision will end up completely devoid of eternal value if it is not followed up with authentic life change which emanates from within through the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The necessity of this life change is covered by what is sometimes called the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.

This doctrine teaches that those who truly are saved and indwelled by the Holy Spirit will endure until the end of their earthly lives by continuing to keep the faith and walking in obedience (this includes repentance as none are perfect). Since some argue that this doctrine, due to its name, seems to focus more on the obedient response of the faithful as opposed to the eternal work of God in the human heart, they will often choose to profess the doctrine of the preservation of the saints (popularly known as once-saved-always-saved) instead. This doctrine emphasizes God’s eternal work in the believer’s salvation whereby the truly redeemed are given complete eternal security.

Within Christendom, some desire to reject the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints in favor of mere preservation so as to offer believers more eternal security. If a biblical basis could be found to support this stance, the result could go one or two ways depending on the other theological positions that are maintained. First, one could affirm preservation alone and yet find no means to develop any assurance of salvation if one believes salvation to be wholly in the will of God (the doctrine of election). Second, a preservation view held alongside a more Arminian understanding of salvation based on human response could potentially offer more eternal security if one is willing to perceive their act of will as a guarantee in light of God’s promises to save those who come to Christ and respond to the gospel through repentance and faith.

Holding to this second view, Robert Wilkin posits John 4:13-15 as evidence: “’Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.”[ii] This passage, according to Wilkin, serves as evidence to demonstrate the faultiness of the doctrine of perseverance since it demonstrates that eternal security is given to the believer upon their confession of faith.

Unfortunately, Wilkin seems to fail to understand the doctrine of perseverance of the saints in part due to his affirmation of what some refer to as decisionism, the belief that all people have been called by God in Christ in such a way that they only have to make a free will response so as to inherit salvation. Revisiting the passage from John, one certainly must at least agree with Wilkin that true believers do indeed have the Lord’s promise of eternal security. That being said, one must also recognize that Jesus, in this particular passage, does not address how a person can verify that their response to the gospel was authentic nor does He clarify that a saving response will lead to a changed life. One upholding both preservation and perseverance of the saints will understand Jesus, in John 4:13-15, to be discussing the same eternal security testified to by Wilkin. They will then harken back to the warning from Christ (among the many others found in Scripture) and remember that some will make false professions of faith with which no eternal security should be expected. At this point, they will, in humility, look further in Scripture to obtain assurance less they themselves find that they are to be numbered among the false professors of faith. It is here that the doctrine of perseverance of the saints takes its place in the believer’s life as it directs them to the Scriptures affirming that true faith leads to obedience.

[i]All Scripture references are taken from NASB1995.

[ii]Robert N. Wilkin, Is Calvinism Biblical?: Let the Scriptures Decide (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2017), 105.