A Perversion of Perseverance

Of all the doctrines I ever despised in the past, the doctrine of Eternal Security, or "Once Saved, Always Saved," had to be at the top of the list.

I can remember teaching Sunday school during my days in the Church of God of Prophecy, ranting and raving about how Baptists in particular "believe a person can get saved and live like the devil for the rest of their life and still go to Heaven."

To make matters worse, I could look around and see plenty of examples of Baptist folks who were not living up to the faith they professed on Sunday morning. I had seen people who professed faith in Jesus and later became hard hearted "backsliders," therefore I had all the evidence I needed to repudiate the doctrine of Eternal Security -or so I thought....

When I finally decided to investigate the doctrine of Eternal Security, it was because I saw some things in Scripture that I couldn't reconcile with my old semi-Pelagian theology. I began a journey to seek after truth, instead of what fit the mold of my theological tradition. I wanted to understand why seemingly decent Christian people believed that their salvation was eternally secure, while others seemed to use it as a cloak for their sinful living.

I began my search to understand Eternal Security by getting a copy of Charles Stanley's Eternal Security: Can You Be Sure?. I had thought Stanley would be a good source because much of what I had heard him teach sounded okay. As I read his book, some of the arguments made sense to me. Some almost convinced me. Then I hit a big snag...

The snag was in chapter 8. It was there that I could no longer follow Stanley's line of reasoning. You see, in chapter 8, Stanley argues that once a person has made a profession of faith, the person can go as far as totally losing all faith in Christ and yet be Heaven bound!

Stanley compares salvation with getting a tattoo:

"If I choose to have a tattoo put on my arm, that would involve a one-time act on my part. Yet the tattoo would remain with me indefinitely. I don't have to have to maintain an attitude of fondness of for tattoos to ensure that the tattoo remains on my arm. In fact I may change my mind the minute I receive it. But that does not change the fact that I have a tattoo on my arm. My request for the tattoo and the tattoo itself are two entirely different things. I received it by asking and paying for it, But asking for my money back and changing my attitude will not undo what is done. Forgiveness/salvation is applied at the moment of faith. And its permanence is not contingent upon the permanence of one's faith."

Before I was a Baptist I rejected such theology and now that I am a Baptist I still reject such theology!!! In my opinion, this sort of nonsense is why the Southern Baptist Convention has millions of absentee members as well as churches full of false converts!

If Dr. Stanley's theory is true, then even Dan Barker, the faith healing evangelist turned apostate God hating atheist, is just as bound for Heaven as the most God fearing saint alive! Stanley's theology is pure Antinomianism. It's nothing more than "Easy believe-ism," plain and simple. Thankfully, I was able to find out that Stanley's version of Perseverance is not in line with the Bible, nor with historic Baptist theology. It is a perversion of perseverance.

Salvation is in no way analogous with getting a tattoo! A tattoo is only skin deep, but Biblical salvation is a work that takes place in the very soul of a man. For God himself tells us "a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." (Eze 36:26-27)

Salvation is not a "one time act" on our part: it's a new beginning! It's the temporal realization of what God planned to do in the life of an individual sinner in eternity past! It's a New birth! A life changing experience! Though Stanley's doctrine allows for a person to totally apostatize and eventually be saved, the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith says something quite a bit different:

"And though they may, through the temptation of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins, and for a time continue therein, whereby they incur God's displeasure and grieve his Holy Spirit, come to have their graces and comforts impaired, have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves, yet shall they renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end." (LBCF 17:3) emphasis added

Stanley believes a person can totally lose his or her faith and still persevere, yet historic Baptist teaching says despite their shortfalls, the believer will be "preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end!!!" Quite a difference if you ask me!

Stanley's version of Eternal Security denies that God is "able keep [us] from falling, and to present [us] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy! (Jude 24) It overlooks the fact that we "are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Peter 1:5). Once a person has truly met Jesus Christ, they can never be the same. Apostates and those who forsake Christ for "another gospel" show that they were never truly saved to begin with! (1 John 2:19) "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new!" (1 Cor 5:17)

Our security is not based upon our ability to hang on and hold on, but rather we are secure because God is working to "make [us] perfect in every good work to do His will, working in [us] that which is wellpleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ." (Heb 13:21) God has not saved us so that we can live like the devil and abuse his marvelous Grace, but on the contrary, "we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Eph 2:10)

R.C. Sproul sums up my position well:

"The perseverance of the saints could more accurately be called the preservation of the saints... The believer does not persevere through the power of his unaided will. God's preserving grace makes our perseverance both possible and actual. Even the regenerated person with a liberated will is still vulnerable to sin and temptation, and the residual power of sin is so strong that without the aid of grace the believer would, in all probability, fall away. But God's decree is immutable. His sovereign purpose to save his elect from the foundation of the world is not frustrated by our weakness"

Rejoice dear reader! For if you have been truly saved, you can be "confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ!!!" (Phil 1:6)

Soli Deo Gloria!