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."
"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
"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"
In our modern age, people have gotten the idea that true faith can be created in sinners through the craftiness of man's speech, or that conversion can be accomplished by making the message of the Cross palatable to sinners. Others may think that saving faith is generated by being able to employ apologetics to convince sinners concerning the accuracy of Biblical data. Charismatic Christians sometimes insist that miracles and/or manifestations of the spiritual gifts are needed to create saving faith in sinners.
I once had the idea in my head that if I were only able to "say the right thing", "play the right song", or somehow make the Gospel attractive enough, then people might decide to be saved. After some trial and much error, I found out that I was wrong! I have come to understand that none of these things alone (or combined) are what actually "flips the switch" in the heart to cause the sinner see he's lost and in need of Christ.
As my theology has shifted to the Reformed view, and I've gained a different understanding of God's working in the salvation of sinners. I have come to accept the fact that none of the things I have mentioned can create saving faith in a sinner apart from God's sovereign action in the heart of the person! I've learned that true saving faith is a gift of God, not something sinners possess within themselves. Such conclusions often lead to people to ask me questions like "why do we need to preach if it's God that is the one responsible for causing a person to believe?"
I believe in order to better understand the importance of preaching, witnessing, apologetics, and even miracles in regards to evangelism, we must first understand what saving faith is -and just as importantly, what it is not as well! To illustrate, I want to refer to the teaching of Dr. R.C. Sproul as found in the book What is Reformed Theology?.
In a chapter entitled "Committed to Faith Alone", Dr. Sproul discusses the different aspects of genuine saving faith. Of interest to this article is where he writes, "Early Reformed Theologians customarily distinguished among various aspects of saving faith. For the most part they discerned three chief aspects known as notitia, assensus, and fiducia."(emphasis added)
It is these three aspects of faith -and their relationship to evangelism- that I would like to address in this article. Before I do, I want to take a moment and try to define the three words Dr. Spoul has used above. Please try to gain an understanding of the terminology, otherwise it may be hard to follow the rest of the article:
We often see that skeptics, athiests, agnostics, and pagans can have some knowledge of Biblical data (noticia), though they do not believe it to be absolute truth. Others may have noticia and believe the facts to be true (assensus), yet they may still lack a personal trust and reliance upon Christ to save them (in other words they lack fiducia). Dr. Sproul goes on to conclude that in order for there to be genuine saving faith, all three of the different aspects of faith must be present in a person.
In America, statistics show that a majority of Americans have the aspects of noticia and sometimes assensus as well. I commonly meet people who tell me they "believe in God" or even "believe the Bible is true", yet they lack the fruit that indicates they have any genuine saving faith. I have many family members who know some of the facts concerning Christianity -and even believe the facts are true- yet they will not repent of their sins or even attempt to live their lives for Christ! Tragically some of them actually believe they are going to Heaven because of their so-called faith!
The presence of noticia and assensus alone, will not get anyone into Heaven. The only thing these two aspects of faith qualify a person to be is a demon!! According to James 2:19, the devils believe; they even"fear and tremble!" Satan and his demons possess both noticia and assensus, (probably more than any human alive) yet they are in total rebellion against their creator and are heading for eternal destruction. Unfortunately, many people -including those who claim to be Christians- lack the fear of God that James says even the devils possess!
We might think that in the face of irrefutable evidence (or even by the witnessing of miracles) people would certainly place their faith in Christ. Though God may indeed choose to bring people to faith in coordination with such things, I have found that this is not always the case. I've seen that such evidence may lead people to have an increase of noticia, or even to some greater degree of assensus, but it does not always lead to fiducia in every case!
In Matthew 11:21, the Lord Jesus even proclaimed a "woe" against the people of Bethsaida because they had seen "mighty works" yet refused to repent! So there we see from our Lord's own mouth that "mighty works" do not always result in repentance and genuine faith.
For example: Many years ago God miraculously healed my sister-in-law of a disease that is incurable to modern medicine. The disease had disintegrated the "ball" of her hip joint. As a young child, the disease robbed her of the ability to walk and should have resulted in her never being able to walk again. However, at a doctor's visit after a prayer meeting was held at her grandmother's church, the doctors discovered there had been an actual restoration of the entire bone that had been destroyed by the horrible disease!! The stunned doctors involved could only attribute it to an act of God! God had done what was impossible for medical science!
Not only was my sister-in-law able to learn to walk, but before her death in a car accident at the age of 16, she had grown up to be a softball player and a cheerleader with no apparent effects of the childhood disease! This event was (and still is) a great encouragement to the Christians in the family, but even in the face of the irrefutable medical evidence, some people in the family have persisted in their sinful rebellion against God! The miracle indeed brought noticia and assensus to the doctors and members of the family, but not too many have shown any fiducia in spite of what God obviously did!
It is evident that in order for a person to have fiducia, there must be an act of God to give it to the person (see John 1:12-13 and Eph 2:8). We sow, we water, but it is God who gives the increase! (1 Corin 3:6) It is God who draws the sinner! It is God the Holy Spirit who makes our preaching effectual and enables the sheep to hear the voice of the Divine Shepherd.
This brings us to the fact that the work of Regeneration is monergistic -a work of God alone. Though they are a vital part of God's plan of Salvation -apart from the Holy Spirit bringing a spiritually dead sinner to life- no amount of argumentation, witnessing, apologetics, or even bona fide miracles can produce actual saving faith (fiducia) in the sinner. Regeneration and Conversion is not within man nor in his fallen will, but completely an act of God; for Paul declares "He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit." (Titus 3:6 ESV)
These things ought not to discourage us, but they ought to help us to understand that we have an important job to do! We should be honored that God has ordained to give us this vital role in His plan to redeem His Elect sheep. We are to preach Gospel and teach the truth in order to increase a person's degree of noticia and assensus, all the while trusting in the fact that it is God who produces fiducia in the person. All we need to do is be faithful to our calling to witness, evangelize, and support the work of foreign missions! If we are faithful to plant and water the seed, God will cause there to be an increase in which we -and all the angels of Heaven- will rejoice!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Taking a trip to Florida to see my wife's family during the holidays is nice, but normally it's a real spiritual drain... I like seeing everybody, but it gets my schedule all messed up. I usually find myself unable (or too distracted) to faithfully keep up with my devotional reading and other spiritual things. I normally come back with my soul vexed and feeling like a big slacker.
This trip was much different. I think this past weekend was the most edifying trip we have ever taken to Florida. For starters, my mother-in-law gave all of us tickets to the Holy Land Experience in Orlando. It was great! Let me encourage you to go if you are ever in the Central Florida area. You won't regret it.
If you visit, I especially recommend touring the Scriptorium. I left the tour in tears. It was a very moving experience. The tour is 55 minutes long, but I wish I could have spent all day looking at all the ancient scrolls and Bibles. There are many things in the Scriptorium worth mentioning, but I was especially moved by an old Bible in which the pages are stained with the blood of an English Protestant martyr. Too often we take our English Bibles for granted, but English Protestants bled and died that we might have the Word in our own tongue -let us not forget!
church at St. Andrew's Chapel in Sanford, FL. It was during that church service that I got to sit under the preaching of -and actually got to meet- one of my theological heroes: R.C. Sproul! Though I am not a Presbyterian, I love Dr. Sproul's teaching on the Doctrines of Grace and on many other topics. The worship service was awe-inspiring. 
