Perseverance of the Saints

The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is one of the five Reformed doctrines of grace expressed in the acronym TULIP. The doctrine regards the preservation of the faith of the elect and their subsequent persevering in faith, repentance, and good works unto eternal life such that all those who have truly rested in Christ can never fall away from Him fully or finally. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments teach the security of the believer against the attacks of the world, the flesh, and the devil. This doctrine is logically connected to the other doctrines of grace, resting squarely on unconditional election, limited atonement, and irresistible grace. By this doctrine, Reformed Protestants rebutted the Roman Catholic Church in its denial of the possibility of the assurance of salvation. The Synod of Dort and the Westminster Assembly rebutted the Arminian Protestant insistence that salvation can be forfeited. Since the Reformation, this doctrine has been central in debates between Reformed and Arminian theologians. Those who adhere to Calvinistic or Reformed soteriology strongly affirm the biblical teaching about God’s preservation of believers.

The essence of the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is that God has pledged to preserve those He chose in the counsel of eternity, having sovereignly drawn them to saving faith and union with Christ. According to Scripture, God will preserve the elect in continual faith and repentance. Since Jesus is the Great High Priest of His people, He preserves them by atoning for their sins on the cross and by continually interceding for them in glory. Accordingly, the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints can also be called the preservation of the saints by the gracious work of the triune God. All those who are being preserved by God unto eternal life will persevere in faith, repentance, and good works. These are not the grounds or basis of the perseverance of believers, however. Rather, they are the consequences of God’s promises and saving work in His people.

The perseverance of the saints is taught by Jesus in John 10:27–29:

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

The Apostle Paul also teaches the preservation of the saints in Romans 8:38–39, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Paul teaches both the preservation of the saints and the perseverance of the saints when he states, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12–13). Verse 13 makes clear that while we have a responsibility to continue coming to God in faith, repentance, and good works, it is ultimately God who makes us persevere. Philippians 1:6 is perhaps even clearer on God’s work of preservation: “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is one of the doctrines articulated in the Canons of Dort. The members of the Synod of Dort (1618–19) set out what have become commonly known as the five points of Calvinism in their refutation of Jacob Arminius and his followers, the Remonstrants. In article three of the fifth main point of doctrine, the Canons of Dort express the way that the preserving grace of God undergirds the perseverance of believers:

Because of these remnants of sin dwelling in them and also because of the temptations of the world and Satan, those who have been converted could not remain standing in this grace if left to their own resources. But God is faithful, mercifully strengthening them in the grace once conferred on them and powerfully preserving them in it to the end.

The members of the Westminster Assembly (1643–53) devoted an entire chapter to the perseverance of the saints. In Westminster Confession of Faith 17.1, they supply the following succinct definition of this doctrine:

They, whom God hath accepted in His beloved, effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.

The members of the assembly made clear that the perseverance does not depend on human will:

This perseverance of the saints depends, not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father; upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ; the abiding of the Spirit and of the seed of God within them; and the nature of the covenant of grace; from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof. (WCF 17.2)

Over the past three centuries, Reformed theologians have focused a great deal of attention on the importance of the assurance of salvation in their polemics against Arminian theologians. Arminianism denies the eternal security of the elect. The Reformed stress the significance of the scriptural teaching regarding God’s sovereign work in preserving all those for whom Christ died (1 Cor. 1:8–9; Phil. 1:6; Jude 24–25).