After having several long and
occasionally heated discussions with Calvinists and others over the topic of eternal
security or as it's popularly called "once
saved always saved" (OSAS hereafter) which is a more vulgar version
that tends to ignore reality. Eternal Security will admit to people temporarily
losing faith but coming back to it later in life or experiencing "backsliding"
but returning to Christian faith later. OSAS tends to deny the obvious by
coming up with mini-theodicies. For example, if a person loses their faith or
'backslides', they never really were a Christian to begin with the OSAS
adherent will say. This might work in cases of people who have fleeting
conversion experiences but it is harder to explain when a person who was a career church worker loses their faith
and has a prior career of profitable good works in their past. One famous
agnostic religion scholar used
to be a fundamentalist who defended Scriptural inerrancy!
So being the kind of person I
am (stubborn and intelligent) and trained a certain way (Christian apologetics)
I dug into criticizing eternal security/OSAS with a vengeance but did little to
leave anything in its place. From my point of view, OSAS is a false teaching
and deserves to be rebutted but I probably could be a bit more charitable with
those who haven't arrived at that conclusion yet. I imagine from some things I
have read on Facebook that it is the linchpin of some people's faith (which is
sad) and if it is to be torn down, it should have something there in it's
place.
So I am going to put some pertinent quotes, long and short from Lutheran resources here that deal with perseverance in the hopes that it will be edifying, especially for those who are only aware of the extremes of the Arminian & Calvinist Reformed positions. There is a happy medium and it is found in the doctrines of the Lutheran Reformation.
So I am going to put some pertinent quotes, long and short from Lutheran resources here that deal with perseverance in the hopes that it will be edifying, especially for those who are only aware of the extremes of the Arminian & Calvinist Reformed positions. There is a happy medium and it is found in the doctrines of the Lutheran Reformation.
I will start with a lengthy quote
from Koehler's Christian Doctrine. For the Benefit of non-Lutherans, I am
putting color-coded citations from the Book of Concord (Concordia
Triglotta edition) and other resources below.
1. God keeps us in the faith.—As it is God who gave us, and
preserves in us, our natural life, so it is He who not only wrought faith and
spiritual life in us, but who also keeps and preserves it. “Who are kept by the
power of God through faith unto salvation” (1 Pet. 1:5). “He which hath begun a good work in you will
perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). “Who shall also confirm you unto the end,
that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:8). From these texts it
is evident that God does not merely start men on the way of faith to heaven,
but that God also “strengthens and preserves us steadfast in His Word and faith
unto the end.” “The decree of the Council of Trent, and whatever elsewhere is
set forth in the same sense, is justly to be rejected, namely, that our good
works preserve salvation or the righteousness of faith, which has been
received, or even faith itself is either entirely or in part preserved by our
works” (F.C., Th. D., Art. IV, 35, Triglot, p. 949). We reject “the
doctrine of the synergists … that free will … can cooperate, by its own powers,
with the Holy Ghost in the continuation and maintenance of this work” (F.C., Th. D., Art. II, 77, Triglot, p. 911).
“The exhortations ‘Be thou
faithful unto death’ (Rev. 2:10),
‘Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling’ (Phil. 2:12), do not imply that
a Christian achieves this perseverance by his own powers, as little as the
command to believe implies that man produces faith. The powers called for in
this exhortation are supplied and set in action solely by God (Phil. 2:13). As to the argument
that, since man himself brings about his defection, he must also be able to
achieve his perseverance, Scripture rejects the deduction (1 Pet. 1:5; Hos. 13:9). And it is not even
logically valid” (Popular Symbolics,
p. 74). The fact that man is able to do one thing does not prove that he is
able also to do the opposite. Man can destroy his life, but he can neither
produce nor preserve it.[1]
35]
Since, then, it is manifest from God’s Word that faith is the proper and only
means by which righteousness and salvation are not only received, but also
preserved by God, the decree of the Council of Trent, and whatever elsewhere is
set forth in the same sense, is justly to be rejected, namely, that our good
works preserve salvation, or that the righteousness of faith which has been
received, or even faith itself, is either entirely or in part kept and
preserved by our works[2]
77]
4. Fourthly, the doctrine of the Synergists, who pretend that man is not
absolutely dead to good in spiritual things, but is badly wounded and half
dead. Therefore, although the free will is too weak to make a beginning, and to
convert itself to God by its own powers, and to be obedient to God’s Law from
the heart, nevertheless, when the Holy Ghost makes a beginning, and calls us
through the Gospel, and offers His grace, the forgiveness of sins, and eternal
salvation, that then the free will, from its own natural powers, can meet God,
and to a certain extent, although feebly, do something towards it, help and
cooperate thereto, can qualify itself for, and apply itself to, grace, and
apprehend accept it, and believe the Gospel, and can also cooperate, by its own
powers, with the Holy Ghost, in the continuation and maintenance of this work.[3]
2. God preserves faith through the means of
grace.—As God preserves physical life through certains means, such as food
and drink, so He preserves spiritual faith and life through means, the means of
grace. The same means by which He created faith He employs to nourish and to
keep it, namely, the Gospel and the Sacraments. The power of God by which we
are kept in the faith (1 Pet. 1:5),
operates through the Gospel, which is “the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth” (Rom. 1:16).
It is “the Word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thess. 2:13). “Through the
same Word and the forgiveness of sins (He) bestows, increases, and strengthens
faith” (Large Cat., III, 62, Triglot, p. 695). “Through the same Spirit and His grace, by
means of daily exercise of reading and practising God’s Word, He would preserve
in us faith and His heavenly gifts, strengthen us from day to day, and keep us
to the end” (F.C., Th. D., Art. II, 16, Triglot, p. 887).
62]
For He has not yet brought together all His Christian Church nor dispensed
forgiveness. Therefore we believe in Him who through the Word daily brings us
into the fellowship of this Christian Church, and through the same Word and the
forgiveness of sins bestows, increases, and strengthens faith, in order that
when He has accomplished it all, and we abide therein, and die to the world and
to all evil, He may finally make us perfectly and forever holy; which now we
expect in faith through the Word.
16]
And after God through the Holy Ghost in Baptism has kindled and effected a
beginning of the true knowledge of God and faith, we should pray Him without
ceasing that through the same spirit and His grace, by means of the daily
exercise of reading and practising God’s Word, He would preserve in us faith
and His heavenly gifts, strengthen us from day to day, and keep us to the end.
For unless God Himself be our schoolmaster, we can study and learn nothing that
is acceptable to Him and salutary to ourselves and others.
3. Man must use the means of grace.—As man
must use the means which God provides for the support and wants of the body, so
he must likewise use the means by which God would preserve his faith. “Search
the Scriptures” (John 5:39).
“Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it” (Luke 11:28). “Let the Word of
Christ dwell in you richly” (Col.
3:16). “Blessed is the man … his delight is in the Law of the
Lord; and in His Law doth he meditate day and night” (Ps. 1:1. 2). While God could,
indeed, preserve us in faith without the use of any means whatsoever, He has
not promised to do so. It has pleased Him to deal with us only through His
Word. If, then, we wish that faith be preserved in us, we must learn and ponder
His Word, and keep it in our hearts. Whatever occupies our attention will work
on our hearts. Neglecting to use the Word of God means spiritual starvation,
spiritual suicide. The light of faith continues to burn as long as the Word of
God supplies oil for our lamp.
4. The end of such preservation in the faith
is the salvation of the soul.—“Who are kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation … Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of
your souls” (1 Pet. 1:5.
9). “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Trusting in God’s
promise of preserving grace, the believer is assured of his final salvation.
Hence, we confess with Luther in the explanation of the Third Article of the
Apostles’ Creed: “I believe that … He will give unto me and all believers in
Christ eternal life. This is most certainly true.” Having thus brought the
sinner back to God, the Spirit’s work of sanctification comes to an end.
5. Warnings against apostasy.—“The
warnings against apostasy, Rom.
11:20; 1 Cor.
10:12, are aimed not at the confidence of faith, but at carnal
security and self-confidence; heeding them, the Christian casts himself upon
the Gospel promise and thus obtains and retains the certainty of final
salvation. So also the ‘fear and trembling’ of Phil. 2:12, resulting from the
realization of our weakness and inability, does not replace the confidence of
faith, but exists side by side with it and subserves it” (Popular Symbolics, p. 75). As we look at our weakness and the
dangers that threaten us, we, like children, are filled with fear and
trembling; but as we look at the sure promises of God, we are quite confident
that His hand will lead us safely through all difficulties and dangers (Rom. 8:38; John 10:28). “The assertion
that one who knows that he may become a castaway (1 Cor. 9:27) cannot have the
assurance that he will not become a castaway may be logically correct, but is
theologically false; Rom. 8:38.
The difficulty which this matter presents cannot be solved by means of logic,
but only by distinguishing between the Law and the Gospel. The convictions
produced by the Law must not, and do not, eliminate the convictions produced by
the Gospel, the assurance of perseverance, but subserve them” (Popular Symbolics, p. 75).
6. Salvation is exclusively a work of divine
grace.—Without their merit and cooperation did the Son of God procure for
all men forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Without our merit and
cooperation did the Holy Ghost cause us to believe in Christ, and to continue
in this faith unto the end. Thus God began the good work in us, and performs it
until we are safe in heaven. No Christian may now or hereafter claim any merit
for himself, but must give all praise and glory to God, who “hath made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light” (Col. 1:12). If at any stage our
salvation depended in any measure or degree on some contribution we must make,
it would at once become uncertain to all of us, since no one could be sure
whether his personal contribution were sufficient to insure salvation. Man
cannot contribute anything toward his conversion and final salvation, but he is
saved exclusively by the monergism of divine grace. “By grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it” (salvation) “is the gift of God:
not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8. 9); (Rom.
4:16).
7. “God will have all men to be saved” (1 Tim. 2:4). Whereas God alone
can save sinners, the question arises, whether He wants to save all of them.
The answer is given in the following Scripture texts. “The Lord is not willing
that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). “God will have all
men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). “As I live, saith
the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the
wicked turn from his way and live” (Ezek. 33:11). In this last text God confirms with an oath
His serious intention of saving all men. Even of those who are finally lost we
learn, that Christ has not only bought them (2 Pet. 2:1), but that He also wanted to gather them to
Himself (Matt. 23:37).
There is no human being whom Christ did not redeem, and whom the Holy Ghost
does not want to bring to faith in Christ, and through such faith to heaven. If
there were but one exception, each man might think that he is this exception,
and no one could be sure of his salvation. However, there is positively no
exception; God wants all men to be saved, and to that end has redeemed all men
through Christ.
8. Not all men are saved.—“Enter ye in at
the strait gate: for wide is the gate and broad is the way, that leadeth to
destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate,
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it”
(Matt. 7:13. 14).
“And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into
life eternal” (Matt. 25:46).
“Many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt. 22:14). Thus, more are actually lost than
saved.—The reason why many do not come to Christ, though they are called, lies
in no sense with God, but solely with man. Unto Jerusalem Christ said: “How
often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” (Matt. 23:37). Stephen told the
Jews: “Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist
the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye” (Acts 7:51). Whoever, therefore,
is lost, is lost by his own fault; whoever is saved, is saved by the grace and
power of God. “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in Me is thine help”
(Hos. 13:9). Man got
himself into trouble, but only God can get him out of it.
9. A
difficulty.—In this connection a certain difficulty presents itself to
man’s way of thinking.
There is no difference among
men; they all are equally unworthy to be converted and saved (2 Tim. 1:9), equally incompetent
to convert themselves, and by nature equally unwilling to be converted (1 Cor. 2:14; Eph. 2:1; Rom. 8:7; 1 Cor. 12:3).
There is no difference in the
attitude of God towards men; He earnestly would convert and save all men (1 Tim. 2:4), and He alone can
convert if man is to be converted (1
Cor. 12:3; Jer.
31:18).
From this it would seem to
follow that, since the same powerful grace of God works on all who hear the
Gospel, the same effect would result: either that all are converted, because
the powerful grace of God breaks down their resistance, or that no one is converted,
because the grace of God is not strong enough. For if the grace of God does
convert one, we see no reason why it should not do so with another, who is in
like condemnation. If it cannot or does not convert the second person, we see
no reason why it can and does convert the first. Where the same powers operate
under the same conditions, we should expect the same results. Still we find,
while the spiritual condition of all men is the same, and the converting grace
is equally serious and efficacious with all, there is a difference in the
result: some are converted, others are not.
Synergism would explain this
different result by a difference in men. Some people, it is held, by their
natural powers contribute something towards their conversion; they cooperate
with the Holy Ghost, fit themselves for His work, do not resist as much as
others, and therefore with them the efforts of the Holy Ghost take effect, and
conversion results.
Calvinism would explain the
different result by a difference in God, namely, that God does not seriously
intend to convert and save all men, that He passes certain ones by with His
grace.
Both, Synergism and Calvinism,
make salvation uncertain to the individual. The Synergist must ask himself
whether he has sufficiently cooperated with the Holy Ghost to bring about a
real conversion, while the Calvinist must ever be in doubt whether he really is
among those whom God wanted to convert and to save.
The Bible denies that there is
a difference in the spiritual attitude of natural man toward God, or in the
gracious will of God towards men, and it plainly teaches that He is willing to
convert and save all men, and that only He can convert and save them. If any man is turned to God in conversion,
this is solely and exclusively the work of the Holy Ghost; but if any man
remains unconverted, it is solely and exclusively his own fault. Beyond this we
must not try to reason. We have no right to construct or develop a doctrine
on the basis of our own rational deductions, but must bring every thought into
captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5), and bow in humble admiration to the
superior wisdom of our God, as the apostle Paul did, saying: “O the depth of
the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His
judgments, and His ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33).
Here is a passage about the certainty of possessing saving faith
by John Theodore Müeller in his Christian
Dogmatics:
8. Can the Believer Be Sure of Possessing
Saving Faith?
In the controversies on faith
the question has been propounded whether a Christian may be sure of possessing
true faith. The question has been emphatically denied by Romanists and
Romanizing Protestants, while Holy Scripture very strenuously affirms it, 2 Tim. 1:12; 4:7.
It is true, a believer may not
always be conscious of his faith.
Saving faith (fides directa, fides
actualis) need not always be conscious
faith (fides reflexa), or faith which
is perceived by the believer. (Fides
reflexa et discursiva, qua homo renatus credit et sentit se credere.) Thus
Christian adults, while asleep or engrossed with their daily occupation, indeed
possess direct faith, which truly apprehends the grace of God in Christ Jesus,
yet not reflex and discursive faith. That is to say, they meditate neither on
their act of faith nor on their state of faith. For the time being faith with
all that it implies has passed out of their direct consciousness. They may even
be in a condition of coma, not being able to reflect on spiritual things at
all; or they may be in a state of trial (in
statu tentationis), when they believe themselves to be without faith
because they have lost the sense, or feeling, of faith (sensus fidei). In all such cases saving faith truly exists, though
the believer is not conscious of it. Even in baptized infants, faith is not a
mere potentiality to believe (potentia
credendi) or an inactive quality (otiosus
habitus), but fides actualis, or
actual trust in, and active apprehension of, divine grace (actus apprehendendi), as Christ directly testifies (Matt. 18:6: οἱ μικροὶ οἱ πιστεύοντες εἰς ἐμέ).
However, the doctrine regarding
reflex faith must not be abused in the interest of carnal security and
indifferentism; for it is God’s will that all believers should be sure of their
state of faith and grace, Rom. 5:1,
2. If Christians
entertain doubts concerning their faith, such doubts should be removed. This
necessitates the preaching of the Law in order to show that unbelief and doubt
are sinful and displeasing to God, John
8:46; Matt. 14:31.
But above all the preaching of the Gospel is necessary, Rom. 5:20; 8:15–17, which alone works
certainty of faith, John 8:31,
32, and dispels all
doubts.
It is well to remind the
doubting, fearing Christian also of the fact that even the desire to be saved
through Jesus Christ is already actual, or direct, faith; for such a desire is
never found in the natural, unregenerate heart, 1 Cor. 2:14, but is the gift of
the Holy Spirit, Eph. 1:19;
Rom. 8:23. The Formula of Concord rightly says (Thor.
Decl., II, 14): “To all godly Christians who feel and experience in their
hearts a small spark or longing for
divine grace (scintillula aliqua et
desiderium gratiae divinae) and eternal salvation this precious passage [Phil. 2:13] is very comforting;
for they know that God has kindled in their hearts this beginning of true
godliness and that He will further strengthen and help them in their great
weakness to persevere in true faith unto the end.” (Cf. Matt. 17:20: Ἐὰν ἔχητε
πίστιν ὡς κόκκον σινάπεως.)
Because the assurance which a
believer has concerning His state of grace (certitudo
gratiae) is not found in man’s heart by nature, but is engendered in him by
the Holy Spirit, it is rightly said that such certainty rests upon the
testimony of the Holy Ghost (testimonium
Spiritus Sancti). The testimony of the Holy Spirit is both internal (testimonium Spiritus Sancti internum)
and external (testimonium Spiritus Sancti
externum). The internal, or direct, witness of the Holy Spirit is nothing
else than faith, which assures the believer that he is a child of God, consoles
and strengthens him in all adversity and temptation, and preserves him in the
hope of eternal life, Rom. 8:15,
16; 1 John 5:10; Phil. 1:6. The internal
testimony of the Holy Spirit is therefore not something that exists without
faith or by the side of faith, but it is faith itself, 1 John 5:10. Cp. the Apology (Trigl., p. 154, § 113, German text): “But faith, properly so called (proprie
dicta), is when my heart and the Holy
Ghost in the heart says: The promise of God is true and certain. Of this faith Scripture speaks.”
The external testimony of the Holy Spirit consists in this, that God
through the means of grace works in the believer manifest fruits of faith, such as love for God and His Word, John 8:47; 1 Thess. 1:3–6; 2 Thess. 2:13–15, and love
for the neighbor, 1 John 3:14,
which bear witness to his state of grace, Gal. 5:22–24. This external witness of the Holy Ghost,
which occurs only in true believers, must be distinguished from the carnal
trust which the unregenerate put in their external “good works,” which carnal
trust in their “dead good works” proves convincingly that they are
self-righteous and therefore not children of God, Luke 18:10–14.
Every true believer in Christ
therefore is sure of his state of grace and salvation; for the Holy Spirit, who
through the Gospel has engendered faith in him, assures him by that very faith
that he is a child of God and an heir of eternal life, Rom. 8:15–17.[4]
[1] Koehler, E. W. A. (1999). A summary of Christian doctrine: a popular
presentation of the teachings of the Bible (pp. 176–177). St. Louis, MO:
Concordia Publishing House.
[2] Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
(1996). Concordia Triglotta—English: The
Symbolical Books of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church
(electronic ed., p. 949). Milwaukee,
WI: Northwestern Publishing
House.
[3] Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
(1996). Concordia Triglotta—English: The
Symbolical Books of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church
(electronic ed., p. 911). Milwaukee,
WI: Northwestern Publishing House.
[4] Mueller,
J. T. (1999). Christian dogmatics (330–332).
St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House.
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