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Title : The Puritans on the Perseverance of the Saints
For the Puritans, the theology and faith about perseverance were very important.
Today, let’s study the Puritan doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.
1. What is the doctrine of Perseverance of the saints?
The Westminster Confession of Faith is the clearest example of the Puritans' doctrine of perseverance of the saints.
In Chapter 17, Verse 1 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the perseverance of the saints is written as “They, whom God 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.”
In other words, the true people of God who are chosen by God and saved through faith in Jesus Christ will never lose their salvation.
And it teaches that the true people of God who have been chosen by God may fall, but they will not completely fall, and they will not and cannot completely lose their salvation.
The reason is that God's hand never lets go of the wrists of those he wants to save.
God's people sin and fall and may let go of God's hand, but God never lets go of the hand of the chosen ones and changes them so that they will surely reach eternal heaven and receive complete salvation.
This is the Puritan doctrine of perseverance of the saints.
2. What are some Bible verses that support the doctrine of perseverance of the saints?
The Bible supports the doctrine of perseverance of saints in many verses.
⑴ 1 Peter 1:3-5
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
In this verse, it is said that God's people received God's protection through faith so that they could obtain the salvation prepared to be revealed in the last days.
If God protects us, no one can take our salvation away.
The point is that not even sin, Satan, the devil, or even ourselves can take away our salvation.
⑵ Proverbs 24:16
“for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.”
In other words, God's people may fall due to sin and mistakes, but they will rise again.
⑶ Philippians 1:3-6
“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
In verse 6, it is the Holy Spirit of God who begins the good work in God’s people.
There are many kinds of good works that the Holy Spirit does, but the most important work is to guide and sustain God's people so that they can achieve salvation.
The Holy Spirit guides and sustains God's people until the day of Christ Jesus, that is, the second coming of Jesus.
If the Holy Spirit, the third person of God, guides and sustains God's people so that they ultimately achieve salvation, who can take away the salvation of God's people?
Even God's people themselves cannot abandon their own salvation.
Because God protects me from myself as well.
⑷ John 10:27-29
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.”
In this verse, Jesus says that he will never perish because he gives eternal life to his sheep, God's chosen people.
And that no one, not even God's chosen people themselves, can snatch God's chosen people from the hand of Jesus and from the hand of God the Father, who is greater than all creation.
From this, the true people of God can never lose their salvation.
⑸ Romans 11:29
“for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.”
This verse says that God never regrets the grace He gave for salvation and the calling He did to save His people.
There are countless enemies against God's people, and even God's people themselves, who are not perfect and sometimes sin through mistakes and transgressions, definitely do not lose their own salvation because of God who does not regret.
In other words, God allows the saints to persevere and eventually achieve complete salvation.
⑹ 2 Timothy 2:19
Nevertheless, God's solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: "The Lord knows those who are his," and, "Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness."
A solid foundation of salvation stands for God’s people.
And God's people were sealed as God's.
Therefore, God knows his people.
Such people of God are protected by God and are ultimately saved and receive eternal life.
⑹ Hebrews 9:14-15
“How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.”
Jesus died to redeem the sins of God's called people.
The reason was so that God's chosen people could obtain the promise of God's eternal inheritance.
Those whom God has called have received the promise of an eternal inheritance.
And this inheritance is not lost forever.
The reason is that the promises of the inheritance are not kept by humans, but by God.
⑻ Hebrews 7:25
“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. ”
Jesus can completely save those who come to God through Him.
The reason is that at the right hand of God's throne, He always prays to God the Father for His people.
Jesus has the ability to protect and protect God's people in any situation.
⑼ In addition, the doctrine of perseverance of saints can be found in Hosea 2:19, Malachi 2:16, Ephesians 1:13-14, 1 John 3:9, and 1 John 5:4.
3. Refutation of the Reformed doctrine of perseverance of the saints and Puritans’ response
But Arminians don't think so.
Arminians believe that even if a person has truly believed in Jesus Christ and been saved, a person who sins and leaves the church and Christ can lose his salvation.
Among Arminian theologians, there is John Goodwin.
He was friends with Puritan theologian Thomas Goodwin.
John Goodwin, in a treatise titled Redemption Redeemed (1651), denied that God guarantees the continuity of a believer's faith.
So John Owen refuted John Goodwin's Arminianism views.
Let us look here at John Goodwin's views and John Owen's refutation of them.
⑴ John Goodwin’s Rebuttal 1 – The reality of apostasy
John Goodwin has argued that passages such as Hebrews 6:1-8 and 10:26-39 teach the possibility of a believer falling out of the state of grace.
John Owen argues that John Goodwin is making an error in this regard.
In other words, Owen argued, John Goodwin assumed, as all Arminians erred, that all who profess faith in Christ are true believers.
Owen refuted John Goodwin's views using the following syllogism:
First, the elect cannot fall away. (John 10:27-29)
Second, some who confess to believe fall away from the faith.
Third, the confessors who fall away are therefore not chosen believers.
John Owen explained the doctrine of traction in terms of three powerful focuses:
① God’s immutable attributes, God’s promise, and eternal purpose -
There is no regret in God's gifts and calling (Romans 11:29). These gifts include perseverance.
② The nature of grace itself –
Grace always triumphs in the Bible.
Christ gives his own Spirit to Christians.
This Spirit ensures the perseverance of God’s people.
Because when the covenant of grace is fulfilled, the Comforter will dwell with the elect forever (John 14:16).
③ Integrative unity of the plan of salvation –
If the Holy Spirit does not keep believers in grace, he will not be able to call them, regenerate them, sanctify them, and convince them.
Christ, too, would be merely a helpless mediator.
⑵ John Goodwin’s Rebuttal 2 – Human Responsibility
John Goodwin's second argument against perseverance of the saints is based on biblical texts that claim that Christians maintain a state of grace for themselves.
Goodwin said, “These texts prove that perseverance is the sole responsibility of the believer.”
John Owen's response to this is that John Goodwin failed to see that duty does not include ability.
In other words, although sinners have a duty to repent and believe, this does not prove that they have the ability to do so.
Believers can do these things only through the power of God in Christ.
Believers must work out their salvation not with doubt or uncertainty, but with holy reverence, fear and trembling.
Because they know that God Himself is working in them to will and do (Philippians 2:12-13).
Our responsibility to perform perseverance does not negate God's promise to persevere in us, but rather depends on it (Philippians 2:12-13).
⑶ John Goodwin’s Rebuttal 3 – The danger of antinomianism
John Goodwin said that widespread teaching of the doctrine of perseverance would encourage lawlessness and disregard for the moral law of the Bible.
He also said that perseverance of the saints undermines the importance of God's counsel and commands.
To this, John Owen responds simply:
“God preserves his saints in his holiness.”
Christ saves his people from their sins, not from their sins.
Perseverance does not encourage an immoral life, but rather promises the believer assurance of eternal salvation by following the only way to heaven, the King's highway of holiness.
The doctrine of perseverance evokes a love that can only bring about obedience.
Because it is the Spirit of Christ working in the gospel that cuts off the breath of sin and destroys sin, Owen said.
Perseverance of saints thus guarantees the believer's continued sanctification and definitive glorification.
Owen said, “God’s grace does not neutralize our responsibilities, but rather equips us to carry them out. Grace does not exempt us from our duties, but rather prepares us for their performance.”
Reformed Puritans emphasized both human responsibility and God's sovereignty and insisted on subordinating human will to God's will.
4. The basis for perseverance of the saints
The Puritans said that perseverance of the saints is ultimately based not on the believer's will but on God's will.
The Puritans based this teaching on John 10:28-29, ”I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.”
According to the Puritans, this promise and others like it stand on the following fourfold basis, established by God and proclaimed in the Word of God:
Ground 1: God the Father’s choosing love
The fourfold basis of perseverance of the saints begins with the love of God the Father.
The believer's perseverance depends first and foremost on the constancy of his decision to choose, which flows from the free and immutable love of God the Father.
The perseverance of God's children ultimately depends not on their human strength but on the power of their heavenly Father.
Watson said, “We persevere not because we hold on to God, but because God holds on to us.”
Our perseverance is based on God's love and election because it bears fruit according to God's works of creation, redemption, and providence.
Ground 2: Christ’s merits and intercession
Theologians of the Westminster Assembly said that the perseverance of the saints is also based on “the merits and effectiveness of the mediation of Jesus Christ” (Westminster Confession of Faith 17.2).
Puritans taught that the merit or value of the sin offering Christ provided on the cross ensured that those for whom He died would be eternally saved.
Ground 3: Indwelling of the Holy Spirit
Westminster theologians said that perseverance relies thirdly on “the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in them and the indwelling of the seed of God” (Westminster Confession of Faith 17.2).
Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) said, “No one can persevere except those who have the Spirit of God as their teacher and persuader.”
Watson also said this:
“The reason people cannot persevere in their faith is because they do not have a decisive principle.
“If a branch does not have roots to grow, it will wither.”
The basis of perseverance is closely related to the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God.
Therefore, John said, “Whoever is born of God does not sin, for the seed of God dwells in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 John 3:9).
In other words, the Holy Spirit of God dwells in believers, enabling them to persevere.
Ground 4: Covenant of Grace
The fourth ground of perseverance is “the essence of the covenant of grace” (Westminster Confession of Faith 17.2).
The covenant between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, concluded in eternity ago, is closely connected to God's covenant mercy toward us.
In 2 Samuel 23:5, God “made an everlasting covenant with David, providing and establishing it in all things.”
Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661) called it “a sure and everlasting covenant based on infinite love.”
God promised all believers, “I will make an everlasting covenant with you, a sure favor promised to David” (Isaiah 55:3).
This covenant promises that God will be faithful to his people and guarantee their faithfulness to himself.
5. Conclusion
In Chapter 17, Verse 1 of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the perseverance of the saints is written as “They, whom God 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.”
Arminians argued that even God's chosen people can become corrupted by their own will and fail to be saved.
However, the Puritans taught that according to the teachings of the Bible, God's people, whom God sovereignly chose, could never be completely depraved and excluded from salvation.
The reason is because God's hand is holding the hands of God's people.
God's people can let go of God's hand and temporarily fall, but ultimately they cannot leave God's grace because God holds their hand and does not let go.
People whom God does not hold on to, even if they go to church and lead a temporary religious life, may fall completely and fail from salvation.
Such people are not God's true people.
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