Whether a true believer who is called according to God’s purpose and truly justified; furnished with a faith not dogmatically and temporary but living and saving can lose his faith? In this path. The emphasis should be on the word "true" and upon "saving(salvation)". And the question goes on, “And finally remains in unbelief and impenitence and so cut himself off from a right to the kingdom of heaven and from the state of adoption and be eternally condemned?
So the question is only about those who are true believers elected by God. (they might be perished?) I want to also show you how the question is put in the Westminster confessions larger cataclysm question 79.
The question is, “May not true believers, (notice this) by reason of their imperfections and the many temptations and sins they’re overtaken with fall away from the state of grace”, that’s the question.
The way the answer is, it’s referring not to the sins and imperfections and trials, but instead of that the answer refers to the ground of confidence of hope. So we say true believers and here are the reasons by reason of the unchangeable love of God and His decree and covenant to give them perseverance, their inseparable union with Christ, his continual intersession for them, and the spirit and seed of God abiding in them, all of those grounds can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace but that kept by the power of God through faith and unto salvation. Those last words are from Peter’s First letter.
That is Question 79 looks up the perseverance of the saints and that is followed in the cataclysm by question 80 which looks at the subjective side of it, “Can a true believer have an assurance his salvation?” You can read those questions but there are other two issues of the perseverance and the ability to be sure about it.
In this lecture I want to concentrate on the biblical material. I just want to point out the Greek word for endurance and perseverance. Greek word is 'hupomone' and it’s got the concept of "remaining money, to remain, to dwell under." And there’s probably an implication a word of standing firm under opposition or against opposition and that’s really the question that we’re asking. “Will the true believer remain against the opposition of the world, the flesh and the devil?”
The next thing I want to do is I want to look at 6 passages of the scripture, 6 aspects of the Bible.
They are Rom.8:, John 9: & 10:, Gal.4:, Heb6:26~29
▶1. Let me turn first to Romans chapter 8. On to beginning with the outline of the Paul's letter to the Romans, you’ll see it there in chapters 1 to 3; the starting point of Romans is, “that all have sinned”, and then from Rom.3:21 where Paul says, “but now.” He spends chapters 3:21 to 4:25, that section is upon our justification by faith. When we come to chapter 5:1 Paul begins something like this, “Having been justified, there is much more to come”.
So the emphasis in chapters 5 to 8 is upon God completing the work when the foundation has been laid in justification. If we’d been justified, He will then complete the work and the work of salvation will be done. And then in Chapters 9 to 11, Paul having said that God will certainly complete the work, Paul faces the problem of Israel. If nothing can separate us from the love of God, how is it that Israel has fallen? That is the question. What Paul is concerned to emphasize in Chapter 11 particularly is that God have not abandoned Israel.
Moving on, the last section of Romans, it comes to the people and says, “Because of God’s mercies, because of all these, be transformed, live the life”. So the whole of what Paul has said is an encouragement to actively live the Christian life. I want to focus now on Romans 8:29 and 30.
29.For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
30.And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
What is so important about this verse is there is a chain of God’s actions. It begins with God’s choice of the elect. And in that choice, it is not just that He has chosen them but He has also predetermined their end, he has predestined them. So then you have a chain of God’s actions, choosing and predestining, calling, justifying and glorifying and all of them are spoken as if they were done. What Paul is saying is that every person that God chose and every person that God justified by faith, He will certainly glorify.
A few verses later in Roman 8:35 to 39, Paul is still speaking about God’s election in verse 33, God’s election, that’s his subject. And the emphasis throughout these last verses is this, “Nothing can separate us” that is the election from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Now what Paul is stating there is consistence with a number of Biblical metaphors. Just take one for example, the Bible speaks about God and His people as being married and in that context the Bible makes it clear that God hates divorce, so God’s perspective is there will be no separation. The emphasis in Romans 5 to 8 is that what God has begun, He will certainly complete. But in the middle of that section in chapters 6 and 7, Paul also faces a problem and the problem is there is still sin within us. One of the questions in those chapters, particularly chapter 7 really is this, “Since we have this great battle within indwelling sin, how can we be sure that our justification will be completed in our glorification?”
After Paul has expressed his great struggling with sin, he comes with a conclusion that there is a victory and that God will give us the victory in Christ Jesus our Lord. In chapter 8, Paul has emphasized that those whom God has rescued from sin, He will keep forever. That is bound to, at that time it was bound to create a question. If this is true, how can you explain what has happened to Israel? That problem of Israel is not my subject but I only want you to notice the kind of statement that Paul is making about it. For example, in 9:6, what Paul is saying is that the principle of election is at work within the covenant. And then after that, Paul explains that Israel’s fall must be explained at least mainly or partly by their unbelief. But then in chapter 11, it’s as if Paul won’t let them go.
Chapter 11 verse 1, he says “God has not cast them away” that’s the point of verse 1. And then from verse 11, what Paul is saying this “They have stumbled, by the have not fallen”. And then by the time he comes at verse 29, He says “The covenant of God is eradicable”. The key part of Romans that I want to leave with you, the key part for us is chapter 8 on verses 29 and 30, that unbroken chain and then the statement at the end of chapter 8 is, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God” that’s the key emphasis.
▶2. The second passage that I want to draw your attention to is John chapters 9 and 10, “The good shepherd”. Particularly we read these words,
Jn.10:28. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
29.My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.
“The passage of the good shepherd”. In those words should always be read in the context. If you look at what has happened, there is a man who has been born blind and Christ Jesus gives him His eyesight, that’s the first thing. And this man who has received his eyesight then comes to the point where he confesses Christ Jesus. The result of his confession is that he is put out of the synagogue, he is effectively excommunicated.
We need to notice in John Chapter 9 that all of the Jews were terribly afraid of excommunication. If a man was cast out of the synagogue, can you imagine the assault on his faith, the shattering of his confidence to think that he had lost his place in the covenant people of God? And I think that the point of Christ, declaration, “I am the good shepherd”, that point is this that He can annul the false actions of the high lings. In other words the scribes and Pharisees can put this man out but Jesus Christ the good shepherd will never let him go. That’s the point.
If you read through the gospel of John, you will find the consistent emphasis in Christ’s teaching that those who belong to Him are already finally saved. For example in chapter 3, He says that 'those who don’t believe in Him are already condemned', it’s already done. To the woman of the well of Samaria He says that if you drink the water that he will give you. You will never thirst again. It is something final, you will never thirst again.
In chapter 5, Jesus said that those who believed in Him have already passed from death to life. That transfer has already happened. In chapter 6, He says that those who come to Him will in no way, be cast out, never cast out. He says that those that the father brings to Him, He says “I will lose nothing; I will lose nothing, not one of them”. In the same chapter He says that the person who believes in Him, who eats His flesh, drinks His blood has eternal life. Now already, it is already a possession already and it is eternal life, it is nature of eternality.
▶I want to move on. We go to Romans 8 and John 9 and 10. The next thing is to say this, that there are exaltations in the New Testament to believers to persevere, to endure and these exaltations have often been used against the adoption of the perseverance of the saints.
There are exaltations to endure, there are warnings against falling away, and then the questions put, “Why will the Bible warn against falling away if it’s impossible?” And in addition to exaltations to endure and warnings about falling away, there are also examples of people who have fallen away.
What do you do with Solomon? What do you make of Hymenaeus(2Tm.2:17) and Alexander(2Tm.4:14)? What happen to Demos? What about the false teachers, named in Peter? What happened to these people who appeared to have fallen away that’s the question? Let’s take some of the exaltations to endure, for example, Christ says “He who endured to the end will be saved”(마24:13). I’ll skip the second one and move on to another one, In John 15, we are exalted to “abide in Christ”, that’s the exaltation. In Collations 1, Paul says to them that “if they continue in their faith”, if they continue grounded and settled, the letters to the revelation churches you get exaltations like this, “be faithful to death”(2:10). What about the warning in I Corinthians Chapter 10, “let Him that thinks he stands take he’d less he fall.”
I’m going to read a quote from Herman Bavinck but I’ll just leave you to read it. I hope it’s there. What Bavinck is saying is that these commands, these warnings, these examples have been enough to persuade most churches that believers can fall away but the reform stand alone in the confession of the perseverance of the saints. So far what we’ve done is we’ve said look, in Romans 8 and John for example, there are clear statements that those who are elect and become justified by faith will not be lost. There are clear statements in Romans and John. And then on the other hand, there are exaltations to continue, warnings about falling away, example of some people who once confessed Christ and then apparently were not. And the question is really “whether these other texts, do they overthrow the plain statements of Romans and John?”
What I want to do now is I want to consider the passages of scripture which are the most difficult of all that’s in particularly in Hebrews but before we come to those most difficult passages. I want to put to you a question of general biblically interpretation. There is a really important distinction when you interpret scripture between the historian salutes and the order salutes or put it another way, between redemptive history. What God is accomplishing and the experience of redemption within a believer that’s important to distinguish those two things. Take an example of a man like Abraham, you could say about Abraham, that he had less than we have.
When Abraham worshipped God, he still have to kill little lambs and when he thought of Christ, which he did, he looked forward to His coming, but he didn’t know the details that we know. But when you come to consider if you like the strength of Abraham’s faith, you may conclude that his faith was stronger than our faith today. Let’s take another example, in Galatians 3:23 you have this statement “before faith came”.
Now that’s a reference to the Old Testament period, and if you take it as a statement about the experience of redemption, the order salutes; you would conclude that there were no believers in the Old Testament. If you read that text, that order salutes and you conclude that there were no believers in the Old Testament, you will have a contradiction in scripture because Hebrews 11: tells you that there were many believers in the Old Testament. But the problem is resolved when you realized that Galatians 3:23 is being spoken in the area of Historian salutes the accomplishment of redemption. What Paul means is that the thing, the objects of faith, if you like, had arrived, they were no longer waiting for it.
Now you can apply that method, that distinction to other statements in the scripture such as Galatians 5:4. So Paul says, “You have become estranged from Christ. You who attempt to be justified by the law, you have fallen away from grace.” People would come along and say “there you are” there’s a clear statement that some Galatians fell from grace so we’re going to fall from grace, there you have it.
You see, if you interpret that verse as belonging in the realm of order salutes, the experience of redemption, you will think that these people have experience grace subjectively, and then lost it. But if you see it as part of the Historians salutes, the redemptive history, you’ll realize that what Paul is talking about is there are people who want to move from the administration of the new covenant back to the mosaic ceremonies, back to the law, in other words, they want to reverse their covenant position. They want to go back from where they are now to an earlier time.
The only point that’s been made here is that the statement to fall from grace is describing a statement away from new covenant provision into old covenant provision again. What you would have to say of course is that if there were people who would confess Christ and were members of the new covenant Church and they departed from that to go back to a religion of ceremony and Law keeping, in other words if they abandoned that confession of faith, you would have to conclude that they were not truly believers in the first place.
That’s what you’d have to conclude but the point I’m making is that the statement is made along another axis. It’s not talking about that.
▶Just to step on to another piece of problem if you like now, there are references in John and Matthew and other places like that, I John about the unforgivable sin, and the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. There’s a slide with references which you got on your notes, I’ll pass over that, and just say this, when you consider the question, “What is the unforgivable sin” and particularly, “What is this blasphemy against the Holy Spirit”
Again, if you consider of it in terms of the rejecting the Holy Spirit’s work within you, you’re going along the line of Order Salutes instead of Historians Salutes. If we consider them in terms of order salutes we are going to say that we entirely rejected the Holy Spirit.
It’s a difficult passage but you have to ask questions like this. When our Lord says 'Blasphemy against the son of man will be forgiven, blasphemy against the Father will be forgiven, but not blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.' Why not? But you have to understand our Lord is saying this to scribes and Pharisees that were living in the days of the Son of Man and He knows that He is going to ascend and the day of Pentecost will come and the Spirit, if you like, is the last advocate. As if He’s aware that the people who are rejecting Him now. I’m doing it in ignorance, but the days are going to come when they will have a further opportunity but the last opportunity.
I think we will just move on quickly to the last two passages which are the really difficult ones and they’re in Hebrews Chapter 6 and chapter 10. When you read the letter to the Hebrews, you have to understand the language and the covenental structure that the writer is working with. When the writer wants to refer to God’s covenant with Abraham, he usually uses the term “The promises” and throughout the letter, the covenant of Abraham “The promises” seems to be continuous.
When the writer uses the word covenant, he’s referring usually to Sinai or the new covenant and even when he’s talking about the Sinai covenant and the new covenant. He’s not thinking about the whole picture, He’s focus is quite narrowly on the two different ministries, the Levitical ministry and the ministry of our Lord Jesus. The letter to the Hebrews is written to address a pastoral problem and the pastoral problem is that there were believers or professors of the faith who are thinking of returning from the provisions of the new covenant back to the provision of the old covenant, the Sinai covenant.
So they were thinking of going from the new to the old probably because the new was simple. The old was very collaborate and it’s in that context that we have Hebrews chapter 6 verses 4 to 6, and Hebrews chapter 10 verse 26 to 29. So if you look at Hebrews chapter 6 verses 4 to 6, for example, there is a statement in Hebrews 6:4 for it is impossible for those who were once enlightened and more have tasted the heavenly gift and become partaker of the Holy Spirit and so on and so forth, if they fall away.
Take the word enlightened, the picture that we have is there’s someone who’s been enlightened and falls away. If that word enlightened is understood from the perspective of the order salutes, it means that the person has received spiritual light in his heart and he has then lost it. But the writer is not working along that plain at all. He’s dealing with people who have received greater light, greater revelation than previous generations, that’s the enlightenment. And take another phrase in that verse about 'being partakers of the Holy Spirit.' It could mean that they received the Holy Spirit in their hearts, in other words, they were born again. Or it could mean that they have lived in the era after Pentecost, they’ve lived in era of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit's days.
What I’m saying to you is that if you interpret these statements through the order salutes, you will conclude that men can be born again, receive the Holy Spirit, receive faith, and then lose it all. But if you see that the writer is thinking in another way, he’s thinking about the possession of the Hebrew Christians in the unfolding of God’s revelation and in the accomplishment of redemption. In other words, they lived after the Cross, after the Pentecost, and they want to go back to an expression before the cross and before Pentecost.
Because time is gone, I just want to finish with one slide. I won’t comment on Hebrews 10. If necessary, we can go over it in discussion or in another time.
(John Wesley who was in Armenian was convinced by these texts, particularly these texts is in Hebrews, that it is possible for a believer who had been given saving faith to commit apostasy. He interpreted the text of Hebrews along the axis of older salutes but I’m putting to you that Hebrews is dealing with a problem of Historians salutes, a retreat from a new covenant to the administration of the old.)
If we have it, we never lose it, if we lose it, we never had it. What we’ve done in this first lecture is we’ve looked at clear statements in the Bible that true believers cannot be lost and we’ve looked at some of the problems that are being raised against us.
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