Calvinism: Perseverance of the Saints?

The most well-known feature of Calvinism is its famous five points, often referred to by Calvinists as “the doctrines of grace” and represented by the acronym TULIP.[1] There is much more to Calvinist theology than this, of course, but TULIP is definitely the centerpiece. The acronym summarizes the Calvinist understanding of salvation like this:

• Total Depravity
• Unconditional Election
• Limited Atonement
• Irresistible Grace
• Perseverance of the Saints

Each of these points expresses a key component of Calvinism’s understanding of how God saves people. In this article, we’ll take a look at “perseverance of the saints.”

Perseverance of the Saints

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” (John 10:27-28, NASB)

The final point of Calvinism’s famous five points is “perseverance of the saints.” What this means is that “believers will not—cannot!—‘un-believe.’”[1] More popular phrases for this point are “eternal security” or the well-known phrase “once saved, always saved.” Genuine believers in Jesus will persevere to the end. Anyone who fails to persevere was never a genuine believer in the first place.

How can such perseverance be guaranteed? Not by the ability of the person, of course, but by the grace of God. He holds his children safely in his hand, and he will not lose them or let them go. Their security rests on the faithfulness of God.

This point is the most popular of all the points. In fact, it’s possible to meet people who have rejected the first four points of Calvinism but retained the belief in eternal security. But it must be noted that this point does not easily stand on its own. It is a necessary conclusion to the Calvinistic understanding of salvation. Since God chose them and called them, he will guarantee that they believe for their entire lives.

“This point is the most popular of all the points.”

Sometimes non-Calvinists accuse Calvinism of teaching that, once a person confesses faith in Christ, it doesn’t matter how they live; they are saved and no amount of faithless or sinful living can cause them to lose their salvation. Unfortunately, at a popular level, that is sometimes the message which is heard. Growing up, I had a neighborhood friend who had an older brother named Ted. Ted was the neighborhood bully, a drunk, and a womanizer, a young man who left his Playboy magazines lying around the house. Ted also assured me one day that he was saved. He showed zero interest in God, but he was sure he was saved because, in his words, he had “gone forward and prayed that prayer.”

But that is a caricature of what true Calvinism means by perseverance of the saints. The security is for saints. That is, it is for people who live by faith in Jesus, however imperfectly, not for those who, by their Jesus-denying lifestyle, show that they are not faithful to Jesus at all.

The key difference between Calvinism and non-Calvinism on this point concerns the question of whether believers can cease being believers and thus “lose their salvation.” In the logic of their system, Calvinists say that’s impossible. It would mean God failed. He chose them and called them but failed to keep them. Thus, according to Calvinism, anyone who “loses their salvation” must never have been a true believer in the first place.

“The key difference between Calvinism and non-Calvinism on this point concerns the question of whether believers can cease being believers and thus ‘lose their salvation.'”

Non-Calvinists, on the other hand, look at all the examples throughout history of people who once professed faith in and lived for Christ but then abandoned him. Experience appears to indicate that people do in fact walk away from their salvation. Non-Calvinists believe that one loses salvation, but people can turn away from Jesus and thereby reject or turn from Jesus and a saving relationship with him.

A biblical balance is needed here.

In arguing against eternal security, non-Calvinists have sometimes been guilty of implicitly (or maybe even explicitly!) teaching eternal insecurity. We have ignored or minimized the passages which speak of the security that believers have in Christ, and instead turned up the volume on passages emphasizing endurance and obedience. In doing so, we have given the impression that a person’s salvation rests on a razor’s edge and that any faithless or sinful act just might jeopardize it. Thankfully, they can confess and repent and rest assured again…at least until the next sinful act. Believers in such an environment, especially those with sensitive consciences, exist in a perpetual angst about the security of their salvation.[2]

Calvinists, on the other hand, dismiss all those who have ever walked away from the faith as not having been true believers in the first place. They only appeared to be believers, but their faith was never genuine. And they frequently apply the same logic to the passages in the Bible which warn Christians about falling away. Such passages, they say, are only hypothetical or hyperbole.

“Calvinists dismiss all those who have ever walked away from the faith as not having been true believers in the first place.”

The usual approaches of both Calvinism and non-Calvinism tend to turn down the volume on one set of Bible passages and turn up the volume on others.

In my book, What is Calvinism?, I offer what I believe to be the biblical picture of assurance, but for now we do need to emphasize that the Bible indeed promises security to believers. For example:

• “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1, NASB)
• God is storing up an inheritance for believers “who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:5, NASB)
• “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.” (1 John 5:13, NASB)

The reason I can’t subscribe to the Calvinistic notion of the perseverance of the saints, however, is that I don’t think it does justice to the warnings about falling away and the calls to faithfulness in the New Testament, warnings which are consistent with lived experience. Here are a few examples:

• “Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called ‘today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we keep the beginning of our commitment firm until the end.” (Hebrews 3:12-14, NASB)

“Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.”

• “…He has now reconciled you in His body of flesh through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach—if indeed you continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast.” (Colossians 1:22-23a, NASB)
• “You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by the Law; you have fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:4, NASB)
• “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has ignored the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:26-29, NASB)

All of these passages are addressing Christians, and they either call Christians to remain true to the faith or warn them against falling away from the faith. I think it’s best to take such passages at face value. There is a real danger of falling away, so Christians must be vigilant to practice faithful faith.

[1] J. A. Medders, Humble Calvinism (The Good Book Company), 137.

[2] Ironically, I’ve met believers from Calvinistic backgrounds who experience the exact same angst. Because of a struggle with sin, they doubt whether they are genuinely one of the elect and thus have no assurance of their salvation. So, I don’t think this lived insecurity is exclusive to non-Calvinists.