Whenever I hear someone critical of the doctrine of the security of the believer, and properly called the “perseverance of the saints”, the question comes up; “Is he a Baptist?” This doctrine is not peculiar to Baptists but is held by a great many evangelical groups and was beautifully expressed by Reformed Theology in the Westminster Confession of Faith. Here it is in part:
“They whom God hath accepted in His Beloved, effectually call 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 eterenally saved. This perseverance of the saints depends, not upon their own free-will, but on 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 certainly and infallibility thereof. Nevertheless they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins; and for a time continue therein: whereby they incur God’s displeasure, and grieve His Holy Spirit; come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts; have their hearts hardened, their consciences wounded; hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves.”
~Philip Schaff, ed., “The Creeds of Christendom, vol. 3, Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1977, pg. 636-637
There can no doubt, by honest people, that the security of the believer/perseverance of the saints is not an excuse for antinomianism (a license to sin).
Those who hold that a onetime decision to accept Jesus Christ as Savior but not as Lord is all it takes to be a Christian will find that the Westminster Confession and the whole of the Scriptures fly in the face of that position. Salvation is far more than an ascent to the facts of salvation; it also incorporates a transforming commitment to Christ where there is an abandonment of self effort that is reflected in the totality of one’s life. It is commitment that emulates true repentance which is more than a change of mind about who Jesus Christ is (Deity), but one that changes one’s mind about sin as well and a commitment to walk in Christ, by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:10; Gal 5:16). It s a faith that looks to Christ as the full sufficiency for life itself. Christ did not come to give only a “fire escape,” but rather saving life itself (John 10:10). This life perseveres to the end by the power of resurrected Christ (Philippians 1:6; 3:10).
– Michael Holtzinger