Perseverance: Objections to The Doctrine Part 2

Last time, I began discussing objections to the doctrine.  Today we will begin looking at a second objection.

Objection 2: It Seems to Contradict Scripture

Another set of questions/objections comes from various passages of Scripture which seem to, on the face of it, contradict this doctrine.  These can be divided into two types of passages: 1. Calls to continue in the faith, 2. Cases of apostasy.  Today we will just look at one. 

1. Calls to Continue in the Faith

First, are passages which exhort believers to continue in the faith.  This includes passages such as Matthew 10:22b, which says, "But the one who endures to the end will be saved" and John 8:31b, which says, "'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.'"  In Colossians 1:22-23 Paul says,

he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.

Do these passages mean that God might not keep those who belong to Him until the end?  Does it mean that a true Christian might fail to endure and thus lose his or her salvation?  The answer is a resounding "No!"  For starters, "[i]t is only natural that Paul and the other New Testament writers would speak this way, for they are addressing groups of people who profess to be Christians, without being able to know the actual state of every person's heart" (Grudem, 793).

Second, these passages simply look at the doctrine from the human side of the equation; the side where we see that all true Christians must persevere in the faith.  They place the emphasis on our calling to persevere (just as other passages place the focus on God preserving us).

Finally, we are reminded that God uses means in accomplishing his stated ends.  In this case, the end is that all true Christians will be kept to the end.  The means by which God preserves a believer includes "the exhortations, threatenings, and promises of his word" (Hoekema, 246). This should not seem to unusual for the Christian since we know God uses means in other areas.  For example, when God was going to bring judgment on Israel, he decided to use the Assyrians. He could have just supernaturally wiped them out or punished them.  Instead, he used the Assyrian army and king calling them the rod of his anger (Isaiah 10:5-7). In other words, they would be the instrument or means by which God would bring his ends (i.e. judgment).