Perseverance of the saints

This principle means that once you are saved there is nothing you can do to lose that salvation.  This belief is primarily a logical conclusion to Total Depravity and Unconditional Election, but those who hold to it cite verses such as the following as proof.  Lets look through these and determine if they teach that it is impossible to lose your salvation or if they teach something else.

John 6 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty. 36 But I said to you that you have indeed seen Me, and yet you do not believe. 37 Everything that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I certainly will not cast out.

Many point to John 6 and say that verse 37 shows that after you come to Jesus you will not be cast out.  However, it does not say you can not leave, It says Jesus will not cast you out.  To draw an analogy that we can build on, you are in Gods house and Jesus will not make you leave.  We see further in John that Jesus will not allow anyone to drag you out of Gods house.

John 10 27 My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; 28 and I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.

We see something similar in Jude where Jesus is able to make you stand in Gods house.

Jude 1  24 Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy, 

In 1 Peter we see that our inheritance is provided by God and is therefore assured. 

1 Peter 1 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

Notice though that none of these verses say you can not leave the house.  The inheritance is what is imperishable and undefiled.  It is reserved for you, but just like a restaurant can reserve a table for you it is your choice to show up on time and receive it or not.  However, showing that these verses do not necessarily prove you can’t lose your salvation isn’t the same as providing a verse that proves you can.  The book of Hebrews is very clear on this fact in both chapters 6 and 10.

Hebrews 6 4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. 

Heb 10 26 For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has ignored the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 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? 30 For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge His people.” 31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Some will point to 1 John to show that anyone who loses their salvation never really had it. 

1 John 2 19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be evident that they all are not of us. 

If we read the two passages from Hebrews again though we find this is not the case.  Paul makes it very clear in Hebrews 6 that he is discussing those who were saved in verse 4 and 5.  Even more clear in Hebrews 10:29 Paul describes this person as one who was sanctified by the blood of the covenant.  Because of this 1 John must have been talking of those people who met with them every week at “Church” but were not truly dedicated.

The parable of the sower in Matthew also contradicts the TULIP doctrine.  If TULIP were true then there would be sinners who were totally depraved and saints who were guaranteed to persevere.  There would be only two groups of people, two potential outcomes.  The parable of the sower lists four.  The first are those who have no interest, the middle two are those who receive it, but don’t persevere due to other pursuits or afflictions, and the fourth group of people are those who endure.

Matthew 13 3 And He told them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and they sprang up immediately, because they had no depth of soil. 6 But after the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8 But others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much. 9 The one who has ears, let him hear.”

18 “Listen then to the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one sown with seed beside the road. 20 The one sown with seed on the rocky places, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution occurs because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 And the one sown with seed among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the anxiety of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 But the one sown with seed on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces, some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much.”

The Bible teaches everywhere that we have free will and while Gods hand is always outstretched to us it is our choice to follow Him.  We see this clearly in Joshua.

Joshua 24 15 But if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” 16 The people answered and said, “Far be it from us that we would abandon the Lord to serve other gods; 17 for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, and did these great signs in our sight and watched over us through all the way in which we went and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed. 18 The Lord drove out from before us all the peoples, even the Amorites who lived in the land. We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.” 19 Then Joshua said to the people, “You will not be able to serve the Lord, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your wrongdoing or your sins. 20 If you abandon the Lord and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and destroy you after He has done good to you.” 21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” 22 So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen for yourselves the Lord, to serve Him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.”

In verse 15 Joshua demands that the people make a choice.  They made their choice as we do today based on what we have seen and heard.  They had an advantage having direct knowledge of the power of God where we can only read about it in the Bible.  There is then a warning from Joshua in verse 20 that if they abandoned the Lord they would be destroyed just as not following Him today will result in our eternal destruction.  In verse 22 we see again that they chose for themselves the Lord, the Lord did not force it upon them.  Today, we must also make that choice based on what we see and hear from God through His word.  We must make the effort to understand what he has given us or stand ashamed as we see in 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy 2 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a worker who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.