1. Perseverance of the Saints
Calvinism 5
Perseverance of the Saints

3. The Doctrine Defined
Perseverance of the Saints states that all who are chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, and given faith by the Spirit are eternally saved. They are kept in faith by the power of Almighty God and thus persevere to the end.

4. What do the Scriptures teach?
1 Peter 4:11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. Romans 3:4 …Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. …”

5. Jesus on “Perseverance of the Saints”
Perseverance of the Saints first needs to be properly understood. This doctrine does not mean that all those who merely appear to have faith (i.e., said a certain prayer, walked down the church isle, joined a church, were baptized, etc.) will be kept by God and will therefore persevere to the end. There are many people who profess to be believers but then later fall away. Instead, Perseverance of the Saints means that all those who have a genuine faith in Christ will be kept by God forever and will persevere to the end
Matthew 13:18-23, cf. Luke 8:11-15
Those whose hearts are likened to stony ground, believed but fell away during time of temptation.
Whose fault is it that they fell away?
Why did God not keep them?
Those whose hearts are like thorny ground, “become unfruitful.” cf. John 15:1-6
Whose fault is it that they become unfruitful?

6. Paul on “Perseverance of the Saints”
1 Corinthians 9:27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
Disqualified from what, Paul?
To whom is the letter written? (1 Cor. 1:2)
Context explains it: 1 Corinthians 9:24 – 10:13

7. Paul on “Perseverance of the Saints”
Romans 6:16-23
To whom was the letter written? (Rom. 1:7)
What’s the purpose of the passage?
Romans 6:1-3, 15

8. Paul on “Perseverance of the Saints”
Galatians 5:1-4
To whom was the letter written? (Gal. 1:2, cf. Acts 2:47)
What’s the purpose of the passage?
Galatians 1:6-9

9. Peter on “Perseverance of the Saints”
Vine’s Expository Dictionary:
epignosis akin to epiginosko, denotes "exact or full knowledge, discernment, recognition," and is a strengthened form of gnosis, expressing a fuller or a full "knowledge," a greater participation by the "knower" in the object "known," thus more powerfully influencing him.

10. “Perseverance of the Saints” in Hebrews
To whom was the letter written? (3:1)
2:1-4
3:5 – 4:1, 11
6:4-6
10:19-31, 35-39

11. Proof texts for “Perseverance of the Saints”
John 10:27-29
Romans 8:38-39
1 Peter 1:3-5
John 3:36
1 John 2:19
Coffman’s Commentary on 1 John 2:19
Such a verse as this, of course, is made use of as a crutch for the proposition that a person "once saved is always saved"; however, it should be carefully noted that John did not here write of the false teachers that "they never had been of us," but that at an unspecified previous time, they were not. This is even more clear in the last clause where the word is not that they had never been of us, but that they are not of us. Their departure from the faith became final at some point prior to their leaving; but there is no suggestion by the apostle that those who departed had never been truly converted at the beginning of their Christian association. The fallen angels were not wicked from the beginning but became so; and Judas was not wicked when the Lord chose him as an apostle, but he fell "through transgression.

12. Consequences in their own words:
Bill Foster, a Baptist preacher in Louisville, KY, March 12, 1959, edition of The Weekly Worker: “If I killed my wife and mother and debauched a thousand women I couldn’t go to hell–in fact, I couldn’t go to hell if I wanted to.”

13. Consequences in their own words:
1949, Sam Morris, a Baptist preacher in Stamford, TX, “Do A Christian’s Sins Damn His Soul?” “We take the position that a Christian’s sins do not damn his soul. The way a Christian lives, what he says, his character, his conduct, or his attitude towards other people have nothing whatever to do with the salvation of his soul … All the prayers a man may pray all the Bibles he may read, all the churches he may belong to, all the services he may attend, all the sermons he may practice, all the debts he may pay, all the ordinances he may observe, all the laws he may keep, all the benevolent acts he may perform will not make his soul one whit safer; and all the sins he may commit from idolatry to murder will not make his soul in any more danger.”