Should I Believe in the Perseverance or Preservation of Saints?

NATHAN W. BINGHAM: Joining us this week on the Ask Ligonier podcast is the editor of Tabletalk magazine, Dr. Burk Parsons. Dr. Parsons, should I believe in the perseverance or the preservation of the saints?

DR. BURK PARSONS: That’s a question that I get from time to time and have tried to explain it very simply to those asking the question. There seems to be a good bit of confusion a about this in the church, and I’m not entirely certain why that is the case, because the New Testament is very clear that when it comes to the preservation of the saints and the perseverance of the saints, that in fact it’s both.

We understand, of course, that God is the One who preserves us. We who are the people of God—the elect of God, that God has saved, that God has justified, that God has declared righteous—we who are the people of God are kept in the hand of God as the sheep of Jesus Christ, our Great Shepherd, until the end. And so, we know that God is the One who does the preserving ultimately, but we ought not make the mistake of thinking that that doesn’t mean that we are not called also to persevere. It’s both. And that’s really the biblical equation.

God tells us throughout His Word that we are called to persevere. We even see Jesus praying for Peter, as recorded in Luke 22, when Jesus said: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31–32). Jesus there is praying for Peter and his faith to persevere. We read in Hebrews 12, where the author of Hebrews says, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). Throughout the New Testament, God’s people are given these sorts of challenges and encouragements to press on. For instance, in 2 Peter 1, Peter writes, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall” (2 Peter 1:10).

And so, the New Testament emphasizes both the preservation of the saints and the perseverance of the saints. We’re very well aware of what Paul says in Philippians 1, “And sure I am of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6), and also in John 6:39, “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day,” and again in John 10:27 and following: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Jesus comforts us and encourages us greatly to know that we can never be snatched out of His hand, of the Father’s hand, because He and the Father are one with the same purpose. That is the eternal security that we have in Christ. For all who truly believe, for all who are true Christians, we will persevere to the end because God is preserving us to the end.

Sometimes I hear people speaking negatively about certain phrases that certain pastors, commentators, and theologians have maybe wrongly applied or misused—phrases such as eternal security, which I just used, or even phrases like once saved, always saved. And we need to understand that just because certain pastors or theologians have misappropriated or misused certain phrases like those doesn’t mean the phrases in themselves are wrong. Because the truth of the matter is that for those who are in Christ and those who are the elect of God from before the foundation of the world, for those who have truly trusted Jesus Christ, they have eternal security. For those who have truly trusted Christ, we can tell them without any hesitation: “You are saved, and if you are saved, then you will always be saved. You will never fall away.”

We, of course, understand that there are many people who profess to believe, who profess to trust Christ, who profess to be Christians, and then fall away. But we know from what we read in 1 John that there are those who will leave us, and when they leave us—when they leave the church, when they become apostate—the truth of the matter is they were never truly of us, because if they were truly of us—if they were true Christians, if their faith was in fact real faith—then they would’ve remained with us.

And so, we need to understand that these phrases, the_ perseverance of the saints _and the preservation of the saints, are not at odds with one another; they in fact complement one another. We see that even in the Westminster Standards. We see that in chapter 17, especially in section three of the Westminster Confession of Faith, where the authors of the Westminster Confession use both the words perseverance and then even preservation. And so, it’s important that we look to our confessions and use some of these same words that reflect the biblical truths of our salvation.