Survey of the Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 17)

Survey of the Westminster Confession of Faith

Chapter 17

Of the Perseverance of the Saints

(Part  1)

This chapter on the perseverance of the saints falls between chapters dealing with the order of salvation and chapters concerned with living the Christian life. In summary, we can say that this chapter teaches that the elect, due to the immutability of God’s decree, will persevere, or be preserved in a state of grace, to the end of their lives and be eternally saved, notwithstanding the fact that they may, for a time, fall into grievous sins and suffer all the miseries which accompany such behavior.

The first paragraph states the fact of the doctrine of perseverance; the second paragraph explains the ground of the saints’ perseverance; and the third paragraph reconciles this doctrine with the occasional waywardness of the believer.

I. They, whom God has accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, 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 eternally saved.

This brief paragraph contains a proposition of tremendous theological weight and comfort. The Divines declare that the state of grace, which one enters upon conversion, is of such a nature that one can never revert to a pre-conversion status. In the theology of the Confession, this means that once a sinner is effectually called, declared righteous and adopted into the family of God, that declaration and that adoption cannot and will not be undone.

Once God judiciously accepts the payment of His Son on behalf of the sinner and imputes to the sinner the righteousness of His Son and once God assigns to the sinner the status of a son, there is no possibility that the sinner will ever again be viewed by God as bearing guilt and lacking righteousness. What is indicated in the declaration of the sinner’s righteousness is a perpetual state of favor before God. It is the permanence of this state of redemption that gives birth to the doctrine of perseverance.

Already in this paragraph, however, we have a hint of what is developed more fully in the third paragraph, namely, the possibility of spiritual “vacillation” within the solid bounds of certain and ultimate perseverance. This hint is found in the phrase, “[believers] can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace…” The writers imply that believers can “fall,” but they cannot fall away or fall “out of ” the redeemed state; that is, believers may stumble, morally speaking, but never to the point of losing their position of redemptive favor before God.

This doctrine of perseverance is one of the most thrilling of Biblical teachings; it also is a doctrine that distinguishes Reformed theology. This is not to say that all non-Reformed theologies teach the opposite of the doctrine of perseverance (many do, of course), but it is to say that only Reformed theology has this doctrine as a prominent and fully explained tenet of its system and only Reformed theology can justify the proposal of such a doctrine.

Even a brief consideration of the implications of this doctrine will show just how significant it is for informing us about the nature of our salvation. This doctrine could not exist except in a Reformed system because it depends so directly upon other aspects of the Christian dogma.

Reformed theology, of course, teaches that fallen man is dead in his sin and unwilling and unable to initiate and maintain a saving relationship with God; Reformed theology teaches that man’s salvation depends upon the initiative, desire and power of God alone. Therefore, once again, the fate of those who are apprehended by a sovereign God and whose continuance in that apprehended state depends, not upon them, but upon God, can be known and can be known infallibly.

This is why Reformed theology has a doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Only Reformed theology could propose the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints and have this doctrine fit neatly into the larger system. This doctrine complements other major Reformed dogma.

Non-Reformed systems might propose the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints (they don’t, generally speaking, but this is theory), but it quickly could be shown how obviously this doctrine contradicts other major positions in those systems. A non-Reformed system would be self-contradictory if it taught, on the one hand, that salvation is a matter ultimately determined by the sinner, while teaching, on the other hand, that salvation is a permanent, unchanging status.

To have a permanent, unchanging status, there must be a power involved capable of ruling, overruling, and otherwise maintaining circumstances as that power desires. This cannot be said of man and so any theological system that tries to make fallen man the determining factor in redemption, while offering the hope of perseverance to the saved sinner, is paradoxical.

These few considerations show, we trust, just how significant this doctrine of the perseverance of the saints really is and how central it is to a well-ordered theological system.

(To be continued)