Is Calvinism's TULIP Biblical? (Perseverance of the Saints)
(This is the last part of the TULIP posts. For the whole TULIP post, click here.)
5. Perseverance of the Saints
I agree with Calvinists in principle on this point, but not for the reasons they say. This point - this TULIP petal - basically boils down to “you can’t lose your salvation” (the only part I agree with), but where I stop agreeing with them is their belief that the reason the elect can't lose their salvation is because God predestined them for heaven, causes them to believe, and will cause them to persevere in the faith all the way to the end of their lives.
This sounds good (if not for the fact that its foundation is an unbiblical view of predestination) and it brings Calvinists a lot of comfort in their “eternal security,” that if God predestined them for heaven and caused them to believe then they can never lose their faith/salvation.
But there’s a problem: This is only if they are truly one of the elect, and Calvinists cannot know for sure whether or not they themselves are truly one of the elect until they see if they persevered in the faith all the way to the end of their lives. Kinda puts them in a bind, doesn’t it, having to wait to see if God causes them to be faithful till the end of their lives to know if they were truly saved all along or not.
You see, Calvinists don't get to decide if they want to believe in Jesus or not. They believe it's up to God, that God causes them to or not. And therefore, they have to just wait and see what He decided, hoping and praying that they were truly given real faith in Jesus, which will only be evident if they remain in the faith all the way till the end of their lives.
But I don’t believe that God predestines only certain people to heaven or that He causes those pre-selected people to believe (and that no one else can believe). I believe the Bible teaches that God loves all people, that Jesus died for all people, that salvation is available to all people, that anyone can believe, and that we are all responsible for our choice about Jesus. And once we choose to put our faith in Jesus, to commit to Him, making Him our Lord and Savior, then we will be saved and God seals us with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee, to make it permanent, secure.
If we do what God said we need to do (believe in Jesus!), then we can trust that He will do what He promised to do (save us!). This is where our security is, in God's faithful character, reliable Word, and trustworthy promises.
[And this, sadly, is something Calvinism does not have because Calvi-god is a contradictory, deceiving god who cannot be trusted to mean what he says and say what he means, a god who is as equally glorified by sin and evil as he is by obedience and goodness, a god who causes sin but punishes us for it, etc. How can a god like that ever be trusted to keep his word?]
Ephesians 1:13-14: "And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession - to the praise of his glory." [When you believe, God seals you, guarantees your eternal inheritance, and promises to redeem you in the end.]
Ephesians 4:30: "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption." [We’re not warned that we might “lose” the Spirit or our seal, because it’s not possible. Instead, we’re warned to not “grieve” the Holy Spirit who sealed us (past tense, it’s a done deal) for the day of redemption. And I believe that’s the day Jesus comes back to get us (which is looking closer every day). Question: If God predestines and controls everything we do, as Calvinists believe, then why the warning to us to not grieve the Spirit, as if we had any choice or control about it? If Calvinism is true, then God would determine whether we grieve the Spirit or not, and if we do then it would be because He’s causing it for His glory. Same with any sin we do. What a mess Calvinism creates!]
2 Corinthians 1:21-22: "Now it is God who makes both of us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." [What event is "to come"? Jesus is coming back to take us with Him. And the Holy Spirit is our guarantee of that. His seal marks those who belong to Him, who choose to believe in Jesus. And anyone can. And with the Spirit's help, believers can stand firm in the faith when hard times hit, as we await the day He comes to get us.]
John 1:12-13: "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent… but born of God." [When you believe, you get the right to be “born again” into God’s family. This contradicts the Calvinist idea that the elect are born-again first, to cause them to believe. This verse clearly shows that being born-again is a result of believing in Jesus. And once you are born-again, you cannot become unborn. You are a new creation, a child of God now: 1 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" The old has gone. It’s not waiting around to reclaim you.]
[FYI: Calvinists will agree on the surface with “God loves all people, Jesus died for all people, salvation is offered to all people, anyone can believe, and we are all responsible for our choice about Jesus.” But they have a deeper level that changes the meaning of the surface level they say they agree with.
Briefly, here’s what they really mean (their actual beliefs are in parentheses, in blue): “God loves all people (but He has two different kinds of love - a “save your soul” love for the elect and a “gives you food and sunshine on earth” love for the non-elect)... Jesus died for all (of His) people (the elect)... salvation is offered to all people (that is, to all the people Jesus died for, the elect; or it's offered to all people but only the elect can accept it)... anyone can believe (if they want to, but God causes only the elect to want to)... and we are all responsible for our choice about Jesus (we can only choose what God predestined/causes us to choose, but if He causes you to not believe in Jesus, He will still hold you responsible for it).”
They are very deceptive in their wording, hiding their real beliefs and only sharing the part we would all agree with, trying to make us think they are saying the same thing we are, that they believe in free-will and real choice and that all people can be saved, when they really don’t believe this. And they do this so that they can slowly, stealthily reel you deeper and deeper into Calvinism without scaring you off or raising any red flags. It’s one of the ways they trap many good, well-meaning Christians into Calvinism (along with convincing you that they have deeper knowledge of the Bible and that you’re more humble and God-glorifying if you agree with them, etc.). But the fact that they feel they need to cover up their real beliefs in order to draw people into Calvinism, softening their beliefs to not scare people away, is a major red flag that something is wrong with their theology! Okay, now, back to where we were …]
So while I agree with Calvinists that true Spirit-sealed believers cannot lose their salvation, I disagree with how we are saved. And it’s a disagreement that makes all the difference. I disagree that only certain, pre-chosen people can be saved and that everyone else is hopelessly lost, beyond the reach of God’s grace, forgiveness, and love. I disagree that Jesus died for only a few people. I disagree that God gets glory for causing people to sin, reject Him, and go to hell. I disagree that God punishes us for what He causes. I disagree that we have no real control over what we think, choose, do, or whom we worship.
Joshua 24:15: "But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve..."
Romans 1:21,28: "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened... Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind ..." (They were blinded because they wanted to be blinded, because they chose to reject God and His Truth. They wanted a life without God, and so He gave them what they wanted.)
And I also disagree with the terminology of “perseverance” of the saints, which seems to make it about our actions and efforts to stay in the faith, as if our security of salvation rests on how well we "persevere," how well we run the race of life. I think a better word would be the “preservation” of the saints. No matter the mistakes and stumbles we make along the way, no matter the pitfalls we fall into or the backsliding we do, no matter how well or poorly we run the race, God has already preserved us in our salvation. To “persevere” is something we do, based on our efforts, something we have to keep on doing our whole lives. But to be “preserved” is something God does to us (He seals us and guarantees our redemption), not based on our efforts to persevere but on His promise to give eternal life to all who believe, and it happens the moment we put our faith in Jesus. And anyone can believe. Therefore, anyone can be saved. When we choose to believe in Jesus, we are born-again and sealed and become "destined” to live for the praise of God's glory, to grow in Christ, and to be redeemed. Not to be lost again.
Ephesians 1:12 (RSV): "… we who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory."
Romans 8:29-30: "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son... And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." (If God foreknows you as His child, then you are predestined to eventually be glorified, as all true believers will be. To be technical, Romans 11:2 specifies that God foreknew Israel. But don't forget that Gentile believers are grafted into Israel, adopted into "God's chosen people," so that in Jesus Christ there is no difference, Romans 9:8,24-26, 11:17, Galatians 3:26-29, 6:15, Ephesians 3:6, etc.)
Can You Lose Your Salvation?: However, some Christians (not Calvinists) don’t believe in “once saved always saved.” They think you can lose your salvation by sinning (but if that was true, then what did Jesus’s death really accomplish?), and therefore you must work to keep your salvation. They believe that every time you sin or backslide you become “unsaved” again. And so if you fail to confess any sin before you die, you will go to hell. They say that getting salvation at first is about faith, but keeping it is about your efforts.
And they fear that “once saved always saved” gives people an excuse to live in sin: “Oh, I prayed a prayer to accept Jesus, so now I can live however I want because my salvation is secure.” But this is a false premise to start with because if someone “gets saved" with the idea that it's permission to keep sinning then they probably aren't really saved at all. To believe in Jesus (according to the concordance) is to commit to Him, not just to say you believe in Him. ("You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder." James 2:19)
If you never really repented - turned from yourself, your former ways - then you never really made Jesus your Lord. And you can't have the "Savior" part without the "Lord" part. To be genuinely saved requires not just saying words like “I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior.” It always involves a heart change, choosing to turn from your life of sin (to repent) and to turn to Jesus as Savior and Lord, to commit to Him. It’s a commitment for life, not just 10 seconds of saying a prayer.
Acts 2:38,3:19: "Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized ... And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'… Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord."
2 Corinthians 7:10: “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”
James 4:8: “Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
Romans 10:9-10: "That if you confess with your mouth 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” [True faith/repentance is a heart thing, not just a mouth thing. A heart change, not just a behavior change.]
Matthew 15:8: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (God knows the difference. And it matters.)
2 Chronicles 7:14: “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Only those who truly believe in their hearts, who commit to the Lord, will be sealed with the Spirit. And genuine believers won’t be comfortable using excuses to live in sin. They might still try, but they won’t be comfortable because the Spirit inside them won’t let them be. And if they continue to live in sin, God may hand them over to themselves, their bad choices, as discipline.
1 Corinthians 3:16: “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”
John 16:8: “When [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment…”
1 Corinthians 5:5 (about a man in their church who was deep in sin and unrepentant about it): “hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.”
Hebrews 12:10-11: “... God disciplines us for our own good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” [Why would this imply that sin leads to discipline if sin really leads to losing your salvation? And as Proverbs 3:12 says, "the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father [disciplines] the son he delights in." But if we lost our salvation when we sinned, we would no longer be His child, and, therefore, there is no need to discipline us as a child He loves anymore.]
John 16:13: “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.” and Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (This is where the Spirit leads us.)
And so when true believers sin, the Spirit will convict them (they might ignore the conviction, for a long time even, earning some serious punishment and discipline, but it will be there, gnawing at them), giving them a deep-down sense that they’re not living the way He wants them to, that something is wrong, that they’ve drifted from God. And when they finally stop and listen to the Spirit’s conviction, when they finally acknowledge their waywardness, then they can stop making excuses and start trying to make it right - by coming clean with God about sin (true believers don’t confess sin to maintain their salvation but to restore their fellowship with God), by accepting His forgiveness and thanking Him for it (our sins were already forgiven at the cross, we just need to accept it), by drawing near to Him again in prayer and His Word, and by starting to obey Him again from now on.
However, this does not mean that real believers won’t sin or backslide terribly or that they’ll never go through really rebellious times. We are all still human, and we will all still do really human things sometimes, maybe out of despair or anger or hopelessness or selfishness or a moment of weakness or whatever. But that’s where God’s forgiveness, mercy, and undeserved grace come in. Always remember that God is the God of second chances. And third. And fourth. And so on. He's never done with us, and we're never done growing, learning, struggling, until eternity.
Do you think it’s any surprise to Him that we sin? Do you think there is any sin He can’t forgive? The only sins He “can’t” forgive are the ones we won’t confess, that we won’t let go of, that we won’t let Him forgive. And He’s much more ready and willing to forgive us than we are to forgive ourselves sometimes. After all, Jesus spilled His blood, gave up His life, to pay for our sins. So do you really think there's any sin Jesus won't forgive? No! (But that’s what Satan wants you to think!)
Jesus’s blood was precious. His sacrifice was costly. And God wants to put it to full use, generously and abundantly forgiving as many people, as many sins, as He can - any and all sins, big or small. And all we have to do is let Him! No matter how far you’ve fallen, you can’t fall past His forgiving reach, His amazing grace. His arm is a lot longer than any fall you could ever take. His love is a lot bigger and more powerful than any sin you could ever commit. And the moment you turn towards Him again, He will come running to meet you, the way the father came running in joy to meet the prodigal son when the son came home.
Luke 15:17-24: “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘… I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”
The father never even asked where the son had been or what he’d been doing. He never scolded him for leaving in the first place or said “I told you so!” No. The father was much more concerned with where the son was heading and that he’d come home than with where the son had been and what he’d done wrong in the past. In fact, the father didn’t even let the son finish his apology, but he forgave and forgot instantly, welcoming him back fully.
Proverbs 28:13: “He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”
Psalm 51:1-2,10: “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin… Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”
1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
Psalm 145:18: "The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth."
Colossians 1:12-14: “giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
Colossians 1:21-22: “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-”
Jude 24-25: “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
John 5:24: "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life." (I have yet to find a verse that says "and then crossed back over to death when he sinned.")
Romans 8:38-39: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Hebrews 13:5: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
When believers sin, we do not lose salvation, but we do break fellowship with God. And consequently, we step out from under God's protective covering over us and we open ourselves up to demonic influence, to numbing ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and to the consequences for disobeying the Lord. And we need to confess our sins in order to restore that fellowship, so that God can bless us and use us again and fix our situation and help us grow more and more like Jesus.
Notice in this verse that the man had nothing to show for his life as a Christian, all his works were burned up because he did nothing for the Lord... but his soul was still saved: "his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping though the flames." (1 Cor. 3:13-15)
It is possible to do everything wrong, to have nothing to show for your life as a Christian, and yet to still get into heaven - because it's our belief in Jesus that saves, not our efforts to stop sinning or to do good. Of course, we'll pay costly eternal consequences, loss of eternal rewards, for living in sin instead of building God's Kingdom, but our salvation is always secure. Because it was secured for us by Jesus's death, by our faith in Him. And so when God sees true believers, He doesn’t see the mess we are anymore or our sins or even our self-righteous efforts. He sees Jesus on the cross, dying in our place for our sins. He sees us as righteous not because of anything we do or don't do, but because of what Jesus did for us.
Philippians 3:9: “… not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”
[But while I believe that true Spirit-sealed believers can’t lose their salvation, I do believe there are people who think they are saved when they really aren’t. Maybe they convinced themselves they were saved merely because, caught up in the emotion of the moment, they walked to the front of a church, knelt at the altar, and prayed a prayer, even though it didn't change their heart at all. Maybe it's because they were baptized as a baby or followed some church's traditions or rituals. Maybe they grew up in a Christian home and think they inherited salvation from their parents. Maybe they know all the right words to say and know the Bible like the back of their hand, but that head knowledge never made it to their heart. Maybe they think belief in the existence of God is enough, in whatever form they want God to take. Maybe they let Calvinists convince them that they are one of the elect, saved from the beginning of time without ever having to make a personal decision about it. Whatever it is, they have tricked themselves into thinking they are saved ... but they can't trick God. And they need to someday wake up and realize that none of that saves, that they need to choose Jesus as Lord and Savior for themselves, committing themselves to Him, if they want to go to heaven. And only then, when their belief is real and personal and deliberate, will they be sealed and filled by the Spirit, and their salvation will be eternally secure.
And on the flip-side, I believe there are Christians who think they've given up their faith, that they've lost their faith, but they really haven't. Nor could they, if they are Spirit-sealed. But for some reason or other, they've turned their backs on God for a time. Maybe they are actually running not from God but from the pressure/judgments of other people or from the harsh "spotlight." Maybe they don't really want to get rid of God but are trying to shake off the strict, suffocating traditions, rules, and restrictions of "religion." Maybe they are just really hurting or really angry and don't know who else to blame but God, and so they turn away from Him in their pain. Maybe they think they've lost their faith when, in reality, they are trying to find it, to find what faith really is instead of what we think it should be. Maybe they think they've left God when, in reality, they are trying to find Him - as He really is, behind all the misconceptions and assumptions we have of Him, behind all the things we humans pile on top of Him, the things that distort our understanding of Him and that damage or interfere with our relationship with Him. If they are true Spirit-sealed believers deep down, even if they don't feel like it right now and feel like they lost their faith, the Holy Spirit will continue to work on their hearts, to draw them back to Him, to purify their faith and correct their views of God and of the Christian life and of themselves, helping them to see things the way God does. (Hopefully before they make a huge mess of their lives.)]
Eternal Rewards: Salvation is God’s gift to anyone who believes in Jesus as Lord and Savior. (And anyone can believe.) And once we are born-again into His family, we cannot be unborn. Nothing can undo His forgiveness. Nothing can separate us from God’s love. And so as believers, our sins don’t make us lose our salvation … but they do interfere in our relationship with Him, they hinder our ability to sense the Spirit’s guidance, comfort, conviction, etc., and they cause us to miss out on the eternal rewards that come with obedience, with living as God wants us to. (I think many of the Bible verses that seem to sound like we can lose our salvation are really about losing our heavenly rewards and/or our good Christian witness and influence.) But repenting and drawing near to God again will restore our fellowship with Him, and then He will help us start cleaning up our lives again, using us for His kingdom work and building up our new eternal rewards in heaven.
1 Corinthians 3:12-15: "If any man builds on this foundation [Jesus Christ] using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through flames."
Matthew 6:19-21: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Romans 12:1: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.” (We live for Him out of gratitude for His mercy, for what He’s done for us, and to worship Him, not to maintain our salvation.)
Matthew 3:8: “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”
True repentance shows up in our actions. As believers, we build upon Jesus. And we either build things that last (eternal) or things that don't last (temporary, earthly). And we will be rewarded accordingly.
If we could lose our salvation with each sin, wouldn’t the Corinthians verse say that the man who used the wrong building materials didn’t make it into heaven at all, instead of saying that he made it in as one “escaping through flames”? It's clear from the verse he did nothing eternally-rewarding other than believe. He lived his life for the wrong things. Would that not be sin? Would that not mean he died full of sin? Then why - if we could lose salvation with each sin - is he in heaven?
What sins did Jesus's death pay for then? Did it pay for those that happened before we believed in Him (and so we don't need to list them all off individually or ask forgiveness for each one), but we are responsible for all the ones that come after (and so we need to ask forgiveness for each one to restore our salvation)? If it paid for all of them but if we still need to ask forgiveness for each sin after believing (to restore our salvation), then why wouldn't we also need to ask for forgiveness for each individual sin up to the time we believed (to make sure they are all repented of and forgiven)?
Would one overlooked sin that we forgot to repent of or ask forgiveness for block us from heaven? How many sins and mistakes would it take to go from "escaping through flames" to being banned from heaven altogether? What level of sin would it take to lose salvation: saying a bad word, gossiping, cheating on your spouse, murdering someone, having a moment of pride? Would this include every sin of the heart and mind, or just the ones people can see? Do we need to repent immediately after the sin or is there a grace period, especially in cases like when a person shouts out a bad word right before an automobile accident that puts them in a coma, and so they are unable to ask for forgiveness till they wake up? If we could lose salvation because of sin, why are these things not spelled out more clearly in Scripture? I mean, this would be very important information, would it not?
But I think these aren't spelled out in Scripture because true Spirit-filled believers cannot lose their salvation. We can lose our rewards and witness and fellowship with God (until we set it right again), but not our salvation.
James 1:2-4: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (Perseverance is about maturity, being complete in the Lord, not about keeping salvation.)
Romans 5:3-5: “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” (Perseverance leads to godly character and hope, not to keeping our salvation.)
Galatians 6:9: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (And so if you don’t keep doing good, you’ll have less to harvest, less to show for your efforts, but you won’t lose your salvation.)
So a true believer can never fall away completely. Because God won’t let them. But they can backslide during difficult, dry, discouraging, or disobedient times. There might be times when life is so hard that they sort of "give up" for a time, where they walk away from the Lord and live for themselves. Think of King David, when he went through the whole "sleeping with Bathsheba and then killing her husband" thing. When I read that, I can see how David backslid terribly, but I never get the sense that God left him. David left God for a time, but God never left David. And even though he sinned as badly as he did, David was still called “a man after God’s own heart.” And it’s not because he was perfect or anything (because he wasn’t), but because no matter how much he failed, he always genuinely repented of his sin, picked himself up, dusted himself off, and began passionately pursuing God again. Every time. A true believer might backslide or "walk away" from God for a time, but God never walks away from them, for the Holy Spirit is in them, constantly working on their hearts and calling them back to Him again.
[Christians who think we can lose our salvation will use these kinds of verses as proof, saying "See, salvation is a future thing, something we don't have yet but are working towards, and so we are always at risk of losing it, and so we must always work to maintain it.":
1 Thessalonians 5:8-9: "But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Calvinism and Salvation: Now, back to Calvinism specifically. Calvinists believe the elect cannot lose their salvation because God gives them faith, causing them to believe in Jesus because they were predestined to heaven. And if God predestined them for heaven, He will keep them in the faith all the way till the end of their lives.
But the real kicker is, they cannot know for sure if they themselves are one of the elect because the only real, lasting “proof” is if they persevere (remain in the faith) till the end of their lives, and so they are always evaluating their performance and their feelings, looking for evidence of if they are really elect or not. (How exhausting and discouraging!)
And so a big problem for Calvinists is that when they have times (as we all do) of doubt or sin or backsliding, then they have to wonder if they are really one of the elect, if they are really saved, or if they just thought they were. And if they begin to fall away or fall into sin, then God must have predestined it and caused it, which might mean they are really non-elect (because they aren’t persevering), and if they are non-elect, then there’s nothing they can do about it anyway, and so they may as well embrace it. (This has happened recently to a bunch of Calvinist “celebrities.” A sad commentary on what can happen when you embrace Calvinism as truth.) And instead of getting rid of just the Calvinism (as they should), they get rid of God and faith altogether.
Now, it’s possible that Calvinists who “left the faith” because of Calvinism are still true believers deep down. If they truly believed in Jesus first, before they got into Calvinism, then they are really saved but have let Calvinism pull them away from the truth. But they are still saved, and the Spirit will work on them, trying to draw them back again to true biblical truth, to the God and Jesus of the Bible.
But then there are those Calvinists (or any regular “Christian”) who walk, talk, and live like a Christian, who might even have all the Bible knowledge of a Christian … but if they don't have the Holy Spirit from a true conversion to Christ, then they are not truly saved. They have convinced themselves that they’re believers when they really aren’t. And for these “Christians in name only,” it’s not that they lost their faith… but that they never truly had real, saving faith to begin with.
"They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth." (1 John 2:19-20. Those who left the faith never really had the faith, but the true believers are different because they have the Holy Spirit.)
Also remember what Jesus says in Matthew 7:21-23: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"
God either “foreknows” you (Romans 8:29) or else He never knew you. And Jesus says He never knew these particular people who thought they followed Him. He doesn’t say He knew them at one point and that they lost Him, but that He never knew them. Even though they thought they were saved because of their good "Christian" works (trying to earn their way to heaven), they never had the Holy Spirit, and so Jesus never knew them. Salvation is not about our behavior; it’s about our heart. It’s about doing the one main thing that is God’s Will for mankind: "And this is His command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ..." (1 John 3:23) If they had truly believed, they would have gotten the Holy Spirit (been sealed by the Spirit), Jesus would’ve known them, and they would’ve been destined for glory. And so if Jesus “never knew” us, it's not that we had but then lost salvation, but it’s that we never really had it to begin with because we never truly accepted Him as our Lord and Savior.
However, if - and this is a big "IF" - if it is possible for a person to be a genuine believer and then to lose their salvation, I believe it could only happen if they truly knew and lived the Truth but then made a deliberate, conscious decision to reject it anyway. But I still don't think it's possible for a genuine believer to lose salvation - because "if they went out from us, they never really belonged to us." But if it is possible, it would only be by conscious, deliberate choice.
So I don’t think believers have to be worried that they might drift into losing salvation or accidentally fall away from faith. If you are truly concerned about "losing your salvation," then you aren't at risk of losing your salvation. Whereas those who could "lose it" - if we even can, which I don’t think is possible anyway – wouldn’t be bothered about losing it. In fact, they’d want to lose it, willingly and consciously choosing to throw it away. So if you’re concerned, then relax. Your concern shows that you don't need to be concerned. Just keep walking with God and He’ll keep walking with you, no matter how much you stumble and fall.
Philippians 1:6: “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” God will carry it to completion. And if He says He will do it, then He will. His plan is not to lose you but to carry you to completion.
John 10:27-29: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand.”
Do you think anyone can snatch anything out of God’s hand when He promises to keep holding onto it? Do you think any sin is stronger than God’s forgiveness? Here is a recommendation for if your fear of losing your salvation comes from how you're living your life: Be like David. Stop wallowing in guilt over your sins and start getting right with God again.
Satan knows he can’t have your soul anymore, and so he instead tries to trip you up in your faith in any way he can, such as by tempting you to sin, to doubt God, to go your own way, to make you afraid of everything, to distract you from the jobs God wants you to do, to think (and live like) you lost your faith and that God is done with you, to keep you overly-focused on yourself, on all you’ve done wrong, on your guilt and shame: “Oh, woe is me! I’m so horrible. God could never love me or forgive me now!”
If Satan can keep us focused on our past, on our guilt and shame, on our mistakes and weaknesses, then he can keep us from focusing on God’s love and forgiveness, on the life God wants us to have, on the mercy, grace, and healing God offers us, preventing us from going forward in faith, joy, peace, and gratitude for all that God’s done for us. But God is so much more generous with His love, grace, and forgiveness than we give Him credit for sometimes. He freely offers it to anyone who will take it. But we hold back, convinced we are just too broken and sinful to be able to accept it. Lies from Enemy! Do not believe it! Just reach out and grab on to all the love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and healing that God freely offers to all of us broken, sinful people. That’s what makes it His gift to us. If we could earn it or deserve it, it wouldn’t be a gift anymore. Draw near to Him again (through His Word, prayer, confession), thank Him for His amazing love and grace, ask Him what He wants you to do next and start obeying, and start living for His glory from here on out.
And if you’re not sure if you’re really saved, then start now: Tell God that you want Him in your life, that you know you’re a sinner and that you need Jesus, that you believe Jesus died for your sins and rose again to prove He is God and defeat the Enemy, and that you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior right now and want to live for Him from now on. It’s always better late than never. Because it’s about your eternal soul.
However, while I think a true believer can’t lose their faith, even one who drifted into Calvinism after they came to Christ, I do think that if someone came to “faith” in Jesus through Calvinist teaching then they need to question if they are really saved at all. You see, Calvinism teaches that you can’t choose to believe in God or put your faith in Jesus, but that God will cause it to happen to you if you are one of the chosen ones. In Calvinism, the elect just wake up one day and realize that they’re elect, but they don’t/can’t choose to have faith in Jesus.
In the Bible, we choose and we do it. Believing in Jesus is the one responsibility God gave us to do. But Calvinism says we can't do it. It says that God chooses for us and that He does it to us. And so if Calvinism teaches that God is responsible for your faith and that you can’t choose Jesus as your Lord and Savior unless God causes you to … but God says in the Bible that you are responsible for your faith and that you need to decide to make Jesus your Lord and Savior … then how can anyone truly be saved under Calvinist teaching, when they say you can’t do the one thing God tells you to do to be saved (Believe!)?
(You could only really be saved under Calvinist teaching if you ignore - or are ignorant of - the Calvinist teaching about how we are saved and if you choose to deliberately, consciously put your faith in Jesus anyway, accepting Him as your Lord and Savior.)
The thing is, when it comes to a Calvinist's sense of security about their faith, they can’t point to any decision on their part as support for their salvation or to give them any sense of security in their salvation because they don’t think they get to decide or choose. They believe God instills faith in certain people, causing them to believe. And it’s basically a lottery system where God (apparently randomly) decides whom to give saving faith to (and whom to withhold it from). And so since Calvinists cannot decide for themselves if they want to believe in Jesus, they have to trust that God gave them real faith, and then they look for evidence of it in their lives, thoughts, and actions. But they can’t know for sure till the end of their lives.
And this “not knowing but needing to find out” leads some Calvinists to spend their lives struggling to “prove” that they’re elect, always trying and trying to be a better Christian, always carefully examining their thoughts and actions, looking for conclusive signs that they’re elect. And this can lead to an overly self-critical attitude, to doubt, anxiety, and fear, to constantly working to be better, to despair if they sin or backslide, and eventually to burn-out. And when they reach burn-out, they might simply give up in exhaustion and allow themselves to wallow in sin and hopelessness because they are too tired of trying, and they figure that maybe they are non-elect after all, so “why fight it anymore?”.
Can you see the exhausting, hopeless cycle Calvinism keeps a person in? They can never truly enjoy their relationship with God. They can never really rest secure in their faith or in His love, grace, forgiveness or promises, no matter how hard they try. In fact, they’ll be less and less secure in their faith the harder they try - because the harder they have to try to prove they’re elect might just prove they’re non-elect, because a truly elect person wouldn’t have to try so hard, would they? A vicious cycle, completely robbing a person of all joy, comfort, security, and hope. (Just what Satan wants.)
Now to get even deeper into this...
Evanescent Grace: I don’t know if Calvinists are aware of this or not, but in Calvinism there is something known as “evanescent (temporary/quickly fading) grace.” The elect get real “saving grace,” where Calvi-god gives them real faith to make them believe in Jesus, and Calvi-god will keep them in the faith all the way till the end. But the non-elect – poor, unfortunate souls! - can’t be saved no matter what. This is discouraging enough. But what’s more is that there are some non-elect people that Calvi-god gives “evanescent grace” to, making them think they are elect for a time.
According to John Calvin, God sometimes gives non-elected people a temporary faith – evanescent grace - that feels so much like real, saving grace/faith that they think they are really saved, really one of the elect … when they really aren’t. He makes them feel secure in their "fake salvation," just so that He has even more reason to damn them to hell. Essentially, Calvi-god tricks some non-elect people into thinking they are elect, and there’s no way for them to tell the difference. There’s no way to know – till the end of your life - which grace/faith you got, real or fake, because they both feel the same.
That is sick and twisted! What kind of a God is that!?! And how then can any Calvinist ever be assured of their salvation if God might be tricking them into thinking they are saved when they aren’t? And if that's a "righteous" God, I'd hate to see an unrighteous one!
And if you think I am making this up, look at John Calvin's own rambling words on this, from his Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 3, Chapter 2, Section 11:
"I am aware it seems unaccountable to some how faith is attributed to the reprobate, seeing that it is declared by Paul to be one of the fruits of election; and yet the difficulty is easily solved: for though none are enlightened into faith, and truly feel the efficacy of the Gospel, with the exception of those who are fore-ordained to salvation, yet experience shows that the reprobate are sometimes affected in a way so similar to the elect, that even in their own judgment there is no difference between them. … by Christ himself a temporary faith, is ascribed to [the reprobate]. … the Lord, the better to convict them, and leave them without excuse, instills into their minds such a sense of his goodness as can be felt without the Spirit of adoption. … there is a great resemblance and affinity between the elect of God and those who are impressed for a time with a fading faith.… God regenerates the elect only for ever by incorruptible seed … that [their salvation] may be sure and steadfast. But in this there is nothing to prevent an inferior operation of the Spirit from taking its course in the reprobate…. We may add, that the reprobate never have any other than a confused sense of grace, laying hold of the shadow rather than the substance, because the Spirit properly seals the forgiveness of sins in the elect only, applying it by special faith to their use. …the reprobate believe God to be propitious to them [favorable to them, giving them a chance of success], inasmuch as they accept the gift of reconciliation, though confusedly and without due discernment, not that they are partakers of the same faith or regeneration with the children of God.… God illumines [the reprobates’] minds to this extent, that they recognize his grace; but … the reprobate never attain to the full result or to fruition. When he shows himself propitious to them, it is not as if he had truly rescued them from death, and taken them under his protection. He only gives them a manifestation [a glimpse] of his present mercy. In the elect alone he implants the living root of faith, so that they persevere even to the end…. There is nothing inconsistent in this with the fact of his enlightening some with a present sense of grace, which afterwards proves evanescent.”
My goodness, this makes me sick to my stomach! (And is there even one Bible verse to back any of this garbage up? No, there isn't. It's probably why it "seems unaccountable to some." Because they know the Bible doesn't say it, regardless of how "easily" he thinks he "solved" this "difficulty" - a difficulty of his own making, nonetheless.)
Calvin is saying (read it again) that the non-elect sometimes feel saved, that they are sometimes affected as much as the elect are, truly convinced that they accepted a real gift of reconciliation that God seemed to offer them, and so they truly think they’re saved … but in reality, he says, Christ gave them a temporary, fake version of faith (not a real faith that saves) that makes them just feel saved so that He can more strongly convict them in hell. And yet they themselves cannot tell the difference.
Did you get that? Do you really hear what that's saying? Our God - who is supposed to be just and righteous and loving - tricks non-elected people (according to Calvinism) into truly thinking they are saved/elected. He gives them a fake, temporary, non-saving grace/faith that causes them to feel saved all the way till the end, just so He can punish them more "justly" in hell! (As if simply damning them to hell in the first place for the unbelief He caused wouldn’t be bad enough!) All for His purposes and good pleasure and glory!
And there is more in Book 3, Chapter 24, Section 8: "… there are two species of calling: for there is an universal call, by which God, through the external preaching of the word, invites all men alike, even those for whom he designs the call to be a savor of death, and the ground of a severer condemnation. Besides this there is a special call which, for the most part, God bestows on believers only, when by the internal illumination of the Spirit he causes the word preached to take deep root in their hearts. Sometimes, however, he communicates it also to those whom he enlightens only for a time, and whom afterwards, in just punishment for their ingratitude, he abandons and smites with greater blindness."
As I said in another point, Calvinists break biblical concepts up into “two different types” to make the Bible fit their twisted theology. And here we see Calvin doing that (and all Calvinists do it) with “two different calls.” He is saying that God gives a “special [salvation] call” to the elect that He makes them accept ... but He gives a different salvation call - a “universal call” – to all people, even those whom He created for hell, but He causes them to reject it. Therefore, the call is not a real invitation to eternal life for them, but it was designed by God to be a “savor of death” to them and to lead to “severer condemnation” for rejecting His call, even though that’s all they could do because He caused them to do it. (Do you know of any verses that clearly teach this stuff?)
So it's not enough for Calvi-god to predestine the non-elect to hell just because he wants to ... but he has to pretend to offer them salvation that isn't even available to them just so that he can supposedly condemn them more severely. It’s sick and twisted! (Oh, and did you catch the part about how he also gives the “special call” to those whom he enlightens only for a time – evanescent faith/grace - but then later he punishes them and abandons them, and smites them with greater blindness? That, folks, is Calvinism for you! And if there are any Calvinists who think Calvin got this part really wrong, then why would they still follow the teachings of a man who misunderstands the gospel so badly?)
Calvinists claim they can be secure in their salvation because if God has chosen you, He can never lose you. But that's a big "IF"! IF God chose you!?! IF God keeps you in the faith all the way to the end of your life! IF He isn’t tricking you into thinking you’re saved when you’re not! If He didn’t choose you for evanescent grace just to punish you more. IF!
The Calvinist’s Security of Salvation: In a video clip I saw online (click here, but be warned it's from a website that looks favorably on him, and you can also find the link in Graceadict's comment - about 40-ish comments down - in the comment section of this Soteriology 101 post), a young woman - with shaky voice, on the verge of tears - asked John MacArthur (a Calvinist of the highest order) how she can know for sure that she is saved (one of the elect). And MacArthur’s answer is that she (that Calvinists) can know she is saved because of her desires to know God, to be known by Him, to please Him and honor Him, etc. He says that we have to "assess the genuineness of our salvation by our desires." He says that assurance of salvation is "the confidence I have in my mind of my salvation," and that it’s based on your desires, on if you have godly desires, because (as he says) "un-regenerated people don't have those desires."
Now, of course, our desires can be helpful indicators of if we are truly saved. If we do not see certain changes in our lives - the fruit of the Spirit - then we should examine our hearts to see if we really did commit to Jesus or if we just convinced ourselves we did. But our desires about God and our good works cannot conclusively "prove" whether we are truly saved or not, nor are they the basis for our security of salvation. Do not even worldly people have good desires that God would approve of, like taking care of orphans or feeding the hungry?
And remember what Calvin said: “…yet experience shows that the reprobate are sometimes affected in a way so similar to the elect, that even in their own judgment there is no difference between them”. If the non-elect who got evanescent grace feel the exact same way as the elect, to the extent that they can’t tell there’s a difference between the two, then how could you possibly use your desires as reliable indicators that you are truly one of the elect? When evanescent grace can fade at any future time in your life, there's no way to know. When the non-elect feel the same as the elect, there’s no way to know.
Besides, do you know who else had the desire to know God, be known by Him, please Him, honor Him, etc.? The Pharisees. The Jewish leaders and teachers of the Law. They really wanted to please God, zealously studying and obeying the Law to please Him and make themselves acceptable to Him, and yet they rejected Jesus and hung Him on a cross for claiming He was God. And what about the rich young ruler who kept the law and desired to please God but who couldn't bring himself to give it all up to turn fully to Christ (Matthew 19:16-22)?
Just because we have good desires about God and good works does not mean that we are right with God, that we are saved. And just because we think about “God” doesn’t mean much - because “God” is vague and can mean anything to anyone. All religions have their own version of God. In fact, “… Even the demons believe [that there is one God] – and shudder.” (James 2:19)
It’s not what we think or feel about “God” that determines if we are saved or not, but it’s what we think about Jesus, if we believe in Him as Lord and Savior. That is what makes all the difference. (I think it's telling that MacArthur focused on our thoughts about God instead of on our beliefs about Jesus, when the Bible says salvation comes through our belief in Jesus. Does this not alert you to the subtle satanic twistings behind such a theology?)
But since Calvinists don’t think you get to decide what you believe about Him, it’s no wonder that they wouldn’t include “belief in Jesus” as evidence of their salvation. Of course, Calvinists think they truly believe in Jesus, they hope that God gave them real faith (and maybe they ignore the fear that they might not really be elect) … but they can’t know for sure till the end. And so they point to their feelings and works and other such things as “evidence” that they are “persevering” in the faith, which must “prove” that they are one of the elect - at least for now, and as long as they didn’t get “evanescent grace.”
Of course, if we are truly committed to Jesus and are filled with the Spirit, we will/should see certain godly changes and desires in our lives over time, as the Spirit helps us grow in the faith. But just having good, godly desires and works at some point in time does not mean that we are truly committed to Him. It could just mean that we are living like the Pharisees. For many people, the good, godly desires are there, the good thoughts about “God” are there, but the decision to turn to Jesus Christ is not. Many people believe in and pursue "God" while ignoring, resisting, or rejecting Jesus. And so tallying up our good desires about God to determine if we are really saved leaves us with a very flimsy, shaky, and possibly self-deceiving assurance of salvation!
(How many people in all these wayward churches today have convinced themselves that they are right with God because of the good things they do and feel? How many think that the good things they do and the good feelings they have are all the "proof" they need? How many will fall away later when life gets tough or when they want to follow their own desires, thinking "Oh well. I gave Christianity a try, but it wasn't for me"? How many will hear Jesus say to them “Away from me! I never knew you.”?)
And besides that, our feelings and desires shift with our moods and our energy levels. Our zeal for the Lord waxes and wanes. We obey one day but disobey the next. The life of faith is a long journey, full of ups and downs, low points and high points, good feelings one day but bad the next. What an exhausted, discouraged mess we’d be if we had to look to ourselves - to our feelings, desires, and works - to determine if we are really saved or not. Our assurance would change monthly or daily.
And so our assurance of salvation cannot rest on our wishy-washy feelings or our good works. Our assurance isn't found in hoping that God really did elect us and really did cause us to have real, saving faith (instead of the fake kind). Our assurance isn’t in the idea that God will cause us to "persevere” to the end if we are really elect.
Our assurance is found in the promises of God, in trusting Him to do what He said He would do, if we do what He said we need to do. That is how we can be assured of salvation! Biblically, our assurance of salvation rests on God’s promise to save those who choose to believe in Jesus, to put their faith in Him, to accept Him as Lord of their lives.
John 3:16: "... whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
John 20:31: "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."
John 6:28-29: "Then they asked him, 'What must we do to do the works God requires?' Jesus answered, 'The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent [Jesus].'"
Acts 16:30-31: "...'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' They replied, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved...'"
Romans 10:9, 13: "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus in Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.... Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
It always comes back to your decision to believe in Jesus, which happens to be the main thing Calvinists tell you that you have no control over and can’t do on your own. (How demonic is that!)
But I say: Have you reached out and grabbed ahold of the salvation God offers us all, accepting Jesus's death on your behalf, for your sins? Have you put your faith in Jesus, embracing Him as your Lord and Savior? Have you willingly decided to follow Him, to commit to Him, to believe that He is who He says He is?
If so, then you can trust that God has forgiven your sins and has given you eternal life in Him. Because that's what our trustworthy God promised. You are a child of God now, reborn into His family. And you cannot be unborn, no matter how messed up your life is right now or the detours you’ve taken along the way.
Our security of salvation is not found in our feelings and works, but in the promises of God, backed up by His character - His trustworthiness, His faithfulness, His love, goodness, holiness, righteousness, graciousness, forgiveness, etc. This is where our assurance is!
If we do what He said we need to do (believe in the Lord Jesus) then He will do what He said He would do (save our souls).
But MacArthur (and all Calvinists) leave this out - that the security of our salvation is really based on God's promise that all who choose to believe in and commit to Jesus, to make Him their Lord and Savior, will be saved. They leave it out because they don't think we get a choice or that we get to decide. No wonder Calvinists have no real assurance of salvation!
MacArthur goes on to suggest that Calvinists struggle with their security of salvation because they (as all Christians do) still struggle with their old, sinful natures, and it makes them feel bad, causing them to wonder if they are really saved or not. And, yeah, this might be something that contributes to their (and maybe even our own) fears that they aren’t really saved. But let me take a stab at really answering the question of “Why do Calvinists struggle with assurance of salvation?":
"Umm ... let me see ... could it be that Calvinists struggle with assurance because Calvinist leaders say that they have to trust their wishy-washy feelings to determine if they are really saved or not!?! Could it be because (in Calvinism) they have no control over their choice to believe in Jesus, and so they can only hope, pray, trust that God really does want them personally to be saved and that He gave them real faith, not fake faith!?! Could it be because they can't know till the end of their lives if they had real or fake faith, only after they see if He caused them to "persevere" in the faith all the way to the end!?! Could it be because Calvinism has made a mess of the gospel and has destroyed God's trustworthy, righteous, just, loving character, turning Him into a monster God who doesn't love all people (but says He does), who doesn't want all people to be saved (but says He does), who causes sin for His glory (but holds us responsible for it), who always says one thing but means another, who tricks some unfortunate souls into thinking they’re saved when they’re not, who causes most people to reject Him but then punishes them in hell for what He caused them to do, etc.!?!"
Could that have anything to do with it!?!
No wonder Calvinists are scared!
I'd be afraid of a god like that too!
The thing is, Calvinists and non-Calvinists alike struggle sometimes with doubts about whether we are truly saved or not. We backslide and drift into sin sometimes and get into low points in our walk with the Lord. This is normal, Calvinist or not.
But the big, critical difference between Calvinists and non-Calvinists is this:
Non-Calvinists believe that God really does want all people to be saved and that it's possible for all people to be saved because Jesus really did die for all sins of all people. And since that includes each one of us, we can know for sure that God loves us personally, that He wants us to be saved, that Jesus died for us, that God offers us salvation, and that we can be saved if we choose to believe in Jesus. But if we find out at some point that we didn't really commit to Jesus but just thought we did, then it's our fault, not God's. We tricked ourselves into thinking we were saved when we weren't. But - and this is huge! - we can do something about it. We can "turn the ship around," choosing at that point to genuinely put our faith in Jesus, to accept Him as Lord and Savior, and then we will be saved. God promises to save those who believe in Jesus - and anyone can believe - and that is a promise we can rest in. It's where our assurance is found.
But in Calvinism, God is responsible for whether we believe or not. And there's nothing we can do about it. We don't know if God really loves us specifically or if Jesus really died for us personally. We don't know if salvation was truly offered to us. We don't get to decide if we believe in Jesus or not. We don't get to decide if God gave us fake faith or real faith, or if we will persevere to the end or not. And so all we can do is hope, wonder, pray that God truly does love us, that Jesus really did die for us, that God really did predestine us for heaven, that He really did give us real faith, and that He really will keep us in the faith until we die (but we won't know for sure till the end). And if we question our salvation or backslide, there's nothing we could do about it anyway. It's God's fault if we backslide. It's God's fault if we leave the faith, because He gave us fake faith, not real. And there's nothing we can do about it. We can't do anything to "turn the ship around." God has to do it. And so if He doesn't do it, we are hopelessly lost. For His pleasure and glory.
The Calvinist's assurance isn't in God's promise to save those who choose to believe (because they don't think we get a choice); it's in their hope that God truly did cause them to believe and isn’t tricking them. Calvinists really have no hope to cling to other than "I really hope I am one of the elect and that God keeps me faithful till the end!" But this isn’t "assurance of salvation"; it's "tricking yourself into thinking you are really one of the elect when you might not be and can't know for sure till the end and can't do anything about it anyway." Not very reassuring, is it?
But once again for greater emphasis, for non-Calvinists, this is the true biblical basis for our salvation and our assurance: If we choose to believe in Jesus, if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior, then we can trust that God will save us. Because that's what He promised to do.
John 1:12: "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." [In the concordance, “receive” and “believe” are not passive, not something God does to you or causes you to do, as Calvinists would say. They are active: you do them yourself. To “receive” is to actively reach out and grab ahold of something that is offered to you. And to “believe” is to allow yourself to be persuaded that something is true and, consequently, to put your faith in it, to commit to it.]
1 Peter 1:3-5: "In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed at the last time."
Colossians 1:10-14: "And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
John 3:16-18: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."
[Warning: If you do choose to take a stand against it, it'll probably cost you: friends, your reputation, your position in church, maybe even your church itself. Trust us, we've been there! But once you realize what Calvinism's really teaching and who's really behind it and the damage it does, is there really any other way? Sadly, many Calvinists' whole spiritual/social world is wrapped up in Calvinism, and that's a hard thing to shake up, to give up, to sacrifice. And so in the short run, if you choose to stand against it, it'll hurt. But you'll consider the sacrifice worth it in the long run, in the eternal sense, because you know you're fighting for truth, for the gospel. And that's worth it, whatever the cost.]
Be a Berean! Research the Word for yourselves to see if what you are being taught is the biblical Truth, if it falls in line with the clear teachings of Scripture. And be very wary if anyone tries to tell you that you need to spend months reading some other person’s books, their thoughts on theology, in order to understand what God supposedly really “meant to say.” All that needs to really be known about the gospel can be understood by a child. It’s all right there in the Bible, as it was written, for everyone to find. And so never let anyone convince you otherwise, that they have some “deeper, hidden knowledge” that you need to learn. That’s how cults operate and trap people!
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)
“… if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
“But even if we or an angel should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!” (Galatians 1:8)
“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:1-3. Wanna hear how my Calvinist pastor used this “humble like a child” verse? He said that when he tells children about Calvinist predestination, they have no trouble accepting it as truth, and so God wants us to be humble like these children, to accept Calvinist predestination without questioning it. Does it sound to you like he’s using Scripture correctly? Is this what this verse really means?)
“Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11)
[And you might also like "Is 'Accept Jesus In Your Heart' Unbiblical and Dangerous?", a quick look at some Calvinist ideas that are NOT in the Bible.]
