• Romans 8:30

The fifth and final term in Romans 8:30 is the word "glorify". It takes us back to Romans 5:2 where Paul spoke about us rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. It means that one day we will be glorified and that we rejoice in this certainty. That is, we know that we will be like Jesus one day. When that happens sin will no longer trouble us, and we will enjoy the complete fullness and eternal favour of God's presence.

But when does glorification take place? There is a sense in which much of it takes place when we die. We will be free from sin and we will be with Christ. "The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into glory" says the Catechism. But glorification in its fullest sense waits the return of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of our bodies. I John 3:2 says, "When he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Glorification is bound up with the coming of Christ in glory and is associated with the renewal of the whole creation. In a renewed and restored creation, we shall share in the glory of Christ.

But the most striking feature of Paul's mention of glorification in Romans 8:30 is that it is in the past tense. "Those he justified he also glorified."  But in our experience it is clearly future, since it is either when we die or when Christ returns. So why the past tense here in Romans 8:30? Some commentators believe that it is so assured that it can be spoken of as if it were past. We can be so certain of it happening that it is spoken of as though it is already accomplished. It is in the plan of God and that means that it is as good as here. Since God has decreed it, it will happen and can be considered as having happened. Charles Hodge says, "God sees the end from the beginning, so that in predestinating us, he at the same time, in effect, called, justified, and glorified us, as all these were already included in his purpose."

Or think of it as a chain beginning in eternity and then dipping down into time, and then swinging back up into God's timeless eternity once again. So glorification is spoken of as past because it is indeed past, or eternally present, in the mind of God. The message of these verses is clearly that God has a plan that will certainly be accomplished and will never be thwarted. His great eternal plan is effective and unchangeable. As surely as God has chosen us, called us and justified us, so we will surely be glorified.

Now when we say that we are simply affirming a doctrine that is clearly taught in the Bible and is reflected in our Westminster Standards, namely, the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. Some refer to this doctrine as eternal security or "once saved, always saved". I much prefer the term which the Westminster Standards use, the perseverance of the saints, because that is a more accurate description.

It's a doctrine that is taught throughout the Scriptures and one which Jesus spoke of very clearly. John 6:39 "And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day." John 10:27, 28: "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." And of course there are the confident words of Paul in Philippians 1 that "he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ." All those who are united by faith to Christ will persevere, because it is God's plan and it will all be for God's glory.

Westminster Confession of faith

Chapter 17

Of the Perseverance of the Saints

1. They, whom God hath 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.

2. This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father; upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ, the abiding of the Spirit, and of the seed of God within them, and the nature of the covenant of grace: from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof.

3. Nevertheless, they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins; and, for a time, continue therein: whereby they incur God's displeasure, and grieve his Holy Spirit, come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts, have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded; hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves.

 

What you need to note is how the Confession avoids the two extremes. On the one side there are those who teach that if a believer backslides he is lost until he repents. On the other extreme there are those who teach that a believer can fall into the worst of sins, and continue unrepentant, and still be saved. The Confession avoids those two errors. It teaches that true believers may fall, but that they will be restored and go on to the end.

Now it is important to understand exactly what the Confession is saying. It is not talking about anyone who has made a profession of faith. There are lots of people who have signed a decision card or put their hand up at a meeting or who have even walked out to the front, but who are not genuinely converted. The Confession is speaking about people who truly belong to Christ. Note how they are described: they are accepted in his Beloved (that is, they are united to Christ), they are effectually called and they are sanctified by his Spirit. That is quite different from a superficial response. They truly belong to Christ.

And the Confession says that they cannot totally or finally fall away from the state of grace, but that they will be saved. It doesn't say that they cannot fall. Nor does it say that if they fall they will be lost. They will persevere. They will go on.

And the reasons for their perseverance are given in the second paragraph. The source of their perseverance is God, not their own ability or their own stickability. A number of reasons are given for their perseverance: God's love and election (God does not choose us in order to lose us); the work of Christ (he lived and died and now lives to save us; he didn't merely try to save us, but he actually saved us by his death and resurrection and intercession for us); and the Holy Spirit indwelling each believer, giving them a new nature and a new identity, the seed of God within them.

You need to keep in mind the covenant of grace in all of this. If we did not earn salvation by our works or performance, then we cannot lose it because of our failure or lack of performance. The covenant of grace promises that God will be our God for ever. And God does not break his word.

Remember that believers are not perfect. They may not only fall into sin, but they may fall into serious sin. I think King David's adultery with Bathsheba is a typical example of how deep and awful a believer's fall into sin might be. And the third paragraph lists a number of reasons why true believers may fall and may sin: the temptations of Satan and the world, and the remaining corruption of our nature. Significantly, the Confession adds as a reason for people falling into sin "the neglect of the means of their preservation". That means that if we ignore the means of grace that God has given us, like the Word, or prayer or fellowship with other Christians or attendance at the sacrament, we are in danger of running on empty spiritually speaking, and are more vulnerable to temptation from Satan and to the temptation that comes from our own sinful hearts.

Yes, true believers may fall into sin, but the Confession says and "for a time continue therein". God cannot ignore it, and God works for their restoration, so that they will be restored and renewed in their relationship with Christ. But as a result of their fall, they suffer. They incur God's displeasure and grieve his Holy Spirit. And the Confession lists a number of ways this displeasure of God may be displayed: "they come to be deprived of some measure of their graces and comforts; have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded; hurt and scandalise others, and bring temporal judgements upon themselves." You don't fall and not suffer. All sin has consequences and even true believers must live with the consequences of their own sin. But God doesn't let go! He doesn't ignore our sin, but he doesn't withdraw his salvation because of our sin. By his chastening and disciplining hand he brings his children back to himself so that they experience his smile forever.

Sadly, sometimes the church is not as gracious in its discipline as God is. So that when people fall into serious sin, we cast them off and reject them for ever, rather than working with them to see them restored and renewed and re-instated. I think that many of our evangelical and reformed churches, including our own, need to have a much better approach to discipline and restoration that is more in line with what the Scriptures and our Confession teaches.

So I hope you can understand the nuances and truth that the Scriptures teach and that our church is committed to in its Confession of Faith. It's not a simple "once saved, always saved", eternal security doctrine which says that it doesn't matter how you live or what you do. Nor is it that when you sin you loose your salvation and may actually end up in hell, so that whereas once you were saved by the blood of Christ, you may actually sin so seriously that not even the blood of Christ can cleanse you. Rather it is this recognition that true believers are frail and fallible; but God sees to it that they persevere. Those whom he justified he also glorified.

So if I were to summarise this doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, I need to say three things:

1. Perseverance does not mean that Christians are exempted from all spiritual danger, just because they are Christians.

On the contrary, the opposite is true. Because they are Christians the world and the devil will be doggedly set against them and will try to destroy them, if that were possible. In the very next section of this chapter 8 of Romans Paul lists some of the hostile forces that Christian believers must face. He speaks of trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and sword. And it is precisely because we do face such dangers that this doctrine is so important.

2. The doctrine of perseverance does not mean that Christians are always kept from falling into sin, just because they are Christians.

Sadly, Christians do sin. Noah fell into drunkenness. Abraham lied about his wife. David committed adultery, and then murder. Peter denied his Lord. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints does not mean that Christians will not fall, but only that they will not fall away. You remember how Jesus predicted Peter's denial. But he added, "I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers." Luke 22:31

3. The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints does not mean that those who merely profess Christ without actually being born again are secure.

This truth explains the many warnings that appear in Scripture to the effect that we should give diligent attention to make our calling and election sure. And in this regard the statements of Jesus himself are among the most direct. He said, for example, that all men "will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved" (Mt 10:22). We are able to stand firm only because God perseveres with us. But it is also true that we must stand firm.

So the Christian doctrine of the perseverance of the saints does not lead to a false assurance or to presumption, though some who claim to be saved do presume on God by their sinful lifestyles and wilful disobedience. Perseverance does not make us lazy. Perseverance does not make us proud. It is precisely what Paul declares it to be here in Romans 8, that those whom God has foreknown and predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son will indeed come to that great consummation. They will be harassed. They will frequently be tempted. And sometimes they will fall. But nevertheless in the end they will be with Jesus and will be like Jesus. This is the destiny that God in his sovereign and inexplicable love has predetermined for them.

But having said that, there are some biblical passages that people use which seem to contradict this doctrine. And there are some Christians who are troubled by them and who begin to question or doubt this doctrine. Perhaps you are among that group. If you want a really thorough treatment then I would refer you to Dr Lloyd-Jones's second volume on Romans 8 where he takes more than 100 pages of careful argument to deal with these difficulties. That is a very good section to read. (Pp263-366.)

One difficult passage is II Peter 2:1,2

"But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them - bringing swift destruction on themselves."

It sounds as if Peter is describing people who have been redeemed by Jesus, and having believed on him, later deny him and fall away. And towards the end of the chapter he goes on to say,

"20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.

 21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.

 22 Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."

 

What Peter is describing is people who have learned about Jesus and have benefited from that knowledge. They have escaped a considerable amount of the external pollution of the world by having the high standards of the Christian life taught to them, but they have repudiated this teaching in order to return to the world's corruption, which they actually love. Peter rather crudely compares them to a dog returning to its vomit or to a sow wallowing in her mud. And the reason they do so is because their inner nature is unchanged. They may have been cleaned up externally, but like the Pharisees, their insides are still full of corruption. These are the people who deny the Lord who bought them.

But how can Peter say that Jesus "bought" them? It seems to be that Peter is thinking of an external purchase or deliverance. He is speaking of false prophets among the people of Israel and what he seems to be saying is that just as they were beneficiaries of the deliverance of the nation from Egypt, but were not actually true followers of the Lord, so there will be people like this within the fellowship of the church. They will seem to have been purchased by Christ and will show outward signs of such deliverance; they share in many of the benefits of the fellowship of the church, but they will still be false prophets and false professors.

I believe that it is the same truth that Jesus deals with in the parable of the Sower and the Soils, and in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. There are some people who make a superficial response to the gospel and because they have no root in Christ they fall away. And there are others who give the impression that they are true believers but who are not genuinely born again. They are found to have no oil in their lamps when the Lord returns.

The point is that not everyone who claims to be a true Christian is one. There is what the Puritans called "the false professor". And the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints does not apply to such people.

The other difficult passage is Hebrews 6:4-6.

"4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit,

 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age,

 6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace."

One point worth bearing in mind here is that even those who do not believe in the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints have a problem with this text. Even if it does teach that a Christian can fall away and be lost, its specific teaching would be that such a person could thereafter never be saved because they would be crucifying the Lord of glory all over again. And few would want to accept that. It seems to imply that there is a limit to God's grace.

The answer I think is to understand the entire thrust of this book of Hebrews. It was written to Jews who had been exposed to Christianity and had seemed to accept it somewhat. It is an encouragement to them not to give up, but to go on to full faith and not to draw back into Judaism again. Everything in the book actually points in this direction. So this "problem" passage is actually talking about people who might have had a taste of Christianity but who fall away without ever actually becoming true Christians. If this has happened, they cannot come back, because in a certain sense they have been inoculated against Christianity. It's like those people whom W.P. Nicholson called "the untouchables", people who had made an empty profession and who had "tried" Christianity but who had never truly been converted. Nicholson believed that their false experience rendered them indifferent and unresponsive to the true gospel.

However, the real situation that the writer is addressing here emerges down in verse 9 where the author writes: "Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are confident of better things in your case - things that accompany salvation." In other words, the writer considered his readers to be genuine believers, which meant that in his opinion, they would not draw back but would actually go on to embrace the fullness of the doctrines of the faith, as he is urging them to do.

The verses in between, verses 7 and 8, actually confirm and prove this point.

"7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God.

 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned."

We are back to the theme of the parable of the sower and the soils. There are two types of land. The same rain falls on both. But the results are different because the land is different. So there are people who even though they are exposed to the right conditions for growth and for producing a harvest and a crop, don't produce anything but thorns and thistles. That is the evidence that they have never truly been changed. For a while it may appear that they will be fruitful, but the fruit never comes. So the people in view in Hebrews 6 are not true believers at all.

Dr Lloyd-Jones believes that the falling away that the writer has in view in verse 6 is not a falling into sin and of sinful conduct so much as a denial of the gospel. It is a falling away from the truth. It is a reference to people who deliberately deny the essence of the Christian message and who ridicule the blood of Christ as the blood that saves us. He says that if someone denies the fundamental doctrines of the gospel, there is nothing more to say to them. There is no other message, and if they do not accept the message of the gospel, then nothing more can be said. If people go back on these first principles about Christ there is no alternative. Quite simply, those who reject Christ will not be saved. Christ died once for all, He will not be crucified again. There is no other gospel.

Dr Lloyd-Jones goes on to make the point that if anyone who has denied the gospel by their words or by their actions genuinely desires to be restored and renewed, then that is evidence of the Spirit's work in their lives and they will certainly be renewed.

The conclusion we have to come to is that none of the objections to this doctrine of the perseverance of the saints has any substantial ground in the Scriptures. Any objections are based on a misunderstanding of the glory and greatness of the plan of salvation. After he rose from the dead, Jesus said to his disciples, "All power is given to me in heaven and on earth." Failure on Christ's part is an impossibility. God's own Son is the guarantee that God's plan will not be thwarted and that it will not fail. He is the king who has come to establish his kingdom and the success of that kingdom does not, thank God, depend on us. It is the King who determines the character and success of the kingdom. Charles Wesley expressed it well in his hymn:

His Kingdom cannot fail; he rules o'er earth and heaven

The keys of death and hell are to our Jesus given.

Lift up your heart, lift up your voice:

Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.

We cannot believe that his kingdom depends on us and our ability to hold on. God is not going to entrust the success of his kingdom to frail mortals and sinners like us. And if it depended on us and our ability, then if we ever find ourselves in glory, the glory would have to go to us for holding on and for sticking it out. But that is a complete contradiction of the teaching of Scripture. All the glory will be to Christ. We will have nothing to boast of. The truth is that He keeps us in spite of ourselves and our weakness and our waywardness. And at the last we shall give him all the honour and glory and praise. We shall see that it was his glorious plan from start to finish, and we shall worship the Lamb who has done it all. He must have all the glory. Salvation is entirely his doing and all the praise will be to him alone.

"Those he predestined he also called; those he called he also justified; those he justified he also glorified."