One of the most important questions relating to the Christian life is that concerning the believer's preservation in faith to the end. Cp. Luther, St. L., IX, 1807. Our Savior Himself urges us to consider this question when He reminds us of the great truth that only "he that endureth to the end shall be saved," Matt. 10, 22; 24, 13. The emphasis in these passages rests upon the verb endure, so that Christ's words are a most earnest exhortation addressed to His followers to endure to the end.1
This earnest admonition implies that many do not endure in faith, and that again suggests the weighty query, How can the believer endure in faith unto the end? In answer to this question Holy Scripture stresses two vital facts: 1) All who endure in faith to the end do so alone by divine grace; or we may say, Christian preservation is solely the work of God's omnipotent grace. 2) All who fall from faith do so through their own fault; in other words, the only cause of apostasy is man's wilful rejection of God's Word and his malicious opposition to the operation of the Holy Spirit in the divine Word. These truths must be maintained and defended against both Calvinism and synergism.
Calvinism teaches persistently that it is impossible for those who have once been endowed with faith to lose it again, even if they should commit enormous crimes (peccata enormia). Its claim is that, while the exercise of faith (exercitium fidei) may cease, faith itself never ceases. Calvin: Tenendum est, quantumvis exigua sit ac debilis in electis fides, quia tamen Spiritus Dei certa illis arrha est ac sigillum suae adoptionis, nunquam ex eorum cordibus deleri posse eius sculpturam. (Inst., II, 2, 12.)
The doctrine of the inamissibility of faith is taught by the Calvinists to remove the uncertainty which the individual Reformed believer must feel with respect to his state of grace in view of the fact that he dare not believe in universal grace (gratia universalis).
Luther, on the other hand, who affirmed the gratia universalis, taught also the Scriptural doctrine of the amissibility of faith, 1 Cor. 10, 12; Luke 8, 13; Is. 1, 2. - The Augsburg Confession Art. XII teaches: "They condemn the Anabaptists, who deny that those once justified can lose the Holy Ghost." Those who were troubled about their state of grace, Luther comforted with the gracious promises of God in Christ Jesus, revealed and offered in the Gospel to all sinners, Titus 2, 11, and not with any "past or present experience of Christ's presence and indwelling in the heart," as the Calvinists do.
Luther's method alone is Scriptural; for not only does the Gospel truly comfort all alarmed sinners, but it is also the divine means by which those who have fallen from grace may be restored to faith in Christ, Rom. 10, 17.
It goes without saying that all who deny the gratia universalis are unable to console despairing sinners with the gracious Gospel promises. Since they teach particular grace (gratia particularis), it is impossible for them to assure the individual sinner that God's grace is seriously meant for him. By a fortunate inconsistency the practise of Calvinistic preachers is often better than is their theory.
As the Calvinistic doctrine of final perseverance is unscriptural, so also is that of the synergists. While the Calvinists deny the gratia universalis, the synergists deny the sola gratia. Hence they are compelled to prompt the sinner to rely for salvation, in part at least, on his own worthiness. The statement that "good works are necessary to preserve faith," which the Formula of Concord so vigorously rejects, is a real expression of synergistic cooperation. It is synergistic doctrine that, as the sinner must do his share to become a believer, so he also must do his part to persevere in faith. In the final analysis therefore synergism teaches, in common with Calvinism, that the Christian assurance of the believer depends on something in his own heart, be it the experience of Christ's indwelling (Calvinism) or his good conduct, or works (synergism). Both Calvinism and synergism therefore ascribe to man the ability to persevere in faith unto the end.
In contradistinction to this error Holy Scripture affirms that the believer owes his perseverance alone to the grace and power of God. In other words, divine monergism is responsible also for the believer's preservation unto salvation, Phil. 1, 6; 1 Pet. 1, 5; John 10, 28-30. Scripture thus takes the salvation of the believer out of his own weak and helpless hands and places it into the almighty, faithful hand of God, 1 Thess. 5, 24; 2 Thess. 3, 3.
Even while Scripture exhorts Christian believers to work out their salvation with fear and trembling1, it assures them at the same time that it is God which "worketh in them both to will and to do of His good pleasure," Phil. 2, 12. 13. Hence this passage cannot be employed in the interest of synergism, since the last clause absolutely excludes every synergistic claim.
The connection between the two verses is quite clear. In the first, the apostle addresses the secure and indifferent, who neglect sanctification; in the second, he reproves the pharisaic spirits, who through their deceitful self-trust make salvation depend on their own power to sanctify themselves. In fact, this self-trust, or self-righteousness, is the real cause why temporary believers lose their faith. In this way Peter fell from faith. His defection occurred because he believed himself capable of greater faith and constancy than his fellow-disciples, Mark 14, 29; and even the earnest admonition of the Lord did not shatter his self-confidence, Mark 14, 30. Peter thus fell through his own sinful self-confidence, and had it not been for divine grace, he never would have regained faith, Luke 22, 32; John 21, 15-17. Synergism, which expressly teaches such self-confidence, is therefore a most pernicious error; it is a doctrine which, consistently followed, must occasion, or lead to, apostasy. Against synergism Luther, in his defense of divine monergism, rightly said that perseverance depends not upon the will of man, but upon the sustaining grace of God (Perseverantia est non volentis hominis, sed sustentantis Dei).
As Calvinism cannot comfort a believer with real assurance of salvation, so also synergism fails to supply the believer with an adequate foundation on which he may rest his hope of everlasting life with certainty. Its consolation is only the sinking sand of the believer's own worthiness. But woe to the person who trusts in that, 1 Cor. 4, 4! In fact, he who trusts in his own works for salvation has fallen from grace, Gal. 5, 4, and is under the curse of God, Gal. 3, 10. On the other hand, the Scriptural truth that we are kept by God's power through faith unto salvation, 1 Pet. 1, 5, affords the believer abiding comfort even in the severest trials; for he knows that in the hands of almighty God his salvation is absolutely secure. The doctrine of the sola gratia not only produces, but also strengthens and preserves, true Christian faith.
Some synergistic theologians have claimed that divine grace and power indeed preserve the believer's faith against all external foes, but not against his own flesh (Meyer, Philippi). But this claim is void of Scriptural foundation. When Christ assured His disciples that "no one shall pluck them out of His hands," John 10, 28. 29, this promise certainly included the foe within as much as that without. So also the other promises of Scripture regarding perseverance are universal in their scope, Phil. 1, 6; 1 Pet. 1, 3-5; 5, 10; 2 Thess. 3, 3. Hence the Christian believer should be assured that, as God did not omit anything to prepare salvation for him, so also He omits nothing by which this salvation is finaliter attained. In other words, divine grace relates not only to justification and sanctification, but also to the perseverance of the believer unto eternal salvation.
Doubts regarding salvation arise only when men intermingle Law and Gospel, that is to say, when they apply the Scripturepassages that are meant as a warning against carnal security, 1 Cor. 10, 12; Rom. 11, 20, to penitent sinners, who in the anguish of their hearts cry out for the comfort of the Gospel, Rom. 7, 24, or when they urge despairing souls to assure themselves of salvation by their good works. Penitent sinners who long for comfort should listen to no other message than that of God's justifying, sanctifying, and preserving grace, Matt. 11, 28; Is. 55, 1-3.
The warnings set forth in Holy Scripture against defection, 1 Cor. 10, 12; Rom. 11, 20. 21; Heb. 3, 12, etc., enforced by examples of temporary believers (Saul, Demas) do not militate against the blessed assurance of the Gospel that God will graciously keep the believer in faith to the end, Phil. 1, 6, but rather sustain it. These warnings belong to the Law and must not be misused to nullify the Gospel promises. St. Paul, though aware of the possibility of his becoming a castaway, 1 Cor. 9, 27, was nevertheless fully persuaded of his perseverance, Rom. 8, 38. 39 ; 2 Tim. 4, 7. God warns us against defection through the Law in order that we may beware of carnal security, which destroys the certainty of salvation, and cling to the Gospel, which bestows and nourishes the assurance of salvation.
The precious Gospel truth concerning the certainty of the believer's salvation does not engender spiritual pride, but fosters true humility and suppresses the carnal security of the flesh. Also with the growth of the believer's certainty of salvation his gratitude toward God and his zeal in good works increase, and these are divine blessings which both despair and carnal security destroy.
Since it bas pleased God to bestow His grace upon men by the means of grace, it is self-evident that the believer will persevere in faith only if be faithfully uses the divine means of grace (the Word and the Sacraments). Christians who desire to remain steadfast in their faith and sure of their salvation must therefore continually dwell in the sanctuary of sanctuaries, the divine Word, where God offers and imparts to them constant grace and strength for abiding with Christ in true faith, Rom. 1, 16; 10, 17; John 8, 31. 32. 51. To the diligent and conscientious use of the Word of God must be joined also ceaseless, ardent prayer, John 16, 23. 24; Matt. 26, 41; Eph. 6, 17. 18; 1 Thess. 5, 17, since God has promised to bestow His blessings only upon those who continue in prayer, Luke 11, 13; Jas. 1, 5. 6; 4, 2.
With respect to the question (crux theologorom), "Why do not all believers persevere in faith" (Our alii, alii non); the Christian theologian has no other answer than that given in Hos. 13, 9. Those who persevere in faith do so alone by divine grace; those who fall from faith must blame themselves for their apostasy (unbelief; self-righteousness; malicious neglect or rejection of the means of grace). If a. comparison is instituted between two individual persons, such as Saul and David, Judas and Peter, the Christian theologian at this point humbly acknowledges a. mystery which he is incapable of explaining, since Scripture itself does not answer the perplexing question why Saul perished in unbelief and David repented or why Judas died in despair and Peter was rescued from perdition.
The advice of the Formula of Concord with regard to this matter is Scriptural and sound (Thor. Decl., XI, 57-63): "As regards these things in this disputation which would soar too high and beyond these limits, we should with Paul place the finger upon our lips and remember and say, Rom. 9, 20: 'O man, who art thou that repliest against God?' "