Lutherans, Calvinists, and Arminians: Perseverance

This is the final installment in the 5 part series in which I have sought to compare Lutheranism to both Calvinism (the doctrines of grace) and Arminian Remonstrants. The final overview needed is regarding the doctrine of perseverance in the three camps. Keep in mind, just as with the other 4 comparisons, these are not the only views on the topic out there within the realm of Christendom. We have to a very large extent overlooked two very large elephants in the room throughout this series: Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. However, from the outset, my goal has been to compare Confessional Lutheranism as laid out for us in Scripture and the Book of Concord to these other two major Protestant camps.

If you're paying attention, I have followed the Reformed Calvinist convention through these blogs. That is to say, I have addressed the topics in order of the Calvinist TULIP. Only the P remains to be addressed.

Again I will make a plug for Pr. Cooper's excellent synopsis. If you are looking for a quick, short, and spot-on Lutheran evaluation of the 5 points of Calvinism, my friend Pr. Jordan Cooper has done an excellent short work on this topic over at his blog. The work can be found here:

Lutheran Evaluation of the 5 Points of Calvinism - Pr. Cooper

Likewise, the first 4 blogs I put together on this topic can be found at these links:

Depravity of Man

Predestination and Election

The Atonement of Christ

The Grace of God

And there they are, in all of their glory. Once again, the 3 camps have different views on the topic at hand.

Perseverance in Calvinism

Calvinism's doctrine of perseverance is a direct result of the rest of the TULIP. It relies heavily on the Pactum Salutis (Covenant of Redemption between Father, Son, and Spirit) along with the doctrines of unconditional election and limited atonement. Calvinism's doctrine of perseverance is rooted in the idea that man can do nothing, so God alone must save him completely apart from themselves. Lutherans say amen to this, by the way. However, in Calvinism, since man can do nothing and God elects, *only* the elect are ever atoned for and given the inner call of the Holy Spirit. Thus, *only* the elect are ever regenerate, and no one else. Thus, the elect are saved, cannot fall away, and them alone, while the rest are passed over, not elect, never regenerated, and not atoned for. We must be careful here though. While Reformed Theology does indeed hold to the doctrine of perseverance of the saints (the P), it is not the same thing as the 'softer' doctrine of "once saved always saved." Although they do believe that, there is much more to it than just that.

Westminster Confession, XVII, 1-3

I. They, whom God has accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.

II. 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 arises also the certainty and infallibility thereof.

III. 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.

"To lose our salvation, we would have to return to a condition of spiritual death. Of what sort of regeneration would the Holy Spirit be the author if those whom he has resurrected and given eternal life are capable of dying spiritually again?" (Michael Horton, Putting Amazing Back Into Grace, p. 210)

"When Paul says nothing can separate us from God’s love, he means that even we cannot snatch ourselves from His hand. If we have true faith, we will maintain that faith until the end. Times of doubt may arise, and it is even possible to fall into grievous sin. Yet if we belong to Christ today, we will belong to Him forever." (R.C. Sproul, http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/secure-in-the-love-of-god/)

And there is Calvinism. A person is saved by God alone (Amen!) and kept by God alone (Amen!) and every person ever regenerated (born again) is finally saved. Only the elect are ever regenerate.

Perseverance in Arminianism

Although the early Remonstrants were unsure on the doctrine of perseverance, Arminianism today nearly universally affirms that a Christian can fall from grace and be lost. The one exception to that rule might be Arminian-leaning fundamental baptist churches. In Arminianism, salvation is synergistic. That is, it is a cooperation between God and man. Thus, a person must choose to be born again or choose to reject Christ and either not be born again or stop being born again. It is important to note that Arminians affirm that the Spirit alone is the agent of regeneration. But He does not do so apart from the individual's free will decision coming first.

Remonstrants - Article V:

That those who are incorporated into Christ by true faith, and have thereby become partakers of his life-giving Spirit, as a result have full power to strive against Satan, sin, the world, and their own flesh, and to win the victory; it being well understood that it is ever through the assisting grace of the Holy Spirit; and that Jesus Christ assists them through his Spirit in all temptations, extends to them his hand, and if only they are ready for the conflict, desire his help, and are not inactive, keeps them from falling, so that they, by no deceit or power of Satan, can be misled nor plucked out of Christ’s hands, according to the Word of Christ, John 10:28: “Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” But whether they are capable, through negligence, of forsaking again the first beginning of their life in Christ, of again returning to this present evil world, of turning away from the holy doctrine which was delivered them, of losing a good conscience, of neglecting grace, that must be more particularly determined out of the Holy Scripture, before we ourselves can teach it with the full confidence of our mind.

25 Articles of Religion (Methodist): Article 12—Of Sin After Justification

Not every sin willingly committed after justification is the sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. Wherefore, the grant of repentance is not to be denied to such as fall into sin after justification. After we have received the Holy Ghost, we may depart from grace given, and fall into sin, and, by the grace of God, rise again and amend our lives. And therefore they are to be condemned who say they can no more sin as long as they live here; or deny the place of forgiveness to such as truly repent.

Constitution of the North American General Conference (Wesleyan)

We believe that after we have experienced regeneration, it is possible to fall into sin, for in this life there is no such height or strength of holiness from which it is impossible to fall. But by the grace of God one who has fallen into sin may by true repentance and faith find forgiveness and restoration.

Arminianism, with the exception of the original Remonstrants who were undecided on the topic, is pretty plain that a person can fall out of grace by sin or rejection of Christ. This is to say, a person can be regenerate and then not regenerate.

Perseverance in Lutheranism

Augsburg Confession, XII, 1-10

Of Repentance they teach that for those who have fallen after Baptism there is remission of sins whenever they are converted and that the Church ought to impart absolution to those thus returning to repentance. Now, repentance consists properly of these two parts: One is contrition, that is, terrors smiting the conscience through the knowledge of sin; the other is faith, which is born of the Gospel, or of absolution, and believes that for Christ's sake, sins are forgiven, comforts the conscience, and delivers it from terrors. Then good works are bound to follow, which are the fruits of repentance.

They condemn the Anabaptists, who deny that those once justified can lose the Holy Ghost. Also those who contend that some may attain to such perfection in this life that they cannot sin.

The Novatians also are condemned, who would not absolve such as had fallen after Baptism, though they returned to repentance.

They also are rejected who do not teach that remission of sins comes through faith but command us to merit grace through satisfactions of our own.

The words, “Ye are fallen from grace,” must not be taken lightly. They are important. To fall from grace means to lose the atonement, the forgiveness of sins, the righteousness, liberty, and life which Jesus has merited for us by His death and resurrection. To lose the grace of God means to gain the wrath and judgment of God, death, the bondage of the devil, and everlasting condemnation. (Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians)

This is really all we need from the Lutheran point of view. In short, the Augsburg Confession, XII, 7 says: "They condemn the Anabaptists, who deny that those once justified can lose the Holy Ghost."

The Lutheran stance is very clearly that a person can fall from grace who is actually regenerate and be lost. The AC says that and Luther says that in his commentary on Galatians. In Lutheranism, it is a law and gospel thing. The gospel saves us and keeps us saved. Only God can do that. We, however, can throw this away.

So, "losing" salvation is not a term I particularly like, because it's not so much a loss as it is a complete throwing away. And on a personal note, I used to despise this idea that a person could be saved and then lost. I can't imagine why anyone would want to leave Christ, but it does happen. We have all seen it. I'll even go as far as to say that Calvinism is forced to deny other sacramental truths (like baptismal regeneration) because the core dogma in Calvinism is the P. So, in this sense we actually agree with the Arminians. However, we agree with the Calvinists on the positive side of salvation for the most part. It is God alone who saves us and keeps us saved. As the Calvinists, we are monergists. However, our monergism is universal, theirs is limited to the elect alone. Our atonement is universal, theirs is limited to the elect alone. And yes, we hold to election, even as a cause; and we are not synergists. God does this through Word and Sacrament, by Himself. Not because we made a choice (contra Arminianism), but because He gave and continues to give freely and generously. God is a merciful God.

In short, the only thing we can bring to the table is our sin and our rejection of Christ's work on our behalf. We can do negative things pertaining to salvation, but not positive. We can condemn ourselves by rejection but we cannot attain salvation by 'acceptance.' We must receive God's grace, and this is all God's doing, not ours. He does this through the Word given to us in preaching, absolution, baptism, and the Sacrament of the Altar.

God alone saves and God alone keeps us saved, through Word and Sacrament. We need continual forgiveness from God. That's why we have a corporate absolution at the divine service every Sunday and also why we are frequent partakers of the Eucharist, which Our Lord says is "for the forgiveness of sins" (Matt 26:28). That's Lutheranism. But, we are able to spurn this grace and throw it away and reject Christ altogether. That's Lutheranism too. God does not kick us out. In fact, He promises to keep us in grace by His Word. We can add nothing to this. Not our works, not our choice, not our acceptance; nothing.

The Holy Scriptures teach both of these things. Believe them.