What God begins, He completes. Paul said so in Philippians 1:6: “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” We ought not to look for comfort in ourselves and our ability to remain faithful. Rather, we can look to the preserving power of God, who causes us to persevere.
This is the doctrine of the perseverance (or preservation) of the saints. It is a claim about God’s faithfulness to His purpose and the implications of His faithfulness for His children.
Louis Berkhof has helpfully defined perseverance as this: “that continuous operation of the Holy Spirit in the believer, by which the work of divine grace that is begun in the heart, is continued and brought to completion.”1 When God calls someone and puts His Spirit in them, He doesn’t change His mind. He is able and determined to see His children safely brought home. What God begins, He completes.
It’s important for believers to consider how this doctrine is grounded in the promises of God and what it means for our sense of assurance as we walk with Him each day.
Guarded Through Faith
According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3–5)
When we are saved, we are delivered from the realm of hopelessness, and we are brought into the realm marked by “a living hope.” We are guaranteed “an inheritance” as the sons of the King. It is an inheritance untouched by death, unstained by evil, unimpaired by time, and marked with our names—“kept in heaven for you.”
You might be thinking, “Well, sure, it’s there for me. But how can I be sure I will get there?” If you are one who “by God’s power are being guarded through faith,” there is no question of you getting there. What God begins He completes. The forces of heaven are arrayed for us against all the onslaughts of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
Of course, this is “through faith.” It’s not a question of “once saved, always saved,” regardless of how we go on—as if putting a hand up on the right occasion will position us so that no evidence of faithlessness can ever contradict our claim to salvation.
There is no preservation without genuine faith, and only those who have faith persevere. The perseverance of the saints is always a perseverance “through faith” and never apart from it. We give evidence that we possess salvation by the continuance of our faith.
Safe from Condemnation
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? … Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Rom. 8:33–34, 35, 37)
The love of Christ is for us. It is the love of the shepherd for the wandering sheep (Luke 15:4–7), the love of the father for the wandering son (Luke 15:11–24), the love that loves to the uttermost (John 13:1). What can separate us from this kind of love? What power in the universe could contradict it?
There is no preservation without faith, and only those who have faith persevere.
Our sinful condition cannot. As Paul wrote, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). God justified us despite our sinfulness. We are justified on the strength of Christ’s holy life, righteous sacrifice, triumphant resurrection, and continuing intercession.
On what basis do we remain in God’s good graces? On the exact same basis. We cannot do anything to add to the work of Christ or put ourselves in a better position before God. From the beginning all the way to the end, all of our acceptance is based on Christ, and we persevere through our faith in Him.
To the beleaguered Christian, buffeted by the challenges of life, aware of their own sinful bumblings, Paul says, “There is … now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). God knew the worst about us when He saved us. He accepted us for Jesus’ sake. The verdict that He passed was final. Therefore, nobody can produce fresh evidence of our depravity to make Him change His mind. What God began He will complete.
Heeding Warnings, Trusting Promises
Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Cor. 10:12)
There really are people who seem to believe and yet fall away. There really are people who are self-deceived. The Bible warns us about apostacy because it is a real danger.
So we shouldn’t take our perseverance for granted. Instead, we should “take heed,” testing ourselves to see whether we are of the faith (2 Cor. 13:5), diligently confirming our calling and election (2 Peter 1:10). As we do so, we will grow in assurance by looking in three places.
We give evidence that we possess salvation by the continuance of our faith.
First, we look to the Son: “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:1–2). When we look at ourselves, we will only find reasons for discouragement. When we fix our thoughts on Jesus, though, God enables us to persevere. When we look to Him, we will see “the founder and perfecter of our faith” who “endured the cross” for our sakes (Heb 12:2). “He,” we can say, “is my source of confidence.”
Second, we look to the Scriptures: “As the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts’” (Heb. 3:7–8). If the Word of God comes to us today, we must let it warn us and woo us, guide us, teach us, and encourage us. We must come to the Book not with hard hearts but with faith (Heb 3:12, 19). “This,” we can say, “is what the Holy Spirit is saying to the church today.”
Finally, we look to God’s people: “Exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13). It is possible to be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness rather than to cling to Christ by faith. So we need to be a worshipping, praying, teaching, evangelizing company of God’s people, living in communion and encouraging one another to carry on.
What assurance can we have that we will hold firmly to the end? What God begins, He completes! That’s our confidence, and it’s why we look to Him for our assurance. We may be easily distracted, disheartened, and dispirited, but we put our faith in one who is stronger than we are. As J. I. Packer wrote, “Your faith will not fail while God sustains it; you are not strong enough to fall away while God is resolved to hold you.”2
This article was adapted from the sermons “Perseverance of the Saints?” and “The Keeping Power of God” by Alistair Begg.
