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ABSOLUTE FINAL PERSEVERANCE There are three distinct schools of thought with reference to Calvary and its relation to man. The Universalists teach God is “too good” to send anyone to hell, and Christ paid the penalty for all. “Therefore,” they say, “we will ultimately be saved regardless of what we do or do not do about the matter.” The Calvinists teach redemption for the “elect” only who are foreordained to it. According to this teaching some are born to be saved, and some born to be lost. The Calvinist theory would of necessity demand the following: Grace is selective, and discriminate on God’s part to man. The atonement is limited, and not to “Whosoever will.” Grace once begun, is irresistible to the human will. Grace is eternal once obtained. The will is powerless once it is regenerated. And that sin is inescapable while we are in the flesh. This Calvinistic theory is a complete contradiction to simple and plain teachings of the Bible, God’s holy, divine inspired Word. The Scriptures teach in substance that the atonement is unlimited in its appropriations. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life”—John 3:16. Christ’s death was full and sufficient to settle the sin question. “The oath (promise) which he sware to our Father Abraham that he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hands of our enemies (devil) might serve him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life”—Luke 1:73–75. The obtaining, and retaining of the grace of God is conditioned on our part. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name”—John 1:12. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin”—1 John 1:7. We are saved by an act of faith, and are kept by an attitude of faith. The teaching of infallibility of grace by the elect as advocated by Calvinistic theology contradicts the plain teachings of the Word of God. Its declarations as stated in John 15:1–6. Its exhortations as given in 2 Peter 2:20–22. And its warnings as taught by Paul in 1 Cor. 10:12. It ignores plain cases given in the Bible of some who fell. Note carefully these examples. Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:1), patriarchal ministers, or messengers (2 Peter 2:4, and Jude 6), Judas, (John 17:12; Acts 1:16–17, 25), Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1–10), Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Tim. 1:19–20), Demas (2 Tim. 4:10), and the Galatians (Gal. 1:6; 3:1–3; 4:9; 5:4). Most of these have been considered in detail earlier in this book, so repetition is unnecessary. To state as the Calvinist, “In view of the original purpose and continuous operation of God, all who are united to Christ by faith will infallibly continue in a state of grace and will finally attain to everlasting life,” would be grossly erroneous and unscriptural. This doctrine that all who are once converted will certainly be finally saved in heaven is a logically necessary part of the predestinarianism system. This doctrine of infallibility of grace, once saved, always saved, as believed and taught by the Calvinist is injurious to the backslider. It causes him to profess over apostasy, to reproach the true Bible Church, and will cause him to miss heaven in the end. It is so inconsistent and unscriptural to advocate, as Calvinism does, that God condones sin in a Christian, while condemning it in a sinner. The Bible teaches that God’s grace is not given to cover us in our sinning, but to recover (deliver) us from our sinning (Matt. 1:21). With the biblical proof that Christ died for all, that salvation is possible to all, that all have the power freely to accept it or reject it, it logically follows that perseverances in holiness, like entrance to it, is optional with the individual. If apostasy is not possible to Christians, then all those many texts that warn against it are misleading. “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God”—Heb 12:15. “Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure; for if ye do these things ye shall never fall”—2 Peter 1:10. If these texts mean anything they teach that Christians may apostatize.
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