Hardshell Objections to the doctrine of perseverance are these:
1. Perseverance depends upon the faithfulness of those saved, and such a system destroys preservation.
2. Perseverence requires the use of creatures as instruments and eternal salvation cannot be secure if creatures are used as means.
3. Perseverance requires perfect obedience, or sinlessness.
4. Scriptures emphasize preservation rather than perseverance.
The last objection was disproved in the preceding chapter. The first objection may have some validity if one assumes that the "faithfulness" of the saved depends upon their own will power, but, seeing that the scriptures demonstrate that perseverance is a gift, and what is certain for the truly regenerated, then this objection has no validity. The third objection is connected with defining what it means, practically speaking, for one to "persevere." Hardshells object to the doctrine of perseverance because, they say, it is never fully defined. I shall enlarge upon it in this series, and show how the scriptures and the old Baptists have defined perseverance, and how they address this objection to the doctrine of the saints certain perseverance. Those who believe in it cannot say exactly what they mean, it is alleged. But, this objection is given mostly in the context of godly living, law keeping, or holiness, which is actually only one aspect of the biblical doctrine of perseverance. How much sin can a child of God commit, after regeneration, and yet still be said to be persevering? If he commits one sin, did he persevere? If he commits a few sins, did he persevere? If he is in the habit of sinning, is he persevering?
In reply, let us recall the several verses cited in the previous chapter that spoke of perseverance and see what was foremost emphasized in connection with it. All the verses cited emphasized perseverance in belief and adherence to Christ and gospel truth. "If ye continue in the faith" and in the "hope of the gospel." "If we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope." "If we don't draw back." "If we abide in the doctrine of Christ." Thus, in these verses, which emphasize perseverance, the emphasis is on perseverance in one's faith in Christ and in the truth of the gospel. It is not perseverance in morality, or in law keeping, although these are sometimes discussed in the context of perseverance.
The old Baptist confessions speak of "persevering in grace" and "in holiness," which would include persevering in the graces of faith and repentance, and include conviction and confession of sin, and allegiance to Christ and his word. Temporary believers, in scripture and in the old Baptist writings, are never judged to have been genuine believers, or regenerated souls.
If we examine the parable of the sower and seed, the temporary believer had a heart that was compared to shallow ground, ground that is not good, while persevering believers had a heart that was compared to good ground. Historically, Hardshells have used this parable to teach that souls are regenerated before they hear and believe the gospel. They affirm that the ground was made good before the seed was sown in it, and that this making of the ground good was equivalent to being born again. I addressed this parable in chapter 35 of my book. But, by their own interpretation on the parable, the temporary believer did not have a regenerated or good heart! So, who is the temporary believer? It is the unregenerated believer. Further, what is said of the regenerated believers? "They brought forth fruit with patience." They believed and endured!
If good seed is sown into good ground, will it fail to produce fruit? If it does not produce good fruit, though both the seed and soil are good, then why did it not produce fruit? That is a hard question for Hardshells.
Elder Sylvester Hassell wrote:
"And, if Heb vi. 4-6 and x. 26-31 are applicable to any since the apostolic age, they refer, as proved by Heb. vi. 9 and x. 39, not to heart disciples, true believers, the elect, redeemed, and regenerated people of God, but to head disciples, stony-ground, temporary believers, the merely nominal people of God (like the most of national Israel), never really cleansed by God’s grace any more than the nature of the sick dog and the washed sow is changed, who, after mental illumination and a brief profession of Christianity, renounce that profession, and walk no more with Christ even in name, but become his scoffing and implacable adversaries, who shall, at the judgment of the great day, he consigned to everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels (John vi. 66; Matt. xiii. 20-21; ii Pet. ii.1, 20-22; Matt. vii. 21-23; xxv. 41-46)." ("My Two Months' Tour In Georgia," The Gospel Messenger—July 1895) See here
Clearly Hassell believed that temporary believers were no believers at all, that those who apostasize were not really regenerate. Why do today's Hardshells deny what Hassell believed? Who taught the old Baptist position? Hassell or today's Hardshells?
Wrote Elder C. B. Hassell, the father of Sylvester, cited the following words of Faussett with approval:
“The patience and the final perseverance of the saints, notwithstanding temporary distrust under Satan’s persecutions, which entailed loss of family, friends, possessions and bodily health, are illustrated in Job’s history. God’s people serve Him for His own sake, not merely for the temporary reward which His service may bring; they serve Him even in overwhelming trial. Herein is Job an imperfect type of Christ. Job’s chief agony was, not so much his accumulated losses and sufferings, not even his being misunderstood by friends, but that God hid His face from him, as these calamities too truly seemed to prove (Job 23:3-9). Yet conscience told him he was no hypocrite, nay, though God was slaying him, he still trusted in God (Job 23:10-15; compare Abraham, 22:19).”—Fausset. (chapter II, page 63)
Hassell says that Job is an example of the perseverance of the saints, that what is true of Job is true of all the chosen and called. In this he states what was the original old Baptist position. Today's Hardshells who reject this doctrine are therefore not primitive or original.
The objection to perseverance because it requires the use of preachers and gospel teachers is no objection at all. I have already addressed this objection in earlier chapters of this book. I answered it by showing how the eternal salvation of sinners was conditioned upon Mary giving birth to Christ, and upon the wicked putting Christ to death. Yet, these human means did not in any way make the salvation of sinners uncertain.
W. T. Connor, cited by Davis W. Huckabee, said:
"This does not involve the antinomian position that, since one is in justification delivered from sin, he is, therefore, made eternally safe, no matter what he may become in character and life. This is a perversion of the truth that becomes about as great a heresy as the one which it denies. The New Testament teaching is not that a justified man is saved irrespective of what he may be in character; it is rather that the justifying and regenerating grace of God so revolutionizes his character that he can never be again what he was before. It is not that the Christian is saved whether he persists in faith or not; it is that he will persist in faith and will, therefore, attain to final salvation."
It is clear that the "antinomian position" is the position of today's Hardshells. It is also clear that the reason for not accepting the doctrine of perseverance is due to their not understanding the experience of regeneration.
Conner also said:
"The perseverance of the saints is based on the preservation of the saints. We persevere because he keeps. But it is not true to say that, because he keeps us, we do not need to persevere." (Christian Doctrine, pp. 238, 239. Broadman Press, Nashville, 1949)
It is today's Hardshells who think that God's preservation of his people makes perseverance unnecessary.
Huckabee cites J. L. Dagg, who said:
"Perseverance in holiness is the only infallible proof that the heart is right; and he who ceases to persevere, on the presumption that his heart is right, believes without proper evidence, and is woefully hazarding his eternal interests on his presumption. The doctrine is, that grace in the heart will produce perseverance to the end; and where the effect is not produced, the cause does not exist." (J. L. Dagg, Manual of Theology, pp. 298-299. Sprinkle Publications Gano Books, Harrisonburg, VA., 22801, 1982)
This has always been the position of all Calvinistic or Particular Baptists, and was the position of the founding fathers of Hardshellism, but today's Hardshells have left the faith of their fathers. Dagg affirms that where perseverance is absent so is regeneration absent. Perseverance is the proof of preservation. This is what was shown to be the teaching of scripture in the previous chapter. Those verses said - "we are saved now if in the future we persevere." Or, conversely, "we are not saved now if we do not persevere in the future." In Hebrews 3 the apostle says two times - "we are saved now if in the future we hold fast." He did not say - "we will be saved in the future if in the future we hold fast." Present salvation is demonstrated only by what follows it. Failure to persevere is proof that there was no genuine salvation in the past.
The apostle John wrote the same, saying:
"They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us." (I John 2: 19)
John says that these apostates demonstrated that they were never truly saved. Their apostasy showed that they were hypocrites, not genuine believers. He also affirms that true believers "continue" in the fellowship of the gospel.
Davis W. Huckabee wrote:
"The Lord’s preservation of the saints and the saints’ perseverance in holiness are twin sister doctrines, neither of which can be ignored without upsetting the balance of truth. The preservation of the saints in grace is bound up with God’s eternal purpose, and part of the purpose of God is to give enabling grace to the saint so that he will persevere in holiness.
God preserves His people in this world through their perseverance—their use of means and avoidance of what is destructive. We do not mean for a moment that the everlasting purpose of the Most High is made contingent on the actions of the creature. The saints’ perseverance is a Divine gift, as truly as is health and strength of body."
Huckabee cites A. W. Pink, who said:
"Now is the Father’s eternal purpose placed in jeopardy by the human will? Is its fulfillment contingent upon human conduct? Or having ordained the end will He not also make infallibly effectual all the means to that end?" (A. W. Pink, The Saints’ Perseverance, pp. 11-12)
("THE PRESERVATION AND PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS," by Davis W. Huckabee, chapter 13)
See here
In the next chapters I will cite more from leading Hardshells of the 19th century to show that they believed in the perseverance of the saints. I will also show from scriptures that perseverance is a gift that is given to all those who are called by his grace.
No comments:
Post a Comment