Must Faith Endure for Salvation to Be Sure?: A Biblical Study of the Perseverance versus Preservation of the Saints

In the beginning of Aladdin, the classic Disney animated film, the sorcerer Jafar attempts to unearth the Genie's lamp from the Cave of Wonders. The mouth of the Cave informs Jafar of the only one who can enter the cave and retrieve the lamp, "One whose worth lies far within: the diamond in the rough." The diamond in the rough will be our hero, Aladdin, the one who wins the heart of the princess, defeats the sorcerer, and frees the Genie. Must Faith Endure for Salvation to be Sure? by Thomas Stegall could be seen as the Aladdin in the Free Grace community. It's worth its weight in diamonds, and it is time for the proponents of Free Grace to read Thom's work and find the treasures of truth waiting for them in this hefty book.

Must Faith Endure for Salvation to be Sure? challenges what may be the most widely held and accepted of the 5 points of Calvinism: the doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints. Many who reject Unconditional Election and Limited Atonement, those who would never see themselves as Divine Determinists would still hold to Perseverance of the Saints. This is the belief that all those who are born again to eternal life will gradually grow into Christ-likeness and produce visible fruit which is capable of being judged and examined by self and others. Thom's book presents a thorough and compelling argument that perseverance is not required for saving faith, because we are resting in the preservation of Jesus Christ instead of perseverance of our works.

The book is broken into two large sections which could be viewed as two separate works. If you struggle with completing long books, you should consider reading Part One and setting the book aside for a few months before returning to Part Two. Part One of the book engages the reader's preconceptions through several challenging questions to begin to chip away at the establish belief in the perseverance of all Christians to good works. The nature of saving faith is examined by looking at momentary faith set against continually belief. Thom asks, "when does belief turn into unbelief?" These questions draw the reader to look into his preconceptions of the nature of faith and what are we guaranteed following our faith?

The first section makes use of lengthy quotes by Reformed and Lordship Salvation proponents to prove how closely their Gospel aligns with the faith/works Gospel of Roman Catholicism. This is one of the main features of Stegall's work. His willingness to share quotes and arguments by his opposition allows the reader to see that Stegall is familiar with the arguments of the Lordship camp, and he is also not strawmanning their position. When Stegall accuses the Reformed camp of being dangerously close to classic Roman Catholic views on soteriology, he is not painting the Reformed as something they are not. He uses their own words, presented side by side with Catholics, to show the shocking similarities of their views.

Following his comparison of the Catholic and Reformed faiths, Stegall helps the reader to see the Gospel as the Bible intends for us to view it. The Gospel is not a continuous and laborious lifestyle of faithfulness to God. The Gospel is not hard belief in contrast to easy believism. The Gospel saves because of belief fixed upon Christ. It is not the quality of faith that saves, so it is not about continuing to believe or being productive in belief. It is the object of our faith that saves. The object of our faith must always be Christ alone and not Jesus plus the faithfulness of our lives. Stegall writes, "God does not grant salvation by mingling the blood of our sacrifice with that of His Son. The good works of the believer cannot be added to Christ's finished work on the cross to make a person acceptable to God (John 19:30)." (page 149-150)

My favorite section in entire book was pages 87-95 on the Present Tense, Articular, Substantival Participle. Stegall walked the reading through the common Calvinist argument that since believes in John 3:16 was written in present tense, Jesus was referring to continual belief in order for one to receive eternal life. This would give John 3:16 a meaning of "whoever continually believes in Him shall not perish." Stegall not only provides an understandable and readable explanation on how one should understand the verb tense used by Jesus, but Stegall walks the reader through ten Biblical examples to prove his point. I kept shouting, "Amen!" in my mind while reading this section. This is how exegesis should be done by an author or teacher. State your point, explain your point, and give thorough examples to prove your point. It was superb work.

Having recently finished Lucas Kitchen's Eternal Rewards, I am on fire for the topic of rewards as Lucas' book pairs well with the excellent teaching on rewards in Must Faith Endure. Stegall helps us see how part of the confusion caused by the Calvinistic view of perseverance is simply caused by an absence of understanding regarding eternal rewards. Page 129 has a helpful chart contrasting the difference between salvation and rewards. Examples: Salvation is for unbelievers, but rewards are for believers. Salvation can never be lost, but rewards can be lost. Salvation concerns God's acceptance, but rewards concern God's approval.

Stegall helps the reader to see how a combination of the doctrine of preservation (security) and rewards provides the reader with both the comfort to rest in God's promises and the motivation to live for God while our time remains in this world. God is a good Father, so He wants all of His children to have security in His family. God is a good Father, so He wants to encourage and help us to mature to faithfulness to bring glory to His Name through our obedience. The doctrine of perseverance, on the other hand, leads the Christian to fear for their place in God's family, and it robs the Christian of the joy of eternal rewards.

The first half of Must Faith Endure for Salvation to be Sure is a long illustration on the importance of the topic of Free Grace. This is no minor theological issue to debated among theologians at seminaries and conferences. This is about the emotional and spiritual health of those Jesus died to redeem. This is about the clarity of the Gospel message to bring eternal life to those who believe in Jesus. We must proclaim the freeness of God's grace thanks to the priceless promise of God's Son Jesus Christ. Grace, as presented by Christ and Paul, does not lead to immaturity and selfishness, but grace leads to a passion to serve and glorify the Son who died for us.

The second half of Must Faith Endure takes the reader on a journey through the New Testament to examine all of the passages in the Bible that relate to the topic of perseverance or preservation of the Saints. Every proponent of Free Grace and the security of the Saints should own Thom's book if for no other reason than to have the resource of his exposition of all of these important Texts. This is a book where the Scripture index at the back is just as important as the information in the body of the book. When you need a second pair of eyes, because you have been challenged to doubt your security in Christ, go to the back of Must Faith Endure, look up the passage in question and find some support from Thomas Stegall.

I don't have quite as much to write regarding the second half of the book. This should not cause the potential reader to see this half of the book as deficient in some way, because Thom presents the reader with solid exegesis and explanation in passage after passage. It's consistent. It's clear and it's important. This is a good walk from the Gospels to Revelation on the topic of the preservation of the Saints. The consistent quality makes it more difficult for the reviewer to highlight highs and point out lows.

Here is my favorite paragraph from the second half of the book as an illustration of the good work put out by Stegall:

When passages such as John 2:23-25 appear to contradict the doctrine of perseverance of the saints, its proponents often resort to the standard reply that although the text says they had "believed" or had "faith," it must not have been "real" faith. But this begs the question, why then does Scripture actually say they "believed" or had "faith"? Why didn't the writer of Scripture just plainly say that they "didn't really believe," or they had "false faith," or "non-saving faith" so as not to mislead the reader into thinking they actually did "believe"? Why must a Calvinistic inference always be made in such cases?

The advantage Calvinists hold in Biblical interpretation is immense. There are numerous faulty assumptions baked into passage after passage where the Christian automatically assumes a view perseverance of the saints is the default view. Too few take the time to examine these Texts to determine if a guarantee of perseverance is found by a closer scrutiny of the Text in context. Thom shows in these passages that God provides security to all those who trust in Jesus, His completed work, and His promises. Our faith is to rest on the surety of Christ and not the shifting sands of our faithfulness.

His final chapter on Why Should Every Believer Persevere was a much-needed statement in the closing of his book. Some may be tempted to look at a book arguing for preservation in place of perseverance as an attack on the act of persevering. Nothing could be further from the truth. Thom Stegall is not presenting the case for preservation, so the Christian can live at ease while knowing he is secure in Christ. The goal of this book is not to create lazy Christians.

The ultimate purpose of Must Faith Endure for Salvation to be Sure, from my perspective, is to provide the Christian with the right motivation to persevere. Jesus doesn't want us to persevere out of a desperate need to prove our worth or our place in His household. He doesn't want us to persevere out of fear that our faith might not be a genuine gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus wants His people to persevere from a position of security. We persevere because we know the love and grace of God. The desire for a fulfilled, joyful life is there for the taking along with the power to conform into the character of Christ. While we won't be perfect in our aim to be like Christ, we will never become more like Him without striving in perseverance. We each have the opportunity to magnify the glory of God in our communities by pressing toward the high calling of our faith. Preservation provides the solid footing needed to walk the Christian walk.

I believe Must Faith Endure for Salvation to be Sure should be on the shelf of every pastor, student of the Word, and proponent of Free Grace theology. Based on my own reading after coming into the community, Charlie Bing's Grace, Salvation, and Discipleship along with Must Faith Endure by Thomas Stegall are the two of the best resources for the Christian in their journey to learn the principles of good, solid interpretation. Most people read the Bible with glasses on that have been tinted by the views of Augustine, Calvin, MacArthur, and more. Bing and Stegall help the reader of the Bible to begin to clear off that Lordship tint in order to read the Word with clarity. Stegall's Must Faith Endure is a diamond of Biblical knowledge just waiting for you to unearth with a little bit of diligence in your personal reading.