"And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister." (Col. 1: 20-23 kjv)
Those known as "Primitive Baptists" at one time believed in what is called "the perseverance of the saints." But, as they went astray in denying that evangelical faith and repentance were requirements for being eternally saved, they then began to throw out this article of their faith and to put in its stead "the preservation of the saints" towards the end of the 19th century, as if the latter excluded the former, which it does not. I wrote at length upon this in my series "The Hardshell Baptist Cult" in chapters 92 - 97 dealing with this question of perseverance. They are in this blog's archives for September 2011 and in the blog that gives all the chapters in "The Hardshell Baptist Cult" series. (See here) I cited from Elder J. H. Purifoy (1837-1908) where he wrote the following in his article titled "God's Saving Power Made Manifest In The Everlasting Preservation of the Saints," under sub-section titled "The Power of God Unto Eternal Salvation" (See here; emphasis mine):
"To my mind, everlasting preservation is a more thoroughly Scriptural expression than the 'final perseverance' of the saints. If our eternal salvation at last depends on our 'final perseverance,' what are we to persevere in? Are we to persevere in grace, or faithfulness to God, His cause and each other, or persevere in obedience to God?
I have failed in it so often myself, and have seen so much of it on every hand that I would like to see the expression 'final perseverance of the saints,' completely stricken out of our articles of faith, and instead say we believe in the EVERLASTING PRESERVATION of the saints, for our eternal salvation does depend on that, if we are what we profess to be."
By this statement he acknowledges the doctrine of perseverance to be what his Baptist predecessors believed and confessed in their articles of faith. It is certainly what is taught in both the Philadelphia Baptist Confession (1742) and in the second London Baptist Confession (1689) and it is these confessions that the first "Primitive" or "Old School" Baptists accepted as a statement of their faith. However, as the 19th century neared its end many "Primitive Baptists" began to believe as Purifoy. Why? And, how can they claim to be "primitive" or "original" Baptists if they have changed their views?
So, why did the Hardshells decide to change their beliefs on the perseverance of the saints? Answer: It was the natural result from their going into error on the necessity of evangelical faith and repentance for salvation, and of their error in denying the necessity of hearing the word of God in order to repent and believe for salvation, which errors were also not what their forefathers taught and expressed in their articles of faith. So, it is highly ironic for them to claim to be "primitive" or "original" Baptists.
In the Mt. Carmel Church trial (1909) this was a major issue and one can see from the testimony given in that trial, from both sides, that this is clearly true. Elder E.H. Burnam, an associate editor of Zion's Advocate and a close friend of Elder John Clark its editor, was a believer in means and in perseverance and he said the following in that court trial:
"It was left to the last quarter of the 19th century to give birth among the Old Order of Baptists to the notion of regeneration without faith, or that it is not necessary that one should exercise repentance, faith, or any spiritual gift, in order to be saved, a heresy than which none more pernicious was ever put forth by any professing to be followers of Christ."
In the Mt. Carmel church trial, Elder Burnam was questioned as follows:
Q. Has there ever been any departure on the part of any considerable body of the membership of the church from the doctrine, which you have stated, from the deed of 1849, and as treated of in the books which you have cited, and if so, when and under what circumstances did that occur. Speak with especial reference to any such division in the Mount Carmel Church at Luray?
A. Since I was here there has been put forth the idea that a man could be saved, if regenerate, without faith. The faith of Mount Carmel Church, as the faith of all the Baptists of our connection, Old School Regular Baptists, has been by the grace of God through faith. There has been a departure from that in the putting forth of the idea that men could be saved without faith.
Q. By whom has that departure been made?
A. That was made by what we call the Anti-Means Baptists, in 1891, by Dr. Waters, editor of Zion’s Advocate.
Q. Now state if there was any further departure from the faith as laid down in the deed of 1849, especially with reference to the words “final perseverance of the saints to glory, etc.?”
A. This book---this same paper---Zion’s Advocate and Herald of the Truth, of the same date, June, 1891, contains this as one of its articles, on the second page of the cover, and numbered seven, seventh article: “The final preservation and eternal happiness of all the elect of God by grace.” Now the faith of the Old School Baptists or Regular Baptists, as they used to be called and are still called by us, was salvation by grace through faith, and the perseverance of the saints in grace to glory. The perseverance! The word perseverance instead of preservation. A clear distinction must be drawn between the two words. Preservation does not necessarily include faith, but perseverance could not exist without it. None persevere unto eternal life except through a God-given faith. Therefore, we hold that there has been a clear departure from the original faith on these two points that I have named. We hold to the ancient faith, just as it was, and expect to do so while life lasts, as the truth of God.
Q. You have drawn a distinction between perseverance and preservation?
A. I have.
There are many texts that we could cite to show how the bible promises final salvation to those who persevere, who abide in Christ, who keep themselves in the love of God. In fact I did cite many of them in those six chapters dealing with perseverance in "The Hardshell Baptist Cult." You can read them (here, here, here, here, here, here). However, the text at the head of this post is one of the clearest proofs that unequivocally says that a person is reconciled if he continues in the faith grounded and settled and does not move away from the hope of the Gospel.
The Hardshell tactic in dealing with such texts, or any text that puts a condition upon obtaining salvation, is to say that they all concern a mere timely or temporal salvation and which is not necessary for eternal salvation. That becomes impossible to do, however, for so many of those texts, like the one above, show that it is eternal salvation that is the subject. In such cases the deniers of the necessity of perseverance must find another explanation that would not contradict their view that affirms that perseverance is not a necessity for eternal salvation.
The text is clearly talking about eternal salvation because it speaks of it consisting in Christ "having made peace through the blood of his cross" and being "reconciled" to God so that the believers Paul is addressing are no longer "alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works" and are therefore being prepared for Christ to "present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight."
Therefore, it is necessary that believers "continue in the faith grounded and settled" so as not to be "moved away from the hope of the gospel." So wrote the apostle John:
"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 kjv) John also wrote:
"For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?...We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him." (I John 5: 4-5, 18 nkjv)
This every true believer will do as a result of God's working in him or her to preserve them. God's preservation of them is what results in their perseverance. Jesus prays for every truly born again child of his, as he did for Peter, that their "faith fail not." (Luke 22: 32)
God keeps (preserves) his born again people but the means is God given and sustained faith. So wrote the apostle: "Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation" (I Peter 1: 5 kjv). Hardshell Baptists leave out the "through faith" part of the verse. It therefore does not help them much to contend for preservation to the exclusion of perseverance, for even preservation is by faith. So also wrote Jude the Lord's brother:
"But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." (Jude 1: 20-21 nkjv)
If God is keeping or preserving you then you will be found preserving yourself and persevering. As faith is God's gift, so too is perseverance his gift.
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