Theological glossary · FaithLogic

Perseverance of the saints

The teaching that those God has truly saved will be kept by his power and will persevere in faith and holiness to the end — the 'P' of TULIP.

Latin perseverantia, 'a persisting'; also framed as God's 'preservation' of the saints.

John 6:37–40; 10:27–29; Romans 8:28–39; Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 1:3–5; 1 John 2:19; Jude 24 — held against Hebrews 3:12–14; 6:4–8; 10:26–31; John 15:1–6; Galatians 5:4; 2 Peter 2:20–22.

Articulated at the Synod of Dort (Fifth Head) against the Arminian Remonstrants, and in the Westminster Confession ch. 17. It is not 'once saved, always saved' in a bare sense but that God preserves his people in faith and repentance, using the warning passages as real means to that end; those who finally fall away 'were not of us' (1 John 2:19). Arminian and Catholic theology hold that genuine believers can forfeit salvation.

Grounds assurance in God's faithfulness rather than the believer's grip; perseverance in the fight is both the evidence and the God-given means of final salvation.

Whether the warning/apostasy passages describe losable salvation (Arminian) or function as means of preservation / describe the never-regenerate (Reformed); Catholic 'final perseverance' as an unassured gift.

Open in the glossary for related terms and the doctrines this concept appears in.