Does Paul Teach That the Gift of Salvation is Unconditionally Irrevocable in Romans 11:29?

Romans 6:23; 11:29 For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord….For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Many see here a strong assertion of unconditional eternal security based on the fact that “the gifts and calling of God are [...]

Does “Eternal Life” in Passages like John 3:16 Imply That Apostasy is Impossible?

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. Some emphasize the fact that eternal life is eternal. It is claimed that if we could forfeit salvation, eternal life would then cease to be eternal. This [...]

Does 1 John 2:18-19 Support the Calvinist “Never Saved to Begin With” View of Apostasy?

1 John 2:18-19 Little children, it is the last hour and as you have heard that the Anti-Christ is coming, even now many anti-christs have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.  They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they [...]

Does Paul Teach Unconditional Eternal Security in Romans 8:35-39?

Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written: ‘For you sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’  No, in all these things we are more than [...]

Does Jesus Teach Unconditional Eternal Security in John 10:27-29?

Having examined the primary passages that teach apostasy we now examine the passages that the advocates of unconditional eternal security believe clearly support their doctrine: John 10:27-29 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them [...]

Debunking the False Faith View of the Hebrews Warning Passages

Below are some comments I made long ago in my perseverance series against the idea that the writer of Hebrews is addressing his warnings of falling away to those whose faith is not genuine, or describing those with non-genuine faith. My comments are followed by more recent comments by Scot McKnight against O’Brien’s false faith [...]

Abasciano on the Calvinist Appeal to Acts 27 in Order to Support the Claim That it is Reasonable to Warn Believers Against Impossibilites

Calvinists like Schreiner and Caneday have made the argument that while believers can never forsake the faith, it is still reasonable to warn true believers against forsaking the faith since such warnings serve as a supposed “means” to keep believers from forsaking the faith, even though forsaking the faith is impossible and these believers would likewise know it [...]

1 Corinthians 15 and the Claims of Calvinism

Calvinism as a system claims that God reprobated a large segment of mankind so that they can never be saved. [1] It further claims that the atonement is for this reason limited only to the elect who alone will benefit from the atonement and be saved (with no possibility of falling away).  In such a [...]

Does Scripture Describe Two Types of Apostasy?

In my series on perseverance I dealt with the warning passages in Hebrews.  I have changed my views on certain aspects of apostasy while studying the subject.  However, my view that apostasy from true saving faith is possible has never changed.  I just can’t read the Bible honestly and deny such a reality, even if [...]

Jack Cottrell: Did The Early Christian Fathers Teach Calvinism?

Did the Early Christian Fathers Teach Calvinism? by Jack Cottrell on Monday, July 25, 2011 at 12:59pm QUESTION: Some say that the doctrines of Calvinism did not begin with John Calvin, nor even with Augustine (died A.D. 430). Rather, they claim that the TULIP doctrines are present throughout the writings of the church fathers from [...]