The Consummating Scripture On Security

By Lewis Sperry Chafer

[This article, first published in 1950, is presented with minimal editing to commemorate Bibliotheca Sacra’s 175th anniversary. Lewis Sperry Chafer served as Dallas Theological Seminary’s president 1924–1952 and as editor of Bibliotheca Sacra 1940–1952.]

As the Letter to the Romans is designed to give the plan and scope of salvation by and through the grace of God which is made possible through the death of Christ, it is to be expected that that Letter will present the essential truth that the one who is saved is safe for all eternity. This Epistle is divided into three parts: (1) salvation, chapters 1–8; (2) dispensation, chapters 9–11; and (3) exhortation, chapters 12–16. The first section, on salvation, may be divided into three parts. Having declared the lost estate of man in its peculiar form in the present age, the Apostle sets forth: (1) salvation for the unregenerate person which is consummated in justification (3:21); (2) salvation for the believer from the power of sin, or unto sanctification (6:1–8:17); and (3) security for those who are saved (8:1–39). From this outline, it will be seen that the portion 8:1–17 serves a double purpose, as it appears in two of these divisions. The present thesis is concerned with the security portion (8:1–39), which is built on the entire salvation revelation and consummates it with an argument for security which is both clear and conclusive. This argument closes with the Apostle’s confession of his own belief respecting the safety of those who are saved. In this respect, as in many others, Arminianism cannot claim to be Pauline. The student will recognize that, after having set forth the essential character of salvation in its two major aspects, the Apostle must answer the pertinent question whether such a salvation, which is unrelated to human merit, will endure.

This great chapter—second in significance only to John 17—opens with an all but incredible proclamation which serves as a primary statement, the truth of which is proved by seven major arguments and these occupy the text of the chapter. This amazing, unqualified, divine assertion which it has pleased God to record and to fortify with infallible proofs is as follows: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” The added words, “who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit,” found in the A.V., are not, as recognized by all devout scholars (see R.V.), a part of this text in its original form, but have been added, perhaps by those who could not suffer to stand a statement so clear and assuring. This intended element of human worthiness is not only foreign to the original text, but is a contradiction of all the truth previously set forth in this Epistle and of that which follows. In like manner, this intrusion tends to disrupt every revelation respecting salvation by grace which is found in the New Testament. This added phrase—“who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”—does belong properly in verse 4 where the believer’s responsibility is in view.

When challenged with the unqualified statement, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,” the reader is faced with the question whether this is literally and irrevocably true. If it is true, it guarantees a state of blessedness as expanded as heaven itself and as extended as the eternity it includes. What greater ground of peace could be presented than that a fallen being, cursed with sin and its ruin, should enter a sphere of relationship with God wherein there is no condemnation now, or in eternity to come? If the answer be made that the promise is for the present and not the future, it will be seen that the Apostle, when arguing in the following context concerning this wonderful primary statement, treats it in every instance as of eternal duration; that is, by his own interpretation it reaches on forever.

Though some restatement be involved, attention must be called to the truth that this blessedness is not made, in this declaration, to depend upon human worthiness, but upon the fact that the one thus blessed is in Christ Jesus. It will be recalled that on the righteous ground provided by Christ in the sweet savor aspect of His death, and on the ground of the fact that the believer is translated into the new Headship wherein he partakes of all that Christ is—even the righteousness of God—there remains no longer any vestige of the legal, merit, system which would cast its shadow of doubt over the perfection of God’s manifestation of His sovereign grace. Acceptance with God is sealed forever, and on a basis which is righteous in every respect to the end that God Himself is declared to be just, and not merely merciful, when He justifies eternally the ungodly who do no more than to “believe in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26; 4:5). It becomes, therefore, an uncomplicated accomplishment on the part of God. Arminians are wont to make no other reply to this revelation than that “It is too good to be true,” and that they would like to believe it if they could. Nevertheless, this wonderful revelation is the very heart of the New Testament message respecting sovereign grace and these great declarations yield to no other interpretation. It is not a mere pity for man’s wretchedness, which actuates God in so vast an undertaking; He proposed to exercise and demonstrate His attribute of grace as that which can be manifested in no other way.

This entire body of truth relative to the believer’s position in Christ and through sovereign grace, lies back of the words, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,” and the one who is bold enough to challenge the full measure of truthfulness which this text asserts is, by inexorable logic, compelled to deny every factor which enters into the doctrine of sovereign grace. The Arminian contention that the salvation of a sinner is a cooperative affair with some responsibility resting upon God and some upon the sinner—an important contention if the dignity of the sinner is to be preserved—is not only foreign to the divine revelation, but is a contradiction of the very principle which that revelation sets forth. Men are either perfectly lost in the first Adam, or perfectly saved in the Last Adam, and by so much there could be no middle ground or compromise; therefore all modifications of the doctrine of sovereign grace are ruled out forever. Passing from one Adam to the Other is no human undertaking. God alone can do such a thing, and the sinner’s relation to it could be no more than to believe on Him to do it in His own way, in and through Christ Jesus. In this no man may boast (Eph. 2:9).

Of supreme importance in the consideration of the eighth chapter of Romans are the indisputable facts that this is the divinely ordained book for the setting forth of the whole plan and scope of salvation by grace, and that the eighth chapter serves as the consummation of the doctrinal structure of this Epistle. Since the opening statement of the eighth chapter of Romans is so unequivocal, the Apostle proceeds to offer seven proofs of its truthfulness. In approaching these, unavoidably some repetition of that line of argument already presented must be allowed.

Delivered From The Law

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (vss. 2–8).

In this context, the law stands as the representation of the merit system—that divine arrangement which, according to the New Testament, is held as the antipode of God’s plan of salvation by grace. Beyond the one truth that both systems are ordained of God for application in such ages as He may elect, they set up contrasts at every point. The fact that, under the new order, the law principle is done away as having nothing to contribute to the outworking of the principle of grace (cf. Rom. 11:6; 4:4–5; Gal. 5:4), should not create the impression that the law did not originate with God; that it is not holy, just, and good; or that it has not had His sanction. On this point the Apostle is most emphatic. When arguing the power of the law as designed by God, he said, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid” (Rom. 7:7); “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. . . . For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin” (Rom. 7:12, 14); “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator” (Gal. 3:19). Though holy, just, and good, the law undertook no more than to serve as a rule of life for people already rightly related to God by His covenants with them. However, as for its holy demands, it is in no way to be compared with that manner of life which is set before the Christian under grace. Over against this, the heaven-high system of conduct under grace, while demanding a supernatural manner of life (cf. John 13:34; 2 Cor. 10:3–5; Eph. 4:30), does provide divine enablement; that is, by the presence of the indwelling Spirit the believer is able to do that which these high standards demand. Therefore, this truth is to be observed—that, while requiring far less, the law system failed; yet, while presenting that heaven-high requirement in daily life which belongs to the grace relationship, there is expectation that these new standards will be realized.

It is well to contemplate the glorious truth that, so far as the believer’s standing in Christ is concerned, the heavenly ideals are reached to infinite perfection. Only in the sphere of the believer’s daily conflicts is the grace ideal at times unrealized. It is too often supposed that the outworking of grace is restricted to the Christian’s walk and conversation, and so the real triumph of grace—the perfecting of the child of God forever—is unrecognized. No matter how disproportionate these issues become under Arminian influence, it must be remembered that to walk worthy of the heavenly calling—though of great importance—is not to be compared for a moment with the heavenly calling itself. The believer may often fail in his conflict with the world, the flesh, and the devil; but this should not blind one to those immeasurable, divine achievements which have already united the believer to Christ and thereby constituted him as perfect in the sight of God as his Savior. It is this faultless standing in Christ which conditions the believer’s walk; never does the believer’s walk condition his standing. Just here is where more than elsewhere, the essential difference between Arminianism and Calvinism is demonstrated. The upholders of the Arminian system have never evinced ability to comprehend the truth regarding a perfect standing in Christ which is as enduring as the Son of God. To the Arminian, standing before God is just what a feeble believer makes it by his daily life. Under those conditions the Christian may fail and be lost again. For the moment it seems to be forgotten that every believer sustains an imperfect daily life and therefore, on that basis, all must be lost forever. The New Testament teaches that those who believe are saved from the merit system by having all its demands satisfied in Christ, and thus the believer endures forever. In the Arminian system God becomes a colossal failure, unable to realize His purpose in grace; in the Calvinistic system God never fails even to the slightest degree.

The all-important phrase in the context now under consideration (Rom. 8:2–4), so far as the present phase of truth is concerned, is “for what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.” By these words the Apostle is accounting for the failure of the law system (cf. Rom. 9:30–32). He does not imply that the law was, or is, weak in itself; it was powerless because the flesh to which it was addressed and on which it depended for response, was too weak to comply with its commandments. It follows that, if God would bring perfected beings into glory out of the midst of this weakness, He must adopt another and more efficacious plan than that which the merit system represents. The new plan adopted does, as seen in earlier chapters of Romans, secure a triumph of divine grace, even the justifying forever of the one who believes on Christ. Therefore, the discussion for the moment centers on the problem of the daily life of the justified one. This problem is greatly increased by the fact of “sin in the flesh,” or the Adamic nature. This context asserts that the Adamic nature has been “condemned”—that is, judged—and to the end that the Holy Spirit may be free righteously to control that nature. The aim of all this divine provision concerning daily life is that “the law”—meaning the entire will of God for every moment of the believer’s life—“might be fulfilled in us.” The crucial word here is ἐν which in this instance is furthest removed from the idea that the will of God is fulfilled by the believer. The contrast set up is between what the Spirit may do in the believer as compared to that which the believer, under a merit system, may do for God. However, that he may avail himself of the power of the Spirit in the daily-life problem, the Christian is told that he must “walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” The conclusion of the matter is that “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” because of the fact they are delivered from the law, or merit, system.

The Fact Of The Presence Of The Divine Nature

“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you” (vss. 9–11).

Having pointed out that the flesh is opposed to God and that the walk of the flesh is in the way of spiritual death as the walk in the Spirit is in the way of life and peace, the Apostle declares that the Christian—with reference to position—is not in the flesh, though the flesh is in the Christian. The Christian is “in the Spirit.” However, the Spirit is also in the Christian; for he states, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ [the Holy Spirit], he is none of his.” This indwelling reality is again asserted by the words, “if Christ be in you,” and, “if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you.” That indwelling One shall quicken the mortal body of the one in whom He dwells. This is not a reference to the present energizing of the body by the Spirit, but rather to the fact that the Spirit will quicken that body in resurrection from the dead. The presence of the indwelling Spirit guarantees the endurance of the believer—even his mortal body is under the divine covenant, which assures its presence in glory. No Arminian uncertainty is admitted in this unalterable declaration. However, the Apostle does refer again to the believer’s daily life and asserts anew the warning that to walk after the flesh is in the way of spiritual death, and to walk after the Spirit is in the way of life and peace. Having received the divine nature “there is therefore [with full consideration of an imperfect walk] now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”

The Christian A Son And Heir Of God

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (vss. 14–17).

It is certain that “the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his” (2 Tim. 2:19); and it is impossible, unthinkable, and—what is more important—unscriptural, that God should lose one He has begotten into actual sonship. Some may “go out from us, but they are not of us” (1 John 2:19); the implication is that those “who are of us” never go out. God reserves the right to chasten an erring child, as He did the sons of David (cf. 2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 89:30–33), but the chastisement of the child of God has for its supreme purpose, “that we should not be condemned with the world” (1 Cor. 11:31–32). “That which is born of God,” the Apostle declares, endures; for “his seed remaineth in him” (1 John 3:9).

Likewise, to be a son of God is to be an heir of God, even “a joint-heir with Christ.” Here all the riches of God are in view. Christ said, “All things that the Father hath are mine” (John 16:15). The purpose of a will being made out to specified heirs is that they may receive that benefit without fail. None would contend that there is danger that all that the Father bequeathed to Christ will not be delivered; nor should it be intimated that a “joint-heir” will fail of his portion. The revealed truth that God bequeaths His riches to His “joint-heirs with Christ” means that they are to receive this benefit, else God has failed. As Christ said, “I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am” (John 17:24), in like manner the Father has willed to His heirs all His riches in glory; and to claim that they will not receive their portion is to assume that God is defeated. There is a common sharing of interest between the Father and the Son. This is indicated by the words of Christ, “All mine are thine, and thine are mine” (John 17:10). It is thus demonstrated that, because of the truth that believers are sons and heirs of God, “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”

The Divine Purpose

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (vss. 28–29).

Nothing could be more fundamental or determining in this universe than the purpose of God. Comparable to the above passage is Ephesians 1:4–12. In that context such decisive statements as the following are found: “chosen in him” (vs. 4); “having predestinated us” (vs. 5); “according to the good pleasure of his will” (vs. 5); “the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself” (vs. 9); “being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will” (vs. 11); the divine objective is said to be, “that we should be holy and without blame before him” (vs. 4); “to the praise of the glory of his grace” (vs. 6); “that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him” (vs. 10); and “that we should be to the praise of his glory” (vs. 12).

From these declarations, a devout person will rightfully conclude that back of all secondary causes which may be divinely arranged to cooperate in the realization of the purpose of God, there is a sovereign intention—that which actuated God in creation and continues to actuate Him in providence and preservation—and when man has divested himself of self-centered prejudice, and is moved by common reason, he will conclude that this universe belongs to God by absolute title and that He therefore has inherent rights and indisputable freedom to execute things after the counsel of His own will. In this recognition of divine authority it is also acknowledged that man is but a creature and that his highest destiny will be realized, not in opposition to God, but in complete conformity to God.

The text cited—Romans 8:28–29—states that there are those who are “called according to his purpose” (they are said to “love God” and this implies that He has revealed Himself to them), and that for them He is so undertaking that all things are working together for good in their behalf. It is the usual idea that the “all things” here mentioned are to be observed in the minute details of a believer’s experience in life. Such divine care is an actuality and should be acknowledged; but the major issues which are itemized in this context lift the specific “all things” into the highest realms of divine achievement. The saved one has been foreknown, predestinated, called, justified, and glorified. Such a sequence of blessings is rightfully classed as that which is “good.”

There is no real occasion for reopening at this point the discussion of the relation that exists between divine foreknowledge and divine predestination. The Arminian contends that God predestinates only what He foreknows; the Calvinist contends that God foreknows because He predestinates, that is, the Calvinist believes that nothing could be foreknown as certain unless God had made it certain by predestination or foreordination. Attempts to arrange these great divine operations into a sequence are doomed to fail, since they are not independent but interdependent actions of the divine will. God could neither foreknow what He had not predetermined, nor could He predetermine what He did not foreknow.

This portion of Scripture points out the truth that certain persons are called according to the purpose of God and are the objects of both His foreknowledge and predestination. Upon this foundation the context goes on to declare that those thus designated will reach the destiny divinely purposed. God is causing everything to work together to that end. Should they fail to reach this end, on the human side the issue would be comparatively small; but on the divine side the issue would be as great as the failure of God the Creator. It will not do to conclude, as Arminians do, that God has left the whole matter of His sovereign purpose, as it applies to an elect company, to their own determination. He needs no alibi in case of failure, since there will be no failure. Pious men have never challenged Deity more violently than when they have implied that the realization of His sovereign purpose must be conditioned by secondary causes. God thus degraded and dishonored becomes, in the mind of men, no God at all. It still stands true, though all men stagger in unbelief (Rom. 4:20), that “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”

The Execution Of The Divine Purpose

“Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth” (vss. 30–33).

It is certain that, in the vast range of creation, God has manifold purposes and there will be no question raised about whether His will is done in other spheres. It is only within the restricted realm of certain human beings that doubt is engendered relative to the sovereignty of God; and it is significant that such doubt springs from men and not from God. His Word may be taken as the declaration of what He deems to be true, and He asserts His own sovereignty with no condition or qualification. After all, the opinions of men, who are steeped in self-exalting prejudice and afflicted with satanic independence of God, are of no actual value. The entire theme of predestination is outside the human horizon. In the verses cited above, the Holy Spirit, the divine Author, asserts that precisely what God purposes He brings to glorious fruition. By specific steps and by wholly adequate means God realizes what He purposes. Whom He predestinates, He calls; whom He calls, He justifies; and whom He justifies, He glorifies. These are among the things which “work together for good” to those who are the called according to His purpose. Much has been written earlier regarding the divine call, which call not only invites with a gospel appeal, but inclines the mind and heart of the one called to accept divine grace. Here the human will—a secondary cause—is recognized. The will of man is guided by what he knows and what he desires. The divine method of reaching the will is by increasing man’s knowledge and by stimulating his desires, while on the divine side of this method there remains not the shadow of possible failure. The end is as certain as any eternal reality in God. On the human side, man is conscious of doing only what he actually does: he chooses as an act of his own volition to receive the grace God offers in Christ Jesus. It is a problem to the mind of man how God can predetermine and realize the eternal salvation of a precise number which no human being has ever counted, and guarantee that not one will fail, and yet each one of that company is allowed the free exercise of his own will, and could, if he so determined, reject every offer of divine grace. By persuasion and enlightenment God realizes His purpose to the point of infinite completeness; yet no human will has been coerced, nor will one ever be. God’s call is efficacious, for all who are called are justified and glorified.

All that enters into the problem of qualifying a sinner for heaven’s holy associations is perfected in justification, it being the consummation of all that enters into salvation both as a dealing with demerit and as a provision of infinite merit before God—the very merit of Christ. As a divine undertaking justification, which is secured without reference to any human cause (Rom. 3:24), incorporates, as essential to it, not only the value of the death and resurrection of Christ, but every step that enters into divine salvation by grace. Indeed, it is the very scope of that which justification incorporates that leads the Apostle to declare that God is “for us” (vv. 31–32). This is a marvelous truth and His attitude of love is demonstrated by the fact that He did not spare the supreme gift of His Son, but delivered Him up for us all. Having given the supreme Gift, all else will easily and naturally be included. God gives unqualified assurance that He justifies all whom He predestinates and He bases that justification on the death and resurrection of Christ, which basis renders it at once a divine act altogether righteous in itself—even to the point of infinity. Little wonder that the Spirit’s answer to His own question “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?” is, “It is God that justifieth.” That is, the very thing which would serve as a charge against the believer has been so dealt with already, that there can be no charge recognized. From the standpoint of infinite holiness, it is no slight achievement for God to justify eternally an ungodly enemy who himself does no more than to believe in Jesus, and to do this in such a manner as to shield the One who justifies from every complication which mere leniency with sin and unworthiness would engender. This is not a human disagreement where one believer is charging another with evil; it is an issue of far greater proportions. It is God who is challenged to take account of the sin of His elect. The Arminian contends that God must judge and condemn the one He has saved if there is ought to charge against him. Over against this notion, which notion seems never to have comprehended the workings of divine grace, is the clear assertion that God has already justified the one who has given full proof of his election by believing on Christ, and this in spite of not just one evil alone being charged against him, but in spite of every sin—past, present, and future.

It remains true—regardless of human doubt, misunderstanding, and blindness—that the purpose of God for His elect is executed on a basis so righteous and reaching to such a degree of infinite perfection, that “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.”

Christ’s Own Achievement

“Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (vs. 34).

Since extended treatment of the four aspects of Christ’s undertaking in behalf of the believer, as set forth in this verse, has been essayed in the previous article,[1] the truth which the text presents need only be referred to here. By His substitutionary death, Christ has borne the condemnation of the sin of those to whom the value of His death has been applied in response to saving faith. Because of the value of His death having been applied, no condemnation can return upon that one. The resurrection of Christ has provided the gift of eternal, resurrection life that cannot die. The appearing of Christ as Advocate in the court of heaven in behalf of the sinning Christian guarantees that at the very place where insecurity might find entrance the Lord Himself so advocates before the Father, by presenting the fact of His own sufficient sacrifice for that sin, as to preserve the one who sins and on a basis so indisputable that the Advocate wins the title, “Jesus Christ the righteous.” And, lastly, the Savior intercedes and by His intercession is able to save to completion all that come unto God by Himself (Heb. 7:25).

Any one of these achievements of the Son of God is sufficient to answer the Arminian contention and, as set forth in the New Testament, they are intended to serve as a ground for the believer’s safekeeping for all eternity. It therefore follows that the primary declaration of the eighth chapter of Romans, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,” is altogether true and is completely provided for by the Savior Himself.

The Incompetency Of Celestial And Mundane Things

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (vss. 35–39).

Thus far, arguments sustaining the doctrine of eternal security, as drawn from the Scriptures, have been based on those infinite resources which the Persons of the Godhead guarantee. This, the closing portion of Romans 8, approaches the fact of security from the negative side—setting aside that which other forces, both heavenly and mundane, effect. As for the first category, which enumerates mundane things (vs. 35), they are ordained for the believer’s experience in the world and over them, by divine enablement, he is to be victor. By the authority of God, the believer is to recognize the force of these things and to prevail in spite of them. As for the second category, which is of celestial realities (vss. 38–39), the Apostle can say, “I am persuaded” that these shall not “be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This phrase, “I am persuaded,” is distinctive, being used but twice by the Apostle Paul, and but three times in the Sacred Text (A.V.); and in two of these instances—Romans 8:38; 2 Timothy 1:12—reference is made directly to the security of the child of God. In the present instance—Romans 8:38—he includes all believers; in the second—2 Timothy 1:12—he gives a personal testimony, and in these words: “For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.” It is no small distinction and encouragement to the one who believes that the true child of God is eternally safe, that he, in this particular, is in complete harmony with the great Apostle; especially is this true in the light of the fact that the Apostle’s statement is given by inspiration. On the other hand, it is no small discredit and delinquency on the part of one who denies the doctrine of eternal security that he, in attempting to maintain his contention, must impugn the inspired testimony of the one who above all men has been selected of God to receive and to transmit this very gospel of divine grace. Regardless of avowed sincerity, Arminians are not Pauline in their essential theology. To them the doctrinal hesitations of one leading Arminian are more worthy of adoption and promotion than are the unqualified, inspired teachings of the Apostle Paul. This attitude of unbelief is exhibited by the Arminians in their treatment—usually a dire neglect—of all unqualified New Testament declarations on the truth respecting security, and none more commonly than their treatment of Christ’s words as recorded in John 10:28–29. In this context the Savior declares, “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” It is the Arminian gloss or evasion to say than no power can “pluck” the believer out of the hand of Christ or of the Father except the believer himself, who, it is asserted, is able—because of the sovereignty of the human will—to remove himself from that security. The Lord seemed to anticipate such evidence of distress on the part of those who would “wrest the Scriptures unto their own destruction,” and purposely inserted one phrase, namely, “and they shall never perish,” which Arminians fail to receive at its face value.

It is to be observed that of all things celestial and mundane which the Apostle enumerates as forces which are potent in their spheres, yet impotent to cast as much as a shadow of doubt over the great truth of the believer’s security, no mention is made of two subjects—the human will and human sin—which are the points of danger according to Arminian theology. With no consideration of the scope of the argument of this great chapter the Arminian may suppose, contrary to fact, that the two features—the will and sin—are omitted from these categories because the Apostle believed that they do have power to separate the Christian from Christ. It will be discovered, rather, that these two factors are omitted because of the truth that they have been accounted for in earlier portions of this context. The human will has been brought into harmony with the divine purpose by the effectual call (vs. 30), and the Son of God by His intercession guards the believer from pitfalls and by His advocacy preserves from condemnation in case of actual evil. So, also, the Christian’s sin has been judged by Christ in His substitutionary death and thus, like the issue of the will, having been disposed of earlier in the argument of the chapter these subjects are not included in this closing category.

It therefore stands that the unqualified assertion that “there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” is true, being sustained by at least seven major proofs, and the proof which concludes the seven is to the effect that all potent forces celestial or terrestrial are not able to separate the child of God from “the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”—a love set eternally free to realize its every desire toward meritless sinners, and on the ground of the redemption which is in Christ.

Conclusion

It is here dogmatically asserted, and on the basis of proofs from the Word of God which have been presented in this research, that there is no Scripture which, when rightly interpreted, will even intimate that a Christian might be lost; that there is no salvation now offered to the unsaved which is not eternal in its nature; that no soul once saved has ever been lost again; and that the New Testament declares in terms both multiplied and unqualified that the believer, though he may be subject to correction and chastisement, is eternally safe from all condemnation. “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1:3–5).

Notes

1. Lewis Sperry Chafer, “The Calvinistic Doctrine of Security,” Bibliotheca Sacra 107 (January–March 1950): 9–41.