Here is a great quote from J. Dwight Pentecost, writing in 1965, on why the promise of eternal life implies eternal security:
The promise of God is a basis for our security. We go into a familiar passage such as John 3:16 where it is made so clear: “…God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Notice the two aspects of the promise: negatively, he shall not perish; positively, he shall have everlasting life!… When God offers a man life, God offers a man only one kind of life, and that is eternal life. Eternal life is the life of God, and as God’s life could never be terminated by death, so the life of God, given to the child of God, could never be terminated. We submit to you that the promise of God to give eternal life to the one who accepts Christ as his Saviour [sic] is a sufficient basis for our security (Things Which Become Sound Doctrine, 127, emphasis added).
“When God offers a man life, God offers a man only one kind of life, and that is eternal life.” I love how Pentecost is so clear that God only promises life that cannot be lost (i.e., that is eternally secure). Anything less than that is not something promised by God.
Eternal security is not a side-benefit of salvation; it is the promise of salvation.
Jerry Weinhausen
That statement by Dr. Pentecost is one of the finest explanations on eternal life I have read anywhere. How it got by me in Bible College, I will never know.
Thanks for posting this entry.
Mike
It’s great to hear what these men of the past believed. Pentecost was solid.
KEN TAMASHIRO
Hi Pastor Shawn,
That was a great article on Eternal Security.
Isn’t it interesting that God promises Eternal Life and the Religious man will try and take it away.
God never puts any conditions or warnings for keeping Eternal life as a Saved person but rather ensures us that He will finish in us what He has started.
Grace and Peace to You,
Ken Tamashiro,
KEN TAMASHIRO
Hi Pastor Shawn,
Regarding Eternal Security; Just my opinion here,… many Pastors teach application instead of understanding the true story of the circumstance, ….later the student will look and read the Bible in a confused manner.
I think Seminaries are not teaching the background Circumstances and Motivations of any Epistles,…. for an example would be the Book of Hebrews as it relates to some of the Messianic Jews contemplating leaving the Christian Faith and returning back to Judaism with its sin offerings to God and denying Jesus was the Sacrifice for all men and his Deity.
In my opinion when the background and the text dovetail together I think then,… things were written will make more sense.
Grace and Peace. Ken Tamashiro.
Vernon K. Lockner
I love Dr. Pentecost and that book you quoted from. Yes, Dr. Pentecost believed in eternal security. But he also believed in God’s unconditional election, as all the old Dallas Seminary guys did, like Dr. Chafer. Dr. Ryrie, etc.
Timothy Grady
Thanks Vernon .
Lots of otherwise smart people believe the impossible .
Stephen Hawking comes to mind , among many others .
In fact , I know of no A list ‘Christian Apologist – whether Zacharias, Craig , Turek – who aligns with GES’s soteriology .
stuart
A third aspect of Jn 3:16 which was not cited is the fact that this verse has Greek verb tenses that are rendered in the present tense. Thus one’s eternal security is conditioned upon continuing to believe. If for whatever reason, a believer ceases to believe, eternal life is no longer assured of.