Shall Never Perish: Eternal Security Examined

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Book Reviews

Shall Never Perish: Eternal Security Examined. By J. F. Strombeck. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications (Reprint), 1991. 207 pp. Paper, $9.99.

You don’t have to be a Bible College or seminary type to enjoy this book, and it will be a help to all your friends who need to know about eternal security. Warren Wiersbe writes in his foreword that he was blessed by reading this and other books by Strombeck as a young believer. This reviewer had the same experience. Born of pioneer Swedish stock in 1881, John Frederick Strombeck went on to be a successful businessman who gave generously to Christian causes and spent his time writing and speaking to everyday Christians on controversial subjects in a sound and scriptural way (Grace and Truth, So Great Salvation, Disciplined by Grace, and First the Rapture).

Dedicated to Lewis Sperry Chafer, another well-known “grace” leader, this book starts with our Lord’s words in John 10:27–29 and then develops four parts on related topics: “Eternal Security and Some Doctrines of the Grace of God,” “Eternal Security and Godly Living,” “Arguments Against Eternal Security Answered,” “Evils of Arminianism,” and a conclusion.

This is not a tightly spun theological work quoting manmade creeds as authoritative (whether Roman, Reformed, Lutheran, or Anglican). Essentially Strombeck writes biblical theology for the masses, and how they (and we all) need it! Denominationally, he belonged to the Scandinavian-rooted Evangelical Free Church.

Since Shall Never Perish is so very full of Scripture quotations, perhaps an updating of the KJV and RV to a more modern text would have helped. In reviewing this book, The Witness wrote: “We doubt very much if a finer treatise on the assurance of salvation and the eternal security of the believer in Christ has ever been published, or can be written …. If anyone can remain a ‘doubting Thomas’ after perusal of this classic work on eternal security, he must be past conviction on the subject.”

Strong praise for a strong (but not angry or unkind) book.

Kregel deserves our thanks for reprinting this and other Strombeck classics. “Gracers” especially, if one dares to use that slang term, should get them all.

Arthur L. Farstad
Editor
Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society
Dallas, TX

Art Farstad

Art Farstad (1935-1998) was Executive Editor of the New King James Version of the Bible, co-editor of the Hodges-Farstad Majority Text of the NT, and a gentleman par excellance.

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