Perseverance – Grace Evangelical Society

Was Zane Hodges’s View of the Saving Message Misguided, Anemic, Inconsistent, and Evasive? Part 2

March 23, 2023 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Perseverance, Ruling with Christ, Zane Hodges

A 2019 doctoral paper by Nicholas James Claxton (available online—see here) is entitled “Faith Without Works: The Gospel According to Zane Hodges.” In part 1, we considered Claxton’s first three objections to Hodges. Now we will discuss his other four objections: 4. “To limit the content of faith to Christ’s guarantee of eternal life seems

What Does “My Sheep…Follow Me” (John 10:27) Mean?

October 7, 2021 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - following Christ, John 10:27, Perseverance

Michael asks a great question: John 10:27 is used by certain groups to say that a true believer will always want to hear every word of Christ and will follow anything He commands (these people reject salvation being an event and instead believe that salvation is a lifelong process, that the person has to breathe

Evangelical Leaders Who Deny Certainty of Salvation

October 25, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - absolute certainty, Assurance, Eternal Security, Evangelical leaders who deny the possibility of certainty, Perseverance

Dr. John Niemelä called today and asked me if I had a list of quotes from Evangelicals who deny absolute assurance. Well, I didn’t have the list, but I did have many such quotes. So, I’ve pulled them together for this blog. Robert Peterson: Protestants do not claim the ‘absolute’ certainty that Rome rejects. The

Different Levels of Faithfulness (2 Tim 4:10-11)

June 3, 2019 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - Demas, Perseverance, rewards

I love neat summaries. For example, the Bible sometimes will give a succinct principle, with examples, in a few verses. From these examples we can see how the principle works out in the lives of individuals. One such occurrence is found in 2 Tim 4:10-11. These verses come at the end of the book, as

Romans and Perseverance of the Saints

May 31, 2019 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - Assurance, Perseverance, Sanctification

A reader recently wrote GES asking for comments on an article found online. The article deals with Romans 5-8. Click here for the article. In Romans 5-8, Paul deals with the Christian life. The main point of the article is that in these chapters Paul is saying that a productive Christian life is inevitable in

Created for Good Works (Ephesians 2:10)

May 9, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Assurance, Ephesians 2:10, good works, Perseverance

There is a great effort by many to soften the meaning of Eph 2:8-9 by suggesting that verse 10 means that while works are not the means of salvation, they are the necessary result of it. For example, Francis Foulkes writes, “But probably it is the whole course of life that is on view here.

No Murderer Has Eternal Life Abiding in Him (1 John 3:15)

March 19, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - 1 John 3:15, Abiding, Assurance, Fellowship, Perseverance, Transformation

A reader who likes our magazine wrote, asking us to take him off our subscription list: It is with sadness I ask you to remove me from your mailing list. I truly love your materials. But 1 John is fairly clear that there has to be transformation in your life or eternal life simply doesn’t

Continuous Drinking Required for Everlasting Life? (John 4:13-14)

March 13, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Doubt, John 4:13-14, Perseverance, saving faith

I received this email question from a reader: In the article “The One Who Believes: Is Continuous Faith Required to be Born Again?” by Bob Wilkin ( https://faithalone.org/magazine/y2006/06jf1.html ) in the second footnote regarding John 4:13, Bob Wilkin mentions: ‘Amazingly, Wallace says ho pinōn here means, “everyone who continually drinks…,” ibid, p. 621, text. Of course, he must say

I Discovered Another Calvinist Who Conceded He’s Not Sure

March 8, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - Assurance, Doubt, John Piper, Perseverance, R. C. Sproul, Uncertainty

Some of you may have read the article by Dr. R. C. Sproul which he published back in 1989 in Tabletalk. In it he said that he was uncertain about his salvation, but that he learned the lesson that the Apostle Peter learned as well: “being uncomfortable with Jesus [is] better than any other option.”

Examples of Believers Who Persevered to the End of Their Lives

February 22, 2019 by Bob Wilkin in Blog - 2 Timothy 2:12, Assurance, Endurance, Perseverance

Last year in Grace in Focus magazine, Marcia Hornok wrote an article about believers in Scripture who lived messy lives. You can read her article here (pp. 35-36). In her conclusion she said, “Anyone who thinks true believers persevere in following God cannot prove it with Biblical examples.” I received an email from a reader