Sorry it’s taken so long to get around to finishing my TULIP series, but here it is.
The last point of the TULIP is the doctrine of Perseverance of the Saints (PoS). This is the doctrine that once a believer is saved, neither their own power, nor the power of another, can cause that person to lose their salvation. If you believe in predestination, than it is rational to believe in PoS. Logically if you believe that you are brought to a saving faith by God’s will alone, how could you or another lose that salvation? However, I’m getting ahead of myself.
In this passage in John we have Christ clearly proclaiming that those whom the Father gives to His son (those predestined for salvation) will indeed be raised from the dead. We are also told that it is God’s will that those who believe will have eternal life.
John 6:37-40 (New American Standard Bible)
37"(A)All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.
38"For (B)I have come down from heaven, (C)not to do My own will, but (D)the will of Him who (E)sent Me.
39"This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of (F)all that He has given Me I (G)lose nothing, but (H)raise it up on the last day.
40"For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who (I)beholds the Son and (J)believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will (K)raise him up on the last day."
The word for “no one” here means nothing, no one, not anything. NOTHING, not Satan, not death, not even some heinous sin can separate use from the love of God once we are saved.
John 10:28-29 (New American Standard Bible)
28and I give (A)eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and (B)no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29"[a]My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
Here Paul is firmly convinced that NOTHING, not death, not Satan, NOTHING can separate believers from God. If not even Satan, death, or any other power on earth can separate us from God, how could our sin, once payed for, separate us from the love of God?
Romans 8
35Who will separate us from (V)the love of [c]Christ? Will (W)tribulation, or distress, or (X)persecution, or (Y)famine, or (Z)nakedness, or (AA)peril, or sword?36Just as it is written,
"(AB)FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED."
37But in all these things we overwhelmingly (AC)conquer through (AD)Him who loved us.
38For I am convinced that neither (AE)death, nor life, nor (AF)angels, nor principalities, nor (AG)things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from (AH)the love of God, which is (AI)in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Paul is telling the Corinthians here that Christ will sustain them as guiltless until He returns to this earth.
1 Corinthians 1:8-9 (New American Standard Bible)
8(A)who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in (B)the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9(C)God is faithful, through whom you were (D)called into (E)fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
This is a very similar passage to the one in first Corinthians. Paul is speaking to the Philippians and telling them that God will finish the work He began in them at their conversion. Would Paul have told this to them if it was possible to lose their salvation by their or another’s actions?
Philippians 1:6 (New American Standard Bible)
6For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until (A)the day of Christ Jesus. I hope that this has come across in a clear manner. Please feel free to make any comments, or ask any questions.
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