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I recently heard it preached on the topic of perseverance. The preacher started by noting that we are saved by faith alone, citing among other passages Eph. 2:8-9 (NIV): “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” The preacher went on to note that salvation by faith alone at the outset of one’s Christian life is not enough, and that we must by our own efforts persevere “to the end.” In support of his position the preacher cited a number of verses; for example, Matt.24:13 (NIV): “the one who stands firm to the end will be saved”; Heb. 10:36 (NIV): “You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised”; and James 1:12 (NIV): “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.” One can cite many other similar verses. From this, the preacher concluded that while you are saved initially by faith, you must by your own efforts, that is, your own good works and godly behavior, continue in that faith or else you will forfeit your salvation.
Related to this notion of perseverance is the question whether, and to what extent, these so-called “good works” are a necessary predicate to salvation. A review of the scholarly literature reveals that most scholars believe one’s earthly conduct, that is, one’s deeds while one is here on earth, to some extent play a role in determining whether or not one is saved for all eternity. For instance, in one of the leading scholarly texts on the subject, Four Views on the Role of Works at the Final Judgment, Contributors Robert N. Wilkin, Thomas R. Schreiner, James D. G. Dunn, Michael P. Barber, General Editor Alan P. Stanley, (Zondervan 2013), three of the four contributors opined that one’s salvation at the Final Judgment depends to some extent on works. There were subtleties among their views. One contributor noted that works will confirm the believer’s salvation at the Final Judgment by providing evidence of faith. Another argued that works will merit salvation at the Final Judgment because of our union with Christ by grace, while a third was of the view that salvation at the Final Judgment will depend, to some extent, on works, but just how much is impossible to determine. Only one of the contributors, Robert Wilkin, advanced the position that believers’ works play no role at the Final Judgment, but even he argued that Christians will be judged according to their works at a separate Rewards Judgment. All agreed, however, that one cannot be saved by works alone, and that faith is the primary determinant; and yet all agreed that works come into play one way or another. Proponents of this view are quick to cite James 2:26 (NIV): “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.”
There is a fundamental conceptual problem with these conventional views about the necessity to persevere in the faith and the need for good works to confirm the legitimacy of one’s faith. A simple example will illustrate this. Believer A perseveres in the faith through his or her own efforts, while Believer B falls away. Believer A thus has something to boast about over and against Believer B; that is, his or her endurance, perseverance and good works against the lack of such godly behavior in Believer B. Whether Believer A actually boasts or considers boasting is not relevant. The point is that this believer would have cause to boast before God, in direct contradiction to the message of Eph. 2:8-9 that no one can boast about anything having to do with their salvation. This possibility of boasting about one’s own salvation simply cannot be correct. None of us can rightfully boast before God: 1 Corinthians 1:29–31 (ESV) “So that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus… Therefore, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” There must be something else at work here that our preacher and scholar friends have missed.
Yet, on the other hand, it is also clear that once one comes to faith in Christ and is saved, there is still work to be done. Paul suggests the need for such “striving” toward “perfection, Phil. 3:12-14 (NLT):
“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
There are other verses one might cite as well for the proposition that one must “strive” to “win the prize for which God has called” us: for example, Gal. 6:9 (NIV): “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up”; Rom. 2:7 (NIV): “To those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life”; and 1 Cor. 15:58 (NIV): “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast and immovable. Always excel in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”
So, how are we to reconcile all of this? Is our salvation dependent in some way on our own efforts, or is it not? One more piece in this confusing puzzle must be considered. Scripture tells us that “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags,” Isaiah 64:6 (NIV). How then can these “filthy rags” save us or otherwise preserve our faith in the eyes of a God who is infinitely just and infinitely righteous? The answer to our dilemma returns once more, as it always does, to Christ.
Hebrews 12:2 (NIV) tells us that Christ is “the author and finisher of our faith.” The term for “finisher” in the underlying Greek text is τελειωτὴν. The term is defined in Bauer’s lexicon as “perfecter.” A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. By W. Bauer. Trans. and rev. by W.F. Arndt, F.W. Gingrich, and F.W Danker, (University of Chicago Press, 1979). Terms related to τελειωτὴν are the noun τελειωσις, defined as “perfection” and “fulfillment,” often of a promise; and the verb τελείοω, defined as to “complete,” “bring to an end,” “finish,” or “accomplish.” This suggests that it is Christ who as not only the author but the “finisher” of our faith preserves our faith and thus our salvation throughout our lives through his active intercession on our behalf, not as the result of our conduct or the choices, good or bad, that we make.
In other words, under this view, perseverance is not defined or circumscribed by our “good works,” nor anything else we do based on our own efforts; but perseverance, properly understood, is what Christ does on our behalf. It is Christ’s perseverance that is the key to our remaining faithful “to the end,” not our own efforts or conduct. As support for this we read in Eph. 2:10 (NIV): “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
If one is willing to follow along with this line of argument, one might then inquire as to the precise mechanism by which Christ accomplishes this “perseverance” in our lives. I would argue that this mechanism can be found in a correct, or more to the point, an “updated” reading of 2 Cor. 5:10, the Judgment Seat of Christ. This updated or revised reading would go something like this: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive in our bodies what is due us for what we have done, whether good or bad.” Compare this with the conventional translation, for example, the NIV: “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” For a brief discussion of the relative merits between these two conflicting translations, I would point readers to an article posted on this blog at the following link: https://www.thetwocities.com/biblical-studies/a-suggestion-for-future-commentators-on-2-corinthians/.
The principal doctrinal difference between the two approaches as I see it is that the updated approach envisions Christ’s judgment of believers as an ongoing venue conducted and administered by Christ in the earthly life of each believer, that is, a bodily judgment. The conventional translation instead contemplates a post-death apocalyptic judgment venue at which believers in the aggregate, and probably non-believers too according to most authorities, must appear in some form or fashion.
This updated reading thus supplies the mechanism by which Christ “finishes,” “perfects,” and preserves our faith throughout our lives. How is that accomplished? Christ’s judgment of believers as set out in this updated reading of 2 Cor. 5:10 is the process by which Christ guides his followers one by one (that is, those who have already been saved by faith alone through the redeeming work of Christ on our behalf), through life’s many trials and difficulties into his kingdom and into eternity, the full consummation of which occurs immediately upon their death. Under this view, Christ-followers interact with Christ at his judgment seat throughout their lives as believers, perhaps for many years, or only for a few moments in the case of so-called deathbed conversions. There is thus no reason for them to appear alongside non-believers at the terrifying Great White Throne Judgment at the end of the age set forth in Rev. 20:11-15. At the conclusion of each believer’s earthly life, they have been fully and finally judged. This is not merely some temporal judgment, but the final judgment. In this way, Christ Himself, rather than the believer through his or her own self-induced striving, ensures that the believer’s life, in whatever way Christ chooses as aided by the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23, listing the “fruit” of the Spirit), ultimately yields conduct in keeping with the gospel, even though believers still often fall short of godly behavior.
The bottom line is that Christ “perseveres” on our behalf, sinful as we are, and brings us “safely to his heavenly kingdom.” 2 Tim. 4:18 (NIV). As with everything else connected with our salvation, Christ does the necessary work of perseverance for us. Perseverance then is not about us. The most that can be said for our contribution is that Christ graciously allows us to participate in the “good works” he and the Father have prepared for us.
Some who object to this view of judgment and faith might point to the demons who acknowledge verbally that Jesus is the Son of God and “shudder.” James 2:19 (NIV). Are they too saved by faith alone apart from works? See also Mark 3:11 (NIV): “Whenever the impure spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, ‘You are the Son of God;’” and Luke 4:41: “Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.”
The response to any such objection is clear. Demons have no genuine belief in Christ, not even for a moment. Their intellectual acknowledgement of a reality they know to be true does not constitute trust, again not even for a moment. They have no relationship with him, nor any wish to know him or follow him. Their so-called belief is merely empty words. They are like those “miracle workers” Christ refers to in Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV):
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
And what is the will of our heavenly Father? What do we read in John 6:28 (NIV): “Then they asked him, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’” Our salvation thus hinges on faith alone, not our works; and if we happen to stray from that faith, which most of us unfortunately do from time to time, I for one have faith that Christ will bring us back into the fold, one way or another, through his love, mercy and perseverance as both our judge and savior. He will not let us go. Whatever it takes to get us “back on track,” and however uncomfortable Christ’s intercession in our lives might for the moment make us feel,” he will not fail us. He will reel us in just as the master fisherman pulls in his net full of fish safely to shore. John 21:1-14 (NIV, Breakfast by the Sea). Indeed, if we have to earn our way into Christ’s Kingdom on a daily basis through our own efforts and perseverance as some have argued, who among us could be saved? Regarding salvation, Christ does the heavy lifting, all of it, not us. “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” John 10:28 (NIV)
That is not to say that we can escape the earthly consequences of our wicked behavior just because of our faith, and I am afraid that we all engage in wicked behavior in God’s eyes, for as mentioned before God is infinitely righteous and infinitely just. “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23 (NIV). Sin resides in the flesh. Romans 7:17. God plays no favorites regarding sin, 1 Peter 1:17 (NIV): “And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of Him during your time as ‘foreigners’ in the land.”
We all sin, both believers and non-believers, and our physical bodies, our earthly flesh, all die as the result of that indwelling sin; but thanks be to God that we may enter his Kingdom through the portal of faith, a faith that originates and is preserved through Christ’s redeeming work and intercession on our behalf. Speaking for myself, I could not preserve my faith alone through my own efforts. “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.” Romans 7:18 (ESV). It is Christ who preserves and finishes my faith on a daily basis by guiding my steps and holding me up when I falter, which I do every day, and he alone is the one who brings me safely home, as the passages quoted below suggest.
On the basis of this intensely personal notion of judgment, the attention of the believer is redirected from some vague, apocalyptic future, which we simply cannot hope to fathom now, to something far more tangible, understandable, and beneficial, that is, our present relationship with Christ. Compare 1 Corinthians 13:12 (NLT): “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
Phil. 2:13 (NIV): “[I]t is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”
2 Tim. 4:18 (NIV): “The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.”
2 Peter 3:15 (NIV): “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.”
1 Tim. 1:16 (NIV): “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.”
For an interesting read with arguably comparable themes, you might take a look at Wischmeyer, Oda, Ego-Documents on Religious Experiences in Paul’s Letters: 2 Corinthians 12 and related texts, (De Gruyter, 2020), accessible at the following link: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110557596-010, where the author concluded that Paul uses his “physical condition as gift (cháris) of the heavenly Christ and thereby on a religious interpretation of the physical condition of his body. His body is interpreted as a place of revelation.” Is it a stretch to also say that one’s body is a place of judgment?
For a discussion of the so-called “Rewards Judgment” advocated as noted above by Dr. Wilkin, along with other views of the role of works in the Final Judgment, I refer you to the following link: https://www.thetwocities.com/biblical-studies/book-review-and-essay-on-the-role-of-works-at-the-final-judgment-edited-by-alan-p-stanley/. I have made a simple chart that I hope will in some modest way illustrate the various points noted above.
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