Perseverance and Apostasy in the New Testament: Unpacking the Dynamic of God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

By Dongsu Kim

Perseverance and Apostasy in the New Testament thoroughly examines all the New Testament texts relevant to the controversial questions of whether a genuine believer can apostatize and/or whether an apostate can be restored. The primary contribution of the book lies in the in-depth exegesis of the relevant New Testament Greek texts against the socio-historical circumstances of each faith community in the New Testament. The book inductively shows that the New Testament writers maintain a uniform perception on perseverance and apostasy based on Jesus’ words that bear upon the subject described in the Gospels. It also illuminates questions of the relationship between God’s sovereignty and human responsibility, the role of the Holy Spirit for the believer’s perseverance, and the role of Satan for the apostates’ falling away. The book is a needed addition to earlier works on perseverance and apostasy.

ENDORSEMENTS

The debate over the issues of perseverance and apostasy will likely remain in the church until the coming of Christ. Many despair of ever coming to a definitive conclusion, often contending that the biblical evidence is inconsistent and beyond resolution. Don Kim’s near-exhaustive analysis of the relevant NT texts proves otherwise. He is thoroughly conversant with virtually all contributors to this subject and his meticulous contribution will surely prove to be the standard for future dialogue. Anyone who proposes to engage with this controversial matter cannot afford to overlook this remarkably helpful and insightful book.

Dr. Sam Storms, Lead Pastor of Bridgeway Church, Oklahoma City Enjoying God Ministries

Don Kim has written an amazingly thorough and careful study on perseverance and apostasy in the New Testament. Scholars disagree on how to interpret these difficult passages, but Kim defends well his own understanding, and his important study will have to be reckoned with in future work on this controversial topic.

Dr. Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and Professor of Biblical Theology The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Perseverance and Apostasy in the New Testament is a well-executed and thorough examination of New Testament texts that bear upon or otherwise illuminate the difficult question of whether a true believer can apostatize. The author neither avoids difficult questions nor skirts challenging texts. Rather, he carefully works his way through each relevant New Testament text’s central exegetical questions, offering judicious insights and integrating those insights into a collective explanation. I found some of my own assumptions challenged while reading this book. I am happy to recommend it as a helpful addition to—and sometimes needed correction of—earlier works on perseverance.

Dr. Kenneth Berding, Professor of New Testament Talbot School of Theology at Biola University

Perseverance and Apostasy in the New Testament concentrates on the crucial questions of whether genuine believers in Jesus could apostatize and whether the NT presents a consistent picture on that very issue—by providing a careful exegetical treatment of numerous passages across the New Testament, beginning with the Synoptics and John’s Gospel, walking through Acts and the letters, and completing with the book of Revelation. One’s theological presuppositions will, of course, affect how he/she receives and responds to Kim’s case. It will also be unrealistic to expect even those agreeing passionately with Kim to concur on every detail in a tome of this magnitude. Yet, undoubtedly, Perseverance and Apostasy in the New Testament proves to be an essential reading for pastors and theological students who (should) wrestle with the issue of perseverance and apostasy and the relevant biblical texts to form their own conclusions. This well-written b

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: May 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9781664265400

Dongsu Kim

Dr. Dongsu Kim earned his MDiv and PhD in biblical hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary (Philadelphia) and taught New Testament exegesis, Christian doctrine, and the biblical Greek at Nyack College in New York City for 20 years. He has written books including An Exegesis of Apostasy Embedded in John’s Narratives of Peter and Judas Iscariot; A Symphony of the New Testament; and A Commentary on Romans. He currently serves as president of Saint Paul Academy of Theology and teaches as an adjunct professor at Pillar College, Denver Seminary, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and Bethel Theological Seminary.

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This book is dedicated to

My wife Youme

And

My sons, Elliot, Luke, and Andrew

CONTENTS

Abbreviations

Preface

Chapter 1

Introduction

A. Defining Questions

B. Research Methods

C. Definition of Terms

D. Scope of Study

E. A Note on the Greek Verbal Aspect

F. Outline of the Book

Chapter 2

A Survey of Select Views on Perseverance and Apostasy

A. G. C. Berkouwer (1958)

B. I. Howard Marshall (1975)

C. D. A. Carson (1981)

D. Judith M. Gundry Volf (1990)

E. Thomas R. Schreiner and Ardel B. Caneday (2001)

F. B. J. Oropeza (2000)

G. B. J. Oropeza (2011–12)

Chapter 3

Perseverance and Apostasy in the Synoptic Gospels

A. Spurious Faith (Matt 7:21–23; Luke 6:46; 13:26–27)

B. The Denial of the Son of Man (Matt 10:32–33; Mark 8:38; Luke 12:8–10)

C. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matt 12:31–32; Mark 3:28–29; Luke 12:10)

D. The Parable of the Sower (Matt 13:1–23; Mark 4:1–20; Luke 8:4–15)

E. The Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat (Matt 13:24–30, 36–43)

F. Stumbling Blocks (Matt 18:6–7; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:1–2)

G. The Elect (Matt 22:1–14; 24:22–24; Mark 13:20–22; Luke 14:15–24; 18:7)

H. The Role of the Holy Spirit (Matt 10:19–20; Mark 13:11; Luke 12:11–12; 21:14–19)

I. The Withered Fig Tree (Matt 21:18–22; Mark 11:12–14, 20–21; Luke 13:6–9)

J. Jesus’s Intercessory Prayer (Luke 22:31–34)

K. Apostasy versus Backsliding (Matt 26:57–27:2; Mark 14:53–65; Luke 22:54–71)

Chapter 4

Perseverance and Apostasy in the Gospel of John

A. Spurious Faith (John 2:23–25)

B. Apostasy of Jesus’s Disciples (John 6:60–71)

C. Apostasy of the Christian Jews (John 8:31–59)

D. Jesus’s Protection of His Sheep from Apostasy (John 10:26–30)

E. God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility (John 12:37–41)

F. Judas’s Unbelief and Apostasy (John 13:2, 10, 18, 27)

G. The Vine and the Branches (John 15:1–6)

H. Jesus’s Intercessory Prayer for His Own Sheep (John 17:6–15)

Chapter 5

Perseverance and Apostasy in the Book of Acts

A. Peter, Stephen, and Paul

B. Judas’s Death and Replacement by Matthias (Acts 1:15–26)

C. The Test of the Holy Spirit by Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1–11)

D. Simon Magus (Acts 8:9–24)

Chapter 6

Perseverance and Apostasy in the Epistles of Paul

A. Romans

To Seek Glory, Honor, and Immortality (Rom 2:6–10)

Perseverance of the Elect (Rom 8:28–30)

The Jews’ Apostasy (Rom 9–11)

The Weak and the Strong (Rom 14:1–15:13)

B. 1 Corinthians

Incest and Church Discipline (1 Cor 5:1–5)

Eating Idol Food and Causing the Weak to Stumble (1 Cor 8:1–13; 10:14–33)

Paul’s Possibility to Lose Salvation? (1 Cor 9:27)

God’s Protection of the Elect from Apostasy (1 Cor 10:13)

Conflict over Partaking of the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:17–34)

Vain Faith (1 Cor 15:2)

C. 2 Corinthians

The Deposit of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5)

Not to Receive the Grace of God in Vain (2 Cor 6:1)

Examine Yourselves (2 Cor 13:5)

D. Galatians

Warning Against Falling Away from God’s Grace (Gal 1:6–10; 5:1–4)

Spiritual Life vs. Carnal Life (Gal 5:13–26)

E. Ephesians

God’s Election and Preservation (Eph 1:4–14)

Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30)

F. Philippians

Work Out Salvation with Fear and Trembling (Phil 2:12–16)

Press on Toward the Goal of Salvation (Phil 3:8–16)

G. Colossians

Hold Fast to the Hope of the Gospel (Col 1:22–23; 2:20)

H. 1 and 2 Thessalonians

God’s Election and Faithfulness (1 Thess 1:4–6; 3:5; 5:9, 23–24)

God’s Election and Preservation (2 Thess 2:13–14; 3:3)

I. The Pastoral Epistles

Hymenaeus and Alexander (1 Tim 1:3–7, 19–20)

The Apostates’ Devotion to Teachings of Demons (1 Tim 4:1–3)

A Vessel for Honorable or Dishonorable Use (2 Tim 2:16–21, 25–26)

Eschatological Rise of Apostasy (2 Tim 3:1–9, 12–13; 4:3–4)

False Teachers in Crete (Titus 1:10–16)

Chapter 7

Perseverance and Apostasy in the Catholic Epistles

A. The Epistle to the Hebrews

Perseverance Based on Sharing in Christ (Heb 3:6, 14)

Apostasy and Impossibility of Restoration (Heb 6:4–6)

Apostasy and God’s Dreadful Judgment (Heb 10:26–29)

Perseverance Based on Redemption (Heb 12:22–29)

B. The Book of James

Turning a Sinner from Sin (Jas 5:19–20)

C. The First Epistle of Peter

God’s Protection and Preservation of the Elect (1 Pet 1:1–9)

A Stone of Stumbling and Rock of Offense (1 Pet 2:8)

Perseverance and the Holy Spirit (1 Pet 4:14)

D. The Second Epistle of Peter

Make Your Calling and Election Sure (2 Pet 1:10)

Apostasy and Doom of the False Prophets (2 Pet 2:1–3, 9)

Black Darkness Reserved for Apostates (2 Pet 2:17–22)

E. The Epistles of John

The Secessionists’ Apostasy (1 John 2:18–22)

The Lawlessness of the Children of the Devil (1 John 3:8–10)

The Sin Unto Death (1 John 5:16–19)

The Elect Lady and Her Children (2 John 1–2)

F. The Epistle of Jude

Assurance of the Elect’s Salvation (Jude 1–3, 24)

The Interlopers’ Unlawful Activities (Jude 4–19)

Show Mercy to Doubters (Jude 22–23)

Chapter 8

Perseverance and Apostasy in the Book of Revelation

A. The Messages Given to the Seven Churches in Asia (Rev 2–3)

B. 144,000 Sealed by God (Rev 7:3–9, 14)

C. Satan’s Persecution of the Believers (Rev 12:3–17)

D. The Book of Life of the Lamb (Rev 13:7–10; 17:8; 20:12–15; 21:27)

E. Evildoers Are Abandoned to Do Evil (Rev 22:11)

Chapter 9

God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

A. Free Will and Perseverance

B. God’s Election and Perseverance

C. The Holy Spirit and Perseverance

D. Human Responsibility and Perseverance

E. Satan and Apostasy

F. Compatibilism of God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

Chapter 10

Unity in Diversity on Perseverance and Apostasy in the New Testament

A. Unity in New Testament Christology and Perseverance and Apostasy

B. Unity in the Concept of Apostasy in the New Testament

C. Unity in the New Testament on the Impossibility of the Apostates’ Restoration

D. A Reflection on the Unity in Diversity in the New Testament

Chapter 11

Conclusion

A. Findings from this Study

B. The Implication of Unity in Diversity in the New Testament

Endnotes

Bibliography

ABBREVIATIONS

PREFACE

Right after publishing my commentary on Romans in 2013, I embarked on researching the subject of perseverance and apostasy as a sequel to my study on apostasy embedded in John’s narratives of Peter and Judas. John deliberately contrasts the two figures, advocating believers to follow the model of Peter’s perseverance rather than Judas’s apostasy to secure eschatological salvation. How then, I asked, do other writers in the New Testament deal with the subject of perseverance and apostasy? How is the Synoptic teaching on the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit related to John’s concept of apostasy? Does Paul maintain a similar understanding of the subject? Answering these questions requires the cumbersome work of unraveling a myriad of relevant passages in the New Testament. Therefore, I have devoted all of my time outside of teaching and daily routines to wrestling with passages in the New Testament for the past eight years.

As a result of this research, I have concluded that perseverance is a gift from God just as faith is a gift from God, from the beginning to the completion of salvation. So, perseverance is not an onerous burden for believers to achieve in order to obtain eschatological salvation, but rather it is an inevitable result of God’s election and preservation. Peter could only escape the fiery arrow of Satan’s temptation because of Jesus’s intercessory prayer that Jesus maintained throughout his time of earthly ministry, whereas Judas was lost by apostasy because Jesus’s grace of protecting him from Satan was not with Judas throughout his time of following Jesus as his disciple. My exegesis of relevant passages demonstrates that the principle of election (or preservation) versus non-election (or reprobation) applies to everyone. Of course, this view might sound cruel and depressing to some because they could feel that they have no control of their own destiny and that it is unfair that their destiny is predetermined apart from their will. However, they must admit that their freedom of choice has some external restraints. They have not chosen such things as their parents, siblings, neighbors, country, or skin color. Indeed, everything that anyone has, including one’s own identity, is a gift from God, and even matters relative to salvation of the soul are not an exception. Nothing in this world happens outside of God’s sovereign decree and providence which are unfathomable to humans. Humans need to humbly admit the infinite gap between God as Creator and them as creatures. No matter how hard people may resist God’s will, they cannot change their lot before God, because as Paul says, God is the potter and humans are nothing but clay. But at the same time, people are responsible for every choice that they make before the tribunal court of God in the end time.

My study affirms that the New Testament writers uniformly hold the same view on perseverance and apostasy. God’s elect cannot apostatize because God preserves their salvation by the work of the Holy Spirit. And apostates are unregenerates from the beginning and are impossible to be restored. The unity of the New Testament on the concept of perseverance and apostasy is rooted in Jesus’s conceptualization of apostasy based on his saying on the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Later writers of the New Testament cast the sin of apostasy against the backdrop of Jesus’s teaching in their respective historical circumstances and pastoral needs. The central element of the sin of apostasy is the willful denial of Jesus being the Son of God. This concept of apostasy is based on the uniform Christology that the New Testament writers consistently maintain. They are aligned in presenting apostasy as a christological sin rather than a moral aberration. This line of thought squares with the central tenet of the high Christology that Jesus is the preexistent Son of God incarnated in the flesh to accomplish redemption by shedding his blood.

The quotations of the Scripture in this book are made from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless it is otherwise noted. For the Greek text, I used the 4th edition of the Greek New Testament edited by Kurt Aland, Matthew Black, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, and Allen Wikgren and published by Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft and United Bible Societies. And, for the Hebrew text, I used the 4th edition of Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) published by the German Bible Society in Stuttgart.

My research would not have been possible apart from the unbridled support of my family. They all valued the importance of the subject of my research and gladly gave up having memorable moments with me for many years so that I may devote my time to this book. My wife Youme has constantly supported me with prayer, and my three sons, Elliot, Luke, and Andrew, also have maintained incredible patience with me when I would be lost in books and busy typing manuscripts. They prayed in one mind that this book would bring glory to God’s name and benefit the people of God who labor in perseverance every day dependent on God’s grace of preservation. So I gladly dedicate this book to them. Andrew, the youngest, willingly sacrificed his time during his hectic months after graduating from university to proofread the manuscript. Several copy editors helped to enhance the style of manuscript. I thank Samuel Kelly for enhancing the style of writing and for providing valuable advice from the theological perspective opposite to mine. I thank Lindsay Jacob and Rebeccah Roman for copy-editing a portion of the book with valuable recommendations. I thank Elizabeth Ann Tyson for copy-editing a portion of the manuscript and for providing helpful advice relevant to formatting this book. Finally, I thank the editorial team of the WestBow Press for preparing the final edition of the manuscript for print.

Most of all, I bring all the praises and glory to my God and Lord, Jesus Christ, who has not only accomplished redemption for our sin, but also preserves those born of God unto salvation through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Soli Deo Gloria!

Dongsu Kim

Monroe, NY

February 2022

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

A. Defining Questions

The New Testament writers uniformly reiterate both warnings against apostasy and encouragement for perseverance, and the subject of perseverance and apostasy has been a highly controversial issue in Christian theology. I have been involved in unremitting scholarly contemplation of this subject ever since I wrote a doctoral dissertation about it more than two decades ago.¹ The dissertation dealt with John’s anti-apostasy polemic embedded in his narratives of Peter and Judas in his Gospel. The two figures are representative disciples not only in the Fourth Gospel but also in the synoptic Gospels in the Gospels’ construction of the theology of perseverance and apostasy against the historical environment of their respective faith communities. But scholarly studies on the theology of perseverance and apostasy portrayed in the Gospels’ treatment of Peter and Judas have rarely resulted in a consensus inasmuch as New Testament theology itself is a complex enterprise engaged by scholars of diverse theological orientation.²

One of my friends who studied in a doctoral program on biblical hermeneutics confidently told me that Judas Iscariot was saved to heaven. Similarly, I later found that Karl Barth argues that Judas was an outstanding disciple who carried out Jesus’s command: What you are going to do, do quickly (John 13:27).³ Barth understands Judas as an apostle who foreshadows the act of faithful apostolic tradition.⁴ Judas, following Jesus’s words, delivered his Master to his enemies and later committed suicide because of his remorse over Jesus’s trials and death. Was he thus truly repentant of his sin of betrayal so as to be saved? Or did he, having once followed Jesus, indeed fall away so as to be lost? This is a haunting question, and it seems to have haunted the biblical authors, too. According to Matthew, Jesus laments in front of his disciples saying, Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born (Matt 26:24). This statement hardly foresees a reversal in Judas’s destiny resulting from his betrayal of the Lord. John also reports Jesus’s testimony about him that he is a devil (John 6:70–71). Later, approaching his appointed time of suffering and death, Jesus says that Judas is doomed to destruction (John 17:12). In keeping with this tradition, Luke also reports his grotesque form of death—that he fell headlong and burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out (Acts 1:18). Peter’s interpretation of Judas’s death based on the quotation of the imprecatory Psalms, that Judas went to his own place, is evidently not a conventional expression that admits his salvation (Acts 1:20, 25).

To complicate an understanding of apostasy even more is the incident of Peter’s denial of the Lord. There is a widespread belief among theologians that Peter apostatized from Jesus but later repented and was restored. This view leads to a hermeneutical dilemma on account of the many biblical passages that do not seem to allow the possibility of an apostate’s restoration. Is it a biblical understanding that genuine believers can apostatize and lose salvation? Can apostates repent and be saved to heaven? If apostates can be restored with repentance, why do the New Testament authors make such strong warnings against apostasy while largely neglecting to call apostates to repent? In this book, I will deal with these challenging questions based on exegetical analysis of relevant passages from the whole New Testament.

Scholarly views of apostasy and perseverance generally fall into two categories: Calvinist and Arminian. Calvinists such as D. A. Carson and Thomas Schreiner suggest that God preserves the elect so that they persevere in trials to obtain salvation at the end of time, whereas Arminians such as I. H. Marshall and B. J. Oropeza argue that genuine believers can apostatize and lose salvation if they fail to persevere.⁵ Dutch Reformed theologian G. C. Berkouwer takes a middle position between the two extremes. He admits God’s grace of election, but he ultimately regards an individual’s determination to persevere rather than God’s preservation as the power behind perseverance.⁶ One’s theological orientation to the subject is thus usually intertwined with his or her view of the doctrine of election. Also, one’s view of the doctrine of Scripture and biblical canon affect his or her exegetical decisions about passages crucial to understanding the subject.

B. Research Methods

Research methods are varied. Berkouwer takes a systematic theological approach, whereas Gundry Volf makes a topical and exegetical analysis of select passages from Paul’s Epistles.⁷ Carson interacts with the subject while dealing with the question of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility in terms of the Hebrew canon, the Jewish literature, and the Gospel of John. Schreiner and Caneday take a topical and biblical theological approach by dealing with passages relevant to perseverance and apostasy in the entire New Testament. Oropeza takes an eclectic approach, combining historical-critical, social, intertextual, and theological analyses, identifying the socio-historical community of each respective book in the New Testament, and analyzing the phenomenon of apostasy that he thinks is uniquely shaped by each community in the New Testament.⁸

In dealing with perseverance and apostasy in the New Testament, scholars encounter methodological issues regarding the relationship of exegesis, biblical theology, historical theology, and systematic theology. Interpreters of the Bible are not free from a hermeneutical circle since they have their presuppositions involved in the process of exegesis. With theological baggage carried into exegesis, they tend to use biblical passages as proof-texts to validate their preconceived understanding of the subject of perseverance and apostasy rather than making a hermeneutically balanced exegesis to correctly picture biblical teaching on the subject. Preunderstandings that interpreters are liable to read into the text include diverse ideas such as theological beliefs, philosophical presuppositions, views on Scripture, and more.

What, then, are the right interpretive principles to make a proper exegesis of the biblical text? A proper exegesis, I think, is to find the authorial meaning addressed to the original audience without losing insight applicable to the modern church. In this study, I take the method of grammatical-historical exegesis of the Greek New Testament against the backdrop of the socio-historical circumstance of the faith community that each book of the New Testament describes. In order to minimize the infringement of theological presupposition on proper exegesis, the exegete needs to identify the historical situation of the audience revealed in the text and correctly apply the rules of Greek grammar relevant to key words and phrases to avoid distortion of meanings in the text.

My acknowledgment of the hermeneutical circle and my commitment to grammatical-historical exegesis has five implications for this study.

First, I have adopted an inductive method, applying grammatical-historical exegesis to passages chosen from the entire New Testament that are deemed to be critical to understanding the subject of perseverance and apostasy. Schreiner and Caneday correctly emphasize a need to base the study of perseverance on biblical theology.⁹ A systematic theological approach not solidly anchored on exegesis of relevant passages in the New Testament can disservice the understanding of the biblical teaching of the subject. Practically, however, it is not possible to deal exhaustively with the relevant New Testament passages. Also, the selection of relevant passages is itself affected by one’s theological preunderstanding of the subject.¹⁰ Thus, while taking the biblical theological method, Schreiner and Caneday have tried to build a comprehensive understanding of perseverance and assurance presented in the New Testament, but their study has not completely satisfied their goal of attaining a substantial understanding of the subject in the New Testament because their selection of relevant passages is restrained by the structure of their book that incorporates exegesis of passages according to the authors’ select topics, geared to prove the already but the not yet aspect of salvation. Also, their exegesis of select passages is sometimes done in a cursory manner and misses authorial intent in the text. Moreover, focusing on perseverance and assurance in the New Testament, they have not paid enough attention to apostasy that is the result of failure to persevere. Gundry Volf has also made an exegetical analysis of select passages from Paul’s Epistles. But despite frequent brilliant insights derived from her grammatical exegesis of the text, the scope of her study is limited to the undisputed Epistles of Paul. Also, at times she hammers her predestinatory motif into exegesis, losing sight of the subtle nuances embedded in meanings intended by the author. In this study, I attempt, as far as possible, to be comprehensive, applying grammatical exegesis to passages throughout the New Testament that are relevant to both perseverance and apostasy. I detail my criteria for choosing those passages below.

Second, most studies about perseverance and apostasy have not incorporated an analysis of the socio-historical context, but I have exegeted pertinent passages with special attention to the situations of the communities reflected in the text.

Identification of both the date of writing and the author of each book in the New Testament lays a foundation for exegesis as it is conducive to reconstructing the life situation (Sitz im Leben) relevant to the problem of apostasy in each community in the New Testament. Oropeza incorporates historical-critical perspective in his exegesis of relevant passages to identify the historical setting of each book in the New Testament, as he believes that apostasy takes a unique form in each community. But as a result, he contends that there is disunity in the conceptualization of apostasy according to different communities in the New Testament. The early church, he thinks, held diverse viewpoints on apostasy because of their diverse socio-historical circumstances. Some communities regarded denial of Jesus Christ as apostasy whereas other communities regarded moral laxity and unlawful behaviors as marks of apostasy. The New Testament authors thus put emphasis on different aspects of the sin of apostasy based on their purpose of writing and the social circumstances. But Oropeza’s supposition that the New Testament authors conceptualize apostasy differently impinges on the doctrine of the veracity of Scripture and implies that the apostles did not maintain a similar view on perseverance and apostasy. If the doctrine of the inspiration of the Scriptures is true, it is not biblically warranted to pit one apostle’s view against another. By the same token, it is infelicitous to think that an author’s later writing can entail a changed view from his earlier writing in the New Testament. Further, an exegesis based on the analogy of faith (analogia fidei) shows a unity in the New Testament writers’ conceptualization of perseverance and apostasy, as will be seen later in this book. In line with this, Everett Berry aptly states, The net result of what all of Scripture says about perseverance and apostasy is not a set of random voices that express rival claims. They are not a mere collection of individual solos. They are a choir that resounds with a distinct harmony, and we must strive to tune into it.¹¹

Thus, third, I take the inspiration of Scripture as a presupposition and propose that disparate passages in the New Testament regarding perseverance and apostasy can be harmonized based on the analogy of faith. As an example, apostasy in the synoptic Gospels is described as a willful denial of Jesus Christ in public, and perseverance is described as maintenance of public confession of witness-bearing about Jesus Christ in the midst of trials (Matt 10:32–33; Luke 12:8–10). And this concept of apostasy is embedded in both John and Paul. In the narration of Jesus’s healing of the blind man, John deliberately contrasts the blind man’s public acknowledgement of Jesus with the cryptic faith of other Jews (John 12:42; 1 John 4:2–3). Following this tradition, Paul also emphasizes that believers should endure in acknowledging the Lord Jesus in trials and afflictions in 2 Tim 2:12. Also, the book of Hebrews’ concept of the impossibility of restoration of apostates is deeply embedded in both Paul’s Epistles and Petrine Epistles as well. Cases like these show that there is unity in the New Testament’s instruction regarding perseverance and apostasy. However, I do not take this conservative view for granted, reading my systematic-theological view into the text in such a way as to ignore evidence. Rather, I submit it to testing through the robust application of the grammatical-historical interpretation of the text in each study.¹²

Fourth, I have taken for granted that the church is made up of both genuine and false believers because everyone who studies this topic, whether Calvinist or Arminian, makes this presupposition in one way or another. For Calvinists, this idea is tied with the doctrine of God’s election. The Christian church as a custodian of the kingdom of God is not a community of the elect but of both elect and non-elect, and they will be separated at the time of God’s judgment.¹³ This idea is put forth in the parable of weeds among the wheat (Matt 13:24–30), the parable of the fishnet (Matt 13:47–50), the parable of the marriage feast (Matt 22:1–14), the parable of the ten bridesmaids (Matt 25:1–13), and the discourse of the judgment of the goats (Matt 25:31–46). In keeping with the Matthean tradition of this concept, John also presents that many disciples left Jesus and never followed him again since they were not of the elect drawn to Jesus by God (John 6:65; 1 John 2:19). Paul also acknowledges this idea in 2 Cor 13:5, and his distinction of the vessels for honorable use from those for dishonorable use is evidently an application of the same concept in the circumstance of his church in Ephesus (2 Tim 2:20–21). This idea often plays a crucial role in interpreting passages such as Heb 6:4–6 and 10:26–29. In contrast to Calvinists, while Arminian scholars such as Marshall and Oropeza also admit that the Christian church is a mixed community of genuine and false believers,¹⁴ they believe in the mobility between vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor, which Calvinists do not. Calvinists rather hold that genuine believers, in response to warnings and admonition, examine their faith to become vigilant against drifting away from the faith, whereas false believers do not mind disowning Jesus Christ because they have had no conversion experience from the beginning. It is possible for false believers who are elected by God to become genuine believers by accepting Jesus Christ as the Lord under the grace of God, but genuine believers would not renounce the faith due to God’s strengthening of their faith through the Holy Spirit indwelling them. Arminians argue that biblical passages of God’s preservation of the elect are merely a metaphor designed to prod them to persevere rather than a guarantee of their eschatological salvation.

C. Definition of Terms

Because the subject of perseverance and apostasy cannot be dealt with outside of a hermeneutical circle of theology and exegesis, bringing working definitions of these terms into the circle cannot be avoided when interpreting any given text. Therefore, one’s preconceived definitions likely determine exegetical decisions on some delicate passages relevant to the subject. But exegesis of relevant passages should in turn shape and refine one’s definitions—applying a preconceived definition of perseverance and apostasy apart from biblical theological consideration is a failure to accurately grapple with biblical instruction on the subject. In the following paragraphs, I will briefly present the reasoning behind my own working definitions in preparation for the refining exegetical work in the chapters to come.

Defining perseverance has not been as controversial as defining apostasy. Following a conventional understanding of perseverance, I understand it as keeping faith in Jesus as the Lord and Savior until death in order to be saved to heaven. Genuine faith is accompanied by a holy and obedient life, so inveterate moral perversity can be a sign of failing to persevere. No doubt, then, perseverance is a concept opposite to apostasy, but a failure to persevere is not always the same as committing apostasy, because one may only temporarily fall away due to immaturity in faith. Therefore, the definition of apostasy is not an area on which everyone easily agrees.

Oropeza defines apostasy as the phenomenon that occurs when a religious follower or group of followers turn away from or otherwise repudiate the central beliefs and practices they once embraced in a respective religious community.¹⁵ He uses the terms apostasy and defection interchangeably while regarding the relationship of heresy to apostasy as tenuous, believing that the problem of heresy emerged as a disturbing issue after Christian creeds were established in the early church.¹⁶ But with respect to taxonomy, although apostasy entails an element of defection, not all defection can be deemed to be apostasy. For example, Judas’s betrayal of the Lord Jesus is not merely a defection, meaning a departure from Jesus, but also apostasy, meaning a willful rejection of him and his teachings. A fuzzy concept of apostasy results in obscuring the gravity of the sin of apostasy and mitigates the severity of biblical warnings against apostasy. If the New Testament writers were describing apostasy as similar to defection from the central beliefs and practices in a religious community but still within the possibility of restoration with repentance, their repeated severe warnings against it as a grave sin would have been superfluous and pointless.

What is a proper definition of apostasy? The Greek noun apostasia (ἀποστασία, apostasy) is a derivative of the verb aphistēmi (ἀφίστημι), meaning withdraw from and fall away, and has a lexical meaning as follows: defiance of established system or authority, rebellion, abandonment, breach of faith.¹⁷ The noun occurs in both Acts 21:21 and 2 Thess 2:3 in the New Testament. In Acts 21:21, apostasia means abandonment of the Mosaic law of circumcision and regulations, and in 2 Thess 2:3, it means a rebellion against God. These meanings are evidently rooted in the LXX’s use of the noun. In Josh 22:22, it means rebellion against God, and in Jer 2:19, it refers to the Israelites’ forsaking of the Lord God. Politically, it means treason and rebellion that bring about capital punishment (1 Esr. 2:23; Jos. Vit., 43; Ap., 1, 135f.; Ant., 13, 219).¹⁸ The New Testament writers likely applied the meaning of apostasia used in the LXX to the sin committed against Jesus, who is the supreme authority in God’s creation.¹⁹ In this respect, apostasy can be defined as a willful denial of Jesus as the Son of God in the New Testament. In line with this, Ryrie defines apostasy as a departure from truth previously accepted and it involves the breaking of a professed relationship with God.²⁰ He suggests it involves the following characteristics: (1) the apostates depart from an objective, well-understood, and previously believed standard of truth; (2) the departure is willful; (3) apostasy is committed by Christians but genuine believers do not apostatize; (4) an apostate is not the same as a New Testament heretic; (5) an apostate is different from a carnal Christian in that the latter is ‘in Christ’ (1 Cor 3:1) while the apostate is not; and (6) the apostates are morally perverted and unlawful.²¹ Muller’s definition of apostasy includes some of these elements. He adamantly states that apostasy is a willful falling away from, or rebellion against, Christian truth. Apostasy is the rejection of Christ by one who has been a Christian, the ultimate or final apostasy being the so-called unforgivable sin, the peccatum in Spiritum Sanctum (q.v.), the sin against the Holy Spirit; apostasy is also one of the characteristic evidences of antichrist.²² Muller’s definition of apostasy involves some elements controversial among scholars: (1) the relationship of apostasy to backsliding; (2) the relationship of apostasy to the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit; (3) the question of whether a regenerate can apostatize; and (4) the question of whether an apostate can be restored with repentance.

First, as to the relationship of apostasy to backsliding, the New Testament writers do not clearly distinguish these ideas but evince evidence for their conceptual difference. A representative case is Peter’s denial in contrast to Judas’s betrayal of the Lord Jesus. The New Testament indicates in many passages that Judas was not a genuine believer²³ and willfully betrayed the Lord Jesus yet never repented, whereas Peter was elected of God, confessed Jesus as the Christ and the Son of the living God (Matt 16:16), and persevered to the point of death (John 21:19).²⁴ This description of the two disciples is, of course, not agreed on by every interpreter. I will show the New Testament’s contrastive portrayal of these two figures in detail later in this book and suggest that Judas is, according to the New Testament writers, an apostate, but Peter is a backslider restored with repentance. The term falling away is fluid and overlaps both apostasy and backsliding, so I use the word apostasy exclusively in cases that clearly involve a willful rebellion against Jesus, while using the term falling away for obscure cases.

Second, as to the relationship of apostasy to the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, they are both sins willfully committed against Jesus, so I suggest that the Synoptic version of apostasy is the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. It is the same sin as the so-called sin unto death in 1 John 5:16. It is thus evident that apostasy entails a concept narrower than defection. Apostasy involves an element of being unforgivable whereas defection involves the possibility of restoration. But willful and permanent defection from Jesus is the same sin as apostasy. As to the relationship of apostasy and heresy, apostasy is distinguished from heresy in that the latter is a deviated form of orthodoxy in the church.²⁵ Heretics can be reprimanded to adopt orthodox doctrines whereas apostates willfully reject the orthodox doctrines and thus have no hope for transformation.²⁶ But apostasy and heresy can be indistinguishable in their latent state because heretics can advance to become apostates when persistently resisting correction.

Third, five-point Calvinists believe that it is impossible for genuine believers to apostatize, whereas their theological opponents believe it is possible. Related questions to this are whether God’s justification of a sinner through faith can be subverted, whether regeneration is repeatable, and so on. In fact, the New Testament appears to provide evidence in support of both positions. But it is difficult to prove that a genuine believer in the New Testament has ever apostatized. Judas Iscariot is a robust example to test the question based on the account in the New Testament. And I cannot find clear exegetical foundation to believe that Judas was a genuine believer from the beginning.

Fourth and finally, another related question is whether an apostate can be restored with repentance. Judas is again a good test case for this question, and again, I have not found any exegetical basis to believe Judas repented and was restored in the relevant passages in the New Testament. Of course, not all interpreters would agree on this, so later in this book, I will exegetically adduce evidence against critics’ views on this question.²⁷

Based on these features of apostasy, I agree with the concept of apostasy suggested by Ryrie and Muller and define apostasy as a willful denial of Jesus Christ as the Son of God by insiders in the Christian church, with no possibility of restoration. This study’s exegetical analysis of pertinent New Testament passages will put this definition to the test and, I believe, demonstrate its aptness.

D. Scope of Study

Returning to the scope of the study, which I touched on above, it is practically challenging to deal with all the relevant passages in the New Testament. So, I need to select some representative passages for exegesis. What is the basis for selecting relevant passages? Schreiner and Caneday have selected eight types of passages in their study, passages that include conditional promises to obtain salvation in Christ (Acts 16:31; Rev 2:11; 3:5), God’s promise of preservation (John 11:25–26), conditional warnings and admonitions (Rev 22:18–19), exhortation of perseverance (Rom 5:3–5; 2 Tim 3:12), calling for self-examination of faith (1 John 2:3–6), characteristics of genuine faith (1 John 2:18–19), description of God’s grace of preservation (John 3:19–21; Phil 2:12–13), and description of God’s grace as a basis for perseverance (Eph 2:8–10).²⁸ These eight types of passages certainly overlap with ones that I need to look into in this study. But as the subject is perseverance and apostasy, I have also included passages that describe apostates, such as Judas (Matt 26:57–27:2; Mark 14:53–65; Luke 22:54–71; John 18:13–24), apostate Jews (Matt 21:18–22; Mark 11:12–14, 20–21; Luke 13:6–9; John 8:31–59), Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1–11), Simon Magus (Acts 8:9–24), a culprit in Corinth (1 Cor 5:1–5), interlopers in the Galatian church (Gal 1:6–10; 5:1–4), false teachers in Ephesus (1 Tim 1:3–7, 19–20), false teachers in Asia Minor (2 Pet 2:1–3, 9), the secessionists in Ephesus (1 John 2:18–22), interlopers in Jude (Jude 4–19), and apostates in Revelation (Rev 13:7–10; 17:8; 20:12–15; 21:27). Regarding the subject of perseverance, I have included both warning passages and ones that describe God’s grace of election and preservation, such as warning against denial of the Son of Man (Matt 10:32–33; Mark 8:38; Luke 12:8–10), teaching about the elect (Matt 22:1–14; 24:22–24; Mark 13:20–22; Luke 14:15–24; 18:7), the role of the Holy Spirit (Matt 10:19–20; Mark 13:11; Luke 12:11–12; 21:14–19), Jesus’s intercessory prayer for his own sheep (John 17:6–15), God’s protection of the elect from apostasy (1 Cor 10:13), the deposit of the Holy Spirit as surety (2 Cor 1:22; 5:5), and God’s election and preservation (Eph 1:4–14).²⁹

As this list shows, I have selected not only individual passages but also pericopes of discourse and instruction relevant to the subject. For example, I have dealt with the Synoptics’ account of the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit based on Matt 12:31–32; Mark 3:28–29; and Luke 12:10. Yet I also have dealt with the pericopes of the parable of the sower in the Synoptics based on Matt 13:1–23; Mark 4:1–20; and Luke 8:4–15 to examine the features that are relevant to the topic of perseverance and apostasy, if not addressing it directly. Also, I have dealt with some passages controversial among scholars, such as Phil 2:12–16; Col 1:22–23; 2:20; and Heb 6:4–6 and 10:26–29. These passages are reckoned to be in support of both Calvinist and Arminian positions on perseverance and apostasy, so my exegesis of them will offer some insight to resolve their theological controversy. My method of in-depth exegesis based on grammatical-historical interpretation opens up the deep structure of the New Testament writers’ understanding of the subject in a more substantive way than a method of topical exploration of the subject based on the use of passages as proof-texts. My exegetical theological method of interpretation helps avoid the superficial use of relevant passages as proof-texts and uncovers the author’s understanding of the subject from the context of the entire book under scrutiny.

E. A Note on the Greek Verbal Aspect

Finally, it is important to note that exegesis based on the grammatical anatomy of the text helps grapple with subtle meanings embedded in words and phrases in Greek construction. A correct analysis of the Greek verbal aspect is one of the most significant tasks in exegesis. The New Testament authors’ use of both aorist and perfect tenses often points to subtle theological meanings on perseverance and apostasy. In fact, passages about God’s election and preservation likely include verbs in aorist or perfect tenses whose interpretation determines critical exegetical decisions. Some scholars argue that tenses in Greek verbs do not point to the specific time of event but an aspect that is concerned with the speaker’s viewpoint concerning the action in the sense that it implicitly sets up a relationship between the action described and a reference-point from which the action is viewed.³⁰ In keeping with this idea, Porter states that absolute temporal categories (such as past, present and future) are not grammaticalized by the verb forms even in the indicative mood and that a particular verbal aspectual semantic feature is grammaticalized by a given verb form.³¹ So it is assumed that the Greek verb of aorist tense does not always refer to an event done in the past, and it can refer to a present or future event in certain contexts. Based on this theory of Greek verbal aspect, Porter asserts that the aorist tense of verbs in John 13:31 and Jude 1:14 refers to future events.³² He also argues that the perfect tense in Heb 3:14 does not refer to a present state of a past completed action but rather to a timeless fact.³³ But this approach does not consider the significant point that the Greek verbal aspect should be analyzed both at a definitional level and at a functional level.³⁴ On a definitional level in John 13:31, therefore, Jesus means that he is already glorified (ἐδοξάσθη) and God is glorified (ἐδοξάσθη) in him in the wake of Judas’s departure from the upper room to betray him. His glorification will take place at the time of crucifixion and eventually at the time of his resurrection, but this future meaning does not cancel the meaning that it is already realized at the time of Judas’s departure. Thus, the sense of a past tense should be considered as the meaning that Jesus would have intended in the context. Also, the aorist ēlthen (ἦλθεν, came) in Jude 1:14 can be taken to mean the Lord’s coming in the future to judge the wicked, but at the same time it may entail the meaning of his first advent that Enoch saw in his vision. In line with this, the perfect tense verb gegonamen (γεγόναμεν, we have become) in Heb 3:14 not only can be viewed as carrying a timeless fact on a functional level, but it also entails a meaning that those who persevere in faith would have already partaken of the inheritance of Jesus Christ through regeneration on the definitional level of the Greek perfect tense. Evidently, modern Greek linguists’ discovery of verbal aspectual senses has advanced our balanced understanding of delicate meanings involved in the Greek verbal aspect, but it is not therefore warranted to completely snub the traditional view that the tense forms in the indicative mood and when used as participles are time-based.³⁵ In keeping with this, regarding the perfect tense Fanning strongly resists overthrowing the traditional conception of the tense as speaking of ‘a state or condition resulting from a completed action.’³⁶ In fact, as Carson points out, a wide range of factors impinge on the meaning of a verb in a particular context.³⁷ It is then infelicitous, stressing the subjective nature of the choice in tense-form made by the speaker, to lose sight of both the completed aspect of an action expressed in aorist tense and the present state of a past complete action expressed in perfect tense in the Greek verb.³⁸ Exegesis is a complex process based on not only verbal aspect but also lexis, syntax, context, and so on. So, in my study, I will retain the traditional view that tense-forms in indicative mood are time-based while being sensitive to senses from the Greek verbal aspect theory in exegesis.

F. Outline of the Book

In exegeting passages relevant to perseverance and apostasy in this book, I focus on a few questions: (1) the role of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility in the process of perseverance and apostasy; (2) the spiritual dynamic of God’s preservation for perseverance and Satan’s role in causing apostasy; (3) whether genuine believers apostatize; (4) whether apostates can be restored; and (5) unity and diversity in the New Testament on perseverance and apostasy.

To chart the outline of the book, chapter 1 is introduction to the book. Chapter 2 surveys select works on perseverance and apostasy. This will help locate the current study in its proper perspective in the study of apostasy in the New Testament. As already mentioned briefly, I have assessed works of G. C. Berkouwer, D. A. Carson, Judith Gundry Volf, and Thomas R. Schreiner and Ardel B. Caneday for the Calvinist position on the subject. As for the Arminian view, I have dealt with books by I. H. Marshall and B. J. Oropeza.

Chapters 3–8 contain my exegesis of the relevant passages on perseverance and apostasy. Chapter 3 deals with the synoptic Gospels, where I examine the similarities and differences in their treatment of the subject. I deal with the Gospel of John separately in chapter 4, the book of Acts in chapter 5, the Epistles of Paul in chapter 6, the Catholic Epistles in chapter 7, and the book of Revelation in chapter 8.

In chapter 9, I deal with the question of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility in relation to perseverance and apostasy, covering the topics of free will and perseverance, God’s election and perseverance, the Holy Spirit and perseverance, human responsibility and perseverance, Satan and apostasy, and the compatibility of God’s sovereignty and human responsibility. Here, I attempt to resolve the controversy of Calvinists and Arminians over the subject of perseverance and apostasy in light of the findings from exegesis of pertinent passages in the preceding chapters.

In chapter 10, I deal with the question of unity in diversity in the New Testament with regard to perseverance and apostasy.

Chapter 11 is the conclusion, in which I summarize the findings obtained in this study.

This book is not designed to prove a particular theological position on perseverance and apostasy. The inductive study is one of substantive exegesis based on grammatical-historical interpretation of select passages in the New Testament. I also have not set out to prove unity in the New Testament on perseverance and apostasy but inductively have found that the New Testament remarkably maintains a similar outlook on perseverance and apostasy. Its writers conceive a uniform concept of apostasy, although they deal with the problem by shedding light on its different aspects in accord to the historical situation wherein they are posited.³⁹ The diversity in their treatment of the problem of apostasy does not reside in their different understandings of apostasy but in the different stages of apostasy formed in their respective historical circumstances. This finding validates the doctrine of authority of the Scripture for the Christian’s faith and practice. Books in the New Testament are not set against each other; they are complementary to one another, presenting the holistic revelation of God from their respective historical vantage points. In conclusion, it is affirmed that genuine believers do not commit apostasy, because God’s Spirit indwelling them protects them from drifting away from faith until their eschatological salvation. Apostates are unregenerate, never having been converted from the beginning. They thus fail to persevere because God’s grace of protection has never been with them in their religious activities. The New Testament writers uniformly conclude that an apostate cannot be restored. This aspect is tied to the New Testament’s presentation of apostasy as the unforgivable sin. This is so because apostasy is a calculated rejection of the Son of God, apart from whom no way for atonement of sins is reserved by God.

CHAPTER 2

A Survey of Select Views on

Perseverance and Apostasy

There is no shortage of published works on the topic of perseverance and apostasy, but few books deal with the subject on the basis of substantive exegesis of pertinent passages in the entire Greek New Testament. In this chapter, I assess select works on the subject that have been regarded as representative. For the Calvinist position, I assess the works of D. A. Carson, Judith M. Gundry Volf, and Thomas R. Schreiner and Ardel B. Caneday; for the Arminian position, I assess the works of I. H. Marshall and B. J. Oropeza. But first, I also assess the work of Dutch Calvinist G. C. Berkouwer, whose viewpoint cuts across the two positions. While there are other published works on the topic, many of their arguments overlap with those of the works I have already mentioned; as such, these are sufficient for a balanced understanding of the current state of research.¹

A. G. C. Berkouwer (1958)

In Faith and Perseverance, G. C. Berkouwer defends the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints on several grounds. First, there are many passages in the Bible that describe the irresistibility of God’s sovereign grace for the elect. Faith is an inevitable positive response to God’s call made through the gospel. Faith and God’s grace are not mutually exclusive. Thus, God’s grace is not diminished as the role of faith comes into play. Berkouwer writes, If anything is certain, it is this, that according to the Scriptures God’s grace does not stop short at the limits of human freedom of choice.² And God’s grace for salvation is immutable and faithful so that God will not let the elect fall away. God will keep them in his hands of grace and preservation so that no one can snatch them out of his hands. Ultimately perseverance does not depend on us but on God’s grace.³

Second, opponents of the doctrine of perseverance argue that it is contradicted by admonitions in the Bible. The passages that warn against apostasy suggest that the apostasy of believers is real rather than hypothetical. But Berkouwer responds that because perseverance is accomplished only through faith, "the most earnest and alarming