Gift of perseverance

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Gift of perseverance is the doctrine of Augustine of Hippo that that persevering in the faith is a gift given by God, but a person can never know if they have the gift. [1] According to Augustine, without having the gift of perseverance a person is damned, even if he seems to have been elected by grace. [2] Augustine himself also believed that Cyprian held a similar view about perseverance being a work of God, and thus foreshadowing the Augustinian view. [3] Some Calvinists argue that the Augustinian view foreshadows the Calvinist doctrine of perseverance of the saints. [4]

Contents

Background

Augustine believed that one receives the Holy Spirit at their baptism, which produces salvation. However Augustine wanted to explain why some regenerate people fall away from the faith, even though both groups had the Holy Spirit. Thus Augustine concluded that some people are given a second gift of perseverance, which is only given to some regenerate people. [5]

Doctrine

Augustine defined perseverance as gift by which one perseveres up to the end of their lives, if a person dies as a believer they had been given the gift, but if one dies as an unbeliever, even if he used to once believe, he did not have this gift given. Augustine believed that the gift can be received through prayer, but when one person has the gift, they can't lose it. [6]

See also

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Unconditional election

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Irresistible grace Calvinist theological doctrine

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Assurance (theology)

Assurance, also known as the Witness of the Spirit, is a Protestant Christian doctrine that states that the inner witness of the Holy Spirit allows the Christian disciple to know that they are justified. Based on the writings of St. Augustine of Hippo, assurance was historically a very important doctrine in Lutheranism and Calvinism, and remains a distinguishing doctrine of Methodism and Quakerism though there are differences among these Christian traditions. Hymns that celebrate the witness of the Holy Spirit, such as "Blessed Assurance" are sung in Christian liturgies to celebrate the belief in assurance.

Eternal security, also known as "once saved, always saved", is the belief that from the moment anyone becomes a Christian, they will be saved from hell, and will not lose salvation. Once a person is truly "born of God" or "regenerated" by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, nothing in heaven or earth "shall be able to separate (them) from the love of God" and thus nothing can reverse the condition of having become a Christian.

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History of the Calvinist–Arminian debate

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Free will in theology is an important part of the debate on free will in general. Religions vary greatly in their response to the standard argument against free will and thus might appeal to any number of responses to the paradox of free will, the claim that omniscience and free will are incompatible.

Free grace is a Christian soteriological view that anyone can receive eternal life the moment they believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Free Grace advocates believe that good works are not the condition to merit, maintain, or to prove eternal life, but rather are part of discipleship and the basis for receiving eternal rewards.

Augustinian Calvinism

Augustinian Calvinism is a term used to emphasize the origin of John Calvin's theology within Augustine of Hippo's theology over a thousand years earlier. By his own admission, John Calvin's theology was deeply influenced by Augustine of Hippo, the fourth-century church father. Twentieth-century Reformed theologian B. B. Warfield said, "The system of doctrine taught by Calvin is just the Augustinianism common to the whole body of the Reformers." Paul Helm, a well-known Reformed theologian, used the term Augustinian Calvinism for his view in the book "The Augustinian-Calvinist View" in Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views.

References

  1. Cary, Phillip (2008-03-26). Inner Grace: Augustine in the Traditions of Plato and Paul. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN   978-0-19-533648-1.
  2. "Gift of persevarance Augustine - Google Search". www.google.com. Retrieved 2021-12-19.
  3. Komline, Han-luen Kantzer (2019-11-13). Augustine on the Will: A Theological Account. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-094882-5.
  4. McMahon, C. Matthew (2013-01-03). Augustine's Calvinism: The Doctrines of Grace in Augustine's Writings. Puritan Publications. ISBN   978-1-937466-83-1.
  5. Burnell, Peter (2005). The Augustinian Person . Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press. pp.  85–86.
  6. Hwang, Alexander Y. (May 2009). Intrepid Lover of Perfect Grace: The Life and Thought of Prosper of Aquitaine. CUA Press. ISBN   978-0-8132-1670-6.