A Theology of Threatenings - Part 1

In the Church that I serve, the accepted belief regarding the security of those who are saved reads this way: ". . . those whom God has effectually called shall be divinely preserved and finally perfected in the image of the Lord."  There is no doubt about the insinuation. Those called of God, born of the Spirit will in fact arrive in glorious wonder in Christ's forever presence. This phrase is a summation of what the Church has referred to as the Doctrine of Perseverance.

The Doctrine of Perseverance

This Doctrine is understood as affirming that "those who are truly saved will persevere to the end and cannot lose their salvation."[1]  It is a truth that is deeply rooted in the Scriptures and comes to us propelled by a long and historic Christian tradition.  As Randy Seiver writes, "The doctrine of the saint's perseverance has also been the ground of intense and acrimonious controversy."[2]  One cannot presume that to be "truly saved" is simply a matter of a decision or a profession.  John Calvin is right when he writes, “We hence conclude, that not only the reprobate ought to be reproved severely and with sharp earnestness, but also the elect themselves, even those whom we deem to be the children of God.”[3] 

Blessed Threatenings

Along with the multitude of promises regarding the security of those "truly saved" there are a multitude of warnings.  Ironically they are directed not to the "reprobate" but to the "elect".  One of the missing ingredients in the Church is a robust theology of threatenings.  What this study will show is that the Christian is not orphaned, nor is he or she left to walk this "lonesome valley by themselves".  God has ordained "means of grace"[4] to aid those "truly saved" toward Christ-likeness and eternal glory.

Oh how we need them! 

Oh to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let thy grace Lord like a fetter
Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart Lord take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above.[5]  

The position that I think best represents the Scripture is this: God has given to the Believer a number of glorious grace-filled means to prevent abandonment and apostasy.  One of those means of grace is the stern, very real warnings in the Bible.  Or as Seiver states so well: "God uses exhortation and warning to effect the obedience that He has purposed for them."[6]

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[1] http://www.theopedia.com/perseverance-of-the-saints

[2] Seiver, Randy, In These Last Days, New Covenant Media, Frederick, MD, 1998, Page 67

[3] http://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/comment3/comm_vol44/htm/xii.iii.htm

[4] "The 'means of grace' that the Bible talks about are His Word ('the word of His grace,' Acts 20:32), His Spirit ('the Spirit of grace,' Hebrews 10:29), prayer made to the 'throne of grace' (Hebrews 4:16), and the grace that is given to the saints which enables them to build up another (Ephesians 4:7; 1 Peter 4:10)." - Bob Deffinbaugh (https://bible.org/seriespage/10-grace-god-part-iii-romans-121-21)

[5] John Wyeth and Robert Robinson, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, © Words: Public Domain Music: Public Domain, Stanza 4 

[6] Seiver, Randy, In These Last Days, New Covenant Media, Frederick, MD, 1998, Page 67