Prior Book | Prior Chapter | Prior Verse | Next Verse | Next Chapter | Next Book | Viewing NASB and Amplified 2015 | |
NASB | John 10:28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 10:28 "And I give them eternal life, and they will never, ever [by any means] perish; and no one will ever snatch them out of My hand. |
Subject: salvation |
Bible Note: Dear Biblicalman, While it is true that salvation is entirely a work of God, and that His own are recipients of it, and that perseverance is one of its blessings; nevertheless some components are certainly not subjective and, therefore, are not a matter of experience. For example, election, predestination, and justification (Romans 8:30) are entirely objective: the first two took place before creation, a time even "prior" to its design. The third, a forensic act of God as Judge. Our Historic Baptist brethren would have commended your "godly man" for his right and proper dependence on our sovereign God. Nevertheless, they would have taken him aside, like Apollos of Alexandria, "to expound unto him the way of God more perfectly" (cf Acts 18:24-25). Here is how the old Baptist divines explained salvific perseverance, part of the standards of Baptist faith, to Parliament: "1. Those whom God hath accepted in the beloved, effectually called and sanctified by His Spirit, and given the precious faith of His elect unto, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved, seeing the gifts and callings of God are without repentance, whence He still begets and nourisheth in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit unto immortality (John 10:28-29; Phillipians 1:6; 2 Timothy 2:19; 1 John 2:19); and tough many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock which by faith they are fastened upon; notwithstanding, through unbelief and the temptations of Satan, the sensible sight of the light and love of God may for a time be clouded and obscured from them (Psalm 89:31-32; 1 Corinthians 11:32), yet He is still the same, and they shall be sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their purchased possession, they being engraven upon the palm of His hands, and their names having been written in the book of life from all eternity (Malachi 3:6). "2. This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election (Romans 8:30; 9:11, 16), flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father, upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and union with Him (Romans 5:9-10; John 14:19), the oath of God (Hebrews 6:17-18), the abiding of His Spirit, and the seed of God within them (1 John 3:9), and the nature of the covenant of grace (Jermeiah 32:40); from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof. "3. And though they may, through the temptation of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins, and for a time continue therein (Matthew 26:70, 72, 74), whereby they incur God's displeasure and grieve His Holy Spirit (Isaiah 64:5, 9; Ephesians 4:30), come to have their graces and comforts impaired (Psalm 51:10, 12), have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded (Psalm 32:3-4), hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgements upon themselves (2 Samuel 12:14), yet shall they renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end (Luke 22:32, 61-62)." --1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith (chapter 17) In Him, Doc |