Is a Gradate of Northwestern University in 1911
IN First Corinthians 15:58, Paul makes this most earnest plea: "My dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain. "Something has been said which gives assurance that their work shall not be in vain. What is this something? It is found in the preceding verses, going back as far as the fifty-first. "Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet ... For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory ..." ... But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Those are the certain facts on which the appeal to standing firm and a life given fully to the work of the Lord is made. Such work cannot be in vain because of the certainty of the facts on which the appeal is based. What is it that is certain? All shall be changed. All who were members of "the church of God in Corinth," all who are "sanctified in Christ Jesus," all who are "called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (First Corinthians 1:2). These saints in Corinth did not have the best record, yet Paul made no exception. He stipulated no conditions nor is there any that can be implied. It is "we will all be changed." This is so because the victory over death is by God through Jesus Christ, and "God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful" (First Corinthians 1:9).
If it is possible for anyone who is now saved to be excluded from that "all" and not be given the victory over death by Jesus Christ, the appeal loses its force. If there is any possibility that one now saved might not be "changed" at the last trumpet, then there is a chance that such a person has worked for the Lord in vain. If anyone who is saved is later lost, then whatever labour such a person has done for the Lord has been in vain, for God can't reward that work and cast the person into the lake of fire. If this possibility exists for any saved person, it surely exists for all and then no-one can know that his labour is not in vain. But this contradicts Paul's statement that we know that our labour is not in vain. Thus to deny the eternal security of the believer makes void God's word on which God bases his appeal to stand firm.
A middle-aged man once admonished a younger man that he should not waste all his money but save some for the future. The young man replied: "But I might die before I get ready to use it; then it would do me no good." The uncertainty of the future kept that young man from living a steady or disciplined life and saving for the future. To the believer, as an incentive to steadfastness and a life given fully to the work of the Lord, God pledges himself that the believer's work will not be in vain. The believer's assurance of a life with God throughout all eternity is then the incentive for a steadfast, immovable Christian life on earth which is fully dedicated to the work of the Lord. Those who teach Christians that they might be lost are thereby encouraging them to do as the young man did, enjoy the present world for there is no definite assurance that they shall, in the world to come, enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Paul said in this same fifteenth chapter: "If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."" (verse32. Quoting Isaiah 22:13) And so in measure as Christians, through the denial of eternal security, are being told that they might not be raised to a life of glory with God; are "eating and drinking" in many churches instead of standing firm and being given fully to the work of the Lord.
Similar appeals to standing firm are found elsewhere and are based on equally unalterable conditions.
"Therefore, my brothers ... stand firm in the Lord" (Philippians 4:1). The "therefore" looks back to: "But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body" (Philippians 3:20, 21).
"So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter." In this case the "so then" refers back to "From the beginning God chose you to be saved ... He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Second Thessalonians 2:15, 13, 14).
The appeal here is based entirely on God's choosing and calling. There can be no failure in these.
Thus very clearly and definitely God first gives full assurance to the believer that he or she shall be raised from the dead or be changed at the last trumpet; that his vile body shall be made like the glorified body of the Lord Jesus Christ by the working of the infinite power of God. This is so because God has chosen and he has called by the gospel (good news). It is only after God has made these facts clear that he appeals because of this assurance for firm immovable lives, given fully to the work of God.
To deny the eternal security of the believer denies the certainty of that which God makes definite, robs the believer of his assurance and undermines God's appeal.
CONCLUSION
Thus in Chapters 18 to 22 inclusive, it has been shown that it is the grace of God that brings salvation, which also teaches how to live soberly, righteously and godly in the present world; and it is his eternal love with which he loves, both before the sinner is saved and afterward, that is the dynamic of that life. It is his mercy, as seen in the unalterable standing of the believer in grace, that is the incentive to a full surrender of body and mind to God. It is the believer's high calling in Christ, planned and determined by God before the foundation of the world, and being carried out according to the pleasure of his own will, that is the incentive to an earthly life that honors Christ, and is distinct from the world. It is the certain knowledge of being transformed into the image of Christ and appearing with him in glory that is the basis for an appeal to a pure life away from earthly lusts. The imperishable, undying nature of the new life of the one who has been born again is given as a reason for desiring to feed on the word of God; and finally the assurance of the resurrection of the body, the transformation of the present depraved, imperishable body into one made like Christ's glorious body is the appeal to stand firm and always dedicated to God's work.
Every one of these conditions on which these various appeals are made demand the eternal security of the believer. Therefore to teach that it is possible for anyone who has been saved to be lost is to undermine the very structure of God's argument for a life that is pleasing to him. Thus the charge that the teaching of eternal security leads to carelessness and a state of low spirituality is not only false; but the teachings against security by those who make this charge are responsible for these same conditions for which they blame those who are faithful stewards of the teachings of God's grace.
To merely neglect the teaching of these truths is a serious matter.
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