Editing Perseverance of the saints (section)

==== Practical interpretation rejecting an absolute assurance of salvation ====
According to Calvinism, [[Apostasy in Christianity|apostasy]] is not possible for those who are true [[Christians]].{{sfn|Pink|2001|pp=39, 47, 58}} However, being a true Christian is only demonstrated by perseverance to the end.{{sfn|Grudem|1994|loc={{zwnj}}|p=860|ps=. "[T]his doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, if rightly understood, should cause genuine worry, and even fear, in the hearts of any who are “backsliding” or straying away from Christ. Such persons must clearly be warned that only those who persevere to the end have been truly born again."}} This arises because there are instances where individuals appear to come to God but later display definitive apostasy. To address this phenomenon, Calvinist theologians have postulated that [[common grace]] might include effects that cannot be distinguished from [[effectual calling]] and subsequent [[irresistible grace]]. About that issue, [[John Calvin|Calvin]] formulated the concept of a temporary [[Grace in Christianity|grace]] (sometimes called "evanescent grace") that appears and works for only a while in the [[reprobate]] but then to disappears.{{sfn|Calvin|1961|p=66|ps=. "[T]hose who appear to live piously may be called sons of God; but since they will eventually live impiously and die in that impiety, God does not call them sons in His foreknowledge. There are sons of God who do not yet appear so to us, but now do so to God; and there are those who, on account of some arrogated or temporal grace, are called so by us, but are not so to God."}}{{sfn|Calvin|1961|pp=151-152}}{{sfn|Calvin|1845|loc=3:24:8|ps=. "Sometimes, however, he communicates it also to those whom he enlightens only for a time, and whom afterwards, in just punishment for their ingratitude, he abandons and smites with greater blindness."}}{{sfn|Calvin|1963|p=76|ps=. "[...] I do not see that this is any reason why He should not touch the reprobate with a taste of His grace, or illumine their minds with some glimmerings of His light, or affect them with some sense of His goodness, or to some extent engrave His Word in their hearts. Otherwise where would be that passing faith which Marks mentions (4.17)? Therefore there is some knowledge in the reprobate, which later vanishes away either because it drives its roots less deep than it ought to, or because it is choked and withers away."}}{{sfn|Davis|1991|pp=217-218}} According to this concept, the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] can create in some people effects which are indistinguishable from those of the irresistible grace of God,{{sfn|Calvin|1845|loc=3:2:11|ps=. "Experience shows that the reprobate are sometimes affected in a way so similar to the elect that even in their own judgment there is no difference between them. [...] [T]he Lord, the better to convict them, and leave them without excuse, instills into their minds such a sense of goodness as can be felt without the Spirit of adoption [...] Therefore, as God regenerates the elect only for ever by incorruptible seed, [...] there is nothing to prevent an inferior operation of the Spirit from taking its course in the reprobate. [...] Thus we dispose of the objection, that if God truly displays his grace, it must endure for ever. There is nothing inconsistent in this with the fact of his enlightening some with a present sense of grace, which afterwards proves evanescent."}} producing also a visible "fruit" in their life.{{sfn|Calvin|1845|loc=3:2:11-12|pp=478-479|ps=. "[Some reprobates are] just as a tree not planted deep enough may take root, but in the process of time wither away, though it may for several years not only put forth leaves and flowers, but produce fruit."}} Temporary grace was also supported by later Calvinist theologians such as [[Theodore Beza]], [[William Perkins (theologian)|William Perkins]],{{sfn|Keathley|2010|p=170|ps=. "The doctrine of temporary faith, a notion first formulated by Calvin but later developed by Beza and William Perkins, further intensified the problem of assurance in Calvinist and Puritan theology. According to them, God gives to the reprobate, whom He never intended to save in the first place, a “taste” of his grace. Based on passages such as Matt 7:21–23; Heb 6:4–6, and the parable of the Sower, Beza and Perkins attribute this false, temporary faith to an ineffectual work of the Holy Spirit."}} [[John Owen (theologian)|John Owen]],{{sfn|Gribben|Tweeddale|2022|p=402|ps=. "[...] Owen readily admits that the Spirit occasionally induces a partial illumination of the gospel truth, which might produce some conviction of sin and reformation of behavior. [...] For whatever its superficial resemblance to genuine conversion, it nevertheless falls short of that reality and explains the phenomenon of an apparently temporary illumination famously described in Heb. 6.4."}} [[A. W. Pink]]{{sfn|Pink|2009|pp=18-19|ps=. "Scripture also teaches that people may possess a faith which is one of the Holy Spirit, and yet which is a ''non-saving one''. This faith which we now allude to has two ingredients which neither education nor self-effort can produce: spiritual light and a Divine power moving the mind to assent. Now a man may have both illumination and inclination from heaven, and yet not be regenerated. We have a solemn proof of this in Hebrews 6:4-6."}} and [[Loraine Boettner]].{{sfn|Boettner|1932|loc=ch. 14|ps=. "In addition to what has been said it is to be admitted that often times the common operations of the Spirit on the enlightened conscience lead to reformation and to an externally religious life. Those so influenced are often very strict in their conduct and diligent in their religious duties. To the awakened sinner the promises of the Gospel and the exhibition of the plan of salvation contained in the Scriptures appear not only as true but as suited to his condition. [...] This faith continues as long as the state of mind by which it is produced continues. When that changes, he relapses into his usual state of insensibility, and his faith disappears."}} This suggests that the knowledge of being a true Christian is theoretically not accessible during life.{{sfn|Walls|Dongell|2004|pp=201-202|ps=. "What is truly remarkable here is that persons who receive this partial and temporary illumination appear for a time to be truly elect but in fact aren't. They are deluded by a false hope. This dreadful possibility is what haunts Calvinists who struggle with the assurance and certainty of salvation."}} Thus a first interpretation of the doctrine of perseverance of the saints acknowledges explanations of apparent apostasy like "evanescent grace," which avoids offering to the believer absolute assurance of salvation during life. Several Reformed theologians have expressed a non-absolute assurance of salvation view.{{sfn|Calvin|1961|p=126|ps=. "Men preposterously ask how they can be certain of a salvation ''which lies in the hidden counsel of God''. I have replied with the truth. Since the certainty of salvation is set forth to us in Christ, it is wrong and injurious to Christ to pass over this proffered fountain of life from which supplies are available, and to toil to draw life out of the hidden recesses of God." (Emphasis added)}}{{sfn|Keathley|2010|p=171|ps=. "John Bunyan’s ''Pilgrim’s Progress'' has blessed multitudes of Christians, but his spiritual autobiography, ''Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners'', is disturbing. He recounts how, in his seemingly endless search for assurance of salvation, he was haunted by the question, “How can I tell if I am elected?”"}}{{sfn|Keathley|2010|p=164|ps=. "Michael Eaton [quotes the Calvinist preacher Asahel] Nettleton: “The most that I have ventured to say respecting myself is, that I think it possible I may get to heaven.”"}}{{sfn|Paton|2013b|ps=. "You ask me: Michael, do you know you are saved? My answer: yes. You ask me: Michael, do you have assurance? My answer: yes. You ask me: Michael, why do you believe you are saved? My answer: because today I am still believing. But I have to test this all the time, as I am not infallible. I could have a false faith, but I don’t believe I do. This ninety percent assurance will have to do."}}