The conditional preservation of the saints, or conditional perseverance of the saints, or commonly conditional security, is the Arminian Christian belief that believers are kept safe by God in their saving relationship with him upon the condition of a persevering faith in Christ. This doctrine asserts that while believers are secure in their union with Christ and cannot be separated from him by external forces, they retain the freedom to turn away from God and commit apostasy.
Rooted in the teachings of the early church, Jacobus Arminius, and John Wesley, this view is supported by extensive biblical warnings against falling away. In contrast notably to the Calvinist doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, Arminians hold that saving faith must continually express itself in love and obedience. To prevent the forfeiture of salvation, the doctrine emphasizes ongoing spiritual maturity, mutual encouragement, and prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit. It is widely affirmed across various Christian traditions.
Theological overview The conditional preservation of the saints is the Arminian Christian belief that believers are kept safe by God in their saving relationship with him upon the condition of a persevering faith in Christ. Arminians find the Scriptures describing both the initial act of faith in Christ and the persevering faith in him. For Arminians, the relationship of the believer to Christ is never a static relationship existing as the irrevocable consequence of a past decision, act, or experience. Rather, it is a living union proceeding upon a living faith in a living Savior. This living union is captured in the simple command by Christ to "remain in me" (John 15:4).
According to Arminians, biblical saving faith expresses itself in love and obedience to God. In the Remonstrant Confession of 1621, the first Remonstrants affirmed that true or living faith operates through love, and that God chooses to give salvation and eternal life through his Son, ultimately glorifying those who persevere in faith.
Arminians believe that it is abundantly evident from the Scriptures that the believer is secure. Furthermore, believers have assurance in knowing there is no external power or circumstance that can separate them from the love of God they enjoy in union with Christ. Nevertheless, Arminians see numerous warnings in Scripture directed to genuine believers about the possibility of falling away in unbelief and thereby becoming severed from their saving union with God through Christ. Arminians hold that if a believer becomes an unbeliever, committing apostasy, they necessarily cease to partake of the promises of salvation and eternal life made to believers who continue in faith and remain united to Christ.
Therefore, Arminians seek to follow the biblical writers in warning believers about the real dangers of committing apostasy. A sure and Biblical way to avoid apostasy is to admonish believers to mature spiritually in their relationship with God in union with Christ and through the power of the Spirit. Maturity takes place as Christ-followers keep on meeting with fellow believers for mutual encouragement and strength, exhorting each to love God and others, continuing to grow in the grace and knowledge of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and persevering in faith in prayerful dependence upon God through various trials and temptations.
Historical background
Scholars note that the tension between Calvinism and Arminianism traditionally culminates in the question of whether those who have been regenerated must necessarily persevere or may apostatize and be lost. Prior to the time of the debate between Calvinists and the Arminians at the Synod of Dort (1618-1619), the view in the early church appears to be on the side of conditional security, where continued faith and obedience are necessary for salvation.
Arminius and the Remonstrants Arminianism teaches that ongoing faith is necessary, and regenerate individuals can fall back into sin and perish. This perspective was developed by Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609). In his theological writings, Arminius observed that the early church fathers overwhelmingly supported the view that believers could fall away, noting that conditional security was never reckoned as a heretical opinion, but had always had more supporters in the church than the opposing view. He affirmed that believers possess sufficient strength to fight against Satan and gain victory, provided they stand prepared for battle and implore Christ's help. Consequently, he taught that God resolves to save those who persevere in faith, but leaves unbelieving and impenitent backsliders under condemnation.
After the death of Arminius, his followers wrote a Remonstrance (1610) closely based on his Declaration of Sentiments (1608), which expressed caution regarding the possibility of apostasy. In particular, its fifth article expressed the necessity of further study on the possibility of apostasy, while still maintaining that believers have full power to strive against sin and win the victory. Sometime between 1610 and the official proceeding of the Synod of Dort (1618), the Remonstrants became convinced that the Scriptures taught that a true believer was capable of falling away from faith and perishing eternally as an unbeliever. Simon Episcopius (1583-1643) formalized their views in "The Opinion of the Remonstrants" (1618), which was their official stand during the Synod of Dort. They later expressed this same view in the Remonstrant Confession (1621).
Other Arminians who affirmed conditional security Numerous theologians spanning centuries have maintained the conditional security perspective. John Goodwin (1593-1665) was a Puritan who presented the Arminian position of falling away in his work Redemption Redeemed (1651), which drew considerable attention from Calvinists. In his book, English bishop Laurence Womock (1612-1685) provides numerous scriptural references supporting the fifth article concerning perseverance delivered by the later Remonstrants. Philipp van Limborch (1633-1712) penned the first complete Remonstrant systematic theology in 1702 that included a dedicated section on apostasy. In 1710, a minister in the Church of England, Daniel Whitby (1638-1726), published a major work criticizing the five points of Calvinism, which involved their doctrine of unconditional perseverance.John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of Methodism, was an outspoken defender of conditional security and critic of unconditional security. In 1751, Wesley defended his position in a work titled "Serious Thoughts Upon the Perseverance of the Saints." In it, he argued that a believer remains in a saving relationship with God if they continue in faith or endure in faith unto the end. Wesley affirmed that a child of God cannot go to hell while they continue as a true believer. However, if a believer makes a shipwreck of the faith, then a man that believes now may be an unbeliever some time hence and become a child of the devil. He then adds that God is the Father of them that believe so long as they believe, but the devil is the father of them that believe not, whether they did once believe or no. Like his Arminian predecessors, Wesley was convinced from the testimony of the Scriptures that a true believer may abandon faith and the way of righteousness, and fall from God as to perish everlastingly.
From John Wesley onward, it looks as if every Methodist and Wesleyan pastor, scholar, or theologian in print has opposed unconditional perseverance, including John William Fletcher (1729-1783), Adam Clarke (1762-1832), Nathan Bangs (1778-1862), Thomas C. Thornton (1794-1860), Samuel Wakefield (1799-1895), Luther Lee (1800-1889), Amos Binney (1802-1878), Thomas N. Ralston (1806-1891), Thomas O. Summers (1812-1882), John Miley (1813-1895), Philip Pugh (1817-1871), Randolph Sinks Foster (1820-1903), William Burt Pope (1822-1903), B. T. Roberts (1823-1893), Daniel Steele (1824-1914), Benjamin Field (1827-1869), John Shaw Banks (1835-1917), and Joseph Agar Beet (1840-1924).
Apostasy: definition and dangers
Definition
Apostasy is defined as the deliberate disavowal of Christian faith made by a formerly believing Christian. The English word is derived from the Greek noun apostasia, which dictionaries define as a falling away or defection from true religion. It is related to the word apostasion, meaning divorce or a contract of renunciation, and the verb aphistēmi, which means to depart, desert, or withdraw. Apostasy represents a dissolution of the union with God subsisting through faith in Christ, and involves a willful falling away from Christian truth. Consequently, an apostate is someone who has severed their union with Christ by withdrawing from an actual saving relationship with Him.
Linguistically, the New Testament uses words conveying falling away, drifting, and stumbling to express the failure to persist in faith. Further theological significance is attached to the verb skandalizō (to fall away from faith) and the noun skandalon (an enticement to unbelief or seduction). Apostasy is an intelligent decision to renounce one's public association with Jesus Christ. Ultimately, this act is viewed not merely as a loss of a state of grace, but as the forsaking of a personal relationship with God.
Dangers Scholars identify four primary biblical dangers that serve as precursors to apostasy: persecution by unbelievers, accepting false doctrine, the temptation to sin, and weariness in faith. The New Testament warnings regarding these threats are real, not hypothetical. A believer is not eternally secure until securely in eternity, and apostasy represents a conscious rebellion rather than an accidental falling away.
Since Arminians view sin as an attitude constituting a denial of faith, persistent sin can eventually lead a believer to become an unbeliever and share in their same doom. The warnings to persevere are therefore directed exclusively to believers, as they alone have something to persevere toward or apostatize from. These warnings function as moral injunctions to strengthen one's commitment to holiness, demonstrating that trusting in Christ starves off apostasy.
Biblical support Old Testament
Arminians find support for conditional security in the Old Testament by pointing to divine warnings against idolatry and rebellion. In passages like Deuteronomy 29:18-20, Moses warns the Israelites that any person whose heart turns away from the Lord to worship other gods will face the curses written in the book, emphasizing that an apostate cannot presume safety while persisting in their own way. Furthermore, in 2 Chronicles 15:1-2, it is demonstrated that God remains with his people while they seek him, but will forsake those who abandon him. Finally, Ezekiel 18:20-24 demonstrates that if a righteous person turns away from their righteousness to commit iniquity, their past righteous deeds will not be remembered, and they will die in their sin.
Teachings of Jesus In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus frequently warns his disciples about the dangers of apostasy. He emphasizes that living in obedience is a necessity for entering the kingdom (Matthew 7:21). Jesus uses stark metaphors, such as severing a hand or an eye (Matthew 5:27-30), to describe the extreme measures believers must take to avoid falling away and facing eternal judgment in Gehenna. Denying Christ before others constitutes an open apostasy, bringing a strong warning that Christ will deny such individuals before the Father (Matthew 10:32-33).