Gift of perseverance is the doctrine of
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Af ...
that persevering in the faith is a gift given by God, but a person can never know if they have the gift. According to Augustine, without having the gift of perseverance a person is damned, even if he seems to have been elected by grace. Augustine himself also believed that
Cyprian
Cyprian (; la, Thaschus Caecilius Cyprianus; 210 – 14 September 258 AD''The Liturgy of the Hours according to the Roman Rite: Vol. IV.'' New York: Catholic Book Publishing Company, 1975. p. 1406.) was a bishop of Carthage and an early Chri ...
held a similar view about perseverance being a work of God, and thus foreshadowing the Augustinian view. Some Calvinists argue that the Augustinian view foreshadows the Calvinist doctrine of
perseverance of the saints
Perseverance of the saints (also called preservation of the saints) is a Christian teaching that asserts that once a person is truly "born of God" or "regenerated" by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, they will continue doing good works and beli ...
.
Background
Augustine believed that one receives the
Holy Spirit
In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...
at their
baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
, which produces salvation. However Augustine wanted to explain why some regenerate people
fall away from the faith, even though both groups had the Holy Spirit. Thus Augustine concluded that some people are given a second gift of perseverance, which is only given to some regenerate people.
Doctrine
Augustine defined perseverance as gift by which one perseveres up to the end of their lives, if a person dies as a believer they had been given the gift, but if one dies as an unbeliever, even if he used to once believe, he did not have this gift given. Augustine believed that the gift can be received through prayer, but when one person has the gift, they can't lose it.
[{{Cite book, last=Hwang, first=Alexander Y., url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KYf-8KImH6QC&dq=Gift+of+persevarance+Augustine&pg=PA131, title=Intrepid Lover of Perfect Grace: The Life and Thought of Prosper of Aquitaine, date=May 2009, publisher=CUA Press, isbn=978-0-8132-1670-6, language=en]
See also
*
Predestination
Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby G ...
*
Eternal security
Eternal security, also known as "once saved, always saved", is the belief that from the moment anyone becomes a Christian, they will be saved from hell, and will not lose salvation. Once a person is truly "born of God" or "regenerated" by the indwe ...
References
Christian philosophy
Christian soteriology
Christian terminology
External links
On the Predestination of the Saints