Can a Non-Calvinist Believe in Eternal Security?

It is extremely common for people who call themselves Christians in the world today to reject the doctrines of Calvinism because it denies the idea that mankind has a "free will" and that God is the one who chooses who will be saved. However, many of these same people actually believe in one of the main points of Calvinism, namely Eternal security or "Perseverance of the Saints." Many so-called Christians today have no problem in preaching the idea of "Once saved always saved" and the idea that once you are saved God will be sure to keep you until the end. However, these people fail to realize how inconsistent they really are by also believing that man has a free will to choose or not choose to believe in Jesus Christ.

It must first be pointed out that these people are not wrong in believing in the doctrine of eternal security. The Bible teaches this doctrine in many places such as John chapter 10 verse 28 where Jesus Christ says: "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand." More clearly in Philipians chapter 1 verse 6: "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." There are many other verses that support the idea of eternal security and therefore those who believe in such a doctrine are correct.

The problem comes when those same people demonstrate their inconsistency when they try to couple it with the idea that man has a free will. The doctrine of free will is not found anywhere in the Bible. Instead it is a tradition of men that people will read into various texts of the Bible whereby they assume that man has an ability to do something such as believe in Jesus Christ on their own. The Bible teaches us in Romans chapter 3 that there is no God seeker, and those according to the flesh can not please God. Therefore, it is God who must do a work in us as Philipians chapter 1 verse 6 says before we will ever choose to believe in Christ.

It can then be seen that combining the idea of free will and eternal security does not make any sense. If it is your free will that gets you into a saving relationship with God, what is to stop you from exercising your free will to terminate or leave such a saving relationship? Are we to understand that once you become a Christian you lose your free will, and thereby can not choose to fall away? A more consistent person would not suggest such a thing. Therefore, if you deny all the doctrines of Calvinism other than Eternal security and also believe in the idea that man has free will then it might be a good idea for you to examine the consistency of your beliefs in light of both logic and what scripture itself has to say on the matter.