Studies in Dogmatics: Faith and Perseverance
Overview
In times when men’s hearts are failing them for fear, in the midst of change and transition, in a period when many voices are clamoring for a hearing, the esteemed Professor of Systematic Theology at the Free University in Amsterdam aptly commences his penetrating study by drawing attention to the timeliness and relevance of the doctrine of perseverance. He writes, “There is something very strange about this doctrine, something which confronts us with the problem of permanence in a unique way, because we are so conscious of our own changelessness. Our lives are subject to numberless variations and fluctuations. In the doctrine of perseverance of the saints do we not have merely the projection of human desires, a hope which flies in the face of life’s realities? Does it not grasp after something that is denied us as changeable men?
The thoroughness with which Professor Berkouwer brings up-to-date the history of the discussions affecting this important subject (from the days of Tertullian and Augustine, through the Reformers, Ritschl, and Schleiermacher, down to Edmund Schlink and Karl Barth) gives this book a special value to all students of theology.
Top Highlights
“We can see how much the questions about perseverance touch ordinary life. The perseverance of the saints is unbreakably connected with the assurance of faith, in which the believer faces the future with confidence—not with the idea that all dangers and threats have been removed, but rather with the assurance that they shall be conquered indeed.” (Page 11)
“The perseverance of the saints is not primarily a theoretical problem but a confession of faith. It stands amidst life’s limiting situations,4 amidst all that is fragile in human life, and towers over all anxiety and uncertainty.” (Page 14)
“Those who deny perseverance appeal to passages where there is warning against apostasy.” (Page 11)
“The most striking point is that the Lutherans rejected the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints but they did not deny the assurance of salvation. This divergence is especially striking because with both the Remonstrants and Rome the rejection of the perseverance of the saints was inseparably bound up with the rejection of the assurance of salvation. According to the one view, perseverance and assurance were not to be separated from one another; according to the other, they apparently could be.” (Pages 55–56)
“If anything is certain, it is this, that according to the Scriptures God’s grace does not stop short at the limits of human freedom of choice. Whoever claims this is bound to see faith and grace as two mutually exclusive and mutually limiting elements in salvation, and he is bound to emerge with a doctrine of grace that is synergistic in principle.” (Pages 90–91)
Product Details
- Title: Studies in Dogmatics: Faith and Perseverance
- Author: G. C. Berkouwer
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Publication Date: 1955
- Pages: 260
G. C. Berkouwer (1903–1996) was the leading theologian of the Gereformeerde Kerken in the Netherlands and served as pastor there for over 15 years. He was professor of systematic theology at the Free University of Amsterdam while also lecturing on modern theology. In 1962, Berkouwer was an observer at the Second Vatican Council in Rome. He studied at the Christian Gymnasium and at the Free University of Amsterdam.
Berkouwer was very influential among the Reformed churches and other groups in North America, were his series Studies in Dogmatics, was translated, published, and very well-known. The Studies in Dogmatics series is noted by many as one of the most significant works of Christian Dogmatics of the twentienth century.