Initial Assurance or Reassurance? (1 John 5:13)

Question: If assurance is of the essence of saving faith, why does 1 John 5:13 imply that these believers might never have known that they had everlasting life? Answer: Does the text really imply this? What we know is that John desired that they possess absolute certainty of their everlasting life. Does he suggest that […]

Jesus Props Up Unfruitful Believers (John 15:2-3)

Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He props up; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you” (John 15:2-3, author’s own translation, emphasis added). Perseverance theology distorts John 15 by suggesting that […]