Kept through Faith: Eternal Security in 1 Peter 1:1-9 (Part 1 of 3)

This is the first of three parts in a series.

Contemporary Americans evidence a disturbingly shallow knowledge of the Bible. Unfortunately, even professing Christians are not immune from this trend. Evangelicals in the US demonstrate a shocking level of ignorance in regard to basic scriptural doctrines.

One of the most revealing indicators of widespread theological illiteracy among American evangelicals is the State of Theology survey, conducted by Lifeway Research and Ligonier Ministries. Here are some of the more notable results of the 2022 survey:

48% of American evangelicals agree that God learns and adapts to different circumstances.

65% of American evangelicals agree that everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God.

56% of American evangelicals agree that God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

43% of American evangelicals agree that Jesus was a great teacher, but He was not God.

38% of American evangelicals agree that religious belief is a matter of personal opinion and is not about objective truth.¹

In light of these abysmal results, it is little wonder that American church members are ill equipped to scripturally defend the cardinal truths of Christianity, let alone any secondary beliefs over which genuine believers may differ. Faithful pastors, however, desperately desire to rectify this situation by equipping their people to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18). It not merely the pastor’s responsibility to know and defend the Scriptures; instead, every believer must mature in understanding the Bible, lest he or she be “carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14).

Eternal security is one secondary issue—an issue which sincere followers of Christ debate—that has presented significant challenges for many congregants in the pews. Unfortunately, even members of Bible-believing churches that adhere to security often struggle to provide scriptural answers to key questions: Can salvation once acquired be subsequently forfeited? Can a true Christian ever cease to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ? Or can the child of God rest in the assurance that his salvation is irrevocable and everlasting, never to be lost?

The inability to defend eternal security can have significant consequences for the believer’s assurance, gospel witness, and practical Christian living. Unfortunately, like many other doctrines, eternal security has been subject to caricature and misunderstanding. “Once saved, always saved” is a blessedly true summary of the doctrine, but even more precise is the phrase “Once a believer, always a believer.” As the New Hampshire Confession of Faith expresses it, “We believe that such only are real believers as endure unto the end; that their persevering attachment to Christ is the grand mark which distinguishes them from superficial professors; that a special Providence watches over their welfare; and that they are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.”² The person who places his faith in Jesus Christ for salvation is assured that both his faith and his position in Christ will endure everlastingly.

The reality of eternal security is affirmed in 1 Peter 1:1-9, which constitutes more than a brief prooftext to be quickly lobbed against opponents of the doctrine. Rather, by thoroughly examining Peter’s remarks here, we come to understand that eternal security is bound up in the nature of salvation itself as a gracious act of God, which benevolently guards the believer’s inheritance until the coming of Christ. 

Election according to Foreknowledge

The first intimation of security in 1 Peter is in Peter’s opening description of his readers: “strangers . . . elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1:1-2). Peter identifies his readers based not on their own choice or response to God but on God’s prior gracious work: He chose them to be His own possession (2:9).

The correct understanding of the phrase “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” has been subject to controversy throughout church history. Many evangelicals accept the interpretation of H. C. Thiessen: “God in his foreknowledge foresaw those who would respond to his offer of salvation and actively elected them to salvation.”³

At first glance, Thiessen’s explanation (often called the prescient view) may seem to be a straightforward deduction from 1 Peter 1:1-2. It is true that the Greek words for foreknowledge (proginosko and prognosis) indicate simple prescience (“knowledge of actions or events before they occur”)⁴ when humans are the subject (Acts 26:5; 2 Pet. 3:17). A different picture emerges, however, when God is the subject. As Layton Talbert observes, “Theological contexts clearly imply the additional idea of God’s purpose or predetermination.”⁵

The notion of God’s predetermination is clearly seen in Peter’s sermon at Pentecost, when he declares that Christ was “delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). Furthermore, Romans 8:29 explains, “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.” Paul here speaks of “foreknowledge of persons, not facts.”⁶ Also, the context indicates a seamless relationship between the various aspects of salvation: everyone who is foreknown is also predestined, called, justified, and glorified (v. 30). Such a relationship is impossible if foreknowledge refers to simple prescience.

Later on in 1 Peter 1, the apostle asserts that Christ was “foreordained [Gk. proginosko] before the foundation of the world” (v. 20). By translating proginosko as “foreordain,” the KJV and NKJV acknowledge that more than simple prescience is in view. It is Christ Himself, not simply facts or events, who is foreknown. This strongly suggests that God’s foreknowledge of the elect in the opening verses of the epistle entails predetermination rather than mere prescience.

How is 1 Peter 1:1-2 relevant for the doctrine of eternal security?

The gracious reality of pretemporal election assures the believer that his relationship with Christ is inseverable. God’s promise given “before the world began” (Titus 1:2) cannot be undone by “things present” or “things to come” (Romans 8:38)—including the believer’s own actions.

This series will continue next Friday.

---

Nick Claxton is a guest author who serves as the pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Paxton, IL. Nick and his wife Jasmine have three children.

Photo by Mohamed Marey on Unsplash

1. “The State of Theology,” accessed May 31, 2024, https://thestateoftheology.com. [↩]
2. “The New Hampshire Confession of Faith,” accessed June 4, 2024. [↩]
3. Lectures in Systematic Theology, rev. Vernon D. Doerksen (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979), 258. [↩]
4. American Heritage Dictionary, s.v., “Prescience,” accessed May 11, 2024. [↩]
5. What Does the Bible Say about Salvation?: Soteriology for Beginners (Equip Discipleship, 2023), 119. [↩]
6. Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994), 676. [↩]