What did the early church fathers have to say about “eternal security” or “assurance of salvation”

Question

I am trying to find out what the early church fathers had to say about “eternal security” or “assurance of salvation”. By that, I refer to the following Bible verses:

To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy... (Jude 24)

...whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16)

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand (John 10:27-28).

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30)

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39).

From verses such as these, Protestants understand that our eternal security is purchased by Christ, promised by the Father, and sealed by the Holy Spirit. This assurance is experienced by Christians who have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, whose lives have been transformed as evidence of the new birth and who live for Christ Jesus and who are prepared to die for Him – born-again Christians.

I say this not to promote a particular belief but to clarify what I mean by expressions like “eternal security” and “assurance of salvation”. Neither do I wish to enter into a discussion on the theology. I simply want to know what the early church fathers had to say on this subject.

Answer 1

Below is a summary from an article I found on the subject of 'Once saved, always saved' which is as close as I could find to the terms above in regard to the early fathers.

The whole article quotes from :

• Justin Martyr 100-165
• Shepherd of Hermas 155-180
• Irenaeus 120-200
• Tertullian 150-220
• Origen 185-254
• Cyprian 200-258
• Augustine 354-430

Based on the quotes listed in the article, the writer comes to this conclusion (and it is my own conclusion also, from what is quoted) :

These men wrote from about A.D. 100 – 250. We do not find any statements to the effect that once a Christian is saved, he or she is always saved. But we do find a consistent belief, except for a few instances, that faith and works go together. This is consistent with the teachings of the Bible.

The earliest statement regarding “once saved always saved” comes from Augustine (A.D. 354-430).

It was left to Augustine to speak a clear word for perseverance in pre-Reformation times. Starting with predestination, he saw that election to eternal life inevitably involves final perseverance. Since salvation is always God’s gift, he entitled his work on perseverance On the Gift of Perseverance. He denied, however, that the believer can have any assurance of his final salvation. Carl F. Henry. Basic Christian Doctrines. Baker Book House, 1962.

It is important to note that the doctrine of “Once Saved Always Saved” did not appear in the literature of the church until the Reformation period. A review of the existing literature from the early church fathers suggests that most of them believed faith and works must both exist for a person to be a true Christian. While no person is perfect, the pattern of life must be present. Only a few seem to believe that a person can lose his or her salvation by disobedience. But it is also possible that they are only observing the biblical truth stated in James 2:17 and 1 John 2:19.

What is most important is, “Does the Bible teach, ‘Once Saved Always Saved.?'” The opinion of the early church fathers does not constitute truth. The early church fathers were not inspired authors. But Jesus and the apostles were. Jesus did not teach and the Bible does not teach that once a person believes in Jesus Christ he or she is going to heaven regardless of what he or she does in the future. James 2:26 captures the truth that faith and works go together. A true Christian will believe and obey. A true Christian will not leave the faith. Someone who claims to believe and lives like the world or leaves the faith is a liar, and 1 John 2:4 says the truth is not in him or her. However, we must remember that only God knows if one has actually left the faith. We do not see as God sees. The statement “Once Saved Always Saved” is misleading. It should be worded as follows, “Saved Only Once” or “Once Truly Saved Always Saved.” Once God selects people for salvation they have been selected and they will not depart from the faith. Those who have been truly saved will never depart from the faith.

The Nicean Creed does not address this subject.

The Primitive Church - from NeverThirsty.org

Answer 2

There is a distinction to be recognized between 'Eternal Security', which rests its hope in what God has promised to do for us in Christ, and 'Assurance of Salvation', which is personally realized as the life mirrors the confession. The writings of the Early Church Fathers were not theological dissections of terms and doctrines but, rather, they were largely exhortations to live out that which comes from and demonstrates salvation.

Those who are particular about words, and devote their time to them, miss the point of the whole picture (Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, Bk. II, Ch. 1, AD 150-215)

For this reason it is difficult to find any direct exposition of something that sounds like Once Saved Always Saved as we hear it presented nowadays. If this teaching is something that was understood, it will be revealed best in topics of practical application. Much like John's first epistle, which is filled with exhortation to BE what is claimed and filled with warning that fruitless life proves the claim to faith is a lie, assurance is gained when the fruits of genuine salvation are manifested:

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. - 1 John 5:13

And to what things is John here referring? The entire epistle contrasts behavior that demonstrates the truth of claiming to be in Christ with behavior that proves the claim of faith to be a lie. The entire epistle establishes actual saving union with Christ as the ground and wellspring of righteous behavior rather than the means to it. That is to say: A right understanding of genuine Assurance assumes Eternal Security.

There is a tension that is sometimes assumed in Scripture between Paul (Abraham justified by faith) and James (Abraham justified by works) but that tension disappears when we recognize that a distinction exists between justification of our sinful selves before God by Christ and justification/demonstration of our faith before men through actions (see James below). Paul clearly makes the distinction at the outset of his discussion:

For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. - Romans 4:2

And James does as well, assuming the primacy of faith as per Paul and making practical application:

Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. - James 2:18b

The early Church Fathers almost unanimously came at this from James' position of assuming justification before God solely based upon what God has done in Christ, insisting that faith in Christ produces a new life, and encouraging believers to be diligent in manifesting the faith. Clement's first letter (~AD 97) is the earliest Christian document outside the NT and in it we find this same 'tension':

And we, therefore…are not justified of ourselves or by our wisdom or insight or religious devotion or the holy deeds we have done from the heart, but by that faith by which almighty God has justified all men from the very beginning (ch. 32:4).

We should clothe ourselves with concord, being humble, self-controlled, far removed from all gossiping and slandering, and justified by our deeds, not by words (ch. 30:3).

Ignatius of Antioch also displays the same theological 'tension' regarding works as is found in Scripture:

Let your baptism be ever your shield, your faith a helmet, your charity a spear, your patience a panoply. Let your works be deposits, so that you may receive the sum that is due you” (Letter to St. Polycarp, 6).

Therefore, let us not be ungrateful for His kindness. For if He were to reward us according to our works, we would cease to be (Epistle to the Magnesians, Ch. 5).

Justin Martyr approaches the issue of personal assurance from the same assumption that Christian behavior is sourced in the eternal reality of the new birth:

Those who are found not living as he taught should know that they are not really Christians, even if his teachings are on their lips, for he said that not those who merely profess but those who also do the works will be saved (cf. Matt. 13:42, 43; 7:15,16,19)” (The First Apology of Justin, ch.16).

The clear implication in this statement is that those who really are Christians will be found living as He taught. Thus Justin Martyr places the source of 'Assurance of our Salvation' squarely in the realm of 'Eternal Security' just as Jesus taught.

Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.” - John 10:25-30

Thus, Augustine was not inventing something new when he said, regarding perseverance

We do the works, but God works in us the doing of the works (De Dono Perseverentiae, 13, 33)

he was merely reiterating what was taught by Jesus and expounded upon by Paul; When we are born again, by grace through faith, we receive the Holy Spirit as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance and the life going forward is God working in us both to will and to do His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). God was in them and would never leave nor forsake them (eternal security) but would, rather, complete the good work that was begun in them.

Tertullian echoes the same:

We make petition, then, that He supply us with the substance of His will and the capacity to do it–so that we may be saved both in the heaven and on earth (On Prayer, part III, ch. IV).

The Security of Salvation once received by faith was so fundamentally assumed in the early church that they barely needed to address it directly. Instead they focused on that which constituted the demonstration of that truth. A claim is easy to make and it is the demonstration that proves the claim is already true.

But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” - Matthew 9:4-6 

Answer 3

OP:I am trying to find out what the early church fathers had to say about “eternal security” or “assurance of salvation”.

Here is Polycarp on our assurance.

Chapter I.—Praise of the Philippians. I have greatly rejoiced with you in our Lord Jesus Christ, because ye have followed the example339 of true love [as displayed by God], and have accompanied, as became you, those who were bound in chains, the fitting ornaments of saints, and which are indeed the diadems of the true elect of God and our Lord; and because the strong root of your faith, spoken of in days340 long gone by, endureth even until now, and bringeth forth fruit to our Lord Jesus Christ, who for our sins suffered even unto death, [but] “whom God raised from the dead, having loosed the bands of the grave.”341 “In whom, though now ye see Him not, ye believe, and believing, rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory;”342 into which joy many desire to enter, knowing that “by grace ye are saved, not of works,”343 but by the will of God through Jesus Christ. -Epistle to the Philippians-

Answer 4

Take heed now to yourselves, and not to be like some, adding largely to your sins, and saying, "The covenant is both theirs and ours." But they thus finally lost it, after Moses had already received it. Barnabas (A.D. 70-130) ch.4

We take earnest heed in these last days; for the whole [past] time of your faith will profit you nothing, unless now in this wicked time we also withstand coming sources of danger, as becomes the sons of God that the Black One may find no means of entrance. Barnabas (A.D. 70-130) ch.4

Take heed, lest resting at our ease, as those who are the called [of God], we should fall asleep in our sins, and the wicked prince, acquiring power over us, should thrust us away from the kingdom of the Lord. And all the more attend to this, my brethren, when you reflect and behold, that after so great signs and wonders were wrought in Israel, they were thus [at length] abandoned. Let us beware lest we be found [fulfilling that saying], as it is written, "Many are called, but few are chosen." Barnabas (A.D. 70-130) ch.4

Watch for your life's sake. Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ready, for you know not the hour in which our Lord will come. But come together often, seeking the things which are befitting to your souls: for the whole time of your faith will not profit you, if you are not made perfect in the last time. Didache (A.D. 80-140) ch. 16

Look you, brethren, lest His benefits, which are many, turn unto judgment to all of us, if we walk not worthily of Him, and do those things which are good and well-pleasing in His sight with concord. … It is right therefore that we should not be deserters from His will. Clement of Rome (A.D. 96) ch.21

But they that endured patiently in confidence inherited glory and honor; they were exalted, and had their names recorded by God in their memorial for ever and ever. Amen. To such examples as these therefore, brethren, we also ought to cleave. For it is written; Cleave unto the saints, for they that cleave unto them shall be sanctified. Clement of Rome (A.D. 96) ch. 46

And we ought not rather to fear men but God. For this cause, if you do these things, the Lord said, Though you be gathered together with Me in My bosom, and do not My commandments, I will cast you away and will say unto you, Depart from Me, I know you not whence you are, you workers of iniquity. Second Clement (A.D. 100) ch.4

The promise of Christ is great and marvelous, even the rest of the kingdom that shall be and of life eternal. What then can we do to obtain them, but walk in holiness and righteousness, and consider these worldly things as alien to us, and not desire them? For when we desire to obtain these things we fall away from the righteous path. Second Clement (A.D. 100) ch.5

And the scripture also said in Ezekiel, Though Noah and Job and Daniel should rise up, they shall not deliver their children in the captivity. But if even such righteous men as these cannot by their righteous deeds deliver their children, with what confidence shall we, if we keep not our baptism pure and undefiled, enter into the kingdom of God? Or who shall be our advocate, unless we be found having holy and righteous works? Second Clement (A.D. 100) ch. 6

We ought to know that he which contends in the corruptible contest, if he be found dealing corruptly with it, is first flogged, and then removed and driven out of the race-course. What think you? What shall be done to him that has dealt corruptly with the contest of incorruption? For as concerning them that have not kept the seal, He said, Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be for a spectacle unto all flesh. Second Clement (A.D. 100) ch.7

Wherefore, my brethren, let us not be double-minded but endure patiently in hope, that we may also obtain our reward. Second Clement (A.D. 100) ch. 11

Let us therefore practice righteousness that we may be saved unto the end. Blessed are they that obey these ordinances. Though they may endure affliction for a short time in the world, they will gather the immortal fruit of the resurrection. Second Clement (A.D. 100) ch.19

For since, by the introduction into an appropriation us of the Holy Spirit, we are all "the temple of God," modesty is the sacristan and priestess of that temple, who is to suffer nothing unclean or profane to be introduced (into it), for fear that the God who inhabits it should be offended, and quite forsake the polluted abode. Tertullian (A.D. 198) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.4 pg. 18

Fear is the foundation of salvation; presumption is an impediment to fear. More useful, then, is it to apprehend that we may possibly fail, than to presume that we cannot; for apprehending will lead us to fear, fearing to caution, and caution to salvation. On the other hand, if we presume, there will be neither fear nor caution to save us. Tertullian (A.D. 198) Ante-Nicene Fathers vol.4 pg. 19