1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

Historical support for eternal security

Discussion in 'Baptist History' started by Stanislaw, Sep 11, 2008.

  1. Stanislaw

    Stanislaw New Member

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2008
    Messages:
    3
    Likes Received:
    0
    Are there any writings from church history that support the doctrine of eternal security?
    The oldest writings I can think of are from John Calvin.
    I have read the book Apostolic Fathers translated by J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, and did not find any.
    I also have The Ante-Nicene Fathers 10 volumes, but it would take me years to read.
    Please don’t quote any Bible verses we all know it is in there.
    This thread is for historical information not for debating doctrine.
     
  2. Zenas

    Zenas Active Member

    Joined:
    May 7, 2007
    Messages:
    2,703
    Likes Received:
    20
    Many of Calvin's ideas, including perserverance of the saints, came from Augustine. In his Treatise on Grace and Free Will (A.D. 428), Augustine developed among other ideas that of perseverance of the saints. The following is illustrative:
    Catholics claim Augustine as the most profound of all the church fathers, but on the matters of perseverance and predestination, he was very noncatholic and was in fact the father of reformed thought. I don't think you will find anyone else prior to Calvin who advocates eternal security. Augustine, although he doesn't really advocate it, certainly developed a lot of its doctrines.
     
Loading...