Augustine of Hippo on Perseverance & eternal security
Perseverance is a distinct gift, not given to all the regenerate
"I have received faith, which works by love, but I have not received perseverance therein to the end. Will any one dare to say that this perseverance is not the gift of God?"
THE POSITION
Perseverance is a distinct gift of grace given to the elect; some of the truly regenerate — people with genuine faith, hope, and love — do not receive it and so do not endure. Augustine's own answer to why is a flat 'I do not know,' appealing to the depth of God's judgments in Romans 11:33. This sits alongside a separate, harder claim in the same work that none of the elect can finally perish — the two claims are not fully reconciled by Augustine himself, and reading persev-gift as ordinary Arminian-style apostasy of the regenerate misses that predestinarian backstop.
6 being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
1 OTHER HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Bishop of Hippo. The single most influential theologian in Western Christianity; both Catholic and Reformed traditions claim him. Anti-Pelagian works, the Enchiridion, and On Baptism Against the Donatists.
Cite this page
"Augustine of Hippo on Perseverance & eternal security", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/augustine/perseverance (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/augustine/perseverance).