George Whitefield on Perseverance & eternal security
No — the genuinely saved will certainly persevere
There is not a more blessed text to support the final perseverance of the saints; and I am astonished any poor souls, and good people I hope too, can fight against the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints.
THE POSITION
Christ's sheep "shall never perish," and he calls John 10:27-28 the best text there is for final perseverance — preached in his farewell sermon at the London Tabernacle in 1769, near the end of his life, so this is a settled view and not only the 1740 polemic. He meets the objection that the doctrine licenses sin as "an abuse of the doctrine." The 1740 letter says the same against Wesley, from the latter half of Romans 8:32.
27 My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.
18 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Anglican priest and field preacher of the Evangelical Revival and the First Great Awakening, who crossed the Atlantic seven times and died on his last American tour. Wesley's Oxford companion and, from his 1740 letter answering Free Grace, his public opponent on election — the Calvinist half of the Methodist split, set here beside Wesley and Edwards. This entry rests on that letter and eleven of the sermons printed in the standard selected editions.
Cite this page
"George Whitefield on Perseverance & eternal security", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/whitefield/perseverance (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/whitefield/perseverance).