Q&A

A young man came to know Christ as Lord and Saviour at the age of 17. He prayed the prayer of salvation. He became very involved in the church's Youth ministry. He was musically talented and composed songs. He played the piano during the worship service and played the guitar during Youth Fellowship. He also had leadership qualities. The younger ones looked up to him as they grew up. He was marked for future leadership in the church. But after he started work at age 26, having obtained his Master's degree, the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches gripped his heart. He turned his back on the church and loved the world. He stopped everything Christian. He smokes, gambles and drinks. Would you say that he fought the good fight of faith and lost? Explain your answer.

No—the Reformed understanding of perseverance suggests a different interpretation of this young man’s trajectory.

The critical distinction hinges on whether his initial conversion represented genuine faith or merely external profession. People who make professions of faith and exhibit zeal for Christ, only to later repudiate their confessions, may never have possessed genuine faith in the first place.[1] They resemble seed that fell on shallow soil, sprouting quickly but withering—the seed never truly took root, and though they gave outward signs of conversion, their conversion was not genuine.[1]

This young man’s case exhibits precisely this pattern. His involvement in worship, musical gifts, and leadership visibility created compelling external evidence of faith. Yet Jesus insisted that some who experience real spiritual power and name him ‘Lord’ will be rejected, discerning in some an unconvincing faith, with various responses to the gospel initially promising but proving hollow in the end.[2] His subsequent abandonment of everything Christian—turning to worldly pursuits without apparent struggle or conviction—suggests his faith never penetrated beyond the surface.

The Reformed doctrine maintains that if sanctification could be lost, Christ’s acquisition would have been conditional or powerless, and apostasy would be a sin for which he would not have gained our holiness.[3] True believers, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, possess an inward principle that prevents final apostasy. While believers can experience serious and radical falls—as David and Peter did—such falls are neither full nor final, as both were restored to repentance and grace.[1]

This young man did not fight the good fight and lose. Rather, he went out from the church, but by going out made it plain that he did not truly belong to it.[2] His departure exposed what was always true: his profession lacked the root of genuine conversion.

[1] R. C. Sproul, What Is Reformed Theology?: Understanding the Basics (Baker, 2016). [See here, here, here, here.]
[2] R. C. Ortlund Jr., “Apostasy,” in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology, ed. T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 385.
[3] Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, ed. and trans. Richard B. Gaffin Jr. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012–2016), 4:220.