Judas is Not an Example Proving One Can Fall Away From True Faith

[Ask Mr. Religion]

Appeals to Judas as an example that refutes perseverance of the saints are often made by Pentecostals...

He was called an apostle. Jesus did not pick a devil, a son of perdition, to be part of His inner circle of ministry after a night of prayer to the Father. He became a betrayer. He was not chosen in that state.

If you want to quibble that he was not a Christian, I agree, since this was pre-cross, but he still was a disciple/believer, who fell away. Change your theology, not the Bible. OSAS is indefensible.

I would have to disagree that Judas or others like him qualify as believers. He possessed no saving faith and thus was never one of the elect of God. At best Judas was one of many that possessed temporary faith. Saving faith requires knowledge, assent, and trust.

Knowledge, a cognitive function, is the foundation of saving faith. Men must “love the truth in order that they may be saved” (2 Thessalonians 2:10). “Faith” that is devoid of knowledge is “believing the lie” that ultimately condemns (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12).

Assent cognitively provides the conviction that the knowledge so acquired about Christ is indeed true and one’s spiritual needs are actually (not merely experientially) met by the provisions of Christ’s gospel. The unsaved can know the gospel’s propositions, and clearly comprehend how these propositions play their part in the Good News, yet still not believe in their factual truth or that they meet his or her needs spiritually. For example, see Matthew 21:25; Mark 11:31; Luke 1:20; John 2:22; Acts 8:12; Romans 4:3, and much more.

Trust (assent): as assent is cognition passed into conviction, so trust (fiducia) is conviction passed into confidence. Confidence is the most characteristic act of saving faith, for the sinner transfers reliance for pardon, cleansing, righteousness in complete abandonment to Christ—joyfully received and rested upon for his salvation. This is an essential component of faith, otherwise a person’s “faith” is just the same as those of demons (James 2:19 and Matthew 8:29), who possess no cognitive love for Christ—instead they cognitively hate Christ—refusing to trust Him.

Matthew 24:10, Matthew 24:12; 1 Timothy 1:19; 1 Timothy 4:1; 1 Timothy 4:10, Hebrews 6:4-6; 2 Peter 2:20-22 all teach that “temporary faith” exists, and it is not truth faith in Christ as described above. Just as in Matthew:

Mat 13:20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,
Mat 13:21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while [endures = proskairos = temporary], and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.

Likewise, as in 2 Peter 2:20-22, we find the Scriptures teaching that it is quite possible to have exhilarating and uplifting experiences of the power of the gospel, to have close contact with forces operating in the kingdom of God’s grace, such that the effects produced in a person are indistinguishable from those produced by true regenerating and sanctifying grace. Yet these experiences do not partake of Christ nor are its experiencers heirs to eternal life. These persons who have this temporary "faith" were never one of the elect of God, were never regenerated, and thus are not true believers. The prima facie evidence of their temporary "faith" is that they fall away from the faith, as John so rightly states in 1 John 2:19.

AMR