PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
P refers to the perseverance of the saints, which teaches God’s permanent saving love for His people. The Lord never stops loving His people with a saving, effectual love; consequently, all those who have truly believed in Him will not finally fall away from faith. True believers in Christ might seem to abandon Him for a time, but if they have truly believed in Him, they will always come back to Him. Those who profess faith but then fall away finally never actually believed in Christ in the first place. They go out from us because they were never truly of us (1 John 2:19).
Again, other theological points such as unconditional election require perseverance. If God chooses to save the elect, the elect must persevere. We also find the teaching explicitly stated in Scripture. Christ says that no one can snatch us out of the Father’s hand (John 10:28). “No one” includes even us—even we cannot snatch ourselves out of His hand. Romans 8:28–30 says that everyone whom God justifies He also glorifies. Since justification comes by faith alone (Rom. 4), if God glorifies all whom He justifies, He glorifies all who come to saving faith. In short, God loves us too much to let us fall out of His grace. He simply will not let us.
As you can see, TULIP, or the five points of Calvinism, summarizes God’s work of salvation, and it highlights the omnipotent love of God. Christians can rest assured that if they believe, it is because of the work of God, and that work cannot fail because His love cannot fail.