Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 62:1 (Spring 2000)
Article: Augustine And Owen On Perseverance
Author: Henry M. Knapp

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WTJ 62:1 (Spring 2000) p. 65

Augustine And Owen On Perseverance

Henry Knappi

A lthough Augustine wrote two major treatises focusing upon the doctrine of perseverance and commented on the doctrine in various other works, 1 there is a significant lack of studies examining his thought or its influence on the development of Christian theology. There are a few notable exceptions which examine the role of perseverance in Augustine’s overall thought, trace Augustine’s doctrine through the medieval doctors, and even focus upon the major treatises themselves.2 Nevertheless, the absence of detailed study on this aspect of Augustine’s work manifests itself in the confusion evident in the limited literature which does exist.

Most surveys of perseverance are content to note Augustine as the original formulator of the doctrine and the parallels of Augustine’s thought with that of the Reformers and their followers.3 These surveys, as well as other studies,4 are quick to point out, however, that Augustine’s perseverance doctrine differed significantly from the Reformers and the Puritans in its subjective effect on the believer. Whereas Augustine resisted the doctrine’s

WTJ 62:1 (Spring 2000) p. 66

tendency to assure the believer of eternal salvation, for the Reformers and Puritans certainty of one’s salvation is a main (or the main) function of stressing the gift of perseverance.5 However, this assessment is far from universally held; numerous writers maintain that Augustine did hold a weak doctrine of personal assurance, implying that if a believer is living faithfully he may assure himself that he will persevere and hence is part of the elect.6 Others insist that Augustine’s hesitancy to adopt a doctrine of personal assurance reveals the “curious nature” of his views on perseverance and that ultimately “Augustine’s doctrine of perseverance was quite unlike that of the Protestant Reformers.”7

This essay will seek to establish the level of continuity and difference which exists between Augustine’s understanding of perseverance and that promoted by a representative theologian from seventeenth-century England, the Puritan John Owen. After setting the historical context of the relevant writings and a brief summary of the major argument of the works, the specific formulations of Augustine and Owen on per...

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