This statement by Jesus is recorded in Matthew 10:22; 24:13 and Mark 13:13. Jesus makes a similarly puzzling statement in the parable of the sower in Luke 8:13 in speaking of those who believe for a while and subsequently fall away from believing.
- Did Jesus really mean that enduring to the end was a condition of salvation?
- Was Jesus exaggerating?
- What does it mean to endure to the end?
- Is it possible you are confused about this?
I once heard a preacher friend declare boldly in a sermon the meaning of these words. He said you could believe the gospel for thirty years and then stop believing the gospel and prove that you never really believed the gospel. Do you agree with my friend? If you don't agree, why not? Is his boldness too much for you? Is his statement of thirty years too long for you? Do you feel sorry for him that he totally missed the point of Jesus' words? If your experience as a Christian is anything like mine you had a different response. You had a gut feeling that something was wrong with his explanation. You can't put your finger on the issue, but you know something is wrong or at least missing. I responded this way my first 35 years in Christ whenever I heard or read a milder form of my friend's explanation.
The reason for this gut feeling
John 3:16 declares the simplicity of the truth of the gospel. "For God in this way loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." To believe in Christ results in a person having eternal life and freedom from destruction. Are you persuaded that John 3:16 is true? Are you confident that Christ's work on the cross is all the work you need to enter into Christ and have eternal life? Many non-Christians have told me that personal works as well as Christ's work on the cross was necessary for a person to be right with God forever. Have you heard that? Do those words cheer you or lead you to pity the speaker? It is obvious. If you are a Christian as I am, you know personally and certainly that resting in Christ's death in our place is enough to be at peace with God.
To endure to the end means to believe the gospel. If it doesn't, then either Jesus was confused or he was misquoted. Why then did he describe believing the gospel as enduring to the end? In short, context.
What is the context?
Jesus came into our world at a point of history. He died on the cross at a point in history. He knew he was going to die for the sins of the world to reconcile sinners to God. And he told his disciples he was going to do it. Before creation the Father planned to send the Son to be the savior of the world. (1Peter 1:19f) This was Jesus' purpose and goal for himself in coming into the world. Isn't this what we Christians say?
Jesus also had a goal and purpose for his disciples and all other people. His purpose for them was for them to join him in his purpose and vision of life. In other words, Jesus wanted to give people a new way of life. He wanted people to be free from the pressure of their sins. He wanted people to boast in God's love revealed in the cross rather than in human performance. We see this clearly in the gospel writings. Did the disciples grasp Jesus' purpose for them? Did they urge Jesus on to the cross so they could receive forgiveness through his blood and receive the promised spirit of God? No. They were worse than clueless. After three years of ministry Jesus mentioned the cross for the first time (Matt. 16:21ff). Peter rebuked Jesus for this. Jesus turned and rebuked Peter in front of the others, declaring the absolute necessity of the cross as the way of following him. Shock and silence followed. Why? Their hope was in their temple and the system of law and sacrifices given by God to Moses over 1000 years earlier. They couldn't imagine why Jesus would talk about dying as a sacrifice for sin. They were blind to their own prophet's clear teaching of a coming new way of forgiveness. They were so confused they couldn't even muster a fumbling question to request Jesus to explain himself.
Again, Jesus' goal and purpose was to get to the cross to free his people from their sins. The disciples' goal and purpose was for him to free them from Roman domination. The four gospels record Jesus winning the hearts of the people though compassion and miracles. But when he turned his teaching to the cross, they sneered and lost interest. His words couldn't break through the hardness of their hearts. People began falling away from following him. His closest followers abandoned him the night before the cross. This is obvious. So what is the big deal?
Our problem is that we are culturally distant from Jesus' context. I easily get tricked to read the events of Jesus' life as if they were lessons to help me know the right things to do. In doing this I miss the story of Jesus' relationship with his close followers, with the multitudes of onlookers and with the leaders of Israel. Ever had my problem?
What does end mean?
Here is the big surprise. Jesus said a person must endure to the end to be saved. What does the word end mean? I suspect that you think the word end means something about time running out, like in the end of a class, exam or sporting event. And in this context you think that enduring to the end means believing the gospel until your last breath on earth. True? In English the word end usually means this, but not always. Look on your Bible app for the Greek word translated end. Look closely at the definition given. Do it before you read on and see if you notice where I am going. The Greek word translated as end is telos. At Biblehub.com the definition is given as end-goal or purpose. We occasionally use the English word end to mean purpose or end-goal, but not often.
Thus Jesus said a person needs to endure to the purpose to be saved. What purpose? Jesus' purpose, not his disciples' or yours. Jesus' telos (purpose) was to create a new way of life through his death and resurrection. If you are a Christian you are alive in Christ and no longer dead in sin. You have been adopted into God's family. You are free to live as a righteous child of the king of glory. The hamster wheel of human performance is no longer your identity. Christ is now your life and his sin-bearing love is your new motivation to love others. You have a new song in your heart: "It is finished!" By the way, in Greek these three words are one word, a form of telos. Hmmm... You don't merely have a new label. You have a real experience with God in union with Christ. You are no longer an outsider to God. The moment you believed the gospel you entered into Christ and were in his telos (purpose), you had come home. You endured to the telos (end-goal, purpose) Christ desired for you. Now he is free to be your life and to overflow from you by his spirit to everyone you encounter. All the pressure is on him and he can handle it. I endured to Christ's telos (end-goal, purpose) 41 years ago. How about you?
A Hint from the Westminster Shorter Catechism
Most Christians are unaware of the Westminster Shorter Catechism written in the 1600's. For those who are aware of it, have you considered its first and most famous question as you pondered Jesus' words about enduring to the end?
Q: What is the Chief end of man?
A: Man's chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever.
What is the chief purpose of man? Man's chief purpose is to glorify God, and to enjoy him always. The first step in glorifying God is to believe the gospel. This means totally abandoning oneself to the work of Christ on the cross. The next step is to maintain focus on Christ's work whatever one's circumstance. Keep boasting in the cross. You can't keep boasting in the cross until you do it for the first time. Have you entered into God's purpose for you, i.e., have you believed the gospel and boasted in the cross in your heart for the first time? If so, you have already endured to the end. Now that you are in the end--in God's purpose for you--why not keep boasting in God's purpose for you? Why get distracted from the cross to boast in human performance?
The spiritual battle rages. God's way is for us to always boast in Christ's work on the cross. The world continually and intensely pressures us away from the cross to boast in human work. Is enduring to the end about boasting in the cross or about focusing on (boasting in) some human performance as a requirement or an evidence of salvation? Let's be honest. If you don't think you can get tricked away from boasting in the cross, then likely you are far more gullible than you think. Our traditional view of enduring to the end is about boasting in human performance.
Why endurance?
Why did Jesus say that we needed to experience endurance in order to make it to the telos (to his purpose)? Again use your Bible app on endure. Biblehub.com says that this word literally means to remain under. Under what? Jesus' disciples objected to Jesus' new teaching about the cross. Jesus didn't give up on them. He kept telling them about the cross. They kept opposing the cross. All the way to the cross they rejected the message of the cross. When Jesus died they despaired as their old hopes were crushed. Something changed when they encountered Jesus after his resurrection. They were now ready to listen to his crazy message. He explained in detail the meaning of his life, death, resurrection and more from all the scriptures. Jesus spoke to them for 40 days, ascended to heaven and then poured out his spirit on them at Pentecost. All but Judas (who had killed himself) remained under Jesus teaching for those 40 days. Sometime in that period the message of the cross broke their blind trust in their temple system and in their own righteousness. They moved their trust to the message of the cross. They believed the gospel. They embraced Jesus' telos. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the message of Christ."
While at university I heard the gospel clearly for the first time. I strongly opposed it. Since I liked the Christians I joined their activities. I subjected myself to their words of the cross at Bible study, prayer meetings, church and more. I wanted some excuse to leave their company as the message bothered me. But I endured (remained under) the message of the cross for months until finally the message broke my self-righteous pride and I trusted in Christ as all my righteousness. Catch that? I remained under the hearing of the gospel until I had Isaiah's experience of seeing myself as a ruined sinner, embracing Christ and being purified by God.
My father-in-law endured to Christ's telos (purpose) a few days before he died at 89. He had heard the good news in church all his life. He learned the right answers in Sunday school. He married a pastor's daughter. He used to tell me that others were wrong to trust in their good works for salvation and that Christ's work was enough. Whenever I made it personal for him as to why God should let him into heaven, he never mentioned the work of Christ and always told me of various good things he had done. But when he told my wife that he was ready to die because he knew that he was a good person, she told him that he was a sinner like everyone else. For three hours she reasoned with him about sin, righteousness and judgment. This broke his confidence in his own righteousness and he entered into Christ. He lived as a Christian in Christ's telos for a few days before going to glory. He had remained under the hearing of the gospel for over 80 years before the message broke through.
Much has simplified and clarified in my reading of the gospels after stumbling onto a simple double question. Did Jesus say this before or after the cross and does it matter? Very few of Jesus' recorded words were spoken after the cross. Nearly all were spoken to God's dear lost sheep under the Mosaic law--the Old Covenant. It matters that Jesus spoke his words before the cross. Nearly all his words were spoken in anticipation of the cross, which is the door into Pentecost, which is the celebration of Christ and his work as all our life. We don't anticipate the cross and Pentecost. We look back to them.
Pentecost is God's telos come to earth. He anticipated us sharing in his life. He delights for us to share in his purpose. His purpose for us is to be satisfied with his goodness (Jeremiah 31:14) and to have peace because he has done all our work for us (Isaiah 26:12). The way into this satisfaction is to remain under the hearing (as long as it takes) of the message of the cross--Christ's flawlessness and substitution. The message of the cross needs to be preached if lost people are to remain under the hearing of this message. The message of the cross applies to all aspects of my life and yours. Let's preach the cross continually, boldly and joyfully, first to ourselves, and then to a dying world until we go to glory. Christ is all of life for all people.
