The goal of this commentary is the vindication of original Christian beliefs regarding salvation, particularly belief in free will and conditional security. The primary focus is on salvation throughout and most of the biblical passages selected for inclusion were chosen with that criteria in mind. Although this is not intended to be a commentary on every verse of the Bible, I did go through every verse of the Bible, from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, seeking any texts that might be misconstrued to oppose the doctrines of free will and conditional security. After selecting a biblical text for inclusion, I would search through post-Reformation commentaries from men who opposed Calvinistic determinism and unconditional security (i.e., Once Saved Always Saved). If I was not satisfied with the information contained in those commentaries, I branched out to other works as needed, typically until I found at least two entries from the pool of biblical commentaries I owned, the goal being to provide the reader with quality and variety. In instances where matters of translation were involved, I tried to utilize commentaries that dealt with translation. Unless otherwise noted, the commentary entries are unabridged. Whenever any commentary used is missing some of the verses under discussion in a multi-verse passage, it is because there were no entries in that commentary for those particular verses.
In addition to the commentary entries I selected, I also included many entries from The Ante-Nicene Fathers (the locations given for the various quotes coincide with the ten-volume set produced by Hendrickson Publishers). These writings represent various early Christian beliefs existing up until the early 4th century. Some of their views differ from one another and differ from what I myself believe is an accurate view of biblical salvation. Notwithstanding, I made no attempt to conceal their views from the reader. On the contrary, I wanted to provide the reader with access to the variety, even when I disagreed with them. My hope being that the reader will see how, despite their differences, none of the early Christians believed in Calvinistic determinism or unconditional security.