gives a baptized, regenerate believer the power and the desire to do His good pleasure. Of course, Augustine is still left with a conundrum. Why is it that God graciously gives some baptized, regenerate believers the gift of perseverance to the end but does not give it to others? Now there is only one fall back position left in this labyrinth of soteriological sophistry: it is a mystery. When the theologian can transform obvious contradictions into mysteries, one can easily explain the inexplicable,