Eternal Security

1 John 5:13..........
"These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life".

Over the years I like most of you have heard and even participated in the ongoing debate of whether or not a believer can lose his salvation. That debate has even been the reason why we have certain denominations under the Christian umbrella. Now I am certain that nothing I say will change the mind of those who are regimented in their belief of losing their salvation but I am in hopes that some who are wavering on this subject may just gain something so as to allow them to grasp the real meaning of the GRACE of God in salvation for humanity.

Now think about this. Which of your sins did Christ take to the cross to pay for? Which of your sins was He punished for? Of course the knowledgeable believer will say ALL of them. Now think.......If He died for only part of your sins, say the ones you had committed up to the point of your being saved, how can you be forgiven for the sins you have committed after that? Does that mean Christ has to be crucified again and again for your on gong sin problem?

If ALL of your sin was not dealt with on the cross of Jesus 2000 years ago, then there is no hope for you. God declared you not guilty based on the once for all payment of the Lord Jesus Christ for you and me. Jesus Christ
was not like the sheep and goats and doves that needed to be sacrificed on an on going plan to cover the sins of the believers. He died ONCE for all and God the Father accepted that event as the sacrifice for all of humanities sin.

Hebrews 9:24-28..........
"For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him."

Now then, from the historical point of view, all of your sins were yet in the future from the point of the crucifixion and were yet to be committed. If Christ died for one of them, He died for ALL of them. What is the difference? He will not come again to pay for sin hence the truth found in Hebrews 9:28...........
"so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him."

That means Christ took upon Himself ALL the sin of ALL humanity both, past, present and future!!
If you are still with me then you now have to answer this question:
How can anyone possibly undo all of that????? Since Christ took upon Himself ALL of our sin, what can possibly cause God to reverse His verdict of not guilty????

If, I say IF you are one of those who believes that YOU can lose your salvation, do you realize that you are placing your ability to lose salvation above God's ability to keep you saved???? That would then place you on the same plain as God Himself. That is a very dangerous position to place ones self in.

If you reject God's eternal security, one of the things that will be lost to you is "assurance". If our salvation rests on anything other than the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, it will be impossible for you to live with the assurance of being saved. You can have HOPE, but not ASSURANCE.

Where there is no assurance of being accepted by God, there can be no peace what so ever!
Where there is no peace there is no joy. Where there is no joy there has to be a limitation on the ability to accept and to give love unconditionally. Listen carefully.........
"A person with no assurance of God's forgiving love in His GRACE is a person motivated by fear".

Fear and love do not mix well together. One will always dilute the other one. Then think about this:
fear spills over into worry. So then, IF my salvation is not a settled issue and I have to do something like keeping the Law of God, how can I possible be anxious for nothing.
NO SECURITY OF FORGIVNESS CONTRIBUTES TO NO ASSURANCE.

May the Lord bless you as you consider these things about the GRACE of God.


 
I apologize ahead of time for trying to add anything to that great OP.
I, for one, am weary, of people claiming that "works" get you saved. From the beginning, I have said, you cannot lose what you did not and cannot earn - God's Love. That does not put good works to the side, or to say that it is ok to do bad works or sin. Christ died on the cross, for All, to negate original sin and all the fruit that keeps coming from it. There is no expiration date on that promise. There are some who would say, that there is no one who can forgive that sin/work/bad thing, and maybe they are right with other people, but with God? This promise is the reason that Christ is The Only Way back to God.
 
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I apologize ahead of time for trying to add anything to that great OP.
I, for one, am weary, of people claiming that "works" get you saved. From the beginning, I have said, you cannot lose what you did not and cannot earn - God's Love. That does not put good works to the side, or to say that it is ok to do bad works or sin. Christ died on the cross, for All, to negate original sin and all the fruit that keeps coming from it. There is no expiration date on that promise. There are some who would say, that there is no one who can forgive that sin/work/bad thing, and maybe they are right with other people, but with God? This promise is the reason that Christ is The Only Way back to God.

Absolutely Silk. Good works are the PRODUCT of salvation.

Fortunately whether you believe you can or cannot lose your salvation does not affect your salvation. That is, your salvation is dependent upon accepting Jesus as Savior, trusting in His sin sacrifice, and looking to no one and nothing else. Your salvation isn't dependent upon whether or not you think it is possible to lose your salvation.

Unfortunately, this topic has caused far too much friction in the church today. I did not post this to argue with anyone but instead to enlighten those who have considered the idea of losing ones salvation. I pray that these comments with encourage them to believe in what the whole Bible teaches. My hope is that people who disagree, can learn to live harmoniously with their eyes on Jesus as the author and finisher of our salvation so that He and only He gets all the praise, honor and glory!!!
 
Good post - thank you! I don't believe a child of God can 'lose' salvation, other than a willful turning away from God and a hardening of their heart. The Holy Spirit will always work to correct us and keep us on the straight and narrow path, but we still have free will. Salvation and Grace are gifts from God that we choose to accept or not, as the case may be. Jesus will always pick us back up if we fall, as long as we repent and turn to Him.
 
Good post - thank you! I don't believe a child of God can 'lose' salvation, other than a willful turning away from God and a hardening of their heart. The Holy Spirit will always work to correct us and keep us on the straight and narrow path, but we still have free will. Salvation and Grace are gifts from God that we choose to accept or not, as the case may be. Jesus will always pick us back up if we fall, as long as we repent and turn to Him.

But isn't that what you are saying bro?

You said:
" other than a willful turning away from God and a hardening of their heart."

Oooooops, I just read the reply from Kurt when I posted this.
 
Christianity is a very personal religion, between you, the individual and God. When I accepted Christ as the truth, I had no doubts. At the time, I recieved what I called the "good me" or as I later found was actually the Holy Spirit. I do not know how it works for someone who accepts Christ with doubts. But I was free to explore what others thought about the spiritual or God thing without worries. If I heard something that troubled me, I explored further, conferred with the good me and resolved it for myself. It is the only defense you have against misleaders. (whether intentional or unintentional.) I suppose, as we all have free will, there are many motives for turning away from the only one with the light, in this darkness. When I really know the truth, I don't know the rationale for turning to a lie. It is never in my best interest. And I won't guess at another's salvation status, if they totally turn from God. It's tempting to say the obvious but it is not for us, here and now, to know.
 
I don't know if people think my last post was off the opening post. But I feel Major's OP was all about this main plank of Christianity. Mankind separated from God due to disobedience. We carry it - this taint- genetically in every cell of our flesh. Christ was born without this taint, was tested, and did not sin. His sinless/innocence was needed to absorb/negate all mankind's original sin and any fruit coming from this. If you believe/know this - you are saved and can make your way back to God, by becoming part of Christ's body. If you don't know the lifeboat when it appears, you will drown. If anyone tells you you different, they are wrong.
 
Major bro, well said, I believe like you, however I must add I was saved in a church who's doctrine was I could lose my salvation and like you stated I never had assurance, ...I praise the Lord daily because He has taught me His grace!

I'm weary of people that are in the lose your salvation camp because when asked if they think they can lose their salvation most of the time they won't answer, so it seems to me they are propagating a doctrine that strikes terror into the souls of the weak and unlearned in the faith just for the sake of argument.

My go to response now is, "maybe you can lose your salvation, but I won't lose mine because I have confidence in Whom I have trusted with my soul."

Blessings,

Gene
 
Good post - thank you! I don't believe a child of God can 'lose' salvation, other than a willful turning away from God and a hardening of their heart. The Holy Spirit will always work to correct us and keep us on the straight and narrow path, but we still have free will. Salvation and Grace are gifts from God that we choose to accept or not, as the case may be. Jesus will always pick us back up if we fall, as long as we repent and turn to Him.

John tells us that if they have gone out from among us they were never really of us (make-believers like the 5 unwise virgins)
 
If salvation can be lost based on one's performance, that is the same as saying the salvation is performance based, which is contrary to the gospel. Verses that Arminians and Catholics bring up typically speak of the characteristic behavior of a saved person and are not taking about how a saved person may lose their salvation. Verses like 1John 9:19 and 1John 3:9,10 show that while there is a correlation between a person's performance and their salvation status, the nature of that correlation is the once saved it is inevitable that the saved will characteristically behave as a child of God should. This as opposed the to idea that one must behave as a child of God should in order to maintain one's salvation status - which would be salvation by works.

Agreed Steve. As best as I can recall, there are NO Scriptures that teach one may lose their salvation. There are verses which are used to say that but upon further investigation e can see that they are used out of context or for something else all together.
 
Why would Ephesians 6:11 say 'Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil'. I know that as a child of God, Jesus will never forsake me, but isn't is possible for a Christian (man) to lose his way and fall from Grace? For God, this is not possible, but for a man it is a different story.
 
Why would Ephesians 6:11 say 'Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil'. I know that as a child of God, Jesus will never forsake me, but isn't is possible for a Christian (man) to lose his way and fall from Grace? For God, this is not possible, but for a man it is a different story.

It goes back to how you believe you got saved! Do you think you got saved because "you" accepted Christ into your life or Christ chose you? If the act of being saved is 100% by God, then can a mere man fall out of it?

It is true "professed believers" can fall away.. Because they were not genuinely saved at the first place..
 
Why would Ephesians 6:11 say 'Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil'. I know that as a child of God, Jesus will never forsake me, but isn't is possible for a Christian (man) to lose his way and fall from Grace? For God, this is not possible, but for a man it is a different story.

To fall (apostatize) from grace is simply to resist it and in some cases reject God's offer. Those who are resisting it (Acts 7:51) may yet come to be saved, those who apostatize (if what John says has any bearing) reject God and His offer of grace. They know there is a God, they simply insist on being lord of their own life (Romans 1). When a believer backslides this is different (though should merit great caution)...only God knows if this is one who is an apostate (a make-believer)...one genuinely born from above (who now has eternal life) cannot lose it, it is eternal (without ending)...if it can be lost or cease then it is not "eternal" but those who are truly sealed (not just because the copied someone's prayer formula or took a bath) they are sealed with the Holy Spirit "until the day of redemption" (Ephesians 1:13). That which He began in the Spirit He will NOT end in the flesh...He is the author (archēgos - one who takes the lead or sets the example) and the finisher (teleiōtēs - the one who perfects) of our faith. So since He is the one who completes the transaction (Redemption means to ransom) He is our l'shelem therefore it is finished...a done deal and once truly born of His Spirit one cannot become unborn.

Just my $.02


brother Paul
 
What's the old cliche? Death and Taxes...And God's Love (Ok, I added that last part, but they tell me we live longer and will they ever stop adding to your tax bill? God's Love never changes.) Adam and Eve chose to know about evil, when they disobedied and ate from that tree. Sin/evil began manufacturing and multiplying ever since. We fell already. In this pit of sin and evil, God sent a Jesus rope. We can't get out on our own - we tried. It may be a poor metaphor because when you grab the rope, it puts you on a new platform, evil and sin still abound around us, and still fascinates, but you are still saved.
 
What's the old cliche? Death and Taxes...And God's Love (Ok, I added that last part, but they tell me we live longer and will they ever stop adding to your tax bill? God's Love never changes.) Adam and Eve chose to know about evil, when they disobedied and ate from that tree. Sin/evil began manufacturing and multiplying ever since. We fell already. In this pit of sin and evil, God sent a Jesus rope. We can't get out on our own - we tried. It may be a poor metaphor because when you grab the rope, it puts you on a new platform, evil and sin still abound around us, and still fascinates, but you are still saved.
The question for me is this... Did God put the rope out for everyone so that whoever wants can escape?
 
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