"He who stands firm"

"CAN A PERSON LOSE HIS SALVATION?"
An excerpt from the Soteriology unit of A Reader's Digest Approach to Theology

pdf

Dr. Paul Manuel—2013

This question is about what theologians call "eternal security." Can a believer, once he is saved, backslide to the point where he becomes unsaved? As with any such question, we must examine what scripture as a whole reveals and allow that comprehensive survey to determine the answer.

• Christians who say a person cannot lose his salvation appeal to God's sovereignty.

• God will not allow someone He has redeemed to turn away from Him.
• Whoever forsakes his commitment to God was never truly saved.
• Eternal security, according to this view, applies to the whole (all) of those God saves.

• Were someone to lose his salvation, it would indicate a deficiency in God's ability to keep that person, and we know there is no deficiency in God.

• Christians who say a person can lose his salvation appeal to man's responsibility.

• The redeemed must be diligent to maintain his relationship with God.
• Whoever forsakes his commitment to God will be lost forever.
• Eternal security, according to this view, applies to the faithful of those God saves.

• When someone loses his salvation, it indicates a deficiency in man's commitment to God, and we know there is great deficiency in man.

Although both sides in this debate appeal to scripture for support, sometimes even citing the same texts, a careful examination of what God has revealed does favor one position over the other.

A common passage for both views is John 10:28-29, where Jesus says about the believer that...

• A person's salvation is guaranteed by the Father and the Son.

The difference in the two views of this passage is how each one understands the threat Jesus is describing.

John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.

For those who assert a person cannot lose his salvation...

• They think Jesus is speaking broadly, that the believer is secure from every threat to his eternal relationship with God, even the internal threat from his own sinful nature.
• Apostasy is not possible for the redeemed, because God ensures his faithfulness, overriding his rebellious will, so nothing jeopardizes that relationship.

• Consequently, 'once saved always saved.'¹

• The problem with this view is that proponents read more into Jesus' statement than is there:² This is not an all-inclusive assurance of protection.

For those who assert a person can lose his salvation...

• They think Jesus is speaking narrowly, that the believer is secure from external threats to his eternal relationship with God, not the internal threat from his sinful nature.
• Apostasy is possible for the redeemed, because God respects his decisions, even the sinful ones, so that an individual can choose to leave God's shelter, can 'jump' out of God's hand and go his own way.

• Just as God does not force a person to enter the kingdom who will not go, so He does not force a person to remain in the kingdom who will not stay.

• Jesus' assurance is limited to an external threat;³ he is alluding to a third party, someone other than the believer or God (e.g., Satan): "No one [else] can snatch them."

Two other passages addressing this question are in Matthew's gospel, where Jesus warns against social pressures that may tempt the believer to turn from God.

Matt 10:22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Matt 24:12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

Here, it is not God or Jesus who keeps a person in line but the individual's own integrity, his loyalty to the divine program. According to these verses,

• A person has some responsibility to maintain his salvation.⁴

This is especially important as the inclination of his sinful nature makes a person vulnerable⁵ and...

• He must be vigilant against internal threats to his eternal relationship with God ("he who stands firm"), lest he be lost.

These warnings would not be necessary if the danger of apostasy were not real!⁶

The most compelling passages to address this subject are where the author of Hebrews twice warns against apostasy for someone God has redeemed, ruling out the possibility of repentance for whoever chooses to go in that direction!⁷

Heb 6:4 It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6 if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.

Heb 10:26 If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27 but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28 Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?

In these passages, the author describes "unpardonable sin," how...

• A person may forsake God and place himself beyond repentance and pardon.

• Note the responsible party in this act:

• He has "shared in the Holy Spirit" (Heb 6:4).
• Jesus' blood has "sanctified him" (Heb 10:29).

• Note the resolute finality of this act:

• "It is impossible...to be brought back to repentance" (Heb 6:4, 6).
• "No sacrifice for sins is left" (Heb 10:26).

The explicit language of these texts makes clear that the author is describing regenerated believers, for whom such apostasy spells their eternal doom. This is not a sudden or accidental event, not the temporary or occasional lapse that many believers experience at some point in their walk with God. This is, rather, the insistent and persistent choosing of one's own way over God's way ("we deliberately keep on sinning" Heb 10:26). It is the eventual culmination of a gradual hardening of the heart that renders a person unresponsive to God and, therefore, unredeemable by God.⁸ Keep in mind...

• It is unpardonable not because of a reluctance in God to forgive but because of a refusal in man to repent, and there can be no forgiveness without repentance.

Can a person lose his salvation? Yes. Contrary to what some Christians claim, the New Testament makes clear that it is possible for a person to backslide and lose his salvation, for someone who was saved to renounce his redeemed standing before God and suffer eternal perdition as a result. Such a decision, though, is the result of a long process that includes conscious and continual sin. It is real but probably rare.⁹ In any case, the best way to avoid losing one's salvation is to stay close to the author of salvation. If you do that, "no one can snatch [you] away."

For a pdf including Endnotes see here.