The Eternal Security question
The subject of eternal security has aroused my interest not only because I believe it is important and fundamental as far as faith and salvation is concerned but also because it is one of the many popular controversies between responsible and maybe even credible representatives of Christian values and faith.
I have heard and studied teachings from those who say that there is no scriptural truth in the teaching of eternal security; that salvation can be lost (when a believer falls into sin) and in order to regain it, one will have to be born-again afresh after repenting. I have reasoned also with those who say once a man has confessed Christ as personal Lord, he is forever saved and afterwards the individual’s sins and lifestyle no longer can determine his eternal destination because they are covered up for by Christ’s righteousness. Cautiously and responsibly I have observed that just like in other doctrinal controversies, neither of the holders of such two extreme views can be proved to be more right than wrong, because in most of this cases each part may have deemphasized some portion of scripture to prove his point or says more than is actually said in some other scripture to press his argument, hence the disagreement. And in such cases the biblical truth doesn’t lie in any of those extreme wings but in a simpler central balance across the ties of scripture, the same applies in this subject.
In this small study, I do not intend to stand as a moderator between two sides of an argument or to suggest personal or independent views concerning the subject, but as much as possible I would like to look at what the bible has said concerning this subject again. Tying scripture with scripture and trying if peradventure we can reconcile our thoughts again with the apostles where it seems we may have missed out.
HOW ARE WE SAVED AND HOW DO I KNOW THAT I AM SAVED?
In order to establish whether or not one who gets saved can lose his salvation or eventually miss being in heaven if he falls short of certain requirements, it is important that we first of all ascertain the confirmation of personal salvation; How do I determine for sure that I am saved, that I am born-again or that I have eternal life in the very first place? Practically speaking, when we give our life to Christ, nothing may physically change, our psychological or social situations may not turn different in an instant, and so we may never be able to prove to an unbeliever that we have crossed from darkness and death into light and life(eternal) even though we must have resolved our way of life for better: After all, people who have no salvation make resolutions to improve on their character and succeed to some extent without any admitted spiritual commitments, don’t they? And so we want to first find biblical answers to this question.
God’s Role
The bible assures the believer that God is personally committed and involved in the entire process of salvation and bringing us into eternal life in His kingdom. The bible is emphatic about God’s role: Firstly, That God knows his own by election and chose them to be saved; no man can receive the gospel and be saved if he isn’t actually chosen (John 6:65). Also, it tells us that salvation is not our working but that we are God’s workmanship. Yes, the bible tells what to do in order to be saved (primarily to believe the gospel) but it isn’t what we do or have done that has provided salvation, it is God’s Mercy and Grace: what God in Christ has done and through the Holy spirit is doing that gives salvation.
Now, God being Saviour, never does anything at all (including salvation) by trial and error.
For whom he did FOREKNOW, he also did PREDESTINATE to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us
- Rom 8:29-31“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermosts that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
- Heb 7:25
We came across the gospel, believed, repented and serve the lord and remain in him, not out of chance or acts of our will power, but by predestination, and this, by His foreknowledge (His sovereign election). It’s not like God didn’t choose some people to be saved and so they won’t be anyway – however they try, no! But in God’s foreknowledge, He chose all who would ultimately believe the gospel and repent as his own, before they were even born. Based on this foreknowledge He predetermined to save them. That is why before we were ever saved he had already called us the lost sheep of HIS fold.
Hence, To deny an eternal security of predestined children of God is to deny God of his claims to be able to foreknow, call out, sanctify to Himself, justify and eternally glorify them, it’s to deny Him of His ability and intention to save them to the uttermost even as much as the “make-believer” (who claims to be born again but wouldn’t cease to indulge in sin; who wishes to continue in lying, lusts, fornication, drug abuse, bribery or what have you for their carnal rewards; yet who trusts Christ for salvation, goes to church, respects the views of the pastor and may be active even in talking to others about Christ) denies Him.
Now unto him that is ABLE TO KEEP YOU FROM FALLING AND TO PRESENT YOU FAULTLESS before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy;
To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
- Jude 24-25For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
- EPH 2:8“For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.[He never withdraws them when once they are given, and he does not change His mind about those He gives His grace ...]”
- ROM 11:29 (AMPLIFIED VERSION)
The fact remains that no man merited salvation – for all have sinned. But salvation has been presented to all men on the platform of God’s mercy in sending Christ to die. Every man has access to this grace by faith, Yet if he believes it is only evidence that God has foreknown; predestined or elected him to be saved.
Salvation: a progressive experience?
Another observation from study is that, all over the new testament the term “salvation” is almost always used in the present continuous tense, like: “we are saved” or “being saved” or in the future tense as: “shall be saved”, usage in the past tense is remarkably uncommon.
This should imply that the apostolic authors of the New Testament didn’t view salvation as an automatic experience that was concluded by the sinner’s prayer but as a mystical process that consummates into eternal life with God. Salvation from the scriptures is the work of God in the life of a sinner who trusts Christ for salvation in obedience to and belief in the gospel; this profession of faith is valid by repentance. God confirms every believer at the point of a genuine salvation by giving the Holyspirit – this is the bible implication of being born-again. The evidence of this conversion or transformation is not speaking in tongues, which is a gift of the spirit or spiritual ability like doing miracles and prophesying, but repentance; yielding the fruits of God’s in-working righteousness; growing and EVER ENDURING in commitment and Christ likeness. If this isn’t the case with any professing Christian then he or she is yet to find salvation and has no eternal life: How does one then lose something he never had in the first place? Such cannot possibly pose a case of losing one’s salvation.
Anyone who has begun the journey of salvation at one time, faithful apparently to the point in which he got discouraged, denounced his claim to righteousness and goes back into his sin is unfit for the kingdom in the first place; luke9:62. They are not at all different from those who were born in the church and never left the church, but had never committed their lives to Christ till they died. They were there but not in answer to the saviour’s invitation; they heard the words but never understood or received the message. So they couldn’t have been saved.
“In essence, salvation is yet more than a process; it’s a one way progress. We continue in the experience, burning the bridges behind us. If there is still an occasion to turn back, then we haven’t experienced it.”
Sentiments Or The Word?
We simply cannot reckon the ways of God and His salvation by our human sentiments, however noble or sincere they may be, they are petty in the eyes of an all knowing God. But often times we are caught in this and blinded to the purposes of God. We let faith and sound doctrine slip out of our hands while clinging to testimonies of our finite experiences and those of other people we have come across; and to questionable revelations of carnal origin. If we are not careful we may find ourselves judging God and His word while still claiming to be His disciples.
Many begin to doubt the divine eternal security of the saints’ salvation because of experiences they have witnessed: Perhaps a supposed “star” member or minister in their church, who (maybe) used to appear the most spiritual, or perhaps the most zealous in evangelism work, or fervent in prayer at a point, suddenly suffered the attack, temptation and deception of Satan, backslid and fell as far back into sin as could be imagined, till he or she no longer wants to hear about the Lord Jesus or Christians anymore and is beginning to doubt the existence of God. This dear fellows, see this as evidence that salvation is not secure for others and misquote scriptures for backup (most of these scriptures will be looked at in detail in sequel or part 2 of this discourse.) And so they kill the hope of eternal life and replace it with a fear of losing their salvation and enter into the race of earning salvation, hence almost frustrating the grace of God. They tend to believe that what they started in faith by grace can be concluded by power and might. That’s why they continue “renewing their salvation” and the devil happily takes every possible advantage of their ignorance.
Getting it straightened
I want to address this wide spread misunderstanding in today’s Christendom.
Faith and repentance bring us salvation- this is scripture, but that doesn’t mean faith is salvation nor does it mean that repentance is salvation. This is probably more important than it may ordinarily appear!
Faith is a state and working of the mind and so there is no eternal security for faith. You could have faith to walk on water and loose it in a moment like peter; You could have faith one day that your sins are forgiven and that Jesus is Lord and yet not have faith that God still loves you and is near you when you are afflicted or that you have power to resist a temptation. This is where the problem lies.
Forgiveness of sins is automatic for anyone who would look to the blood of Jesus in faith (including Simon the sorcerer). Yet it is not salvation, that’s why we will be forgiven of our sins several times but will be saved only once.
Christ forgave a paralyzed man his sins and healed him in response to faith but that wasn’t salvation, if after his healing the man went back into sin he could loose his healing and the blessing of God again.
Faith, repentance, forgiveness of sins, healings etc. are all fruits of salvation they are the children’s bread and God’s automatic blessings to them, they can also be experienced by as many as would lay hold on them by faith in God. They are not equal to salvation, not even the power in the Holyghost is equal to salvation.
The mystery of salvation can only be understood based on understanding the election and foreknowledge of God whether it goes down well with you or not. Like I earlier said, God’s elect will not only believe the gospel when they hear it, they will line up, live by and stand for it, they may have momentary doubts and failures because they are human, but in the end they will gladly die for their faith if need be; they will hold unto God’s word like Abraham; They need not be special men or women, they may be weak in heart and frame but they will be victorious; they will disregard the pleasures of Egypt (the world) like Moses. God foreknew them, He saw ahead their faith and righteousness and victory and predestined them to be His children; he preordained their names in the book of life (written from the foundations of the world- Rev17:8) and their place in His kingdom. THEIR SALVATION IS A GIFT FROM THE ETERNITY OF GOD’S FOREKNOWLEDGE.
In God’s foreknowledge also he knows them who will begin the journey; who will start with a believe of the gospel but who wont have root deep enough to hold out till the end. He knew in advance those who may be driven by ambition – a personal sense of achievement – yet who would be religious and zealous like examples from the bible but who would neither have depth in their souls nor seek the truth at whatever price but would have a vain satisfaction in themselves. Yet He would bless their faith and answer their prayers, they would even perform wonders in His name – though without that vital salvation, because they didn’t wholeheartedly receive the whole gospel.
This may seem too hard to chew, but we are talking about the God who to unborn children foretold: “Jacob I love. Esau I hate.” And who to Abraham said Ishmael will surely be great but my covenant is with Isaac.
So the counsel of God will stand, and WHO CAN BE MORE RIGHTEOUS THAN HE?
CAN WE BE TRULY SAVED AND NOT ETERNALLY SECURE?
More so the meaning of salvation itself is eternal security in and with God we cannot separate this two without resulting in self contradiction. We are only saved in the sense that we have received a guarantee that we will inherit salvation (eternal life with God).
Judas is not an example of one who lost his salvation, but of one who was never converted; oh yes, he loved, served and moved with Christ but the journey of his heart had been the same all along, he was in it for his own self; He wasn’t in any way better than the man who discovered that he could cast out demons through the authority and name of Christ but never followed or learnt from Christ.
Christ doesn’t cast away anyone who comes willingly to him, yet he knows the heart of every man; He knows those who draw near to Him with their mouth but whose hearts are far from Him. He recognizes his own and never calls or draws unto himself any man who hasn’t been foreknown and predestinated to conform to him and to have eternal life in God.
As many as are his own no matter how weak they are and how many times they fall he would help them up again he would chastise, rebuke, break and straighten them up till they are presentable before God blameless and without spot or wrinkle.
To say to a weak or failing Christian that he has lost his salvation is like clubbing the head of a man that fell down, concluding that he is as good as dead anyway. Instead the bible approach to putting these kind of people in order is to correct and challenge them to know that they can overcome lusts and sin because they have the power as children of a holy God. Of course, also assuring them that no sin will enter heaven- the reason why Christ came to save sinners (from their sins).
Now, having said this, someone might ask: how do I differentiate the unregenerate professing Christians from the children of God still struggling with sin? The answer is flat but truthful: Jesus said that’s none of our present duty, it should be left to the Lord.
So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.- MATT 13:27-30
CONCLUSION
We live in a world of moral independence, where we tend to think that what is right depends on how we feel. Many people bring such an attitude to the church: they know what the bible says but they just don’t feel like it, so they act like it wasn’t meant for them. It’s a spirit of delusion that is at work now, but praise God it rests only on those who have no love for truth that they may believe the lie that they are saved regardless of whatever contradictions to the Word of God they are living in. But God said he doesn’t even know them and so he wouldn’t have to deny himself to judge them on the last day. They gather under any denominational name or liberalist movements (many of which are not more than mere social gatherings); they come amidst of sincere Children of God, but they will be bundled for the fire – for there is one that judges even the word that the Lord has spoken. 2THES2:10-12; JN 15:6; MT13:30.
This brings an opportunity to me and you – dear reader, for a sober consideration of our standing as far as the program of God for salvation is concerned. Has our faith in God led us to a definite relationship with Christ? Has our religious experience resulted into a positive transformation in our heart and way of life? Have we really turned our back to all levels of sin and fleshly lusts? Do we daily think of pleasing God and not the world? and do we testify to the world that we are married to Jesus in word and in deed? Do we look forward to the righteous reign of Christ for all eternity where there will be no sin and activity of Satan?
For we have strong consolation that the Lord knows His own, without seeking man’s approval he is able to save them to the uttermost. They can rest on the finished work of their lord, running their race with joy. For they indeed have eternal life secured for them, they are forever saved.
Therefore, “be diligent to make your calling and election sure.”
