Can I Lose My Salvation?
Sunday, March 1st, 2009Can a Christian truly lose their salvation?
To properly answer that we must first understand how someone obtains salvation.
I. How does one obtain salvation?
- By grace, through faith apart from works (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5)
- Believe/Trust in Jesus Christ alone. (John 3:16; John 6:47)
- Receive Christ by faith/belief (John 1:12)
Conclusion: We receive Jesus Christ as an act of faith by believing/receiving Him as Lord and Savior. As Christians we believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-5) as full payment for our debt of sin. The reason we can know that we are eternally secure is based on the truth that salvation is not earned or achieved, but by the grace of God found in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
II. What happens when one becomes “saved?”
- We become born again (John 3:1-8)
- We become “children” of God. (John 1:12)
- We become heirs of Christ (Romans 8:17)
- We are sealed with the Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14)
- We are given eternal life (John 3:16)
- We are assured that we have eternal life (1 John 5:11-13
- We obtain the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Conclusion: God promises us over and over again that once Christ saves us, He saves us forever by making us His children and heirs. He seals us with His Spirit and gives us eternal life (by definition, eternal means forever). John did not say “hope so” or “wish so” or “maybe have.” He says we can know that we have eternal life. The reason we can be sure is because He makes us (positionally) righteous even though experientially we are still growing.
A good way for me to think through this is by defining certain terms:
Justification – Past tense: A one time experience. We are justified (a legal term meaning to be declared righteous) at the moment of salvation. Easily defined by saying, “We are saved from the penalty of sin” (death).
Sanctification – Present tense: A day-by-day experience of growing. We are being sanctified. We are being saved from the power of sin.
Glorification – Future tense: A future experience in heaven. We will be glorified. We will be saved from the presence of sin.
Passages to consider:
1 Corinthians 5:1-5
If anyone could have lost his salvation, it would’ve been this guy that was having sex with his stepmother. In this passage, the whole church knew about what was going on but didn’t exercise church discipline on him. Paul says that he has decided to deliver this guy to Satan for the destruction of his flesh (death), that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. So, even though he was doing this heinous sin, he was still going to heaven.
John 10:27-29
In this passage, Jesus is defending His deity to the Pharisees and Jews that had gathered. Jesus explains that His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. He then gives them eternal life. The reason they will never be snatched out of His hand is because He is the one holding onto them as opposed to them holding onto Him.
Romans 8
The chapter starts with the fact that there is no condemnation for those who are believers since we have the Spirit of God dwelling in us (a cross reference to the Ephesians 1:13-14 passage). His Spirit bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God. When you look at verses 29-39 you realize that everything is past tense. He foreknew, He predestined, He called, He justified, and He glorified. Then the chapter ends with the fact that nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The coolest thing about this part is in verse 39 where it says that no created thing can separate us. Since I’m a created thing, I can only come to the logical conclusion that I cannot even separate myself from Christ.
The argument of logic:
Eternal life: Over and over we read that we are given eternal life. Since its eternal, could I truly lose it? Why would it be called eternal? Instead, it would be temporary eternal life. An oxymoron to the level of Microsoft works.
Difficult passages:
Hebrews 6 – This passage speaks of the one who is impossible to renew again to repentance. If you take that as someone losing their salvation, then they could never get it again. I see it as a Christian who will suffer loss of reward in heaven.
Galatians 5:4 – You have been severed from Christ, you have fallen from grace. I believe this passage is talking about the false teachers since it says, “you” and in the very next verse it says, “we.”
The four soils – I take the first 3 folks (hard, rocky, thorny) as those who have only experienced Christianity but don’t yet have a relationship with Christ.
There are a few other “difficult” passages but those are a few of the main ones. If you take Scripture as a whole, the logical conclusion is that it speaks much more frequently on the fact that you cannot lose your salvation. Even though there are some difficult passages, in order to have a consistent hermeneutic, you must interpret what is unclear by what is very clear.
My conclusion:
In order for someone to “lose” their salvation, they’d have to abort the new birth, and be disowned by the God who says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
The big question then would be, “How do I get it back?” Most of folks that believe you can lose it also believe you can get it back. But how? Unfortunately, most of the folks that I talk to who land on this side always bring works into the equation in order to get it back. That’s dangerous. They usually say that they have to get back to church, change their life, stop certain sinful habits, etc…. That’s a works salvation.
Realistically, everyone believes in eternal security at some point. After all, I’ve never met anyone who would say that they could lose their salvation once they get to heaven, yet, 1/3rd of the angelic realm fell from heaven.
Okay, hope that’s not too much to digest in one shot. I’d love to know what you think. I’ve written this if we were sitting down talking to each other and haven’t tried too hard to make it real orderly. Sorry if it jumps around some. Most of my thoughts are on there as well as many verses.
tagged under: Discipleship.Salvation
